White New Years

So some of you know I headed out to Washington State the day after Christmas to see Brett and meet is family. They live in Bellevue - right outside Seattle. (it's like Marietta to Atlanta)
It's beautiful here! Floating bridges everywhere and evergreen trees and mountains in the distance. He drug (dragged?) me around the city on Thursday - we went on top of the space needle and all around the city. We've been to several dinner parties with his old high school friends and their wives/kids and some family get-togethers. I feel like I've met the entire state! Brett came down with something a few days ago. Most likely a virus of some sort. We laid on the couch all day Saturday and most of Sunday. It was awesome. (not that he is sick, but the forcing us to relax part) Sunday(yesterday) we drove down with his parents and another couple to their cabin on the Hood Canal. I am upstairs in the living room right now looking out the huge windows at the Olympic Mountains.
They look a lot like this...


Except more snow-covered.
Beautiful place. Right on the water. And there's about 2-inches of snow on the ground.
Mom has made me swear I would never move here. I swear. But it's been a great trip and I look forward to coming back here soon.

Anyway, lots of pictures and video footage of our trip that I'm sure (?) I will consider sharing at a later date.

Love to everyone back home and Happy New Year!

School's Out!

Well, for me at least... and only until January 3rd. This Accounting thing is kickin' my butt! But I'm honestly enjoying school (?) and that's the first time in my life I've ever said that... ask moma! Hopefully by June I will have all my credit hours done for my Associates Degree in Accounting and I can start an internship somewhere in the summer or maybe the fall? That's the plan...

So in answer to Bill's question - Yes, I have learned something.
My brain is so full of stuff right now that I'm looking forward to the holidays to sort it though and file away the things that need to be remembered and send the rest to the recycle bin.
College isn't the only thing testing me right now though, dating is hard too.
When people asked me a few months ago, how are you and Brett? I would say, "Oh we're great... still like eachother and having fun". While that is still true, I would add to it, "It's HARD!" You find out so much about yourself and how you argue and how you handle situations with grace and be careful about what you say because you realize your words have so much weight to another person... even more than your best friend. Maybe not more than your mom, but close. Suddenly I realize the power of words and their ability to lift up or tear down. Yikes... I'm a name caller, that's for sure. Something to work on in the new year. But not til then?

I'm watching the Little kids right now... they're pretty darn cute. Especially around bedtime if you can imagine that.
That's when the slap-happy kicks in and the re-donkulous silliness comes out... the best kind of laughter.
Here's a pic of Adeline - she turned 1 on December 1st.


Anyways, they Nyswanders are coming soon - yay!
And we will see those bright and shiny Fritchy faces not too long after.
So many things to look forward to!!!

Peace and Love.

PS - why is it so flippin' hot outside!!! It just ain't right!

I've learned how to knit.

I figure if I'm going to be a godmother I should start doing godmother-type things...
So I'm knitting Isaiah Grace a scarf. And it's gonna get cold up there soon!

Here are the beginnings:


In other news,

1) You can now watch TV while you pump your gas at Walmart on 41.
Wrong, wrong, wrong.

2) I read a sign outside of a church last week that said, "God checks his kneemail".
Equally as wrong.

3) Answer me this... Why do some of the people I love the most have to live so d*** far away?
And reading their blogs seems to make it worse. It's selfish, but I'm mad.

4) I love the fall season. And I really love the season of life I'm in.
But it's so dang busy! I wish I had more time to keep up with you all!
Don't take it personally (AMY) :)

5) I turn 21 in 27 days.

6) I feel like I'm stealing Annie's list-making trademark, so I'll stop at 6 instead of going to 7 like she usually would.

