Winter at its Finest

This semester is the hardest semester for me yet.  I'm sure classes will get even more difficult over the next year, but so far its keeping me SUPER busy!

I did manage to go snow shoeing a couple times during February though.  That was my highlight for the month.  Both times I went, there was perfect snow.  I found a great little trail up Big Cottonwood Canyon that is not visible from the road so very few people hike it.

The first time I hiked it, we only passed 2 cross country skiers, and saw two more in the distance.  It was remarkable considering it was Presidents Day and the roads were lined with cars.  We really did pick the best trail!

You can see that it was a pretty steep climb

 In front of the frozen Willow Lake

 Later that same week, I took my mom with me to get her out in the snowy mountains.  We've had so little snow this year that unless you get up into the mountains, it feels like winter never really came.

Unfortunately, I forgot the poles for my mom.  I didn't need them earlier in the week, but I should have known better for her.

A light snow had fallen since I'd last been on the trail.  It covered any human tracks that were once there. There was not a soul in sight, no animals, no nothing.  It was the purest winter scene possible.

What animal left these tiny tracks?  I'd guess a rabbit

We loved being able to pave our way through the untouched snow.

After about an hour of hiking, we decided to turn around and go back down the mountain.  Again, poles would have been very helpful because it was so steep.  Instead, there was a little of this...

...and LOTS OF LAUGHTER!!!

My mom was a great sport.  She only took me down once!  Next time, we're taking poles. :)

Fall Break

Fall Break.  

Ahhhh.  Something I've never had before in my life.  

BUT I AM SO EXCITED!

The U has a full week off for fall break.  I've never had a fall break before because apparently BYU does not believe in it, and the closest I ever got in grade school was a 2-day break for UEA weekend.  So, this is just glorious!  I have all sorts of plans for this week.  I have some furniture to stain, a Halloween costume to design and sew, lunch with a few friends, finish putting all my boxes into storage since the move back to my parents' house, studying (probably a good idea to get ahead while I've got some time), and a couple other smaller things.  Its going to be a fantastically productive week, which is my favorite kind!

I started this glorious break with an exciting weekend.  I went on a fun double date: 2 male best friends going out with 2 female best friends.  It was a blast!  We carved pumpkins, played the piano, ate pumpkin pie, and got down with "Just Dance" on the Wii.

Then on Sunday, my sister Becca and her family came down from Layton to eat dinner with me.  It was a really nice gesture since I'm living here alone while my parents are driving cross-country.  Although, I suspect it might actually have been the fact that I had chicken they could use for dinner, but either way, it was fun having them here...especially when Angry Birds made an appearance.  My nephew, Gus, may or may not be addicted to Angry Birds.  :)  You decide.

I hope you can tell how much Becca and I were laughing!  Each time we watch this video, we just laugh even harder.  I think we had a good 10 minutes of "Anga Birds" tantrums from Gus.  It was so hilarious!

So here's to a fantastic start to fall break! 

Whirlwind

Where did the summer go????

It feels like just yesterday that the sun was beginning to shine.  And now its fall.  I'm starting to take light jackets with me to school.  And when I wake up in the mornings at 6:30am, its dark and a measly 50-something degrees.

Summer came and left again so quickly that I am amazed I found the time to do anything!  But true to the way I want to live, I managed a few exciting things.

Here's what I loved about my summer.

* running Ragnar Wasatch Back with 11 amazing people: Team "Risky Business"

* going to the Oakley Rodeo with my cousins

 

* Stadium of Fire - the military flyover, the crowd, the patriotism, the music, the skydivers, the fireworks.  LOVE.

* Hanging out with family on the 4th of July (my favorite holiday ever)

*Taking my CNA course.  Maybe it wasn't a major highlight, but it was a great start to my future nursing career.  It took 3 weeks out of my July - 4 hours a day, 5 days a week and 2 8-hour clinical shifts.  And ya know what?  I still want to go into nursing!

*Skydiving!  Best "IQ Demands It" experience yet! (See post below)

*Bear Lake with my old Holladay 30th Ward (now the Holladay 3rd YSA Ward).  No pics, sorry.

*2nd Annual R.S. Keddington Family Reunion in Eden, UT
     -including: "Minute to Win It", Lagoon, and other great stuff (I missed the first day because I was in Bear Lake as previously mentioned.  But my fam had fun then, even without the COOLEST AUNT EVER!) :)

Family Snow Day

Like I said before, Christmas day is a difficult day to get the whole fam together.  So, we do a Christmas Eve dinner on the "on years", but EVERY year we do a family snow day.  We were hoping for a big dump of snow so we could build something cool in the back yard, similar in intensity as the images below, or maybe like the snow cave the boys built and slept in a couple years back.

2003 in the backyard

2005 in the mountains

Instead, this year we got lots of rain followed by a small inch of snow the day before we were together.  Thankfully, it was just enough to satisfy the kidlings in the back yard!  We sled down the hill and played in the snow for a couple hours before it was time for some hot cocoa.  Here are a few memories from the day.

Cath and Spencer (I think)

Deb and baby Mikey

Doug, Gordon, Eliza, Ali, Sam

Kids playing with Lance at the bottom of the hill

Gus... "I can't put my arms down!"  haha

Maya

Tyler

Sarah about to take one of the twins down the hill

Lizzie building "snow cakes"

Ali, the face a child annoyed with her older sister

Ethen's first experience tasting snow.  He couldn't get enough!

Lizzie

Eliza and the stocking Grandma Ronda made for her

Lunch time!

Christmas Morning

Okay, so for the real good stuff! Christmas morning pics and vids!

I love wrapping presents and making them look beautiful!  I consider it part of the decor for Christmas.  As soon as I buy a gift, I must wrap it and put it under tree ASAP.  It works for now, but I can only imagine it becoming a pure crime waiting to happen when I have children old enough to know what it means to sneak a peek.  Until then, they will be beautiful!

The morning started bright and early at 7am.  Little children coming from a time zone 8 hours ahead definitely know how to wake early for Christmas morning, even without understanding the excitement of an early Christmas.  We taught Maya & Ethen the traditional Kimball song, "Here we sit like Birds in the Wilderness" as we waited to go in to see what Santa brought.  My grandmother learned this song as a child and taught my dad, who made us sing it 3 or 4 times while we waited and now the new kiddos are learning it.  What a fun, strange, tradition!

And then to the presents!

 Star Wars characters cookie cutters and pancake molds

 The super cute purse I got my mom.  Totally impractical so she would never buy it for herself, but she loved it!

 Ethen playing with his remote control car... for ages 8 and up.  He's almost 2.  Such a little man

 Maya got a Little Mermaid princess dress and fin suit.  But don't the forget princess heels!

 Shirlee and Ethen

Dave and the kiddos