eleven thoughts on a thursday

I have so much I want to write down but never time to do it! Stealing some instagram photos and jotting down a few notes.

1) First of all, Matthew is 18 months old! I have just savored his babyhood so much. So delicious and delightful and wonderful. I'm so grateful we are ending our baby years on Matthew; all of our babies have been a joy but some have been more stressful than others. ;-) And it's great to go out with beautiful memories of this chapter of our lives. A few years ago I was just absolutely devastated by the thought that we would have no more babies. And now I am at peace. When I look at pictures of the girls when they were little, I still feel an ache of missing my sweet girls at that stage...but having older children really is a delight in so many ways. (Is it weird that I'm looking forward to grandbabies in the next decade or two?)

But Matthew certainly keeps us on our toes. He isn't talking much (which is starting to become more and more stressful). He seems to understand everything we say, and he says a few words, but most of his energy seems to be funneled into death-defying stunts. At his 16-month checkup the pediatrician watched him rapidly scale the exam table, then looked at me and said, "I'll bet he's not talking much, is he?" and reassured me that some kids focus on speech and some on movement...but I hope the movement slows down soon and the speech picks up! (A few days ago I found him standing on 5 stacked stools that he'd climbed in order to get at a box of applesauce squeeze pouches, which are stored above my head height.)

Matty loves his stuffed cats, his bottle (argh, gotta get rid of that thing), Legos, anything mechanical/building-inclined (he likes to stick screwdrivers into all the electrical outlets...like all the time), feeding himself food he scavenges for himself as opposed to food placed on his high chair tray, turning off the washer and dryer, hiding in the laundry room cubbies, sneaking out into the garage and dumping all the cat food into the cat water, sneaking into the girls' room and getting out all the tiny ceramic animals in Juliet's drawer, coloring on the walls/floor/windows/doors, digging with a spoon in all the houseplants, climbing inside the dishwasher, taking baths, eating hummus from a spoon, drinking from everyone else's waterbottle, biting into clementines and furiously chewing through the skin to turn everything to pulp, bringing everyone their shoes all day long, taking rides in laundry baskets...basically he's a full-fledged toddler. Some of my favorite things about him at this stage: he always folds his arms if anyone says the word "prayer" or "Heavenly Father," when you ask him a question and he nods yes he will bow from the waist instead of just nodding his head, and he loves music SO SO SO much and is basically the most enthusiastic dancer you can possibly imagine.

Whew--that was a lot! Still with me?

2) Isaac had his first Pinewood Derby this week for Cub Scouts. To say it went well is an understatement--he won every heat that he was in, won his age group, and then won the 1st place overall. He tried so hard to be a good winner and not celebrate excessively while he was still around his fellow competitors, but man that kiddo was so darn overjoyed when we got home! He's slept with his car every night since. He's so much like Neil in his ability to analyze the mechanics of an engineering problem.  As I was watching him pour melted lead into his car I thought back to 2-year-old Isaac doing puzzles every day for 3 hours straight and 3-year-old Isaac following advanced Lego instructions before he could read and 4-year-old Isaac building wildly complex K’nex roller coaster tracks that took up his entire bedroom. This kid is single-minded in his love for engineering, physics, and mathematics, and he understands them intuitively in ways I never have until he explains something to me and suddenly the concept clicks into place. One of the most delightful things about parenting is watching my children surpass my own abilities and excel in their passions.

And now some shorter thoughts. :-)

3) Neil has been traveling a looooot lately. We are adjusting and I'm pretty proud of all of us. The first few trips were pretty rough (going to Germany for 2 weeks back to back will do that, especially if the house floods during the resident engineer's absence) but I feel like we're settling into a groove. We've got this!

4) On that note, one of the things I like to do when Neil is gone is watch hair tutorial videos on YouTube. It's pretty fun and I've gotten some great ideas. My hair is so long now that I braid it most days and it's exciting to have it be a production rather than something I'm racing through. :-) I feel very Edwardian as I brush my hair out and rebraid it at night before bed. I've also been trying to really up my skincare game and so now I have this whole routine that I do every night and it is SOOOOO calming! I've always been pretty good about skincare and I always take off my makeup before I sleep and I literally cannot skip moisturizer or I feel like my face will fall off, but...there's a difference between washing your face because you have to and taking care of your skin because you love the ritual of it. I've been using this Neutrogena face wash for literally the last twenty years (if I'm super tired I use the Costco makeup wipes), so that hasn't changed, but recently I switched from this L''Oreal overnight brightening moisturizer (which I really liked but I didn't like mixing the things together because it always made me worry that I was mixing unevenly) to this Baebody one  and I am so in love with it! I also use this eye cream and then I spritz my face and chest with this rosewater & glycerin spray. And once a week or so I work coconut oil through my hair and then braid it, sleep on it, and wash it like normal the next day. So there you have my nightly beauty routine that brings me so much calming joy (I also wear a silk kimono my mom brought me from Hong Kong which really adds to the whole experience, haha!).

5) Earlier week I made a really good salad out of random stuff in the fridge: romaine, beets (sauteed them with rosemary in olive oil), feta, bacon, quinoa, clemintines, and Craisins. I dressed it with olive oil, black currant balsamic, Himalayan salt, lime, and honey. Sooooo good and I'm  eating the leftovers as I type this.

