Beaver Creek

 After a couple of year break, we finally made it back to ski at Beaver Creek in Colorado.  We love going there.  As usual, we had a great time.  Now that the kids are all spread out I'm super grateful anytime we can get everyone together for a trip.  We planned this one over Zack and Kate's spring break.  

On the way we passed an awesome Indian cemetery.  This is outside Vernal.  We've driven past it a bunch and never stopped.  I mean, we don't usually stop at cemeteries, but this one looked cool.  And Jake was with us.  He has a strange fear of cemeteries at night.  So we put some scary music on and drove through.  Jake was dying.  We were all laughing.  The kids and I got out and walked around.  It was actually really cool.  They were all decorated with lights and stuff.  Jake is scarred for life.

Anyway, we made it to the resort and had a great time skiing.  The snow wasn't amazing this year, but we still had fun.  I skied a full three days, which is a record for me.  We made our usual stops for cookies at the base and the candy cabin.  This year was nice because everyone's old enough that if someone wanted to take a break or be done for the day they could.  We didn't have to send someone with them.  I love skiing with the family!

The cemetery

The candy cabin

The lobby of the hotel is so nice and has live music every night.  

Puerto Vallarta Take 3

 Jake and I got to spend a few days in Puerto Vallarta.  Greg and Tracy were so nice to take all the kids there.  This was our third trip there, and we continue to love it every time.

We went on a couple of hikes, hung out on the beach, and by the pool, went into the city, and had a fun day exploring a bit.  The resort we stayed at had amazing food.  Like really really good.  Our hotel was up on the hill, not right on the beach.  So every time we went to and from the beach we got to climb like a million stairs.  My legs were feeling it.  But probably a good thing to try to burn some of the many calories we ate.  The weather was amazing.  We had fun with all the Higleys.  The only down side was a mix-up with our room.  Let's just say our first night there we essentially slept in a night club.  Definitely don't recommend.  But we still had a great time.  Thanks Greg and Tracy!

The view from our hotel.  Every morning we could see whales

Sitting in a really weird chair

Beautiful beach we boated to

Greg with all of the kids

The best coconut milk I've ever had

Tim and his wife treated us all to an amazing seafood feast.  There were multiple platters like this.  I ate a huge oyster.  Don't need to do that again.  Best seafood I've ever had.

We boated to this little pueblo and hiked to this waterfall

Well, we got to choose whether to hike or ride a mule.  I chose hiking and I'm very happy with that decision.

This hike was right by our hotel.  The water at these waterfalls was very refreshing.

Our first night there we got to eat on the beach with this beautiful sunset.

A Combo

 I'm probably the worst blogger out of all bloggers.  But I keep limping along because otherwise we'll have no documentation of our lives...  

This time we're combining January and February.  Not the most exciting of months.  At least there was no dumping of snow this year.  Really cold, but no snow.  Not sure which is worse.  My friend Audrey and I took a quick trip to St George.  It was so nice to get away and be in the sun.  And warmer weather.  The next weekend Kate came up and stayed with her boyfriend Cade.  This is a new experience for us, having a boyfriend join in.  But we had fun and enjoyed getting to know Cade better.  He didn't immediately break up with Kate after being with us for a weekend, so I guess he survived the craziness of our family.  While they were here we went tubing at Soldier Hollow.  This is always a fun activity.  It always feels like we're going real fast, but doesn't look that fast.  This was Cade's first time ever tubing as he's from St George.  Kate's also introducing him to the family movies that you have to watch (Tommy Boy, Goonies, Sandlot, etc.)

We had our one big snowstorm of the year in February.  We got like a couple feet of snow overnight, and it was not light fluffy snow.  Poor Jake and his crew spent like 6 hours clearing snow at the office.  Bless them.  Sage and I took them some McDonald's.  Always a cure for hard work.  Sage tried out for the lacrosse team and made it.  This is a new sport for her and our family.  I'm proud of her for trying something new because that's not easy.  It's been fun to watch her play and learn the rules.  Still learning those.  

Zack moved home in January to take a break from school.  He tried hard to find a job and it just wasn't happening.  (it's not easy in Logan)  He moved home planning to work for Jake, but ended up getting offered a job at the last place he interviewed.  So in February he moved back up to Logan.  I'm sure he was happy to not be living at home.  So now he's learning how to adult with a full-time job.  He works at an equipment rental place doing repairs on the equipment when it gets returned.  He's hoping to get more training in doing different repairs.  He seems much happier than when he was in school.  If he's happy we're happy!

Anyway, that's a wrap for January and February.  Not my favorite months, but we survived.

The only time we get pics of Zack is when people go visit him.  Uncle Randy went to Logan and was nice to take Z out for some ice cream

Sage had to have a minor surgery to get a cyst removed.  She did great.

The concrete snow

Our new lacrosse player

Walking up the tubing hill is exhausting.  The lines and the lift were taking forever though.

Quick St George trip

Kate and Cade