Winter weekend, again

Last weekend was, again, a wonderful winter weekend. On Friday a new friend of mine, Caroline, came to my house around lunch time. Caroline and I met through one of the doll boards I'm a member of, and we've really hit it off. Caroline is just as crazy as I am about dolls and she as really looking forward to going snowshoeing with me. So after exchanging some dollie Valentine gifts we headed up to my favorite Utah snowshoeing location.

Hazel and Chrissa view the awesome Utah mountains while snowshoeing.
We had a wonderful time exploring near the river and taking photos of our dolls. We talked about everything from marriage to dolls to travel to crafts. Afterwards, we went home and then met our husbands at a local restaurant. The four of us hit it off really well and had a great night.

On Saturday morning E and I woke up and packed for the farmhouse. Visiting the farmhouse is different in the winter than in the summer. In the winter everyone sticks to one room, it is so cold elsewhere in the house. We talk and laugh and if we leave, we'll go on a drive, but not really explore outside. I took a little walk with Alyssum on Saturday alone, while everyone else tried to keep warm inside.
After awhile we took a drive looking for hawks and eagles. That night, Joe wanted to cook, and since he is a fantastic cook, we were happy to say yes. At the store we picked up steak, tortellini, onions, mushrooms, beef broth and more. Once back at the farmhouse we cooked up a wonderful dinner.

While the onions and garlic were slow cooking on the stove, David, E and Joe had a beer tasting. David had purchased six Belgian beers that he thought everyone would like to try, so it remove any bias, Chelsea and I wrapped the bottle of beer in newspaper in the other room before the tasting started. Of all the beers David brought along, E decided that he likes Wasatch White the most. Joe on the other hand said he didn't like a certain one David picked up, but wasn't able to pick it out from the others and rated it the second highest out of the six he tried. Great fun.

I was lucky to capture this image right before this hawk took flight. Usually you get hawk flying photos or hawk sitting photos. It is fun to have one in between.
Everyone was very hungry and excited to dig in to Joe's fantastic cooking.
After a yummy dinner we played a few rounds of Harry Potter UNO and headed to bed. The next day was more of the same. We woke up and headed to breakfast in town. Afterwards we drove around and explored the Mountain View Highway, Milburn Highway and Spring City Cemetary for any activity of hawks and bald eagles. Finally, as it started to get dark, we packed up and headed home. Another great weekend at the farmhouse.

Mt. Nebo behind the Spring City Cemetery sign.