Brianhead

Our families schedule has been so busy lately. We have been passing ships in the night. So when I realized that Allie and Kara had two days off from school, I started plotting a getaway. Paul got home really late Thursday night. He had been gone for 5 days in Atlanta, Georgia for a quarterly review. Friday, he unpacked one suitcase and helped me pack the car and away we went!

This was the view from our front porch on Saturday.

This was the view from our front porch on Sunday.

(Luckily Paul took this photo with his phone. I could barely function in the freezing temps!)

Despite the ‘blizzard’ (remember-I’m a desert girl), the weather was awesome. And it worked out that this storm came through on Sunday because everyone skied on Saturday and we sledded on Monday.

My mom had to take a break from her chemo treatments because it is causing severe numbness in her hands and feet. The positive side to her taking this break was that she and my dad were able to meet us at BrianHead.

We checked with the rest of the Garvin fam to see if there were any others who could get away that weekend, and we were so excited that Dan and Kyrstin were able to come too!

On Saturday, Paul, Allie, Kara and Daniel hit the slopes. Dan was the lone snowboarder. Allie and Kara really progressed with skiing with Paul and they all had a really fun time. Paul took some fun pictures and videos of them while they were on the mountain. Unfortunately, Cooper tried to hack into Paul’s phone and ended up wiping it clean. He lost all photos and texts and other info. The really maddening thing is that this is the THIRD time Cooper has done this. Paul had his phone on the counter, and at some point Cooper climbed up and got it. I wasn’t aware that he even had it. All of sudden Cooper comes behind me and starts squeezing between me and the couch, kind of hiding. I thought he was just playing around. Then Paul walked over and saw his phone on the ground. He picked it up and knew immediately what happened. Cooper buried deeper into the couch and pulled me back. Then I figured it out. He knew what he did and he was scared! I am a little happy to see that he knew what he did was wrong. Maybe it means he’ll have a strong conscious when he’s older?

We dug the cars out on Sunday morning and drove to the Town Hall for church. I brought our church clothes and skirts but I just couldn’t bare to not put everyone into their snow clothes. So with the little kids footsie pj’s on, we bundled everyone up into their snow suits and off we went. What a sight! I thought we’d be safe- being from out of town and all, but we ended up knowing several people from Vegas. Oh, well!

Sunday afternoon, we drove over the mountain to Mammoth Creek to visit our friends the Berenatos. We haven’t been to their cabin in over 3 years! It’s taken a while for me to want to venture to the Mountains with Coop and Cass. The kids had a great time hanging out somewhere different with their favorite friends. Even all the little kids got along. We had dinner with them and enjoyed the evening. The weather was nicer on their side of the mountain and the sun was actually up, but we did manage to get the car stuck while trying to get up the hill to their cabin. Good thing Tom rescued us on the four-wheeler thingy. I didn’t get any pictures while we were there because in the middle of getting stuck and rescued, I left the camera in the car!

Monday was a great day. We had fun sledding and hanging out before we headed home.

Um, yes, that is a price tag hanging off of Grandpa. On our way to Brianhead, we stopped at the Wal-Mart in Cedar City. They had all snow clothes marked 50% off. We stocked up on necessities that we didn’t have. It really saved us. Snow is miserable if you are properly prepared. We grabbed stuff for Paul and Dad to try on. They both worked great, but both of them forgot to take off tags! Paul skied all day with his tag hanging out!

It was so nice having Grandma and Grandpa there to help Cassidy fell better. She liked the snow the least out of everyone.

Look at the little face! Logan is so adorable. And he was pretty good all weekend too. He loves to just toddle around and be with the big kids.

Cooper especially loved this sled because it has a steering wheel. He always wants to drive the car or start the engine so this was very exciting for him.

Overall, we had a great time. Cass had a bit of altitude sickness the first night, at least I think it was that. I think we will try to make this a somewhat regular getaway!

Good thing there’s no audio!

Who cares that it’s February and I’m just barely talking about Christmas? Not me!

I was determined to send Christmas Cards this year.

There is a picture we snapped with our point and shoot camera several years ago, I think it was 2006. I love the picture. It was back when our family was little and pretty calm.

I love the goofy smile on Allie. I just adore Kiki’s squinty eyes. Paul looks handsome in his glasses. And it’s fun to see him in them again, although I know he’s so glad to not have to wear them anymore. (Lasik is awesome) I love that the pillow is perfectly hanging on the tree wishing all a happy holiday. And the picture of the temple over Paul’s shoulder just finishes the whole thing off.

Since I love this picture so much and love remembering the stage we were in at the time, I thought we should try to recreate it with Coop and Cass.

Well, all I have to say is…..

Good thing there’s no audio!

After several attempts at setting the timer and running, and kids poking other kids, and certain little boys who wanted their sippy cups in the picture, and certain big boys who didn’t see the need for retakes, this is what we came up with.

And I love this one too.

I love Cooper’s confused expression and I love Cassidy’s shut eyes! What a great big cheesy smile! Allie and Kara have definitely grown up a lot in the last couple of years.

But taking this picture was NOTHING compared to taking the next picture.

And its really a good thing that there was no audio for this ‘photo shoot’.

It probably would have improved the situation had I been a little more prepared. Our ward does a breakfast Christmas party each year. As we were getting ready to head over to the ward party, I realized that we all looked fairly cute. I grabbed my camera as we were running out the door. (yea! so glad to have a camera again. I looovve my camera. Now I don’t have any more excuses!)

It’s a good thing that the ward party was so early this year because it gave me some time to work on a Christmas card. But because it was so early, I almost didn’t remember the party at all. It really snuck up on me.

After the Christmas party, we drove over to Desert Shores. Now, remember that this was very last minute. So last minute that all I had was the camera. Nothing else at all.

Desert Shores has many pretty shooting locations. I have shot there several times over the last several years. We did Allie’s baptism pictures there too. Its great because the water makes a really nice background and there are so many trees and green areas all year round. But the one problem, and it can be a big problem, are the birds. There are so many geese and ducks and birds and they are used to people so they come right up to you. It can be very intimidating to little kids. And because they are everywhere, so are their droppings. Everywhere.

So here we are at Desert Shores. Aggressive Ducks everywhere. Poop everywhere. A family of 6 people with 2 scared little kids and 1 annoyed husband. And no tripod.

This was kind of a big problem.

There was nothing to place the camera on to set the timer and run. I tried talking Paul into taking the seats of the van so I could use it as a make-shift tripod. He wasn’t going for it. Probably better that we didn’t- I’m sure the ducks would have enjoyed it too much.

So we parked on the side of the road and opened the doors of the van. I used whatever I could find in the van to prop the camera up on the seat. I put everyone in place and then I set the timer.

Yes- that is part of my backside. (I deleted the full frame shots)

And yes, that is part of the van door and a duck that would not get the hint.

I felt like it was too zoomed out so I cropped it an for the next shot.

And I missed our heads altogether.

So in between me running back and forth to fix the zoom or readjust the camera angle, everyone was getting sidetracked. The ducks were getting close and Paul was sick of kneeling. One kid stepped in something. There was crying. I was getting stuck in between car seats as I tried to balance the camera. The camera would sometimes take the picture before I ran from the car to my place. Another kid stepped in something.

And there was yelling. From me. Maybe yelling is to strong a word. How about strongly suggesting people stay where I put them? Yeah, that sounds better.

When we left, I evaluated the experience with the family. We all, including Paul, decided that Paul was the worst behaved! At least we were all on the same page.

And it is definitely a memory. And we managed to laugh and have fun during an overly frustrating experience.

And I did my Christmas card.

Mission Accomplished!