A Fathers Love

THIS is a beautiful clip and it reminds me 

of my very own selfless and always serving husband...

but more importantly it reminds me of how 

real our Heavenly Fathers love is for all of his children.

Children's Theater

We have a fun little children's theater downtown.  

Cody and I take turns going on a date to the theater with the big girls.

Last week Dad was on call, so I took all four girls, typically Reese stays home.

After the show the actors, in this play there were a total of four, come out to sign programs and take pictures with the kids. Brinley is outgrowing the autograph excitement, so she took care of Reese, which she often does, while I kept track of Avery and Aspen.

Dear Mom,

 I love you more than words can ever say. 

Thank you, yeah yeah yeah.

We love you, you are the best Mom ever.

I love you,

 From Avery

My dearest Avery,

I love YOU more than words can ever say! 

I always want you to remember how much I love your sweet notes 

that I find throughout the house. 

Someday when you are older you will read this blog and when you do I want you to pretend like Mommy is giving you a great big hug.

You are a very special person and my life would not be complete without you in it.

From,

 Mommy 

Miss Representataion

If you have not already seen this documentary then DO. 

It's available on DVD through netflix.

No matter your gender, age or position in life, it's an issue that applies to you.

 You can view the trailer here.

I made a pledge to add my voice to the cause, my one voice.

 And my one voice may not have power to do much, but if we band together for this cause I have faith that many voices can work together to bring about needed change. 

Please believe that your one voice can also make a difference!

Do it for my girls and for yours, for your sons and your grandchildren, do it for our country.

 We must stand for what is right in a world that increasingly  

amplifies and glorifies wrong, calling it right.

You can see a short TED talk about the documentary HERE.

Ski Lessons

 The girls actually hit the slopes before Mom and Dad did.

Over the holiday break Cody took the big girls to a nearby ski hill 

(no mountains around here)

for a morning lesson and ski time.

Although based on Cody's observations we feel the lesson was a rip off, 

the girls had a wonderful time and begged to stay for the rest of the day.

Cody did his best to run up and down the bunny hill beside the younger two while Brinley headed off to the hill with a lift and did some skiing all by herself. 

Although it's freezing outside our grass has turned back to a healhty shade of green...

not sure that the girls will be able to ski again this winter or not.

Cody took some darling videos of the girls skiing, but for some reason blogger is having issues with uploading them?? Help Duane??

Spiritual enlightenment HERE.

Beaver Creek, Colorado

Cody and I just arrived home after a wonderful week of skiing at Beaver Creek and Vail.

I tagged along on this "work" related conference trip.

When we pulled up to our hotel we were greeted by this 2013 ice sculpture.

 All of these pictures from this trip were taken with our phones, so some are better than others.

Each of the four ski mornings we would ring the ski valet and he would have our skis 

ready and waiting for us on the snow.

This is a picture I took of our hotel from the Bachelor Gulch ski mountain at  
Beaver Creek.

Different parts of the mountain have different names and rightfully 

so as the resort boasts 25 lifts.

Above is a picture I found on Goggle of our hotel at night.

After skiing we would retreat to the "grotto" (seen in above picture from google) 

or to one of the three outside hot tubs.

We were also able to utilize the eucalyptus sauna, dry sauna and 

cold bath free of charge at the spa.

 

The pool remains heated throughout the winter, 

but we still preferred the hot tubs.

A post-skiing perk was the daily free hot chocolate, 

blazing fire for roasting marshmallows (which is what I'm doing in this picture), 

live music out by the fire and lovely lounge area.

One night we took the hotel shuttle to Beaver Creek Village for dinner.

It was a charming area loaded with shops, restaurants, an ice skating rink 

and several ice sculptures.

Truth be told we managed to choose the most unpalatable tapas restaurant in the entire state that night and ended up sending back most of the food, however, the company and peaceful ambiance (meaning without any crying or whining)
made up for the lack of desirable food.

