After the trip to California we were home for about 3 weeks. During that time we tried to get caught up on things we had missed. I had some good work going in the lab, and Lindsey was finishing up her classes for the semester. Of course the snow came and so began the ski season. We were home until about Dec 20. At that point Lindsey and Joey flew to Boise, to go be with Lindsey's mom for her birthday.

I stayed behind and got a little more lab work done, then headed over to the Wallowas to do some work on the back country yurts in there. On the second day in there Trevor, Diesel, Denver, and I were hiking up a ridge to take a look around and ski the 2-3 feet of fresh snow when some snow sluffed under me, and released a slide that took Diesel and I about 150 feet down slope. We stopped unhurt and with all of our gear. It was sobering experience and an exciting way to start the back county season.

Eventually we made it out, and I drove on to Boise to spend Christmas with Lindsey's family and await our trip to McCall.

The photos with this post are of our few days at home. One is Diesel keeping watch over a sleeping Joey. Another is Tobin (our friend Pete and Anna's youngest) showing Joey how to stand. Then there is a series of him in his Christmas gear.

The next set of photos is from the ski trip. Denver typically does not get to go on these trips, but since I was headed to Boise from there he was forced to join us. He had a good time, but was a little tired at the end of the days. It snowed on us most of the way into the yurts, that's the shot of diesel covered in snow. There are two shots of the slide. One taken from where Diesel and I stopped, and one taken after we hiked back up to the crown to dig a pit to look at which layer was responsible. Finally there is a shot of Trevor and I with the dogs outside of the yurt.