Snowbird

One of the favorite weeks of the year is SNOWBIRD!  We are excited the Buxton's will be here again sans Hayden who is on his mission.  We are also really excited to stay in our new room next door to the Bunkall's in 1010. Because of a conflict, we would be delayed in beginning our vacation, Jill was invited to a stake leadership dinner party so we had dinner Saturday night before going to Iron Blosam.  Thankfully Logan can drive so he took the children up the mountain to hang out with family and start the vacation early.  It's a little strange to send out children off like this, but it's really convenient.  Jill and I had a nice dinner visiting with others from the Stake and then made it up the mountain to check in. 

Snowbird church is always really great.  Our boys were able to help pass the sacrament and participate.  

The annual family picture on the deck of the Snowbird Center turned out nicely. 

With our new view on the balcony, I borrowed my dad's spotting scope to watch for wildlife across the mountain.  It was so fun looking at all the animals, even people on the nature trail. 

Often we celebrate Jill's birthday with the Bunkall's at Snowbird, and this year was no different.  We sang and she opened presents and we ate a delicious dinner. 

Jill's favorite game lately has been Wacky 6.  The birthday girl got to play her favorite game. 

Alyssa and McKenna BFF's. 

I took a family picture on our deck and sent it to Cherry Cushing the person we bought our timeshare from. 

On our nature trail hike we got photo bombed by Jenn and Dave. 

This year has been my favorite years of Snowbird.  We had terrific views from our new room and I was able to go on a daily morning runs/hikes in the mountains.  I ran to the top of Hidden Peak one day and met a couple who told me about a cool way down.  The bicycles don't start using the trails until 10:00 a.m., so I ran down on the bicycle trails and it was such a beautiful trail run.  I didn't take water and hydrated at the top of the Hidden Peak, but the run down made for a really long run I wasn't quite prepared for.  It was so fun. 

There is a deer on this ridge, you can barely see from my picture. 

The all day activity pass is a family favorite.  The children are all gettin old enough to go do things on their own.  We caught up with them enough to get some pictures.  

The ropes course is fun and pretty simple. 

Jill gets really nervous, and she faced her fear and did a terrific job going through the course. 

Together we all took the tram to the top of Hidden Peak (for my 2nd time today) and looked around. 

The next day we hiked to lake Katheryn.  We all had a nice hike and got to see some moose bathing in the water along the way. 

As we got to the top of the mountain, I saw my running friends coming down the mountain.  They stopped and told me where they started and it sounded like a nice trail, so I'll have to run it later.  We took some pictures form the top looking down on lake Katheryn. 

The next day our family hiked to the top of Hidden Peak.  The children enjoy the hike, but they also like to complain about how hard it is.  After getting started, we had a terrific time hiking to the top. 

The benefit of this hike is we were able to ride the tram down and get a refreshing drink. After a long hot hike, it's always nice to cool off in the pool! 

From earlier in the week my running friends told me about a great hike/run.  I decided to go for it.  It got crazy steep in some places, but it was so amazing.  I was all alone and had some amazing views.  It was really unbelievable to look down on lake Mary, Martha, and Katheryn and can't wait to do this again next year. 

Along the way I scaled some hard core steep rocks and ran/hiked along this ridge.  Had something happened to me, nobody would have found me for days.  I need to wear a tracking device so people can know where I am. This is my new favorite run at Snowbird.  

The kids all played games and spent a lot of fun time with cousins. 

We love Snowbird and can't wait to go back next year.