MERRY CHRISTMAS

Christmas Eve saw us down at Gary and Margee's for their annual Christmas Eve gift exchange and "Steal a Gift" which is the highlight of the evening.  Everyone brought a pizza and everyone had a great time as usual.  

On Christmas day, we went skiing with Ike, Brenda, and their son Riley in the morning and had a great time.  The snow was pretty good skiing in the trees.  They had 10 inches of new snow the day before so we were able to make some turns in some nice powder.  After skiing we stopped by Doug and Rita's for some egg nog that was some of the best I have had.  Then back to our place for Christmas dinner.  Connie cooked up a prime rib that really turned out great.  We will do that recipe again! 

Carl and Teresa catching up on news of each others families.

The newest of Gary and Margee's Great Grandchildren, Adalyn who is the daughter of Ashton and Kyle.

Lots of pizza and the kids sure seem to be enjoying it.

Opening presents.

The prime rib dinner ready to eat.  

And Connie is always hamming it up.

SKIING A LITTLE POWDER

We got to ski a little powder in the out of bounds area the other day as our ski resort is starting to pick up enough snow to venture out in that area.  Only part of it has enough cover to ski it safe.  Had a good time and hope we continue getting more snow.

Brenda in the snow getting her ski on that came off when she hit something below the surface.  Ike and Connie look on.

Connie caught a small tree that upset her.

As you can see, we need more snow in the out of bounds area as lots of little trees are still sticking up.

A LITTLE SNOW

We finally got a little snow down here in the valley.  Not as much as I would like to have seen as it is almost Christmas.  But we will take any we can get.  Carl and his kids helped feed again the other day in the falling snow.

The horses waiting in the trees until the pickup shows up with the hay.

Not only did the horses get hay, but Carl's kids brought down some apples to feed them.

The feeding crew.

Baylee takes her time showing up at the feed ground, but she also stays the longest as you can tell by her "slender" figure"!!!

Her she is trying out some apples from Connie and Elaina.

Andrew and Carl feeding some to Comet and Elaina and Connie feeding Joe.

 

Zeph can't figure out why all the horses are getting treats and he is not.

Alex giving an apple to Stryder.

Peg getting a bite.

Alex, Andrew, and Elaina.

UPDATE 20 DECEMBER 2013

We are getting closer to being ready for Christmas, but still have some things to do.  It seems to have crept upon us faster than usual this year.  Went skiing the other day and had some pretty good powder in the trees.  But the resort could use some more snow.  Nephew Carl and his family are here and we have enjoyed visiting with them.  The kids have helped us feed the horses every morning.  They sure seem to enjoy that.

Having a little coffee after feeding the horses.

Alex and her mother Debra.

Elaina and Alex headed down to feed the horses.

Andrew has to wear a mask around the hay as he is allergic to it.

Alex and Elaina getting a close look at the horses.

Alex and Grampa Gary.

Connie and Brenda just coming out of the trees.  

Ike making a few good turns in the nice powder in the trees.

 Brenda, Ike, and Connie.

CONNIE'S CHRISTMAS TREE 2013

Connie has created her Christmas Tree for 2013 and has it up.  I should do a post just on her Christmas trees in the years past.  But for now, here is another "different" Christmas Tree!

Working on it in the shop.  You can see her helper right behind her.

Just about got it up.

The finished product.

A couple of her hand made ornaments. 

FIRST DAY OF SKIING THIS YEAR

Connie and I met Ike and Brenda at our little local resort Lost Trail yesterday for our first skiing day this season.  Some pretty good snow and just a beautiful day with lots of sunshine, blue skies, and WIND.  Not to bad on one side of the hill, but over on chair 4 it was really ripping.  Anyway, we had a good time and all of us could tell it was our first day - quite a bit of thigh burn!  All the pictures below were taken on the lodge side of the hill - I did not take one picture over at chair 4 where the wind was blowing so.

They have removed a lot of beetle killed trees near chair 2 so there is a lot more terrain to ski.

Brenda making a few powder turns.

This is my go to guy when I have bird or birding questions.  This guy travels all over the world looking at birds and is one of the main guys in the valley's Christmas bird count.  And a pretty good skier also.

The crowds here are pretty bad sometimes.

Connie waiting for me to get in my skis and get in line at the lift below.

UPDATE: 8 DEC 13

It is cold here in Montana as well as other parts of the U.S.  We don't have much snow, but what we have sure squeaks when you walk on it.  We had one of our stock waters freeze up which is always a pain.  And it is warmer in North Pole, Alaska where we used to live than it is here - but that has happened before! Connie has been getting ready for Christmas and Brenda and Rita came over the other day and they did some baking.  She also made a lot of horsehair necklaces, bracelets, and ornaments and sold some at a bazaar in Hamilton.  We have all our horses back at our place and now that hunting season is over we have turned them out in the meadow and trees.  I think they were glad to get out there.

Connie opening the gate letting the horses out.  You can see she is pretty bundled up and the horses have frost and snow on their backs that doesn't melt.

Even old Baylee did a little running!!!

Most the horses did some pretty hard running once they hit the meadow.

The bakers working.

Connie at her table at the bazaar.