Girls Trip to Pettit

Such a great weekend with the girls! 

Kelley kindly offered up the family cabin for a girls trip this past weekend to Pettit Lake, about 50 miles north of Ketchum, and a 2 mile ski into the cabin.  What a beautiful opportunity to spend the weekend with nine girlfriends skiing into a pristine mountain lake to stay at a warm cozy cabin.  The only way to get into this remote cabin was with a pair of skis and if your were smart, a pair of cross country skis.  Between us we brought enough food and wine to feed ourselves for a week but we managed well for a couple of days. No husbands, no kids, no work, no distractions, and no responsibility.  Just time with the girls.  In true Kelley tradition we took to the frozen lake and shoveled off the 4' of snow to make a nice broom hockey rink.  Improvised rules provided a ridiculous display of girls on ice.  Later we gathered around the fire to chat, eat, play games, and enjoy the quiet solitude of being surrounded by a great group of women.  Thanks ladies!  Already looking forward to next year :)

My boy loves to ski!

Baldy reported 9" of new snow from last night and the town has never been happier!  It pales in comparison to what Tahoe is getting right now but none-the-less we'll take it!  I know my husband would be on the ski mountain with the rest of my office if he could today but instead he has to wait until the weekend to play. 

I thought I would post some pictures of last weekend and some of his ski adventures for encouragement to make it to Saturday :)

January Snow

Finally some more white stuff to play in! It's been a strange snow season around here. We have snow but not nearly as much as normal. And it seems like everyone else has more snow then ever...like Dallas, Texas? Seriously! Luckily, I think we have another storm predicted for this week which should bring even more to our ski mountains.

Above is my shot of the driveway when I got home at lunch to snow blow, throw snow balls for Lucy, and dig out the mailbox.

After about an hour and a half....say cheese Lucy:) Yes, I'm tired!

Erin in Thailand

My little sister is on her way back from what sounds like an amazing trip to Thailand! I can't wait to hear all about it and see more of the pictures from her adventure. It's already on my short list of new places to visit. We'll see what the budget allows for in the next ten years. It might have to be a sisters' return trip :)

White Canvas Designs Blog

My new years resolution was to get this up and interesting! I've been procrastinating posting or announcing it because I can't get the background the way I want it. So instead I'm just going to put this out there and let it evolve with everyone. My goal is to make this a fun interactive blog where I can share design ideas that I have, find, or that you want to share. Enjoy!

White Canvas Designs
www.whitecanvasdesign.blogspot.com

Help for Haiti

After the devastating earthquake in Haiti funds are needed to provide enough safe water, temporary shelter and vital medical supplies for the millions that survived. Instead of getting your cafe latte at Starbucks this morning use that money as a donation to those that could really use some medical attention. Anything helps! $10, $5, or $1 to your charity of choice and we can all help heal these people in need.

Here's some options on how to help:

- Text Yele. Wyclef Jean is urging donors to text 'Yele' to 501501 and make a $5 contribution to the relief effort over cell phone. Click here to get more information via Wyclef's Twitter page.

- Save the Children. Donate at savethechildren.org or make checks out to "Save the Children" and mail to: Save the Children Income Processing Department, 54 Wilton Road, Westport, Conn. 06880

- UNICEF. Go online to unicefusa.org/haitiquake or call (800) 4UNICEF.

- American Red Cross. Text “Haiti” to 90999 to donate $10, visit redcross.org or call (800) REDCROSS.

- Haiti Earthquake Children in Emergency Fund. Visit savethechildren.org.

- Direct Relief International. Donate online at directrelief.org.

- World Food Programme. Visit wfp.org/donate/haiti.

- Mercy Corp. Go online to mercycorps.org or mail checks to Haiti Earthquake Fund, Dept. NR, PO Box 2669, Portland, Ore. 97208 or call (888) 256-1900

- The Clinton Foundation. Text “Haiti” to 20222 to donate $10 or go to clintonfoundation.org.

Raclette

Monday night we had a "Europe Rendezvous" with our friends the Stevenson's and the McNeal's. Our group of six had traveled to the France/Switzerland/Italy area last spring and when Zach finished a slide show of our past travels recently, we had a great reason to get together, reminisce, and laugh about our adventures. The McNeal's served raclette for dinner which was a great way to remember the smells and tastes of the area we had visited.

Since this trip I have learned that "raclette" is both a type of cheese and informally the act of eating this cheese. I believe it originated in Switzerland/France. It literally means to "scrape" and is traditionally done on a huge wheel of cheese that they melt and you scrape off from. The McNeal's had a more conventional raclette grill and we melted any form of cheese we could get our hands on. It was a yummy and visually funny evening! Hope we all go again soon!

The Boss

Not my boss or your boss but THE BOSS! That's right Bruce Springsteen himself was spotted skiing on Baldy yesterday with his wife and two ski instructors. So funny how everyone seems to "blend-in" around here. Zach said he barely recognized him while getting hot coco at Seattle Ridge Lodge. Zach's mom, Jean, had a short conversation with him and had no idea it was the man himself! Apparently, he's not the BOSS of skiing though. Hence the two instructors. Here is Zach's iPhone picture of his back before he heads down the ski hill. Shockingly similar to his famous album cover ;) Think he's skiing to Grumpy's (his favorite local watering hole)?

Other recent celeb sightings: Schwarzenegger, Jamie Lee Curtis, Bruce Willis, Demi Moore, their girls, and Ashton Kutcher all singing Christmas carols. Weird to go from everyday to LA all of a sudden in small town Idaho.

Murder on the Prairie

We were invited to a friends house for New Years Eve and to play a murder mystery game called "Murder on the Prairie". If you haven't attended a murder mystery party before this is basically a game wherein one of the partygoers is secretly playing a murderer, and the other guests must determine who among them is the criminal. Everyone is given a character to play and no one, not even the murderer, knows who the killer is until the end of the evening. Our party opened with a "death" announcement and throughout the evening we all had to investigate this tragedy by discussing with each other whom knew what.

It was funny to see people get into their characters and try to convince each other they weren't the killer, even though they hadn't a clue if they actually were. Slowly throughout the party you get to know more details about all the characters (even your own) and start to piece together whom you think did it. It's pretty much a live game of Clue while drinking and eating with friends.

Zach a.k.a. "Luke Hansen", a farm hand in love with the victims daughter, had quite the southern drawl by the end of the evening. Sarah a.k.a "Dorothy DoLittle", was the town gossip and had to tittle tattle on everyone. A favorite character had to be "Lulu Peachy", a can-can dancer who was played by a 12 year old girl visiting from LA. This little girl had no fear in taking on the role and making us all laugh with her impersonation. Also, "Red-Eye Mitchell", the town gun-slinger, a.k.a Willie Resko, was hilarious chewing on his cigar and shooting his plastic toy gun anywhere he pleased.

It turned into a fun way to bring in the New Year!

The "Victim" a.k.a. some clothes stuffed with snow.

The town folk.

"Luke, Red-Eye, and Lulu Peachy" getting some chuckles out of their characters.