Nuts and Nutcrackers

There are some disadvantages of having a short memory..."What was her name?" On the other hand, I had to mentally review the whole week to recall our office evaluation and waiting at the bus stop every morning in subzero temperatures (that didn't include the wind chill either). But there are two things I haven't forgotten - Christmas is right around the corner and it snowed a couple of days this week and continually this weekend! Can you guess where I was on Saturday? If not, you'll figure it out...
Every concert starts the same, except this one was the Nutcracker ballet along with the Idaho Falls Symphony! L to R: Lindsey, Allen, Shayna and Ryan (who clearly didn't get the memo, but at least they gave him new tickets after putting them through the wash)
This picture was taken after watching them twirl, spin, swoop and tip-toe all over the stage... and before I started reenacting. (L to R: Joe, Shayna, Allen, Lindsey, Ryan and Alysia)

Friday night included wallyball, honing my air ball and some frisbee at the local recreation center - all the while, snow was still falling outside.
So Shayna and I were up bright and early for some early season cross country skiing at Mesa Falls!
The Lower Falls viewpoint...
...up close (in case you couldn't find the falls).
Nearing Upper Falls, we found some day old cross ski tracks on the right, but what are the tracks on the left? It looks like a tail dragging animal but the feet are offset from the tail...
...maybe it was a T-rex!
Overlook at Upper Falls
Anyone up for ice climbing?
You probably wouldn't believe me if I told you I wasn't the only one who gets up at 5AM to play in the snow - Shayna did too!
This week you even get an upright Joe...
...but not for long.
So much for Shayna being a good influence on me!
Synchronized handstands in the snow...
...without blocking the waterfall.
One last panoramic of Upper Falls.
"Will someone please let me outta here!"
"Where's my other pole?" I'm not sure what all went wrong, but it was all in slow motion and very humorous, and here's the rest of the story...
On our way out, we found a tire chain that had fallen off a van full of sightseeing college students. With the snow falling, we wanted to put it somewhere they would notice on their way back. So, I tried slinging it up on top of this stop sign. Hmmm... I was successful in breaking the sign (which I might add was about 8 feet high). So, plan B (which is where I failed)...
...obtain some engineered sticks to prop up the chain. Do you think they'll notice now?
This is as close as Shayna got to eating snow. Well, until a snowbank mysteriously appeared out of nowhere (I couldn't resist).

As if skiing wasn't enough, this was followed up by sledding at the sand dunes! Now I just have to figure out how to get the sand out of everything and hopefully next week they'll have some more snow.