At the Cabin

Eating chili and sipping hot chocolate.  Roasting marshmallows. Playing board games.  Revving snowmobiles along snow-covered trails.  We gathered at our family cabin near Oakley, Utah, on December 27, 2019, and celebrated the warm and chilly, social and solitary, welcoming and austere ways of experiencing winter.  Dave, Grant, and Bryce left Salt Lake at 4:30 in the morning to drive to the Pine Mountains gate, hike the mile to the cabin, and then spend five hours warming the cabin up before we all arrived.

Henry couldn't get enough of our "hat tree", with its dozen or more varieties of hats.  He wore two at once!

Jenny relaxed a minute, as relatives swooped up her adorable three sons.

Sophia modeled a favorite hat from the hat tree.  We bought it at a mountain man rendezvous.  The artist certified that it was made from fox roadkill.  He charged us a premium because the pelt still had all its legs!

It's been a while since Camille cuddled a baby of her own, but it was irresistible to borrow Thomas. 
Dave wore yet another hat from the hat tree.  He is the collector of all of them, from the fox roadkill to this leather cowboy hat, to a proper stovepipe.

After dragging up two bins of food for the family in the sled, and then cooking lunch with no running water (we dragged buckets filled from the spigot outside), it was a relief to sit back and sip a cup of cocoa.

Our grandchildren love board and party games, and they launched several of them as the afternoon wore on.

Annelise challenged Jonny as the most expert marshmallow roaster.

That marshmallow was a bit well done.

Jonny held his own with his golden brown, four-pronged wonders.

And Ezra and Mia just sat back, next to the skunk pillow, and watched.

Jenny went from solitary contemplation to too much of a good thing.

Heidi took a  nap as Mike contemplated....a difficult tenant? his trip to Ethiopia next fall?  President Trump's latest excesses?

And Steve relaxed amid the chaos with an iPhone that just might reach beyond these mountains to civilization.

Sophia, at nearly 14, enjoyed a seat next to the heater--and a fast, cold ride on the snowmobiles.

Thomas is beautiful in whatever he wears, but especially in one of the striped outfits that Jenny collects for her baby boys.

Grant was ready to confront the icy snow and cold of a snowmobile ride around Pine Mountain.

Add a parka, and Emilie would be ready, too.  She is the lone attendee of the University of Utah among her cousins, but a full ride scholarship from the Honors Program was the deciding factor.

As he gets older and more sophisticated (5 years and aging), it's harder to catch Sam with a smile.  Bingo!

With four brothers and sisters who have attended BYU, Bryce has a favorite brand.

And Daisy was happy to nestle among the coats on the couch.

After all his hat modeling, snowmobiling, and cabin exploring, Henry finally crashed, still in his snowsuit!