Morning Glory

New Year's Day. We awoke to beautiful mountain views and homemade waffles with strawberries and whipped cream. The combined powers of the Harding/Graf women produced a delicious breakfast. We also successfully blew the circuits about five times with the combined powers our waffle irons, mixers, skillets and hot cocoa makers, but finally found a plug-to-outlet-to-wall ratio that worked. It was a great way to start off the new year, with the people we love most: our family.

Please no one get mad at me for posting pictures of you in all your morning glory. I think you are all handsome and beautiful and I love you.

I think my parents are getting baby-hungry. My mom loved watching Mollie while Lynsie and kids played in the snow. Mollie even watched a little football with my dad. :) Good thing Kyle and Michelle are having a little one this summer. Whew! Pressure's off! ;)




Don't you just love her eyes? I love this little girl.



After breakfast Ryan suited up for his turn at sledding. I snuck out for a few pictures. He and Chris were having a great time. I loved how Ryan refused to try to walk up the hill at first, and waited for his dad to pick him up and carry him back to the top. So cute. Bundled up in his winter clothes and looking like a brown marshmallow, he reminded me of Randy in his snow suit in A Christmas Story.


(click to enlarge!)

New Year's Eve Sledding

The Smith family came to Sundance a few hours before our New Year's Eve party for some quality sledding on the hill in front of the cabin. There was a lot of snow and we had so much fun! I am bias, but I think these are some of the cutest kids in existence. I just want to eat them. We sledded until it started getting dark, then headed in to warm up before the big New Year's bash.

(fyi: these pictures enlarge when clicked)


Nathan with Luke and Tessa hanging on


(They sort of sunk.)


Lukey bombing straight for Ethan. Look at that malicious smile.


Crash!


...and they both came up smiling.


The creator of said adorable children, budding photographer Lynsie.


Tessa in her pink glory. Boots, hat, snowpants, jacket, socks, coat. All PINK.
She kept rolling around in the snow with a huge smile on her face.


Ethan post-crash. Still happy!


Cute brother Brandon hiking up...


...and coming back down!

After hours of fun, including a three foot drop off the retaining wall and a face plant in powder by Ethan, we found shelter in the garage where we left all our frozen, wet clothes to dry.


cold hands


+ frozen faces


+ pink cheeks


= very happy kids!

Extreme Sledding at Sundance

It pays to know someone in the sign business. Sara got us a couple huge sheets of plastic sign material which we took up to Sundance and used as a giant sled. Four people on a huge sheet of plastic so slippery you can hardly stay on it when it's stationary?! Craziness. I promise you we had to have reached speeds of 30 to 35 mph! The only way to stop (and avoid hitting the trees at the bottom of the run) was to roll off the side of the sled and slide/roll for 30 feet, arms and legs tangling up with the people next to you. By the time you figure out which way is up you are laughing so hard you can barely breathe. It was crazy and really fun. We'll be sad when we go on our internship this summer and won't be able to see Mike and Sara all the time and do crazy things like this. We are definitely four peas in a pod. We love those two. But we will soak it up while we can!