That Ole' Tubin' Hill...

Do you know where the land of "Frozen" is?  It's not Arrendelle, that's for sure.

Lemme tell you, it's Soldier Hollow at dusk.  Now THAT is frozen.

But my hardy little fellers rode the old tubing hill for two full hours in five degree weather with nary a complaint until their time was up and suddenly "their toes were frozen" and "they could barely talk" they were so cold.  Ha Ha.  Nothing a little hot chocolate couldn't fix in record time.

It was fun and memorable.  Tubing under the lights is not something you easily forget.  Especially when you free load up the old tubing hill in a "lift" and then slip and slide down in group fashion with Daddy-o.  I told them to "make a special noise" so I would know when they were coming and soon the hillside was filled with, "BEE-DO, BEE-DO, BEE-DO!" a la Minions.  It was a winning moment.  :)

I am learning that my crew is comprised of a bunch of snow warriors.

Even this confused little dude who was bass-akwards more often than not.  :)

So let this year of El Nino weather hit us hard and fill our mountains full of the white stuff.  I might have to snuggle in with my newest little boyfriend for a while, but we'll be out there together again before I know it.

Under the lights of the ole' tubin' hill.

Let It Be Christmas...

Is there anything better than Christmas morning with little people?  I barely slept a wink thinking about their little faces and their squeals of delight.  And you know what?  It all came to fruition and then some.  I literally had a moment when I burst into tears Christmas morning because everything was just too good, you know? (And hormones, but still)  I'm so blessed, and they were so sweet & thrilled, and RyGar works so hard to make it all possible, and we were burrowed in our warm home with a winter wonderland storybook scene being painted out our windows before our very eyes.

These days are just the greatest.

Shall I gush more?  OK, I'll try to stop.  But that will require that I show you Christmas pictures in bulk, with few words... otherwise, cue more gushing.

'Twas the Christmas of sporting equipment and weapons with a side of Star Wars if I were to sum it all up with a theme.  

 I could die a happy woman having captured this moment of baseball greatness...
And for the record, the Giants aren't a fave, but Santa knew that "tiger colors" would be a hit.

 Kael's first BB Gun and the devilishly proud face to accompany the cold metal in his hands.  :)

 Light Saber pencils... who knew those would be such a hit?

Dax sporting his new pocket knife & checking out his BB Gun with a sly grin.

 Ace adores his bike, his "real tools" complete with safety goggles, and his cash register.

I won't lie to you - I played "shop owner" for a good fifteen minutes while they came and "purchased" all their Christmas goodies from me.  Childhood dream fulfilled.  Yes!

 They really were all so sweet and generous and full of gratitude.  It made my mama heart sing.  They get it.  They might forget occasionally, but they get it.  They're holiday hearts beat to the rhythm of the season and I just adore every moment of our holiday bubbles together.

The imagination and wonder of childhood is one of the sweetest flavors in life's candy shop.  We are writing memories in their little minds - or to keep to my candy shop metaphor - we are whipping up batches of carmel and salt water taffy as if our very lives depend on it.  Seasons like Christmas give me a reason to throw in some seasonal specialty sweets like divinity and fudge and peanut brittle.  And Lawd knows I like me some divinity and fudge.

The aftermath was sweet and slow.  We played, we laughed, we ate and we played some more.  Finally we put on real clothes and shoveled our way out of the blizzard that had piled up on our porches.  We had a very white Christmas indeed to the tune of 10-12 inches!  Then we came back in and pressed repeat.  It was SO good.

And that night - in a another pair of festive PJs, we remembered a few of the highlights, soaked in a few more Christmas songs wafting through the house speakers, and snuggled under the light of the Christmas tree while I whispered out a few more million Thank-Yous to the Universe for all of it. 

 Happy Memories little loves of mine.

And happy dreams too -- you've certainly made all of mine come true.

Christmas Eve 2015...

We are going on three years running with our Christmas Eve Ski tradition at Sundance.  This year, the weather made our ski that much more magical and these little dudes were really starting to get the gist of things on the slopes.

Pardon me while I stare at this picture and swoon over that dude I married and those little people we love on every day.  Man am I a lucky girl or what?

Since I was out of commission in the ski department this year (Rocking my 38 week bump), RyGar took each boy one at a time.  I hung at home and at the lodge and kept them fed, hydrated and mostly dry... those massive piles of snow were too tempting to remain untouched.

Dax collected icicles for HOURS.  We have an impressive collection in our freezer at home.  And Ace cheered for all and gave fist bumps for luck.  What good sports! 

Waiting like gentlemen as best as we know how.  It ain't easy, but one adult to three little skiers means patience and since it was Christmas Eve they complied pretty graciously.

 And then we were off to Grandma "Jam"ice's for some dinner and festivities with some cousins.

 We read the story of Jesus' birth and used one of Grandma's darling nativity sets as visual aids.

 After dinner, we were driving home when SANTA called!  He told the boys to hurry and get ready for bed because he was getting close to HIGHLAND!  The flurry of activity was completely epic!

They bathed, bejammied, sprinkled reindeer food, prepped cookies and prayed in record time.

:)

And then they were off to bed.  Looking like little cherubs with visions of sugar plums in their heads.

After they were tucked in Ryan and I hiked outside to the most gorgeous Christmas Eve scene in my memory.  I won't lie - white Christmases are my love language.
I could barely sleep that night in anticipation of the next day because our home won't always be filled with little believers in matching PJs... but these days that they are - are magical!