Key Largo

...is amazing!
I landed yesterday afternoon and hit the Miami ground running trying to catch up on all the things my family has been doing for a month.
The house is awesome. Right on the water. And we have a long skinny dock out to our boat that is as useful as a car would be in Marietta. John showed me his collection of frozen sea life, including a shark (about 2 feet long) several mean looking barracudas (makes me want to sing that song) and the ever-loved "Steve" (JohnJohn likes to name things) which the boys found out is a hog fish. But still affectionately known as Steve. They've devised a (made up) point-system for every fish they catch. I think John's in the lead as of late.
Then we hopped in the boat and drove across the bay to a restaurant and watched the amazing sun set and ate delicious fresh yellowtail snapper. Seafood = yum.
It's good to be with my long-lost family again.

How was your Scotland trip?

I think I decided that you will just have to ask me in person.
There's NO WAY I could begin to sum-up all that happened over the last couple weeks in one blog... or even ten blogs! I felt every emotion possible. Everything from the happiest I've ever been - watching another person coming to know Jesus as their personal Savior, to being afraid for my life. It was intense to say the least.
I told mom on the way from the Miami airport (I haven't seen my family in a month!) that it felt like I had to be on guard the whole time I was there. It was like I shifted into defense-mode like we were going to battle. Darkness all around us makes the light much brighter to those who recognize it. I am so greatful and humbled by God's plan to use this team to bring glory to him in the country of Scotland. Those youth are amazing and I can't wait to hear how God uses THEM in this next year. Seeds were planted in them that week that will not be overlooked.
There are a million awesome pictures of sweet faces and fun games, but I forgot my memory card adapter so you'll have to wait until I get back from family vacation to see them...
Annie has them up on a mac website though, I think.

Cutest EVER!

This is Isaiah Grace's pool face.

She was so cute last week when Bekah and her and I went to their neighborhood pool.
Cutest thing in it!
Those Nyse girls are my fav-o-rite.

Love!

What even...

...does this even mean?!?!

Moma, Jeanne, and I went shopping this afternoon and on the way home, sitting in traffic on Polk Street, we stumbled across this little jewel of a saying.

"Wisdom is not attained by years but by ability"

Wisdom is attained by how able you are?
Your ability is how able you are to do something.
Is it saying your ability to learn.
Now I'm confused.
Maybe wisdom is beyond my abilities.

Anyway,
This started a long discussion and we decided quickly that this quote was very insulting to disabled people. Are they forever banished from being wise because their lack of ability?
Interesting concept... seems wrong.

We would LOVE to hear your interpretations...

Reunion

The "fab five" all got together last night for the first time this summer.
We went to Stone Mountain for a picnic and to view the ever-entertaining, never-changing lazer show! It's amazing how a lame summer tradition can be so much fun when you add good friends and food.
Anyways, the show was scheduled to start and 9pm so we got there at 7:30 to get a good seat and eat and throw the football. At about 7:45 when we had our blanket and food laid all out, it started trickle and by 8:00 it was POURING rain. Welp, we're all soaking wet (except for smart, prepared Lauren with her red bulldogs umbrella... so sassy) why don't we go play football?!
Leah, Katie F and I got soaking wet and Katie and I very muddy so we decided it would be an ok thing to jump in the little lake in front of the mountain (yeah, the one where several people have drowned over the years).
At about 9:15 the rain stopped completely and we took our seats for the lazer show.
What a fun memory.
The coolest part of the rain was watching it pour over the side of the mountain like little tiny waterfalls. It bounced off General Lee's (?) horses back.
And all along the smooth surface were these skinny little individual waterfalls.
It was neat, I think you had to be there.

Viva NashVegas!

I know, I know. It's day three in Nashville and I haven't posted ONCE.
Mom's been blogging for Sharliss on Katherine's website. (link to the right)
It's been a busy three days!