Below is the view from the hotel Yoga studio where I enjoyed a few early morning 

yoga practices while Cody was attending lectures. He was typically done by 8:30 or 9am so that we could get a full day of skiing in before the evening lectures began.

I am teaching Yoga at my gym now and loving it!!

We started planning this conference trip long long ago and were thrilled when we were able to encourage our friends from residency, Jeff and Liz, to join us. 

On the first day the two couples skied on different parts of the mountain. 

That afternoon we received word that Liz had broken her collar bone  

on the 5th run of the day.

Of course we felt terrible horrible for poor Liz who missed out on skiing for the remainder of the trip. Although she was in a decent amount of pain, she had a superstar attitude and was able to join us for post-skiing activities.

 After the accident the hotel promptly purchased her a more comfortable bathing suit,  
on the house (her's had straps that cut into the broken bone), 

so that she could at least enjoy the spa and hot tubs while we were skiing.

Cody's partner Patrick also attended the conference and we enjoyed a day 

of skiing together and a nice dinner out with him.

We spent one glorious day skiing Vail, it was pretty awesome!

Even though snow conditions were less than ideal, we were in seventh heaven skiing at both resorts, like kids in a candy shop.

I didn't even want to drink water lest we have to take 

any unnecessary stops to use the restroom. It has been way too long since I last skied!

Here are the boys in the lobby at 8am waiting for the car to arrive 

so that we could head to Vail, just a 10 minute drive from the hotel.

We had apparently just missed the insane holiday crowds and were often  

the only people on any given run. LOVED THAT!

Artistic chairs made out of skis in Vail Village.

Riding one of the gondola's at Vail.

I took this picture to capture the maps of both front mountain and back bowls. 

 
There are 31 lifts at Vail.
 The sky was a breathtaking shade of deep blue.
  

Because Jeff skied at Vail growing up he became a great tour guide for us that day.

Here he is after lunch mapping out the afternoon action plan.

(Lion's head Village at Vail)

We were beneficiaries of the Ritz customer service due to a mishap which took place after we checked in. There was a slight miscommunication and another gentleman was given our same room to check in to. 

We were both surprised when he opened the door to his/our room.

Long story short we both enjoyed a complimentary 90 min. couple's massage
which more than made up for the little incident.

We had an incredibly fun and relaxing "conference" vacation and
I have felt so rejuvenated and ready to take on all that the role of mommy currently entails. 

Of course this entire opportunity would not have been possible without our loving Auntie Yvette who took time off her very demanding work requirements at HP to care for all four children...not an easy task. One day after returning to her home she headed back to the airport and is now attending a work convention in Texas that she was responsible for organizing.

Thank you Yvette!

Sledding

On Saturday we went sledding. 

Typically one parent stays home with Reese and the other takes the girls out to do things. 

I insisted that we do sledding as a family, which required some careful planning to accommodate Reese's two-naps-a-day sleep requirements. 

(sweet picture of Avery's new mouth look)

In our hurry to leave right after baby woke from nap #1, we forgot to pack the diaper bag along with the other 4254 items we needed to bring. As soon as we drove up to one of the only, somewhat pathetic, sledding destinations in our area and got out of the car,  

Reese had filled her pants.

SO, off I rushed to find the nearest grocery store to buy diapers and wipes. 

(Aunt Mel, I took this picture per our chat when you told me that I needed to get in more pictures with the girls. 
Thanks for that suggestion!)

Reese was close to done being outside by the time I got back to the hill with the goods in tow.

After a diaper change and a few quick sledding runs Reese and I spent time eating crackers and drinking green smoothies in the van while the girls and dad sled.

Although I packed the camera with the intention to take some good sledding actions shots ZERO were taken as I attended to little miss fussy pants.

The big girls had a delightful time with lots of joy and giggles. 

Dad was a good sport to go up and down and up and down the hill again 

and again as the girls cried out "It's my turn to go with Daddy next!!!"