6) I have a half-marathon this weekend. I'm actually still signing up for the full marathon which will make this the first race I have not completed as scheduled...but man, plantar fasciitis is NO joke and I am super super grateful to be able to just run the half! I'm on week 5 of a strength-training program I'm doing with my sister and I really feel like it's made a huge difference in my running, both in the absence of fascial pain and also in my speed. Fingers crossed that it's a fun day Saturday--I'm not racing it but I'd still like to enjoy it and the forecast is for cold rain--yikes!

7) The kids start spring break tomorrow and I can't WAIT. I am SO SO SO excited. Of course this rain could seriously mess up all my awesome plans, but...I think we will still have fun. On the schedule--Conner Prairie, cheer for my race as it winds through our neighborhood (!!!), playdates with friends, the zoo, Decker grandparents for Easter weekend, lots of hiking, cousins Addie & Idris, and Aunt Rosalind & Uncle Chris!

8) I am kind of obsessed with Great British Baking Show. Most Sunday nights we watch an episode together as a family but last Sunday we were slow on dinner jobs, didn't watch our show, and I am DYING. I seriously love that show and it gives me inspiration all week!! Plus we get super into it and we all have our favorites and we've gotten to be pretty invested armchair critics (and it's awesome how much more appreciative my kids are whenever Neil or I bake something! Always fun to hear someone pronounce "this is a good bake").

9) I feel like Neil and I have grown a lot closer in the last six months, and I'm so grateful for this. We had a pretty rocky patch after Nathan was born, and we've been good since then, but the last six months I feel like we've really stepped up our game. We've spent more time together working on projects around the house and discussing long-term future plans (for so long we've just been focused on graduation and not able to look beyond that step) and it just reminds me how dang head over heels I am for this guy.

10) Last week I ordered 5 fruit trees, rhubarb plants, and a whole bunch of raspberry, blueberry, and blackberry bushes. I'm so excited to plant all these new friends and start a little orchard in our big beautiful backyard! Already daydreaming about bees...

11) And finally--I am so grateful for how well all the kids are doing in school. There's a huge hubbub right now because our district is phasing out high-ability programming (WHY ARE YOU INSANE?!!!) and while I am very frustrated by it and I've been contacting people and writing letters and attending meetings, I am very at peace at the same time, because I'm confident that my children will continue to thrive. We were prepared for a pretty big dip in grades as they adjusted here, but they came through with flying colors and have continued to absolutely ace every evaluation and in many ways are doing better academically than in our previous district. Abigail was invited to join the Junior National Honor Society and is continuing on the highest honor roll with her 4.0; all the other kids have straight A's, and Luke has been invited to participate in (whatever they have for) high-ability programming next year. And Nathan is constantly asking me how to spell things so he can write messages to all of us, and it is pretty much the cutest thing ever. Isaac just finished up programming club, Abigail is involved in space & rocketry club, and we're about to start spring sports. Life is good. 

Changes

I'm long overdue for some updates here--and goodness there have been some big changes! In the last month, Neil started a new job concurrently with the last months of his PhD, we sold our home, bought a new house, and Matthew turned one!!! So many wonderful and exciting things--we literally feel that the windows of heaven have been opened and blessings are pouring down on us.

The area where we are moving is consistently ranked as one of the best towns in America to raise a family. The schools are the best in the state (Abigail has gone from the choice of 3 electives in middle school to more than 30!!). The people are friendly and welcoming. The neighborhood pool is next door to our home, and we have more than a half-acre for the children to run and play while still being in the middle of town & only ten minutes from the temple. We have five bedrooms, a basement, and tons of space--plus the kitchen & laundry room of my dreams! Lots and lots of updating to do, but I can't wait to get started--I know exactly what a showstopper this home will be once we're through with it. :-)

I seriously love the exterior of this home so much!!!

The backyard is HUGE--it comes with a playset, tree swings, a basketball pad, a garden, tons of mature trees, a shed, and lots of room for chickens and fruit trees!!

Seriously love the front of the house too--you can't really see it in this photo but the door has glass skylights above the wooden part and it's just gorgeous. And I love the stone & wood siding combo!!

Oh this kitchen--when I walked into this kitchen I KNEW this was the home for us. Just absolutely knew--I could literally picture our family here. (It took Neil another 40 houses and 3 more showings on this house before he felt the same way, but I was sure right away! I'm still really glad we kept searching though because now we both know for sure.) ;-)

I have big plans for this space. Can't wait to make them happen!!

I love how the kitchen is literally the heart of the home--from one door you access the living room (and sunroom), from another the formal dining room, while the kitchen itself is open to the breakfast area and the family room.

And THESE WINDOWS. I love them with all my heart. (Not so much the built-ins, but good golly look at that light and that floor!!)

Our current home has a pass-through laundry room between the garage and the kitchen. It is always a nightmare when everyone is getting ready to leave--it's just tiny and inevitably people get stepped on and elbowed and fighting breaks out.

This laundry room could not be more dreamy to me. It does NOT connect to the garage (it does have an exterior door to the back yard). It has a sink! An extra 'fridge (which we will replace but whatever, there's room for the fridge and that's what counts). A desk area which I will tear out and build in cubbies/lockers! And the other door connects to the back hallway, which has a full bath, so basically when my muddy kids come in from the back yard, they can drop their clothes in the washer and go straight into the shower. Heaven!!!

The formal living room is super long--I'm not sure yet how I'm going to configure this but I'm excited to get started (and goodbye built-ins!).

