Skiing w/Uncle Doug & Michael - Brighton - February 20, 2010

Uncle Doug & Michael came for a quick weekend of skiing at Brighton. And got lucky with lots of new snow! A beautiful day!




Michael & James looked for fresh turns over every single ridge and had to do a little bit of traversing to get out of the Millicent lake shots.

A quick break at the deck of the Milli Chalet.

Some little ski videos...

Michael





And James

Valentines Weekend - February 13-14, 2010

We had company for Valentine's weekend this year! Billi, Kathleen and Brian came down from BYU-I and we joined up with Tiffany, Jaclyn and Anchorage Dan at Brighton on Saturday for a very fluffy ski day! Left to Right: Billi, Kathleen, Tiffany, Brian, Jaclyn, Dan, Jessi & James at Milli base.





We spent most of the morning on Millicent in the powder. It snowed all day long, and as James & Dan said, "FREE REFILLS!" Kathleen, Tiffany & Brian on the lift.

Brian (showing off his goggle lines) & Tiffany

After heart-shaped pancakes and waffles with strawberries and whip-cream, after church and after Sunday naps, we went for a drive. Our first Sunday drive of the new year! We took the freeway south through SLC and Provo.

Detoured past BYU and the MTC and the Provo Temple

And finally through Provo Canyon (past Bridal Veil Falls) to Heber City and Park City and home again in the dark.

Our official valentines gift this year is a heavy-duty cooler with wheels and a pull handle and cup holders - perfect for future car camping and adventures. But we also splurged and bought some treats from Carlee's online store: http://www.cjsweetsandtreats.com/ - I LOVE her chocolate caramel pretzels! James is disappointed that I didn't order him an apple. Father's Day order for sure!

Valentine's Decorations - February 14, 2010

We are so spoiled! I didn't have any plans to decorate for Valentine's Day, but we got a package in the mail, about a week before the big day. It was full of colorful hearts and valentines from Idaho! Thank you!!!!

I'm impressed with Tyler & Carter & Zoe writing your own names!

And Emma & Hallie - thank you for such beautiful drawings!

My mom made the cute pouch hanging on the door handle and the big valentine was from Jed & Maria's family.
We've since supplemented with a valentine from Alaska (Thank you! Hope you're feeling better Mom McCalvy!) and my nursery class. I think I'll leave them up until St. Patrick's Day. Hint Hint!!!

THANK YOU FOR THE LOVE!

Brighton Backcountry - January 30, 2010

James and Anchorage Dan took their considerable avalanche awareness out into the Brighton backcountry for some fresh turns. They did much skinning: Much snow testing:


Much sight-seeing:
And a few well-earned turns.

Avalanche Course / Solitude Chocolate Day - January 23, 2010

James and Anchorage Dan took an avalanche course this week. They had their classroom day on Wednesday evening. Then their outdoor course at The Canyons today. They got super cheap lift tickets because they would ride the lift, maybe twice. The rest of the day they spent digging holes in the snow to look at the different types of layers and identifying hazards of terrain and slope angle and the snow pack.



After their day of poking around in the snow, they stopped by an event at Park City. Watched some very, very impressive snowboarding - including the Flying Tomato (Sean White) and Louis Vito (my favorite because of his adventures on Dancing with the Stars).



While the guys were shoveling and practicing beacon drills, I had a half day of skiing at Solitude with my friend Diana. She used to patrol at Snow Basin and Powder Mountain, so our skiing is very compatible. Even though she's never been and I've only skied at Solitude a couple times, we found plenty of fresh snow and even some untracked turns!



And as a surprise bonus, it was Chocolate Day! We got a piece of yummy Cummings mint chocolate at the base area and a "passport" with six spots for "validations" We didn't try to go to all the different chocolate spots, but we did get the chocolate milk and made a special effort to get a chocolate covered strawberry. YUMMY!

Brighton - January 9, 2010

Today we skied with Anchorage Dan. Anchorage Dan is in Utah to go to school at BYU and pick up "the ladies." Anchorage Dan and Big Mountain Jimmy Cordova are making big backcountry ski plans. Anchorage Dan skies with sound effects. "Whoop Whoop!"

Video of James skiing the runout from Reins Run - after his most extreme and excellent crash.

Video of James skiing out of the Lower Pioneer Trees - much jubilation!


Video of Dan hucking off a cliff in Lake Shots off Milli - "Whoop Whoop!"





Video of Dan skiing out of the Lower Pioneer Trees - whoops!

Video of Dan skiing the runout from Reins Run - check out those barber shop skis!

5 Guys Burgers Date Night - January 6, 2010

We met some friends for dinner at the Bountiful Five Guys. Heard about Five Guys when Obama bought burgers for a group he was with and wondered if they'd live up to the hype. Thought we'd check it out and maybe sometime make it out to the In-N-Out Burger for comparison.

It wasn't very busy, so we had time to check out the menu and look around a bit. The first thing we saw on one side of the door was a huge box of peanuts-in-the-shell with a pile of cups. So while waiting in line you can eat peanuts. On the other side of the door was a stack of boxes - boxes of peanut oil. And the menu above the counter proudly states that their fries are fried in 100% pure peanut oil. All James and I could think was that Carter will never have dinner at this restaurant! I finally remembered that my cell phone has photo capability and snapped this picture of the stack of 50# bags of potatoes that separate the entryway line from the seating.



Overall, I really enjoyed my junior-size cheeseburger, but James said his could have used more A1 sauce. And the french fries were good. We shared a "medium" order and had more french fries than we could eat.