Sister Weekend

Our first (of hopefully) many sister weekends was a really wonderful time! It certainly was cold, but that did not deter us from having a great time (and even venturing out a bit). Apparently, this get together was my idea  - I have to say it was a good one! 

Jaima drive up to Minneapolis from Pender and I arrived from Denver on Thursday night. We stayed up talking too late, so we were not out of the house super early on Friday. Jacki was kind enough to pick up the groceries at Target and we headed out mid-morning with Caribou Coffee in hand. Fortunately, the drive up to Park Rapids was not hindered by weather and we had more than enough to catch up on during the journey. 

After unpacking the car and having a charcuterie lunch, we ventured out to snowshoe as we knew this was the warmest it would be all weekend. We had quite the time getting all bundled up and ready to go, but we did it! There were lots of laughs and I’m so glad I brought my snowshoes. We ventured through the woods behind the cabin and down to the lake before heading back to the cabin. What a beautiful place! 

We puzzled away the evening and Jacki made a delicious vegetable enchilada dish for dinner and Jaima spun the tunes - lots of singing and memories generated by music. It was such a great day! 

We all slept passed 8:00 and had a lazy morning of sheet sorting (Jacki) and Disney planning (Jaima and me). We also continued on the puzzle before heading into town. 

We ate lunch at The Good Life and walked around the cute little downtown area picking up some chocolate treats and exploring Ben Franklin. We headed to  Walmart to pick up some essentials - but didn’t pick up water…… lesson learned! 

Saturday night brought a completed puzzle, chocolate and wine, coconut chicken over rice, a Ticket to Ride Battle (which I wasn’t ever really a part of, but I kept at it) and lots of laughs. The time just flew by and all of a sudden it was midnight. 

Sunday morning brought even more sleeping in, more train battles and some breakfast and lunch before picking up and heading out around 2:00. What a really special place the cabin is and I am so thankful that the Marshalls shared it with us. 

Sunday night and Monday were much more “real life” with football watching, work and eventually getting home. Jaima took off early Monday morning and headed back to Colorado after working from Minnesota for the day. So many people comment on how you can’t pick your family, but you can pick your friends. I’m fortunate to call these amazing women sisters and friends. 

Caribou in hand 

Ready to snowshoe! 

So pretty - and no wind in the trees 

By the lake 

View from the porch 

Lunch in town 

A very appropriate puzzle 

Wine and chocolate 

Sister wine 

Ticket to ride 

Still bundled up on the bus - such a great trip! 

President’s List

Super proud to see Drake on this list. His hard work paid off. 

Fun Julia

Fun Dad is inspiring fun Julia. After returning from an appointment, I asked Marshall to go to Mother Tucker’s (the brewery up the street). I wanted to use my gift card from T-man and try something new. 

It was actually trivia night and we had fun playing the first couple of rounds. I’m now hoping to get a few couples together for trivia in the near future. Fun Julia! 

My gift card from T-man 

Cheers 

To more adventures in 2023! 

Fun Dad

It was fun night out with the Wright’s last night. Marshall and I had been talking about our options for the evening when Alana reached out going out! We learned that Paul has a goal to be “fun Dad” so we are looking to embrace this and do more and different things. I certainly feel like I have been in a rut recently with activities so looking forward to many more outings with fun Dad! 

We had to work around T-man’s ultimate event, which actually ended up working out great as it got us out of Louisville. We dropped T-man off in Golden at the e Golden Goal Sports Complex and met the Wright’s for dinner before heading to an Escape Room. We almost escaped in time - with a little help….. 

We then headed for a night cap at Henry’s (too crowded) and ended up at Tilt instead. 

I headed back down to Golden to pick T-man up at 1:00 am, but waited in the car until 2:00 when he finished up. A long night for sure! But, all worth it to have T-man get in the car and be so excited about the night that he had (and he won a hat in the raffle which he was very excited about!). I love that he has found a community and a sport he loves. 

