SkiFest 2009 ~ Part II

Our dear friends from Granite Bay, the Duffey's and Jack's (both couples are from our old Weddington neighborhood), and the Skinner's, and Giddings joined us in Park City for 4 days of skiing and fun! It snowed the first night that they arrived so the next morning we woke up to fresh powder! It was awesome! We had a great time with our good friends...skiing, eating, and shopping together! Lots of laughs and lots of fun!

The group outside the lodge at Deer Valley!

Liz in knee deep powder, skiing The Pines at The Canyons!

The group at dinner at The Westgate Grill!

Mark and Mark in the parking lot at Deer Valley!

Debbie, Sue Jack, Liz Skiing and Karen Duffey waiting for the shuttle at Deer Valley!

Rob Giddings, Debbie and Sue Jack riding the shuttle at Deer Valley!

Mark, Doug Jack, Liz & Mark Skinner and Karen on the shuttle!

Debbie, Karen Duffey, Liz and Karen Giddings on the slopes at Deer Valley!

Sue & Doug Jack after lunch at Deer Valley!

Tim & Karen Duffey!

Mark and Liz Skinner!

Doug found a furry friend to ski with!

Kramer joined us at Deer Valley!

Debbie and Liz posing at the end of the day!

The diehards at the end of a snowy day!

The shoppers at the end of the day!

The girls waiting for the shuttle!

Dinner at Grappa's...our favorite!

Sue and Doug Jack!

Mark and Debbie!

Liz and Mark Skinner!

Tim and Karen Duffey!

SkiFest 2009 ~ Part I

Mark and I are in Park City enjoying 10 days of fun and skiing! Kimber and Brett flew in from New York and joined us the first weekend. They got 4 days of skiing in, took the red eye home late Saturday night and made it back just in time for church! Tyler and Allie came up on the weekend. They didn't get to ski because they had to study. Such good kids! On Saturday, Brett's brother, Mark, and his Aunt and Uncle, Julie and Jason Chaffetz joined us for dinner on Main Street. It was a great weekend!

Mark and Debbie enjoying the sunshine at The Canyons!
Kimber and Brett joined us for 4 days of unbelievable snow and sunshine!
Brett and Kimber on the long chair ride up the hill.
Brett and Kimber pointing to Super Fury, Brett's favorite black diamond run!
Dad and Mom at dinner!

Brett and Kimber!

Allie, Mark and Tyler!
Jason and Julie Chaffetz
The Crandalls and the Chaffetz enjoying dinner!
The Crandall's and Holt's at Cisero's on Main Street!

Seussical the Musical!!

Ashley did a great job as one of the "Bird Girls" in Seussical the Musical this weekend! It was a darling show! Ashley's costume was the BEST! Big feathers, a bright pink dress and long hot pink eyelashes! We went both nights and it was a lot of fun! So many of Ashley's sweet friends came to support her! And the cousins came too! After the performance on Saturday, we went with a group of her friends to BJ's to celebrate and eat Pizookie's...YUM!

Ashley showing off her feathers and darling bird costume!

Dad and Ashley!
Mom and Ashley!
Brooke thinks Ashley's costume is awesome!
Ashley's friends, Carlie and Andrew came to see her play!
The Bird girls performing during the play!

Happy "SKI" Birthday!!

So Dad bought these fabulous skis for Brooke right after Christmas. She loved them so much and claimed that they were magic skis! Brooke was so excited about her skis that Dad got excited and he bought me the same pair of skis. I told Dad that I didn't need a new pair of skis but he insisted that I would love them and said "Plus it's your "Ski" Birthday!" Which made us girls laugh! Apparently, everyone has a "Ski" Birthday once a year and celebrates by getting a new ski item from Dad...pretty cool! Then Dad found the skis at a store in Sacramento on sale so he bought a pair for Allie. I guess it was Allie's "Ski" Birthday too! Thanks Dad! Your the best!!

Brooke, Allie and Mom celebrating their "Ski" Birthdays with their new skis!

Vintage Update!

Glen, our foreman, has been very busy! It was amazing to see how much they have done on our place at Vintage! Allie was there last week and reported that there was a big hole in the kitchen/garage wall, the stove was in the middle of the kitchen, and there was white dust everywhere. It was a mess! As Allie drove us from the airport to our place, she kept saying, "You just wait until you see it! You are going to die!" As we opened up the garage door, Allie was waiting for our reaction. She was sure that we were going to be shocked at what we saw. Instead, she was the one who was surprised! The sheetrock was up and covered up the hole between the kitchen and garage. Most of the cabinets and stove were back in place and the stove was even working along with the microwave and warming tray. They had cleaned up all the dust off the countertops and floor and it looked pretty darn good! Allie was stunned! She kept walking around looking at the kitchen and saying, "I can't believe how much they got done and good it looks." Thank you, Glen! Below are some pictures so you can see what they have done! The wall that the car went through and where there was a hole last week between the kitchen and the garage. The stove is back in place and even works!

