My friend Jenny pinged me on Facebook to see if I was dead because I’ve been MIA from social media and life this month. I can’t believe January 2016 is almost over! We’re still undergoing so much financial and life stress but the good news is I’m feeling relatively peaceful about everything. After all, moving into my parent’s basement is always an option, right? 
February looks to be even busier with back-to-back trips including a family reunion where we’ll be entertaining Jamie’s family for several days. So, I’m trying to get caught up as I tread water. One of the nice things is we didn’t enroll the kids in any activities except for piano and church commitments so we’re not overextended with our schedule. That’s what spring sports are about.
Following the overindulgent holidays, I announced I wouldn’t be buying any treats for a while and if the kids wanted them, they’d be in charge of making it happen. Little did I know that would motivate Hadley to become a Chef Extraordinaire and she’s always in the kitchen these days making goodies from scratch: cinnamon buns, monkey bread, Rice Krispie treats and gingerbread…completely by herself. Who knew she had it in her? The only downside is the kitchen always looks like a bomb went off.
A couple of fun things: While Jamie volunteered to go winter camping with the Scouts, the kids and I opted for what we thought was the more sane option of skiing Eldora Mountain Resort. Turns out we were wrong. Normally, this is an awesome local’s ski mountain just outside of Boulder, Colo. but the weather, wind and snow did NOT cooperate, causing us to go home after only a half-day. Serious bummer! Maybe we should have worn Jamie’s arctic jacket.
Last weekend, we invited a couple of families from our ward to join us for an amazing weekend at YMCA of the Rockies’ Snow Mountain Ranch. We dog sledded, tubed, skied, skated, fat tire biked, crafted, movie-watched, game-played, rock climbed, roller-skated and it was truly the highlight of our month. Snow Mountain Ranch deeply moves me in ways I can’t quite describe and I told Jamie it was in my Top 3 Favorite Places in Colorado, with Crested Butte and The Broadmoor in Colorado Springs as my other two top picks.
The only thing that sucked about Snow Mountain Ranch?
The tire swing.
I'm a Canadian-born mom of two, former Denver Post columnist, family travel writer, editor of MileHighMamas.com and 9News contributor. Expert on all things Utah, Denver, family and travel. Lover of laughter and life. Happily married to a man obsessed with growing The Great Pumpkin. 