higgins lake

seattle bound

From Park City, I headed north to Seattle to meet up with some good kiwi folks and study abroad friends from New Zealand days. (the best days.)

more mountains!

I met up with Lindsey, Katie and Boo at the airport where we were greeted by our favorite host, Nora. Oh how I've missed these ladies! She took us site seeing around her stomping grounds. 

look ma, we made it! 

Nora's ladies

Mt Rainier far off there

the freemont troll

even found a Cockroach look alike! 

From Seattle, Katie, Lindsey, Boo and I headed up to Mt. Baker in search of snow. 

We also found our Kiwi friends: Scott, Damien, Owen, and now Vancouver native, Bob. 

Damien, Bob, Owen

Scott takin Mt. Baker by storm

Katie and Boo left for a New Years in Seattle while Lindsey and I stayed with our new Canadian and not so new Kiwi friends. Things got weird... but great fun nonetheless!

 

morning after clean up

 Happy 2013! Hope your celebrations were just as grand!

merry christmas from the mountains

Let the holiday celebrations begin! Mom and I flew out a bit earlier than the boys to meet up with Ali and Bevan in beautiful Salt Lake City. We had some time in gorgeous, cool, blue sky days to site see and shop and finally head to the mountains. 

flying into SLC

With the lil jeep filled to the brim with groceries and luggage, Ali, Mom, and I headed west to the mountains, just as Google Maps directed.

solid advice

We were greeted with a cute home for the week and piling snow.

Finally the boys met us up there. Then Aunt Sandy and Uncle Keith. What a house-full of great family!

sibling love

bros

snow on snow on snow

a house down the road "blew over"  (??) whoops.

while the house was great and seemingly close to the slopes, it was a bit of a hike every day

complete with a nice apres ski hot tub

 Christmas Eve included a feast of a dinner after a long day of skiing.  Then, some Moonshiners (the Discovery tv show about making moonshine) and puzzles before Santa could come. 

Christmas morning was nice and leisurely. Secret santa gifts were exchanged.  And we woke to a nice dusting of snow outside. 

our lil christmas tree. (the mandarine for perspective...)

headed up the mountain

We made a pit stop at a cheeky martini party on the slopes. Good times had by all on this Christmas Day!

Merry Merry Christmas to all!

home for the holidays

While I wouldn't say I was really home, home for the holidays this year, the whole break was wonderful and my days at home even more treasured.  Being at home included a lot of barn work and some catching up with family and friends.

How about a beautiful winter day paddle with some great people?

including a cheeky jumping rock jump

And a screening of The Hobbit. IMAX. 3D. nearly life changing.

me and Bolling all too excited!

Bolling the grey?

Also, sleepovers, lunch dates, and dinner parties. 

Mer Mer returned from her semester in the Turks and Caicos. 

Our lifelong neighbors, the Brannen's moved out of their house.  No more trampoline. No more street basketball games. And no more "let's just ask if we can borrow the Brannen's ______."

(a terribly sad walk down memory lane... oh the stories that house has witnessed!)

such good times

happy turkey day

So many things to be thankful for this year!  I'm especially thankful for Grandma and John who came down from Michigan and Scotty from New Zealand (and it was Scott's first thanksgiving ever).  The holidays only get better with great company. 

What a better way to start the day of thanks than a paddle down the river?! It was beautiful. perfect.

Yes, 200 lb Nate sat in the middle of the canoe with a ridiculously small paddle.

 

also scott's first time down a river in a kayak

the boys' table 

Beary helping rake leaves! 

Be sure to tell the people you're thankful for that you're thankful for them! It's never too late. 

day full of activities

We had a running joke(?) that Scott and Owie planned an itinerary full of activities with snack times built into the schedule.  Today, their itinerary was implemented with a day full of all sorts of activities!! 

First, playing around the property. We found a praying mantis. He was praying just because it was Easter Sunday!

Then we loaded up into the mom van again and headed north. 90 Mile Beach:

what a bromance

cause we're the 3 best friends...

you know you love me, xoxo

if you look closely, you'll see a full moon a risin'

and jumping pics became quite a theme...

After our photo shoot, it was off to Cape Reinga- the northern most point of New Zealand! Owie and I managed to tag team some great pb&j sandwiches on the ride amidst the singing and intense games of HEY COW {basically, you scream out the window "hey cow!" to any herd of cows on the side of the road. the more looks from the cows, the more points you get. if they run, added points. boy, did we get some cows running... and we also found that the game works with sheep particularly well as they are skittish animals anyways}

There was also a couple car fulls of friends from back in Dunedin who were staying with us for the night. They couldn't keep up with the speedy mini van though, so we had some of our own adventures. 

what a great crew!

erin and I

and the boys came skipping down the hill

sorawrity gurls

more jumping!

the crew!

just gazing away

 

everyone!

And some drama for the afternoon: Lindsey's (of course it was Lindsey... just her luck...) hat blew off her head onto the side of the cliff. Valiant Joshy risked his life to crawl along and pick it up. It gave us all some grey hairs... 

reunited at last!

 Next stop: the sand dunes! They were incredible! We could've spent an entire day there just playing in the giant sand box. So. Fun.

here we are back at the sand dunes. yes, we all raced down that mountain of sand

sand angels!

stuck in the desert... for a matter of minutes...

 

in the words of owie: "how do you guys ever make any friends???"
we don't. we have each other

look at how fast we run!

going up was much harder than down

Scotty flying!

look at her go!

all of us at a pit stop

tomorrow

**lots of photo cred to Lindsey