Last Day to Ski

Since today was our last day to ski, we took a short drive up to Deer Valley and enjoyed their mountain. There were several more runs open here.Using the skills we learned yesterday, we were able to ski most of the runs. Hunter even skied a double blue. It's the run furthest to the left in the picture below. It may not look bad from this angle, but he even said it rivaled most blacks he's skied in the east. Very steep and very long. I, however, decided to go around that!

The last photos are of a run called Homeward Bound. It was at the top of one of the 6 mountains in their resort and winded around the backside of the mountain. Very windy and cold up here, but a very enjoyable run.

Through the trees, we could see Park City Resort where we skied the previous days.

Ski Day 4

Thursday morning we decided to take advantage of the experts out here and scheduled a lesson. It was very beneficial and we both feel it was well worth the time. So funny how much a few simple skills will improve your whole technique.

Last night we went to see "The Wondrous Gift of Christmas" presented by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir with special guest Natalie Cole and speaker David McCullough. It was fantastic! I was very excited to get to see this live. Here are some of the pictures of the mountains. I took these on our drive down to Salt Lake City.

Here is a picture of the tabernacle. It was so pretty to walk through their campus and see all the Christmas lights.

This is a picture of inside the conference center. The choir was still practicing when we arrived. This place is huge and was at full to capacity of 21,000 people.

The performance was wonderful and it is something I will remember forever.

Ski Day 3

On Wednesday, we decided to give our legs a rest and we headed to a shopping area in Park City. It was a whopping -3 when we woke up and was chilly as we walked around, but we had fun just hopping in and out of lots of cute little shops (I'm sure it was more fun for me than Hunter)!

It was another sunny, clear day and our view was great. Here are some of the shops...it looks like buildings in a Christmas village.

Mrs. Susan, this is for you. Just wanted to let you know you have your own gallery all the way in Utah!

One fun thing we discovered was the $1.00/night movie rentals at the grocery store that is right down the street. We thought we got them free to rent at the hotel...not the case. They wanted $6 a night per movie. So for $1.00 each, we have watched Land of the Lost, Julie and Julia, Up, and Ghosts of Girlfriends Past. All were good choices and fun to watch as we made dinner, popped popcorn, and sat by our fireplace...I could get used to this!

Also, last night we went on a sleigh ride! My idea. These poor horses had to pull us up the mountain and back down. It was so neat to hear their jingle bells as they came down the mountain to pick us up.It was about a 30 min ride, but it was cold. Luckily, they provide thick blankets! One memory I'll keep for a long time.

Picture of the Day

I submitted one of my photos from Tuesday and was chosen as Pic of the Day for today on the Park City website. Pretty cool! I'm sure they don't have many to choose from, but still neat to see my picture.

Ski Day 2

Today the sun was out and sky's were clear. Here is the same place we took a picture together yesterday and you can see how different it looks.

Wish you could see all the houses and cabins along the mountain.
You could see for miles.

A few things I learned today:

1. Falling down in the lift line on the first run of the day takes talent. Falling down twice on the same green slope takes talent. Skiing a few blues a couples time each and not falling...pure skill (or luck)!

2. Being some of the first people out on the mountain is the coolest feeling. The way the powder squeaks under your skis. The way you can look for fresh, uncarved powder and know your the first to ski over it. It's like a canvas and your the painter...very cool!

3. Staying slope-side is fantastic. You can go in and eat when you want, nap if you want, and warm up when you want. It's wonderful and we are really enjoying it!

Park City, UT

We arrived in Salt Lake City yesterday to a chilly 28 degrees. We had an authentic Mexican lunch at the Red Iguana. It was the best food since going to Mexico. Hunter showed me around downtown. He definitely knows his way around after traveling here with work. The only other plant that his company has is located here. It was kinda neat being able to see where he goes and eats whiles he's out of town. On our drive up to Park City, we saw the Olympic Ski Jump from the winter Olympics in 2002.

We woke up to snow this morning and a frigid 0 degrees! So we did what any person in their right mind would do....we headed out to play in it!

