Ski Trip #2: Steamboat Springs/Vail, Colorado

As you have read by now we are very thankful to be home! Ski Trip number 2 started off great! We landed in Denver airport on Monday the 5th to wonderfully warm temps. It was hoovering somewhere in the 50's. Talk about a heat wave in comparison to what we had been experiencing here in Chicago, -25! I called my mom to tell her I was ready to get out my bathing suit and spreadout in some snow! She thought that I was kidding regarding how warm it was but I had to assure her that I was not! So from the airport we went to get our rental car and begin our 4 hour journey to Steamboat Springs. It took about 45 min to an hour just to reach to the base of the mountains! I loved driving through the mountains - it is so beautiful, especially when you realize how small and insignificant you are in the world. On our way, I quickly realized that Colorado is not just all mountains in the mountains! Their are countrysides and many, many ranches! I have never seen so many ranches! Who knew?? I just had always thought that once you reached the mountains all it was, was well, mountains! It was beautiful and very enjoying!

When we finally reached Steamboat Springs, I was a little shocked at how different it looked than Snowbird, UT. Completely different! The mountains looked more like huge hills! The community was very different. And the skiing was different too. We stayed in Steamboat for 6 days, in a condo and Kyle's assistant from Sand Ridge and his wife joined us for 4 of those days! We very much enjoyed their company and it was a nice lift of spirits after someone had stole Kyle's skis after just a day and half!

We also met up with Kyle's Titlest rep that had been in town for already a week plus. He had us over for some drinks, and to look at his timeshare at the Christy Club, which was very nice. It would be a great set up for any family as Steamboat is very family friendly year round. Kids ski free up to 12 years of age! That is huge savings! Plus they have all kinds of things to do in the summer, that makes it more appealing.

We left Steamboat Sunday, the 11th and traveled about 2 hours to Vail. We also took a different route to Vail so we got to see more of the countryside - how beautiful it was! I just wonder if the people who live among the mountains ever take them for granted??? Their massiveness and beauty are just breathtaking. Vail was gorgeous! Needless to say I fell in love with Vail in like 3 hours! The mountains are steeper and closer together making it feel as though you are nestled between God's creation. Vail is just massive in terrain. My favorite places were the back bowls, which just took my breath away and the openness and vastness of this giant! So much so that people looked like ants on the hill. One on the 5 bowls had to be a 1/2 mile to a mile long - and you could see all the way to the end of it! Just to lay out some stats on the 3 places we have been - it is amazing:

Because I can't get this to post the way I would like the stats go in this order:

Snowbird, UT. Alta, UT. Steamboat Srings, CO. Vail, CO. Next Trip: Whistler, Canada
Average Snow fall: 500" 500" 334" 348" 396"
Vertical Drop: 3,240' 2,020' 3,668' 3,450' 5,280'
Base Elevation: 7,760' 8,530' 6,900' 8,120' 2,140'
Top Elevation: 11,000' 10,550' 10,568' 11,570' 7,494'
Skiable Acres: 2,500 2,200 2,965 5,289 8,171
Number of Runs: 89 116 164 193 200+
Number of Lifts: 11 11 ~21 ~24 38
Longest Run: ~2 miles ? 3 miles 4 miles ?

I am so thankful that we have been able to go and enjoy these trips. I am sure next year will not be the same! I guess this was Kyle's year to really get into skiing. I am thankful to be his wife!!! God has revealed so much to me during these trips and it has been a great spiritual journey as well. Thank you Lord!

Finally Home...Stolen Skis...Missing Skis...

