what we've been up to

On Tuesday we took Jared and Ryan skiing. We decided to go to Sundance since GayLynn offered to watch the little boys. It was pretty stressful getting started on the day. We had hoped to leave by 7:00 a.m. -- well, we finally got out the door around 7:20, then we stopped for gas and cash, and then Mark realized he forgot his snow pants, so we went back home to get those and while we were at it, get Jared and me another sweatshirt. Good thing we got those -- it was cold. We finally got to GayLynn's around 9:15 to drop off the kids. We were stressing that we wouldn't even be able to make it up the canyon because of the snow and the fact we don't have 4WD or chains. As it turned out, the road was actually pretty decent and we finally got up there around 10:30 -- it takes forever to park, ride the shuttle down to the base, and get all the boots and warm gear on. So much for the ski lessons for the kids that started at 10:00. Mark still had to rent his gear, so we spent pretty much the next 45 minutes just getting gear, getting the kids set up for afternoon lessons and buying our tickets. At 11:00 a.m. it was finally showtime -- which was a small disaster. Ryan, never having been on skiis before, was frustrated when he couldn't just head down the mountain at warp speed, in fact, he was having a hard time side-stepping up the hill a bit to try things out. Very frustrating for him and me. I didn't realize until later in the afternoon that there was a perfect rope tow and beginners hill (that you walk to) located just out of sight of the main lift. Arghhh! Mark finally took Jared up the lift for a run -- Jared took a ski lesson last year at Park City. Jared had a frustrating time getting down the hill and fell a lot. Mark did another run by himself while I waited with the boys. By 12:30 we were all exasperated and ready for lunch. Ski lessons started at 1:30 and they were worth every penny! Ryan ended up with a private lesson for 2 1/2 hours :) and had a fabulous time learning and skiing!! Jared only had 3 in his class and also had a fabulous time -- his instructor took them all over the place. Mark and I skiied on our own for the afternoon. This was the first time in 15 years that I've been skiing. I realized that I'm now old, wimpy, and slow. A disappointing realization really -- I really used to enjoy skiing. Maybe I shouldn't be so hard on myself since it has been 15 years -- whatever. Mark wins the hot-dogger award for our family! There were no lift lines, and fresh powder. :) So fresh, that the last 2 hours of the day were spent in a calm, beautiful snow storm -- which made it difficult to see where I was going since I don't have goggles. It was also freezing! I had like a million layers (I kid you not!) on my body and was still cold. Fortunately the boys were warm enough. I'm really glad we took the day to go and I'm really glad the boys enjoyed it. Many thanks to GayLynn for entertaining Jacob and Matthew so that we could go!

Well, yesterday was Mark's birthday -- he got just what he asked for and wanted -- Nothing! Aren't I a wonderful wife? I did manage to make a decent dinner and yummy sour cream lemon pie to celebrate. We also went to Ryan's basketball game -- he scored 4 points, which was exactly half the teams total points (Ryan's team won). Back to Mark -- he's my best friend, I love him tons, and I'm glad we get to share this crazy life together!