Favorite Pictures of 2014

Apostle Islands Ice Caves

Lani with a family friend

Amy in a ski race

Me and a friend at a scrapbook retreat

Rachel, Cailin, & Andrew

Photo by Emily Hedstrom

Lani

Kiah and Dayton

Cailin

The last of my son's 4 close friends from High School got married. 

(photos by Jake's wedding photographer)

Andrew was the first to get married, Jake was the last

 My son is the giant

He who finds a wife, finds a good thing

Four Generation Picture

My dad, my son, my granddaughter

Anna, Lani, and Amy

Lani on her 16th birthday

Look who turned 18

Erica flew home from Texas for the first weekend in December

And there you have it. 2014 is a wrap. 

Looking forward to what the next year has in store. 

Front Page News

"It's more fun,when you're not the only one having it."

--anonymous-- 

Second year in a row that Amy (on the left) got her picture on the front page of our local newspaper. Last year for a polar plunge. This year for a cross-country ski race where a newspaper reporter considered Amy's wacky outfit front page worthy. She wore wild ski tights and a multi-colored Tutu with glittered stars glued on the bottom. Her tutu and stars don't show up very well in the picture, but her smile definitely does.

The newspaper titled their picture, "Tutu Cute."

They titled themselves, "Team Tutulicious."

The few sentences about Amy are part of a larger article:
     “We get people outdoors and celebrate winter and we have fun,” Coach Liphart said.

As if to illustrate just that, Anna Nutt, Washburn High School freshman and club skier, hobbles by in her ski boots — wearing a blue tutu.

“We have a costume award,” Reed explains.

“Normally, I dress crazy in the first place because I like weird exotic things,” says Nutt.

Friend and fellow club skier Amy Vik — also donning a tutu — said the two just like to be “goofy.”

“And the reactions on people’s faces — totally worth it,” Vik said.

But, it’s all business on the cross country ski course, says Nutt.“We try to ski normal. We just look weird,” she said.

The two entered the 8K classic ski race which gives them a chance to touch up on technique for next week's big race. Both will compete in the state competitive skate and classic cross-country ski races next Saturday in Rhinelander. The two have been skiing for three to four years through 4H-CANSKI.

 The full article can be read by clicking here. 

Today I am linking up with Lori with Think Quotes

Book Across the Bay - Pt. 2

A funny thing happened when Christina posted her Book Across the Bay pictures on Facebook.

Christina had bought a pair of Yaktrax to keep her boots from slipping on the ice. She finished the race and noticed she'd lost her right Yaktrax. She looked everywhere she could think of but no Yaktrax. She went back the next day to look and called Lost and Found but no Yaktrax. 

When she posted this picture on Facebook,

A friend commented,"Christina, Look at your Yaktrax."

So we all looked, and sure enough, there it was laying on the ground by the left sign post. (You have to look real close to see it)

So being young and invincible, the friend picked her up and they drove out on the ice at midnight to look but it wasn't there anymore. 

Another friend found a blue one and gave it to Christina. Wouldn't it be funny if the person who lost the blue one found her green one and they now have matching pairs?

When Christina checked with Lost & Found about her Yaktrax, she discovered they had Kiah's missing camera. We got the camera back yesterday and enjoyed seeing our BATB pictures. 

 Lani

Amy and friend from church

Lani and Kiah

Enjoying our "cool experience"

In looking closer at the race results I saw that only 22 people came in after me. How embarrassing. But at least I wasn't last.

The Fearless Four

I know people are getting tired of winter so I apologize for one more winter post, but I thought these pictures were kind of cute and couldn't resist.

We're so blessed to live a 35 minutes from Mt. Ashwabay Ski Hill. "Ashwabay" is a combination of the three closest towns: Ashland, Washburn, and Bayfield. Ashwabay is very family-friendly, within driving distance, and affordable.

I grew up in Northern California where it rarely snowed. Closest ski places were five hours away at Tahoe and Squaw Valley. My family didn't have money to ski. None of my friends skiied either.

We lived in Colorado for many years but couldn't afford to ski there.

But this we can afford. We have a season's family pass, which for a family our size is a great deal. We were loaned one pair of skis and were given another set. The other two girls got a seasons rental pass. We know there are bigger, better ski hills but Ashwabay works well for us.

Our girls went to ski school this winter, which is nine Saturday morning group ski lessons. They had a ball and learned so much. The teachers were wonderfully helpful and encouraging.

My four skiers and two friends

The girls are light years ahead of me. I look at the bunny hill and think it looks steep. This is the second year I've watched them ski without working up the courage to try it myself. Don't hold your breath, but Keith and I said maybe we'd try next year.

