Christmas 2021

After starting on the heap of skiing laundry and getting the house ready for Santa's arrival, we did not make it to bed until after 1:00am. The boys were up and ready to stairs around 8:00am. 

Unfortunately, Santa's elves were not able to finish making Camden's fingerboard skate park in Poland despite them working on it since Thanksgiving. So, at the last minute, he was able to come through with a new Fitbit. Thank goodness for Camden's old one starting to act funny a few weeks ago . . . Casen got an awesome green gaming chair (his favorite color).

Casen showing how his chair
reclines and he can just sleep in it.

Camden won $2

Hoping he wins on his scratch off

Mollie got a new toy for Christmas. Turns out Nina
liked the feathers on the toy so it did not 
last too long.

Nina got some new toys too!

Later in the morning, my mom and dad came over. For dinner we enjoyed some of my mom's yummy lasagna. I must say it was odd not calling my grandma on her birthday. She may be gone, but definitely not forgotten this Christmas. 

Camden made this beautiful snowflake at school. Apparently, one of his teachers taught him how to make them because she wanted to hang them in her classroom. He ended up teaching his peers how to make them also and they were recruited by another teacher to make them for her room as well. I think it is a beautiful decoration.

Today, we celebrated Christmas with my family. We had some great laughs, opened presents, and then headed to our favorite Mexican restaurant, Ranchitos, for our Christmas dinner.  

Camden's favorite Christmas gift - 
a James Avery cross necklace.

Our family!

We hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas.

Ski Trip 2021

Anyone who knows me knows I despise the cold weather. I am not a fan and frankly hate winter. The boys have been asking to go skiing for several years and I have made every excuse not to plan the trip. This year I decided, regardless of my feelings about the snow and skiing, I was going to plan the ski trip that everyone (aside from me) wanted to go on. Not having any experience with skiing, I spoke with several people that have skied and decided on Crested Butte mainly because it was reasonable in price, there is an airport close and a shuttle service that will take you to and from the airport to the resort. Also, there is a free shuttle that goes to and from the resort at the top of the mountain, down to the town of Crested Butte, which makes it easy to go into town to eat and get groceries. Our flight left a little after 7:00am on Monday morning and we got to the airport a little less than 2 hours prior to our departure and boy were we cutting it close. The line for security was very long and we pretty much made it to our gate at the time they started loading the plane. Whew!

Casen and I on the first leg of our 
flight to Denver

Layover in Denver

Camden and I on our way to Gunnison, CO.

The views from the plane were beautiful.

We rode the Alpine Express, which was a nice shuttle ride from the airport to the Grand Lodge at Crested Butte. The boys were tired and took a little lap on the way to the resort.

Once we got to the resort, we got all our belongings situated and then we headed to the base of the mountain to get our ski gear so that we were ready to start skiing first thing the next morning. We then boarded the shuttle bus to head to town to eat and get groceries. We ate at a quaint little restaurant called the Last Steepe. It was owned by a woman who graduated from the University of Alabama and several of her family members who also went to UA were in town visiting, so needless to say there were alot of 'Roll Tides' going around.

The view from our window

Unfortunately Shane had a rough night the first night and woke up with a bad headache and dry heaving half way through the night. He assumed it was altitude sickness, but it ended up happening every night and he had A LOT of congestion every night, so we still aren't completely sure what the issue was. Regardless, we had to get ourselves up and ready because the boys and I had ski school to attend. Who knew it would take at least 30 minutes to get our gear on the first time???? Luckily, we got better as time went on. 

Getting ready to hit the slopes!

The boys were super excited to hit the slopes. The boys and I were a bit nervous, but we were ready to give it our all. 

The boys ski school started 30 minutes before mine and ended 30 minutes prior to mine, so Shane went ahead and took them on the ski lift and they headed up the mountain. After several falls during his first time down the mountain, Camden finally made his way down. He was a bit tired by the time he made it to the bottom.

Casen struggled a bit more coming down the mountain and after multiple attempts and shedding several tears, he finally just walked down to the bottom.

We went back to the room and ate some lunch and then headed back to the slopes. Casen decided he didn't want to ski anymore that day, so he and I just hung out at the bottom of the mountain while Shane and Camden went and skii'd again. I was looking forward to the next day so I could finally use what I learned in ski school and try out skiing myself.

We made our way back to our room, changed and headed to catch the bus to go into town and eat some dinner. While we waited for the bus, the we took some pics by the ice sculptures.

