Utah Ski Trip 2018

Since the girls have an extra week off school right at the beginning of the year, we decided to head to Utah after Christmas to ring in the New Year and start the year off right with some skiing.  

 

Even though I grew up skiing Solitude and learning there on Moonbeam, we have been taking the girls to Brighton for ski school.  This was Clara's third year skiing (she started when she was 4) and she is doing just awesome for only going 2-3 times each season.  She went right to class and had a great attitude the whole time about it, doing a full day of instruction our first day, and then just a half day class the second day so we could have more time to ski together as a family.

Rose, on the other hand, struggled with going to class.  Which is unsurprising since Clara was the same way the first year that we had her skiing.  This is the first year that Rose was old enough to be enrolled (and actually, we cheated a little bit because she was supposed to be four and her birthday was still a couple weeks away) so last year she just skiied with me for a day and had done pretty well with the wedgie straps attached to the tips of her skis.  

But this year, the real problem was just that she didn't want to be in the class at all.  I don't think it helped that the first morning she was put in a group with a really young, cute instructor who let her quit pretty early in the morning before they actually started skiing and go back inside the ski school.  Really all Rose wanted to do was play in the snow and eat it.  

 

I know Rose and she has a hard time with anything that seems hard or foreign at first, but if she just tries it then she is fine and has a great time.  Swimming, ice skating, even dance at first were like that for her.  And there is almost no reasoning with her when she starts wailing about how she doesn't want to do it.  But get her going and then she pretty quickly will change her mind and decide whatever she's doing is the best thing ever.

So after lunch and giving Rose a pep talk and a little tough love, and then talking with one of the program directors, we put Rose back in for the afternoon but with an older male instructor.  I told him that I was pretty sure if he could just get Rose moving down the slope her tears would go away.  Sure enough, even though she wailed and moaned the first 10 minutes out of the building as they trudged through the snow and got set up on skis and went up the magic carpet, once they started going downhill and she felt some actual speed, she did tons better.

By the end of the day she was all smiles and declaring how much she loved skiing.  

We had a repeat performance of her tantrum for the first couple of minutes the next morning, but the same program director was there and once again, as soon as they got Rose up on skis and moving, she was all smiles and had a great time.

Which made it so fun for all of us because once classes were over Paul and I were able to ski with the girls, which is seriously one of the funnest things ever.  I just love watching them ski and cheering for them and seeing how proud they are of being able to do something so difficult.  There are so, so, so many lessons learned from skiing about resiliency and determination and effort, and such a great reward with speed and strength and endurance.  

And the girls absolutely soak in their bonding time with us on the chairlift and skiing down the slopes.  We skiied until the last minute the resort would let us for the afternoon because Clara just wanted to do run after run.  I would still love to get the girls back on the slopes here in California but I don't know if it's going to happen this season with how busy our weekends are through the rest of the Spring.  

 

I wasn't very good about pulling out my camera the rest of the trip, but did snap these pictures of Rose playing dress-up at Aunt Jennie's house.  Or "Adelaide's house" as Rose puts it.  She loves going there, both because she loves her cousins and because she loves all the toys and dress-ups.  The girls had a great time playing together, which they do so well, and I'm glad we got to spend a couple of days at Jennie & Ryan's, just keeping things low-key since Jennie's girls were back in school.

I took my girls sledding at Soldier Hollow one day when Jennie's girls were in school, which was a lot of fun.  Although it was still a lot of work even with the magic carpet to pull you back up the hill to sled on their runs.  But Clara and Rose loved it.  I was starting to come down with a bad, bad cold though and to be honest, felt a little miserable and ended up completely losing my voice after this.

Our last morning in Utah, we got to go to Emma's baptism.  It's one of the main reasons why we wanted to be in Utah in January in the first place and we are so proud of this girl.  She is such a sweetheart and I can't hardly believe she is already 8 and that Clara will be getting baptized next year, just like this cousin that she adores.
 

The long drive home wasn't too terrible.  It was just me and the girls and we left straight from the baptism to head out.  Fortunately, long drives like that aren't too bad for me and I'm pretty used to making them alone.  The girls watch movies, read books, and enjoy snacks, and I listen to audiobooks and podcasts, and every now and then we just turn everything off and talk.  It's actually pretty enjoyable.  

Looking forward to skiing with these girls again next year!