And I'm daydreaming about this sunroom already--I know exactly how I'm going to renovate it and it is going to be an awesome haven of blissfulness. :-)

Probably enough pictures for now, but it's got 5 bedrooms, a basement (with an office/exercise room), a cedar closet, a tornado bunker (which really is awesome here!), etc. We move in a month from today!!

Best of the best!

Neil had his preliminary examinations this morning for his doctorate--and he passed! Hurray, hurray, hurray!! This is a pretty huge deal. His committee was very impressed by all of the research he has done--one of the reasons why his degree has taken so long is that there were so many avenues his advisor asked him to explore before finally settling on the dissertation research three years ago (that's eight years of other stuff, if you're counting). But those other years have yielded ten publications, which is pretty darn impressive, and two teaching awards, one of which is the very highest award that the university awards to doctoral teaching assistants. Now that prelims are behind him, we are really ramping up the job search, so please let me know if you have any leads for laser-additive manufacturing. ;-)

We are SO proud of him and so, so, so incredibly grateful for all the insanely long hours and hard work he has put in without complaint. I don't know how he keeps going day after day (everyone else who entered this program with him under this advisor was either asked to leave or decided to quit, so he will be the only one his advisor has ever successfully graduated in this program). It has been a long and lonely road for him, and he has borne an enormous burden without complaint--I know I already said that, but seriously, he doesn't complain--he just works tremendously long hours, sleeps very little, and gives 200% to his marriage, his family, and his research. He's a pretty quiet guy, but gosh, I just wish the world knew how amazing he is--so I'll do my shouting from the rooftops here on my blog!

Valentine's Day!

Aren't these two little lovecakes sweet? Can't get enough of them. Today Nathan was laughing like crazy today playing with Matthew--I asked what was so funny and he said, "Oh Mommy, he just has a funny little face and he makes even funnier things with his mouth!"

One of my good things for today is Nathan's newfound obsession with Tchaikovsky Discovers America--he listens to it ALL DAY LONG. This morning he turned it on (thanks, Alexa) as soon as he was done eating breakfast and then got out his play-dough and was like, go run, Mom, I'm all set. Best $12 I've spent in a long time! (He's had it for two weeks and I think he has the entire thing memorized already. Fortunately Alexa understands him better when he asks for this as opposed to Vivaldi or Mozart--he was always getting frustrated with her because she never played the right albums!)

Love seeing my beloved people with my little baby. Abigail is just absolutely the sweetest with him--she is always asking if she can go get him up from a nap or put him down for his naps, and she spends most of her free time playing with him while she reads next to him.

And there's nothing I love more than seeing how tender Neil is with our children.

 

Started this little guy on some oatmeal yesterday. He was less than impressed, but he did a little better with it today! (Was I emotional about feeding my last little baby his first solid food and giving up that "I'm the only one who is feeding you, my sweet sweet baby" thing? Absolutely.)


 

Some pictures of Neil napping on Sunday and Matthew having a ball going after him with his "scrabbly hands," as Neil likes to call them. (Mary Beth--he shaven't.)
 

Time for a new treadmill belt after 5 years. I'm actually really impressed that it is still going--I ran 9 miles Saturday night and noticed that it was tearing, so I stopped. Then I ran 12 miles last night, kind of expecting it to go at any minute (I took the treadmill housing off about halfway through because it was getting so creased that the tears were catching on the housing at every rotation.) Then it made it through another 6.5 miles today. It's kind of exciting running right now...hopefully the new belt will be here by the weekend!

A couple more good things from today (I fell off the wagon over the weekend because this dang cough pretty much knocked me out--except for running, which was a lot slower than usual, and only happened because I am in a much worse mental state if I don't run and so it's always a trade-off if I take an unplanned rest day to recuperate when I'm not feeling well--I've been going back and forth lately between running 5 and 6 days a week, and I am really struggling on the weeks that I only run 5 days. There's a lot I could say about exercise addiction but I won't get into it now.)

Anyway.

1) I don't know about you, but there is always a fair amount of push-back from the kids learning to read...they just don't want to read the same dang books over and over that come home from school. I seriously hate this so much (which is why I've done a lot of knitting when teaching kids to read--the repetitive and calming motion keeps me from going crazy!). Today Luke stayed for his Valentine's party, so he was at school full-day and I was trying to get him to read to me while I made dinner, and he was SUPER grouchy and uncooperative. I finally took a 30-second break to just walk away and walk around the living room for a minute, and when I came back Juliet had somehow magically coaxed him into reading the book to her--she winked at me and gave me a thumbs-up when I came back in. Bless her!

2) Isaac was peeking over Abigail's shoulder while she was typing a paper, and I heard his little voice pipe up: "Don't forget to say what page you found it on! You have to cite things or get expelled!" Hah! I have taught him well. ;-)

3) Neil made pink heart pancakes and sausage for breakfast this morning. He is awesome.

4) We had a really fun FHE last night--Luke wrote everyone's names on a big giant heart, and then we passed them around and wrote the things we loved about that person. And then the kids ate heart-shaped sugar cookies and Neil and I resisted and put ours in the freezer (but we did make an exception for our no-sugar thing today because it's Valentine's Day and gosh, those cookies were good).



5) Last night I served this cheese board as part of dinner, and the kids went crazy complimenting it--the cheeses I chose, the fruit, the freshly-baked bread...they were a pretty appreciative little bunch and it was a delightful meal. (Honeyed goat cheese, the most delightfully gooey Brie covered in Provencal herbs, a crumbly peppercorn-studded sheep's cheese, pumpkin Gouda--which Luke and Isaac have been asking the cheesemonger about for MONTHS!--and a surprisingly sweet yet stinky blue, which Abigail packed in her lunch for tomorrow, so I hope her friends enjoy the smell! Hah!)

