Weekend at Cabin

Luke finished the last day of his third rotation. I am happy to report that we only have 5 more rotations left until graduation. (Can you tell we are counting down?) To celebrate his "last" Christmas break we headed up to Palisades with my parents to their cabin. We had a great weekend of relaxing and playing in the snow. We were excited to see all the snow that came down. It snowed consistently the two days that we were up there. We did a lot of playing in the snow and Brynlee enjoyed riding the snowmobile again. She also did a little skiing with her Sad and Papa Allred.

The biggest excitement/work came when my dad's truck got stuck in the snow and then slipped down to the side of the mountain. The snow gods must have been mad at us for driving the truck to the cabin on the 11th of December and got back at us. It took 4-5 hours of work, along with a chain wench, and lots of digging to get the darn thing off the mountain, but at least we are all home safe and will be driving the snowmobiles to the cabin through the rest of winter.

Trying to pull the truck off the side of the road. There is a steep slope on the right side of the truck.

This is my dad's truck stuck on the side of the road leaning down the mountain.

Luke throwing Brynlee up.

Papa Allred, Luke, and Brynlee getting ready to go skiing

Brynlee pulling funny faces on the "kitty cat"

Brynlee getting rides on the sled. Lucky girl.

SNOW

We here happy and a little surprised to wake up to snow on Saturday morning. Brynlee and I decided that we would go out and have a little fun. We went over to my brother Jake's house and played in the snow. He has a little artic cat snowmobile. Last year Brynlee wanted nothing to do with it, but this year she was fine. Here are a few photos of us in the snow. Brynlee liked eating it as much as playing in it. She also attempted a snow angel, which was funny to watch.

Happy Thanksgiving

This Thanksgiving we spent with the Nelson's. Luke's parents drove up from New Mexico and then his sisters met us at our house for Thanksgiving. We had 12 family members over for Thanksgiving in our little house. I was afraid that it would be tight, but it actually worked out very well. We moved our couches out to the garage and set up the tables in the living room. Our guests included Luke's parents, his two sisters Nakita and Sasha along with her fiance Dave. Luke's grandparents, my parents, and younger brother Casey. It was fun to have everyone together.

Prior to Thanksgiving DAY, Luke made an announcement that if our family wanted to come to thanksgiving at our house then they would all need to participate in the Turkey Trot 5K race. Everyone agreed, minus grandma and grandpa Nelson. We had runners, walkers, and a little of both. It was a lot of fun to wake up and go out for a run/walk on a beautiful brisk morning. After the race we hurried home and began getting ready for Thanksgiving dinner. We ended up soaking the turkey in a Brine sauce overnight, it was from a recipe that I found from the pioneer woman. I love her website and have never gone wrong with any of her suggestions. I was a little worried about the turkey because it was the first time I had really cooked one, but it turned out tasting great. The dinner turned out well, but it seemed to be over so quickly that I was kind of sad when it was done.

We had a great time visiting with family and having so many in a small space, but not that everyone has gone home, it is a little too quite around here.

Bonfire for SNOW

Last night we went to the annual Bonfire for Snow at Luke's Bosse's house. It was a lot of fun, and we were happy to have snow already on the ground. We warmed up by eating good chili and then headed outside to enjoy a large bonefire. This bonfire does have an unusual twist, so don't tell your enviromentalist friends, but there are many old skis, snowboards, boots, and a few bikes that get burned. They are an offering to the snow gods to help give us lots of snow this winter.

Staying warm by the fire.

Group gathered around the fire

Several skis and boots.

If you look real close you can see the back of a bike.

Fall Photos

I was playing around with my brother's camera the other day and got some cute photo with Brynlee. It was one of the last nice sunny days we had before a little bit of snow came.

Meeting Pioneer Woman- Ree Drummond

One of my favorite websites is thepioneerwoman.com. She has 5 different sections to her website and my favorite is the cooking section. She has great recipes and photos with each step. I highly recommend visiting her site.

She came out with a cookbook and had a book tour, but the closest she came to Idaho was SLC. Erica, a good friend of mine, and I decided to take a trip to SLC for a afternoon of window shopping and book signing. We should have know that people in Utah seem to be obsessed with people and that we should have gotten to the book signing venu hours and hours before it started, but we did not. We arrived at 6 and did not get our cookbooks signed untill 11:00 at night. Yes, we were a little crazy considering we got back into Pocatello at 2:00 A.M. and had to be to work by 8:00. All and all it was nice to get out and have girl time...and not to mention it was neat meeting Ree.

New Shutters

Luke put new shutters on our house this weekend. It is hard to tell from the photo,but they are ceder shutters. It dresses it up a bit more, and I think we will also be adding them to the other windows.

Brynlee's first dental visit

I had some down time at work this week so I figured I would take Brynlee in and try her first dental "Happy Visit." Being the daughter of a dental hygienist I was hoping that she would do good and let me touch her teeth. At first when she saw the dental chair all covered in plastic she wansn't sure what to think, but as soon as I turned on the t.v. to cartoons, she didn't care what I did. I am happy to report that it was a successful visit, she let me remove the plaque, polish, and even let me give her fluoride, which most kids hate. Way to go Brynlee!

