January Snowshoeing

I got in a few really great snowshoe days in January, before I got laid up. It's my favorite thing to do in the wintertime. Everything is so beautiful and magical.

Horseshoe Canyon:

Mark and I have a goal to always find one new place to snowshoe each season. This year I hit the jackpot with Joyce, and have found tons of new places! Joyce and I tried a place in the Big Holes called Horseshoe Canyon. It was gorgeous! We want to go back in the summer, and see about camping there, and exploring more trails. We went the wrong way at first, so we ended up doing a 7.5 miler, once we backtracked and found the yurt we were looking for.

This was the wrong way, and I wasn't one bit sad about taking it!

Back on track, headed to the yurt.

Me and Joyce!

We snowshoed in to this fun yurt. You can rented it to camp in over the winter. That would be so fun!

Mike Harris Exploring:

Joyce and I decided to explore some areas around the Mike Harris Campground. It was sooooo pretty! The trees were covered in snow, and I loved everything about it. We got on some random trail, and then it ended, but you could see where someone had skied down the way we were going up, so we just kept saying, "Let's just go see what's around the next turn." Joyce and I did this for quite sometime, climbing straight up a mountain in deep snow. Finally Joyce mentioned that we were in an avalanche shoot, so we eventually made the call to turn around. It was slow, hard going on the way up, but so much faster, and fun coming back down. Loved it!

The sun shining through the snow covered trees was awesome!

It was just like walking through a winter postcard.

This tree was amazing. It was covered in green moss, and snow.

😊😊😊

These views are the reasons we just kept going 'a little bit farther.' 😆

Tricia-Joyce

Coming back down the canyon we had climbed up was so fun!

😅😅😅

Mike Harris Exploring Round Two:

I loved the Mike Harris area so much, that Mark and I went back the next day for his Friday off. This time we stayed on the trails they groom around the campground area. Most of the snow had fallen off the trees by then, so it wasn't quite as pretty this time, but still some awesome trails, and snowshoe options. I love exploring new areas.

Besties! 😆

He's my favorite adventure buddy!

At the very end of our hike, we saw two moose up on the hill. 

That was a fun way to end the hike.

I wish we could have gotten in some more snowshoe days, but I ended up with a stress fracture, so I'm laid up for awhile. A report on that will be posted shortly.

Frost, Owls, & Porcupines, Oh My

 My friend Joyce is an amazing wildlife photographer. I've always referred to her as the 'animal whisperer,' because she can not only find them, but the way she interacts with wildlife is fantastic. She loves the critters, and they love her back. I was lucky enough to get to tag along on an owl and porcupine photography day. It was so cool! We saw four great grey owls, a moose, two great horned owls, and three porcupines. I was in heaven! I was just snapping away with my phone, while she worked her camera magic. The difference in our pictures cracks me up.

There is a place where the great grey owls hang out for the winter. It was fun watching all the photographers hang out there waiting to spot them. I felt like I was a part of some secret club. 😂 We got lucky and spotted four of them.

This was out first one, hanging out in the trees across a field.

All the photographers were watching one across the street on a telephone pole, and Joyce turned around and noticed one in the tree right behind us.

Once we got our fill of those owls, we headed to our next area. We had a moose cross the road in front of us, so of course we got out and followed her. 😆 She dropped into the canal and laid down for a nap. It was bitter cold that day, so she was probably just trying to conserve energy and stay warm. 

I spy a moose through all the sticks!

Joyce knows the place where two great horned owls hang out. They looked so cool covered in frost, sitting in their tree. She got some amazing pictures of their frosty faces.

A great horned owl.

The highlight of my day was the porcupines. I've only seen a couple in the wild. One was from the car, and it was dark, and another time was hiking up Tablerock, again in the dark. I've never been this up close and personal with them, and it was so cool! They are the cutest!

We hit the jackpot, and one was walking toward it's tree right as we got there. We stayed back to give it time to climb up the tree, so it wouldn't feel threatened by us.

So cute!

We saw this one, and then two more while we drove around. I told Joyce I want to tag along with her this spring, when all the animals start coming out, having babies, and being more active. I can't wait! If you want to see amazing wildlife photos (including some of the ones she took on this day), follow her Facebook page, Journey With Joyce. You won't be disappointed!

January Date of the Month: Hockey

Mark and I decided to do a 'Date of the Month' in 2023. For our January date, we went to our first Spudkings hockey game. It was so fun! I've never been to hockey before, and I loved it! So many fights the night we were there.

