Playing in the new snow, Aspen Grove Amphitheater, Provo Canyon

After I took that picture of Timpanogos this morning, I had a craving all day to just BE up there. So, I gathered up our winter coats and kidnapped Sean from work to head up the canyon. I really love these mountains, they are home for me. So, I especially love being up there with my favorite people! The boys had so much fun running around in the snow. We reminisced about the warm summer activities, but also got excited about doing wintery things too. I think that's why I love the mountains, they are always changing with the seasons yet they are still accessable (for the most part). It's like an old friend - even though we've both changed, there's still that welcome and familiarity that keeps us connected. Bring on the snow! I'm ready to dust off my skis

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Hallstatt slideshow #2

Click the pics to go to a slideshow

Hallstatt slideshow #1

I found something that lets me upload more pictures faster, so just click in the box and it will take you to a slide show (watch it in gallery view or fullscreen). Enjoy!

Irony

After a long and tiresome day of travel, we are now in the tiny ancient town of Hallstatt. It sits on a small trip of land, squeezed between a beautiful swan populated lake and a sheer, forested mountain. We feel like we are in the most beautiful place on earth and we are so excited! But there's just one problem....

It's dumping snow.

Thick, slushy snow. We've come halfway around the world, spent half the money in our bank account, and we can only see halfway up the beautiful peaks. I know they are amazing up there in the clouds somewhere... So, we have been inside a whole lot waiting to get up enough guts to stick our feet into our cold, soaked shoes and try to see what's out there behind the blanket of falling flakes. I did manage to get a short glimpse of the huge mountains as I was trudging my way home from the grocery store. But when I got home to tell Sean to go outside and see the view, it was too late.

We have a really nice apartment though! We totally love it here and our landlords are very nice and non-interfering.

I love knowing that I am in such a history-rich village! Cool facts about Hallstatt:

- Some of Hallstatt's oldest archaeological finds date back to around 5500 BC

- In the year 1311, it became known as a market town

- Hallstatt has a salt mine (the life-blood of the town) with huge wooden slides inside that the salt miners used to get around quickly in the mines. And we get to go slide on them!

I remember specifically thinking as we were riding the ferry boat across the lake to get here, "Man - this place is in the middle of no-where! We might be the only people from Utah to ever even come here..." Then at dinner last night, we met a family from Oakley, Utah! After talking for a minute, we learned that they are friends and ward members with a family we know there (the Sorensens'). It is a small world after all!

Well, hopefully I'll have a chance to get some pictures of this incredible place, even if they are snow-filled. Until then, you can look up pictures on Google images and imagine Peter running around in the fields :)