My girls make their Momma nervous at times but I don't want them to be chicken-hearted like me. I like to do safe things like blogging and making granola. Sliding fast down snowy hills looks scary. Maybe I'll just close my eyes.

Ski School has races the last day of class. Each contestant skis a course one at a time and whoever has the best time wins.

Erica

Anna

Amy

Lani

Ski School teaches them to ski first without poles. This is Lani's second year without poles.

Most of our snow is melted so skiing is done for this year.

This is my last winter post, I promise.

Be sure to enter my Blogaversary giveaway. Click here for details.

Embracing Winter

I apologize for the recent rash of winter posts, but my attitude towards winter is gradually changing.

Two winters ago Keith got a wild hare (hair?) and took us to Colorado for New Year's weekend. I love Colorado but we normally go in summer. For years he's wanted to go to the big hot pool in Glenwood Springs when there's snow on the ground
.
Hmm. I had my doubts.

So we drove in icky weather to get to Colorado, then double icky weather to get up in the mountains, had to stay an extra day because a snowstorm closed the interstate,

and as we're sitting with frozen hair in a steaming hot pool with outside temps in the single digits,

watching lifeguards waddle around in snowpants and parkas, I thought, "You know, this isn't so bad." Sort of felt like we had cheated winter somehow.

Last year Keith signed the girls up for 9 weeks of ski lessons.

So this former California girl, who rarely saw temps less than 40, noticed that Wisconsinites don't sit around complaining about weather.

They embrace it.
All five months of it.

So far the girls have tried:

Dog Sleds


Snowmobiles
Downhill Skiing

Cross Country Skiing
Ice Skating
Hockey


Sleigh Rides
Sledding

We still need to try:
Ice Fishing
Snowshoeing
Winter Camping
Ice Races
Ice Road
Ice Caves

Goodness, winter isn't long enough.

So build a snowman, grab a sled, and embrace what's left of winter.

Why Is Snow White?

I've pondered this of late. My kids look at me and say, "Who cares?"

But how can a person get to be 50 without ever stopping to wonder how the cold stuff piled outside as far as the eye can see gets its white color? I mean snow is crystallized water and water is clear.

I've googled this and don't understand the answers. Can someone interpret this explanation from Discoveryonline. com to someone who lost a lot of brain cells raising seven kids?

"Photons, or light particles, come in a rainbow of colors. When photons encounter an object (a mirror, a black dog, an apple), they may have various reactions: They may bounce back (reflect). They may bounce sideways (scatter). They may pass right through (transmission). Or they may assault a molecule in the object, give up their energy and die (absorption).

Individual wavelengths, or shades of color, may react differently to the same object: An apple looks red because most of the colors in the light spectrum are absorbed by the apple. (Kudos to those who are still reading. Are your eyes glazing over yet?)

That said, why is snow white? The answer lies in snow's messy construction. A beam of white sunlight entering a snow bank is so quickly scattered by a zillion ice crystals and air pockets that most of it comes zinging right back out of the snow bank. No one wavelength is preferentially absorbed or reflected, so snow is essentially the color of the sunlight reflecting off it -- white."

Crystal clear isn't it? Or is it just me?

Oh well. Even if I don't understand why snow is white, I know the girls enjoy skiing on it.


And the girls lost to the boys in a snowball fight after church on Sunday.

And the snow ice cream the girls made this week tasted great.

And it was white. Very white.

Viks Sweep Ski Awards

The girls did great at last Saturday's ski races. Erica and Anna got First, Amy got 3rd and Lani came in 5th. Now if the whole truth were known, Erica and Anna were the only competitors in their age groups, Amy had three in her age group, and poor Lani had eight girls in hers. Lani actually got a better time than Amy, but that's the way it goes.

Saturday's weather was gorgeous. The girls got hot and kept shedding layers. The middle girl pictured above is Anna Nutt, a church, homeschool, and skiing buddy.

We've been blessed with the girl's ski lessons. Their instructors have been so helpful and encouraging. We can't say enough good things about them. Erica is the fastest, Anna distinguished herself by skiing into a tree, Amy is by far the most cautious, and Lani is a daredevil and proud of it.

Five Reasons Not to Ski into a Tree

By Erica

Now I thought this was pretty self-explanatory, but I guess Anna decided to go against age-old wisdom and skiied into a tree. Now of course she did it beautifully, clean lines and everything...but even with that point scoring she still needs to read my Top Five Reasons Not to Ski into a Tree...

1. You won't move the Tree, the Tree will move you

2. Facial abrasions and concussions are so last season

3. Besides losing face (literally), you will be banned from anything remotely involving skis, trails, and trees, which pretty much rules out everywhere in Northern Wisconsin

4. Parents get upset for some reason

5. Environmentalists just might burn you alive