New Year's at the Lake

Once we had had our fill of Christmas festivities in the valley, we headed up to the Lake Tahoe condo for a few days to ring in the new year. The parent company that owns Vail and Breckenridge bought Heavenly a few years ago, and they have worked hard to make New Year in Heavenly Village something special. This year, they had professional ice skaters perform every night of the week. The weather while we were there was exceptionally cold and windy. We stood out for as long as we could and enjoyed the show. Mostly we felt terrible for the scantily clad lady skater who was surely FREEZING!

We did some ice skating too - just in the sunshine when it was a few degrees warmer.

This happens to be the view from a piece of property that Cori and I are in love with. Dad currently owns it. It is in a gated community in the foothills of Genoa. 9 acres that cut up the mountainside. There is a trail out the back yard that connects up to the Tahoe Rim trail system. Cori and I drive up to it every time we visit my parents. We made a quick stop here on one of our trips back to the house. Man, would we love to build our dream house/cabin here someday!

One of the nights we were at the Lake, Mom and Dad treated us to a fancy dinner in North Lake. The restaurant itself is a cabin that Charlie Chaplin once lived in. The food was amazing. And the drive...

Heavenly Village has a novelty soda shop called Rocket Fizz. It has become a tradition to spend some of our fun money there and then have a tasting night. Over the years we have tried frighteningly unique flavors and tasty treats alike: key lime pie, red velvet cupcake, raspberry ginger ale, mint, bacon, and (never to be forgotten) alien poop.

We played Ticket to Ride as couples one night. Dad always wins this game. (My mom always wins the trivia games, and Cori always wins the card games!) It was a treat watching him and my mom bicker the whole game through regarding their strategy. Just remember, "one off the top" will get you where you want to go Mom!

Half of the mountain was closed due to lack of snow and high winds. The temperatures were also intimidatingly low. We persevered out for a ski day anyway. While I was taking these quick photos of the kids, Cori was in the shop next door getting face masks for them as their ski instructor warned us about frostbite risks that day. Ski school was off somewhere we weren't able to go this time, and so we didn't get to watch them at all. But they loved their day on the mountain. The big kids (the rest of us) did too! I didn't get any pictures - I never dared take off my gloves!

Mom likes to drink soda out of wine glasses. I totally approve of this. Sometimes I do it too. While I'm cooking. It really makes you feel like something fancy!

On New Year's Eve they fence off all of Heavenly Village and visitors have to have a bracelet on to be there. There are performers everywhere and they do a gondola drop and fireworks at 9PM. I love this tradition. We wandered down around 8 to check out the entertainment. It was SO COLD. We made it though.

New Year's Day found our family on a plane headed back to Texas.

Christmas Break: At home in NV

Our Nevada relations had kindly waited to open any of their Christmas presents until we arrived. So first thing out of the car, our children were rushed to the arms of their aunts, uncle, and grandparents and then let loose on a pile of gifts.

Our days at home were filled with the usual things: games, books, food, music, animals...

Grace is anxious to begin cello lessons. She has been asking for a little while. I keep reminding her that each kid can only have so many lessons/practices/games on the schedule. Once she is done with volleyball and swim we can look for a teacher. She was super excited to get a little intro from her cellist auntie Sara.

Dad got a new plane since the last time we were home. Cori and I got to go up one perfect afternoon. I like sitting in the back seat so I have space to spread out cameras and also so I can close my eyes from time to time. Being up in a little plane frightens me just a bit.

But I go every time because I can't get enough of this place. I love the lake and the valley. Pictured below, Dad banked a hard turn to give us a great aerial view of Emerald Bay.

We had our fancy Christmas dinner and music night a few nights after Christmas. Dad gave Mom a set of chimes to add to her hand bell collection. The kiddos learned a few songs to perform with her. Grace and Grant played piano. We all sang.

Aunt Sara and Uncle Kevin helped wrangle the littles as the night went along.

Papa Jeff got all the kids up on G.S.. I only got outside in time to snap a few photos of Grace. Gracie would get up every morning and go out every evening she could to help dad take care of the horses.

The barn has other things to keep this little boy happy!

It wouldn't be a proper gathering at Grammie and Papa's without a pizza night. Dad is getting really good with his outdoor oven.

Grace spent most of her free time in this very position with Friday. She was at the end of book number 2 by the end of our few days at home.

Before we headed up to Lake Tahoe for the rest of our trip, Sara and I paid a visit to her first cello teacher, Helen. Helen has been a musical fixture in our family life since we moved to Nevada in 1995. We gave a little concert, Sara on the cello, me on the piano, to Helen and her daughter.

Christmas Break : First week in TX

I made it into Grant's class party on the last day of school before break. Here he is with his two best buds, Grayson and Kyler. They are in the same class at school and all live within bike-riding distance in our neighborhood. Kyler is also in our ward so he and Grant get to hang out at church too.

We stayed busy on our days off school. Grace and Grant entertained neighbor friends nearly everyday. It has always been a goal for Cori and I that ours be the hang out house. We love having everyone play on our turf.

The annual Christmas plates went out to all our neighbors. After living here for nearly 8 months, it was nice to finally get around and have a conversation with everyone.

Our travel plans put us on a plane Christmas day. So we asked Santa if he would stop at our house a day early. On Christmas Eve Eve we set out cookies, threw sparkly reindeer food across the front lawn, and snuggled into our beds. The girls set up camp in the boys' room that night for a sibling slumber party.

Christmas Eve morning, Cori and I were awakened by the melodious voices of our children singing to us over the baby monitor. We joined them in the boys' room to read some scriptures and then they got to descend the stairs one at a time in reverse birth order.

Santa came! Grace got rollerblades, the one thing on her list. Grant got a drifter. Eden got walkie talkies, the one thing on her list. And Jeffery got a magna doodle.

Because Santa is generous and because of a order snafu with Amazon (which resulted in no possibility of returning the duplicate order (their fault) because of "hazardous material" i.e. the battery) Grant was also given another drifter to share with his family.

The kids got to make several gingerbread houses. The gingerbread village spent a month lined up on the dining room table, and Jeffery spent a month climbing up onto the table picking and eating all the candy off. It's good to be the forth child sometimes.

One of my most favorite parts of Christmas: the mail!