Firsts for Anna

We came up on the 4 year anniversary of living in this house.  4 years is the longest I've lived... anywhere! (well, except West Valley).  And after 4 years we've never built a snowman.  Whaaaat?!  Several weeks ago was the last time it snowed.  I mean, REALLY snowed.  It has been a very pathetic winter.  Anyway, Anna got to build her first snowman and thanks to the heavy snow, it didn't take long.  Paige and Spencer were over playing and we all had a good time.  

"Frosty" started melting within 24 hours. Small small small...

Another first for Anna was that she lost her first tooth!  Yes, she did just turn 4, but considering how early she got teeth in the first place, it's not too unusual.  Those bottom 2 teeth have been loose for some time and one day at the cabin, she came downstairs with a missing tooth.  She lost it somewhere in the carpet.  5 days later, we were back at the cabin and I hired her cousins to find it.  They did, miraculously!  Anna got her 4 quarters for it and we celebrated with a trip to the dentist.  They prefer the baby teeth to stay as long as possible, but as long as she has established good dental hygiene, she'll be fine.

 Another "first" for Anna was learning how to ski... again.  If we had patience and persistence and took her out EVERY week on skis, she might have learned how to stop by now.  But there's a reason why Bevan and I worked in lift operations and not ski school.  Also, Anna is still very young.  We had fun and it was plenty warm (unfortunately) and we may try again in the spring, but as long as we have child care on ski days, we'll keep it a date instead!  It made for cute pictures...

A New Year

January 1st always seems kinda uneventful.  We rarely stay up until midnight, but this year we were able to convince Sharon and Seth to party at our house, on their way back from the basin.  We made brownies and cake batter popcorn, drank all sort of caffeinated carbonics, and played some fun games.  The time just slipped away and before we knew it, 2015 was off and rolling.

We got the new year off to a good start by an early morning run up to Soldier Hollow.  It was nice to have a running buddy, for a change.  I was also curious to see the "progress" of the Ice Castles.  They were all the rage last winter, but thanks to our warm December, there wasn't much to look at.  I'm just glad they are out of downtown Midway.  The traffic was terrible.  The local businesses will miss them more that I will.

Sharon pulled off a last-minute cabin sledding party for New Year's Day.  She missed the day after Christmas, but easily made up for it.  The sledding hill was fast and the junk food was consumed even faster!

Resolutions?

Sure, I have a couple...

- write in my journal more often.  My memory seems to be getting foggy and unless there's a picture or a written account, it's completely forgotten.

- blog more often.  It IS our family journal, in a way.  It's my version of scrapbooking.  It's also becoming a lost art.  After creating our first blog book from our first 4 years of married life, I'm determined to get the next 4 years done!

- Have fabulous window boxes!  My flowers from 2014 were really pathetic.  I love my built-in window boxes and need to make them look beautiful and Swissy!

- Spend more time with my kids outside.  I let the summer slip away last year.  On days that I wasn't working, I was trying to get caught up on house stuff, but I should've set aside more time to take kids somewhere... anywhere.  We live in such a beautiful area, we need to get out more!  Dallin + dirt, humm...

I know I have a few more goals out there, I just can't remember them.  Maybe if I wrote them down?  Oh well, here's to the new year!

Christmas Time Happenings

Skiing with Sharon, Charlie, and Matthew:
We almost graduated from the magic carpet...
It was warm, it was free, and the boys loved it!  Let's leave on a good note.  We did take a ride on the funicular and tested out the lounge chairs on the St. Regis veranda.  Posh!

Ice skating with cousins:
Anna has been talking about this for weeks.  We get her in skates, one time around the rink, and I hear, "I'm done!  I wanna go swimming!"  These toddlers!

Dinner with Ackerson clan:
I rarely see THAT much food consumed THAT quickly.  Pot stickers, Korean noodles, jalapeno poppers, taquitos, quesadillas, cupcakes, marshmallow brownies, etc. Gone, all gone.  The cousin presents were a hit.  Who doesn't love an early Christmas?!  On our way home, I thought, "Why didn't we get a big group picture?"  Only in our family does that occasionally get forgotten about.

Christmas party with the Hawkins family:
Tina, Kevin, and the boys surprised us with a visit from Arizona!  It was so fun to see the family together again!  It was a fabulous feast at JCW, although Dallin wasn't on his best behavior, but when is he ever? We left early with a Dr. Pepper in the cup holder to make it back in time for...

Christmas Eve at MY HOUSE!
We rarely get to host anything, but sometimes it's magical to spend Eve in a mountain town.  Some of us hiked up Memorial Hill to see views and lanterns set off from the cemetery.  Quite the show!  Back at my important house, we had hot cocoa, cinnamon rolls, and the Christmas story.  What a way to end the evening!

Christmas morning was a blast.  The kids slept in 'till 7:30 and we didn't complain.  Bevan was able to go in late to work, so he was able to see the kids open their presents.  Kinda stinks that he had to work at all... but when your career revolves around snow, there has to be sacrifices.  We had a fabulous turkey roast waiting for him when he got home.

Day-after-Christmas Sledding Party!
This has been going on as long as the young Ackerson family was able to invade a hill somewhere.  So nice we have our own hill now!  I brought all or our leftover Christmas junk to add to the pile.  It was all burned off by hauling Anna and Dallin up that hill!  Kids had a blast.  Few tears.

Christmas time seems like such a blur now.  That's what I get for blogging about it a month later.  So happy we had Sharon in town for it all.  It's such a special time and it goes way too fast!  So, I want to bid a Merry Christmas to all of you out in the blogging world... all 3 of you who read this blog.  I'm glad I've kept it over the years, for posterity's sake.  Happy ho-ho-ho to you!