Dinner with the Andersons

There are certain times in your life that you met someone

 and you instantly know that you are going to be friends forever. 

 That is exactly how I felt when I met Lisa Anderson, almost 30 years ago, 

when our husbands were both going to dental school in San Francisco. 

 She was so clever and creative and such a great cook.

 She shared her crafty ideas and delicious recipes with me.  

I was in awe of her organizational skills and basically loved to follow her around

 with a notebook and pen and jot down all her clever ideas.

She was (and is) one of those people that "has it all together", 

so capable of accomplishing any task that she was asked to do. 

 But the thing I remember most about our friendship 

was that Lisa was so kind to me and always included me.

She threw a baby shower when I was pregnant with Kimber

 and decorated her house with adorable hand drawn pictures of potted plants

and seedling packages that she illustrated.  

I saved each and everyone of them because they were just so cute!

About 5 years ago, when Kimber and Brett were engaged, I sent out their wedding announcement.

I get a phone call from Lisa, who tells me that she can't believe that my Kimber is marrying Brett Crandall.

You see, when Lisa's son, Rhett was recruited to Yale to play basketball, 

they went to the branch in New Haven and the first person that came up and greeted them was Brett.

Lisa said that he was so kind and told them how much he loved it at Yale 

and how wonderful it was and convinced Rhett that Yale was the place for him.

So Rhett signed at Yale and soon left on his mission before he even started school.

Since Rhett wasn't attending Yale when Brett and Kimber were dating,

we never made the connection.

So when Lisa opened up the wedding invitation 

and saw that Kimber was marrying the young man that helped influence Rhett, she was excited. 

What a small world!

Now Rhett is attending Yale, playing basketball and studying hard.

He comes down to NYC and stays with Kimber and Brett whenever he gets a chance.

They have become dear friends and always looks forward to Rhett's visits.

Recently, Brett and Kimber arranged for the Young Men in their ward 

to attend the Yale vs. Columbia basketball game to watch Rhett play.

Afterwards, Rhett met with the boys and spoke to them

 about how important it is to go on a mission and what it meant to him in his life.

He did such a great job and I know that Kimber and Brett appreciated the time that he took to meet with the boys.

After all these years, Lisa and I have stayed in close touch, 

so I was excited when she call earlier in the week 

and said that they would be in Sacramento and would like to get together.

Her son, McKay was playing in the state BB championship game

 at Arco Arena on Saturday (which they won! YAY!) 

and we went to my favorite Crush 29 to celebrate the victory!

Afterwards, Brooke and McKay headed over to the high school dance 

and they had good time.

I think another Holt/Anderson friendship is beginning.

Look what's happening in our backyard!

Brooke and I have experienced some exciting moments 
looking outside our kitchen window these past couple of days!
This morning as we were enjoying a delightful breakfast together.
Brooke was chowing down on a bowl of Captain Crunch and
I was guzzling a diet pepsi:)!  
We were busy watching the hilarious "Green Girls" video
 that the GBHS media team put together for "Spirit Week",
 when a cute little bunny went hopping across the yard.  
We were like, "Oh, how cute!"
When all the sudden, we see this ugly coyote chasing the poor little bunny!  
We were freaking out!  
They ran back and forth and around the yard for about 10 minutes.
Fortunately, the bunny got away, but the coyote kept running around the yard.
Of course, I grabbed my camera and took a few pictures of the ugly coyote to show Dad.

The coyote strolled around the backyard, checking out the firepit and making himself right at home.

He was wishing that Tyler and his football buddies were there to shoot some hoops!

And he thought about jumping on the trampoline!

Look how close that coyote is to the house.
That's right, I risked my life for this blurry photo!

* * * * * * 

We have had some crazy weather all week long
 and poor Brooke has been running in the rain almost everyday.
Fortunately, she had just finished her workout when a big hailstorm hit Granite Bay.

This is what we saw when we looked in the backyard.

In just minutes, this is what accumulated on the back porch.
Brooke thought about scooping it up and putting it in her "ice bath."

Spring Break Ski Trip, Part 2

It was a lovely week of spring skiing with the kids in Park City. 

The week was filled with lots of skiing, visiting with lots of friends, 

watching lots of basketball (Go Cougars!),
 spending lots of late nights watching TV shows on Hulu

 and jacuzziing until the wee morning hours. 

 Lots of fun and lots of good memories!

Mom and Allie on the slopes.

Best buddies, Allie and Tyler enjoying a day of skiing.

Taking a little break at the bottom of The Pines.

Sonya is such a good sport and skied down The Pines not once but twice!

NBD...black diamonds are beginning to be Sonya's best friend!

Dad, looking good, as usual.  So happy to be skiing with his kids!

Brooke arrived on Monday and joined us for a couple of days of skiing.

She is showing off the coveted Canyons stickers with the new logo 

that she snagged from one of the workers at the lodge.

Cute sisters.

Brooke, with her favorite Oklahomans!

The girls taking the Saddleback chairlift.

The Dodson's came and skied with us on Tuesday.

The weather was so gorgeous that Dad insisted that we sit our chairs out front

 and watch the skiers come down the hill. 

Of course, that activity would have to include a cold diet pepsi and

our computers, (so we could get something done.)

Tuesday night, Ashley came up with some friends and joined us on Main Street

for dinner at the kids favorite restaurant Main Street Pizza and Noodle.

I made Tyler and Sonya pose in front of our favorite moose, 

since it was Sonya's first time down Main Street.  Cute!

It snowed Wednesday night, so we woke up early Thursday morning to catch

the fresh powder and make some "first tracks."

We headed out to the bubble chair before it even opened and it was crazy!