6) Neil and I met for lunch today. Loved getting that little bit of Valentine's romance in with him in the middle of a busy day.

7) We had a long conversation at dinner tonight about what national park each of us would choose to visit if we were going on a dreamy road trip to everyone's picks. It was so spirited and fun and the kids got lost in good road trip & camping memories, and I thought how much I enjoy these people, and how much I'm dying to get back into the woods & mountains with them! After Neil left to take the older kids to piano I went to nurse Matthew and when I came back into the kitchen Luke & Nate were sitting there listening to John Denver, and Natie looked up at me and said, "He is reminding us about mountains," and Luke said, "Mom...I just want to go hiking. The kind that's not in the woods here, but the real kind with streams and mountains and rocks and deer." Can't wait until it's time for us to hit the mountains again, because they are sure calling us!!

Date night

Please tell me we're not the only people in the world whose date night involves standing in front of a Valentine display calling our kids to find out which ones they want to pass out and if they are SURE we can't make cute "Thumbody loves you" ones...ah, the grocery store. That repository of romance and inevitable stop on every date. :-)

1) Always fun to eat a dinner I didn't cook, especially if it's delicious Thai food! Neil was working from home today, but it still felt like I hadn't talked to him in ages. Anything is delightful when I'm with him. Even buying Star Wars Valentines. And Abigail is a stellar babysitter who is thrilled to be paid in sushi! :-)

2) One of my goals for January was to work on making my bedroom a peaceful haven again. I repainted and bought a new duvet cover, but unfortunately Matthew and his baby paraphernalia are still in there (I told my mom yesterday that I would put him in his real crib last night...all that happened was that I moved his bassinet up next to my side of the bed so I didn't even have to get out of bed to get him...so dang tired from his "I will wake up SIX times a night now!" thing). But I listed my storage hutch (which used to be in the kitchen and then got moved to my room and I so hated it being there!) on Craigslist and today someone bought it and took it away, so I waved goodbye to it with a mental thank-you for the 13 years I loved it--but a big sigh of relief that it's someone else's to love now. :-)

3) Last night I was doing my usual check of sleeping kids and found Nathan and Abigail tucked in together. They've started doing this on Friday nights (since that's the only night we have neither school nor church early the next day) and it's pretty cute. Abigail sure loves her littlest brothers--she always wants to hold Matthew or put him down for a nap or get him up, and yesterday as she was taking him into his room for a nap I saw her kiss his cheek over and over and whisper into his ear, "Oh Matty, I love you so so so much! You are the best baby in the world!"

4) I did yoga today after my run--I wanted to run a couple of extra miles just to bump up my weekly mileage (from 40 to 42) but I knew that the better long-term choice was to spend that time on really stretching and working on the painful spots. I don't always make this choice so I'm pretty proud of my maturity when I do. ;-)

5) I took the kids to the library this afternoon to give Neil some peace and quiet, and we picked up a couple of holds for Abigail that she has been anticipating for quite awhile. When we checked them out, I told her that she needed to finish a book for her English class before getting immersed in all the library books, since it would make it much harder to do well on the AR quiz for her assigned book if she took a big break in the middle. I knew she was not happy about this, but she took a deep breath, and said, "You're right--I will finish it first." And I was SO PROUD that she didn't make a fuss about it and just took it in stride! Parenting victory!!

Skiing in Aspen

Bucket list? Check!!

 We celebrated our twelfth wedding anniversary this past week, but our real celebration was a few weeks earlier in December when we had the most magical weekend ever skiing in Aspen, and in perfect and total honesty I must say that it was the best skiing I've ever done in my life. Sorry, Utah, but it was much better.

Folks, if you ever get the chance to go to Aspen, jump on it. It is one of the most beautiful, hospitable, and downright enjoyable places I have ever been. Totally lives up to the hype. Aspen itself began as a silver mining town (you can see the boarded-up mines on the mountains around town and ski right by some of them; there's one that's pretty easily recognizable at the top of Little Nell just after you come around Kleenex Corner) but really hit its stride after WWII, when the survivors of the 10th Mountain Division, who had trained in Colorado before going overseas to fight in the mountains of Italy, returned to Aspen and founded a ski school. Today if you go to ski Aspen you're actually going to four different resorts--what people think of as the original Aspen mountain, which rises up right over the town, is called Ajax by the locals. Three other resorts (Aspen Highlands, Buttermilk, and Snowmass) are within 10 minutes; all four are owned by Aspen Snowmass so a lift ticket is good at any one of the resorts. Buses run between all four so you could ski Ajax in the morning, hit Highlands around lunch, and finish out the day at Snowmass.

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We chose to ski Snowmass the first day just to get a feel for the snow conditions and terrain (it's known as kind of an intermediate mountain; it is HUGE and easily has more interesting and varied intermediate terrain than anywhere I have ever skied), Ajax the second day, and Highlands the third day. Highlands is reputed to be the "locals' mountain," and I can definitely see why--its trails are much more confusing and less well-marked than the others, and it has a huge variety of really extreme terrain. Ajax was my personal favorite; there isn't a single beginner run on the entire mountain which means it's just got an incredible variety of intermediate and expert terrain. I liked it a lot more than Highlands because I found it easier to navigate, I liked the terrain better (Highlands had a lot of rollers and I'm not a fan of those; I'm still at the stage where it freaks me out when I'm flying through the air wondering if I'll fall when my skis make contact with the snow again), I really loved the gondola (I took off my boots to rub my calves every time I rode it since my muscles were getting all knotted), and I just loved the feel of the mountain and its staff.

