Ski Season - Part II

In the last post, I didn't get a chance to mention the fantastic lesson series Stella and Hudson took.  I will admit that I was a little nervous about it because we've always taught them ourselves.  We've always been those parents with a kid between our legs...

...for the last 5 years.

Our legs were tired.

We decided it was finally time to push our little fledglings out of the nest and let them try flying on their own.  After four Sundays of fantastic instruction with nothing more than a wink, a nod and a small credit card balance later...fly they did!

Kids rippin' Lone Creek Gully

Hudson flys down the hill to Mommy and Pouli

Stella works on her hockey stop

Ski Season - Part I

We finally bit the bullet this year and bought season passes to Moonlight Basin Resort in Big Sky.  The Mr. thought his ship had really come in when I announced last fall that I was ready to make skiing "our thing." 

I won't lie, it was hard for me to swallow the original cost of the passes and some of the extra gear we had to buy.  In fact, it was quite hard because we only had one and 1/2 incomes this year due to our decision for Mr. Yost to work part-time in a job-share.  However, we aren't too extravagant with our other expenses, so I knew we could make it work. 

The year had some serious ups and downs.  Luckily, it was mostly ups. We had so many experiences that I decided to split it up into two posts.  Hopefully I can put a couple little video clips in the next one.  

Here we are now heading into the last weekend and I think we've hit somewhere close to 17 ski days for the season!  I can't believe it.  It was certainly worth every penny and then some. 

The first day back in December.  Stella and Hudson were a little apprehensive the first few days on the hill.

Gotta love this boy.  He is content to sit on the lift and "scope out his lines."  He also could be heard saying things like, "ski good or eat wood!" which I think he learned from one Mr. Yost's ski movies. 

I already feel like Stella has grown up so much since we took this picture.  in fact, last weekend she rode the chairlift all by herself!

Over New Year's we were fortunate to have "Uncle Boise", Lori and Gracie join us.  It was little Gracie's first time in a full snowsuit.  She doesn't seem to mind...I hope we get her up on the slopes in a few years with us. 

Viv and cousin Gracie

With the massive amounts of STUFF we seem to need we had to come up with a creative way to get it all from the car to the lodge. 

Eek!  Yep, we all skied when it was 5 below zero.  We even survived to tell about it. 

This was a picture I found on my phone that Stella had taken of the table in the lodge.  I think she has a good eye.

Every once and a while we splurged for a little hot chocolate on the drive up.  And yes, splurging for me is buying one for them to share!

We tried getting Vivi out on the little plastic skis  a few times.  I wouldn't say she "liked" it. 

A whiteout during one of the drives home.  Not fun.

About half-way through the season we had to split these two up in the car.  The brotherly/sisterly love only lasts for so many shared hot chocolates.

This is the view we always see as we turn off the main highway to go up to the hill.  Breathtaking every time. 

Mr.

Passed this on the side of the road the day of that whiteout.  This was one of probably 5 accidents we witnessed. 

A little surface hoar glistening in the early morning March sunlight at the lodge. 

Spring break snowshoe

With the help of YaYa to watch Vivian, the Mr. was able to take Stella and Hudson on a day excursion to Hyalite Canyon.  Usually, we make it up there a couple of times during the winter, but with all the skiing we've been doing, this was a first for the year. Since he was there, with a camera phone and the first-aid kit, Mr. gets to write the captions for this one:

Before we even left the parking lot, Stella and Hudson were seeing what the platters on their feet could do when Stella found the sharp end of a broken whiskey bottle with her right knee. I was strapping on my snowshoes when she said, "Daddy, there was something sharp in the snow. I think it cut me."

Indeed it did, slashed right through her snow pants, long underwear, and a few layers of knee skin. Fortunately, the well-stocked first aid kit in the back of the van came through huge! She only cried when I started talking stitches. But after a quick lunch, she rallied and we hit the trail.

