A Bright and Glorious Day...

Wednesday began bright, icy, and very, very BEAUTIFUL.  

It was also very, very cold....I am digging this look that both Michele and I were trying to pull off in the hot tub with temps hovering around zero... I call it the "Mrs. Claus" effect - I think I'll ask Christi if we can do that for a permanent color.... ;)

Whitley could not WAIT to get out and play in the snow.  

We were all smiles - the person that was NOT....was Michael.  That poor guy had picked up the same stomach virus that Brayden contracted on Christmas night.   Only, as an adult it was much more severe for him.  Michele peeked in and checked on him as much as she could through the day, but the rest of us did not a catch a sight of him on Tuesday.  

Compared to pulling Whitley in the sled in the freshly fallen snow, pulling her on a semi-grooved trail - particularly with Michele pulling too, it was practically effortless.  

On our girls' walk - this crew drove by.  John had taken them to Sunriver Village...

Where they indulged in a "little" cinnamon roll goodness.  :)

 This pic is now the wallpaper on my cell phone.  =)

We could have walked a lot longer if not for the temperature and biting winds.  BRRRRRR!

A panorama of the house we stayed at this year.  Not too shabby... 

And, such sweet Christmas-like decor built in!  

Whitley very much enjoyed throwing the snow up to fall upon herself. 

Once we got her inside, she decided to wrap some special surprises up in the gift boxes left lying around.  

And, by "special surprises", I mean Froot Loops.  

Surprise!

With all that free time, we figured we'd get her busy helping with dinner.  It was Michele's turn to make the main dish - "Chicken Pot Pie".  So, Michele taught her how to flute the pie crust.  

This is our menu - it hasn't changed much over the last decade.  

It's mostly just a guide, but Brayden, this year, thought it should have been much more strictly adhered to.  If it says, "Breakfast Burritos", then by golly, that boy expected Breakfast Burritos to be hot and ready for him to eat at whatever magic time he felt the desire to come downstairs and grace us with his presence.  Which sometimes could be late in the day, because, why would you want to leave this pit of squalor "Man Cave"?  (Note the trash can we set between them that clearly they need a tutorial on how to use...)

Needless to say, we weren't waiting with aprons on and steaming food on a tray for them each morning (afternoon?!) - because, well, we are all on vacation.  And, don't get me started about how these kids didn't contribute one iota to kitchen or any other kind of clean up through the week.... 

 

Anyway, that is all the set up for these pictures.  After a little complaining on Brayden's part regarding the inconsistency of the menu, the boys were "strongly encouraged" to make their own dinner.  Which, for them, means their own Breakfast Burrito (a favorite at any point in the day).  They've actually gotten really good at putting it all together - and work well at this task - so I had to preserve the moment to prove it really can happen. 

While we didn't see Michael, Michele assured us that by night time, he was done throwing up and actually craving some real food.  (She delivered him some chicken pot pie).  While it was a bummer day for him, the rest of us enjoyed the abundance of snow and sunshine.