So anyway.

We flew into Denver late Wednesday night and drove to Aspen; we arrived about 1:30 AM local, which felt like 3:30 to us! It was a great drive though--we were singing our hearts out to John Denver and Les Mis, plus we were headed to Aspen, and we were still completely giddy about that fact (we had hired babysitters so no kiddos were with us). We'd decided to stay in this little hotel/hostel combo (it has both options available) called the St. Moritz and I LOVED it! I chatted with some of the most interesting people there during breakfast and après-ski in the lobby. It was just at the base of the mountain and only a few minutes' walk to the restaurant district or the gondola.


We got up early the next day and skied Snowmass all day (exciting start to the day when I fell right on my head during the first run; it hurt SO bad and I am soooo glad I was wearing a helmet; it was easily the worst crash I'd ever had. I find that I crash much more easily on groomed runs early in the day; I always seem to catch an edge on the corduroy if I'm not really paying attention. Anyway, I hit my head and literally flew about 30 feet before I stopped skidding and was sooo dizzy tromping back uphill to retrieve my skis, both of which had come off during the crash (it was a total doozy!). I felt pretty lousy most of the day and at one point sent Neil off without me while I sat in a Starbucks at the base for 20 minutes and just drank all the water I could hold--the crash + 12.000 feet of elevation gain was not feeling so good).



After we ate lunch I felt way better and enjoyed some really awesome skiing off the Elk Camp lifts; the photo above is the view from the top {image credit}. Snowmass is famous for its wide-open runs and I LOVED how uncrowded it was! You can literally cruise back and forth all over the mountain; it's incredibly exhilarating and much more confidence-boosting than some of the really narrow slots I've skied in Utah.



Once we returned to our hotel and showered, we walked a few blocks to to Cache Cache for dinner that night, which is kind of the place to eat in Aspen. It was definitely one of the best meals I've ever had (Aspen prices are completely astronomical, but almost every place in town has a bar menu, which means you can eat more affordably. Not cheaply by any means, but more affordably). We had the smoked salmon tartare which was soooo good--really velvety salmon, great caviar, luscious avocado, and house-made potato chips--and some perfectly cooked steaks with mouth-watering roasted vegetables. Definitely the best food and best service that we saw in Aspen. The town is famous for its amazing après-ski scene and it did not disappoint!

One note in contrast with our last ski trip in upper Michigan--Aspen pretty much expects skis everywhere. All of the buses have ski racks, the hotel had ski storage running along all of the interior hallways, people were just walking around town in ski boots, etc. Definitely a skiers' town (and lots of snowboarders too, although I did kind of chuckle because it was always skiers first thing early in the morning and then the snowboarders would trickle in later. When we were lining up to catch the first lift at Highlands on opening day, it was pretty much solid skiers with nary a snowboard in sight). 

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The next day we skied Ajax; this was my absolute favorite both for skiing and for the general atmosphere. All of the mountains have "mountain ambassadors," which are locals whose job is to just make sure everyone knows where they're going and where the best skiing is for their level, and the previous day at Snowmass we'd talked to some really great ambassadors who pointed out some awesome runs. At Ajax, however, I was talking to a guy at the base for quite awhile while I waited for Neil to come back (there is literally zero parking  at the base so he'd dropped me off with all the skis and boots, then gone back to park at our hotel). We ran into him a few times on the mountain and the third time or so he said, okay, come on, we're going to ski down together and I'm going to show you all my favorite spots and tell you my favorite stories. That was by far my favorite run of the day and I LOVED skiing with him! He was so fascinating and gave me some good tips to improve my form (he sent Neil off on some crazy extreme route that Neil loved while he took me down an intermediate run that met up with Neil's path) and told me a few times that I was a much more talented skier than I'd told him I was, so I definitely liked him. :-) On the way back up in the gondola he told us lots of interesting bits, both about Aspen's history and about his (he came out in 1971 and has been there ever since).

One interesting note about skiing Aspen vs. other resorts--it is MUCH MUCH MUCH steeper than anything I've ever skied in Utah. Neil (who grew up skiing in Utah and skied a ton thanks to his dad's job as the local recreation director) noted that the intermediate runs at Aspen Snowmass are equivalent to black diamond runs anywhere else. I definitely found this to be the case; in Utah I can ski black and the occasional double black, but I didn't even try a single one of the black runs in Aspen. A lot of them were marked with their degree of incline if that gives you an idea of how intense they are! The runs are also super crazy incredibly long--it felt like 2-3 times as long as a Utah run. I read somewhere that the average time it takes to get down is about 15 minutes, which is a really long time when your quads are pretty sure that they are not meant for that kind of abuse! (The longest run at all four mountains is five miles. FIVE MILES. The other three average out at 3.5 miles which is still a really, really, really long way...especially when you've already been skiing for six hours that day!) It was pretty typical to see people flying down a slope and then just stopping to stretch out their quads...especially at the end of the day. Ajax seemed much more conducive to top-to-bottom skiing, which I personally really like, than either Snowmass or Highlands. Highlands had some incredibly boring beginner terrain that you had to ski every single time you went to the bottom; Snowmass was slightly better but still kind of blah at the base. Ajax, however, was AWESOME since there is not one single beginner run on the entire mountain, so you can ski from the tippety-top all the way to the bottom of Little Nell and it's still this huge challenging adrenaline rush the entire way. Oh my gosh, typing this makes me want to go back SO bad...it was seriously the most amazing day.