Utah Ski Trip 2017

Early in the month we pulled Clara out of school for a week to go to Utah for a ski trip.  I have amazing and treasured memories of skiing with my family while I was growing up and I'm loving every bit of creating new skiing memories with our girls. 

We skiied two days - Tuesday and Thursday - so that everybody could have a break in between, but I think next year I want to shoot for three full days of skiing.  I seriously don't know how my parents did five days in a row when we were kids when they were dealing with all five of us because that is a TON of gear and planning and preparation for lunches and making sure everybody has their goggles and gloves and socks and coats and pants and everything else that they need, including renting all of the equipment!  

The conditions were as perfect as skiing gets.  Gorgeous skies, nice temperatures that weren't too cold as long as the wind wasn't blowing straight down your neck, and the snow was fresh and wonderful.  Plus, we practically had the mountain to ourselves since we went in the middle of the week and it wasn't spring break for anyone yet.  It's not exactly easy to pull the girls out of school but I really feel like these kinds of experiences are 100% worth the missed days of class.  

And anyway, our school district lets us take an entire week off without penalty or counting the days as absences as long as you do the full week (not a partial one) and give them two weeks notice to prepare a packet of Independent Study materials.  So my mom helped Clara with a lot of the school work during down hours back at home and it's like she wasn't even gone.  It helps that right now she is just in Kindergarten and doing really well with her reading so I wasn't really worried about her getting behind.  

Lily, Emma and Clara all had a full day of ski school on Tuesday at Brighton.  They were so cute together all suited up for a day on the slopes.  We didn't realize that Clara and Emma had matching snow clothes from the Columbia outlets until we got there, lol.  There was a little bit of clinginess from Clara at first - she was hesitant to go into the kids room where they prepped for classes, but she was brave about it and didn't cry.  I think it really helped having her cousins there with her.

While the girls were in their morning class, the grown-ups got to ski together.  On Tuesday it was just me and Jennie and my dad since Jessica had to work and Paul was still in California.  Jennie's husband Ryan was there but he was taking a ski class as well since he had only been skiing once before.  But we had a great time getting reaquainted with the slopes since it was Jennie's first time skiing in 12 years.  

My mom was amazing and watched all four of the little girls at home while we skiied with the big girls.  She said that Adelaide and Rose had a ball playing with each other.  Then she packed up the 3 year olds and the almost 2 year old twins and brought them up to Brighton to meet us for lunch.  

We had egg salad sandwiches and cheetos and fruit and cookies and it all tasted so good.  For some reason, egg salad is the lunch of choice when we go skiing and has been since I was a kid.  I love it!  It's always nice to take a break and give your legs a rest from skiing and hard to get going again.  The girls all had a bit of a hard time going back in for the afternoon class.  Although all of them had leveled up in the morning, Clara and Emma were put in a class together for the afternoon and Lily was on her own in a little bit more advanced class.

While the big girls were back with their ski instructors, Jennie and I got Adelaide and Rose suited up and took them on the bunny slope for a few runs.

First the climbed on a big pile of snow while we were getting skis together.

Then we hit the slopes.  It was actually Rose's second year skiing and she did great!  I was so proud of her!  She was absolutely thrilled and giggled and laughed the entire time, just loving being on skis and on the mountain.  I held her under her armpits for much of the first run, trying to coax her into supporting her own weight and standing up rather than making me carry her down the mountain (which was exhausting!).  On the second run, I skiied backwards in front of her and she did much, much better even though I had to keep her upright and kept having to push her skis apart into a wedge for her while trying to explain what she needed to do to make that shape and slow herself down.

By the third run I was able to put a little distance between the two of us and have her ski to me while while I skied backwards.  I would let her ski into my arms every few yards or so, catching her whenever her speed got too much for her, and she thought it was the best game ever and laughed and laughed.  There was zero fear or nerves from Rose.

By the fourth run I was able to actually ski beside her much of the way down the slope and she had figured out how to stop herself with a "pizza" or wedge of her skis and I even started working with her on turns by explaining how she needed to point her feet in the direction she wanted to go.  Then I would ski backwards across the mountain and she would point her toes toward me, then we would turn and go the other way, etc.  It was pretty amazing progress for a 3-year old, in my opinion, and if I had had the stamina and had taken her multiple days she would have really been skiing by the end of the week.  But as it was, I was selfish and wanted more time doing harder runs instead of teaching so this was Rose's only afternoon skiing this year.  It was a good one though and next year she will be old enough for ski school.

