Taming the GIANT hillside

Once upon a time in the typically dry, dusty basin, three little children woke to a fluffy white blanket of snow covering their home.

They decided it was time to tame the GIANT hillside. Donning their winter finery, mismatched gloves, hand-me-down snow pants and dollar store hats and mittens they trudged through the driveway to find their sleds.

Daddy had to 4-wheel it to the GIANT hillside. This proved nearly as fun as the challenge ahead. Tatum, a brave girl of 7, took the plunge first. This year, she didn't need her dad's help and she started at the top of the hill, rather than the middle. There were already a dozen kids there, wearing a deep groove in the only safe spot to sled on the entire GIANT hillside. There are a lot of rocks and sagebrush to navigate around while sledding in this country.

Rikard wasn't quite as brave. He wasn't sure about how fast those sleds were going and he did question Rick a lot on how he was going to stop at the bottom of the hill. His first run down the hill was with a bit of fatherly assistance. Rikard's sledding adventure ended when he hit a patch of powder snow and it flew into his face.


For the first 10 downhill runs, Keeli happily stood by and watched, cheering her siblings on. You should have heard her laughing at all the kids screaming down the hill and running back up. Then, she marched right up to Rick and informed him it was her turn. She pulled on his pantleg and yelled, "me, me, me." It was like music to his ears.

But, once was enough for the littlest Holestine.

The last run of the day, Tatum had built up the self-confidence to race with the boys sledding on the hill. They started and were neck and neck most of the way down the hill.

Tatum started pulling ahead of her young challenger. Nearer the bottom of the hill his friends were cheering them on. Like most boys, they were doing crazy things. They were standing in the path of the oncoming, racing, sledders and jumping out of the way at the last minute.

Tatum completley clobbered one of these daring young men. Her sled turned sideways and plowed directly into him, taking him out at the knees. He flew up into the air over her, landing face first in the snow. Tatum was knocked off her sled and rolled to a stop about 5 feet away.

Thankfully neither were hurt. They walked up the hill together, laughing about the entire event. Looking back, it was quite a comical site.

Maybe it will snow again.