February

February

February is a busy month for us usually. We have a lot going on in way of holidays. This strange winter has kept us on our toes. I felt a lot more of the seasonal depression because I was kept inside so much by the rain, but a couple times this month we had some heavy snowfalls. We both feel pretty confident downhill skiing now. We can do all of the blue runs, and can make it down a couple of the well groomed blacks. I'm still a wuss about trying to go off trail and I'm not a fan of the moguls yet. More practice I guess.

We literally had to dig out a pathway for the car because it was so stuck in the snow. The truck had a flat, but after we dug it out we went skiing! Chair 6.

We did plenty of Cross country skiing too to wear out those pups. It's amazing how well my xc skiing improved going down the Nordic trail which is all up and downhill with twists and turns and either my balance improved or I've learned how to control my xc skis. It's easy peasy and so much fun.

Don't you just love those cheesy grins?

Chasing sunset

On one of the nice sunny days that didn't have snow, we walked out to the teepee and enjoyed consuming vitamin D through the skin without taking a pill. ha ha.

Aaron and I celebrated three years together on the 12th. We backpacked

 out to Barber Cabin to celebrate. Unfortunately, we were going through a cold front, so it was only 7 degrees out as we hiked in our 4 miles. The waterbottles froze almost instantly and Aaron had so much frost on his beard it looked like he had grown a beard of grey hair. The hike in wasn't too bad, but we got there just as it was getting dark and the cabin was frozen over. It was obvious no one had been there in a while. They keep a pile of wood next to the wood burning stove but it was all frosted over and the cabin was so flippin cold. The lighter wouldn't work because it was too cold, so thankfully we had brought some waterproof matches that we were trying desperately to light frozen wood with. I've never wished for lighter fluid more. Kodi was over in the corner freezing her tushy off because she had decided to go swimming in the river, so we bundled her in a sleeping bag and after a heartfelt prayer got to work. It took us about an hour or two to get the fire started and another four hours before we could no longer see our breath in the cabin. We discussed hiking back out so many times, but the trail was icy and hard to find and I didn't have any cleats and we didn't want to get lost in the below zero weather. We dragged a bench right next to the stove and played Phase 10 with our feet on the side of it. After cards, we asked each other questions we had never really talked about, some silly, some serious. It's amazing what a bonding experience it is to be scared and afraid and overcoming that task together. Some of our worst experiences have become our best stories. About 1am it started to snow and it warmed the outside air enough that the cabin got really cozy. We still slept with a dog in each sleeping bag, but it turned out to be a really fun anniversary.

Reflections on Turnagain Arm

Starting out the hike

We had to walk across lower Russian Lake, but because there wasn't any snow you could see right down to the bottom. It was so crazy scary. I kept expecting to see an alien pop its face out at me. There were cracks and frozen bubbles. It was pretty but it was groaning and creaking. If we couldn't see that it was more than a foot thick we would have been really nervous to cross. I guess there were some otters that swim around there but we didn't see them. Only a couple of eagles.

Made it!

  Aaron turned 27 this year on the 22nd. I bought him a new NASCAR game he has been wanting, and we went out to dinner with Jennifer and Drew at Jack Sprats. He is so gorgeous and amazing and I am so happy to be married to this guy! He's not quite as good of a mechanic as his dad, but he can fix pretty much anything that needs it. Happy Birthday Love!

Valentines Day. That romantic holiday...for everyone else. I did get to work up in the Summit Room giving couples massages all day. I also stole one or two of the heart truffles we give out too-don't tell anyone. Aaron and I felt our mutual love should be expressed somehow, so we got each other a box of conversation hearts and shared a bag of heart reeses. Done and done. Check love off the list of Valentines for these two lovebirds.

Sadie was barking like crazy outside and I thought she was just playing with the hound dog that lives down the road, but there were two moose just hanging out in our yard. I'm glad they didn't seem bothered by her, but we made her come back up onto the deck just in case.

There was a scheduled power outage that shut down the turbines at the resort, so Aaron had to stay at the resort until 4am. It paid off though, because he saw the Northern Lights as he was coming home. He took some pictures out in the driveway and I watched from our wonderful windows (two walls and part of the ceiling are windows-not so great for privacy but great for stargazing). I literally could lay out on the couch and watch from the warmth of our home. It was nice! I'm going to miss this place.