After all the hoopla and everything with Christmas celebrations, our own (not so) little family has made it a tradition to escape to the snow.
Not to break with tradition, we tried to make an attempt last year, only to be thwarted by a winter storm which was impassable, making it impossible for us to drive up to our cabin and trek into it.
Not to break with tradition, we did make the attempt this year, only to discover upon our arrival that Mother Nature must have seemingly forgot that it is the middle of winter and has yet to grace the mountainous landscape of southern Utah with blankets of powdery white.
Upon arriving to the cabin, we noticed many rock landmarks all over the meadow showing through and that the snow was so shallow that you could see the rock road which leads from the highway to our cabin. It was so shallow we drove all the way up to the front door of the cabin. Normally, we park just off the highway and it takes either snowshoes, sleds, or a snowmobile to make it to the cabin because the snow drifts are usually at least chest deep. This year we were lucky to have snow even come up to our boot tops.
Being it was their P-day, my in-laws got special permission from their mission president to stay and visit with us for a couple of days. We enjoyed looking at the pretty sunset, reading books, talking, playing games, and working on puzzles. The kids favorite new game was Monopoly Deal. We battled many times with that game.
The lack of snow did not deter us from trying to play out in it. The kids tried to tube down the hill but because the rocks stuck up in many places and the consistency of the snow was not great, it made for a pitiful go of it. The kids would tow the tube up the hill and then would try and pull each other down it. No one could quite get going enough. They would get a couple of feet and then they would be stuck. Zack was a really trooper hauling Grandpa and his sisters down the hill.
The girls attempted to also do snow angels . . .
With the snow so shallow, it made it impossible to snowmobile all over the meadow and up and down the mountain. We just settled for taking turns going up and down the road and the service road. And throwing lame powder balls (we couldn't get the snow to pack to make decent snowballs). The kids were a bit bummed that there would be no snowforts and bunkers or caves.
And if lack of snow wasn't enough of a bummer, Ryan came down with a stomach bug on Tuesday. I will say that a certain very popular place was likely the culprit. Let's just say that their sweet pork was looking way suspect. I didn't hardly touch my salad because it was so "wet". The other possibility was he got the bug that hit so many families pretty hard following the Christmas holiday.
And so rather than staying the week like we normally do, we made the decision to come home early, leaving shortly after Mom and Dad left to return to their mission.
And because we Jenkins can't do anything normally, we had a bit of an adventure on the way home. In between Cedar City and St. George, all of the power in the Yukon just shut off and the engine killed as we were driving along the highway. A bit scary as we were on the road and towing our snowmobile behind us. We managed to pull off to the side of the road. We read that we should let the engine rest for a few minutes before attempting to restart. Graciously, the truck started and we were able to get back on the road. Shortly after Mesquite, Ryan and Zack both needed to go pretty bad due to the stomach bug and so we pulled off to a truck stop.
And then the Yukon refused to start again, giving us the click click noise. The jumper cables were unfortunately not in the car as we had used them for something and had forgotten to put them back in. Thankfully, the truck stop had cables for purchase and so we were able to flag down another traveler to give us a jump.
The truck started up right away and we thought "Yay! we are on our way and if we can just get home we can get a new battery then!"
It was not meant to be because as soon as we put the Yukon in gear, the engine killed and refused to start again. Since we were only about 20 miles outside of Vegas, Ryan called my BIL Dave to drive out to help us. They pulled the battery and took it back to the nearest auto store since the battery was just over a year old and in warranty. The kids and I waited in the truck for the just over an hour it took for them to get into town and back with the new battery. They got the new battery in and got the truck started. The rest of the way home, the truck was still running pretty temperamentally.
We ended up taking it in for repair the next day and it turned out that we needed a new alternator and new brakes. It was so expensive! I pray everyday that the truck (which is 12yrs old) will make it to next year, just until we are able to afford to replace it.
Despite the lack of snow, Ryan getting sick, and our car problems, our family still managed to have some fun and a good visit with my inlaws. I wouldn't say this adventure will go down in the books as the best trip ever but I know for dang sure it will forever go down as quite the memorable one.