Skiing at Brighton

Oh how I love the mountains and snow and the fun that comes with skiing with my family.  It was a perfect day with good snow and bright blue skies.  The kids went to ski school and I got to ski with the adults.  FUN FUN FUN!!!

And after the day was over I went to the lodge to find my mom and kids sitting by and talking to Julie without my mom or Julie realizing the connection.  Julie and I sent this picture to Todd saying hello :)

Ski Day

Todd and I took all 4 kids skiing.  We met my mom, dad, Mark, Timmy, Steve, Eric, Allen, Chris and Lexie up at Sundance for a great day on the mountain.  Todd and I just skied with the kids all day and by the last run all of them were going down on their own.  Sophie even did Gangam Style dance moves while skiing on her last run.  It was a proud mom moment when I was on the hill following them and I could see all 4 of my kids skiing down the hill.  What a perfect day.  

Sophie and I on the lift

 

 Claire

Sophie and Tayson

Todd, Claire and Luke

Tayson, Sophie, Chris, Lexie, Claire, Todd and Luke

Sophie 

Skiing with the kids

I was so excited for the chance to take all the kids skiing in Brianhead.  I am from a family of skiers and I really wanted my kids to learn and love skiing.  I live in Utah - the greatest snow on earth - we have to ski.  Brianhead was the perfect opportunity to teach them.  So one of the days we were there we took all the kids to the slopes and Timmy got to teach 10 kids to ski.  Good thing he's a pro and love to do it.

Getting the skis rented and on the kids was probably the hardest part of the day.  10 total sets of rentals and 10 kids to take care of.  Good thing we had lots of adults there to help. 

Our amazing instructor

If you look close for Luke in the background you can see all 4 of my kiddos on skis. 

  

All the kids started on the small bump before going up the ski lift.  They learned the basics on how to push their feet out and stop themselves.  Timmy had 5 sets of clamps to hook the front of their skis together. 

With a few basic instructions the 9 year old boys were off.  Tayson, Adam and Ryan pretty much did their own thing and even went back with Steve a second day to ski more.  Tayson loves skiing.  Yippee!

 

Todd and Sophie

This little girl loved the mountain.  She hated her ski boots until she got her skis on and got up on the mountain.  She kept saying things like "wheeeeee"  "I go faster"  "I no want to stop".  She got busted a few times for not stopping when she was told to.  I think this one is going to be just like her uncle Mark and Grandma - she's a speed demon!

Timmy teaching 2 kids at once ... no biggie.

Since we didn't have enough clamps for everyone we did 2 shifts.  Claire was in the second shift and I think she might have had more fun in the lodge drinking hot cocoa with Megan and Christine than actually skiing.  Who can blame her?  That's one of my favorite parts of skiing too.

Megan got to come out and try out skiing a bit too with the second group.  

 

I love this picture of Timmy and Claire

After Claire fell Timmy just scooped her right up and got her back on her feet. 

The cutest thing Claire did was when we were on her last run down the hill I put my legs out and Timmy went through them then we told Claire it was her turn and without a second thought she just ducked down and skied through my legs.  She stood for a split second then crashed.  It was so cute and she was very proud of herself for doing it. 

Brighton

I forgot how much I LOVE skiing. Due to several winters of either being prego or having an infant at home (8 to be exact) I have only skied twice in the last 8 years. Both times I was prego (with Tayson and Sophie) so I had to take it easy. I skied a lot in college and love the mountains. Timmy talked me into going to skiing and got me a free pass and I really needed a day off...so I borrowed all of Mark's ski clothes (thank goodness the pants fit...I had to suck it in to button them - that guy is skinny) and wore a pair of my mom's boots and Mark's old skis. The whole day cost me $13 for grilled cheese, fries and hot chocolate.

The day was adventurous. My mom and dad, Timmy, David and Steve all came. It was a little disturbing to get my trash kicked by two 65+ year olds. But seriously my mom and dad can tear it up on the mountain. My mom never stopped - she has more energy than anyone I've ever met. The second she got to the bottom she was on the chairlift ready to go. She was usually on the lift before I was even at the bottom. Lucky for me my dad was willing to keep me safe and knew which runs I should take and he never left me alone. We skied hard all day and I was soooo tired by the end of the day (it didn't help that I had been up since 5:20 am and taught spin in the morning either). I did a few blacks and double blacks (I wouldn't say I made it look good, but I did it). Everyone I was with knew Brighton a lot better than I did so I just followed them around and had a blast. They would say things like "let's hit Ziggy" and everyone but me knew what that meant. I think it was better that I was going in without knowing since it didn't give me a chance to talk myself out of the hard runs. We would go down the hill 3-4 times then move to another lift and take that one a few times then move on again. It was so much fun and I can't wait to go again.

Me, Steve, Dad and David

Mom and David

My dad
(I LOVE that he wears a helmet - so cute)

Me and my dad

Dad

Steve, David and I

Steve and I

Steve and Timmy
(Steve's goggles were so awesome - I fixed my hair a few times using them)

Timmy and I

Me, Steve and Mom
I had just gotten up when Steve went down on the hill. This was a double black and it was hilarious. I pretty much laughed and squealed the whole way down. My dad said he could hear me the whole time from the cat track on the other side. Ha!

David

Steve, Me, Mom and David

What a great day!!!

Flashback Friday

Since it's ski season I thought I'd flash back to a ski trip. I'm pretty sure it was 1994. I was living here going to BYU and the family came out to visit from the flatlands of Missouri to ski.

Danny

Doesn't he just look cool?

Mom

My mom is one heck of a skier. She skied with the downhill team at WSU in her youth and can kill most of us on the mountain even still. She has had a season pass for the last few years and goes 1-2 days a week. She was born to ski!

Me and Heidi

You see that hot outfit Heidi is wearing? That was my Christmas present from Grandma Giboney in 1990 when I was coming out to BYU. I got the sweet hot pink jumpsuit and my great-aunts old skis. The outfit has a little black up top but the pant part (remember it's a jumpsuit) was hot pink! I skied in that outfit my entire freshman year. Oh and I almost forgot...Heidi borrowed my outfit to sled that first Christmas before I had even worn it and ripped a hole in the butt so it had an awesome black rear-end on it. It looked like it was supposed to be there....kind of. I have got to find a full body photo of that outfit. It rocks!

Jeannie and David

Was this the time Jeannie cried at the top of a mogul run? I can't be sure...but what I do know is that Mark and Timmy could tear it up even back then.