Skiing in Brianhead

Last fall, the Young Men held an auction to raise some money for Scout Camp.  We bid on a cabin in Brianhead and won, along with the Chugg family who joined us in the rental.  The kids were out of school on Monday for a Staff Development Day so we spent the weekend enjoying the winter weather up north.

We arrived Friday evening and settled into the cabin.  It was really nice with four bedrooms, two bathrooms, and two small playroom lofts upstairs; a big kitchen, bathroom, master bedroom/bath, and great room with a wood-burning fireplace on the main level; and a family room with 2 sets of bunk-beds, a big television, laundry room, and an organized mudroom on the basement level.  It was fun, cozy, and perfect for two families with 9 excited children. 

All of the boys, except Cole, slept downstairs in the bunk-beds where they had unlimited use of their DSes

We woke up Saturday morning to stormy weather--overcast, and snowy all day long.  We had a quick breakfast and hit the slopes by 9:00 a.m.  We enrolled the kids in ski school--Carter, Hanna, the Jakes, Katelyn, and Carlee.  They were full so Clark skiied with the adults, and Geneva actually relaxed at the cabin with Josh and Cole.  She made a wonderful dinner and even got to read a book and take a nap!  Lucky girl!

The kids were a bit bored in the ski school.  Unfortunately they were stuck with some kids that were scared to go down the hill so they spent a lot of time in and out of the ski lodge between snacks, bathroom breaks, and crying kids trying to gather up courage.  After lunch, they did hit the slopes and practice their technique.  They did really well and enjoyed it.  When the ski school ended, they skied the hills with the adults and were pretty excited.  They were sad that the day ended around 4:00.

Playing Uno while waiting for their instructors

Joe wasn't feeling too well that day so he spent most of the day sitting around the lodge and watching our kids in the ski school.  Clark and I stuck together skiing on the hills and he did really well and caught on to my amateur teaching quickly.  I haven't been skiing in about 20 years so we were on the same skill level.  We had a great time snow-plowing down the easy hills together but by the end of the day, we both had gained some confidence so we tackled a harder and longer run.   Since Joe was sick, Geneva was relaxing in the warm cabin with the younger ones, and I was too slow, pro-skier Jared hooked up with the scouts from our ward on the other side of the mountain for some harder runs but came back after a couple of hours declaring that the weather was worse over there.  He pulled Carter out of ski school in the early afternoon and they stuck together for a few runs.  After a couple of hours, Carter and Clark were skiing off on their own with Jared and I trying to catch up!

The Jakes (Stuart on top, Chugg on bottom)

Hanna

Katie

Clark

Carlee

Clark

Everything closed about 4:00 so we headed back to the cabin for some hot chocolate and a sweet pork taco bar for dinner.  It tasted so good after a long day out in the snow!  We all relaxed that evening talking, reading, drawing, playing video games on DSes, and alternating games of Neon Leon and Samurai.  Our kids get along so well and they had such a great time giggling, wrestling, and teasing with each other.

 Samurai (I look like I'm about to break out in song...)

We woke up Sunday morning to beautiful blue and sunny skies.  It had snowed all night long so there was about 15 inches of snow on the ground.  It was incredible!  After a delicious big breakfast, we let the kids go outside and play in the snow.  The driveway hadn't been plowed so there were huge snowdrifts and fresh snow for stomping through, making big bootprints, snow angels, and sled tracks.  The kids had a great time climbing on top of the snow drifts and sledding down into the driveway.  Joe took Clark and Carter up the mountain behind the cabin and made their own sledding hill.  There were a lot of snowmobiles driving around the cabin so Joe asked one of them to drive up the mountain to make a sledding track.

Carter

Clark

Jake C.

Carter

Jake S.

Josh

Geneva

Jake waving from the top of the snowdrift by the front porch

Cole helped Jared shovel the driveway to get the cars out

Joe sledding down their man-made sledding hill

Uh-oh!  Losing control

Wipeout!

Clark's turn

Clark and Jake made a smaller sledding hill that wasn't as much of a hike up the mountain

Geneva and I had a lot of fun taking pictures of the cabin, trees, mountains, and the cute kids all snuggly in their snowsuits with big grins on their faces.  After playing outside for a while, we came in for a family home evening lesson that Geneva had prepared in which we talked about character and which characters we want to be like, either from the scriptures, or modern-day Church leaders.  The kids drew pictures of who they esteem to be and they are going to be some great characters and examples for future generations!  Then we enjoyed a yummy potato bar with chili and all the fixin's.  We played more games that night--including Settlers, English Rummy, and Mexican Train.  After putting the kids to bed, the adults stayed up later playing some more.  It was a great Sunday.

Look at all that gorgeous white snow!

Cole

 

Josh made snowcones

Carlee

Jake S.

Giggly girls--Hanna and Katelyn

My biggest kid of all

Monday morning we again woke to beautiful, sunny weather.  Geneva and I took Carter, Hanna, and Katelyn skiing while Jared and Joe took the rest of the crew tubing.  The weather was warm and perfect.  The girls and I stuck together and Geneva took Carter on the bigger hills.  Katelyn was a bit more timid than Hanna so we were a little slow but they enjoyed just being together and gabbing all the way up the mountain on the ski lift.  It was cute to see them encourage each other when they were frustrated and teary. We even hit the longer, harder hill and they made it down slowly but surely.

The tubers had a great time also racing down 7 snow-packed sledding lanes and dragging their tubes back to the rope tow.  Cole couldn't go with an adult so he sat in the tube for a couple of hours while Jared just pulled him to the tow and sent him down the hill over and over again. 

After a full morning of tubing and skiing, we headed back for a quick lunch before packing up and cleaning the cabin.  When all was cleared out and we said good-bye to a fun stay, we were on the road back home but not before hitting Texas Roadhouse in St. George for a delicious steak dinner and the best melt-in-your-mouth rolls with raspberry butter.    A fabulous winter weekend with some fabulous friends!  Thank you, Chugg family, for a wonderful time!