In The Hartland: Our Annual Winter Trip to Priest Lake

As I mentioned in our previous post, we had a beautiful snow fall the day before we left for Priest Lake which made it kind of difficult to pull out of the driveway on Monday morning. As grateful as we were to be going up to the cabin where there was already two feet of snow on the ground, we all wished that our own snow had fallen on a different week so that we could have enjoyed playing in it for a few more days. After a very snowy drive through Western Washington, we fortunately made it safely through Eastern Washington and up the panhandle of Idaho without any problems. We were the last ones to arrived and joined a group of over twenty people up at the cabin (only missing grandpa, Brynn, and Garrett). We then spent three fun-filled days there--the first and third day playing in the snow and the second day going on a 11-hour ski day with all three older children to Schweitzer Resort in Sandpoint. This was Logan's fourth time snowboarding and Ella's first time skiing! We signed her up for a group lesson and she ended up being in a class of only two students. She picked up the basics really fast and actually made it onto the chair lift two times by the end of her class two hours later! Ron and I then took turns skiing or snowboarding with the two younger children on the beginner's run the rest of the afternoon while the other one skied with Lia on the upper runs. Although it was a beautiful, sunny day with stunning views of Lake Pend Oreille, the temperature was an unbelievable 6 degrees when we arrived at 9 in the morning and when we left at 4:15 in the afternoon. As a result, my toes suffered frost bite for the first time in my skiing career! Luckily, I only got a mild case, but my toes are numb and tingly all the time and get painfully cold really fast if I am not wearing socks on my feet all the time. Oh well, it's just one more injury to add to my growing list. Regardless, we had a great trip and were grateful that everyone stayed healthy enough to gather together in this large group for the week after Christmas!

Since there was still so much snow on the roads, we hit two heavy slow downs on December 27th on our drive out of town due to cars that had spun off the road. Here is the first car we saw on the side of Highway 167 that caused the first delay.

Here is the second car that flew off of the road on Highway 18 that caused the second slow down.

I have never seen Tiger Mountain on Highway 18 look so beautiful! All of the trees looked like they were covered in white frosting.

One of the beautiful, snow-covered mountains we saw as we drove through Snoqualmie Pass.

We spent both the morning and late afternoon of December 28th sledding on the road outside of the cabin with the family. Here is our traditional family picture in the snow.

The kids had so much fun sledding with the cousins and the uncles and getting free rides back up the hill (for Ella and Emmett). Here is Spencer pulling up /Emmett.

Ella was totally brave and always flew down the hill without any fear. Here she is taking off on one of our vintage, rail sleds.

Ella going down the hill.

Emmett enjoyed many double decker rides throughout the day. Here he is about to take off on Uncle Tip's back.

Lia and Uncle Brent pushing off.

Lia flying by me on her way down.

Logan heading down the hill after Lia.

Cute Ella sitting in a snow drift taking a break and eating snow.

Ella walking up the hill with Hannah and Spencer.

Loga walking up the hill.

Emmy coming back up with Uncle Chris and papa.

Emmy getting ready for another round on Uncle Chris' back.

Chris and Emmett taking off again.

Chris, Emmett, and Ron heading down the hill.

Emmett playing in the snow.

Logan made a huge stash of snowballs with a snowball maker.

Lia hanging out with some of the big girls--Hannah, Sarah, and Vivi.

After taking several pictures, I finally put down my camera and went on several sled runs with the kids. Here are Emmett and me getting ready to go down together as Ella photo bombs our picture.

After playing in the snow two times on the 28th, we stayed in for the evening and celebrated Callie's 18th birthday...

and opened up gifts from the cousin exchange. Here is Ella opening up her gift from Vivi.

Emmet showing off his gift.

Logan getting ready to open up his gift from Trenton.

Lia showing off the pretty box that her gift from Kelsey came wrapped in.

On December 29th, we left bright and early to drive the two hours to Schweitzer. The lowest we saw the temperature get on our drive there was SEVEN BELOW ZERO! Ahhhh!

Ella all dressed up in her ski gear ready to go skiing for the first time. I couldn't get over how cute she looked!

Ella posing with her teacher in the ski school area before her class began.

Lia and I at the top of a run with the beautiful valley in the background.

We had the chance to ski with Chris and several cousins throughout the morning. Here are Uncle Chris and Trenton with Lia.

We ran into Bryce and Riley on a later run. Here is Riley, Chris, Trenton, Bryce, Lia, and me posing in front of the snow covered trees at the top of another run. I have never seen trees so thickly covered in snow in my life! They were absolutely stunning.

After picking Ella up from her class and breaking for lunch, we headed back up for the afternoon. Here the three of us are posing at the top of the beginner's chair lift.

Cute Ella skiing down the bunny hill with me.

Another stunning shot of Ella on the bunny hill with the trees and valley in the background.

The one family picture that we managed to get all day long with the five of us!

Lia posing for me at the bottom of a run.

The beautiful, snow-covered trees.

Logan, Lia, and Ella heading down the hill at the end of the day.

My mom, Spencer, Hannah, Natalee, Susie, and Rebecca were all kind enough to help watch Emmett for the eleven hours that we were gone skiing. Emmett did great while we were gone and he loved all of the one-on-one attention he got while the group was gone for the day. Here is the darling picture that Spencer texted me of Hannah and Emmett sledding together during the morning.

The kids enjoyed playing games with various cousins, aunts, and uncles throughout the week. Here are Logan, Ella, and Emmett playing with a group after returning home to the cabin after a long ski day.

On December 30th, we enjoyed another morning sledding on the hill in front of our cabin and ventured out to the massive sledding hill (that's half a mile long) at Canoe Point in the afternoon. Although I didn't take my camera to Canoe Point, I took a few more pictures from our morning outside. Here is a shot of the gang walking back up after making a sledding run down the hill.

Ella bumming a ride off of Chris.

Uncle Eric pulling Emmett up the hill.

Ron got the great idea of trying Emmett out on Trenton's snow scooter sled which is basically like a snowboard. Emmett was totally game to try and did it several times in a row. It was rather amazing to watch as he seriously sled down 20 to 30 feet of the hill by the time he was done. He definitely has some coordination that will help him with snowboarding in a few years!

Emmett sledding down the hill on the snow scooter.

Down Emmett goes!

After Logan and Trenton disappeared down to the beach for quite some time, Logan reappeared with a giant chunk of ice that he lugged all the way back up the stairs!