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!!!