When the team came out and lined up on the ice at the beginning, I thought they all looked like teenagers!

💖💗💖💗

We totally want to go to more games now!

We were supposed to double with Steph and Eric, but Eric had to go out of town, so Brodee got to go with us instead.

Cider Bend

December brought lots of shenanigans to Cider Bend.

Clover and Willow got new halters, lead ropes, and matching beanies. So if you're having a bad day, look at these cute baby donkeys in beanies, and things will surely brighten up. 😁 

Sweet little Clover!

We were trying to get good videos of them in their hats for my instagram reel. It's quite a process! 😂

Willow is my little Boise State donkey!

So cute!

Clover is darling, and always needs to carry a snack that's about as big as her on our walks.

Just saving this big weed for later.

Willow may be a stinker, but she sure is a beautiful one!

Clover can melt anyone's heart.

Reeses gets really dusty in the barn. It's hard for her to have a bath now, because standing up for that long in one place is rough on her. Sometimes we just have to improvise. 😂

November and December brought REALLY cold temperatures, and lots of snow. Then, one random day in December it got unseasonably warm, and everything melted REALLY fast. What a mess! The corrals turned into mud and lakes. I was so stressed about what would happen when it got cold again. Everything was going to freeze and end up like an ice rink.

The corrals were a muddy mess!

So much water everywhere, and it was deep!

Ugh!

Sure enough, the next morning everything was frozen. It was too dangerous in the corrals to let the donkeys out. Their hooves are just too tiny to keep them upright on the ice. They are too young and full of energy to keep cooped up in the stall all day. It was a long couple days, but we made it work.

The frozen corrals!

I decided to let them play inside the barn during the day. They thought this was fantastic! It was rough on me, because I just had to hang out in there with them the whole time. It was like I was running a donkey day care. Willow is naughty, so that made it extra fun. 😅

World's most patient dog!

Clover and Reeses are besties! They love each other! 😊

They are fascinated by Reeses' carpet. They paw at it, and try to eat it.

I love this picture! Clover being sweet and innocent like usual, and Willow causing trouble in the background. 😂

Reeses loves when the girls get to hang out in the barn and play with her.

Someone found her treats!

Remember how I was going to hang out and do a puzzle while I watched them. Well, no puzzle was done. I played referee all day, and followed Willow around trying to keep her out of trouble.

I wasn't kidding when I said it was like having a donkey daycare.

We could finally let them out into their small corral area, but still not the big corral. At least they had some room to run and play. They were so restless.

Clover Rae having a good roll in the dirt.

The girls could finally run and play! Clover may be tiny, but she is fierce. I love it when she tries to kick Willow. It's the cutest thing ever!

We got a lot of fresh, powdery snow, so we built the girls a snowman. They were the most curious little donkeys.

Such a fun donkey friend!

They were so curious!

Hello new friend!

We left them alone with their friend, and when we came back out, they had stolen his hat, and eaten his eye! 😂

Once they stripped him of the rest of his dignity, Willow tried to climb him!

The eyes and nose were donkey treats, so Willow assumed the buttons were too. Those were just plain old rocks. Sorry Willow!

Who knew that one little snowman could provide so much entertainment!

Merry Christmas!

 Christmas Tree:

We knew we wouldn't have the kids for Christmas, so we decided to do something a little bit different as far as a Christmas tree goes. We started a new tradition and bought a real, potted Christmas tree. We put it down in the barn, and decorated it for the animals. It's so cute! We will actually plant the tree on our property once it's spring. We figured we could do this each year, and eventually we will have trees planted all around the property. 

Clover and Willow checking out their Christmas tree.

It was so cute when it was all decorated!

Willow loved it!

Reeses has always LOVED Christmas! It's putting up the tree that has always let her know that the holiday fun was starting. She instantly loved the tree in the barn. I would come down to wake her up in the mornings, and she wouldn't be in her bed. She would be curled up under the Christmas tree. Cutest thing ever!

I love her!

An Evening in Bethlehem:

Clover and Willow got invited to participate in Ririe's, 'An Evening in Bethlehem.' People could walk down the streets of Bethlehem to different booths, and then to end the night, they had an amazing live nativity, with camels and everything. We were the stable booth. Clover and Willow were a huge hit! We didn't even have time to get good pictures, because from the time it started, for over an hour, they were totally surrounded by people. At some points they were literally swarmed by kids. The donkeys handled it like champs! Clover surprised us with a sweet instinct to be extra calm and gentle around kids. We were so impressed with them. By the end, they were both overwhelmed and ready to be done, but considering the fact that they are still babies, we think they did fantastic!

