Sunday, March 20, 2011

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!

Sunday, March 13, 2011

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.

Saturday, March 5, 2011

The first track meet of the season

Brooke took 1st place in the 3000m at the Sac State Invitational today.
It was the first track meet of Brooke's last high school track season and
it was a great way to start the season.

Sunday, February 27, 2011

Celebrating Grandma Olson's 85th birthday in Arizona!

My dear, sweet mother is turning 85 next week, 
so all of my siblings and their spouses gathered in Arizona to celebrate her birthday. 
 It was a wonderful weekend with all of the family!
 Grandma, as usual, was so sweet and appreciative. 
 Whenever she got up to get a drink or if she left the room or if it got quiet for a moment, 
she would address everyone, with her soft spoken voice, and tell us how much she loves us 
and how much she appreciates us being there and how wonderful we are. 
 She is so adorable!
My mother loves birds so one morning, we drove over to the Riparian Preserve in Gilbert to do some birdwatching.
Grandma and Grandpa are so cute, walking hand in hand around the bird sanctuary together.
So tender!
I love this cute picture of Grandpa helping Grandma look for the birds.
Brooke and her sweet Grandma and Grandpa!
Brooke and her cousin, Kristen.
Chatting with the family in Grandma's family room.
Grandma's 85th birthday cake!
I took the picture that is on the cake last year when I was visiting them.
I love all the flowers in front of their house 
and I love that Grandma and Grandpa wanted me to take their picture with all the flowers
 but most of all I love that I caught Grandma standing outside in the front yard in her socks.
So cute.
Grandma is getting ready to blowout the candles on her cake.
Grandpa looks on adoringly at Grandma.
He loves her so much and so does all of her kids and grandkids!
We are so lucky to have such a wonderful mother and grandmother!