Winter Hike

We went on a winter hike this afternoon, yay!! 

The younger boys didn't have school today, and I wanted to go, but I wasn't sure how I'd survive on my own. Once the girls got home from school, I went and asked them about coming on a hike. They played their cards well cause they were willing but also reluctant, and they hesitated just long enough for me to offer to throw in some Little Ceasars pizza tonight. "Deal!" and then we hurried and got the kids ready for a 30 min walk in the mountains. It was so pretty yesterday, I was thrilled to bring them up and to be able to share it with them. Starting the hike. 

Katharine is all smiles!

Abi was a trooper and carried Katharine most of the time. 

Sophi and I helped a little bit too, but that was when she was a somewhat willing toddler. Soon this little girl was going to be cold, tired, and sad. But we kept going on our walk. The boys and Natalie were throwing each other into the snow right away. I warned them that they were going to be cold if they didn't slow it down... we still had atleast 20 more minutes out in this temperature. Almost to the top where we turn off on techy...

Peter was having fun, even though his gloves were thin.

The kids were writing "BYU" everywhere, which was funny. We were kinda destroying the trail, but I'm hoping bikers will be ok and will appreciate that it's been widened a little bit and not be bothered by it having lots of boot steps in it. And this was where K stopped having fun. Abi took off her extra coat and put it on K. 

Selfie by the river. Sophi behind me is ready to go...

...and the rest of the kids were playing at the river. I would have let them all stay longer, except Peter stepped into the water, and if he has a cold wet foot, he's not going to be able to handle that very long out here in these freezing temperatures. He didn't complain, but I told the kids it was time to be done. 

They had fulfilled my wishes: We got out side, I took some pics of it, and Corey will be pleased about it. So we can be done now. Heading back to the car. Abi still carrying Katharine. 

We took a picture of the kids on the biking trail, with me down inside the end of the techy section. 

I thought it was cool to see the undisturbed snow all in front of them, so pretty!

One more pic a little closer....

Ok, you can destroy each other now. 

I had told them at the beginning on the trail that they had to stop pushing each other into the snow or it would make them too cold, and we had 20 minutes still to go. Now that we were ready to go back up the hill to the car, I was ok if they got freezing, cause we'd be getting warm in a moment. 

I'm impressed Natalie did this all without complaining since she didn't bring a coat!

Abi was such a trooper. K was sitting up there on her shoulders, but she was tired and cold, and by the time they got to the top of the hill, Katharine was a dead weight sleeping sack of potatoes up on Abi's shoulders - video here. Thank you Abi, this wouldn't have happened without you! She's earned her pizza. I think it was just too much stimulation for K's little brain to take in, and so she had to shut down. And it was a full shutdown, allowing her to sleep while sitting up, out in the cold, in what has to be an incredibly uncomfortable position, so funny. I dropped the kids off at home, then I went out to the Little Ceasars drive thru, (after going by TJ Maxx for six more Sweet Floral Melody soaps, they are only $7 there) and got pizza for the kids. Corey and Lily were stuck in traffic, so date night was a bit late, but we made it out - we went to Bandits and yeah, it was a good day and it's been a good week. I did lots of cleaning and we rearranged the music room, but I'll report on that tomorrow.