Fall Updates

Luke accomplished a major goal this running season- He ran the Bear 100! He did an amazing job as well. He ran 100 trail miles in 21 hours and 55 min. The race went from Logan to Bear Lake and had a ton of vertical climb and drop. I can't remember how far exactly, but it was a lot. He finished 4th overall in under 22 hours. The crazy thing is that only 9 people ran 100 miles in less than 24 hours. 99 runners completed the race and most of them did it in 30+ hours. This photo of Luke finishing was taken at 3:55 in the morning! What a fun and super crazy event! Nice job bud.

The Allred family reunion was again at Medow Lake. We lucked out this year and had really good weather. It was really fun to have the family together and it was very relaxing. Brynlee is getting older and loves camping and spending time with extended family. She also had a good time telling everyone what to do- you know, as a 2 yr old would.

Brynlee and Pappa Allred on the lake with a mighty squirt gun.

Brynlee and Uncle Jake fishing. She wasn't sure if she really liked the fish or not.

Brynlee and I were lucky enough to make it to my dad's grain harvest in Rigby in September. Brynlee enjoyed riding with Uncle Casey in the big grain truck. She was a little shy and did not want to ride in the combine, but maybe next year she'll be ready.

Brynlee and Mommy hanging out in the grain truck.

Brynlee and Pappa Allred watching the grain on the farm. Brynlee has a sad look on her face because she had only a few hours eariler received a very short hair cut from Grandma. So long hair. We are crossing our fingers that it will grow back soon and that Brynlee will stop twirling it and breaking it off.

Brynlee and Uncle Casey driving the grain truck.

I spent a little time this summer finishing those projects that never seem to get done. This is a dress I started making for Brynlee last fall and finally finished it this fall.

Luke and Brynlee's first day of school. Luke headed off to his first day on PA rotations and Brynlee started back into full time school at ELC. (So sad that summer is over).

Keiko, a friend from work, and I ran the Pocatello 1/2 marathon this fall. I ran it in under my goal time so I was happy with the results. (Now we'll think of running further next year). It was fun...well kind of. I was glad that I did it, but running on the road really isn't that fun. I am realizing that I am becoming a trail runner and that my body doesn't hurt as bad after running on trails.

25K El Vaquero Loco Trail Race

This weekend Luke and I ran a trail race in Afton Wyoming with a few friends from Pocatello. Luke ran the 50K race last year and loved the course, so when it fell on my birthday I thought it would be a great way to celebrate by running the 25k. The other reason why I wanted to run the race was for a race sweatshirt. Usually I get a t-shirt that I don't wear, but with this race you get a sweatshirt and a hamburger and huckleberry soda when you finish.... (yes, it was awesome to have at then end of the race).

I had never ran 16 miles before and the only trail race experience was on the 4th of July running a 5 mile Kelly Canyon trail that did not gain much vertical. The Vaquero gained over 4,000 vertical feet and reach 10,000 feet twice so I wasn't sure how it would turn out. Kathleen, a friend from Pocatello, agreed to run it with me which was great because we saw amazing mountains, waterfalls, creeks, and wild flowers along the way. It was a great experience and I hope to run it again.

This past week we were de-compressing from a great week vacation and Brynlee learned a new trick. She can now stand on top of her dresser by climbing up the front. She was very proud of herself, but I hope it doesn't continue.

Summer Vacation

New Mexico here we come.....

Luke had one week off for summer break between his didactic and clinical year, so we decided to get away and not think about school and work for a while. We headed to New Mexico to see Luke's parents in Cimarron (Philmont Boy Scout Ranch). It is a 14 hour drive that we spit up in 2 days. Our first destination was Cortex, CO. We drove through Utah, which made the drive go by very quickly. (last time we drove across Wyoming and it seemed to last forever). We camped the first night in Cortez and then got up early the next morning and went through Costa Mesa National Forest and went on a tour to see ancient cave dwellings. It was very interesting to see and quite amazing to see how people set up their homes in the side of a canyon wall.

After Cortez we headed down south to New Mexico.

It was good to spend time with Luke's parents. We went on an early morning bike ride, drove around to several camps, and hiked to the top of Mt. Baldy. Brynlee was great on the trip, she was quite a "big girl." She rode a pony named Butter scotch, and did amazing. She is usually a bit scared around animals, but she did great. We really enjoyed our time in New Mexico and were sad when we had to leave, but Luke had a race in Park City, Ut. On the way home we retraced our path, but this time spent time in Moab at Arches National Park. It was amazing to see the huge arches and rock formations. It was quite impressive.

We arrived in Park City after a week of being gone from home. Luke was able to run the Jupiter Peak 16 mile race representing La Sportiva. He did well and placed 8th overall against very talented runners. Finally, later that night we made it home to finally see first hand our newly painted house.

Painting House

Luke and I decided to have our house painted. It was looking a bit shabby from the weather, plus getting tagged didn't help our curb appeal. We hired our friend Todd - and what a task he had. It took over a week to finish the work, but I think it turned out nicely so far. We are going to add cedar shutters and put up a new flower box to add more character to the house. In the future cedar shakes will go in the eve above the window and we will add a new front porch. It looks a bit plain right now, but over time I think it will come together nicely. We really like our small home and hope to stay in it for many more years. Here are a few photos of the house in the phases we were here for. (We left on vacation to New Mexico before any of the paint went on the house- so I was a bit worried to see what we would come home to find).