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 Another thing I REALLY loved about all the mountains--tons of hot cider and Clif bars at the top of the lifts. Well played, Aspen Snowmass, well played! As is our habit, we brought our own lunches/granola bars/water, but I loved getting that cider when I was feeling a little chilly! I also loved talking to people on the lifts--it seemed like everyone was either a) super wealthy (one sweet Austrian woman asked me about my favorite places to ski in Europe) or b) a die-hard ski bum (I talked to a really interesting girl at our hotel who goes to a different resort every year and stays for the whole season; I also talked to soooo many older men who have been meeting their friends every year for Highlands' opening day for two or three decades). Everyone was so friendly and eager to share their favorite runs or restaurants or anything that would make our stay more delightful.

After the slopes closed we walked back to our hotel (stopping to buy our traditional anniversary Christmas ornament on the way) and then drove back to pick up our skis (another cool thing--it's the kind of town where you can just leave your stuff and feel confident that it will be there when you get back. I asked one of the mountain hosts about parking and she was like, there's no parking in town, just leave your skis and then pick them up, and when I asked about theft, she looked at me and said, "This is Aspen. You don't have to worry about that."

Anyway, since we had the car, it was time for the second bucket list item! I am hugely obsessed with John Denver, and so we went over to a local park that hosts the John Denver Sanctuary (an incredibly beautiful rock garden where a river has been diverted through the garden, so you're basically walking on boulders in little streamlets all over the place--it is just the most tranquil and peaceful place you can imagine, and there are John Denver quotes engraved on rocks along your way) and John's Song Garden, which has these huge giant boulders framing the pathway, most of which have lyrics engraved on them. My dear husband was kind enough to sing along with me. :-)



After our little John Denver tour (I did suggest half-jokingly BUT ONLY HALF that we track down Starwood) we headed to dinner at Pinons. It was good, but not as good as Cache Cache had been the previous night--my favorite part of dinner was actually the breadbasket because there was this crazy delicious pumpernickel studded with dried fruit and that I MUST replicate (my scallop-stuffed ravioli in lobster marsala sauce was pretty good too, but the pork tenderloin with apricot compote was decent rather than being a standout). We walked back to our hotel and swam in the 104-degree pool which felt AMAZING on all our sore muscles.

The next morning we went to Highlands for opening day. I woke up feeling pretty crummy and not sure if I'd be able to ski, so I don't know if my general dislike of Highlands was because I didn't feel great or because it just wasn't as good as the other mountains. We were some of the very first people on the mountain and it was really fun to ski fresh tracks that were the first of the season! Like I said before, I wasn't as crazy about the terrain at Highlands, particularly since it wasn't very well-marked. It felt much trickier to me than the terrain at Ajax; the slopes were icier and rockier (lots of bare patches and I have nicks in my skis now), and there were  a lot more steep drop-offs while you were skiing this narrow little path. Lots of cat-tracks to get to different runs and I really do not love skiing on those because I'm terrified of the cliffs on each side! I also felt like it was primarily a double-black mountain and man oh man, it was just crazy steep and intimidating.

Case in point--Neil skied this, but I did not.



So the big attraction at Highlands is the bowl, which is like beyond double-black terrain and CRAZY steep--they post all of the angles and I think the steepest is 48 but they average out around 42. Neil went back and forth for most of the morning on whether he wanted to do it and finally decided to give it a go. We asked the locals & lifties and they said to plan on about 30-40 minutes to hike up to the bowl and and 30 minutes to ski back out. Later we found out that the estimation is based on the snow cat running and giving you a ride up the first third (it wasn't running) and being totally acclimated to the elevation  (Neil wasn't). We agreed that I would just stay on a particular lift that had about seven different runs and that he'd meet me there in an hourish.

Three hours later it was 15 minutes before the lifts closed and I had skied that same @$%@$ lift for the last three hours--I'd done every possible descent at least three times and I was starting to get SO worried about Neil and about what I would do when the lifts closed! I also knew it would take me at least 20 minutes to get back to the base, so I finally told the lifties that I was going to do one last run and if they saw a tall guy with a red jacket and black helmet (yeah, like 50% of everyone skiing there) to tell him I'd gone down to the base. I got on the lift and started to cry (I was the only one on the chair) and just then I saw Neil ski under me and man oh man, what a huge relief!! (then I REALLY started to sob!!). So scary for me since I knew he would never ever ever be late if he could control it and I was imagining all kinds of terrifying scenarios. As it turned out, it took him over an hour and a half to hike up because of the altitude; he said that within ten minutes he knew it was going to take him forever and he really wanted to turn around but there was literally no way to do so safely. We were both so exhausted on that last run--I think I fell once and we were stopping like every fifty feet! I remember Neil saying at one point that he knew we had to get back to the base but it didn't seem remotely possible. Man oh man, three days of skiing at 12,000 feet really wears you out!

We did finally make it back to the base, had a lackluster dinner at Jimmy's (right above Cache Cache), and then wandered around town for about an hour and a half. The snow was really starting to come down and the town was so beautiful!! Lots of beautiful and interesting shops and amazing art galleries; we spent probably half an hour examining some really beautiful pieces by Dale Chihuly. Then we saw the Hunger Games movie and then collapsed into bed.

