The Holidays!

Yay, school has started once again and we've finally had a moment to catch our breath and reflect on the craziness that was our life for the last two weeks. It's hard to believe it's already over. So much happened. Where to begin??? First, I guess we have to touch on Christmas. We kept things really simple. We've never been much for spoiling our kids for Christmas and this year was no exception. The highlights for our kids were remote control cars that I got for the boys on sale at 50% off. They were a great deal and boys loved them to pieces, literally! By the second day after Christmas both cars were broken in two. Why can't they make toys that can take a beating? I mean come on, these are sold for CHILDREN! One thing they are guaranteed to do is drive them FULL SPEED into a wall which is how they snapped. They now have so much "liquid nails" holding them together that they will spin on one wheel instead of two. I probably should have just returned them but who wants to deal with that?!
Emily got an MP3 player. Wes put all her favorite music on it and she absolutely love it! She's only nine but when she's listening to her tunes I feel like I have a young teenager! I can't tell you how many times I've already had to ask her to turn it down so she can hear me. She's so cute though singing her little heart out the way she does. Maybe now she won't be so shy about singing in church. Lastly, Wes and I got a new set of scriptures (large ones!) about a month ago as early Christmas presents to each other. I have to say, it's been nice having all my tabs back! There's also something really neat about reading your scriptures and marking them up as if it were the first time again. We are both really enjoying the process of breaking them in.After Christmas, the next week was spent visiting with both my family and Weston's. Both of my sisters that live out of town were here and both of Weston's brothers from Utah were here as well . My brother-in-law Jeremy had just graduated from basic and was home for the holidays. He's had a ton of interesting stories to tell and I've been learning all the Army lingo. They have an acronym for EVERYTHING. It's crazy! Jeremy also got all the men to go out shooting which they thoroughly enjoyed. Wes tells me he did the best but I'll have to confirm that one with the men! On top of all the visiting which has been practically daily, Emily and the boys have been having a number of sleep overs at Grandma's. With all the family being here we all wanted to give the kids as much time as we could to spend together. There was a while there when I wondered when I was going to get my kids back! All our routines went out the window. We were all bringing our kids home every couple of days to make sure they got bathed and brushed their teeth. It was crazy but they loved every minute of it!
For New Years, Wes and I took a little mini vacation, just the two of us, to Sunrise to do some snow boarding. We never got away for our 10 year anniversary this past year so we have been anxiously waiting to see if they were going to have enough snow to get away for New Years. I can't tell you how excited I was every time Sunrise got dumped with snow! As soon as it was clear they would be open, we booked our hotel and I took my board in to get waxed. I was so irritated with the conversation I had with the guy at the counter when I picked up my board. He asked me, "Is THAT your board?" to which I replied suspiciously, "Yes." Then he says to me, "Man, that's ANCIENT!" Let me tell you, I've never felt so OLD. Thanks a lot stupid salesman!

On New Year's Day, Wes and I dropped the kids off at Grandma's and headed up. I could not believe how much snow they had up there. The snow banks just before you get to the Resort turn off were at least 7-8 feet tall! I can't remember when I've seen it so high. It was a great indicator of how great the runs were going to be and both Wes and I got totally giddy with anticipation. The first day I road my board and I wore Chantel's boots which I had borrowed at the last minute. They are nicer than mine but I have to say, my old boots would have been much more comfortable. Her boots are also bigger than mine and it threw my balance off more than I would have expected. I must have fell at least 6 times that first day and I couldn't turn with squat! By the end of the day, my legs hurt so much from the boots that I could hardly walk. Unfortunately, Wes didn't do much better but not withstanding our hardships, we still managed to have a great time. The snow was fantastic (for Arizona) with plenty of powder and the weather could not have been more perfect! It was absolutely gorgeous!
The next day we decided that Wes would ride my board and I would rent one of the new boards and some boots of course. I have to say, I LOVED the new snow boards. My board must be about 12-13 years old and back then they were much larger and heavier than they are now. With the new board I couldn't believe how much easier everything was. I was having the best snow board of my life! My "ancient" board ended up being a perfect fit for Wes. If you could have seen us, you would not have believed we were the same boarders as the day prior. We were having such a great time CARVING IT UP and then...disaster struck! We had just gotten off the lift at the top of Cyclone and were heading over to my favorite run. We still hadn't got any good pictures and we were planning on taking some on this run. There is a significant flat part of the mountain you have to get through before each of the runs start down. I was going pretty fast and keeping my board fairly flat when I caught an edge. Okay, truth be told, I was hot doggin it, trying to pass Wes. I was keeping my board pretty much flat to pick up more speed (I was already going pretty fast for a flat area) when I caught what I think was my back edge. It's all so fuzzy to me now. All I know is that I hit the snow so hard and fast it was scary. It was the first and only time that day I took a tumble. Wes said he caught it from the corner of his eye and he knew I was going to be hurt pretty bad. He actually had broken his arm on the same type of fall 11 years ago. I was quite a bit luckier...a broken rib...or two. When my edge caught I was pretty much SLAMMED hard to the snow. Unfortunately for me, that area was particularly hard packed. I might as well had been hitting concrete! My arm was tucked to my side when I landed on it and I heard the unmistakable "crack". I really hate that sound! I couldn't move or breath so I just laid there gasping for air while Wes pulled my board off and hiked back up to the lift to get help. The ski patrol had to take me all the way down from the top of Cyclone to the Apache base on a ta bogon. It would have actually been kinda fun if every little bump didn't hurt so much. It was so embarrassing with everyone staring at me all the way down but the most embarrassing part was when we reached the base and we had to cross in front of the line waiting for the lift. Everyone was looking at me and I heard someone say, "Yep, another snow boarder!" Argggh! You want to know the part that chaps my hide the worst??? Having to cut our day short! We were having such a great time! I tried to talk Wes into finishing the day but he wouldn't leave my side. He's such a sweetie. I love him so much. So here's all the top 3 things that kill me the most about having a stupid broken rib:

1. I can't pick up my kids!
2. I can't run! It will be at least 6-8 weeks before I can run again. I'm so sad.
3. It hurts to do ANYTHING AND EVERYTHING!


Believe it or not, I'm actually filled with gratitude. I'm really grateful that I wasn't hurt worse. As breaks go, in my opinion this is the best break I could have hoped for. There's nothing anyone can do about it so no doctor visits, casts, surgeries, etc. We also had a really great time. Wes and I can't stop talking about how fun it was. I actually can't wait to get back out there and go again! I'm also really grateful Wes and I got to spend some time alone. I can't tell you how wonderful it is to see your husband's face all lit up with total JOY doing something we both really love.

PS. Thank you mom for watching the kids for us! You are amazing!