DAY 1 - Saturday
We left Marietta early Saturday morning and headed to Tennessee...
It was a surprisingly quick drive. Except Moma sprayed and wiped the windshield EVERY time a bug hit it. (every 5 seconds) It was pretty comical and then it became a joke. (but I knew she was serious) The woman loves a clean car... who doesn't?
When we got here Saturday afternoon, we hit the ground running.
Sharliss educated Moma and I ALL about KJ's meds. A quick grocery store visit to get the supplies we needed while Sharliss was gone... a red velvet cake mix and 4 close calls with the electric wheelchair later. We were off to visit some friends of theirs who participated in the 'Music City 1/2 Marathon' in honor of Katherine earlier that day. They all had on bright pink shirts that said "Team KJ" and on the back, our slogan "We're Going to Win". We took some pictures and visited a while. Then we went to J. Alexanders because KJ requested a steak for dinner... delicious.

DAY 2 - Sunday
Sharliss got up early for her flight to Tampa.
Us girls slept in and then went to Jason's deli for lunch. Then a trip to Target and back home for a nap. KJ slept for 5 hours! Molly (one of her dogs) chewed my toothbrush in half!) Picture soon. So then for dinner we ate Moma's delicious strawberry salad and chicken alfredo. And fell asleep watching a movie.

DAY 3 - Monday
Today we got up early (remember long nap yesterday afternoon?) and called into Vandy to see if the chemo they ordered from Europe for KJ was in... It was so we leisurely made our way over there. We went into downtown Franklin, first. We shopped around and went in lots of cute little stores. One of which was a store where they sell a bunch of homemade soaps and bath things. We all bought a little treat of some sort. KJ just finished up using hers. Smells delicious!
Then to lunch at a cute little restaurant... I forget the name. But ya'll, the coolest thing happened! When we were done with our meal, the waitress asked if we needed anything else, and I said, "no, just the check, thanks" and she said, "oh, it's been taken care of already". Wha? Someone asked to take care of our lunch and slipped out before we had even finished our meal! Wow. I was completely humbled. So sweet... what a blessing.
Then we went to Vanderbilt and Katherine got two big nasty chemo shots. She didn't even flinch. She's so strong and brave. Just completely amazing, that's all.
So after that, Moma got the great idea of calling up our good friends Kevin and Mandy Mann who live in East Nashville. We went to their house and visited for a while and then all went to get ice cream. It was SO GOOD seeing them and Mandy is beginning to show! They are having a baby boy in September and I can't wait to meet him!!!
After that we ran a few more errands and now we are sittin' our butts in front of the TV.
Lucy is in my lap and sleeping. We all will be soon...

I forgot my card reader so you'll have to wait until tomorrow for pictures.
We're heading back home tomorrow afternoon.
Thanks for all your prayers... I can feel the hedge of protection around this place.
It's been really cool to be a small, short part of.
The Arnolds are amazing!
Love.

I was tired of looking at that sick picture...

So I will inform you of the holiday many of you, I'm sure, were not aware went on yesterday. It's called - "Administrative Professionals Day". In fact, there is a whole week dedicated to this holiday. For answers to all your questions about this you can visit the site:

http://www.iaap-hq.org/apw/Answers_FAQs_APW.htm

Employers across the world often are unsure of how best to celebrate Administrative Professionals Week® (APW). Some frequently asked questions include:
Answers to Frequently Asked Questions About Administrative Professionals Week:
1. Who qualifies as an administrative professional?
2. Why was the event’s name changed from "Secretaries Week"?
3. Should my secretary feel slighted by the change?
4. What is an appropriate gift of appreciation for busy assistants?
5. Should the entire administrative team receive recognition, or should it be an optional choice between each executive and assistant?
6. How can individual administrative professionals make this event meaningful, even if their employers don't recognize them during Administrative Professionals Week?

So now you know... Don't say I never taught you anything.
And I apologize if you ARE an administrative professional and you were not recognized as you deserve. You should probably come watch 'The Office' with me tonight because that would make anyone feel good about where they work...
Or at least it hopefully would. :/
Our boss bought us lunch at Applebees, so I feel completely appreciated.
Happy Administrative Professionals week!

