Jackson Getaway

Oh, how grateful I am for a few days getaway to our beautiful condo timeshare unit in Jackson (actually Wilson) Wyoming! It's the same week every year and many times we cannot go for the entire week, but it is still wonderful to anticipate and even more wonderful to actually enjoy while there! This year we were able to make it by Tuesday night and stay until Saturday morning...longer than usual. It is always made more fun by our Wilson family being up there at the same time. They usually stay in our condo but this year decided to buy their own and were joined by the Tribe family for their vacation. Since we were not up there from Sunday night until Tuesday night, Todd and Dillon made the top floor of our condo their "man cave" (as they called it). And they continued to stay up there even after we arrived until they all had to leave on Thursday morning. I'm sure it wasn't nearly as cool to be in the "man-cave" when two old fogies were downstairs, but they made the best of it! We were so sad to see both families go, but enjoyed eating at Bubba's with all of them and also watching the ice-skating festivities on Wednesday. We appreciated being included in the fun.

While there we loafed some, did crossword puzzles (which Greg has me hooked on--I'm using my brain and it feels good!), read (Greg... the new Priesthood Leadership Handbooks, me...Pres. Monson's biography), studied the scriptures, Christmas shopped for grandkids (is there anything quite as fun as finding the perfect gift for the perfect little person?) and made Greg a warm quilt for HIS "man-cave", the den. I took my new sewing machine and further learned how to use it. Greg was great help in getting the quilt cut out and put together ready to machine quilt and in helping to feed it through the machine during the process. It is so bulky it would have been very difficult if not impossible without him. I appreciate how he is always so willing to help me with projects...of course, this one was for him, but he would have helped me regardless. The quilting capabilities on this machine are so fun! We are still going to tie it, however, just because it will look better! We came home Saturday night and bound it on the machine as well. It looks great and for a first try, it turned out well. When it is tied I will take a picture of it.  We love the colors! Thanks, Lori, for taking me to "The Gathering Place" once again and helping me find just the right fabric! Why is it you can't walk out of that store without spending $50 - $100.00?!!! Love that place!

The weather was pleasant on the trip up and all week until Saturday morning when we awoke to plenty of snow! So beautiful!!!!! We decided to pack up and come home during the daytime but certainly didn't hurry! We had the new company car (new to us) and it had great tires. I knew we had Greg at the wheel so I really didn't stress at all. We came home to several inches of snow. So beautiful! It has really made me excited for Christmas! I took this picture of the famous "climbing" tree in our backyard. I love it so much and am very protective of it! This year as we have not had a hard frost yet, there are still many leaves remaining and in combination with the snowfall, its branches are weighed down pretty heavily. I have been going out with my broom and where I can reach, shaking the snow off the branches. As you can imagine, I look like a snow bunny after. How I love this tree! I know it's just an ordinary Little-leaf Linden tree, but we planted it right after we moved here and now it provides much-needed shade in the summer, a place for grandkids to climb, and something beautiful to enjoy all seasons of the year.