In January, Barry did the Boulder Mountain Ski Tour. It is a 34k cross-country ski race up in Sun Valley Idaho. He was able to do the race with his brother Warren. Our family has been seriously sick, so Barry didn't do as well in the race as he would have liked, but I'm glad he got the experience
I told him he could do the race for his birthday! ;D He turned 44 this year. My how time flies.
While Barry was up in Sun Valley with Warren, Warren invited us to his family getaway in Midway Utah to watch the World Cup Biathlon Races. So I told Barry we could do THAT for his birthday as well. :D
I've always felt that the Biathlon was rather an obscure sports, but Barry loves it and has followed many of the top contenders for years. So this was a rather exciting opportunity for him, and we were happy to tag along.
Midway is a BEA-U-TIFUL town located up in the mountains of northern Utah. It is truly one of the most gorgeous places that I have ever been. They had TONS of snow! It covered many of the hills in these lovely layers of pristine whiteness that was almost unreal.
We left on Valentine's Day for our little vacation and drove through some treacherous weather to reach Brigham City that evening. On the way down I had the time to write each of the children a love letter, and Barry gave them each a Reese's Peanut butter cup heart. :D (well except for Lauren, Lauren wanted Gummy bears... Lauren has been dreaming about gummy bears and smelling gummy bears all over the house. Anyway, Lauren got a little bag of gummy bears. Crazy kid)When we got to Grandma's, we had some delicious pizza from Dominoz and the kid enjoyed visiting and playing with Grandma's "new" toys.
In the morning we left for Midway. We arrived just in time to watch a race.
I really had no intention of standing out in the freezing cold and had brought a pile of books along for me to read. Barry decided that each of the kids needed to go watch a least one race since they may never get such an opportunity again. Heheh. So he took them all with him, and off they went.
It was so wonderful to curl up in the sun and read my book. Then I spied a new original Nintendo, so I tried my hand at a favorite childhood game of Bubble Boble for a little while. That challenging game brought back some fun memories. While I was playing, my friend Carli texted me and asked if I wanted to go grocery shopping with her. She was also in town to see the race, and had also sent her family off to watch the race in the freezing cold. We googled our addresses and we're staying less than half a mile way from one another. She and her Aunt came to pick me up, and they showed me around the town a bit before we went shopping. When we were shopping I bought a 6$ bag of chips and a $8 container of chip dip. Haha hah! Not everything is great about Midway, their food prices are unreal. After shopping I went over to Carli's Aunt's house and was able to see where see was staying.
They were sleeping in a cute little ancient bunk house behind her Aunt's house. It was fun to catch up a bit with Carli.
Barry and the kid's came and picked me up and we went back to the Condo. Back at the condo I broke out my chips and dip(after carefully ripping off the price tags) and presented them to Barry.
:D The chips were a massive fail. They would crumble when you looked at them, and break into a million pieces if you tried to scoop up any dip with them. We tried about every technique to scoop with them, even layering them up with three chips and they still would break...Oh well!
It was kindof funny that the most expensive chips I have ever bought were probably the worst!
Warren bought us all pizza that afternoon, and I curled up in the sun and ended up taking a long nap. When I woke up, it was time to go and visit some dear friends of ours that live in Oakley Utah. We haven't been able to see them for a couple years, so we couldn't miss the opportunity. The kids were seriously not excited about going. They were having tons of fun at the condo, with video games, and ping pong and air hockey and a huge place to play with their cousins. So amidst groans and complaints, we all piled in the van, and drove over another mountain into Oakley. It was an amazing drive. We saw a herd of yaks walking through the snow. It was really cool, and I spotted a snow hare and lots of deer.
Ki was Barry's good friend a co-student at Utah State. They earned their Ph'd's together and became good friends. When Barry got a job in Twin Falls and had nowhere to live because we had not yet sold our house, Ki offered him a room in his parent's home for Barry to stay in while we were transitioning our lives. Later, they even allowed us to move our camp trailer and live in their front yard for a few months. They are the kindest, most generous people. Our families have stayed in touch over the years and they have come and visited us many times. Sadly, a couple years ago Ki's father passed away and his mother moved from Filer. Not having a reason to make the long drive to Idaho anymore, visits have been scarce, and we have missed our good friends.
Ki's wife, Audra, made us some delicious chicken noodle soup and rolls, and the kids played and played and played and played. When it was time to go home, Lauren was nowhere to be found. Olivia(Ki's daughter) had hidden her away so she could stay forever. :D I was glad the kids were able to renew their friendships. They were able to try out a hoverboard for the first time, even Barry gave it a try. I was astonished at how good they were at it. I guess I have watched too many "hoverboard fails" on the internet. The kid each have a new goal to get their own. :D
We drove back over the mountain that evening through a beautiful snowstorm. When we got back to the condo, Corey and Nicole and their family had arrived. Some more old friends of Barry's. Corey has been Barry's friend since he was about 10 years old living back in Massachusetts. They came out west and went to college together. It was been fun to stay in touch with them over the years. Sadly, this summer their sweet baby girl passed away unexpectedly while they were on vacation, and it has really rocked their family. She was the same age as Owen and I cannot fathom the immensity of their lost. :'( They have not traveled anywhere since their tragedy, so it was a giant step to come up to Midway to spend the weekend with us. We had some good late night discussions while our kid's renewed their friendships. In the morning, Jackie and Warren made us pancakes, scrambled eggs and oranges. When we got everything cleaned up it was time for was another ski race. I decided to chance it, and put on all my warmest clothing. We brought Owen, and James and a cow bell.