Oh, I am so happy to be home! More on the actually trip later, but here is what is going on now...we have had a whirl wind of a ride home. We skied all day yesterday until 4 pm and got in the car and on the road by 4:25 pm. Of course the conditions were a lot worse than we expected as it started snowing about noon yesterday. But I figured it was because we were in the mountains. So last night we drove 2 1/2 hours in a blizzard to get to the airport. We had plenty of time but had issues with finding the check in place, then we had to move clothes around 3 times until we got the weight right in all our bags. After that we searched for security for 20 mins -ugh! Our flight was a little late because the plane arrived late from California, then we had to de-ice. Finally we got in the air! Fortunately, it was a smooth ride and nice landing, so praise the Lord for that! Especially considering the conditions. So once we got off the plane, we went to baggage claim and waited another 45 mins for the bags to get there. Not fun when you are dead tired and just want to go home, but also not the end of the world. Because Kyle's were stolen the 2nd day of our trip (yeah, can you believe someone would have the nerve and we were mid-mountain too! Unbelievable), we only had my skis, boots, and his boots to pick up after we got our luggage and guess what??? No skis! I found out that they were left in Denver and that they are supposed to deliver them today. So, okay, not a huge deal....we didn't get home until 2 am and finally to bed at 3. I called this morning to find out what the status on my skis were and they don't know where they are! Can you believe that???? It is not like it is the end of the world, but such headaches! And to make matters worse - guess what else happened? We got a call from the General Manager and the golf shop was flooded last night too! So, we have a bit of a mess today and besides we are supposed to pick up Morgan and the dogs. But God is good and he will work everything out, so I am not really worried, but we could use some prayers! How boring would life be if we didn't have these little hiccups! Praise God for excitement! Nonetheless, we are just happy to be home and to get back to a normal life again - at least for awhile!

Who Knew...

that potty training would be so easy? It has been 3 weeks since I pulled the diapers and Morgan has taken to potty training like an all-star! Over the course of 3 days when we started we had 1 full blown accident when she was with dad at McDonald's and created a puddle big enough for the mop to be brought out and just a few mini accidents where she started and stopped before she made more than a teaspoon full of pee in her underwear, but then proceeded to the bathroom to finish. Even #2 has gone smoothly - only two accident with that as well one of which was at daycare! It is so hard to know when the time is right to start potty training your child as a first time mom. I'm just thankful that everything went so smoothly and hardly any hiccups!

Akiane, Child Prodigy

Has anyone heard of this girl? Strange thing happened to me yesterday at Barnes and Noble... I approached a woman working in the kids section to find out if there was a "religious" section for the kids - I was looking for a book for Morgan, and there just are not very many christian book stores here, except for our church, which I never have time to enjoy. Anyway, she began asking me if I knew about this amazing little girl who began drawing at age four when she either had a vision or God showed something to her. She was apparently born to atheistic parents, which she lead to Christ at age 4! I am interested in reading her book, but just typed in her name in google to see what it was all about. She has poetry, paintings and drawings, and her book for sale. Her paintings are amazing. But as fasinating as it was too hear about her in the moment, later I realized that I may have missed my opportunity to share with her the good news and how Christ has worked in my life. She said she had a boyfriend who is very into God and that he is turning her onto Christ and she is very interested in learning more. I did make some comments about the holy spirit as I chatted with her. I also informed her that God can reach us anywhere - even a 4 year old born to non-believing parents. That God reveals himself to everyone at some point in our lives.... Well, anyway, I just found it all very interesting and wondered too if in some way God is divinely directing my steps in all this...

Here is her website if you are interested in checking her out: http://www.akiane.com

We Did It, We Did It, We Did It - Hooray!!!

Well, amazingly taking the diapers away has been a success....at least with #1! The rest of the afternoon she went potty twice on the big girl chair! I was so proud of her that even when I bribed her with candy, she went right in, sat down and tinkled! I can't believe it, she actually CAN do it! Left to her own choices, she would be content to continue going in her diaper. So, I didn't know what to do today as we had daycare. I certainly did not want to send her in big girl underpants and she have accidents all day, but on the other hand I didn't want to put her back in a diaper after I told her we were not wearing diapers anymore. So I let Morgan choose and she insisted on wearing big girl underpants. We went into daycare, and I politely explained that I told Morgan yesterday that mommy was done with diapers and that since she has used the big girl potty with no accidents. So I left her with a change of clothes and said good luck! Kyle and I had been anticipating picking her up all day to see what would transpire. We really didn't know what to expect. I knew she could do it and with the other kids there going, I figured it would be just more encouragement. On the other hand, in a different enviroment, playing with the other kids, getting distracted, I wondered if she would forget and relapse. So initially we were downhearted when we went in to see her in the change of pants that I had sent with her. But once we talked with her teacher she said Morgan went on the potty all day, except when she laid down for a nap, which I forgot to tell her to put a diaper back on her. Sometime between sleeping and standing up after the nap she had an accident. So her teacher changed her, and Morgan wanted her big girl underpants back on! That is a good sign! I think that is it, she is pretty much trained for #1, except for nights. She has even gone once since we have been home and when I took her diaper off her when we got home it was dry! She has not gone #2 yet, so I am anxious to find out how that will work....stay tuned for more updates.....