They have taken the front of cabinets in the island off because they are replacing them.

This cabinet was in the middle of the kitchen but is back in place and the microwave and warming oven are working!
One of the big chunks out of granite in the island. They think they can fix it and make it look like new! I hope so because I love that granite (it's my favorite!!) and really don't want to pick out new granite!

DWFF's...Dental Wives Friends Forever!

On Monday I went down to Walnut Creek to go to lunch with Mary, Molly and Laurie and to celebrate Mary's birthday!
These are my dearest friends from our days in San Francisco when Mark was in dental school. We have been (as the teenagers would say) "besties" for over 25 years! We all lived in married student housing together while our husbands attended UCSF. I probably spent more time with them then I did with Mark and Mark probably spent more time with their husbands studying at the library and working in the dental lab during those dental school days. We have so many good memories together trying to keep ourselves busy and occupied while our husbands were gone every evening studying. I've said many times that I'd go back and relive that time of my life in an instant and I truly mean it. I think it's because Mark and I never worked so hard and had so little. We didn't have any money but neither did anyone else and no one cared at all. But we did have great friends that we could share our struggles and good times with and they truly loved and cared about us. After all these years we still love and care about each other and enjoy getting together, even though it's not nearly as much as we would like. It is good to have lifelong friends that every time you see them, whether its been 2 weeks or 2 years, you pick up just where you left off. My Dental Wives friends are those kind of friends forever!

Congressman Tom McClintock speaks at Olympus Jr. High School!

Last Friday our Congressman Tom McClintock came to Olympus Jr. High to speak to the 8th graders. All the school board members were invited so I couldn't pass on the opportunity to meet one of our elected officials.

I got there about 15 minutes early along with a couple of fellow board members and the Superintendant and we were able to visit with Tom McClintock and his staff about school/education related issues before he spoke to the students. I thought he did a great job and it was fun to hear the students asking him questions. Many of the kids stayed after and got pictures with him or asked for his autograph. He was very accomodating and spent quite a bit of time with the students.

Then a guy came in with a big video camera and asked me and my fellow board member, Kristie, if he could film us with Congressman McClintock. So we chatted for about 15 minutes and he was very personable. We talked about Ashley applying to be a page this summer and what a great opportunity that would be and then I mentioned that Brett's uncle was Jason Chaffetz, another freshman congressman from Utah. He was so excited because he had just gone to dinner last week with Jason and Julie. He said Jason was one of the "up and coming young politicians" and that he was really going places. As he got ready to go, he told me to give his office a call when we come drop off Ashley in DC this summer and he would meet with me so we could have further discussion about the school/education items that our district are concerned with.

I was pretty impressed with the congressman and it was fun to meet him. Apparently, the video of the two of us talking ended up on one of the TV stations...pretty funny!

Ashley's Anti-Vday Party!

Last Friday, Ashley and her friend, Dani held their annual Anti-Vday party. It has become a fun tradition that started with Allie and her high school girlfriends years ago. It's a Valentine's day party where only girls are invited. They get all dressed up in their favorite pink, white or black outfit. A pink chocolate fountain with lots of yummy goodies to dip into the chocolate is a must. Love songs playing in the background definitely adds to the mood of the party. But the best part of the night is when they take a boy pinata and the girls write all their past boyfriends names on it, then each girl takes a turn smashing the pinata! Last year the boys retaliated by TPing the house during the party! Fortunately, those boys were out of town this year so we didn't have to pick up toilet paper at the end of the party!

The pink chocolate fountain and goodies!
The girls!
The boy pinata hanging from the balcony!
The girls getting ready to take a swing at the pinata!
Ashley, Dani and Dad up on the balcony holding the rope!
The boy pinata sadly ended up on the ground after a few of the girls had a turn slugging away!
Ashley and Dani ready to party!

Sledding with the GB3 Youth!

We had a great turnout at our sledding trip on Saturday with about 30 kids from the ward and a few friends! Everyone had a good time! Plenty of sunshine and just enough snow!

The group posed for a picture at the end of the day!
Brooke flew down the course on her first run and up the embankment!
Brooke held on and is smiling after her first run down the course!Here is Ashley heading into the turn and coming around the corner!Ashley decided to take a break and hold cute Kyle for a few minutes!
Mom took a turn and screamed all the way down!

Dad, sporting the hat that Allie crocheted for him and looking good!