Halloween we went up to Phils parents and enjoyed the nieces and nephew. I didn't seem to get any pictures of the kids, but Phils mom dressed up and looked awesome as a spider witch.

My birthday was at the beginning of the month and Phil spoiled me like usual.

Thanksgiving has come and gone which I am truly grateful for my family and friends.

Happy Holidays!!!

Cayman had a birthday party the weekend after we got home from San Fran. We enjoyed a princess party. I went down Friday night and was able to have a sleepover with her. You can see we didn't get much sleep. Later that night Phil and I were able to go see David Sedaris. Love him. Check him out if you haven't heard of him.

We're back. Things are going to be crazy through the holidays, but I have to blog about our vacation to San Francisco. I heart San Fran. I love the weather, the atmosphere, the pier, the CREPES, the food, the street performers and that I can find my way around the city.

We went on a really fun fast trip. I love this comedian Mike Birbigila and he was performing and Phil really wanted to see this band Edward Sharpe and they both happened to be there on different nights. I bought the tickets and we were there for 3 short, but fun days.

I always leave my heart there, but I know we will be back!

After our hiking adventure we headed up to Park City and spent two days there. It was nice to recover because I was soooo SORE. It was hard to walk up and down stairs but well worth it because we had never been to downtown Park City and it was awesome.

We spent the night with July, Cayman and Cooper and had so much fun. Phil and I took Cayman swimming. Alli and Paul joined us for dinner and then we were headed to DENVER in the morning.

We were running behind Wednesday morning and had to make our flight. We thought we were parking in long term parking when really it wasn't and would later cost us $125 to park at the airport. We checked in, got some food, went to the bathroom and were the last TWO on the flight. We made it to Denver and headed out to Vail. The drive on I-70 is beautiful. The mountains, trees, rocks, rivers just BEAUTIFUL!! Vail was pretty and all SHUT down. School started early so nothing was opened. We talked to some locals and they told us to go to this place called "Hanging Lakes." We hiked in and it was amazing. It is this remote lake on the mountain and then if you hike up another hundred yards there is a HUGE waterfall. Just beautiful. Who knew I would become such a HIKER on one vacation.

We headed to Denver on Thursday and went to the 16Th street mall. It was fun and HOT. We decided to go the the Aquarium but once we got there we noticed they had BIKES for rent so we rented a bike and rode around the river. We noticed there was a Bronco's game and found a scalper and bought tickets. 2 tickets for $25 bucks if you like sitting in section 5 row 14. Totally fun!

Friday we went to a movie and then head out to see Tyler and Heidi (Phil's sister). We had so much fun. They have a crazy cat named Ruby. We visited, went to a show, dinner and had a blast. They took us to Boulder on Saturday and we saw lots of crazy street performers. We were sad to leave but glad to be home. After being gone since Sunday it was nice to not live out of a suit case and sleep in your own BED.

Reality is hard to come back to. At least we have San Francisco to look forward to in October!

Vacation

VACATION! The words holiday or vacation have related meanings in different English-speaking countries and continents, but usually refer to one of the following activities or events:

• A general leave of absence from a regular occupation for rest or recreation
• A specific trip or journey for the purposes of recreation or tourism

Two things Phil and I did. We took a leave of absence from work for NINE days and enjoyed a journey.

Phil grew up backpacking, hiking, fishing, and camping so did I however mine was easy campers, showers, toilets, and YUMMY food. He finally convinced me to go back packing. We borrowed some things from his Dad and headed out on our two day journey. The preparation was FUN! Grocery shopping, packing, and realizing everything you want you have to hike in. We headed out and got to our destination to the trail head where the sign read GREEN LAKES 6.5 miles. WOW, not only is it far I have a 30 pound pack on my back. We hiked in and started to set up camp. We had lunch (rice and ramen) and of course I brought every kind of candy you could think of. We had peach rings, red vines, gummies, cookies and me not being so careful spilled FOOD. We decided to take a nap, read,and play cards. We woke up to start dinner (ramen and rice) I know twice in one day and Phil went to explore. He ran up some rocks and ran down a different direction. He looked panicked and said "We need to talk." He pulled me over by the tent and said "THERE IS A BEAR" in the next camp what do you want to do??? Me, not really believing him say what really are you sure. Phil yes, I go into PANIC mode. GET ME OUT OF HERE! oh wait, its 7:00 at night and the car is 6.5 miles away. I start to clean up the tent and Phil says "Mel look, I look and the BEAR is 20 yards away. We packed up camp and hiked 6.5 miles to the car in 2 hours and 10 minutes.

My first camping experience went well if you ignore the fact that we were only there for 6 hours, I didn't have to sleep in the tent, I showered when we got home and I didn't even have to use a bush! HA HA. When we try this next year maybe we will make it through the night.

I'm back! I know you have all missed me and my updates so here it goes:

March:
Nothing fun except skiing

April:
Ski season ended and Phil started school

May:
Phil is still in school, July and Cayman came for a visit. Phil and I started mountain biking

June:
Phil, Alli, Paul, and myself ran in the Dam Marathon. We had lots of fun and I took 3RD in my age group. Phil had the fastest time at like 27 minutes and some seconds. We had lots of fun training and since I have reverted back to NOT running.

July:
Phil danced in the 4Th of July parade, we had a BBQ with the Ashton's.
Our nephew Paul Kolter Ashton was born on our Anniversary. Happy 3 years to us.
Our sweet little Kira (my cousins daughter) returned to her Heavenly Father. Such an amazing family.
We had my 10 year class reunion which by the way was awesome because a dear friend helped me with all the planning. LOVE YOU CAMIE!!(couldn't have done it without her)
Phil finished school and we headed into the six week break.

August:
Cooper Vincent Cottrell joined the Skidmore family.
I got to go to Utah and help Jules for a couple days. Went swimming with Cayman, who is a total fish and I thought she was going to drown, but no just LOVES the water. I also got to take her to see a princess, where she got all shy.
Got our SEASON PASSES TO TARGHEE!! That's right I officially LOVE Skiing.
Planned our vacation to Colorado. We leave September 2 and return September 6. We will be going to Vail and Denver and hanging out with Tyler and Heidi. (Heather, we really are trying to be everyones favorite HAHA!!)

My favorite of all, Going to San Francisco in October to see MIKE BIRBIGLIA and and the Treasure Island Festival. Super spontaneous of us. We are only young once!

I would love to post pictures however they are all on my phone and our Mac Book and I don't know how to blog on the Mac Book so this will have to do.

See ya in a few months!

We're back!! I know you have been missing us and are ready for a post so here it goes.

Phil and I bought season passes to go skiing with this winter and it has been so FUN! Phil is a great teacher and I have really enjoyed being active. Usually in the winter I stay inside, eat and watch movies and it has been nice to know that on every THURSDAY we have plan to go ski. I was finally brave enough to move off of the little kids mountain and try the aduly mountain and Phil took some pictures of me skiing down. I must say I think I do OK as long as Phil is there to instruct me.

We also have a new addition to the family. We bought a new car. I know what you all are thinking AGAIN. Phil and I figured since we have been married which will be 3 years in July we have had SEVEN different cars. Olds Alero, Dodge Neon, Toyota Camry, Mits Lancer, Nissan Xterra, Volvo S40, Ford Ranger, and now a Subaru Forester.

We had a great Vday with lots of treats and fun. We are looking forward to going to Utah for a few days to see Andrew Bird in concert and going skiing at Beaver Mountain.