In Between Christmas and New Years

Part 4: In Between

In between Christmas and New Years we crammed in a lot of fun. There was a ton of snow and we definitely enjoyed it.  It was nice to get out into the great outdoors instead of being cooped up inside the house. Sandpoint, Idaho is absolutely gorgeous no matter what the season.

One day we got all bundled up and decided to walk across the famous Long Bridge that crosses over Lake Pend Oreille. It was freezing and snowing like crazy but it felt great!!

It was a long hike and a great workout especially walking through all that deep snow and the scenery couldn't be beat!! The lake was gorgeous.

The company was even better!!

We watched a bunch of movies, watched the Seahawks game, played a ton of board games, did some shopping, lots of eating, and tons of laughing. One day we watched the movie Chef and then decided we had to make some cubanos for ourselves. The next day we made our own using the recipe from the movie and some newly purchased panini makers. They were delish. A Japanese movie was watched and Meki made some Japanese fried tofu for all of us. We watched some kid and family type movies and made our family's traditional movie night snacks...hot buttered cheerios and chocolate malts. Our grandma always made these for us...and her dad made these snacks for she and her sisters growing up. My mom then made them for us, and I make them for our kids. So good!!

We played a bunch of new games that we got for Christmas: Uno Dare, Hollywood Game Night, the always popular iPhone Headbands, Trivia, and our old favorite Quelf, and multiple rounds of Bean Boozled. My personal favorite this year was Hollywood Game Night. That was a fun game to play as teams. I love pop culture, charades, trivia, and the name game. This game has all of that in one. My mom trying to "doo doo doo" out different songs had us in hysterics. It was so fun!!

There was more dressing up...

More playing with all the dogs...Bryn and Maggie Mae

Cuddling with Milo. Our kids are seriously putting on the pressure to get another dog. They did a good job!! Who can say no to faces like that?!

Tyler and Kirk cut a bunch of wood for my mom and kept a roaring and crackling fire going the entire week. It was heaven.

We went into Spokane and Coeur d'Alene off and on too. One day we all met up at our house...even Stacey and John and their kids drove up from Palouse... and dropped off all the cousins to play and eat pizza at our house while we all went to check out the new Ramen House, Nudo, downtown. It was out of this world delicious!! Kirk has been raving about ramen burgers to all of us for about a year now...he had some in San Francisco and has been making them at home and texting us pictures. It was fun to try one...yes, they are delicious and it was fun to have an adult meal. Reilly was pretty excited to be included in the outing now that she is officially 18.

We all went to see Kelley's new house. She is all moved in and has been doing a bunch of work on her house. She and her boyfriend ripped up all the carpets and found beautiful wood floors underneath. Why didn't we have luck like that?! She's been painting, tearing out cupboards, and doing all sorts of things. It was fun to see. We had a great afternoon hanging at her house in front of her faux fire. I loved it!! I would even go for a faux fireplace at my house. We have a fireplace oddly located downstairs in Reilly's room, of all places, which does me no darn good!!

We took the whole huge group out for dinner at the Spaghetti Factory. The kids loved it but I thought it was gruesome.  Luckily they do have a delicious drink that made my night.

Cotton Candy Limeade

It was fun to sit together as a big group with kids on one end and adults on the other and be able to talk and laugh and catch up on everything.

Cousins on the trolley

My mom and I worked and made plans for Sisters Creed. We even got these guys to help out with one of our designs. Tyler and Kirk were great!! They also did a bunch of repair work around the house that my mom needed done and all her computer repairs.

Hmmm...what do you think this will be? :) You'll have to wait and see.

Kirk made this cool new industrial light fixture for my mom to go over her dining table. He made it from the rings off of an old wine barrel. So cool. Don't you think he would make a great addition to Sisters Creed? :)

Since the weather was like this...it was perfect for some walks in the snowy woods with Tyler.

The kids did some of this...

And a bunch of that... 

See Ailey's happy face? Ha Ha!! Eventually we gave up. There was just too much snow.

We polished off nearly every last Christmas treat my mom had...which was A LOT...and had to go to the store to get more supplies!!

 

There is always a ton of tickling, wrestling, pillow fights, teasing, tackling, snow ball fights...and everything else when Uncle Kirk is around. He particularly delighted in throwing me in the snow, wrestling me to the ground, picking me up and hurling me...in snow...on the ground...on furniture... whatever was available, attempting to rub my face in the snow...or dog poop. He loves to jump out and scare me and give me dead legs and arms. Seriously? Brothers...  you've got to love them!!

We also played multiple rounds of Bean Boozled. Guess who absolutely loved that game? Yes, of course, KIRK!!

To be continued...