Snowy Fun in the Mountains

Last weekend we took in a fun-filled, snowy trip to the cabins.
Blue skies, relatively warm weather (compared to our last, very cold visit in December), and a lot of snow welcomed us to our mountain getaway!

Gary and the boys especially enjoyed climbing, sliding, and jumping into the abundant amount of white stuff all around us.

Soaking up sunshine and fresh mountain air!

Large piles of snow had accumulated where it had slid off of the steel rooftops, making some fantastic piles of snow to climb and slide on.

Check out all this snow that slid off the roof! And this is after some melting had taken place in the past couple weeks. It's definitely a good snow year, especially in the mountains.

All smiles.

And here's a happy face with residual chocolate pudding on it.

We love getting away into the mountains!

Cinnamon Rolls, Pink Balloons, & Legos

Just some random pictures of the boys --
Here they are, enjoying some fresh cinnamon rolls right out of the oven.
I absolutely LOVE their smiles.

Here, Gordy and Grayson play with Daddy - building a little Lego car with Buzz Lightyear and Woody from Toy Story as passengers. Notice the big bunch of pink balloons, leftover from Greta's baby shower. They love balloons, and they really loved the leftover cupcakes from the shower as well!

Gary recently retrieved his collection of Legos from his own childhood, a big wooden box filled with Legos! This treasure chest has provided hours and hours of Lego fun for Gary, Gordon, and Grayson in recent days! They just never go out of style.

Baby Shower

Melissa and Myra put on a lovely shower for Greta on January 15th! Eleven wonderful ladies (friends and family) helped celebrate Greta's upcoming arrival with me ~ it was so much fun! My Mom made the long trip from MN, flying over for a four-day weekend for the occasion. My sister Jen and her husband Tony also flew in from Portland to help us celebrate Greta. It was extra sweet to have family travel to Idaho for this special day. (Gordon & Grayson thoroughly enjoyed hanging out with Uncle Tony during the shower!)

One of the fun games planned was for everyone (except me and the hostesses) to mold a sculpture of a baby out of a single piece of bubble gum. These were the results, below. I was very impressed with the creativity! As hard as it was, I was given the difficult task of choosing the two best babies - they were all very sweet in their own unique way. My friend Rachael won 1st prize, and my friend Tosha nabbed 2nd place. They were all adorable though!

Some of the other games included baby bottle bowling, name that baby (looking at baby photos of all the guests), and Baby Pictionary. Everyone went home with aromatic bath products - another nice touch by Melissa and Myra.

The food was delicious ~ Melissa and Myra collectively created a great spread of appetizers: stuffed mushrooms, bacon-wrapped dates, fresh fruit, cheese and crackers, Caprice salad, and spinach-artichoke dip. There was a delightful lemonade and Italian soda bar, and the main course was soup. Myra made a delicious potato leek soup, and Melissa cooked up her famous Peruvian chicken and rice soup. So scrumptious!

The decor was perfect for welcoming a new baby girl - pink and brown theme colors and gorgeous flowers.

My friend Alicia made these gorgeous cupcakes ~ not only were they lovely to look at, they were incredibly tasty as well!

Along with all the fun and laughs among this great group of ladies and the delectable treats, we received so many beautiful, gracious gifts for baby Greta!
To all who showered us with precious baby treasures for Greta ~ thank you so much!
We are so blessed to have such wonderful friends and family! We feel so much more prepared to welcome our little Princess with all the adorable clothes, blankets and baby essentials!
A very special THANK YOU to Myra and Melissa, for all the time, effort, and creativity put into making Greta's shower extra special!

Only 7 Weeks to Go!

We are 33 weeks pregnant today! Seven weeks to go, give or take....

I'm getting really excited to meet our baby girl!

The end of pregnancy woes have definitely arrived ~ i.e. swollen ankles at the end of the day, charlie horse pains at night, and good ol' acid reflux/heartburn. The Braxton-Hicks contractions have been stronger and more frequent than with either of the boys at this point too, so I'm eagerly anticipating Greta's birth, and praying for a smooth delivery and a very healthy baby girl!

Though I'm not feeling 100% great, I couldn't be more grateful.

Glowing Art

The boys love all their many new art supplies!

One of which is the Crayola Glow Dome, from Grammy & Papa.
They traced a design on the plastic center piece, then colored it in with special markers.

Lights out. Turn on the switch.

Oooo...wow!

The outside of the dome spins around, so the fish and octopus swim around the glowing diver.

How very cool!

Dreary, Gray January....

Though going outside has not been terribly inviting, there's fun to be had inside.

Playing games with Daddy.

Dinosaur Blanket

There's a MONSTER in our house!

Chasing, roaring, laughter....

"Catch me if you can!"

It's Daddy. (What a cute monster!)

Grayson's new dinosaur blanket from Dave & Myra. Gordon got a pirate blanket.

P.S. These photos were taken a few weeks ago. Though it took us a few days, our tree and Christmas decorations are now taken down and stowed away until next year. ☺

So Long, Training Wheels!

This is a video I meant to post way back in October. Gordon had just mastered riding his bike sans training wheels! Whoo-Hoo, Gordon!

Grayson's Artwork

Grayson has been busy drawing lately - I love his work!

This one started out as a drawing of our family, but he just couldn't stop drawing people, so he changed the title to "Me & My Friends."

And below is Grayson's portrait of our little family. He also practiced writing some letters and wrote his name on the top, with some extra "Ns," as he likes making them.

Both boys are in such enjoyable stages of growth right now. It is such a joy to see their interest in reading, writing, and creating blossom with every passing day!
Like I often tell them, they are my dreams come true...! ♥

Quick Trip to the Cabins

Last Thursday and Friday, both Gary and I found ourselves with some time off, so we packed up for a spontaneous trip to the mountains.

The drive up was beautiful -- and very snowy!

As you can see, a lot of snow has accumulated on the roofs and driveway.
Luckily, we have someone who keeps our road and driveway blown out for us during the winter.
Below, Grayson watches Gary shovel out a walkway to the little cabin.

We knew heading up there that there had been a two-day power outage in the county where our cabins are, and sure enough - it was still out when we arrived. We'd passed by several Idaho Power trucks on our way up, and the power technicians we'd driven by just miles from our cabins assured us that power would be restored within a couple hours. It seemed like a long wait, but the boys and I bundled up in blankets, lit some candles, and told stories while Gary shoveled the walkways outside.

After a light dinner, the boys were ready for their bedtime routine -- and they were quick to fall asleep in their cozy, shared bed.

Sweet mountain dreams....

The next morning they were up and at 'em, ready to play some board games.

Joey had plans for a big New Year's Eve party at the cabins, so we kept our stay short. After lunch, we loaded up the Tahoe.

Then Gary and the boys enjoyed a few sledding runs down the driveway while I snapped a few more photos of our snowy getaway.

Snowy fun! The weather was unusually cold; Gary checked the thermometer Friday morning and it read negative fifteen! By the time the guys were out sledding, it had warmed up to about 10 degrees -- still a bit too chilly for a long day of sledding. So a couple runs sufficed.

Just as the drive up, our trip home was a very scenic, winter wonderland.