Memorial Day ski

The ski season this year was pretty epic. When you can ski until Memorial Day, that's a great season. Looking forward to the upcoming ski season when Jeff is hopefully cleared to ski again with us. 

Not surprisingly, Aaron fell asleep in the car. 

Emily & Aaron happily skiing

Kyle was very upset for some reason. I don't recall why but I do remember he was beside himself. 

May sports

A quick catch up on May sports. 

More spring skiing

RSL soccer game

Aaron playing basketball and getting to do the opening tip off. 

April ski and bike day

So after a morning of warm spring skiing with Kyle, I decided I would see how far up Big Cottonwood I could get on my bike. Well, with how stubborn I am, after getting 4 miles of the 12 up the mountain (nevermind the 4 or 6 it took to get to the base from home), I decided I was going to make it to the top. Afterall, the first 6 miles of the climb up Cottonwood seemed to be the steepest and most difficult. Trouble is, it was mid-60s when I left the house, but at the top it was freezing. I was dressed for 60s. On the descent, my arms and fingers went numb. Thankfully there was a little lodge restaurant on the way down. Cheese fries with fry sauce never tasted so good. The fireplace was helpful as well. They didn't have any warmer clothes I could buy, but had a lost and found with someone's discarded fleece that I happily put on to try and get warm. Thankfully I made it home in one piece having made it to the top.

Deer Valley

Some of the great perks with our ski pass include several days at other resorts to try them out. This year, they had 2 free days at Deer Valley so we had a nice weekend stay-cation in Deer Valley for some skiing. Very much a groomed resort but wide open. A lot fancier than our beloved Snowbird.

Aaron took a spill on one of the moguled black runs and needed ski patrol assistance. It was his first ride with ski patrol and it seems he enjoyed it. Fatigue combined with hitting his knee I think exacerbated the injury. He was totally fine walking that evening and skied the next day as well.

 Three little monkeys sleeping on a bed

Aaron and Mommy skiing the next day 

Montana

For Hanukkah, we decided we would all go to Big Sky, Montana for some family skiing. Another perk of our home ski pass is discounts on other mountains to try them out. Big Sky did not disappoint. It was amazing - huge and wide open and so many runs. We had a great time skiing and dog sledding. 

We celebrated Christmas Day and then hit the road. The drive there was uneventful until we were about 2 hours out when it became whiteout conditions on windy, icy roads with no shoulder and signs to be aware for crossing wildlife and no lighting. I was driving but could not find a safe place to pull over to switch driving. We eventually got just outside of Yellowstone at a gas station where we could change up drivers. When we made it into town, it was late and we were all very hungry. We stopped at a great saloon that was very lively and warm and very welcoming. 

First day skiing was awesome with loads of powder. Nevermind it was 20 below zero. Lots of hot chocolate helped though it was absolutely frigid. But great skiing. Nevermind the locals said it wasn't great skiing because they hadn't had huge dumps of snow yet. Good enough for us. 

We also went dog sledding while in Montana. Those dogs are work horses! The kids all got to drive the sleds for a little bit as well. 

The drive home also had its own white out conditions. Not an easy drive at all.

Opening ski season

Jeff and I had planned days off for opening day for ski season. Unfortunately, as soon as we landed for Thanksgiving, we received the notice that opening day was moved up a week because of the great snow conditions. So our opening day would have to wait for the originally scheduled opening day. And so we went. Though we got to the top of the mountain and Jeff realized he grabbed Emily's boots (both were red) so he had to turn around and go back home to get his. Eventually we were both there and got to ski together and enjoy early season skiing. And then we took the kids over the weekend. Great thing about living in a ski city, you can go whenever it suits you and for however long. Of course you can do that on vacation as well, but we prefer the ski for a few hours or longer if it's great and to be able to just come and go as we please.  

Ski season closing

Ski season is winding down, but not before Jeff and I got in a few more ski dates and discovered the back side trails at Snowbird. You go through a tunnel to get there which is pretty cool in itself and then the runs are even more wide open. Hard to believe we didn't explore this until so close to the end of the season (actual season ended mid-May, but the conditions weren't great so we stopped going ahead of that time). 

On a random weekday that the kids were off school, I took a half day and took the kids skiing in the AM to show them the tunnel and back side trails. While it was cool to show them, that day was particularly windy and cold with ice pelting us in the face and Emily had an ear infection. Needless to say it wasn't the idyllic experience I was going for. 

Smiles here but not for long :-) 

Jackson Hole

Jeff and I went skiing in Jackson Hole when Kyle and Emily were babies (they had a great time staying with Grandma) and loved it. With our Snowbird passes this year, we could use those to get heavily discounted lift tickets in JH so we took the opportunity to take the kids skiing there as well. And we just love this amazing cowboy town. 

Jeff and I went to the Million Dollar Cowboy Bar one evening

Yeehaw!

The skiing was excellent and so much fun that we could all ski together. 

We enjoyed a nice dinner where Jeff and I had the best elk dish on our first ski trip there together. While they didn't have the elk this time, we still had some pretty good food here. 

We also visited the Elk Refuge in Jackson on their sleigh ride tours. Was pretty cool to see so many elk up close and learn more about them. 

That is Aaron sleeping on Jeff.