After driving up to Solider Hollow. We parked our car, and hiked our way up the snow covered mountain until we had found the best spot to watch the race. It was fun to watch the racers come by. Owen was much more interested in a man dressed in a blowup dinosaur costume than the race, but I could hardly blame him. The camera panned over us a few times, and we were shown on International Television. Barry and Warren rang and rang the cow bells, and cheered and cheered for their favorites, while checking stats on Warren's phone. I believe I will be hearing those bells in my sleep for weeks to come. ;D It was freezing and I was definitely ready to leave by the time it was over. James spent the time digging a small snow cave in the side of a hill. He was sad to leave it, so i snapped a picture of it for him. We hiked down to the man in the dinosaur costume and got a picture with him.
When we got back to the Condo, we had grilled cheese Sandwiches for lunch. Corey took the kid's sledding, and they had a blast. Feeling a bit guilty for not contributing anything towards food, Barry and I decided to make dinner. We headed over to Heber to get some supplies.
Jackie offered to watch Owen for us, so we could make it a little 'date'. :D Owen has taken to talking very gruff and rough lately, and everything he says is rather demanding and fierce. He has also decided to call Barry, Barry... and not Dad. Even when Barry's says Owen, "I'm Dad! Owen just responds, "and I'm the Baby., Barry! Get me some milk!" It is rather comical, and Aunt Jackie thinks it is absolutely hilarious. So she was happy to keep an eye on him for us. We got the stuff for spaghetti and garlic bread and a giant salad, and some cherry chocolate cookies for dessert. We came back and Nicole made us her special spaghetti sauce recipe and I buttered bread and cooked noodles. Barry washed and washed lettuce and put together a fantastic salad. I must say it was a delicious supper, and I didn't stress about it at all! I'm glad Barry hadn't told me beforehand that we needed to make a meal. :D
We had more fun discussions after dinner and Corey and Nicole's family left to head home.
In the morning, Ellie woke up not feeling well, so we decided to attend church in Midway.
It was a really cool looking church, looked like some old Swiss building in a winter wonderland.
After church we packed up our stuff, said our goodbyes, and headed over the mountain to Liberty Utah. Snow Snow Snow! The sun was shining and the snow was just calling us to pull the car over and jump in. We refrained, being in our church clothes, but it was a beautiful sight of those magnificent mountain covered in white.
Sweet Carli made a little quarantined space for Ellie to relax and read her book while she and I fixed lunch. Barry fell asleep on the couch and the kids all played together. Carli's boys had started a fire in the wood stove in the basement and my oh my did it get warm! The kids all came upstairs with rosy cheeks. It was fun to catch up with Carli and discuss her future plans for her little farm. She let us try all sorts of foods she had dried. Pineapple, apples, mushrooms etc.. she even gave Barry and Ellie an Elderberry tonic and a Gum-weed tincture. She made us the most amazing sour dough bread, I seriously could have eaten the entire loaf... pretty sure I almost did. She was kind enough to give me a sour dough start and a recipe and some encouragement that I could someday make my own. :D It was a delightful visit and after eating, Ellie started feeling a bit better. Barry and Owen went outside in the winter wonderland to feed the remains of our lunch to the goats and chickens, and that afternoon we made our way back to Brigham City.
We had a relaxing super lazy Sunday afternoon. In the morning, Barry and I went to the Bear River Bird Refuge. My Happy Place. We saw so many different birds, and everything looked completely different from the last time we had gone. I love how it is constantly changing. It was awesome to see a Great Blue Heron so close. We saw swans, an owl, turns, hawks and bald eagles and geese.. tons of geese. It was a lovely, peaceful morning in one of my favorite places on earth with my favorite person.
We we got back it was time to head to Logan. We were fortunate enough to catch both Barry's Mom and Dad at home. Barry's mom showed us her cool new car she had just purchased that weekend, and we looked at some old family photos. Barry's Dad had butchered a steer and had kindly given us the meat. So we loaded that up, and headed for HOME.
When we got to Twin, I ran into Winco and grabbed some beef broth and Rosemary sour dough bread from the bakery. When we finally got home we unloaded everything, checked on the animals, and Barry and I cooked up the most delicious beef stew with our new meat. With the slices of warm rosemary bread and left over salad it couldn't have been better. It was probably 9 o'clock by the time we finally sat down to say the blessing and eat. Our entire trip I felt an immense measure of gratitude for what we are so fortunate to have and a sense of calm and peace. It was the perfect end to a perfect vacation.
Most of the pictures are on Barry's phone, but here are a few.
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