the Toad's birthday, fall, and hot cocoa.

It was the Toad's birthday today.  We got to party hard by heading up to Daniel's Summit with the mama and enjoying the incredible, bright fall colors.

Seriously.  Incredible.

We used to go up to Daniel's Summit every winter in our teenage years and grab a cup of hot cocoa and a plate of deep-fried mushrooms.

Which meant that we were both looking forward a mug of cocoa all week.

We even made the mama get a picture with her cocoa.

The usual picture with my cup of hot cocoa.

Satisfied.

After slowly sipping our deliciousness, we ordered three appetizers to share between us. 

1.  Deep-fried mushrooms

2.  Cheese fries

3.  Dutch oven cheese cheese pot

Oh man.  We chowed down and enjoyed every. last. bite.

And somewhere in between dipping our fries in fry sauce and breaking bread over our cheese pot, we took a few photos for memories.

Because lets be honest, the three of us don't usually get out altogether.  Although we did miss the other two missing sisters.  They're kinda important to us.

We also sat at the table closest to the fireplace possible.  It was a just a tad chilly up in the mountains and we needed some major heat.

We also had the best waitress ever.  She suggested some fabulous appetizers for us and when she heard it was the Toad's birthday and we didn't order dessert, she brought out a yummy slice of cheesecake with a candle.

Now THAT'S exactly what you want from a waitress when you tell her that it's someones birthday.

You can say she got a nice little big tip from us.

After lunch at Daniel's Summit, we took the short drive up to Strawberry Resevoir and checked to see if the Kokanee were there for the Kokanee run yet.  

I should really say that the mama left us wimps in the car while she ran to the river to see if the fish were there.  We finally bucked up when she waved us over to come see the Kokanee.

See?  Cold.

Kokanee!  I haven't seen them since I was little.  The Toad was a little perturbed when we started talking about how after Kokanee spawn, they die.

Sad day.  

But insanely beautiful fish.  

Happy birthday, Toad!  You will always be my Toady.  Always.  You're one of my best friends and thank you for always being there to talk to.  I know we talked each other ears off when we were little and I love thinking about bunk beds and storytime by Codi.  I even happily look back on the days of being dressed up in all of my winter clothes in the middle of the summer.

We had some good times and I look forward to future good times.  I hope we always stay close.

Happy day of birth!

weekend getaway.

I took a day off.

I always do in March around our anniversary.  It's the only time of the school year that I take off for a personal day so that T and I can go relax and not think about work or the rest of life going on around us.

It's a time where we take time for each other and our marriage.

We like it.

This year we took off to Daniel's Summit Lodge.  We go there a lot for hot cocoa in the winter, but we've never actually stayed at the lodge.  We rented one of their queen cabins and stayed overnight.

What we didn't expect was how much snow we'd get on our overnighter!  We said hello to 5 inches of fresh new powder the day we arrived.  

It was beautiful and breathtaking sight.  Literally, though.  The wind was blowing so hard that it took our breath away.

{Checking into our little cabin abode for the evening}

{Cabin Numero Uno}

The next morning we woke up and ate a large breakfast of biscuits 'n' gravy for T and french toast and eggs for yours truly.  

Check out wasn't until 11:00, but we packed up around 10:00, snapped a quick picture inside the cabin, and went out into the frigid wind to start our snowshoeing adventure.

{Quaint and cozy little cabin}

We piled on the layers and set off for snowshoeing around the surrounding area and into Lodgepole Campground just North of Daniel's Summit.  Lodgepole also happens to be where where most of my summers as a child were spent camping, hiking, and roasting mallows).  Props to my sisters who let us mooch off of them and borrow their snowshoes so we wouldn't have to rent.

The snow was as high as most of the fence posts that we saw.  The upcoming pictures don't do the snow as much justice as it truly deserves.  If we didn't have snowshoes on, I'm sure I would've sunk right to the bottom and had the snow covering my head.

 {Super cold.  Super white.  Super windy.  Super fun.}

   

{Snowshoeing King}

{Snowshoeing Love}

And, of course, we had to grab some hot cocoa after our bitter-cold adventure.  See this post for my Daniel's Summit hot cocoa addiction/obsession.  I had cocoa for every meal we ate at Daniel's Summit this time around.  It is seriously heavenly goodness in a mug.

Even T agrees with me.  It is delish.

  An attractive husband, good food, adventures, and lots of warm blankets always make for a great anniversary.

an afternoon with the perfect companion(s).

I love holidays that both the hubs and I get off.

It means lazy mornings where T wakes me up playing the guitar, lets me stay in bed and read, and we make omelets for breakfast.

Quite a perfect morning.

The day got even better as we headed up the canyon and out of the nasty air.  The same air that has driven my 32 students indoors for inside recess.  Every day for the past 2 weeks.

It's driving them and their teacher crazy.

That's a story for another day though.

T drove our freezing backsides up the canyon and out of the smog.

It's a miracle.  Beautiful blue sky.

We found this treasure hidden in the glove compartment from our summer trips last year. 

 It's the C.D. I thought I was getting for Christmas 3 years ago and instead got an engagement ring on my finger.

T's mom thought it'd be funny to give me the C.D. as a joke a couple of weeks later.

Our jaunt up the canyon took us up to Daniel's Summit.  It's become one of our favorite places to snowshoe, grab a cup of hot cocoa, or look around at the General Store's goodies.

 We couldn't leave without ordering some deliciousness.

 

Oh how I love this man of mine.  He was the best part of the day.

We caved and ordered fried mushrooms.

Heaven in every bite.

T's weakness is grilled cheese anything.

Today it was grilled ham and swiss with tomatoes and lettuce.

How could the day get any better than this man and fried 'shrooms?  

Oh wait.  It just got better.

Daniel's Summit makes hot cocoa better than anyone.

It's the perfect temperature, perfect chocolate consistency, and perfect frothiness.

One happy and warm girl right here.

Sometimes I wish I could move up into the mountains, start a ranch, and drink cocoa from the Summit every morning for breakfast.

Maybe we'll make millions one day and just buy the lodge and the rights to the cocoa.

A girl can dream.