This weekend we started a new tradition-going out and finding our Christmas tree in the forest.  My sister and brother-in-law have done this for years and I knew that when we moved here that I wanted to get in on the tradition.

We drove up to McCall on Friday (it’s about a 2 hour drive) and then woke up on Saturday to go find our tree!  We bought our permit, rented our snow shoes, and set out to find the perfect tree.

It didn’t start off so well…

But it quickly turned around:

We hiked down hills with saws:

Staked out the perfect trees:

Got one! (We were on the lookout for four):

Got two! (Look at that stud):

Got three!

We still hadn’t found OUR perfect tree.  We went on the hunt and saw one on our way back, WAY down the hill.  Shaun got on the sled to get down to it and proclaimed that it was THE PERFECT tree.  He cut it down and got it back up the hill (with the help of my brother-in-law).

We were a happy family:

It’s the tree standing up behind us.  We stuck it in the snow and we’re below it.  It was still 10 feet and when we got it home we had to trim it down a bit.

Here she is on top of the car:

And outside our house:

That’s one beautiful tree!  Pretty trees that are under 12 feet are hard to find out in the forest.  They are few and far between.  We totally lucked out.

When we got home, we put the tree in the house (you should smell it in here!) and decorated with Christmas music going.  Lu LOVED it.  It was the first year that she’s really understood Christmas and got into it.  We had such a nice night. 

Shaun just came upstairs and proclaimed, “I love our tree.  This is the best Christmas yet!”

I think I need some more ornaments since I’ve never had a big tree before. My old tree topper also won’t work because it’s too skinny to fit on top of the tree.  Expect to see some improvements .

I agree with Shaun though, this IS the best Christmas yet!

We woke up yesterday to this:

Over 8 inches of snow. We had to get Lu in her snowsuit just to get her out to the car.

All the schools were closed and I headed over to my sister’s house to work so that she could help watch Lu.

Look at the North End!

In true snow day fashion, we had to get out and play in the snow.  Doesn’t it look like fun?

Who is that man?

She cheered up once we started throwing snow at her?!?!?!  Weird kid.

See, Frosty isn’t so bad!

Tessa made a snow angel.

With a little help:

Isn’t it pretty?

Frosty thinks so.  Can’t you feel his excitement!?

Now that we’ve been having real winter weather-weather that is NOT NORMAL for Boise, I get asked a lot if I miss California and it’s “great” weather.  I can honestly say that I do not.  There is something SO RIGHT to me about four seasons.  Even though I grew up in California and only had 2 seasons (Cold/Rainy and Hot/Beautiful), I really love four seasons.  I think that the snow is beautiful and fun.  I’m a little miffed that it’s heating up today and getting to 40.  We’re getting rain-BOO! 

This snow has also made me realize that I really am my father’s daughter.  He loves watching the weather and SO DO I.  I drive my husband nuts with how much I want to watch the news and look at the weather online and on my phone. Weather is cool! Right?

Another thing that this weather has made me realize is that I really like to shovel snow.  A LOT.  My friend Megan (who just started an awesome new blog) describes it perfectly.

Anyway, that’s a very long winded way to say that I’m loving this weather and the thought of moving back to California does not sound appealing at all.

This looks like one happy family!

Ask me again in February…

It has been COLD and snowy here in Boise.  The coldest I’ve seen is 1* on our outdoor thermometer and we’ve had snow on the ground since Monday. We woke up today to more snow!  There was a Christmas parade and the Farmer’s Market in Downtown Boise this morning so we bundled up and went!  Call us crazy

Lu in the car, ready to go!

Don’t the girls look happy?

Wouldn’t you be ecstatic if your Mom dragged you out to watch a line of Minis?

No? How about a snowman! On a Harley!

Really?  Are you having fun yet? Maybe not:

(I think my dear daughter is thinking “EFF YOU MOM.  This SUCKS!”)

The marching band that made both my sister and I start crying-they always do-WTF is up with that?!?!?!

Dancers…sort of dancing…

Isn’t this fun? Well at least there are candy canes!

(“Really Mom?  Really?  Even this candy cane can’t make me smile.”)

Cool old car:

These people said “EFF IT!” and put up there hard top.  How awesome is this car?!?

This float was so sad.  The characters were all falling over because of the snow

Horse-in a a blizzard! (not really)

We ended up going to a Vietnamese place for Pho and watching the rest of the parade from the window.  We saw Santa, sorta…The girls said they had fun or something like that…

  While we were doing that.  Daddy was out mountain biking.  No really!

He had a blast!  So did we-no really we did!

I’m loving the seasons here.  We’ll see if I say that in January or February or March….

WOW!  I had a FABULOUS birthday and weekend.  I took the day off on Friday and went to the spa.  I got a massage and facial.  The facial was absolutely amazing.  I was in another state of consciousness during that facial.

Friday night was my BIRTHDAY PARTY!

My sister, Willy, and Shaun REALLY outdid themselves.  Check out this gluten free and mostly milk free cake:

Numerous people commented that it was the best CAKE (not the best Gluten Free Cake but best CAKE) they have ever had.  My sister hit this one out of the park.

Her house looked gorgeous:

The food was all gluten free and AMAZING. As were the flowers.

They even sang to me!

The Margaritas were STRONG and good!

Everyone kinda looked like this by the end of the night:

Ahh, that’s better:

(Luke evidently doesn’t know how to use zoom )

The happy hostess:

My piece with dairy free ice cream! (She thought of everything peeps!)

It was seriously the best party I have EVER been to.  NO joke.  I love all my friends-new and old.  This really is home.

The next day we woke up to snow!

Not a lot, but snow none the less.

Yesterday, I hosted Megan’s baby shower!

(My sister strikes again!)

Presents!

This one cracks me up.

Mommy and Grandma Mikey

11 years after moving in next door to each other at Porter.  Go Banana Slugs!

My co-host

Megan is going to be such a wonderful Mommy.  Baby Loaf is one lucky kid!  I feel so fortunate that I got to host the shower and do something nice for Megan and Luke.  They are truly wonderful friends and I’m so thankful that we live 3 miles away from each other!

More snow fell during the party.

And we woke up this morning to this:

And here’s Lucy telling Mommy: “Lotsa snow Mama! Lostsa snow!”

The weatherman is predicting 5-10 inches by Tuesday night.  Wednesday it’s supposed to be sunny but the high is 15 and the low is 4.  It appears that we are NOT in California anymore!

Next up?  Thanksgiving for 12.  You should see my ham.