Once the big girls were done with classes, we did a few runs with them to see what they had learned.  I was amazed at Clara's progress and you could tell that she was super excited about skiing.  The only thing we wished could have been different about Tuesday was more time skiing with the girls!  A full day of classes was the right move for their first day back skiing for the seasons, but we all loved skiing together in the afternoon once classes were over and wished we had longer to do it.

On Thursday, Jessica and Paul joined us for skiing!  We put the girls in ski school for morning lessons only and the grown ups skiied together.

We had another wonderful lunch (same lunch as Tuesday - we talked about doing something different but it just tasted so good that we did the same thing again!), although this time my mom stayed home with the twins and Adelaide and Rose.  Then after lunch we all skiied together as a group.  

You could tell that Clara was basking in the one on one time with me and Paul.  She had been moved to a more advanced class in the morning and was definitely done with the bunny slope.  She only wanted to ski Majestic which is much longer and with more advanced runs.  By the end of the day she was even doing some easy blue runs and skiing trails through the trees.  When everybody else started dropping off for breaks (including Paul), Clara begged to keep going so she and I skiied nonstop the whole time without a single pause for rest.  I lost count of how many runs we got in.

There was a tiny bump at the bottom of one hill and she kept going over it and declaring that it was her "jump" and she had gotten air, which cracked me up.  She wanted everyone to see it so Grandpa and Jessica and Paul all had to go on runs with us so she could show them.   I was just grateful that this year she was able to get herself back up when she fell so I didn't have to keep bending over and hauling her back on her feet!  And she had a fantastic attitude on Thursday - there wasn't a single bit of whining or complaining about being tired or anything - she had finally found the passion for skiing that I was hoping for for her.  I can't wait for next year already!  I wish we could find a free weekend to take her skiing in CA this season but our schedule is looking super booked and I don't know how we are going to be able to do it.

After skiing we stopped at Aunt Jessica's house to meet up with my mom and the girls so Jennie could transfer cars and head back to Spanish Fork.  I was so glad that she had come to stay at my parents house for the whole time we were there so that we could talk and the girls could play.

My girls are obsessed with Jessica's dog, Juniper, and loved playing with her in the yard.  They did NOT want to leave Jessica's house and are begging to go back.  We had dinner at a taqueria called Lone Star or something like that and it was so yummy!

The rest of our time in Utah was pretty low key.  We hung out at the house and the girls read books and played with Grandma.

We went to Farmington Station to watch the dancing water show and get donuts at Mad Brooks.  The girls always love doing this.

Then on Friday Paul and I drove down to BYU campus with the girls and spent the morning wandering around, stopping at the candy counter in the bookstore and looking at the science exhibits in the science building.  It was such a gorgeous, Spring-feeling day and I loved seeing all of the students out on campus and just feeling the energy there.

Afterwards we went to Jennie & Ryan's house in Spanish Fork and the girls played with cousins, enjoyed cupcakes from the Sweet Tooth Fairy, and rode bikes.  Clara even rode a two-wheel bike with no training wheels for the first time, which was awesome!  I have some videos that I really need to get uploaded so that I can post them but I know that I will put that off and then this post won't get published and I don't want to procrastinate that any further so for now, no videos.  After riding bikes, Uncle Ry got his tools out and the girls did a bike repair shop, which they really enjoyed.

Then while the girls watched Moana and had dinner with Jennie's family, Paul and I went on a date to Bombay House for Chicken Tikka Masala and Garlic Naan, followed by a super nerdy but awesome date wandering around BYU campus some more and enjoying the new Life Sciences building.  We also went to the library and looked at an exhibit on medicine during Medieval times.

We finished our date at Waffle Love getting delicious Liege Waffles, which are just incredible.  If you have never had one, they are yeasted waffles with Belgian sugar pearls kneaded into the dough.  I always get the Red Wonder which is topped with cookie butter, whipped cream, and strawberries and raspberries.  It's SO good.  Paul got the churro waffle.  

On Saturday we went to Paul's grandpa's 90th birthday open house, which was fun, but I don't have any pictures from this day!  Then we stopped by to visit Scott & Maren (Paul's cousin and his wife) and their family.  It was fun catching up with them and we wish they still lived around the corner like they did when we moved to Dublin.

That night John made a fancy dinner for everybody to celebrate his birthday and the Nash cousins all watched Moana (yup, our girls got to see it two nights in a row and they are OBSESSED).  And we drove home the next morning!  It was such a wonderful trip!