Devin's first ski day

What a cute little dude this is.  He had such a good attitude about the whole experience.  I thought 8 was too young to start to ski - apparently I was wrong!  Park City Mountain Resort had a great program for Utah Residents who haven't skied before, called Start Now.  They allow you to rent skiis or a snow board, 3 hour lesson and a pass for the day - all for 25 dollars.  The best part...you can bounce back up to 4 more times at the same price.  We can hardly wait for next time.

Ethan and Mitchell riding up ahead of us.  We yelled and yelled for them to turn around, but apparently they are too good for photos.

Kaleb hadn't skiied before this winter.  I asked him when he was about 10 if he wanted to, but he never did.  I think that had to do with the fact that none of his friends skiied.  So with Skyler and Brooke here for Christmas, he took advantage of some new skiiers and went up to Alta just before New Years for the first time.  Needless to say, the first run down was pretty rough for him, but after that he really liked it and is now motivated to get good enough to go with his friends.  For only his second time skiing he has progressedamazingly well!

So one of the craziest things was seeing this horse and carriage on the ski slope.  They were taking people on rides on the bunny hill and left some droppings on the snow to prove they were there....just ask Mitchell he skiied right through it :)Actually after the first day, but Cafe Rio is always good.  Ethan wasn't too pleased that I was taking his picture with hat hair...

The GRAND Day 2

We started early on Thursday morning to head toward the summit. None of us got good sleep (I know, hard to believe since we were sleeping in a boulder field) but Colby didn't want to wake me before 5:30 as he promised.

We started out in the dark and with all the winter clothes imaginable. I got sweaty really fast, and most of the day was an exercise in putting on and taking off layers.
Majestic! The picture below is the reason I went. The beauty and peace up there is hard to describe. AMAZING!!!

One of my favorite parts was the Princess Bride rope on our way to the saddle.
If I look exhausted - that is because I am. This was almost at the top.

There were beautiful streams and wildflowers (which I took pictures of hoping to capture them in watercolor or acrylic later).






When we almost got to the top (minus 300 yards), we started to have weather.  I thought Colby was joking when he said that the weather wasn't going to cooperate.  It look practically clear.  Amazing how fast the clouds move in when you are up that high.  Almost was good enough...at least that day.

I am not resting in the picture to the left. I was squatting down to rest my quad muscles and the pack was so heavy that I fell over backward...almost at the bottom and I could do no more.

Amazing experience...the only thing to make it better...Dave with me next time!

Climbing the GRAND! (Day 1)

Well really this was Day 2...but since Day 1 didn't include any climbing - just travelling. I am not counting that!

We left on Tuesday night at about 6pm. I worked that day - so we couldn't leave too early. Colby joked about doing a pack check, but that really wouldn't have been such a bad idea...

That is where we are going...pretty rough and treacherous looking! Beautiful weather though.

Becca and I were into the photo opps as much as we were getting up there..

So Colby asked us what kind of winter clothes we had and I said..."Winter clothes, what you talking about it is the middle of August"...needless to say, he insisted on getting some more layers. Jordan didn't even have a layer to go under his hiking pants...well I probably would have been OK w/o the extra polar fleece - but who knew. Colby had done it before and "He had never been that cold in his ENTIRE life".

Now I know you may think this was a modeling shoot...make no mistake, we didn't look this beautiful after the 1st day....(well maybe Becca did :)