I ate octopus

Tonight I found out that I'm a big fat wimp when it comes to trying new foods... oh, AND that I crack pretty easily under peer pressure. We went to eat dinner at a Korean restaurant on Sandy Plains Road. It was Seung Yeon's birthday (Brett's exchange student... we call him Jim) so he and a few of his Korean friends and a big group of us went to said Korean restaurant. Everyone tried something new. Kurt and I shared a pretty harmless beef and mushroom plate. The Dewhurst's had Korean BBQ, which was actually quite delicious. Jim, Arnold and Chul Won had their favorite homeland dishes. Tyler went right for the squid. And Brett had to 'one-up' everyone and go for the spicy octopus. Well, lets just say my stomach feels a little squirmy.

Isn't it funny how cultures are SO different. Yeah, sure, how we look and talk - but what we put in our MOUTH especially. I guess it all depends on you location on the planet earth. Where God has placed certain cultures and what he provides for us in that one small area of the earth and how we adapt to it. I tell you, it opened my eyes a little... my stomach A LOT.

So at the end, things are winding down... and after at least 5 minutes of persuasion on Brett's part... they finally pull the "Oh, ktb, Jim said it's the one thing he wants for his birthday." Oh great, alright - GULP. Eeewww. Thus this blog was formed.

Eventful Day

And to top it off... we walk out of Cafe Intermezzo onto Peachtree Street and it's SNOWING! I'm not talking just a few flurries people. Noticable ammounts of snowage. We were cracking up! It's snowing in April. Easter weekend to be exact. I can't believe it. I bet you don't either...
Here's a pic Annie took while hanging out my car window to prove.



BELIEVE IT!
Georgia weather is CrAzY!!!
I love it...
G'night.

Break at the Lake

This week is Spring Break!
As you've probably already read on Annie and Marie Claire's blogs... we went to the Downs' lake house for these last several days. If you haven't read of our adventures, you should check out their blogs first, because they are way more funny than I am.
One of the highlights was the boat ride Annie took us on. She was nervous at first, but she drove that boat like a rock star. (?) I've never understood that term.
Anyway, her best quote from the weekend would have to be when we finally took off from their dock she said, "My theme for driving a boat is, 'This is my world, figure out how to live in it'."
Haha, I laughed outloud. Almost as loud as I did when Marie and I were taking pictures with Iphoto on Annie's new Mac computer. So funny.
Lake Burton is B-E-A-utiful! And their lake house is no exception. A perfect retreat. It was so good to get away from the city for a few days! Especially with some of the funniest people I know including my mother. Good times were had.
We should have gotten a group picture. That was real dumb.
But here are some that aren't on Annie and Marie's blogs already.
(except I'm still mad at Annie for posting that aweful pic of me from yesterday morning... revenge is coming Annie, mark my words.)















Our lake captain






























The Downs' from the lake.



















The "B.A.T.L. Prince".
We fought over who got to hold this boy ALL WEEK.
He was absolutely precious. So smart. And all smiles.
Babies make everything more fun... especially awesome ones like Jarrett.




















I love this girl... she's my Marie.

New Hobby

No, not cornhole... that's an old hobby. Though I almost beat dad the other day. Don't tell him I told you cause no one has ever beat him.

So... let me tell you of a new hobby I have developed over the past month or so. It's called 'track and field'. A highschool sport, yes. Why? you ask. We'll track and field is very exciting, fun to watch, the team is good, and I maybe have taken a certian interest in their coachy-coach. :)
But seriously, we went to Augusta this past weekend to an Invitational at Augusta Prep and our boys team took first and girls took second. They did AWESOME. Several kids broke their PR's. (personal record - for those who are not track and field savy) Including Andrew Riess and Hillary Davis who are pole vaulters. Their pictures are at the bottom... probably my favorite event to watch. As well as the 4 by 1.
Anyways, that's my new hobby. If you ever get the urge to come with, let me know!
It's crazy fun...
Wanna hear something else crazy? The Fritchmans were in Augusta last weekend visiting Amy's parents... so random! They came by to see us. They make everything fun.