Standing in line for over 10 minutes,

 you could feel the anxious energy of all the "powder hounds."

We were on the 12th chair that headed up the hill 

and enjoyed the beautiful view of the untracked powder below with our best friends, Allie and Tyler.

Since Condor, Saddleback and Tombstone chairlifts were on hold 

and 9990 wasn't open yet due to the avalanche blasting,

 we skied straight over to Iron Mountain, skied fresh powder for a couple of runs, "tracked it out" 

and then headed to Dreamcatcher as fast as we could.  

As we rode the chairlift up, we could see that it was completely untouched powder...

 no one at all skiing the bowl...not one skier!

We had the whole place to ourselves, fresh powder and best friends...it was heavenly!

We "tracked out" Dreamcatcher and we were cold and exhausted

(for those of you that don't ski, powder makes you work a lot, lot  harder)

so we decided to head back to the lodge to rest, get some hot chocolate and warm up but...

 on our way back to Red Pine Lodge, we see that they have just opened up 9990 just 5 minutes ago!

What else can we do but make a quick U turn,

fly down the mountain to catch the 9990 chairlift

and pull out our Mr Goodbar and 100 Grand Bars to refuel.

Dad is all smiles as we cross the ridge on Magic Lines

 and see nothing but untracked powder!

After some enjoying some hot chocolate and a yummy lunch

 and resting our tired legs, we are back at The Pines.

Heading down Doc's at the end of a fabulous powder day with my best friends.

On Friday, our good friends, Dale and Debbie Merrill came over 

and joined us for lunch at the base of the mountain.  

The Merrill's used to live in Granite Bay and we miss them,

 so it was so fun to catch up with them.

It was a really windy day on Saturday, our last day in Park City.

We skied down to the gondola and just as we got into the gondola,
we found out that many of the chairlifts were closed due to the wind hold.
We discussed our options on the ride up to the lodge.

When we get to the top of the hill, we notice that they just closed Shortcut chairlift
(the lift that we have to take to ski down to our place)
which means that we would have to take the gondola down
 then walk across the plaza and then have to take the shuttle home. 
Not a really big deal, but kind of inconvenient.
As we stepped out of the gondola, the wind blowing like crazy.
With all the chairlifts closed and the icy conditions, we decided to bag skiing for the day and head for home,
but then, Allie had a brilliant idea and suggests that we first treat ourselves to the free* hot chocolate at the lodge.
So we did:)!
*Season pass holders can enjoy a cup of complimentary hot chocolate every ski day.  Yay!

Allie and Ashley enjoying their free hot chocolate!

We are heading down on the gondola, enjoying the hot chocolate,

when we see that they have just opened up Shortcut lift.  

We make a quick decision to ride the gondola down

and then back up again, so that we can ski down to our place...that's right...

we took 3 gondola rides, drank 2 hot chocolates, rode one chairlift and skied...

(this is a bit embarrassing but true)

one, that's right, one run down the mountain.

(I really hope that Brad Wilkes, Jerry Martin and JC Fat are not reading this post

or else Mark will never live this one down! Ha! Ha!)

Dad is a good sport and we love that he is so patient

 and just wants to make sure everyone has fun on the slopes,

even if it means sitting in the lodge or riding the gondola

 and drinking hot chocolate with his kids!

 

Thanks Dad for another fun ski season!

Spring Break Ski Trip, Part I

Since Tyler and Sonya had spring break, they decided to head out to Utah

 to do some skiing and visit with family  and friends.

 We went out a few days early with the Hansen's and McNaughton's 

to do some skiing at Canyon's. 

 The first two days were absolutely gorgeous, so sunny and warm. 

It was my kind of skiing!

The group at the top of Sun Peak Express.

Riding the chairlift with Kevin and Julie Hansen.

Catherine and Roman McNaughton, with Roman's brother Sean.

We had dinner at one of our favorite restaurants on Main Street, Chimayo.  

Dad and Roman are a little excited about the famous BBQ spareribs.

I ordered the soup sampler and it was delicious!

After a delicious lunch at Cloudine, Cat and I enjoy the view outside.

Kevin, Sean, Roman and Mark enjoying the view on the outside deck at Cloudine.

Mom and Dad 

Dad, after a long day of skiing...deserves a little nap!

Tyler and Sonya flew in on Friday night to join us for a week of fun.

  Allie, Justin, and Ashley, and Eric, one of Tyler's former roommates 

came up from Provo to ski with us on Saturday.

It was a blustery day, with rain, snow and cloudy skies.

But we didn't let the weather slow us down too much.

Allie, matching from head to skis, is ready to hit the slopes.

Ashley, Eric, Justin and Allie stop for a picture on Sun Peak.

Kevin and Julie.  Cute!

We spent the morning on Super Condor Express, where

Dad took the group down Brett's favorite run, Canis Lupus.

I call it Brett's favorite run because that is the run

 that is a "natural half-pipe" off Boa where Brett's binding came off.

Like father, like son, Dad and Tyler, coming down Canis Lupus.

The crew met up at the bottom of Boa.

What a good looking group:)!

The girls heading over to the Iron Mountain lift.

Kevin and Julie enjoying a ski day with their besties Allie and Justin.

So glad these two cute kids could join us for a week of skiing...

I just hope that the weather gets sunny and warm for them!

The entire group* that skied together the whole day...even when it snowed and rained on us...

ok, maybe some of us headed in after we got soaked...

 but the "slow" group and the "fast" group spent most of the day together 

and a good time was had by all! 

*Mark, Debbie, Allie, Justin, Ashley, Catherine, Roman, Julie, Kevin, Sonya, Tyler and Eric.