Just like last year, we spent the majority of the trip lazing about, reading, playing games, and eating the fantastic baked goods that my mom and grandmother brought.

Luckily, there was snow this year, so we were able to go cross-country skiing one day, which was absolutely gorgeous. You can actually leave right from the back porch. :) It was the first time I'd been in probably ten years, so it took a while to get back into the swing of things, but we had a great time. :)

Just in case you doubted the insanity of my father, here he is shoveling the snow on the back porch WITH A DUSTPAN. He kept insisting that "Wouldn't it be nice if we could stand on the back porch?" And we all said, "Why would we stand on the back porch when we could stand INDOORS, WARM, and see exactly the same view???" But aparently the fact that he couldn't be two feet closer to the view was too much for him, and out came the dustpan.

I might also note that he did not go out on the porch again for the entire time I was there. :D

On our last day there, we got to witness the Klondike Derby. Teams of kids had each built sleds that they were racing down the hill. This one was my favorite, made to look like a dragon, but there was also one that looked like a snack shack. It was really cute! :)

We returned from Bethel on Monday but still had Tuesday off (we're big fans of taking an additional day off after each vacation to just stay home), so Brandie and the kids and I ventured down to IKEA! It was the first time the kids went to the store and they had a blast! It was really cute watching Ford and Montana sit down in each room and say "This is MY room!" :D

Ford and Indigo each agreed that this lamp would look fantastic in my apartment (much to Randy's dismay). Don't you agree? :D

I also put up these notecards that I bought from Presents and Law a while ago. It's their Worry Doll series, I absolutely adore them. You can see closeups of the notecards here. I thought I had bought 8 of the clips frames from IKEA, but I only had four. Luckily I found the four other frames hanging around the apartment (I bought a whole bunch at Uncle Paul's Xmas fair last year and forgot about them), I really like how it looks! :)