Chatting w/ Coach.






















Awww... buddies. TP and Coach.
















Do we smile? Do we ignore? I dunno...
















Hillary breaking her PR.
















Andrew matching his PR... 1st jump!















Weeeee are the champions!
Boys with their 1ST PLACE trophy.

MS Retreat

The Annual RiverStone MS Retreat was this past weekend (now 2 weekends ago). We went to Cahutta Lodge up in N. Georgia. The cool thing about our youth group that’s different than others is that we have a highschool leadership team that plans pretty much everything. Cory, our youth pastor gives direction, but then this all-star team takes it and runs. Marie Claire and Ashley were the two point-people for this particular retreat. They were SUPERSTARS! I’m so unbestinkinlievably proud of them. Best MS Retreat we’ve had yet… They were running (Marie-dancing) around like crazies. And the best part is they were smilling the entire time. Lots of stress and pressure to pull something like this off – but they did it with absolute grace. Other awesome highschoolers – Grace Ann, who gave the girls break-out group talk (SO good), and she helped a lot with the planning as well; Kurt Miller, who also gave a talk Saturday afternoon and was a team leader… Best Mario I know! Also many others I didn’t mention but am equally proud of…

It was so cool to step back and watch. Cory asked me on the way up if it was weird not being in some kind of leadership role… Truthfully, it is weird. Even kind of hard! But I had more joy this weekend, sitting watching these kids carry out the retreat they’ve carefully planned and worked so hard on, then I EVER had at a youth retreat.

The most rewarding part, I’m sure they would agree, is to sit in worship and watch the middle schoolers press into the heart of God, and seek his face and be filled with the joy of realizing who they are in Christ.

Now I’m crying, so here are some pics… :)

Give the World a Blug

Things around here have gotten so busy!!!
I guess because it's spring and everyone is freaking out... It's escalating quickly! (Annie-4u) Spring Break is a little over a week away! What are ya'lls plans? Anything fun and exciting? All of Cobb County will be in Florida so I'd much like to avoid that area.
Here's a funny story for you:
So I went to eat pizza with Annie and Ashley and Molly and Emily Tuesday. (Gilmore Girls was a re-run) I haven't laughed that hard in a LONG TIME. Those girls crack me up. Things overheard - "I'm gonna stare - real mean!" (molly) and "Loud noises. I'm not a fan." (Ash)
Good friends are soooo... good. It's therapy. I'm glad God made us this way.
Well, I'm headed to a track meet in Augusta this weekend with Dominion. Pray we get there safe and there are no injuries. It's supposed to be 87 degrees Saturday!
Bring on the sunshine!

Alright already, gosh!

Its been a while...
Don't blush me Annie & Moma. Just cuz I've missed a couple weeks, well, really that's pretty horrible. I would disown someone who commited such a blog felony. (blelony) That was dumb.

Anyways, I'm in St. Simons this wknd. One of my favorite places ever. With some of my favorite people ever. Here are some funny things the boys have said since I've been here Thursday night...
1) We were in the car going to return some movies. Carebears and Batman. The boys were arguing over if it was "Care-A-bears" or "Carebears". But it sounded more like "Carahbayers". Pretty funny.
2) Amy asked Eli what he wanted for breakfast and he said, "Ummmm... a gorilla bar." Ha!
3) Then at dinner Asa and Eli were sitting in the booth in booster seats and Asa got really frustrated and yelled "Momma, get me outta here, this thing is givin' me a wedgie!" Yelled it right in the middle of Pizza Inn. Hilarious.

Amy and I painted ALL DAY yesterday. The guest room and the hallway and her office. Looks great but we're both hurtin' today.
The boys are on their way to a friends house right now so we're hopin to hit the beach or something.
Anyways, good to be back... haha. :)
I still have to blog about the MS Retreat. It was SO good.
Peace!

