Tahoe

The day after Christmas, I headed out with my brother Jason and the boys for a trip to Lake Tahoe. We were meeting the rest of my family there to celebrate Christmas. Greg wasn't able to get off of work, which we were really bummed about. Greg loves mountains, so it was always bittersweet while I was there. I loved it, but I wished Greg was there to enjoy it, too.

They overbooked our flight to Sacramento, so we were all bumped up to first class! Wow - I think that will be a once-in-a-lifetime flight. First class is awesome. Amazing the difference from the peon area that I usually sit in. It was such a blessing...made our trip so much easier.

A lot of my mom's side of the family lives in Sacramento (that's where my mom grew up). So, we went to my sweet Aunt Donna's house for dinner right after we landed. We were exhausted, but it was fun!

We then stayed at a really nice hotel in downtown Sacramento that night. When we woke up the next morning we did Christmas with my family. It was so much fun. Nana & Bapa spoiled ALL of us!

Luke and Jack got new hats for the snow!


And, Nana & Bapa got them some snowboots. They LOVE wearing them, and, if you have been in Dallas the past few weeks, you would know that they have been put to good use!
Handsome Luke!

Jason & Mom -
Sporting his new boots...love those curls!

One of the funniest things that Luke got was a marshmallow gun. I didn't get pictures, unfortunately, but let's just say that we were hunting marshmallows all over the hotel room. So much fun. The hotel staff was probably wondering what in the world was going on after finding so many in there. :)

The next day, we made the beautiful drive to Lake Tahoe. I had been there as a young child in the summer, but never the winter. It is seriously the most beautiful place I have been to. I am so sad that I didn't get more pictures, but I was pretty busy just keeping up with the boys sans Greg t0 take a lot of pictures. My dad did take quite a few, so I am waiting to get those from his camera.

That night, Luke couldn't get out to play in the snow. They had just gone through a blizzard the week before, so there were feet and feet of snow. In fresh snow, I would sink down to my upper thighs. So, we played as soon as we could, and Luke couldn't get enough...
Jack wasn't quite as sure about it...he wasn't too keen on being so cold.

Cold bootie!

Big Brother there to cheer him up -
Momma was having lots of fun, too! :)
This was about Jack's breaking point -
Look at his sweet lips -


I really don't think I have seen Luke happier than he was playing in all that snow. He was fearless (not typically his personality) and just had a blast.
That night, it snowed about 20-30 inches. These pictures don't do it justice - it was beautiful. These were taken from our hotel room. There was a big skiing mountain (Heavenly) that you could normally see when it wasn't white-out snowy conditions.


We spent lots of time playing in the hotel. It was C-O-L-D outside! But, they didn't care...still lots of fun! Here they are in Jack's crib -
We played, ate, built snowmen, slid down snowy hills, took walks and played in the hot tub many times. There was even a hot tub outside in the snow! Such a cool experience! (literally - ha!) But, Luke's favorite thing was definitely sledding down the big hill in the sled that my dad bought. He really was fearless. My dad got some video of it that I hope to post on here.

I am realizing how much Greg and Luke are alike. They enjoy the same things and have very similar personalities. (Lucky Luke!) We missed Greg so much and hope to take a family vacation up there again very soon.

I had to fly back by myself with both boys. It was a 3.5 hour flight, but seemed like about 10.5.
Definitely not easy, and I hope to never have to do it again. Jack was teething, so that didn't help much either. But, we made it, and the fellow passengers were supportive and understanding. So thankful! Now, I think I can handle anything as a mom! ;-)

Stay tuned for (hopefully) more pics and video from my dad's camera.