Is Creamer Bad?

This morning after Morgan and I got up, we went downstairs and while I was making coffee I took some of those little portable creamers out (because we need to go grocery shopping) and poured it into my coffee cup as I awaited my coffee to finish. Of course Morgan wants to do everything mommy does and says "what's that mommy?" I told her it was cream for mommy's coffee, of which she responded "Morgan needs some." So I indulged her by asking "would you like to try a little bit of mommy's cream." Naturally she said "yes." So I gave her a little taste, to which she replied "mmm, mommy, that's good." So I asked her if she would like some in her milk this morning and she said "yes." She thought this was really something neat, because she said she was drinking coffee like mommy! I can't imagine that creamer would be bad for her, if anything it's got more calcium. Of course, maybe not the portable ones!

Does this ever happen to you?

Morgan is such a joy and blessing in our lives. I couldn't possibly imagine my life without her. I can't imagine waking up every morning not going into her room to see how her night went. The first picture is the way I saw her Tuesday morning. The second picture is her in our bed Wednesday night....again. Periodically I wake up to Morgan in strange place or sleeping in weird positions, this by far is the craziest I have ever seen! On the other side of the sleep pattern, is at night when we try to get her to go to bed, and for the most part it is pretty easy, but from time to time we head up to bed only to be startled by Morgan in our bed! So, I am wondering if others of you have as interesting sleeping patterns from your children as Morgan does? Oh, by the way, the flashlight, yeah that's her reward for going to bed since she is terrified of the dark and will sleep with every light on in her room - yes, even the flashlight shinning in her eyes, she has still managed to fall asleep!!!

Diaper Crutch?

Is there such a thing as a diaper being a crutch and aiding in holding a child back from potty training? I am thinking that that is where we might be right now. I gotta say I had it today! Morgan and I came home after MOPS this morning and as I was checking some email, she came up to me to let me know she had poopy pants. So like any good mom, I took her up to clean up the mess, only to open one of the all-time most disgusting diapers since she has entered our lives! I had it! So right then and there she and I had a talk about using the big girl potty from now on. I told her I was done putting diapers on her and done cleaning up the mess.

So my question is when is enough, enough? She fully well understands the whole potty concept and has on occasion used it. She knows when she goes in her diaper and every stuffed thing under our roof has used the potty. She gets it! So when does a diaper become a crutch? Is this the point you pull the plug and say no more? I did end up putting big girl underpants on her this afternoon and kept remindering her to let me know if she needed to use the potty - and guess what? She did do it! So going forward do I no longer allow a diaper at home and while she is awake? I need advice, if ya gotta it post it!

Ski Trip #1, Snowbird/Alta Utah

Well, we have been home now for about a week since our 8 day trip out to Snowbird, UT. Besides all the wonderful skiing there is, and we had, the most amazing thing to me so far in my short, somewhat senic, sheltered life are the mountains. What a creation they are! My mouth just drops in awesome wonder to the creation God has made. To me, if anyone has not pondered the meaning of life and if there is a God, I don't know how you could look at something so magnificent, so powerful and not begin. When I look at the mountains it is as if I can hear the seraphim shouting from the heavens "holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty, the whole earth is full of his glory." The moutains scream creation all over and they are flooded in the glory of God. Just look at this picture! However it does no justice at all to being there surronded by them.

Thankfully, I would say that we had a successful trip. No one came back with any broken bones and I am so thankful for that and the fact that God has provided Kyle and I with something we can enjoy together. So, picture this a hotel room with 2 beds, a small love seat, and a bathroom. Yeah, all four of us slept there for 8 nights! Leslie (my sister) and I bunked together, and Brandon (Kyle's brother) and Kyle bunked together. For the most part we all got along really pretty well. There were a few spats, but nothing that couldn't be worked out with some sleep. While, Kyle can be a snorer (sp?), I had no idea the amount of noise a nose can produce - and it wasn't Kyle. One night I found myself not being able to fall asleep because of the penetrating sound of Brandon's nose! So, I headed off to the bathroom floor with a blanket, comforter, 3 towels and 4 pillows. The first time I awoke was to my sister needing to use the bathroom. While my head was at the opposite end of the toliet, it seems I awoke nearly on top of it and was confused to exactly where the door was! Eventually after some good feelin' around and assurance to my sister that I was coming, I did find the door. The next time I awoke was Christmas morning!