Final Friday

Well the time for D-man to go back finally arrived. I picked up Snarf’s for lunch and three of us enjoyed our sandwiches together (Marshall and I rarely eat lunch together). Overall, it was a lazy day, but we did slam in some final errands - a haircut, prescription pick up, Amazon returns, new glasses selected, Crumbl Cookies and some online shopping at Target for some essentials. 

The boys got in a few game of tanks before we headed to the MOHI basketball game. D-man then hooked up with some friends for dinner before playing poker with a friend, his Dad and Marshall. Marshall was about to head to bed, but what a nice surprise to spend D-man’s last night with him. 

I picked up Santiago’s breakfast burritos before helping pack D-man up for the semester. An easy trip to the airport and an easy trip for D-man (he rode the shuttle service to Oxford with 8 other kids from Colorado!). 

I shed a few tears this morning, but which means that our time together was wonderful. And 6.5 weeks together - that’s pretty darn special. 

Fondue Fun

As we won’t be with D-man for his birthday (sniff, sniff); we celebrated him at Melting Pot. What I love about the Melting Pot is that we are all engaged in the dinner, chatting while we cook and taking out time while out. There is no rush to get out the door and you are responsible for the cooking so you can’t complain about that! 

I was mostly happy to have us all together tone last time before D-man leaves. This last week has been special as he is around more (everyone else is gone) and we have all enjoyed time with him. Happy birthday, son. We love you. 

Cooking away 

Birthday boy 

Love that the lights are still out in downtown Louisville 

Checking out the magic box display 

Bonus Day

Thursday was a bonus day in every sense of the word. Bonus time with D-man in the drive to and from Copper. Bonus getting to use a friend’s condo for the day. Bonus ski day. Bonus ski day WITH D-man. No waiting in line bonus. Bonus hot tub time. 

I made the statement to D-man about experiences over things while we were at the ski condo and he said, “I dunno Mom, this thing we are in is pretty nice.” (True statement son). But, just trying to talk about me choosing to spend the day with him and knowing exactly where my priorities are. 

The drive up - only 1 hour and 40 minutes 

View from the condo 

On the back side - 10 lifts in 2 hours! 

What a view - and good snow. Lots of moguls today. 

Hot tub before heading home 

The Peavy Triathlon

Tonight we had an eclectic meal that allowed us to check off three meal request from D-man in one meal. I enjoyed preparing the meal and also made an ooey-gooey butter cake that I had wanted to try. 

While we were eating dinner, we got the alert that school would be closed tomorrow so we had time for some family games after dinner. We played euchre, pool and then needed a tie breaker so we played Sequence. A bonus evening that reminded me a bit of our time together during the pandemic. And I’m thankful the boys will have a bonus day together tomorrow too. 

MLK Ski Getaway

We are so fortunate to have world-class skiing at our doorstep. This was our 6th year traveling to the mountains with the Wrights for skiing. So much fun with lazy mornings, skiing, games and good food and better company. D-man joined us Saturday evening and we had no real lines all weekend - what a treat. We also got to hook up with other friends as well this weekend. And happy hour in Winter Park with friends before driving back, made for no traffic on the way home (and the minivan survives a mountain trip over the pass again). Whew. 

It was extra special to have all of us together this year. D-man mentioned how he was thankful we made his ski and T-man was thankful for all we do to make skiing happen. I’m thankful that the boys will still do a few runs with me so we can all ski together - truly a joy to have this activity for us all. 

View from our condo on a bluebird day 

Always so pretty 

Lunch in the sun 

Ready to hit the slopes 

Girlfriends on the slopes ⛷️ 

Monopoly battle 

Colder on day 2 - getting my heated socks ready via Bluetooth! 

A good day out 




Always fun exploring the mountain with the Wrights 

Love that we all had this weekend together 

The whole gang 

The last day on pano lift - sun started to peak out 

Having some fun 

Last runs of the weekend - together 


Ready to hit the terrain park 

A cool shot of the sun trying to peek out