Colonial Day

 Colonial Day was probably one of the last big "dress up" days of the twins elementary school career (cue the tears).  Thankful Harper's dress and bonnet still fit from 3rd grade.  Not sure how because she has shot up in height but she made it work and looked adorable!  Baseball pants and socks were perfect for J's costume.  Such a fun day making candles, playing old school games, crafting silhouette portraits, etc.

Love my Colonial duo and their 5th grade friends!

Happy 11th Bday J&H

Happy 11th birthday Jackson and Harper!  Where has time gone?!?!?  You two have grown and matured so much this past year!  Its exciting and sad to this mama all at once.  My babies are growing up but thankfully they are becoming strong, independent and successful young adults!  

J&H spent their actual birthday driving home from our ski trip but they came home to the birthday fairies shenanigans!  She always knows how to make these two feel special!

Jackson, you are such a confident, independent, smart and determined young man!  You work extremely hard in everything you do and it definitely shows, not just in your sports but also at school and life in general.  You are witty and still nicknamed " Giggles" because of your contagious laugh.  You are respectful and always so helpful.  You are always the first to say please and thank you, which makes this mama heart proud!  You love to hang with the adults and can hold your own on all the conversations.  You are an amazing son, grandson, classmate, student, teammate and friend!  We are so proud of you and no doubt you will do big things!!!  

Harper, you are so kind, have such a big heart, patient and so understanding!  You love your family and friends big and create such special relationships with your closest friends!  You are so creative and talented artistically.  You have really started taking interest in your appearance and spend hours in the bathroom working on your hair, nails and makeup.  You are amazing with hair!  You have taught yourself how to braid like the best!  You have shot up in height and are now almost as tall as me.  You are maturing into such a beautiful girl both on the inside and outside!  We love you so much and love watching you do amazing things!

 

Ski Purgatory

The kids had almost two full weeks off after Christmas so we loaded up the car and hit the slopes for a last minute ski trip at Purgatory Ski Resort in Colorado!  We had the absolute BEST week skiing with some of our neighbor friends  (Hills, Campbells and Jennings) and made so many amazing memories!  The kids blew us away skiing!  It had been a few years since we last took them skiing but they picked it up immediately and were flying down the slopes with no fear!  They left me in their dust, which I was 100% okay with!  

We stopped in Santa Fe, NM for a night on the way to Durango.  We explored the town and ate at the famous Shed.  We left with full tummies and mouths on fire from the spice!

the kids were all tired from the drive and crashed at dinner . . . j/k they were playing a game to entertain themselves

The next morning we loaded back up and were off to Durango!  Nothing says ski town like a good local brewery!

Durango got a _____ feet of snow a few days before our arrival!  We were all excited about the fresh powder for skiing but we weren't prepared for the crazy driving conditions getting to our rental house!   The Miller car was the lead car heading to our house and unfortunately we got stuck on our way up and had to be towed out!   We were told by the man towing our car that none of our 4WD vehicles would make it up the steep incline to our house without chains!  So after hours of getting "unstuck" we all made the 40 min drive back to Durango on the hunt for chains!  Thankfully after 5+ stops we all found chains and were ready to conquer the drive . . . but first the dads had to YouTube how to put on the chains . . .

Once all the chains were on the dads had a pow-wow on the order and timing for sending cars up  . . . I refused to go first this time!!!  The dads were all our heroes!

We finally made it to the house at 10:30pm . . . what a LONG DAY!!!!  The house was 100% worth the hassle.  It was beyond amazing and the perfect space for our 3 families for the week!  We had planned on a spaghetti dinner the first night, and although it was late we still made it happen!  We had to carb up for our first day of skiing!

Rise and shine it's ski time!!!  What a beautiful view to wake up to each morning!

The best group of ski bums!!!  These 7 skied so well together!

The first morning the kids all did ski school together.   It wasn't long before they were on the lift and shredding the mountain!

We loved our days skiing but the evenings at the house were just as amazing! We spent the evenings cooking dinners, making cocktails, playing lots of games, soaking in the hot tub and chilling together!

Mase cozied up in the theatre room to end his evenings!

The girls were in heaven in their bunk room with their matching pjs!  

These three littles couldn't get enough of the snow!  They were building forts and making snowballs all night long!

We celebrated Jackson and Harper's 11th birthday a night early since we would be driving home on the actual day.  Can't beat a birthday celebration on vacation, in the mountains with friends!  I think this could be a fun birthday tradition to start!

Purgatory you were a blast and we hope to be back!  It was the perfect mountain for our family and had runs for us all (including the extra cautious me)!  We couldn't have asked for better company either!  The kids all got along amazingly and of course us parents did as well!  The perfect ending to our Christmas break!