The other most amusing thing that happened was Brandon's gracefully shot down the hill off a jump, landing perfectly, continuing on down the hill to finally arrive in some fresh powder! Picture this: Brandon and Kyle were at the top of the hill and while les and I were skiing with them on a green run, we waited halfway down the run for them to catch up. So in our leisure time we decided to take a picture with her camera phone. We were standing at the edge of a little ledge smiling at her phone as Brandon, wosh down the hill ski tips pointed straight forward with no sign of making turns or slowing down. As he picked up speed nearing us, he went of the ledge we were at and shot up into the air to some 5o feet later land the jump and continue like a maniac down the hill picking up more speed all while les and I are screaming "sit down, sit down, sit down." So you gotta understand something, this was only Brandons 3 time skiing ever, so what we were witnessing was terrifing in the moment. Evidently, Brandon found a soft landing spot and vered (again sp?) off into some powder. After thinking it all through, he realized how scary it was, but we all got a good laugh in the end reliving the moment!

Both Kyle and Brandon became pretty decent skiers by the end of the trip. Kyle wound up chasing Les and I down some black diamond runs, some that we wanted to wring leslie's neck for, but others not too bad. Brandon upgraded to some blue runs. We also enjoyed celebrating Kyle's birthday the day before Christmas. All in all we had a wonderful time, and even the drill sargent (which is what they were calling me) was tired by the 8th day of straight skiing! Thank you Leslie and Brandon for accompaning us and making our time more enjoyable!!!

Bauer Christmas

Here are pictures of the Bauer side Christmas before we left for UT. Morgan passed out all the presents to everyone there. As she passed them out she would say Happy Birthday! Poor kid is so confused with having mom's birthday in November and Celebrating Kyle's birthday before we left and then Christmas! Well, I take that back, she is correct it was afterall Jesus's birth! How confusing! We finally got her to say Merry Christmas as she delivered presents. She even said Feliz Navidad a couple times! It was so cute. Her most beloved gift this year was her Dora backpack, which she never takes off and has even slept in once! As you can see she also received an Illini outfit as well....looks great with the backpack on!!!

A special visitor stopped by bearing a gift - Santa Claus! Needless to say she was shocked and almost scared out of her wits!!! We enjoyed our time there together. When it was time for us to leave, she didn't seem to even care that we were leaving her behind with the dogs that night!

Christmas with the Stafford's

We also celebrated Christmas with the Stafford side on Saturday the 16th. We kicked it off with a wonderful dinner that included, turkey, ham, creamed corn, green bean casserole, sweet potatoes, au gratin potates, pumkin pie, apple pie, and cookies!!! Needless to say we had plenty of leftovers to get us through the rest of the week until we leave for UT.

I think Morgan caught on this year as to opening presents! However, once she openned one she would want to play with it - I can't blame her!!! She had so many in comparison to us, that we had to continually keep her on task of openning presents. Mama and Papa Stafford got her many outfits for this summer, which are adorable, Dora's talking house, a Dora tree house tent, and a butterfly plack thing to hold her outfits on (so she can choose what to where). Aunt Les, got her a water table, which we filled with rice and is now all over the basement floor, a dora ABC game and a necklace and bracelet. We are headed down to Mama and Papa Bauer's tonight for our Christmas celebration there

Happy 32nd Birthday Kyle!!!

Since we will be gone during Christmas, we celebrated Kyle's birthday this past Saturday before we celebrated Christmas with the Stafford side. As many of you know, Kyle, is so difficult to shop for and when his birthday is the day before Christmas many family members are caught scratching their heads in deliberation as to what to get him. For the record, I came up with the absolute best gift idea for him over the summer, a GPS system. He had even alluded to the fact that it would be a neat thing to have. Besides it seems that he can be directionally challenged at times, and refuses to listen to me! I am not quite sure how, but he figured out what I was planning on getting him. After extensive research and even considering getting a hand held one to take on our ski trips where he can buy the maps specifically for mountains and skiing, he decided against it! Arghhh!!! Foiled Again! Here are some pics of his birthday celebration. I decided to get him North Face boots for the snow and some long sleeved fleece shirts.

