I heart faces - happiness

sledding

A couple weekends ago went spent the weekend at the cabin. That Saturday the weather was beautiful. We were able to take Maggie sledding (which she loved--especially going down hills by herself...yikes!) and she helped make snowballs and a snowman. We tried to find a great new hill for sledding, but it turns out the best one is in the empty lot next to the cabin. Go figure. 

First Snow Day

We spent the past Saturday and Sunday with my parents at the cabin. Saturday was overcast and cool, but stayed dry. We woke up on Sunday to a snow storm with the ground and trees covered with soft white snow. After Maggie woke up we dressed her in some warm clothes and let her play in it for awhile. She tried to eat the snowflakes as they were falling, jumped in the snow, rode around in a sled with Chad, helped my dad shovel the snow layer on the front deck, and picked up more than her share of snow with her gloved hands. Unfortunately the gloves were more for style and cool weather rather than for snow because her little hands froze after about 20 minutes of playing. Hard to believe the first snow of the season (for us) has arrived before Thanksgiving. 

Happy Father's Day!

Over Memorial Day weekend Chad, Maggie and I went up to the mountains for a little hike. Chad carried Maggie in the backpack and she couldn't have been happier. Chad and I had fun too. Surprisingly there was still quite a bit of snow on the ground. Weird weather we've had this year, huh?

Anyway, this post is dedicated to Chad on his second Father's Day as a dad. Thanks for being so great. We love you.

My entry

There is a photo contest I entered this week and this shot is my entry. The theme was snow or fog and honestly the fog hasn't inspired me to go out and shoot with my camera lately. I took this photo last Sunday in Shaver while we were up in the snow.

Now, honestly some of the other photos that have been submitted in the contest are amazing and mine is the only photo with a person in it, but who cares, right? You all know how rad I think it is to enter contests, even if I don't win.

Trial Run

On Sunday Chad, Maggie and I made a spontaneous trip to the cabin. Chad wanted to spend time with Maggie playing in the snow so up the mountain we went with our winter gear in tow. We test drove Chad's new sets of snowshoes and to my surprise they were actually really fun. Much easier to figure out than I thought and a great way to climb hills and thick snow banks. We had fun breaking them in and are looking forward to our first real trek out in the snowy wilderness.

Sledding

Chad decided it was time to take Mags sledding as part of our wintery fall weekend. There is a hill right next to the cabin that's perfect for a short sledding introduction. Maggie had a ball every time they went down the run. Seriously, we could not wipe that smile off her face.

Clashing is in this seaon

On Saturday we drove to the cabin, knowing a storm was on the way. Had we known exactly how strong the storm was going to be we might have stayed home. But we didn't and it was beautiful and fun. And so snowy and cold. In fact it was unusually snowy for the weekend before Thanksgiving. Chad and my dad got to shovel snow and put chains on our car at the peak point of the storm. As soon as we saw a break in the clouds we all high-tailed it out of there.

As you can see, Maggie got to try out her new pink snowsuit. And red jacket.

Finally

Since I'm not a snowboarder and never will be (see this post if you've forgotten why) I haven't been able to see Chad doing his thing on the mountain. Until yesterday. Our friend Russ was cool enough to take a quick video with his iPhone so I could see Chad in action. I must say, I'm impressed!

Shaver Lake Thanksgiving

Our family had a great Thanksgiving at Shaver Lake. We played games, fed the ducks at the lake, walked around the shops in town, spent some time at the swing, and overall had a nice long weekend with the family. The weather was cool and wintery and it even snowed the second night of our stay. The one bummer: A nasty stomach flu bug made the rounds between the two cabins and 19 of the 21 of us there caught it at some point. Fortunately it was a quick illness and didn't put a damper on our weekend.

Sierra Summit Friends

On Saturday we made a spontaneous day-trip up to our local ski resort to meet up with friends from the Bay Area. Everyone (but me--although I did see a very pregnant woman snowboarding--yikes!) either snowboarded or went skiing for the afternoon and had a great time. The sun was out and the weather was beautiful so it was a perfect day in the mountains. Here they all are before heading up the lift.

Happy Birthday, Mom!

Today is my mom's big birthday and we spent last night at the cabin to help her celebrate it. We went for a walk, had pizza for dinner, played Scrabble and watched the Food Network and American Idol. It was a relaxing but fun day in the mountains. I made my mom this quilt for her birthday. In this photo she's got it folded in half so it's really twice as big as it shows, but you get the idea. It fits right in with the cabin decor so I hope it'll get a lot of use! Happy Birthday, Mom!

Night at the Cabin

Saturday Chad and I drove up to the cabin for the night. It started lightly snowing about 35 minutes into our 50 minute drive. I'm glad I wasn't driving. We made it safely to the cabin and all was good. Chad immediately started a fire and I made grilled cheese sandwiches. About two hours after we settled in the power went out! Fortunately we found candles and flashlights and it was still relatively light outside. The outage only lasted about an hour and we sat close to the fire to stay warm. The snow continued to fall well into the evening and the view from inside the cabin was beautiful.

Weekend with Friends

On Friday our friends from the Bay Area came to visit us for the weekend. We had Indian food for dinner that night and had so much fun catching up. We hadn't seen each other since August. Saturday morning we hit up a few craft fairs near our house before heading to the cabin for the night.

At the cabin we cooked, played Scrabble, visited the town and had a nice time together. Saturday afternoon we also took a nice walk along the lake.

That night it rained pretty hard. Sunday morning when I woke up there was snow covering the ground, trees and rooftops. A little later it began snowing again but I was the only one up to enjoy it. By the time everyone else awoke the snow had stopped falling and most of it had melted into the ground.

Hail

We had a hail storm on Friday. Fortunately it lasted a little over four minutes and I was able to photograph it. It may be hard to tell but the stones were slightly smaller than the size of a pea. Not huge, but big enough to bounce around and stay on our front yard for a little while.

Peanut Feast

The amount of snow at the cabin this weekend was unbelievable. This photo shows the snow level on the back deck--way over our heads! On Sunday my dad fed peanuts to a number of blue jays and a few squirrels in the area. We could tell they were hungry. The birds cracked the nuts on a nearby branch and the squirrels gnawed on the peanuts like a corn cob. It's only February and there's still lots of winter to go. I'm sure the little guys appreciated the mid-winter snack.