Our Christmas trip to the North Pole

Girls just want to have fun!

Grandpa Jaybird pulling the girls down the lane.

Rear entrance to the house and shop, still a lot of snow in spite of constant plowing.

A wannabe reindeer?

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We Love Snow!!

Front view of Ma and Pa Ulrich's house........obviously we weren't using the front door!

Some of you may have heard about our crazy, eventful trip to Pocatello for Christmas. If not, here it is in all it's glory in case you're new to the story.

We headed to Poky on Christmas Day, braving the snows and blizzard conditions in order to see my brother and his family who had driven all the way from Phoenix (who, incidentally, had to brave some pretty bad roads themselves). We made it nearly to Burley when the ice monsters got ahold of the back of our vehicle and began to thrash it around wildly. My NASCAR driver husband ALMOST pulled us out of the death spin but was foiled. After one 360 degree spin down the middle of the interstate, we ended up door-deep in the snow, thankfully out of the traffic flow. Once the tow truck arrived and winched us out, we realized that the front passenger tire had been pulled off the bead. Loaded the rig onto a flatbed wrecker and rode into Burley, Idaho (pop. 5 or 6 on Christmas). Brian went with the tow-truck driver to check the status of the tire and the kids and I checked into a motel. By now it's 7 p.m. and there is serious grumbling about the status of the girls' empty stomachs. We walked to the gas station and had Subway sandwiches for Christmas dinner. Fortunately the car was repairable and we made it to Pocatello the next day around 1:30. The longest ride to Pocatello I've ever taken!

We pulled up to my parents house and were greeted by the most snow I've seen in a long time. No wonder the roads were so treacherous.

Once we got settled, the kids had a blast and loved being pulled behind the 4 wheeler up and down the lane. A deer even stopped by in the yard to see what all the fuss was about.

Final tally- - - one great-grandma, two grandparents, one daughter, four sons, one son-in-law, 3 daughter-in-laws and twelve grandkids (and a partridge in a pear tree).