during the winter there is never a lack of excitement at the cabin.

we were trying to drive out on wednesday so i could get to a church meeting, parents could visit grandparents, go grocery shopping, etc. that didn't happen. it had snowed at least 12 inches and the truck was doing ok until we got to the turn at the top of a hill and it would just slide into a snow bank.

my dad gets a wee bit intense in the situations. typically us kids just do what he says, when he says. colton did not just sit back and listen to orders. he thought his plan was better than my dad's. which led to interesting conversations between the two :)

nelson showing the amount of snow the truck had been plowing through in our attempt to get out.

we shoveled away the wall the truck was stuck in. shoveled to try and level the road a bit. inserted boards and sand for the truck to drive on and got it out on the first real try. as my dad said, "that went a lot easier than i thought". i guess if you've dug away the entire road then it gets a little easier.

here are the champions with the car removal/saving tools.

so about the same time we were trying to leave a tree fell on a power line and took out both the power and phone lines. so we were unable to communication with the outside world and slept in a cabin that got down to 44 degrees during the night.

nelson, colton and i hiked out then next day and caught a ski bus down. oh how exciting :)

p.s. yes my dad did wear a santa baseball cap throughout the entire dilemma.

for shaw shaw of co co.

merry christmas!!

so nycole and i rent a studio apartment my aunt has above the garage. we love it. here are some pics.

we share a room.

i used these tutorials 1 & 2 to do the above dressers. knobs are scavenged from anthro of course (i managed to get most on clearance).

the bedroom doesn't have a closet so we have two clothes racks that we use. the dresser was my great grandmother's which i got to take over from valery who originally inherited it (woot woot :)

i love the dresser top. random orange tree to hold necklaces? check. awesome photo of poppies given by lamia? check. box made with vintage paris maps by alex? check. gorgeous frame with message that i am "the breast" by jessique? check. color me mine bowl depicting downtown feng yuan and the tunnel of death massacre? check.

party of the christmas variety

so nycole and i had a little christmas party last thursday. we definitely enjoyed it :) we put up tons of lights, got a tree up and decorated and served a delightful spread of food.

rolo pecan pretzels

chocolate peppermint crinkle cookies
red velvet cupcakes!

avocado bean dip

cranberry, cilantro, jalepeno, cream cheese dip (nycole has a name for this which i've forgotten)

and punch

b the w. the cranberry-cilantro-jalepeno-cream cheese dip is fantastic i couldn't get enough of it. i'll have to have nycole jot down the recipe so i can share.

yay for parties and yay for chrismas :)

i think the niece and nephew will appreciate this.

so each year i read atlas shrugged again...just because i love it so much. and this video is hilarious!! hehehe.

i am missing these babes something fierce!!

[pic stolen from sister's blog ]

christmas lights at temple square.

i kept thinking i just need to get through with my church's christmas party. well now i just need to get through collecting the auction money and buying christmas for the spanish branch. whew.

i have ripening avocados and nachos are now all i think about...

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