Jenny's Birthday at the Cabin

 Hillary, Laura, Janet, Jenny

We celebrated Jenny's birthday at the cabin.  

RS Retreat at the Cabin

Last Friday night we had our ward's RS retreat at our cabin. Five of us decided that we should have a two-day retreat so we went up on Thursday. We had lunch at a Mexican place in Midway and then did a little boutique/gallery shopping on our way. It was so delightful to just take our time and enjoy ourselves with no plan. We watched "Seventeen Miracles" Thursday night. I had seen it so I was able to not sob audibly - as I did the first time I saw it. Friday night we had dinner and played games and watched movies. I saw "Soul Surfer" for the first time; it was excellent. It was great to just relax with each other and enjoy some "down" time with our sisters. It wasn't long enough! We literally could watch the fall colors changing! When we first got there there were some patches of orange, and when we left the whole hillside was bright with autumn colors!

lunch in Midway

the sisters at the cabin

beautiful fall colors!

How to Make a Bed

Apparently, I have a little OCD about making beds. Often when I get to the cabin, I remake many of the beds. I taught our missionaries how to make a bed using scrapbook paper at one zone conference. I thought I'd just record here the Janet Rife way to make a bed.

1. You should have a good mattress pad and a feather bed on the top of that is ideal.


2. Place the fitted sheet over the mattress, make sure that you get the corners on correctly.


3. Place the flat sheet, right side down, (even if there isn't a print, it's proper to put the right sides together) If you always fold the sheet vertically first you will have a nice line showing you where to put the sheet so it's in the middle of the bed. Pull the flat sheet all the way to the top of the mattress so you have room to turn it down.


4. Fold the bottom of the flat sheet under the bottom of the mattress and make hospital corners.




5. Put the blanket or down comforter on over the flat sheet and then turn the sheet down over the blanket.


6. Place the pillows on the bed with the pillowcase opening to the outside of the bed.



7. Put the bedspread/comforter on the bed and follow with pillow shams.



I will add an alternative method:

You can also pull the comforter/bedspread down so that it is at the same level as the down comforter or blanket and then fold the sheet over both and then fold the whole thing down again. That is how I usually make my bed.

Here's how it looks with the sheet folded down.

And yes, I did match my paint color to my sheets!

And that's the way to make a bed properly!

Cabin Fun

Laura and her four kiddies came to Utah for 10 days before they start school in New York. We were happy that our week at the cabin happened during their stay. We stayed at the cabin for six days and really had a great time making memories together. Now comes the overload of cabin pictures:

Four-wheeler fun

The kids made a dance floor on the deck out of these exercise squares and had a dance contest and did gymnastics

And made forts


We went to a park in Heber after we ate at Dairy Keen

The kids ran foot races and even Papa and Jenny and Mary got involved

Hot tubbing was a fun activity for the kiddies

The girls were making a yummy oreo dessert

Annie enjoys the cabin

I got up early one morning to watch the sunrise and enjoyed seeing these deer in the yard

We went to the Cheesecake factory Laura's last night here and I got this picture of all seven gkiddies.

YCL Retreat at the Cabin

We had such a fun time at our Youth Camp Leader Retreat at the cabin. We had yummy food (Thanks, Shari!) and worked on camp stuff and talked and giggled and did face masks and did the Color Code personality test and generally just had a great time together getting ready for YW camp.

Mud masks #1

Mud masks #2

Yummy dinner

You can see the piano in its new home

Shari's cute table decorations

Can you tell what our camp color was this year?

Moving the Piano to the Cabin

When we bought into our cabin we decided that we would move Rich's Mom's upright piano from the basement to the cabin. There's a perfect spot for it next to the fireplace and under a picture of the Sacred Grove. Since we bought into the cabin in November and then winter came we had to wait until summer time to move it. I did some research on piano movers and the one I chose came recommended by Summerhayes music store. Well, they weren't that great and made lots of mistakes, but in the end the piano made it into the cabin and I'm very grateful. It was quite the nightmare making it happen though. Here are some pictures of the process:




I need to get a picture of the piano IN the cabin, it really looks great there.

Cabin with Girlfriends

Wednesday I took some girlfriends to the cabin. We had a great time just relaxing and visiting and eating. I only got these two pictures with everybody in the kitchen making dinner.

Second Time to the Cabin

Okay, I promise not to post about every trip to the cabin. But it's still so new and exciting. I came up Thursday with Kathy. We tried to find a place to cross-country ski before it got dark; we got a little time on a meadow with snowmobile trails just at dusk. Friday we went out and went on some snowmobile trails but they were really bumpy. Then we saw the road around the lake and it turned out to be perfect skiing. Friday night more of our kids, nephews, and friends came up. Today Rich and Michael and Todd joined us.

Highlights for me:

Seeing a fox running around the lake

Watching a woodpecker work on a tree

Watching the sunrise and set

Seeing the waxing crescent moon

Seeing Orion clearly in the night sky and Jupiter

Some pictures:

Our Inaugural Visit to the Cabin

We were able to use our cabin for the first time over Todd's birthday. Rich and Logan couldn't be there since they are such working men. (Or as Rich put it: "Somebody has to pay for this cabin." ~ and we are ever so grateful!) We had a great time! And look forward to many more memories to be made at the cabin.

deer right by the door

Annie and I went for a little walk, this picture does not due justice to just how beautiful the scenery was.


Hot tub adventures: the kids loved the outdoor hot tub and they all got out and made snow angels - crazy kids!