Small Group Christmas

Saturday the 9th of December our small group met to celebrate Christmas by enjoying a nice lunch, exchanging gifts, and some fellowship time together. Most of the time, during our bible studies, it seems there is so much to get done and discuss that we don't always get to go into really deep conversations about the things going on in our lives. So this time together was all that much more special in sharing the birth of Christ and fellowship. I think we all had an incredibly good time together and I am especially greatful for my fellow "groupers." God has found me a wonderful group of women, whom I have been able to identify with and enjoy their love of Christ with. I love getting together with them and digging into the word. From top to bottom and left to right pic 1: Marla (our leader), Suzanne, Kathy, Bonnie, Olga, Me; pic 2 Marla, Suzanne, Kathy, Char, Olga, Me.

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!!!

Here is our Christmas photo:

Unexpected Blessings

I love when God does this! This past Monday, Kyle and I flew out to Orlando, FL. Now, we often live on two different schedules and sometimes they don't get communicated as well as they should, which is actually what makes this blessing so special. I didn't realize we had a trip to Orlando scheduled until about a week and a half before we left. I didn't really know what it would be like or what kind of hotel we would be staying at - in short I had no expectations. I did however, have an itinerary that outlined what he would be doing and when I would be invited to join in. Basically this trip was hosted by the PGA Ambassador program in which they had invited Kyle to become a part of earlier this fall. He ran it by me at that time and I was like that sounds interesting, do it. The whole idea of this trip is that they fly him down, pay for his meals and accomodations, he plays the golf course and attends an hour and a half business meeting in the morning. Once golf is over he is free until dinner, when the spouses/significant others join in. For the spouses/significant others, we get dinner and had a gift certificate for one spa treatment of our choice. So, I figured we would go down, he would be gone until about 2pm and I would sit by the pool, read, relax, and workout by myself and join him later. The whole purpose of the trip is to experience the resort in hopes that it will become a golf destination that the pros will recommend to their members.

So this is what actually happened: At about 11:30 am, we checked into this hotel that was absolutely gorgeous, with awesome veiws of the landscaped poolS and golf course, in which I was blown away. Our room wasn't ready yet so they took our phone number and we went down by the pool to have some lunch while we waited. After lunch we checked in and actually took a cat nap and then got up and we went down to the fitness room to work out. At 6:30 pm we attended the welcoming dinner and that's where we meet some phenomenal people! The dinner was fabulous, although it started as fine dining portions, Kyle and I were thinking "we'll be ordering some room service later", but ended up with a nice sized veal chop, potatoes, and greens. The next morning I had remembered one of the girls room numbers and so called her to see if she wanted to get some breakfast before we worked out later that morning, and after finding one of the other girls room numbers we all met up for breakfast. All I can say is that it was a wonderful experience, more than I could have imagined and beyond anything I expected! God knew exactly what I had been longing for - and that was some meaningful conversation and girl time! We bonded and enjoyed one another's company immensly. It was as if we had been friends for years - there was never in my mind an akward moment of silence! It was just something so unusal to see and quite an unexpected blessing! God is so faithful to provide our every need, even ones we haven't asked for. I am so thankful for those women and the time we were able to share!

Too Quiet....Awe peace!

It is very quiet around here..... As I am eating my lunch this Sunday afternoon and after arriving home from church to an empty house, each time my fork hits my plate I expectantly wait for some barking in the background, but all is quiet. Almost erie, and as if I have gone back to a different place in time. And so I think about my life, and how things were back before Ellie, then Roxie and finally Morgan. What on earth did I ever do with my time??? And as I contemplate what to do right now with an empty house, I am perplexed by the many options....should I do some last minute shopping, put together my christmas letter, or forget it all and just be at peace with my Savior and King? I think I will relax...