We woke up the next morning to about 8 inches of snow--I was feeling panicky about making it to the airport, since it was snowing steadily (Aspen got 17 inches before the storm stopped!!) and so we left waaaay before we needed to. I was really feeling crummy and fell asleep about 15 minutes into our drive and proceeded to sleep the majority of the way to Denver, at which point I was freezing cold and shaking so much I couldn't sleep anymore. We hung out in the airport for like 2 hours, sat on the tarmac for an hour, flew for a couple of hours, and then fiiiiinally drove the last hour home, where I collapsed into bed and then went to the doctor the next morning to find out that I had influenza A, which was kind of a downer way to end the trip but I am SOOOOO glad it waited so long to hit!

Long story short, it was an absolutely amazing trip--the kind where you constantly feel like you need to pinch yourself because surely this is a dream!! Totally worth every minute of the extra editing hours I put in to pay for it--my only regret is that we couldn't stay for weeks. Skiing is just one of my favorite things in the entire world, and it's especially wonderful because I never learned to ski until after marrying Neil, and he has 100% taught me everything I know. Every so often during this trip I would ask him for another mini-lesson and it was so great to feel myself improving. A nice little testament to his skill was a chat I had with our mountain ambassador friend; as we were skiing down Ajax together he said, "Did you say this was your eighth day skiing, or your eighth ski trip?" and I said, nope, just my eighth day, and he said, "Wow. That's really impressive--you're a very talented skier and your husband is obviously an amazing teacher!" And I said, yep, he absolutely was, and I'm so lucky to have him in my life. And we're both crossing our fingers that we live somewhere near ski slopes once we finally finish grad school, because man oh man, there is nothing that makes me feel so free and alive and near to God as being up in the mountains sailing over the snow.

Previous anniversary ski trips:

Nub's Nob in 2012 (pregnant with Nathan!)
Solitude in 2011 

Girls' Weekend

l-r: Mom, Rosalind (holding Adelaide), Elise, Mary Beth, me, Ruth

Way back in July, my amazing family surprised me with a plane ticket out to Park City and a plan for a girls weekend! I am the oldest of five sisters (no boys) and over the past few years I've been a bit sad about the fact that all of my sisters live within 40 minutes of each other whereas I am a looong 22 hours in the car away (I am lucky enough to live just a few hours from my parents, but my mom has been spending the last few months living with one of my sisters helping out with her newborn while her husband is deployed AND she is going to school full-time). So you can imagine my excitement when they told me that we were spending a weekend at a gorgeous condo (which Ruth had tracked down--such an awesome choice!!) and that Neil had cleared his schedule to hang out at home with our children!!

 

So last Wednesday evening I found myself on a plane heading west! I did cry a few (okay a lot) of tears leaving my little family, but I was SOOOO excited to see my mom & sisters!

My sisters Mary Beth & Elise (#2 and #4) picked me up from the airport and I spent the night at Mary Beth's. Mary Beth and I shared a room most of the years we were growing up and it was fun to lie there in the dark talking again...although fortunately I've outgrown the tendency to hide under her bed and grab her ankles when she gets up for a drink of water! (I did remind her of that and she told me good luck squeezing under her bed and that if I was indeed successful that I'd find a lot of rabbit fur there from her cute bunny Hazel.)

The next day Elise and I got up SUPER early and went to the Draper temple together while Mary Beth packed up. It was the first time we'd gone to the temple together (with the exception of Elise's wedding last summer, but we weren't really hanging out chatting then! This time we were able to go to the celestial room before we left and talk quietly for half an hour or so--it was wonderful!)

Elise and I had a very gourmet (but delicious!) breakfast of 7-11 hot chocolate and donuts on our way home (my sisters live in the same apartment complex) and then the three of us headed up the canyon to Park City.

My mom & other two sisters were joining us later that evening, so we had a few things on our itinerary until we could check into the condo. First things first--horseback riding! Total bucket list thing for me--I've ridden my fair share (we had a pony when I was a kid and I had a couple of good friends with horses growing up) but I have never done a trail ride through the mountains in the fall. Lots of TripAdvisor research led me to one particular stable that had great reviews, especially for one particular trail guide, who turned out to be absolutely fantastic! 

 Mary Beth & I busied ourselves with the very important business of taking selfies whilst hanging on to the corral bars and pretending like we were in some sort of updated-to-2014 Louis L'Amour novel...

This might be my favorite photo from the entire weekend. Elise's horse was HUGE--we found out later that he was half draft horse--and she totally had to scramble up into the saddle, and it was quite the process! I took this photo just as she FINALLY made it into the saddle after a few false starts (his back was way taller than she is and the stirrups were about five holes too long) and I die laughing every time I look at her face.

My horse, however, was the puny one of the group. Ironic since I am the tallest of the three of us.

My sisters were laughing at me as I hopped wildly up and down trying to keep myself warm--fortunately Mary Beth was kind enough to loan me a hoodie to layer over my jacket! Couldn't fit much in my carry-on...

 I took 93 photos on our ride, but I will spare you most of them...just a few gems.

After a blissful couple of hours riding around the mountains we (bowleggedly) made our way back down and had a little picnic on a nice grassy spot. More selfies!

Then we checked into our gorgeous condo at the base of one of the ski resorts (we were literally at the base & the very closest condos to the lifts--I would LOVE to stay there in winter!) and took a few extremely glamorous shots to send to the other three ladies who were on their way up. 

 And here's the view from the hot tub...        