2 Corinthians 12:9-10

"But He said to me, 'My grace is sufficeint for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.' Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. Tht is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

Someone really sweet wrote this as an encouragement to me. I thought it was cool... It's hard for me to boast in my weakness (see mom's blog) , but I have a lot to learn! When I step back, God can move. When pride is dead in us, we will see God lifted high in all of His glory.

Oh the flu... we love you. (NOT!)

Well, now moma b's got it... oh great.
She finally agreed to go to the doctor today and they confirmed it. So more perscriptions and steroids for the b girls. Yuck. But it's good to have a friend to be sick with... as aweful as that sounds. We will get better together. Take care of eachother. John-John's the only one who hasn't gotten sick yet. Pray it stays that way. Mikie B is super-duper busy all the time and recovering from the flu-like cold he had early this week. All this to say - stay far far away! :)
Lots of funny things said when you have a fever and on lots of cold drugs though... ask my T.A.'s at Dominion about Tuesday. I should start writing them down. Probably only funny to me though. Anyways, thanks for your prayers and comments on mom's blog. (Tatum, Amy and Ryan-hilarious). They made me smile. Goodnight, and I'm praying that you NEVER get this crap... it's bad. Love!
Annie - Do good tomorrow speaking at Cornerstone. You always do. I wish I could be there!

Lena is 24!

Yesterday was my (sorta) cousin Lena's birthday. I say 'sorta' becuause we aren't acutally related at all... She is from Ukraine and she's here for her masters at KSU in education. She is living with my Aunt Jen and Uncle Stan and cousins Nathan and Sam. She's been here since Easter last April. I've SO enjoyed getting to know her and we always have fun when we hang out. You may have recognized her from our New York picutres. Yesterday we had a marathon hang out day and went shopping and out to lunch. She turned 24 on Feb. 24th and she was born at 2:40 in the afternoon... isn't that cool? (That was for you, Annie) Anyway, Tonight is her 'family' dinner, we're going to Sapporo's to eat way too much and feel sick afterwards. :)
Happy birthday Lena!

Gets me every time...

"You see the depths of my heart, and You love me the same.
You are amazing God!"

You mean, he see's what's in my heart, and he loves me anyway? Why?!!!
He's amazing, that's why...

We sang that Tomlin song today in chapel. Cory came and spoke... he did a great job! He spoke on recieving God's joy. It was really good.

Ski Trip - Day 4

Home, sweet home.
It's good to be back... I'm not gonna lie, I'm excited to sleep in my own bed tonight. What a great trip though! So many laughs and fun memories. Mal and Ash made a video last night with short clips and a slideshow, really funny. Actually, we'll prob. be the only ones that will think so, but hey! We'll try and post it in the next few days for you (Annie).
Today we woke up and the snow had stopped. It was sunny and fresh powder laid like icing on everything outside. Beautiful. Not to mention it would have been the most P-E-R-F-E-C-T ski day EVER. But it was good for traveling, too. We'll that's a lie, but we tread down the mountain with our 4-wheel drive on at about 20 miles an hour. Kinda scary, but we made it! It turned out to be the perfect weekend for our trip. We couldn't have made it without the protection of our Heavenly Father. And the prayers of everyone back home. And the awesome 80's ski clothes and all the delicious food made and snacks helped too!
Anyway, I'm sure you'll hear all about it nonstop for the next month... but now I'm going to (not unpack like I should) watch Grey's Anatomy that I tivoed before we left. :)
Love!