After 17 ski trips on the east coast, I now know why people travel out west to ski. The powder here is amazing! There were very few ice patches and since it's early in the season, there is hardly no one here.

Hunter's favorite part is skiing along the mountain side of the slopes where all the powder is!

We took this one as we headed in for the day.

Jessica's Christmas Shower

The kick-off to Jessica's wedding is underway. She got TONS of cute stuff! I was in charge of the gift list, so I didn't get any photos of the shower in progress. The house it was held at was beautiful and so festive with all the decorations. And the food was wonderful!

Jessica with her future mother-in-law, Mrs. Cindy (on left) and her Mom, Mrs. Susan (on right)

USC vs. Clemson

USC 34 Clemson 17

After a wonderful victory, we all celebrated on the train car.

Will and I enjoying our win!

Happy Halloween!

Here is how our house looked this year. Our new addition were two giant spiders which were appropriately colored black and garnet!

My favorite this to do is put the spider webs EVERYWHERE....it drives Hunter crazy! He hates that I cover door handles and light switches.

My other new addition this year was the LED tea lights.

Lucy was a lady bug this year. She really didn't mind being dressed up, except for the hat. Once she got rid of that, I think she liked the idea of her own personal blanket attached to her.

Due to Winny's ball obsession, I dressed her in Hunter's All-Star baseball jersey. This picture says it all, she was so busy jumping for the ball while I took her picture that she's half way out of the jersey and her ears are flipped back! This was the only picture I got before she jumped right out of her costume.

We gave out lots of candy to all the Trick-or-Treaters. Then we ate Hunter's taco soup while we watched the USC game. Later, Hope and I made caramel apples.

Pumpkin Carving

We had our annual pumpkin carving last weekend to get ready for Halloween.

After much discussion and thought about what to carve, Mike picked Michael Jackson and Joe carved Darth Vader. I carved a scary house complete with bats and moon. Haley and Hope carved the giant spider. Hunter carved a scary clown.
The pictures didn't capture the detail put into each one.
We had a great time and I'm excited about having these traditions we all do together!

Sydney's First Acolyte Service

Will and Sydney with the pastors

Sydney got her cross to match Will's

And because she just couldn't resist....Sydney has to strike a pose!

Lacey's Wedding

Congratulations Lacey and Nick!

All the Pharmacy girls: Me, Tina, Lacey, Amanda, and Tiffany

Winny

Winny comes home Saturday!!!

Hunter gets to hunt with her and learn all the new commands.

I have to be a work when she comes home, but I would love to see how Lucy reacts. I think she has gotten quite used to being an only child again. She gets to sleep on the bed all day (and night)! It has been six long, quiet weeks and we are ready to get our Bug back!

Winny's Video

Here is Winny in action. The quality is not the best since it was shot on the trainer's Blackberry.

Winny's First Retrieve

Way to go Bug!

The Big Apple

At the end of July, Hunter and I made our first trip to New York.

When we arrived on Sunday, we walked to St Patrick's and were there for part of Sunday mass. Then we walked up 5th Ave and saw all the shops (Big Piano at FAO Schwartz). We walked into Central Park and went over to the Museum of Natural History. Then over to Columbus Circle and back down Broadway to Time Square (where our hotel was).

On Monday, we took the subway to Battery Park and went over to see the Statue of Liberty.

We walked to Wall Street and saw Ground Zero. Here is one of my favorite pictures, it was a fire truck returning from a call that was right beside Ground Zero. Then we walked to Chinatown and had soup dumplings for lunch at Joe's Shanghai. We also walked through Little Italy and SoHo. Then we headed up Broadway and saw the Flat Iron building, and it started raining as we approached Grand Central Terminal. We took the subway back to Time Square and went to dinner at 5 Napkin Burger (which had great burgers and best french onion soup).

On Tuesday, we went to the MET and did some shopping down 5th Ave. We also went to Top of the Rock to see all the sights from the 67th floor of Rockefeller Center. We saw Wicked that night, which was wonderful! After the show, we stopped for cheesecake and frozen hot chocolate at Roxy's Deli.

We had a great time and walked our feet off! I can't wait to go back!