Friday, April 29, 2011

Spring Break 2011

We had planned to go to Utah and ski at Deer Valley for Spring Break, but when 3 of the kids complained about skiing, we decided it wasn't worth the drive. They always say we are never home during the school vacations (which is true) so I agreed it wasn't fair to spend their whole break doing stuff they didn't want to do AND be away from their friends. SO, we went to Tahoe to ski for just a few days and spent the rest of the break at home, only to find most of their friends were away for the break.




We had amazing weather... didn't even need coats (but I'm a wimp and wore mine anyway).





The kids all skiied the first day and we split up, then met for lunch on the mountain at Schafer's Camp. It's always delicious! Then Alaina went back to the condo because her ankle was hurting again. Poor thing. The next day just Andy, Dave and I skiied. It's been a long time since I have really skiied hard for a whole day and I got a little more brave and daring with each run. I took Andy to a "run" under the lift that looked like untouched powder, but was really more like cement. He was smart and went another way, while I proceeded to build up uncontrollable speed like never before and had the most massive wipeout! It was quite amazing. I knew I was going to lose it and just let myselft fall without fighting it. I slid under the chairlift, whizzing by about 10 chairs and could hear people gasping. Too bad my kids weren't there to see my spectacular crash!



When I finally came to a stop, skiiers brought me my equipment which was all over the place and I hopped up, feeling so refreshed! I had been so warm and the snow flying all around me had actually felt so great. I skiied the rest of the way to the lift with a little more caution and realized my thumb was throbbing. I took off my glove to find a bloody, already bruising mess. I thought that was pretty good, considering I probably could have broken my neck!





The snow was so deep! The third day Alaina wasn't able to ski but Ryan and Becca joined Andy, Dave and I and we had a great day. My thumb didn't hurt too badly and there were no more wipeouts. I am thankful that we were able to spend the week together and that Dave didn't have to work too much!


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Thursday, April 28, 2011

Farmers are Underappreciated!


I admit it. I don't love gardening. I wish I did. I have lots of friends who do. For me, it's just not fun to dig out rocks that mysteriously appear each year and pour new dirt over old dirt, then dig holes and put tiny green plants in them.

Each year I try a few new things, cantaloupe, pumpkin, corn, zucchini, peppers, watermelon...and I will always have a little garden because we are supposed to be self reliant and somehow I think the tomatoes (which are the only thing I can consistently grow) will sustain us in the event of an emergency. We had fresh tomatoes until November last year!

It took me about 6 hours to do this tiny plot. I am so thankful I'm not a farmer. What an underappreciated profession!

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Monday, April 18, 2011