Merry Christmas

Anneli testing out her walking legs. She took 10 steps the other day! She has to be in the right mood though because she hasn't attempted to walk since.




Well we had another fun and exciting Christmas. This year Anneli joined in on some of the excitement. My sister and brother-in-law came with their little girl Anneke. It was fun having the two cousins together.




Anneli giving her cousin kisses



Anneli wasn't exactly thrilled with getting a crockpot for Christmas....she'll just have to wait and see what comes out of it.

Still snowing

Well the snow storms are still blowing in. We now have 18 inches of snow! The next storm is scheduled for Christmas Eve. Our compact cars are buried but my dad is still getting around with the truck. He's been running errands for friends that can't get out. Taking care of the animals is more of a challenge. Yesterday there was a layer of ice on top of a foot of snow and each step my boots would get stuck it didn't help that I was carrying a 50# bag of feed. But I have been asking for snow every year for my birthday for many years and this year we had an abundance of it.




cold cuts




I think there's a car under there?

Fun in the snow

This is in our front yard a few days ago. We now have over a foot of snow in some places! This picture was taken before Anneli started crying. She doesn't care much to be out in the snow but enjoys staying in by the fire. Every once in awhile I'll hear her say "doooohh" which is her word for the white fluffy stuff outside.It has been blizzard conditions today and none of us feel much like venturing out in it. Looks like we will have a white Christmas!

Anneli sledding up at Mt Hood

Anniversary!!

On Tuesday we celebrated our 2nd anniversary. We started the day off by heading up to Mt. Hood where Hunter had made reservations at Timberline Lodge. Anneli slept most of the way there and when she opened her eyes we were almost to the top. As she peaked out the window she had a very puzzled look on her face as she saw everything covered with snow. Then her little face lit up with a huge smile. We spent most of the first day in the lodge sipping hot chocolate and admiring the scenery. I had forgotten how close Timberline Lodge is to the very top of the mountain. It was a beautiful sunset, we were up above the clouds and as the sun went down all of the clouds lit up in an amazing array of colors.
On Wednesday we went out exploring and since the winter snows hadn't hit there hardest, we were able to drive into the national parks. We stopped at Clearwater Lake. Hunter describe it as being so quiet it was loud. Ice had formed around the edge and when you picked it up and threw it across the lake it made cool sound.We moved on and pulled into the next park but after driving for about 25 minutes and not seeing any lake we turned around. It was a beautiful drive so not all was lost. We headed back to civilization and had some lunch and the took Anneli sledding, I think Hunter and I actually had more fun pulling Anneli than she did riding. She was a good sport though. We headed back this morning....it was a good trip...Oh and I don't know why this section of the post was made a link but i couldn't reverse it so try to ignore .