After we unpacked all of the groceries we decided to go exploring. We discovered that the nearby
(really ritzy) St. Regis resort had a funicular that went up the mountain and landed you near some of the hiking trails. The photo below is the view from inside the funicular.

 And a few photos from our hike.

We had dinner at a nearby cafe (absolutely outstanding; I had some divine lime salmon tacos) and hung out in the hot tub waiting for Ruth, Rosalind, and my mom to arrive.

The next morning we decided to introduce them to the wondrous funicular...

 Elise, me, & Rosalind (my youngest sister)

 I love this photo! Doesn't Rosalind look like an ad for an beautiful & adventurous mother? Her sweet three-month-old daughter Adelaide is in the front carrier.

Sadly Ruth (sister #3) and Mary Beth didn't accompany us on this particular jaunt--neither of them were feeling particularly well and so they kept each other company at the condo.

I love this photo--four versions of the same smile.

Cute baby Adelaide (and my head). I think she started screaming about 2 seconds after this photo was taken--she really liked me at first until she figured out that every time I picked her up I swaddled her, stuffed a pacifier in her mouth, and rocked her to sleep when all she REALLY wanted to do was be awake during naptime. Sorry, kiddo, your five cousins have already broken me in.

When we got back to the condo we went to downtown Park City and wandered Main Street for awhile--very fun way to spend a few hours! We had an interesting lunch that was pretty good (I had a roasted beet salad and lobster bisque) but was marred by the unfortunate appearance of a few insects that resulted in our appetizer being on the house, although none of us were really interested in it after its previous incarnation had an unwelcome fly cooked into it, but I did get this lovely photo of my mom holding Adelaide.



And we hit our quota of uncontrollable giggling in the trading post...
 


When we went back to the condo everyone else was kind of in a resting mood but I wasn't, so I went for a solo run up the nearby ski hill (or mountain, as Elise corrected me the next day after I convinced her to accompany me for a second trip!). It was just amazingly beautiful and I spent a lot of time thinking about how earlier this summer my foot was so badly injured that I was hobbling around on crutches, and now I was able to clamber up a series of black-diamond runs that were the site for Olympic events. I'm so grateful for the blessing of a healthy and capable body--I've had enough times in my life where I've been sidelined (hello, three pregnancies with bedrest!) that I'm just so grateful every time I can do something like this.




That night we went out for an AMAZING dinner (thanks, Mom & Dad!) where I ate about five times as much as was good for me. I was full after the awesome salad bar but proceeded to eat an 8-oz prime rib, steak fries, and a piece of flourless chocolate cake (then I went home and just laid on the floor).

So the next day I figured I better do what I could to work off that meal because I still felt like I NEVER wanted to eat again, so I talked Elise into doing the mountain climb with me and I am SO glad she said yes! We just had an awesome couple of hours talking about anything and everything, and it was a really transcendent experience.

Plus she had her phone with her so we got some pictures. :-)

This is the summit looking down on the ski lift that runs up the back side of the mountain. We looked it up later on the map and it was 2 miles one way with an elevation gain of about 1,600 feet (we started about 7,000 feet up so the oxygen was considerably less than what I'm used to in my sea-level home town!).

Couldn't resist...

Some day I'm going to come back and ski this bowl. Just breathtaking.






























I saw a mule deer when I ran through these woods alone the previous day, but Elise and I were a little too loud to see much wildlife. :-)




Early in the morning, sweaty, and no makeup--but we felt so alive and beautiful and strong and amazing!! This was about halfway up...can you see the parking lot down where we started?

When we got back, everyone was just about ready to start the awesome craft that Rosalind had put together--all kinds of cool Nordic/Christmas-themed embroidery patterns for napkins. It was so much fun and kept us occupied during all our downtime for the next couple of days (yep, I still hadn't bothered to take a shower).




Then we went into town for everyone to get manicures & pedicures. When we originally made the appointment I opted out, and I was still pretty insistently opting out until everyone else was almost done and my mom finally told one of the technicians that I would be getting a pedicure and told me to just accept it as a gift and let my feet be pampered a bit.

So I did (thanks again, Mom & Dad!). I am not really a pedicure kind of person so this was my first one! (I was so blissed out in this photo--foot rub AND a massage chair AND one of my favorite books? Simultaneously?!)

Then we all sat around and waited for our nails to dry and my mom tried really hard to get a nice photo of all of us and I was sort of not very helpful to that endeavor.

And dinner at a cafe overlooking the lake on our way home...Ruth and Mary Beth smiling beautifully!

 

All five sisters together, just before we left the cafe and went for a beautiful drive in the mountains (thanks, Ruthie, for suggesting that!).

That night we went back to the condo and watched a couple of movies back-to-back (which if you know my family and especially my mom is a big rarity--we grew up without a TV and we always tease my mom about telling us to go to bed as soon as someone suggests a movie!, but it was so fun doing that together!) while we stitched away industriously at our napkins. The next day we went to church in Park City (quite entertaining because we ended up sitting on the third row of folding chairs in the foyer!) and then went back for a lovely lunch at Elise & Paxton's apartment; Ruth's husband Jordan and darling daughter Evelyn also came up and it was SO fun to see them--sadly my iPad is not feeling like sharing those photos, which is a real bummer.

And then Mary Beth took me the airport and I said goodbye to my beloved mountains and thought how lovely it is to have a birth family that I adore, hate to leave, and can't wait to see, and a Neil & co. family that I adore, hate to leave, and can't wait to see. Lucky lucky me.