Snowboarding with the Hales

Our dear friends the Hales invited us to stay with them for a couple days to go snowboarding as it finally snowed in Tahoe.  Both of our families have season passes to Squaw Valley.  We packed up and headed out.

This is the view out of their kitchen and great room in the back of their house.  They only live forty minutes from Squaw Valley, so nice.  Down there in the trees the American River runs through their property.  Last summer they had to cut out their own path down to the river.  No easy task as they had to cut through Black berry bushes and Poison Oak intertwined with each other.

Total they have about ten acres.  This is the side of their home.  They are terracing the land and prepping it for ninety fruit trees to be planted.  The first terrace will be mandarin oranges, the second terrace will be blueberries.  The top already has about a hundred strawberry plants in the ground.

They are huge fans of preparedness.  I wish I had gotten a picture of the room under their house.  There, they have about three years worth of food storage.  I've never seen anything like it.  Instead of accruing their food storage over time they opted to get it all at once, from the church cannery in Sacramento.  There they have not only a dry canning area but a wet pack area too, so they get both types of food storage.

Here is the famous cannery apple sauce made with Pink Lady apples, from their food storage.   We can't get this at our cannery, but it's really good.  Every time my kids visit the Hales they want this apple sauce.

Kalen is getting his snowboard down at about seven in the morning.  They left at 7:15am and were at the slopes by 8:00am.  Perfect.

There they are: (up front) Emma Hales, (second row -right to left) Sophia Hales, Gwyneth Klippel and Eliza Hales, (back row-left to right) Reece Klippel, Sammy Hales and Kalen Klippel.

Sophia and Gwyneth were going for the first time.  They did great and had a blast.  Gwyneth said "it's my new favorite sport!"

Adrienne has eight children.  She's an incredible person.  Both her and her husband say that if they can be half the parents their parents were, they will be happy.  You just don't hear this very often.  Adrienne and her husband have an incredible ability to motivate their children to have the desire to develop their talents.  They homeschool.  Their first three children are ranked in the USTA for tennis and they train at a boarding academy in Roseville.  Their second to oldest daughter is ranked above fifty for girls' twelves (age) in California.

They are incredible piano players and violinists.  They have two pianos, one in the great room off their kitchen and one in their family room just inside the front door.  Five of their eight children play piano now, so they definitely need two pianos.

They recently added an Organ to their ensemble of instruments.  Their oldest three wake up at 6:15am some days a week to learn organ with a woman who plays in their ward.  You might think this is weird but organ playing is a dying art, even in the church, so what a great asset to have.  They already accompany and play post-lude after church.

While the men and other children were snowboarding we stayed at home with the babies and toddlers.  We visited, baked whole wheat bread, took walks and relaxed.  Here is Adrienne grinding her whole wheat.  As soon as this guy, Seth, heard the grinder he came running in to "help."  So cute.

Her wheat grinder is awesome!!!  I've never seen one like this.  Mine is the mill, so it literally sounds like a saw mill because it basically is.  Mine is so loud it's piercing to the ears.  Hers is much quieter and it looks cuter on the counter.   She said she did a lot of research to find a good one.  Interestingly, this grinder doesn't get as hot while grinding compared to the mill.  She said there is less chance of the wheat being compromised of it's nutrients because it doesn't get so hot, like mine.

Look at that beautiful whole wheat.

There she is kneading the dough, while her youngest sons "help."

This is her youngest son, Spencer eating the dough left on the sides of the bowl.  Oh how I can relate.

This is their wood burning stove where they dehydrate their fruit.  So awesome!!!  These bananas were sweet, chewy pieces of goodness!  They were there all night.

I caught Seth cutting his own banana, he's almost five.  Old enough to use a knife, right?

The youngins' of the Klippels and Hales'.   Just playing sweetly.

For the exhausted snowboarders, dinner was her whole wheat bread, broccoli cheddar soup and a big green salad.  Very tasty.   For dessert we had homemade frozen yogurt.  They get their "yo cream" from a local distributor.  Their favorite flavors are Mounds (chocolate coconut), Vanilla and Tart.

Here are eleven of the fourteen children we have together.

The Hales are amazing, good people.  I might be tempted to be jealous of their children, or them as parents. But, no way.  I admire them so much.  It's only when you have admiration for someone that you can take it and use it to help yourself be better, make better decisions, be more efficient, whatever it is that you are striving for.  They have mentored my husband and I, they have shared their visions and their skills with regard to how they help their children be the best they can.  We have tried to follow them in so many ways.  Of course we are different, that goes without saying but we treasure their advice, their wisdom and will remember them always for their love and charity to us as friends.