Phew! A Few Days Off... kind of

We had a 4 day weekend the first part of October, so we headed to Island Park to get away. This has been one of the busiest starts to the school year we have ever had. My two oldest kids, were just bombarded with school and church responsibilities, and had piles of homework on top of everything else. For the first time, I watched them get further and further behind on school assignments. So this trip to the cabin had a different feel, because everyone had work to catch up on, even Anaya had a one page final draft that had to be written.

We drove to the cabin in the snow, and it had snowed the day before as well, so when we got there, the kids pulled out the cross country skis and spent quite a bit of time outside skiing. I think I took a nap. Later on that night, Malia and Kayden were working on homework, Rik was working on work, and Taisha and I made aprons (the girls are making these for Christmas present for their friends.)


We thought about going into Yellowstone again this year, but between the cold and the amount of work everyone had to do, we just decided to go get some ice cream in West Yellowstone, and then head back to the cabin.


Kristen's uncle and cousins were also in Island Park, and they took Kayden home with them so he could watch the final night of Kristen's Jr. Miss performance. The next day though, Kayden and Kristen drove up to the cabin. Part way through the day, I decided to take everyone for a drive up to the top of Sawtel Peak (Rik still had work to do, so he stayed back at the cabin.) This is the coolest drive! Looking from bottom of the peak, it's almost unbelievable that you can drive right to the top! The views were stunning! It was an entirely different weather system up there though. Lots of snow, and wind.... and it was COLD!!

Kayden and Kristen drove up to Island Park after they went to sacrament meeting, so they were still in church clothes, and I don't think any of us were anticipating the amount of snow up there (and we weren't even all the way to the top yet!)

(See my van behind Kayden? That's where it got stuck in the snow, and where in my attempt to get it out of the snow.... got it even more stuck! Then everyone had to get out and try to push... even Kristen volunteered, and got out to push in her high heals, but that didn't work. Kayden finally told me I was doing it all wrong, I let him take over and he somehow got the van unstuck (without driving off the mountain), while I was busy slipping and tipping over in the snow.... one second I was standing next to Kristen, and the next I'm right in the snow. Kristen tried to catch me.... again in her high heals! Ya, I'm that cool...no pun intended.)




It was so nice to get away as a family, even for a few days. When we all piled into the van, just about to leave for the cabin, Rik asked me to say family prayer, and I didn't get too far through the prayer before tearing up, and getting emotional because we were all together, in the van, going to the same location. I was so glad everyone was there. Too bad I was at the peak of a "bad cooking phase." Just about everything I made just was a little off for the whole trip. On the plus side, I didn't eat myself into a new jean size this trip!