Mark and Willow

Tricia and Clover

Early Christmas:

We celebrated Christmas a week early with Sawyer and Amanda. They were spending Christmas with Amanda's family in boise, so this gave us a chance to still have a celebration with them. Christmas in the barn was fun!

We got the presents under the tree before they got there.

Lots of stuff for Reeses, Clover, and Willow!

Somebody knew the celebration was about to start, and she was thrilled! 💙

We had a yummy ham dinner before presents.

Present time!

We never thought we'd be having Christmas in a barn, but it suits us!

We let the donkeys roam around the barn while we opened presents. Reeses got her stuffed pig right off the bat, and she was content the rest of the night.

Pistachios and new running gloves from Mason and Bailey.

Mason and Bailey got me pjs and slippers! 

Sawyer was the one who got to give the donkeys their treats.

A cute sign from Mason and Bailey.

Sushi Go from Sawyer and Amanda.

We got each set of kids a big meat box from Ballerina Farms. Now I want one!

More treats! Clover was quite fond of Sawyer.

After presents we went upstairs to finish the night off with dessert. Amanda made peppermint cheesecake cupcakes. Yum!

Gingerbread Barn:

Mark and I made a gingerbread barn this year! It was so cute!

I was in charge of the animals. As you can see, my artistic ability was on point. 😂

Mark constructed the actual barn. I love it!

Christmas Donkeys:

Seriously, could my life get any more fun?!?

Cute Clover Rae!

They had cute scarves too, but they were having none of that. 😅

I love them!

Her little face is about the cutest thing ever!

Willow loves Mark soooo much! She is always giving him the best hugs! 😊

The kid's Christmas':

Sawyer and Amanda spent a few days celebrating Christmas in Boise with Greg and Cathy.

They had a nice dinner.

Matching Christmas pjs.

Mason and Bailey stayed in Boise to have their own celebration with Nora. I remember doing that once we had kids. It's fun to stay home and start your own traditions.

Matching pjs.

We got Nora the cutest rocking cow!

I know I already posted this video, but it's too cute not to post again. Make sure your sound is on, so you can hear all her cute noises.

Although we missed having our kiddos with us this year, we're really grateful that both of our kids married into such great families. It makes it easier to share them, knowing that so many other people love them too.

Christmas in Yellowstone:

Mark and I had a very non-traditional Christmas Day this year. It was our first year without any kids at home, so we did something a little different. Our friends, Phil and Joyce, won the lottery to do a non-guided snow machine ride into Yellowstone Park, and invited us to go with them. I've been to Yellowstone a ton of times, but never in the winter. It's like a whole different world. It is seriously so cool! We had a fantastic day! We kept commenting on how fast the day was speeding by. We thought it would be a once in a lifetime thing for us to do, but we totally want to go again next year.

We saw two moose and an eagle on our drive to the park.

Tricia-Joyce-Phil-Mark

The bison are so cool to watch in the winter. Their heads and faces are covered in snow, because they use their big heads to move the snow so they can get down to the grass to eat.

The first time we rode by a bison on the snow machine, I was a little bit nervous, but they weren't interested in us at all.

So fun!

Mark and Phil

A lot of the boardwalks along the geyser areas were open. So cool to see it in winter.

I loved all the frosty trees around the geyser areas.

Waiting for Old Faithful!

We always skip Old Faithful when we go in the summer, because there are thousands of people. It was so fun to see if with a small crowd.

Old Faithful

The Black Sands thermal area.

The pools look extra cool surrounded by snow.

Notice my cool orange suit. The rental place had to go to another store and get me a kids size. 😂

It really is like something from another world.

So pretty!

We were walking along this path, and it would get so steamy that we could barely see in front of us. Luckily another group warned us of a bison right beside the trail that they didn't even see until they were right up on him. We didn't make it to Grand Prismatic because he was still there.

This should be on everyone's bucket list!

This is how excited we were about being there!

The Firehole Drive was my favorite part! So gorgeous!

Firehole Falls

I loved the sound. I loved the frosty trees. I loved the river. I loved the waterfall. I loved it all!

Phil and Joyce were the best tour guides!

The sun was setting along the river as we drove out of the park. It was so pretty!

Such an amazing day! I can't wait to go again next year and do the Canyon Area!