Out skiing again...

We were back on skiis for half a day today and it was SO nice to be out. It's really cold here right now, and so the hills were incredibly empty which meant we could get lots of runs in pretty quickly. Here's Tanner out on skiis again today at Mad River. He was a good sport with the cold and wanted to try a couple of runs, which is always really fun! Mike and I get a kick out of it....it's very cute.

Outdoor show....

We've been housebound for almost 2 weeks with a nasty round of colds/flu...but we're finally on the mend and got out a bit this weekend. Tanner's doing much better (he got it first), Mike is still working through it and I'm somewhere in between. Anyways, we felt like we needed to get out and back into the world this weekend. We went to the Outdoor Show in Burlington which is always a lot of fun. Tan liked trying his hand at a toy Crossbow with Mike's help, and at one booth he got a pretty cool goose hat (that they were giving out to kids), so he spent the rest of the show pretending he was flying. Here's a couple of pictures.

Family music night...

Here's a few pictures of family music night tonight. Tanner got a toy guitar for Christmas that he loves, and he's really devoted to playing his guitar beside Mike and immitating everything Mike does. It's very cute and he's very proud. He even likes using one of Mike's guitar picks (which has become his) and "reading" the music just like Mike does. Tan will do this for the whole time Mike's playing music....like I said, he's very devoted to it:)

Out shooting for the first time....

Mike and I got Tan a really simple inexpensive play bow and arrow for Christmas. The weather here has been so warm this weekend and we all got out target shooting. Tan really liked his first time with his own bow. He kept asking to do more....

Ride 'em cowboy!

Here's our little cowboy, riding on his horse (and in his cowboy suit) both of which were gifts from Grandma for Christmas. He's been taking good care of his horse and feeding it pretend sandwiches(!) - part of his Christmas gift from Aunt Jean and Uncle Mike - and pretend eggs (our old Easter eggs). Apparently these are his horse's favorite foods!!!!

New snowman....

Here's our latest snowman. We made it last weekend before the big melt. The hair was our favorite part...and the birds loved all the seeds.

Tanner's first time on skiis....

Ok, so his first time on skiis was actually a few days ago when we tried them on while cross country skiing, but today he officially got his Season's Pass at Mad River (had his picture taken for it) and had his first little downhill skiing adventure on Callie's Run, again at Mad River. I think it seemed a little scary at first, but then he really liked it when Mike went ahead and cheered him on and I held him from behind as we went down the hill. What a fun new stage for all of us....

Cross country skiing - first time of the season...

What an incredible winter it's been, and we are absolutely loving all the amazing snow we've had since very early on this winter. Here's a few pictures of our first cross country ski adventure of the season on New Year's day.

Jean and Mike officially tie the knot!!!!

Jean and Mike had a very small "official" wedding over the holidays. We are SO happy for them and so excited that "Uncle Muck" (as Tanner fondly calls him) is officially part of our family. He's been like a brother to us for many years and we're so happy it's finally official. Mike has such a huge family (his Dad alone has 8 brother's and sister's - and he has 3 other parents each with several siblings) which makes for many aunts and uncles and cousins and they're all very close just as we are to our amazing aunts and uncles and cousins on our side. Jean was concerned that if she had to do the official part of the wedding in front of so many people (it would have been over 200) she might not make it down the aisle in one piece. So they officially tied the knot over the holidays in an itty bitty ceremony and now they're gearing up to host a wedding party to celebrate their marriage with all the family and their friends this summer. They're really looking forward to celebrating with everyone - and being able to really enjoy being surrounded by everyone without the stress of the formal ceremony and the getting down the aisle:) Anyways, we are SO happy for them (and selfishly for ourselves too as our family feels much more complete this way!). Here are a few pictures...