Penny did great for her first off-leash hike as a member of our family. Stella and Hudson have been off leash for a long time, and I was amazed at how quickly they adapted to their new footwear. We climbed up a fairly steep side trail that I knew led to the base of a substantial frozen waterfall.

 At the top, the ice falls were impressive--as were the cliffs surrounding them--and we kept our distance. We dug a snow pit at the base of this snowfield, and I was able to show our budding snow scientists the layers in the snowpack. I was even able to get a column to propagate! There would be no skiing this slope today, kids. After a wee snack, we tromped, slid, and giggled back down to the main trail.

We found a killer snow cave tucked away in a meadow. Stella, then Hudson and me, slid penguin-style into the dark opening. And wouldn't you know it? The light was perfect inside for this portrait of Hudson, a happy snow romper, after spending a fun afternoon making "big ole tracks" (his words) in Hyalite canyon.

Does anyone else despise Chutes and Ladders?

I wasn't planning on writing this post about Chutes and Ladders, but we happened to play tonight after dinner.  What is up with that game?

It just goes on and on and on and on...

Just when you think someone is going to win, they slip down one of those pesky chutes.  Maybe if I wasn't thinking, "I should sweep the floor, I should make sure the backpacks are ready for the morning, I should pay bills," I wouldn't mind sitting there as the game drags on with no end in sight.

ANYWAY, back to my original topic.

Our vacuum cleaner was DISGUSTING!  Thanks to my wonderful husband's new cleaning schedule, I had some time to work on "special projects" on Saturday.  One of them was to look next to and behind the washer and dryer for spare socks and such.  Very satisfying...

The other was to go to town on our Dyson.  Since we vacuum every couple of days to try and stay on top of the dog hair, the thing gets a LOT of use.  Usually, I barely have to time vacuum much less think about cleaning it out.  The other reason I don't usually think about it is because we still get a full canister every time we vacuum, so I figured it was doing it's job.

Boy was I wrong.  Once I finally got a moment to take a good hard look at it, I was horrified to see the build-up everywhere.

The stars aligned on Saturday morning during an early Vivi nap and the Mr. and Stella being out of the house, so Hudson and I got a couple of tools, pulled over the garbage can and went at it.  All I can say is YUCK.  I had to suppress my gag reflex quite a few times as we de-haired the roller bar.   The results were just too dramatic to not share! :)

Before *gag*

This is what we took off of just the roller bar

After  *ahhhh*

And here is a cute picture of the Viv from this afternoon at Pouli and YaYa's.  She is holding her favorite lovey, "Bun-Bun," as she enjoys a little February swing time. 

This is a picture of her last year in February.  Less snow, less hair, same love of flying high!

Minimalist shopping

In the past year I've worked on keeping my wardrobe pared down. After my initial purge of 40%, I've been relatively successful at not loading up again on clothes I don't wear.

However, I have lost quite a bit of weight in the past 6 months. I recently realized I was holding onto a couple favorite items even though it has been about three months since I wore them. This past weekend I shopped at a local resale store and guess what I found?

The EXACT pair of pants and skirt that I haven't been able to give up but both in my current size! It was a little creepy actually. I kept waiting for someone to pop out and announce I was on some tv show or something.

Now I can part with the old sizes at my upcoming clothing swap party without any sadness!




My favorite light grey Express pants.


A new size for this AGB skirt from Macy's.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

A new year update

I recently reviewed my personal and work goals for 2012 to see how many I'd accomplished.  Surprisingly, I was able to give quite a few of them a big green check mark. 

I wanted to lose the last 5 pounds of baby weight - check!  (I actually lost the 5 plus another 13!)

Me and the Bibs getting ready for a bike ride last fall. It is amazing how much easier physical activity can be when you feel slimmer and trimmer.

I wanted to start the study program to earn my Certified Financial Planner CFP(R) designation - check!   6 more months and one huge test to go...

*I would put a picture of me studying on here, but 1. I don't have one and 2. Not a very exciting picture for the blog.

Some of the goals I didn't accomplish included:

• getting back into golf (gee, I wonder why that didn't happen?)
• finding a female mentor in my business
• blogging 2 to 3 times per week.  WHAT? 

