Sunset

Land Cruiser

Yes, the seemingly out-of-control child is mine. I honestly think he has the widest skiing stance I have ever seen outside of international downhill ski competition. If you can't understand what he's saying, he's yelling "on the left" as he careens down the hill. Notice, he's really not on anyones left, he's on their right. We'll have to have a little chat about that. Don't worry, if you are ever in his way he will let you know.

Since I let Lander play hooky from school, he thought I was cool enough to ride the lift with him

Knackered

The Perfect Weekend

This weekend did not disappoint. Saturday I got to bike and ski, two of my favorite things in one day. We headed to Meadow's for some night skiing and the conditions were great. It was lightly snowing and kind of windy, but the wind was blowing snow into Two Bowl perfectly so that each run had fresh snow. This day also marked Bryan's sixth day on telemark skis. He is getting good. He likes to go fast, which makes for some spectacular wipe-outs. Lander had a great time in his lesson despite the wind and snow. I took this short video before it got dark (he's the kid with the mondo blue helmet).

Sunday proved to be beautiful (as always it's nice here on Sunday's when we have to go to church!). After church, and a nap (soooo tired from the day before), we took a family hike up to the Cape Horn lookout which is across the canyon from our house. It was windy and cold, but we all had a great time.

Lander and I under the blown over tree

View of Multnomah Falls

View of our house from the trail, you can barely see it through the trees.

Mmmmm, Creamy

That pretty much describes my day. I headed up to Meadow's to go skiing this morning and was greeted my sunshine in Hood River that created the most spectacular rainbow across the Columbia River (of course I forgot the camera so I have no pictures of this). There was no traffic on Hwy 35 up to the resort and the drive was great except for the minor fishtailing incident that almost made me spin out (mental note: don't be so stubborn next time and put it in 4WD before you need it!). It was snowing at the resort, what could be better. I did manage to slip on some ice and yard sale all my ski gear in the parking lot. I landed on my hip pretty hard and I am certain I will be able to feel it tomorrow. Yes, I can walk in ski boots and somehow miraculously one day a week I can garner all my coordination into making a FEW marginal tele turns. These kind of things just always happen to me, and of course it was right in front of a bunch of teenage boys. It was like a high school nightmare all over again.

I thought I would be skiing solo, but ran into my fellow PMR buddy Jason Mitchell in the lift line so I spent the morning chasing three very fast skiers! It was awesome and exhausting. I tend to ski better when I am forced to push my limits. I, of course, had a few good wrecks, but there were some runs where I actually didn't crash, or have to stop because my legs were tired. The snow was, well, creamy is a good way to describe it. It was good for carving and not terribly bumpy and super fun to ski in and there was some good powder in the bowls. I skied for a few hours and then headed home in time to get Lander off the school bus.

Tomorrow Bryan and I are taking Lander up for a ski lesson in the afternoon. He is really excited about it and has been asking me about it all afternoon. We even watched a Warren Miller movie together. That probably wasn't a good idea since Lander is already prone to being the extreme daredevil, he doesn't need anymore ideas. He threw a fit in one of his lessons last year because the instructor wouldn't let him go into the terrain park. I am excited that he is excited to ski and I love to see the smile on his face as he cruises down the hill. More than anything I am glad that skiing is an activity that our whole family can enjoy.

The New Never Budge Hill

Some of my fondest memories as a child are of Never Budge Hill. The hill was on the back acre of my parents property and was aptly named after us, the Budge's. This was where I learned to ski and had many hours of snowplowing and sledding fun. My brothers would carry my skis up for me, help me get locked in and then give me a "gentle" shove to get going. When we wanted some more speed and a change of scenery, we headed to the icy driveway with our Flexible Flyer and had competitions to see who could make it all the way to the bottom, without going into traffic.

This morning we were greeted by 6" of new snow and a phone call at 8:00 a.m. indicating that school was canceled, SNOW DAY! Normally, I would have packed Lander and our ski stuff into my truck and headed to the resort, but I thought it would be fun to stay here and have some good old fashioned winter fun right outside our front door. Our driveway is pretty long and steep at the top so it is great for sledding, just like Budge Hill. In honor of my new last name, I promptly named our hill Budge-maier Hill, kind of fusion of the old and the new. The neighbor kids came over and we had a fantastic time racing each other down the driveway. We went off the road a lot, got flipped off our sleds and ended up with snow in our faces, jackets and boots. What an awesome way to spend a day off from school. Sadly, this is the northwest and now it is raining on our beautiful snow. I am sure it will be gone in a day or two. Bummer.

Yeah, it's windy here. It packed the snow up against our garage door.

Lander and Cameron getting ready for some fun

Budge-maier Hill. It's a lot steeper than it looks.

4 kids +2 sleds=Likely they won't all make it down
See the following video

Christmas Highlights

I thought I would post some of the highlights of our trip to Utah for Christmas. To sum it up in three words: skiing, eating, family. We all had a great time.

Lander opening one of his many presents

Yes, this went on for a while

Christmas morning. A huge dump of snow came on Christmas Eve. When Lander is older we will start the new tradition of skiing on Christmas Day.

Lander making sure that Lucy gets her gift open okay

Lander and my nephew Scott playing Lincoln Logs

The beautiful stellar crystals commonly seen in Utah. Sitting on the ski lift you feel like you are in the center of a snow globe.

The moon rising over Provo Canyon after an evening run

Lander doing his best to eliminate all the ice puddles in Idaho, such a boy thing

Learning that my dad keeps track of all the vermin he exterminates, priceless.

One Year Older and Wiser Too (Okay, probably not wiser)

So, today is my birthday and yes, I am once again 29 :) I usually go skiing on my birthday, in Utah, but this year was weird since we had to be back for Lander to go back to school today. So, today I got to go to work, in freezing rain. But, I did get to wear my new hat that I knit while in Utah, it was my little birthday treat to myself.


My awesome neighbor Cynthia also made me a plate of yummy brownies, complete with candles. You see the three candles laying on the plate? Yes, I already ate the brownies that were holding them up.
We may have to postpone any celebrations tonight as our driveway is a skating rink and the garage door won't open due to then 1/4" of ice that has covered it. Hmm, might be a good night for a DVD and popcorn! Lander is totally excited and has been wishing me Happy Birthday all afternoon, he is such a cool kid!