When we got up Wednesday, Shane was dealing with yet another headache and nausea. After some medication, coffee and breakfast, we were ready to hit the slopes again. After big pep talks, Casen and I decided that it was going to be our day! We headed to the slope that was recommended by my ski instructor, Houston. We all made it off of the ski lift without falling which I felt was a great accomplishment for us all! Camden and I skii'd together while Shane stayed with Casen. I had a hard time slowing down a few times and ended up on the ground in order to stop myself.

I took this pic while I was on the 
ground after one of my falls.

I felt like we all did pretty good. The boys have picked up skiing pretty quickly. And while I was doing ok, I don't like feeling out of control. I felt like I had a grip of skiing on most of the slope until we got to the end where it was a rather steep drop to get to the base of the mountain. I am not going to lie, it took me FOREVER to ski down the last part. I pretty much side stepped my way down the very last part of the slope and then finally skii'd the rest of the way down. I swear, no pictures show how steep that last part felt and I for sure never pulled out my phone to take a picture for fear I would fall. LOL. I felt like my first run exhausted me, so the boys all went back on the slope while I stayed at the bottom and took pics. I finally went back to the room and had some hot chocolate while I waited for them to return. 

I may not have been killing it on the slopes,
 but at least I looked good thanks to my friends
who allowed me to borrow their
cool ski clothes. 

Shuttle ride to town

Such a cute little ski town!

Our final day to ski, Camden was bound and determined to be one of the first ones on the slopes, however Shane's headache and nausea kept that from happening. But we got there as fast as we could. There was a lot of snowfall during the night and continued on throughout the day, which made for some fun skiing. 

It was so cold on the ski lift

The boys waiting on me to come down the 
last part of the mountain. LOL

Catching snow flakes

After one run down the slopes, I headed back to the room to make everyone lunch while they hit the slopes again.  I brought the lunch back to the base of the mountain where we ate, and then hit the slopes again.

Me in action.

I was colder than I cared to be, so I headed back to the room while Shane and the boys headed to a new slope they had naot skiid on and enjoyed some different views.

Heading back to the room I snapped
this pic that I felt portrayed exactly how
 cold I (and my hair) felt.

It snowed 7 inches during the day and then it snowed all night. By the time we woke up today, there was A LOT more snow. (It ended up snowing 41" total from 12/23/-12/24). We had been keeping an eye on our flight to make sure it was still on schedule since we were hearing on the news that a lot of flights were being cancelled due to weather as well as airlines being short on staff due to COVID. It appeared our flight was still on so we packed up all our belongings and headed downstairs in preparation for the Alpine Express to pick us up at 10:15 to take us to the airport. While waiting in the lobby we received a phone call that our driver was running late due to weather, but would be there by 10:45. Right after we hung up the phone with Alpine Express, I received notification that our flight was cancelled. I called back Alpine Express and told them to cancel the driver for the time being. I then called United Airlines to see what we could do to get home, even looking at two other airports within driving distance to fly out of and the person on the phone had nothing good to offer me but a flight out tomorrow (Christmas Day) at the same time. When I asked if they were assisting in our accommodations due to cancelling our flight, I was told that we had to go to the airport for that to happen. So, I called by Alpine Express and asked if they could get us to the airport and luckily they had a driver coming down the mountain and within 5 minutes we were in the bus and headed to the airport. It was crazy driving down the mountain because EVERYTHING was white. Our driver told us it has not snowed like this in years!

We arrived to the airport, which is currently undergoing construction, and made our way inside in hopes of figuring out a way to get home sooner more so than later.

We were greeted by an angel who worked for Delta. She seemed bound and determined to get us home before Christmas, even if it meant putting us on a different airline. After looking and checking and looking and checking some more, she was finally able to get us on a United flight home, with a stop in Denver on the way. We would be home by 7:30pm tonight and Santa would be able to visit! What a blessing!!! We could not thank that sweet lady enough!!!

Despite a lot of turbulence, which I loved, we did indeed make it home. Since we arrived home later than previously planned, we did not get to make our annual cookies for Santa, which made me sad. Fortunately, my sister saved the day and bought some cookies for us to put out for Santa. 

I may have ruined myself planning this trip. On the way home when we asked the boys if  they preferred our beach trips or skiing, they both chose skiing. Noooooooooo!!!! They may just have to start taking boy trips without me. :) While it was not as miserably cold as I thought it would be, it was still colder than I prefer. But to see my boys so happy and having the time of their lives was worth every minute of it!