What was I smoking last year when I thought I would be able to sit down and blog 2-3 times a week? I am lucky if I eek out one a month for goodness sake. So, this goal will be amended for 2013 to read, "blog when the spirit moves me." I don't think it will be hard to accomplish that one. Let's hope anyway.

Some of the ideas I have in mind for future posts include:
 - our current eating style of almost completely vegan or "vegan except for hot dogs" if you are the Mr.  A lot of people ask me about what we eat, where we find recipes, etc.   I also get a lot of general looks of confusion and skepticism that I hope to address.

 - updates on Vivi's hearing and speech 

- our family's winter activities - you have to have some winter sports to stay sane during our long winters! 

 - I do still think a lot about purging and living in a more minimalist way.  The last year hasn't been quite up to par with the year before when I was on a serious purging kick.  I'll hopefully be trying out some different things that still pertain to this mission but with a little different twist.

Until then, I'll leave you with a few pictures from Pinterest inspired ideas from the past few weeks. *You may notice the quality of my photos declining a bit. That is because I now have my phone attached to my hip 24-7 and have found myself relying on it for photos rather than pulling out the big camera.

My dear friend saw an idea for a family growth chart on the internet and made one for us for Christmas. We absolutely love it! We'll be able to track all three kiddos as they make their non-stop march toward adulthood. I joked with her that it was a little presumptuous to make the chart go all the way to 6 ft. 6 inches. She said, "Who knows, maybe you'll have tall grand kids!"

This was one of my Pinterest pins that I actually carried through with.  How often does that happen?  The idea was to put baking soda in a pan or on a plate and then let the kids squirt tinted vinegar onto it and watch it bubble and fizz.  We tried it one night when the Vivinator was safely tucked into her crib and the Mr. was out.  I think these two would have sat there for hours experimenting!  *Mental note - buy more baking soda ;)

Meet Cocoa

We have finally succumbed to the Elf on the Shelf phenomena.

Meet Cocoa...he is the elf we "adopted" after driving all over Bozeman trying to FIND an elf on the shelf.  

Over the last few years, I've sat and listened to stories of my friends who have to remember to have their elf do cute little mischevious deeds every night.  In my head, I smugly rejoiced in the fact that we had not been and would not be those people.  So what happened?

Well, the oldest daughter came home last week and HAD to have one because EVERYONE else in her class has one and we HAD to get one too.

ASAP.

If you know her, you know she can be quite relentless.  This was one of those instances where I figured it was easier to give in than to hear about it every single day for the next two weeks.

I do have to say that this little imp has some positive benefits.  If you don't know, it isn't enough anymore to sing, "You better watch out, you better not shout, you better not pout, I'm telling you why...Santa Claus is coming to town!"  No, now you have to say, "Cocoa is watching you and will tell Santa what you've been doing when he flies to the North Pole tonight."  When you think about it, why would any kid WANT an elf of the shelf watching their every move?  Regardless, I have already used this fact to my benefit when the kids are starting to act ornery. 

The other reason I've welcomed Cocoa in our house with open arms is his ability to get that same oldest daughter to spryly hop out of bed every morning before school.  Gone are the days of 30 minutes of escalating threats delivered in 5 minute intervals.  Now all I have to say is, "I wonder where Cocoa is this morning?" and watch with pleasure as she bounds down the stairs with nary an eye-roll or cover-flip.  What are we going to do when Christmas is over?  May I should invent a cupid on the shelf for Valentine's Day...

So yes, I am now one of those people who is trolling the blogoshpere for cute Cocoa adventure ideas.  I don't know how creative I'll get this year.  I don't want the bar set too high, you know.  Gotta work up to snow angels in powdered sugar and switching all the kids clothes with ours - seriously, I saw that one on a blog...WHO has time to do that???

Uh oh - my iPhone just popped up my "Elf!" reminder.  I'd better go figure out what Cocoa has in store tonight. :)