Mt. Hood House

Part two of our kitchen renovation vacation was SNOW. We rented this really cool house about 15 minutes from Government Camp on Mt. Hood. It was a wonderful ski lodge, full of beautiful rustic decor, books and games for the kids, a warm fire, a hot tub, and fire pit. It was the perfect place to unwind and regroup for the big "reveal" of the kitchen.

Here's the boys in front of the house:

Seth and Sam are making mountains. We're all geared up ready to sled!

Thanks to it being Wednesday, there were very few people at the sledding hill. We had a blast! It was so warm and sunny that we all ended up taking off our coats and Josh needed sunglasses!

Sammy and I: picture taken after Sam took a jump on a sled and re-injured his back. After a little break, he was thankfully able to sled again (only laying on his stomach, though!)

Ben, Josh and Seth. Josh loved sledding and went down all the hills with Ben or I. Seth had a pretty good wipe-out on a run and ended the day a little cold and grumpy.

Josh and I ready for a run...

I took this picture from the loft of our ski lodge. The big boys' highlight of the house was learning how to play "Risk" with Ben.

Sam's sporting his ears from Great Wolf Lodge.

Josh fell in love with a teddy bear that was a decoration at the house. He named it "JJ," toted it all around the house, and even fell asleep with it right on his tummy. He still talks about JJ. 

The house was a short walk to the Sandy River. We spent some time throwing rocks in the water, and then Ben took the big boys across the river stepping on rocks (which is such a great example of why God gave boys Daddy's: I would have NEVER let them go across!)

Poor Josh, he didn't get to go across. He had a blast throwing rocks, though.

One of my favorite memories at this house was when we all sat down for dinner, and Josh looked around at us and said, "Well, how about that swimming. That was fun, huh." It was so sweet. Other great memories were also made around the fire pit after dinner where we roasted some s'mores.

And the night ended with some hot tubbing. The kids got a kick out of the light in the hot tub that changed color. 

The next morning we watched funniest home videos and then hopped in the hot tub again. As we were sitting in there, I looked at Ben and told him that I just realized that I hadn't even considered what time check-out was for the house! I grabbed a towel, and headed in to look: 11:00 check-out; it was 10:40. So we scrambled to rinse off and pack up; this was a great example of some the things that slipped through my mental cracks as we were preparing for all the kitchen stuff! There was a lot on our minds! (I also forgot to grab Josh's blanket and Ben's toiletries in all the rush of leaving the house that was full of a camera crew.)

So the rest of the week, we are going to blog, but we have to save the posting for when the show airs (hopefully early summer). It was one of the most unique, crazy, special, memorable weeks of our lives. We are loving our new kitchen and are continually amazed of the privilege of being chosen for such a blessing! When in doubt: always make a video to send into contests!