Over the weekend we went up to the cabin, to snowmobile and relax. We left Friday at around 1 in the afternoon and got to the cabin at about 3. We were able to relax and sleep in, play games, and just enjoy each other's company. We stayed up there until Monday and got home at about 5pm. We had our own little "church" meeting up there. We talked about scriptures. Dad talked about faith and Alma. I talked about consistency in the home from the General Conference talk by Bro. Bednar. Mom talked about Gods Love also from a general Conference talk. Daniel talked about temptation and making our weaknesses strengths. Madison and Carter were in charge of primary and gave little talks about Jesus and that we love Him and He loves us. It was nice.
Normally we go to the cabin and it's rush, rush, rush. Since you usually don't get up there till late and you need to get up early to fit in all the snowmobiling and sledding and fun before you head home at about 4. So sometimes it's more stressful than fun. But this time since we were up there for four days we could take things slow and easy and rest and truly enjoy ourselves.
So we have lots of pictures from this mini vacation, because we had alot of firsts. Madison went sledding by herself. McKinley went snowmobiling and sledding for the first time. As per the
previous post we saw a vole for the first time. So get ready for picture overload.
Here's McKinley in her mittens
Isn't she cute?...
I thought this was priceless, we had just got to the cabin so we were trying to unload and get a fire going in the stove to get the place heated up...needless to say she was highly offended that no one was paying any attention to her.
Karen spent alot of time doing homework...or cabin work
Doesn't she look so innocent...she's only missing a halo
Here's Carter working his basketball moves in the cabin. Once it gets dark, there's not alot that you can do other than play games or go to bed.
Saturday morning here's Carter getting ready, trying to put on his helmet by himself
So cute...look at those big blue eyes...don't let them deceive you!
Now there's the face we all know too well!
Madison ran through the snow. She could hardly contain herself she wanted to ride with Grandpa on the snowmobile so bad!
Off heads Carter to ride with Dad
Look at that grin!
And there they go...
Chillin' in the cabin
McKinley had a rough night and woke up around 11:30 for breakfast. We have this "vintage" otherwise really old highchair up at the cabin and she would twist herself around whenever she sat in it.
I thought this was a cute face as if she was saying "what?...I like sitting this way!"
Here is Madison and Grandpa sledding down the hill. No matter when we took the picture, and whether or not Madison knew we were taking a picture...every picture we have of her sledding or snowmobiling she has a HUGE grin from ear to ear.
Here's Karen and Madison...check out the grin :)
Check out Karen's hair...you can tell they are bookin' down the hill! Too much fun!
Now here is McKinley on her first ride down the hill. Sorry I'm covering her face so the snow won't spray up in her face.
Here we are at the bottom...she loved it. We would keep going down, and she would kick her legs, once she spit out her binky and jabbered the rest of the way down. She was like that on the snowmobile as well. We would go over bumps (lack of snow) the ride in was VERY bumpy, and non-bumpy parts she would bounce up and down. She would also lean out so that the wind was in her face. Daniel looked back and half expected her to stick her tongue out like a puppy.
Now here is Madison going sledding in her own sled, by herself, for the first time! The only picture without a grin...
After that she came running into the cabin screaming "Attention Everyone! I went down the hill ALL BY MYSELF!" then ran back out the door to do it again! The next picture is McKinley in her snow gear, she couldn't move very well so she didn't like it very much.
Doesn't she look like a squishy marshmallow
Here I am sledding down the hill from Bindrups cabin, it's intense, or is it my bones are older so it hurts more? hmmm...
Now Daniel did not grow up sledding and snowmobiling. When we got married is when he was introduced to the winter world. So in the past nine years we haven't stayed over the weekend like we did this year, and if we did stay longer than two days my brothers were there and the boys would go snowmobiling. So this year was really Daniels first year sledding our intense hill that spans approximately 10 acres. Needless to say we had to give him some pointers on how to sled. Sledding is an art.
1-You must steer/brake with your feet/boots, not your gloves. We know this from experience, my mother hated us sledding because in one winter season we would go through 3-4 sets of gloves! So we've learned to use our boots...they're sturdier!
2-You have to lean around corners.
3- Spread your legs further out and bend your knees when you break or angle your feet out so the snow spray doesn't spray into your face
4-Hold on for dear life...this is survive or go down the hill as a giant snowball
Maybe we should have told Daniel these things before his first run down the mountain?!
He came out with hair grayer than his father
well it didn't stop him there he goes down to the bottom of the hill.
Here comes our pick up crew. Carter did sled one or two times, but he preferred the snowmobile. At first he was riding in the basket in the back and my mom asked him if he wanted to ride up front. He said, "Yeah, me like riding behind" well my mom picked him up and pulled him to sit in front of her...he then said, "or me like driving." This picture he's not happy because he got in trouble for messing with the gears and putting it in reverse and then gunning it and almost running over the tube...needless to say Grandpa was NOT happy!
This is how we are towed back up the hill. Fun huh?! Beats walking!
Here's Grandma flying down the hill...
Piling out of the tube...it's hard on our old bones.
Warming up with some
HOT COCOA! YUM! (of course with marshmallows!)
Carter is potty trained, but this is his first time to the cabin since that blessed event occured. So this is his first time peeing in the snow. Daniel was ready to kill him. He had to pee every 5 minutes!!...No Joke! He thought it was so cool to pee in the snow...so we had ALOT of yellow snow.
These tracks were all over the place, I never did see the rabbit that made them, but I thought I'd share the picture of our visitor.
Now this is just sweet. Grandpa had the touch to get her to fall asleep, that or she was just completely exhausted from all that fun. And yes she does sleep with her eyes partially open...creepy I know. But still this is a sweet moment.
Here's our cabin, sweet cabin. Quaint, yet there are a lot of good times had here and good times to come.
And here we are...finally the last picture of our mini "vacation" In this picture it looks like the kids true personalities show through. It was a great time and I can't wait to head up there again. Until February...new adventures await.
I hope you enjoyed the pics. I know this is a REALLY LONG post...sorry! but it was fun! :) Until the next post....
A view from the hike. You have to love the Mountains! 
Some of the activities we did were provided by the camp. They said they had a low level confidence course and so we scheduled time to participate on the four courses. It was amazing the growth the girls made in a matter of a few hours. Given a choice I would go back to this camp again and again. First up we had the Cable Walk. A cable was connected to trees about 18 inches off the ground. And you had to get your entire team to the end with out touching the ground. It was very tricky. 
The next part of the course was the climbing wall. I'm not going to lie, there were some girls that you might call athletically challenged. I didn't know if they would make it. But with a lot of teamwork, leader support EVERY girl made it up the climbing wall. 
We also had people come to talk to us, Daniel was one of them. It was a great talk 
We also learned a lot of this.... 
The next course was the Spider's Web. Where you had to get every person in your group through a different hole while not talking. 
The last course was the Giant's Thumb. You had to take the tire off the giant pole without you or the tire touching the pole. 
Here are our priesthood leaders helping with the zip line....this is where you crash at the end. 
It was a blast! Everyone had so much fun on the zip line. Everyone got to ride it 3 times. 
This is how much crazy fun we had. This is the name of our campsite. 
Our Last day....sad....wait...WAHOO! 
It was a lot of hard work poured into 4 days but it was worth it. I hope the girls felt the spirit and had fun, I know I did. The only thing I didn't like was missing Madison's first day of First Grade. Hopefully Mom took pictures. Maybe Daniel will post about the spiritual part of girls camp, I'm too close to it right now to be objective. Anyways... Until the next post....
