A Visit to the Homestead

I can't even tell you how much I love to drive over the mountains for a visit to my parent's home in Geneva. I love the quiet, the time spent with family, the scenery; I just love going home. Every February my siblings and their families plan a weekend to visit mom and dad, get our taxes done (big thanks to Dad, Ria, and James!), play in the snow and just spend time together. We are really lucky because we all live relatively close to our parents and so we can make this happen not just in February but sporadically throughout the year as well. We are also really lucky that our parents can put up with all the noise, the jokes, the goofing around (and that doesn't even count what the grandkids add to the equation).
This year we missed the President's Day weekend visit but managed to get to Geneva for the Valentine's Day weekend. While there we spent time with my brother James and his family; my sister Mauria; my brother Jared and his wife; my brother David and his family; and my sister's two boys Kyle and Nathan. These two were staying at grandma and grandpa's house so their mom and dad could bring their new baby brother Dylan Ike home from the hospital and get acclimated to a third baby.
Saturday after the big boys played in the snow they took the little boys for a spin:
Uncle Jared and Conner prior to the big ride

Kyle waiting for Uncle David to get the snowmobile in motion
Uncle Jared and Nathan getting ready to take off

These elk have taken up residence not far from my parent's house. Brad and I stopped on our way to town Saturday morning to take pictures.

Monday on our way home we really enjoyed some wildlife sightings (just so glad they were all foraging off the road rather than on the road.

Even though Brad was excited to see all the bull elk I think he was even more excited when he spotted this guy sitting on the fence checking out the deer eating and the other birds darting around. We actually had to pull off the road so Brad could explain to Wy what it was we were looking at. Wy didn't really see the eagle until he turned his head toward the road and that's when I snapped the photo. So pretty and so amazing! I feel so lucky to live in an area where we can see all of this in just a matter of two days.