Out and About

After a glorious morning of skiing, we took Cooper out for a snowshoe hike. It was such a beautiful day today. Hopefully, we get that storm they are predicting for Monday and Tuesday. It's always nice to get a fresh coat of white stuff.

My Trip to Alaska

This past week was another winter break for our school district, so I took that time to visit my girlfriends up in Anchorage. It was so great to see everybody. We definitely had some quality "girl time." :)


This is a photo taken from Powerline Pass. Anchorage is in the background.


I was so excited to see Sarah, the bloodhound, again. I brought up 2 of Cooper's toys for her and brought back 2 of her toys for Cooper.


I stayed with my friend, Angie. They have a little girl named Natalie and let me tell ya, this little girl (and her parents) have been through a lot in her 16 months. What a strong family.


One morning, I did a little snowshoeing at Kincaid Park, one of the places where Andy and I would go a lot. It has changed a lot. I even caught sight of some moose. It's kind of hard to see, but it is the dark spot in the middle of the trees.


On my last night in Anchorage, we went out for a tasty dinner at Kinley's. I'm pretty lucky to have such wonderful friends.

A Date to Snowed Inn

It was our 6-month anniversary this past Monday. Can you believe it's already been 6 months? To celebrate (along with Valentine's Day since I'll be up in Alaska), we splurged on a fun sleigh ride and dinner at the Snowed Inn Sleigh Company. It was so much fun! The sleigh ride up took about 20 minutes. Upon our arrival we were treated to hot apple cider. Dinner started off with soup (or chili), followed by your choice of prime rib, chicken or fish (along with garlic mashed potatoes and salad). To top it all off, we had a delicious brownie with vanilla ice cream for dessert. Yummy! What a treat!


That's John, our sleigh driver.




All bundled up on a snowy evening


Our destination, Snowed Inn

A Night of Relaxation

Andy and I both had a tough day skiing. Okay, so it wasn't that tough, but we still felt we needed a little relaxation tonight. There is this great place on Main Street called Mountain Body. It has an herbal "deli" where you can get Utah mud. Each masque has a different purpose, or there is also some mud you rub on your achy feet. Maybe we should try that next time...


Cooper felt the need to be in the photo, as well.

It Doesn't Get Better Than This...

I just wanted to post a few photos of beautiful Park City. Ahhhhh....


A view from the chair lift--that's a hot air balloon in the background.


The Park City Mountain Resort hosted the World Cup halfpipe competition last weekend. We didn't see him, but we heard Shawn White in the announcer's tent.

Snowshoeing in Iron Canyon

Our friends, Jeff and Courtney, came up to Park City this weekend. We went on an incredible snowshoe trek today. The sun was shining, our layers were light, and we may have even gotten a little tan.

Skiing in the Backcountry

Andy did some backcountry skiing on Saturday with another teacher from our school. I don't have the right gear for backcountry skiing right now, so I guess I know what I'll be buying soon. I'd also need to get all of the safety gear, too. Anyways, Andy did an awesome excursion up to Kessler Peak in Big Cottonwood Canyon. Enjoy the photos...it was a gorgeous day.

New Years in Brighton

We spent New Year's Eve at the cabin in Brighton. With hopes of doing some night skiing, we hauled our skis, boots, poles and other miscellaneous gear along with us. With our snow gear on we started walking the 200 yards to the ski resort. Hmmm...that's funny. There aren't any cars in the parking lot. The runs are not lit up. Much to our dismay, Brighton did not have night skiing last night. Bummer. It was still a fun night. Some friends drove up from SLC to bring in the new year with us.

Andy was very proud of his snow bench and cooler he made from sawing through the snow. Really, he used a saw to carve out the snow.

Sloan, Nyk and Jen watching the fireworks in the distance.




We wish everyone a very happy, healthy new year. We look forward to the many more adventures that await us.

Winter Fun

With 8 straight days of skiing under his belt, Andy decided to take the day off from the slopes. Instead, we went for a nice, long snowshoe hike. It was a nice day--partly cloudy with temps in the upper 20's.



One of Cooper's favorite things to do is try to find snowballs we throw at the snow. Of course, he never finds them, but it sure is cute to watch his head get buried in the snow.



This is called a snow wheel. It's the result of snow rolling down the side of a hill. We thought they were pretty neat.

Another Day on the Slopes

There's nothing better than waking up, drinking a nice, hot cup of coffee, and then hitting the powder for a few hours. Ahhh...


Riding the chair lift up...


There's something about our older camera that won't let me rotate the photos. :(


Would it be appropriate to say "knee high by the 4th of January?"

The Beginning of Winter Break

With about 8 inches of fresh powder today, it was the perfect time to play outdoors. We skied for about 3 hours this morning. Oh boy, was it ever windy at the top! Great snow, though. Then we took a before dinner snowshoe trek. Our plan is to ski another few hours tomorrow morning before making our way down to SLC for the beginning of our holiday festivities. Ahhh...we love living 2 minutes from the ski resort!

Making our way to the trail


With the blowing snow, Andy insisted on wearing his ski goggles.


On Sunday night, we got together with some friends for a Christmas potluck dinner. Great fun!

Sloan, lighting all of the little candles


Right before we stuffed our faces with turkey, stuffing, casserole, veggie pizza, salad, rolls, and mudpie

Our Little Christmas Tree

We got our Christmas tree over the weekend. With the lack of space in our living room, we had to opt for a smaller-than-usual tree. It's been very nice down here...too nice, in fact. We need more snow so the resorts can open up more runs.

McPolin Staff Party

Last night, we went to our first McPolin Christmas Party. It was held at Nacho Mama's, which is owned by one of our staff members at school. It was great! It's so fun to see people outside of the working environment. Drinks were ordered, shots were taken, and rapping, yes rapping, occurred. What a blast!


That's Cortney on the left, our speech pathologist, rapping with our school psychologist. Too funny!


That's my friend, Jodi, in the background.



Joanna and Jodi both teach 1st grade.


Tory (on the left) teaches 1st grade and Tina is another 2nd grade teacher. She had just gotten done dancing and this was her impression of CPR. I think those margaritas had kicked in by then.

Initiating the Season Pass...Finally!

We don't have enough snow for the whole Park City Mountain Resort to open but, with the snow they have been making, they opened one run yesterday. Andy has already gone twice (yesterday and today). We got there at about 9:30 a.m. It was really nice because the lines weren't too long. With only one run open, and everybody wanting to get on the slopes, it got pretty busy at about 11:00 a.m. Oh well...at least we got 4 runs in today. That's the beauty of having the season passes and living 1 mile from the resort. We can go back at any time. Andy has already talked about going back, again, today. No photos to post right now. I'll try to get some up soon.

A Picnic in November?

With the sun shining and temperatures in the 50's, it was a great day to venture out. We took a nice Sunday drive up to the Uinta mountains, stopping for a picnic along the way. It was beautiful! The 10 inches of snow we recently received has now all melted. Bummer! It's hard not to wish for snow when your kitchen window faces the ski slopes. Bring on the snow...we're ready for ski season!

Winter Has Arrived...For Now!

I took these photos soon after it started snowing.

Taking a walk to the public library

Ahhhh...we'll get on those slopes soon...

Well, the energy is definitely flowing around Park City! It has been snowing intermittently for the past 2 days. We must have gotten about 10 inches since yesterday. The resorts are scheduled to open around November 22nd so ski season is just around the corner...hopefully!!

I was so glad that most of my students had their snow gear today. However, one of my students had to wear his snow pants all day because he didn't have any pants on underneath. It was too cute when he told me that! Kids...you've got to love em'.