IPSSSDR 2011

the International Pedigree Stage Stop Sled Dog Race is one of our favorite things about living here! the race brings a whole crowd of dogs and mushers through town every year. this year they even did a "meet and greet" down on Main Street, about two blocks from our house. all the trailers were parked on the street, traffic was closed down, and the public got to meet the mushers and the dogs and even try out a sled! the girls really enjoyed this and we really hope they do it again next year.

this morning we headed up to South Pass, where this leg of the race begins. it is soooo exciting getting to see the teams off-- the dogs are going nuts and can't contain themselves and there is a big crowd to cheer them on. we learned a few things about the race this year. for one, the dogs are so amped up as the race begins that the mushers have to "ride the brake" for a while to keep them under control and keep them from burning up all of their energy too fast. we were also told that most of the sled dogs these days are "sprinter" hounds, rather than the classic huskies and malamutes. apparently a racer from europe started introducing the hounds to the sport and everyone else followed suit. the team that started it all was racing there this year and we are told that probably all of the other dogs racing shared genes with his original team of hounds.

so there you have it, the IPSSSDR 2011. the girls absolutely loved the weekend of events and we can't wait for next year!

believe it.

oh, how many times have i repeated, "i can't believe how warm it is for january." those words have come out of my mouth a whole lotta times. here we are, a few days from february and the thermometer is a hair away from 50 degrees. let me repeat that: fifty degrees. there are plenty of people around this little mountain town who are lamenting the lack of snow and the fact that this is very, very unlike the typical wyoming winter. but, me? i will not complain one bit about sweating in a down jacket, or opening up the windows, or sitting on the warm flagstone patio with my face in the sun. nope, i will not complain because it's pretty blissful. and yeah, maybe it's global warming or maybe it's el nina... but i will take it, thankyouverymuch.

flashback friday!

(pictures from december of 2008 with a newborn sylvi and an almost 2.5 year old isa.)

phew, are we glad it's friday around these parts! no one reason in particular i guess, but just because it's been another week of winter with two small children, a business to run, a fulltime job to hold down, two new training programs to maintain (phil on the bike, me with my running shoes) and all that other stuff that fills up a day/week/year/lifetime. we're tired in a good way, but still tired none the less! of course it doesn't help that sylvi pulled an all-nighter for the record books last night either. after having her crying and jamming her fingers in her ears from 1:30am to 6:30am, we thought for sure she must have a raging ear infection. but turns out we were wrong-- it was just "eustation tube dysfunction". of course! in other words, this little cold she's had caused some wicked air bubbles to be trapped in those little ear tubes and caused her an immense amount of pain all night. damn those air bubbles. she seems fine now though and was proud to sport her hippo jammies and pigtails at the doctor's office this morning.

so that's about it. just life maintenance around here lately. we have no big plans for the weekend (other than doing the business taxes. groan.) and hope to enjoy the crazy warm weather we're having.

movie date

sometimes mondays call for a little change of pace. we've been doing our best to get out and about and enjoy the winter lately, but some days just call for a little down time. sylvi is coming down with a cold and seemed to be feeling low-key and isa had a big weekend of birthday parties and sledding. so we did something we normally wouldn't do on a sunny day... we called our buddies and asked if they wanted to come over for a late afternoon movie party! we brought out all the blankets and pillows and piled them up on the sheepy rug. we made popcorn and plopped ourselves down for a showing of Milo and Otis. mission accomplished.

dancing queen

these four photos sum up the majority of our mornings lately.

staycation?

we had a really nice weekend around these parts, so much so that phil decided we should have a "staycation" here one of these days! i most definitely agree. we cooked some food, we lounged around, we worked out (mommy has a new gym membership! whoo!), we saw friends, we went sledding. it was a great few days all the way around. here are some pics from sledding yesterday. it was darn near perfect.

birthday sledding

isa and phil went to a birthday party this afternoon (happy birthday addison!) at the Warming Hut in Sinks Canyon. i think this may have been the most "big kid" of all the birthday parties we've been involved in so far and it sounds like it was a total hit! a few dozen kids, sunshine, sleds, a cozy cabin with a raging fire, AND cake and ice cream? it's four year old bliss, plain and simple. you might be able to tell from the glare of the snow, but the conditions made for some fast sledding and isa has a nice strawberry on her cheek to prove it. but she came home entirely happy and thoroughly exhausted, so the face plant in the snow must have been worth it!

flashback friday, plus a day...

we may be a day late, but we thought we'd still do a little flashback friday this week. it's been a crazy week, trying to get back to normal after having nanny here for a month, and getting back into the school schedule, etc. we are all really, really glad that it's the weekend and that we have nothing major on the agenda for the next 72 hours.

