When the Ox is in the Mire...

Is there anyone else that can say that they called for a tow from AAA and officially got rejected from every towing company in the valley!? Well, the Stephens Family can!

As the boys were driving into the campsite on Saturday, they drove Mike's truck about 100 yards off of the main road (although the road they were on was still paved) and suddenly sunk into about three feet of snow. The frame of the truck was even in the snow! They figured they would flag some people down later to help them out, so they went about building a fire and hiking around for fun. Later, when they decided it was time to head home, they tried to get the truck out... to no avail! They finally flagged down a jeep and a local sheriff to team pull them out. Instead, the jeep and sheriff got stuck too!

Some snowmobilers drove by and stopped to help. They were able to pull out the jeep and the sheriff, but Mike's truck stayed sunken in the snow.

The next day was Sunday and we decided the ox was in the mire and we had to get the truck out. (The truck being the ox, the mire being the snow!!). I brought them a bunch of snow shovels and they started digging... but every time they made progress with the truck it would hit another patch of powder and they would just sink in again.

It wasn't until about 11pm on Sunday night that we finally freed the truck! It took about 15 people pushing the truck backward while simultaneously two snowmobiles pulled it with some ropes. After it got close enough, a tow truck was able to hook up its wench and pull it the remaining 40 yards or so. Needless to say it was an adventure!

Here are some fun pictures. There is one of me making a funny face, but that is because the moose is in the background :) Enjoy!!

Camping

Eli's brother Nathanael and his girlfriend (Alyssa) came to our house to visit for a week and we have really enjoyed having them stay with us! Eli thought a fun adventure for them would be to take Nathanael and Michael Stanley down to Diamond Canyon in Spanish Fork for a night of snow hiking, campfires, and memories. If you look closely in the last picture, to the right of the picnic table, you can see a moose laying down!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Snow Hiking with Uncle Bruce

Eli and our Uncle Bruce Collet went on a snow hike last weekend and had SUCH a great time! They brought along Bruce's dog Keiser and even ran into some Cougar tracks in the snow...

Eli builds a Snow Cave

Eli and Michael Stanley built a snow cave just a few weeks ago. Here is the video they took. The most impressive part to me about the whole thing is that it actually looks like a real snow cave! ha ha ha...

They spent the night in the cave and Eli says it was very comfortable and much warmer than it was outside.

I think I'll stick to using
my air mattress when I go camping!

The Testing Center

On Monday, I took my first round of tests at the testing center this semester. That is the first time I have set foot in that building since my finals last Winter Semester. I did fine on the test, but I hate the testing center. It is a ridiculous pool of germs with incessant coughing and sniffling, I feel like I need to constantly Purel my face and hands!

A Weidman Weekend

We had a wonderful time last weekend being able to take a quick trip over to Grand Junction to visit Tiffany and Justin Weidman! We were so happy to get out of town and finally drive down (we've been wanting to for a very long time). We left on Friday night and hung out til the wee hours of the morning (a rare thing for us since we became parents- we value our sleep too much!) Saturday we got up and went for a drive down to the city of Gateway. We saw the house where the owner of the Discovery Channel lives- huge!- and went down to the Gateway Auto Museum. It was soo cool! Thanks Tiff and Weid! Here are some pictures from our trip.