Trip to Michigan!

We had so much fun visiting the mid west last week. We enjoyed every minute of our trip. Sharon and Seth were the perfect hosts. The boys were adorable and the weather was perfect. Instead of giving a long drawn out travelogue (the slide show speaks for itself) I thought it would be more fun just to give some highlights. So here we go!

Running every morning with Sharon and her friend Natalie was awesome, especially when you're at sea level.

I thought the weather would be cold, so I only packed 2 short-sleeve shirts, which I wore the ENTIRE time.

Our Dodge Caliber rental was such a sweet ride.

The Southwest Airlines terminal in Detroit was so ghetto!

Who can forget a 1 1/2 hour hair cut at the Aveda salon.

The University of Michigan stadium was closed for construction, so instead, Bevan bought a shirt with a picture of the stadium on it.

Don't change your story when crossing the border!

The Canadian National speed limit: 100 km/h. (that's only 62.13 miles per hour!)

"Welcome to Strathroy-Caradoc, Ontario, population 20,000". What does that convert to?

The Chinese tourists at Niagara wanted a picture with me and Bevan. Weird. Cathy said that it was because I was a blonde.

Never order "mild" buffalo wings.

When they say to make reservations for the Palmyra Temple, they mean it!

Bevan found his friends, the Blackhursts, who were serving their mission in Palmyra.

There was a 500-yd-long line of daffodils at the Ann Arbor Arboretum. Who's masters thesis was this?

Free tickets to the Rouge Ford Factory! What a cool place!

Bevan and Charlie could play the Wii for hours, and they did.

The hilarious flight attendants from Southwest were the only ones who could make us smile after having to leave Michigan. Thanks for the awesome time Sharon and Seth! We'll be back!

Vacation Time!

We're going to Michigan! 2 weeks ago, I was talking to my sister Sharon, who lives in Ann Arbor, about coming to visit. I thought that plane tickets totally ski-rocketed with the price of gas... until I actually looked at them. I guess it hasn't hit the airlines yet and we found a crazy Southwest deal. The off season is upon us, so this is the most practical time to travel away from this ski town. So within 2 weeks we had a whole vacation planned! We're leaving tomorrow morning and can't wait to see the "mid west." I haven't traveled further east than Denver, so this will be an experience. Bon voyage!

Last Day of the Ski Season!

My last post came off as slightly negative towards winter, now I think I'm going to miss it. Saturday was our last day at Deer Valley. I started off by driving the car to mid-mountain so I could take all my stuff home. Usually we park at the bottom and I take the shuttle up, but I'm glad I drove. It was so beautiful with the sun rising over the white mountain tops. It gives the hills a pink glow. The trees were still covered with snow from our last storm. I had an awesome view of Empire Canyon, Jupiter Peak and the backside of the Wasatch Range. What a great way to start your day!
I got everything set up at the lifts and headed off to ski first break. I always skied first thing in the morning. Few people were out and there was always fresh powder (if it snowed) or fresh groomers (if it didn't snow). Either way it was good. I got Bevan to ski with me. Usually he's tied up with his responsibilities at the base, but it was also HIS last day, so he let himself go. We found some spruce trees that looked as though they hadn't been skied in weeks. All the shade keeps the snow from getting crusty from the sun. It was perfect. The rest of the day ran rather smoothly. It wasn't that busy and it got really warm! Considering it hasn't gotten above freezing for a couple weeks. I got out for another ski break later in the day and was able to ski the slush. It's always pretty fun. Almost like water skiing.
That night we went out to dinner on Main Street. I don't think we've been on Main all winter! Usually we just avoid it, especially during Christmas or Sundance. Bevan helped out a friend, who's a bigwig for Bill White Enterprises (a fancy restaurant chain), so he hooked us up with free dinner at Chimayo. I actually used to work there as a busser 3 years ago, me and Monica. Many people recognized me, but called me Monica. Ah, the good ol' days. Dinner was fabulous! I had Chilean Sea Bass and Bevan had Kobe beef fajitas. Nothing like eating quality, and sometimes controversial, meat and fish. We left a fat tip and headed for home. It has been a good season!

New Skis, April Snow, and Athlete's Foot!

I feel like I'm in the movie "Groundhog Day." This winter is never going to end! Deer Valley's snow pack is 172% of normal. That's great for the reservoirs, but it sure is getting old. I'm ready for spring.

A good thing about still having lots of snow is that skis don't get banged up so much on exposed rocks or branches. A coworker of mine is a ski dealer on eBay and he had some models left over that he had me look at. He was charging the same price for each pair and they were all in excellent condition, so naturally I chose the ones that were worth the most (I did my research). They're Nordicas and they're very fat and very heavy. Supposedly that's what you want in a ski these days. I got the money from the sale of my wedding dress. This idea caused concern for some people, but let me explain... I really didn't see the point of holding on to it. There's no where to store it, it would be out of style in 5 years, and maybe I could do some good by giving someone else a great deal who didn't want to spend a fortune on a wedding dress. I did resolve that if it sold, I would do something respectable with the money. Can you think of a more noble cause?

The only thing to cause hindrance to perfect snow and a new pair of skis is a nasty toe problem that would make it extremely painful to wear ski boots. Augh. I've never had athlete's foot before, but Bevan informed me that's what is was. After almost a week of pain, it's cleared up enough for me to enjoy the last 2 days of the ski season. Though I am tired of winter, I might actually miss it!

Our trip to Idaho!

Last Saturday, we took a trip to Pocatello for the blessing of our newest niece, Macie Marilyn Sutton. We decided to make a weekend of it and Vanessa and Trent were so nice to let us stay there for a couple nights. We left after work on Saturday and just drove straight from Park City to Pocatello. We decided to take the more economical car, my little Honda Civic. It's not as roomy as the Subaru, but still a smooth ride. It was so fun to see a whole lot of family there Sunday. The blessing was wonderful and it was fun to hang out with Vanessa's kids. Bevan more appreciated the 55" big screen with many basketball games to watch. On Monday, we went to Lava Hot Springs. It was freezing, snowing and nobody was there. It was perfect! We planned to sit and soak for hours... but we were bored after 45 minutes. We made some stops at a few points of interest: Preston High (Napoleon Dynamite's high school) and the Pepperidge Farm factory. They weren't making the good milanos that week, just those plain shortbread cookies. We bought about 3 pounds anyway because that's just what you do. We then drove to Logan, picked up some material for my test coming up, said hi to Paul, and headed back to the cabin. What a fun weekend. Thanks Nessa!