You may be wondering where on earth is her family? Did she leave the doors wide open to let them wonder out??? Did she lose her mind and sell them to the lowest bidder? Not Yet! It is the day before Kyle and I leave to go down to Orlando, FL for a PGA Ambassador program trip (don't ask, just go with me on this - it is free time for me to spend with God for 3 days - and time for Kyle to be wined and dined and play golf). So in short, everyone has been shipped off in anticipation for our early departure Monday morning and I have a few free hours! But I can't get over how my body wants to be reactive in anticipation of the day to day small events in my life, such as the dogs barking at my fork hitting the plate because they think an intruder is invading our house.... (I mean come on what are they really going to do??? All I know is Roxie will be armed with pee, as the intruder looks at her weird and she rolls over as a foutain of urine sings praises to someone who might pet her - trust me I know! Crazy dog....) So anyway, off to do nothing!!!!

YAM - Young Adult Ministry

Well, I finally made it! I have been desiring to go to YAM from about May of this year, but between settling into a new place, starting a new job, getting plugged into a small group, suffering through thyroid symptoms and then finally our small group switching nights, the time to check it out never presented itself until this week. My small group leader called and told me that we were not meeting this Thursday, which happened to be a YAM night. YAM meets the 1st and 3rd Thursdays of the month from 7 - 10pm. So, I once again found myself in the undesirable position of sticking myself out there and going to something where I virtually knew no one. As excited as I was and have been in anticipation to go now for 7 months, I have to say, I was slightly let down. In my expectations, I thought that there would be people my age, which there were, but also in the same area of life in which I was, but there was not. I quickly came to realize that most of the yammers there were single. There were however, a few whom were married - but I am not sure there were any who had children. Of, course, I can't say for sure, because there are some 200 young adults who attend on any given Thursday and I couldn't have possibly met them all. But the people whom I spoke with who have been in YAM for a while know. I am certainly not saying that there is anything wrong with being single or married without children - I just know in my experiences that people who are not at the same point in your life as you are, have more difficulty relating to your life. Certainly friendships can be born, my best friend is single. I guess my biggest fear is that people will leave me out because I am at a different point in life than they are. I fear being written off and missing out on developing new christian friends. Sure, I would ideally like to meet some couples and make friendships that way but that isn't always how God operates. I just find that being out of school and having moved 3 times makes it more difficult to connect with people. All I desire is to have some friends my age to worship God and do life together with.

Anyway, the whole production itself was impressive! The pastor of young adults was great to listen too - he had a powerful message! After worship and the message, all the yammers go to Cornerstone Cafe in the church to enjoy some fellowship time with food and beverages. I was so surprized that the church made the food for us and it was free!!! I get so excited about little things in life that send such powerful messages - this one love. It was great and so awesome that a church can put on something so wonderful! As, I am learning more about the church I am so happy to call this place home!

Want to Ski?

It seems that there has been a trend recently in our invites of two couples out to Colorado for one of our ski trips. Of course Kyle has been as giddy as child on Christmas day to go out and ski this year, as many of you may know, that he has asked two different couples now to accompany us. Each couple has now resulted in becoming pregnant. His 1st assistant is expecting a baby boy in April. And now, his good buddy and prior assistant at Sand Ridge is also now expecting a baby this summer! Congratulations! Anyone else want to ski?

No Nap, No Tears

Lately, I have been having problems with my little angel taking naps. I don't know why but at 2 yrs old she insists that she doesn't need a nap. Thankfully for me, my thyroid has been better. So again today after some repeaded attempts at putting Morgan down for a nap, I finally have come to an agreement with her. It's really quite simple - I told her that if she crys at all, she WILL be taking a nap. As I put out my hand to her to offer to shake on the deal, as if a 2 yr knows what that is???, I said expectantly "Deal?" at which she slung back "No Deal, Mommy!" What!?!?! I think someone's been watching too much TV...

Irregardless of her "no deal" remark, it has seemed to work all day. Although it is quite exhausting to feel like you never get to take a break, it certainly seemed to be working! Whenever she felt like throwing a fit the rest of the day, all I had to do is remind her that if she crys she takes a nap. Of course, she is much to smart for this to last long and I am not quick to come up with new material. I just pray that is will hold for awhile...

Back At It

Yes, IT has been awhile since my last post....i have been considering shutting down the blogging operation, but after careful consideration, I have decided to give it another go around. I am hoping that someone will login and start leaving comments from here on out. If not, I will just consider it more conversations between myself and my almighty creator. From this point forward, I do plan on trying to leave more regular updates.....stay tuned!