Wednesday, January 7, 2009

New Years at Black Butte

After making it through the busy time of year, and feeling snowed-in for much of the Christmas break, we decided to slip in a little family get-away for the New Years holiday. We loaded up and headed through the snow to one of our favorite places in all the world - my parent's house at Black Butte Ranch.

Most of the weekend was spent RELAXING. Hard to believe with 4 boys, but our guys love it there so much that they can keep themselves entertained for hours. We read, watched a lot of football, played even more Monopoly, swam and hot-tubbed, and fit in a couple of fun outings as well.
This is a quick family picture taken at Hoodoo's snow-tube park only minutes after we got there and only minutes before I left with the 2 little ones to head home. Since there was really no warm lodge close by for me and Cole to watch from and Bo (as the picture would portray if closer) was finished after only 1 time down, we decided that the tubing was going to have to be a "big boy" activity.

And more sledding took place throughout the weekend right out the back door. Golf courses make for good sledding runs in the winter-time. The boys spent a lot of time together enjoying the fun of the snow.

Lots of fun, quality family time, beauty all around with no one else in sight - you can see why we love it here! Happy 2009.

9 comments:

Unknown said...

That is beautiful. how nice to enjoy some time away from the routine at home.

ballardfamily said...

oh how we wish we were there...glad you guys had a blast!!!

Carrie said...

That looks like so much fun. I think I would have headed back for the warmth pretty quickly with Kai and Addison, too.
How did the blurb thing go? Did you get it figured out?

Unknown said...

Looks like you had a terrific Christmas with your whole family! I love your many Christmas traditions!

Anonymous said...

Hey Mandy --
Bart was just here saying that you paint (rooms) really well. Would you be willing to come up and help me out with Clara's room? Bring the boyz! I'll watch them while you paint and then we can chill and have fun for the rest of the time. We'd love for your whole fam to come up for a visit. Please?

Anonymous said...

Mandy -- Cool! Call me! 253 279-2281 and we'll set it up. I am really flexible. How about MLK Jr. Weekend? Is that too soon?

brooke romney said...

Wow. What a great trip and a great way to end the vacation. Looks like a blast and anytime you get to relax, how awesome!

anna said...

cute cute cute little family you have! and let me just say (count your blessings) if you had a girl your snow trips would not be relaxing. girls aren't as easy going in the snow! soooo, be glad you have another boy on the way! and sorry, but i don't have any suggestions for boy names. we always wait until the hospital to really discuss it and then we always end up using a name that neither of us had previously considered. so good luck! i'm sure he'll be just as handsome as the other boys you guys make!! congrats

Unknown said...

Mandy,
Can I be adopted into your family so I can go see the beautiful Black Butte?!? J/K Looks like a blast. We're going to go look for some snow fun soon!