Skiing up Mill D North

I went skiing with Greg and John on Thursday up Mill D North in Big Cottonwood.  It has been snowing like crazy for the past week.  Below are the 7 day snow totals for the Wasatch front ski resorts:  

It is amazing that Solitude has received almost 8 feet of snow in a week!

Here is John on the way up "Short Swing".

Greg and John

John and Greg at the top of "Short Swing".

The snow was so dense and slow that we couldn't really turn on our way down Short Swing without stopping.

John 

Greg

We decided to head towards "Tom's Hill" in hopes of finding some steeper terrain.  In order to get to Tom's Hill we had to go through some dense trees in some really heavy slushy snow.  You can't really tell from the picture of John below, but we were all really struggling at this point to just make it down the hill.

On our way up Tom's Hill we decided to dig a snow pit to determine the avalanche danger.  Here is John conducting the modified rutschblock test.  We determined the snow to be quite stable despite the heavy new snow.

We ran into some skiing celebrities on our way to Tom's Hill.  Andrew McLean and Bob Athey  It was cool to see them in person as we all follow their blogs during the winter.  Andrew McLean and his partner started up Tom's Hill around the same time we did.  By the time we made it to the top, he and his partner had already made it to the top, skied back down, and climbed back up the 1,000ft or so again.

At the top we were treated to an awesome view of Big Cottonwood canyon with clouds filling up the valley.

Here is Greg on his way down Tom's Hill.  The snow was still heavy, but with it being a little steeper it turned out to be awesome.

John

One more panoramic view from the top of Tom's Hill

Greg hit the "jump" I told him too.  Turns out it wasn't really a jump, but more a bush partly covered in snow. He ended up crashing shortly after I took this picture.  It was worth it to get this picture though, right Greg?

"What is your definition of scary cold?"

Mace and I went backcountry skiing with my dad last Saturday.  It is a little stressful trying to go skiing with little Mace.  You want to avoid even the most remote chance of an avalanche, so you have to scratch most places off your list.  You want to avoid trees and rocks too.  You want to be able to make it to the car quickly, so no tours where you have to hike out.  And, of course, you want to make sure that your little dude is warm enough.  Do you think Mace was dressed warm enough?

Does this remind you of anyone?  Gorge perhaps?

Or, maybe the kid on "A Christmas Story"

Mace rode on my back.  My dad carried all the essentials. 

It was a beautiful day.  We went up Grizzly Gulch by Alta. 

Mace was a real champ.  He slept for about an hour, and seemed really happy for the rest. 

I couldn't actually see Mace the entire time; so when we weren't around my dad, I got out the camera and took videos of him to see if he would smile.  If I saw a smile, I figured we were good to go for another 5 minutes or so.

 

When the clouds broke, you could see the most amazing blue sky

My dad 

Mace liked to get a reaction out of me when he would kick my bum with his Lightning McQueen boots.

Then, as we neared 10,000ft, tragedy: 

The binding on my skis snapped without warning.  I was terrified for a few minutes as I thought about how long it would take to hike back down.  It wasn't that we were that far away, it was that you sunk to your knee in the soft snow when you weren't on your skis.  All of the sudden we were a couple hours away from the car instead of 15 minutes.  Turns out, I was able to ski down alright as long as I kept in a left turning tele-stance.

We made it down in about 30 minutes.  Even with the broken binding limiting the skiing, it was still awesome.

Mace and my dad back at the parking lot. 

We are so excited!

Guess What??

We are having another baby!

SURPRISE!!

We are due July 20, 2011. (Mace was due on August 20, so I am hoping to go early again!) So far, things have been pretty similar to our pregnancy with Mace. I feel lucky that I haven't been that sick, though I am tired a lot of the time.We had our first appointment on December 3. It is amazing to be able to see our little one and hear its tiny heart beating! It is so fun to think about how this will change our family! We are excited that Mace is going to be a big brother!

This is the picture from the ultrasound. 

(The little white mass inside of the the blackness is the baby!)

Time to start guessing. Boy or Girl? I want both, so I am really excited to find out what we are having!

My family thinks it is a girl and Tyler's family thinks it is a boy!

The Dinosaur Playground

South Town Mall has a little playground that is so much fun! It is all about dinosaurs. I think it is really good for Mace to be around other kids and learn how to take turns playing.

Mace loves to peek through the holes in the rib cage behind him.

He rode on this dinosaur for most of the time we stayed to play. I think he thought he was a "big kid" because he could get on and off of it all by himself. 

This video isn't too exciting, but I wanted to include it anyways.

Turning 25!

This was the most fun birthday I think I have ever had! Tyler and I went to Incredible Pizza in Draper. It was seriously so much fun! We ate tons of food, raced each other with go karts, teamed up to play laser tag, scored better than I ever have in bowling, and celebrated a hole in one at mini golfing!

Tyler surprised me right before we went to bed, by giving me roses and a really sweet letter! I love him so much!

Thanks Babe for such a fun birthday! You made my day!

Las Vegas Trip

Tyler took the week after Thanksgiving off. We headed down to Las Vegas on Monday. It was such a fun little family trip. We stopped in St. George on the way and had dinner with my cousin Kourtney and her husband Luke! They are so fun. It was really great to see them.

We got to Vegas around bedtime so we just hung out in the hotel room. We stayed at the Imperial Palace. Mace slept in a queen size bed, and he did really good the first night. The second night, I don't think he was feeling well. He woke up so many times throughout the night. Tyler ended up laying next to him.

On Tuesday, we walked the strip. One of our favorite things about going to Vegas, is stopping at the MGM Grand to see the lions. We love it! We ended up walking through a new hotel and shopping center. They had these really cool containers filled with water. The water would start spinning, creating a tornado! It was really fun to be down there when all the Christmas decorations were going up.

We also spend some time at the Hoover Dam. We went on the tour and really enjoyed seeing everything. They have also finished the bridge since the last time we were there. Looking up at how high it is, I thought it would be scary to walk across it. It wasn't as bad as I though. We held Mace while walking across the bridge. He didn't really enjoy it, because he wanted to be big and do it himself. He did fall and stumble once we were almost back to the car. One thing that makes us laugh, is the bathrooms. They are on top of the dam, and look really fancy. You have to walk up the stairs to be able to use them!

 

All in all, it was a great trip and we enjoyed having some family time!