Sun Valley Serenade 2009

Each January over Martin Luther King weekend my family goes on a vacation to Sun Valley, Idaho. We didn't go last year due to Grandpa Moulton's funeral, so this year was our first with Clark and my sister-in-law Rachel. We had perfect weather--cold, lots of snow, but clear, sunny skies. The stars were fantastic. And star-gazing while sitting in a hot tub in winter--even more fantastic.
Sun Valley is the perfect combination of vacationing because we stay busy with lots of different activities but also have plenty of time to hang out, play games and do puzzles. This year we had tons of fun skiing, sledding, ice-skating, swimming, watching hockey, bowling and more. Most of all, I love being all together as a family without any distractions. My brothers are so entertaining and make me laugh so much. Here are some pictures of the fun times.

Clark had not done much skiing and had never been ice-skating before, but he was a trooper about trying new things. We skied two full days and by the end he was looking mighty fine on the mountain! It was fun to see Stephen land his back flip and Nate land his 360.
I love that I am getting so many sisters! Jerai and Rachel are such great additions to our family, and Beth, of course, is just my favorite little sister ever.
It's tradition for us to go bowling at the Lodge. It's in the basement, has six lanes, 7 ft ceilings and old-school bowling equipment. It's grand. Clark and Stephen were our score keepers and Mom was the champion of the game. I came in a close second, tying with my Dad. It always makes for an entertaining night.

We managed to put this 1000 piece puzzle together in one afternoon. It was definitely a group effort, no thanks to Clark or Phil...

Sledding. This sledding outing was hilarious. My dad decided that he was ready to go while we were all still getting ready. He is not one that likes to wait once he is ready, so he went ahead with a sled and walked to the sled hill by himself. He even went down the hill on the sled before we all got there! I don't know what got into him that all of the sudden he decided that he wanted to go sledding and wanted to go sledding then! So funny.
Not a bad sledding hill, eh? I was not one that attempted to hike the biggest peak. I screamed enough on the medium one...

These are some shots of what we looked like by the time we made it down the hill. I wish I could have recorded sound bites of it all. there was a combination of screams and groans and grunts as we sped over unexpected bumps and stopped by toppling off the sled...

So many legs!

Clark's first time on the ice.
And of course, one of the best parts of the trip was playing with my little nephew. He is growing so fast and is just too much fun. I couldn't resist posting a picture of him.