The Last Ski Day

Well, its official. Snowbasin shut their lifts down for the season on Sunday, April 18th. I honestly can't believe they made it that long, but thanks to some late-spring storms, things were still going strong. Its our custom to have a big barbeque/tailgate party to celebrate the end of a great season, but this year, some of our dear friends & neighbors were moving away on tailgate day, so we chose to stick around the 'hood & help them move instead.
However, we still managed to sneak a few minutes in between Saturday morning soccer games & the big move to hurry up the mountain & take a few last runs. Most of our regular crew was there. We ate lunch on the patio in beautiful spring weather with the Crowthers, Bonds, Lowders, Gardners & Jones'. My bacon-cheeseburger was seriously to die for & I'm sure added at least 2 pregnancy pounds (when combined with the Dream Bar I chased it with)- but I didn't care. It was a perfect last day of the season.
As you can see, we had the whole fam out & we even got Smurfy up on skis for the first time. He loved it! It was so cute.
Au revoir Snowbasin. Until next year. We'll miss you. (Oh, and if its not too much to ask...... next year more powder please!!!!!)
Yes, it was really, really warm. Not that warm, though. The neighborhood boys thought they would be brave & ride one run shirtless. Oh yes, and one neighborhood man (or large boy.....)

Spring Break Fun

We have had our spring break planned for a little over a year now. The plan was to head up to Grand Targhee with a few neighbors & their families for a bit of spring skiing. We did it last year & it was a blast! However, as the time drew nearer, we all began to fear that there just wasn't enough snow left this year to warrant such a venture. So, as a back-up plan, we decided to head down to Moab & do some camping with the kids. This would be fool-proof, right????
Wrong. The week of spring break dawned a balmy 40 degrees, with chances of snow showers all along the Wasatch Front & into Central & Southern Utah as well.
Which left us with PLAN C.

Since several neighbors & friends were left in the same boat, we all decided to try a "stay-cation" (as Mike L. called it). We headed to a nearby hotel which boasted an "indoor waterpark"- perfect for the awful weather. The kids thought this was the neatest thing since sliced bread- who knew???
This was "game night" at the hotel. Erika brought the standard huge orange bucket full of candy & games. Fun for the whole family!


Whilst in the big city, we also visited the Museum of Ancient Life at Thanksgiving Point. Smurf still asks me every day when he can go back to Dinosaurland. I think in his two year old head it was cooler than Disneyland.

The next day Seth took the kids to see "How to Train your Dragon"- another huge hit.
Saturday, we ventured out to the neighborhood Easter Egg hunt, a favorite annual tradition. As you can see, its not your typical EASTER- there is much new-fallen snow visible on the ground & everyone was bundled up nice & proper. Still, we had fun. (P.S.- Seth wants me to mention that he skied some fabulous fresh pow on this day, but I have mixed feelings about doing so because that meant I took the kids to the egg hunt BY MYSELF while he was enjoying FRESH POW. So not cool.)Love this picture of my girls :)

Saturday night while Seth was at Priesthood session I took on the Easter Egg dying all by myself with the kids. They had fun, but I was a bit of a crabby patty. I need to loosen up. I just kept yelling at them for cracking eggs & spilling the dye all over the place. That's what (pregnant) moms do though, right? Please say "right".

Sunday was the big day. I took one or two pics of the kids finding their easter eggs, but seriously forgot to take a picture of them in their nice easter clothes holding their baskets. So unlike me......
Blame it on the pregnancy.


Sunday night Janna's kids spent the night at our house & I took them all to the treehouse museum on Monday. (She is still on strict bedrest, so we are all taking turns with her kids). My friend Trish came with me thank goodness because I was not the best at keeping track of all 6 of them by myself.

You may notice that in our group photo out front I am missing my sister's little girl, Lilianne. I took the picture & then went "Wait a second.......there aren't enough kids here!" Sure enough, she was still in the building, wandering around by herself." I am an awesome babysitter.....

Tuesday I fell on the ground exhausted & exclaimed "WHEN, OH WHEN ARE YOU KIDS GOING BACK TO SCHOOL????????"
Thank the dear Lord they went back Wednesday. I had had all the "Spring Break Fun" that I could manage. Until next year of course....

20 inches

I am dying. Quite literally, I am on death's door. And this is all due to a little thing I woke up to this morning. 20 NEW INCHES OVERNIGHT!!!!! Raise your hand if you know what I'm talking about. Those of you who don't appreciate 20 fresh inches, you are free to leave this post now because you won't get it. I mean, its one thing that my spring break was all but ruined by dreadful weather. We had a sub-par snow year this year & I was fine with that, what with me being a buffalo & all. But NOW, in mid-April, the skies have opened and it has been snowing for the last week! So this morning I wake up, its the last day the kids are out of school. I'm laying in bed trying to decide what we should do for the day (Baby Animal Days was on the agenda, but clearly cancelled due to the weather)- when Seth walks in & announces that 20 INCHES FELL AT SNOWBASIN OVERNIGHT!!!! Well, now its all I can think about. Against my mother's (& my doctors) wishes, I have skied all winter & had a nice time, but never really had a fabulous powder day. But now here we are on the very tail end of the ski season, I am fully SEVEN months pregnant, and I just don't think I should be up there anymore. I gave up on the season nearly a month ago.
Until today.....
I am dying to go skiing!!!!
I am way too fat & awkward to go skiing!!!!!
What is a girl to do?????

So I lie there in bed for at least another hour trying to work up the courage to just put on my gear & sneak up for one or two runs. I mean, its perfect. All the kids are home so Kenni can babysit. I could just zip up the mountain & be right back before anyone had time to yell at me for it :)

And then at last I decide....



I guess I'll just have to settle for the memories. No, I didn't do it. This was me last year.
Boooo Whhooooo hoooo!!!!!! (That's me crying now.....)

Photography by Michelle

As I have mentioned in previous posts, I got a fabulous new camera for Christmas. I have enjoyed playing with it & taking random pictures- trying to figure out how it works. However, my good friend Michelle has enjoyed it more. Every time she comes over (no matter what the reason) she picks it up & starts randomly snapping photos of everyone around her. Some are good, some are terrible & some make me want to kill her. But, still, she shoots away, always exclaiming "I love this camera!" I now have a huge collection of these that I'm not sure what to do with, so I'm sticking them here- as an homage to Michelle. I used a couple in my last post, but there are so many more, I thought they needed documentation of some sort.


















After compiling my favorite photos snapped by Michelle, I realized that there conveniently aren't any pictures of HER, so I drove over to her house, rang the doorbell, waited until she answered & then attacked. So, here you go Michelle. This is for all those other pictures you have taken! A little payback!