this picture is just a little gratituous isa baby cuteness from way back in the day. she was about seven months old in this picture. where did the time go?

rollercoaster

this little one is so very two at the moment. call them "terrible twos" if you wish-- we're not sure it's entirely terrible, but more like an emotional rollercoaster. i forgot just how dynamic and dramatic this phase can be. one part seems to be driven by pure independence (or the desire to be so) and the other seems to be more akin to velcro. and it's the pendulum of both of those opposing needs that makes our heads spin around here. need less to say, sylvi is in the thick of being a two year old. she can be just as fierce and firey as she can be clingy and cuddly. she somehow seems to cover atleast a half dozen emotions in a very, very short stretch of time.

this picture came about after she picked out all of her clothes (even down to the undies, socks, and slippers) and then asked that i take a picture. clearly she is very proud of herself, just as much for being able to choose her clothes as for being able to put it all together and be dressed for the day. we are seeing more of her personality come out in ways like this-- she is mostly easy going, but she definitely realizes that she has choices and is pretty insistant on exercising them. i guess it's up to the rest of us to walk the tightrope in between!

stomp

nothing like a little late afternoon puddle stomping (in january no less) and some pink kitty cat boots to turn a poopy day around!

aka: the guest room

the guest room (aka: nanny's room, the woman cave, or mommy's little hideout) might have been my favorite project yet. not because we use it the most, or because we spent much effort on it, but because it was such a satisfying job. so little time and money went a really long way in this room. of course i am kicking myself now for not getting a "before" picture, but the room was so scary and dark that i don't think a picture would have done it justice. the wood paneling (while good quality wood) was not my style and had been stained a really dark brown. even with an overhead light, it was really hard to see your hand in front of your face! it was that dark. and the two little windows were creepy and gross too, which didn't help.

the first thing on the list here was to paint the paneling. we used leftover paint from the living room upstairs and that saved a good bit of money. the curtain fabric is from ikea ($6.99 a yard for awesome drapery fabric!) and i think it might be one of my top three favorites of all time-- and i see alot of fabric, so that's saying something. the curtains were super easy and quick to make and were well worth the $30 for behind the bed and the window. the furniture was either pieces that we already owned or found for free on the local listserve, as was the bedding and the fabric/sweaters for the pillows. all told, the room cost less than $75 from start to finish, including the hardware for the windows, a few lamps, and accessories.

if anyone comes looking for me, this is most likely where i will be. and as a note to papa bubba and mimi... you no longer have the "don't put me down there in a dungeon" excuse anymore ;)

country comes to town

we headed to salt lake this weekend to take nanny to the airport (boo!) and enjoy some city amenities (yay!). when you live in a small, isolated mountain town, it's amazing what you can pack into a short trip to the big city! even though it's alot of time on the road in 48 hours, it's a nice mid-winter break to get out of town and enjoy ourselves a little. a trip to ikea served as both form and function-- especially with the play land-- and staying in a great hotel with an awesome pool made the trip even more enjoyable for the girls. thank you papa bubba ;) phil and i even went out for a margarita after bedtime while nanny stayed in and watched some football with the girls.

as you can see, the girls had a blast in the pool and isa wasn't too disappointed that she couldn't ride the two story curly slide. they both impressed us with a few dozen belly flops and seemingly new-found swimming skills. isa was able to go a good ways (maybe 8ft?) underwater in the big pool before coming up for doggy paddling and a helping hand! maybe it was the warmer water or some pent up winter energy, but she was swimming like never before! sylvi was inspired as well and spent several hours jumping (and jumping and jumping) into the pool herself! after two good swimming sessions, i can honestly say that mommy is exhausted from trying to keep up with them.

the last few shots are from the famous ice cream shop in Farson. with two potty trained little ones, we don't need any more excuses to stop for potty breaks... but ice cream surely doesn't hurt. especially here in the cowboy state, when interesting and entertaining pit stops (with toilets) are few and far between.

hop skip jump

it's amazing what some left over canvas, a little paint, and a few hours of time can get you... some new indoor entertainment! take that, below zero! it's that time of year again, when the sun comes out nice and bright but the temperatures don't rise into the double digits for long stretches. it's just plain cold. so after another day indoors (minus preschool and childcare excursions), we finally motivated to make a hopscotch playmat. who knew hopscotch, a tic-tac-toe board, a toss target and a handful of beanbags could be so fun to make! and it was free, which was even better. not that i want winter to last any longer that it already does, but atleast we have one more goody in the bag of tricks on weeks like these!