Playing hooky

Jackson has a 5th grade ski pass this year that gets him two free passes to all ski resorts in Utah, plus half off of an adult pass. We decided to take advantage and go check out Alta for the first time after a very snowy couple of days last week. I have been dreaming of a really good powder day since my last at Targhee last year, and I definitely got my wish!

I rearranged my calendar, Sean agreed to work from home, and I let Jackson and Bode skip school so we could go. I had checked the snow report that morning and saw there were 6 new inches of snow and was so excited. By the time we got to Alta, it was updated to 8" and it was still snowing like crazy.

Riding the lift up for our first run, we couldn't believe all of the powder below us! It was SUCH a fun day. It was probably the deepest powder day I have ever skied that I can recall. It snowed another 3" while we were there, for a total of 11 new inches. This was on top of 40" from the previous 48 hours, so there were spots that were past my knees and up to the boys' butts! It was awesome trying out my new powder skis I got this year.

I am so happy we had this day together. It was nice shrugging off all of our responsibilities for once and just going and playing! The boys were so much fun to ski with. They had no trouble skiing black diamonds and we all kept talking about how lucky we felt with all of the new snow. It was fun trying a new resort together and we all decided we are big fans. The snow was so deep that if you lost a ski, there was a good chance you weren't going to be able to find it. Bode lost his ski once and it was a tense few minutes while we were searching for it! I told the boys to keep their pole straps around their wrists!

Around 2:45 Bode's legs were getting pretty tired and we were going to call it a day. We had been skiing hard all day with only a short break for lunch. We learned after getting everything loaded up that the canyon road was closed for another hour so we couldn't head home yet. Jackson actually asked if he and I could go back out to ski and it made me so happy he wanted to! He and I got all of our gear back on and took another run together. It actually ended up being one of my very favorite runs of the day and I am so happy he wanted to go. This was a day I will remember fondly forever!

Jackson turns 11

Jackson turned 11 on 1/1 this year! He's such an awesome kid. He had a great birthday and I am so glad. Jackson is such a great kid and he is awesome in his role as the oldest. He's obedient, kind, thoughtful, smart, funny, brave, hard-working, motivated, responsible, and the list could go on and on. I am not saying he is perfect, but he truly is an amazing kid and we feel very fortunate to have him in our family. 

As always, I made him let me take a few pictures of him to commemmorate his birthday. Here are some of my favorites. 

We got home from our friends' cabin on his birthday, so we kept it simple and went out to dinner to Umami (his choice) and came home for cake and presents. He loves the cake with caramel, sweetened condensed milk, and toffee on top, which worked out perfect since I still had tons of toffee leftover from Christmas! haha

The following weekend we did a birthday party for him at Provo Rec, which is his favorite indoor swimming pool, followed by ice cream at Rockwell (also another of his favorites). 

The boys seemed to have an awesome time. I had to take Molly to a dance performance with her cousin Hayley for the first half, but I made it back in time for ice cream and it was a lot of fun being with all of those 11-year old boys! Jackson is fortunate to have a big group of friends and lots of kids his age in our neighborhood and nearby to hang out with. 

Jackson's 11-year-old birthday questionnaire

New Year's Eve cabin trip with friends

For the past few years we've gone up to our friends' cabin in Oakley to ring in the New Year. It is always so much fun. A few of our best friends and all of our kids just hanging out, playing games, sledding, eating junk food, and recovering from Christmas! This year was no exception and we had such a great time. 

The adult session of "extreme sledding." So much fun!

The WHOLE family on skis!

It's been a dream of mine for a long time to have a ski day with our entire family together on the mountain, and this year it happened! Sure, we didn't ski all together, but we were all there and no one was left at home!

Molly has been saying she wanted to go skiing, so I hoped for the best for her first time. We all headed up to Brighton and she was so awesome! She wasn't skiing down the mountain on her own or anything, and actually didn't quite understand how to make a wedge, but she loved it, didn't complain, and wanted to keep going! She didn't seem to tire of it and kept saying she wanted to go back up the lift! I was really proud of her. She keeps saying she wants to go again, so that is a great sign. Sean worked with she and Davis in the morning while I skied with the older two boys, and then I worked with her in the afternoon while Sean and all the boys took a few runs together. 

I loved riding up the chairlift with Molly. It was just so fun to have her there! There was one run where we were going down and she got away from me and was speeding straight down the mountain. I thought she would panic (I was panicking I wouldn't be able to catch up to her!) but she was blissfully unaware of crashing and was actually giggling her head off and loving the speed. I was, in fact, able to catch her and keep us both from falling, but it was close! It still makes me smile thinking about it. 

Her little skis next to mine on the chairlift!

Hands on her hips like her daddy taught her!

The boys are so much fun to ski with. Jackson and Bode are really getting good and Davis is improving a lot also. Davis is anxious to do all of the same runs as his older brothers.

Three of the four kids fell right asleep on the drive home. A successful day!

I've also made few trips to Sundance with Jackson and Bode so far this year. I love skiing with these boys! I am happy they love it too. 

Jackson's friend Kru met us one of the days we went. Kru is on a ski team at Sundance, and we had him show us his favorite runs. It was a really fun day. 

I liked our shadow on the lift!

We've got a family ski trip planned to Big Sky next weekend we're excited about!