Rest our dear friend.

Today is a sad day for the Allens. Our dear Rosie had to be put down. We don't know why she got sick, or what caused it, but her life was definitely cut too short. She was well mannered and probably the best dog that we ever had. Frodo has lost his companion (because yes, I married them) and we have lost our friend. Rest in peace my dear Rosie. No other dog could replace you and you will be missed.

A Cause for Celebration

and what is this cause, you ask? November 25th marked our two YEAR anniversary! I can't believe it has already been two years. For our honeymoon, David rented out a cabin in Jackson, WY on slide lake. We had such a good time we decided that we wanted to spend our one year anniversary in the same cabin. So for our two year anniversary, there wasn't even a question... Jackson Hole! We couldn't get the same cabin as our other visits ... but there was no complaints here. This one was INCREDIBLE. It was twice the size!

Before we arrived at the cabin we stopped at Yippie-I-Yo Candy Store. It's a tradition for us to stop at this cute little store on our way through town to our cabin and pick up our favorite nostalgic treats! 

A tad over priced, yes. But hey, its fun - so its worth it!! My favorite was the caramel apple taffy and the always delicious Mary Janes. David's favorite is the Kookabura licorice! Yumm!

The thing with these cabins is that there are HUGE windows in the living room without drapes or curtains. So come nightfall, anybody (or anything) can see inside. Remember when I told you my mom taught me to believe in Big Foot? Well... this is surely Big Foot country and I started to freak myself out a little bit. With that... we have always chosen to sleep in the loft. 

The next morning we put on our snow gear to go sledding. I wish we would have realized that this was not good sledding snow... this was probably the only good run I got in!

One of my FAVORITE parts of going to Jackson is visiting all of the little shops!!! This one was by FAR our favorite!! All of their items were completely natural and completely for sale. Check out this skeleton of a cave bear! 

But, our favorite... the TREX SKULL!!! On Sale for $350,000!!! This inevitable went to the number one position on my Christmas List. "Santa Baby, put this skull underneath the tree... for me!"

The great part of Jackson is that you are destined to run into some wildlife. Check out this herd of buffalo just chillin on the side of the road!

At the end of our get-away, it definitely was not fun to start packing up... especially since David woke up feeling pretty sick. I packed up all of our gear and we loaded into the car...

Now... 

Here's where the story take a turn. We were in the car at 10:40 and put the car in reverse. I was driving because David felt sick and just wanted to sleep. I turned my wheel sharp too late and we got STUCK in   the snow. It took us forty five minutes to pull ourselves out. There is no service at the cabin and the guests at the other cabins had already checked out. We were completely alone!  Can I just take a moment and tell you (whoever you is??) how SMART my husband is?? I mean, seriously. Some people are book smart. Some people are street smart. David is not only book smart and street smart, but he is book smart about his street smarts... does that make sense?? If I were alone and got stuck I would probably get out of the car, try to dig myself out and if that didn't work I would give up and walk until I found somebody to help me. David knows the laws of friction. He knows what the car needs in order to accelerate out of the snow bank. He grabbed a log, chopped it into some kindling and wedged it underneath the tires. This initially didn't work, but again, David is persistent and dedicated. He wedged them again. Finally, the car moved! Aha! The laws of friction at work! By the time that we finally pulled out of the cabin, it was 11:25 and we were cold, wet, and just really wanting to get home. 

After the effort we put into getting our car out of the snow bank, David started feeling even worse. We started our way up the Teton Pass. At the beginning, it was perfect. The roads were plowed just enough so that we could climb the mountains. Just as we were about to hit the highest mountain, my "too hot" temperature light started blinking! We didn't know what to do. We were in the pass, going about 20 mph and we just kept going. We couldn't stop. Finally we climbed the last incline and started to coast. I didn't apply any pressure to the gas, in hopes to get the car to cool down. About 20 minutes later the light went off. About 2 minutes after that, the light came back on! We figured that because we were stuck in the snow bank and also because of the steep mountain climbs, our engine had just about enough. We were hoping she would make it home... but we were wrong. About 35 minutes from home, smoke started billowing out of the hood. We overheated... :( and we were stuck yet again. Luckily, we had roadside assistance so we were able to get our car towed for free. But better than that, we have the most wonderful friends who came to pick us up. We finally pulled up to our home at 4:30. It took us about 6 hours to drive home ... when it should take 2. We had a rough day. David is still feeling under the weather. But, we are counting our blessings because even though we had some unfortunate circumstances, it happened at the best of circumstances. We were able to get out of the snow bank. We didn't overheat going over the pass. We had roadside assistance. and we have amazing friends who rescued us and are letting us borrow their car. Things like this happen. I am just so grateful to our Heavenly Father who watches over and protects us as we get through the bumps in the road.

All in all, it was still an amazing weekend. Afterall, we were together.