(Yes, there’s an infant swaddled safely somewhere inside that grey blob.)

Given all the trail miles he had logged in utero, at ten weeks old it was high time Nathan went on his first snowshoe. Until he can walk on his own (and use these amazing Snowpaw Snowshoes), he’ll get free rides with his parents, marsupial-style.

Carlos and Deborah had the perfect destination in mind – the Grand Junction Warming Hut, part of the Snoqualmie Nordic trail system. We hiked from Silver Fir, past Hyak Lake, over the river and through the woods to the hut.

Perfect destination indeed. The hut was heated by a wood-burning stove which allowed Nathan to escape from his snuggly cocoon for all his feeding and changing needs.

This was at the tail end of the Snowpocalypse, but the little nugget slept through the whole trek though the snowstorm. At the hut, he wasn’t fussy at all – but then again he is the most laid-back baby of all time. He just sat there wide-eyed and cooing while JK and I perfected our baby-sniffing technique.

Once Nathan was bundled back up in his adorable snowsuit, we ventured out into the deep powder (I know, deep powder in the Cascades…whaaaa?) and retraced our steps back to the Silver Fir parking lot. An excellent outing for children big and small!

Whaddya know, a whole month without blogging! The good news is that my unplanned hiatus was due to having too much fun with no need to resort to the internet for entertainment. The bad news is that I am now so old that if I don’t document my adventures, I forget all about them…so here, in chronological order, are my December highlights:

Hiker in training | I have no words for how cute Carlos and Deborah’s brand new tiny human is, and he’s already been on his first hike. Maybe I’ll finally have a trail partner I can keep up with!

Mike’s birthday weekend in Whistler | I’ve never skied with views this beautiful or runs this long. My legs felt like they were going to fall off, but a huge smile was stuck to my face all weekend.

Winter Warmth Concert | The Head and the Heart and Florence and the Machine in one night? Oh yes, yes indeed.

Annual Skyline Ridge snowshoe | We were hoping for a repeat of last year’s gloriousness, but got skunked on the weather. Meh, who needs views when you have a picnic of gingerbread cookies and hot toddy with your beloved!

Winter Solstice TNAB | Snowshoeing to Hyak Lake in the dark to celebrate the Turning by consuming copious amounts of gløgg (and some sort of sinister blue liquid) with a group of lunatics. A holiday favorite!

Christmas Cabin | We have spent many a happy weekend at Tom and Dani’s cabin this past year, culminating in a Yuletime feast of shcnow schnow, white elephant gifts (we scored a Go Girl and a dancing gopher) and general happyfuntime with some of my favorite people.

Cross-country skiing to Tipsoo Lake | 11 miles round trip on Highway 410 (on day two of a migraine, no less). I confirmed once again that I love skiing uphill while going back down is absolutely terrifying. Will put in an official request for a) skis with metal edges and b) a sizable pair of cojones.

Christmas with the family | After spending our last three Christmaseseses alone, JK and I (and Wellie!) loved celebrating with my parents again! Unfortunately we all contracted some sort of plague and spent most of our time sniffling on the couch, but at least it’s better to sniffle together than alone.

The Hunger Games | The only good thing about the plague was that it gave me an excellent excuse to obsessively plow through the entire Hunger Games trilogy in three days. I know I must be the last person in the world to discover these, but holy mackerel, what a story!

Master videographer Karen put together this feature presentation from our trip to the Southwest just in time for Oscar consideration:

The Hangover NWHikers Style from sKareCrowe Films on Vimeo.

I really need to stay behind the camera.

Whenever we get visitors from the old country, we do our best to impress them with our fabulous adopted state.

Once in a while the weather cooperates and we can pretend that we don’t live in the American version of Bergen. Other times the monsoon will be out in full force and the poor out-of-towners can stay here for weeks on end without catching as much as a glimpse of our beautiful mountains. To this day, my brother thinks Mount Rainier is a figment of my imagination.

Luckily Marthe and Olle timed their visit perfectly with a stretch of unseasonably clear autumn weather, so in addition to touring Discovery Park, the Space Needle, and Pike Place Market, JK and I lured them down to Mount Rainier National Park for a hike, buttering them up (literally) with donuts along the way.

Actually, if you stay at our house you are contractually obligated to go hiking with us. Consider it rent.

Rent in the form of amazing views…

…and wildlife encounters. Foxes!

Black Bears!!

Cascade Mountain Gorillas!!!

We hiked through the fresh snow up to Panorama Point. JK and I have been there, oh, about 756 times before, but we still love it. Especially when we get to share this piece of our new life with people from our old life.

My brother needs to come back and see that we’re not making this stuff up.

Sorry to disappear without a word, but Jo and I whisked Karen away to the Southwest on a surprise birthday trip! We managed to keep it a secret all summer, so I had to make sure I didn’t spill any sort of beans on my blog.

We hiked through freezing water and endured the traumatizing smell of wet rental neoprene booties…

…drove down an absolutely mental “road” of deep sand and sharp rocks to see some of the most beautiful rock formations in the world…

…slithered (some more gracefully than others) through muddy slot canyons…

…and backpacked in the desert with only one minor quicksand incident.

I’ll write an installment of trip reports when I get all my photos up, but for now I just want to thank mah ladeez for one of the best vacations I’ve ever been on.

I’m still smiling.