Ski Trip - Day 3

We got a little more sleep in last night. Soreness and tiredness kicking in slowly... but it definitely didn't hold us back from having the best day ever. I can feel this post is going to get long, so just be warned.
I woke up at about 7:30 and stumbled into the kitchen to get breakfast and coffee started. Ash was second up. I was putting eggs in the waffle mix and dropped three on the floor. I tried to ignore them as if they would go away, but then others started to wake up and I figured I should clean it up. Egg is not easy to clean up... especially on a floor with lots of creases.
Anyway! We got out there around 9:30 and wasted no time owning the mountain. Emily ran into another kid snowboarding. Well.... a close call at least. We split up into three groups - greens, blues, and blacks. Marie, Ash, Mal, and I went to the blues. On the way up the lift Marie and I were next to this lady from up north somewhere. I don't know her name, but if I had to guess I would say it's Chatty Cathy. She told us everything about her and I don't think either of us said a one word. Poor thing, she had a lot of words inside! I tried to be polite and did the fake, 'oh, yeah' and 'uh-huh' and 'oh wow'... she kept going. I know her better than my mom now. All in the 10 minute lift ride to the top.
Then met back up for lunch at 1:30. It's significantly colder today. Wicked cold, even. And the snow is falling thicker and thicker. Stings your face when you're flying down the mountain fast. It's so sparkly though. We had a lazy afternoon in anticipation of a crazy evening of night skiing. Ryan and I went to the store to get stuff for dinner. Then we all watched Lady in the Water (my favorite-thanks guys!). We made frozen pizzas and mac & cheese for dinner. I turned on the stove to heat up the water for the noodles, I moved cute decorative stove toppers to the back burner and later smelled this aweful burning smell... well, I had turned on the wrong burner and the cute decorative stove covers were melting. Not good. Ryan tried to fix them, but they're ruined. So sad. I already emailed Creola (owner) and alerted her we broke one of her spatulas. Oh geez...
Well, we decided against night skiing and decided to try tubing again. This time we called ahead and reserved 9 tickets to avoid the sell-out problem of last night. Cam, Wes, and I took our rental stuff back and met the rest of the group at the tubing hill. We had SO much fun... if you've never been tubing before, well you should. After like the 5th run, I'm riding up the lift sitting on my tube sprawled out singing "She blinded me with science" with Marie who is one tube behind me. All of the sudden I have a horrible thought - "Did I ever take that last pizza out of the oven?!" CRAP (%*#*@*), NO! "Marie, did I turn the oven off before I left?" Marie - "Uh, I dunno". So I get off the lift and run back down the hill to look for Ryan cause he has my keys. The tubing hill safty man says, "Mam, is there something I can assist you with?" All that could come out of my mouth was, "Fire, pizza, Ryan, keys!" He was so confused, but I kept running. I grabbed them and Marie and we raced home to see. The worst possible thoughts were going through my head. The complex has burned down or at least our condo is in flames. I don't know how we didn't die on the way cause I was driving like an absolute maniac. Remember, it's a blizzard... I can't see more than 5 feet in front of me. We finally reach the complex and Marie and I jump out and unlock the door. No smoke or anything. It didn't even smell like anything was burning. I opened up the oven door and sitting there was a hard, black, hot pizza. Thank you Jesus. No fire, no smoke, not even a bad smell. Amazing.
Soon after, the rest of the crew stumbled in completely horrified at our crazy exit of the hill and wondering what in the heck is going on... glad to find us safe and sound and the hard black object that was to be our dinner sitting on top of the stove cooling off. So scary. But so relieved it's over. It's still not very funny to me... but it may be one day.
So we packed a little and cleaned a little. It's still a blizzard outside. I don't know how on earth we can leave in this weather tomorrow. It's supposed to stop snowing soon and be sunny tomorrow. I hope that's true. We'll have a lazy morning tomorrow and wait it out.
Oh, and today we ran out of toilet paper... or at least we can't find where Creola keeps the extra rolls. So we had to make a TP run as well. That was interesting.
Mal has some amazing video footage of our whole trip... she and Ash are making a video as I'm sitting by the fire (VERY cautiously - remember, not my day with fire) and I can tell it will be SO good. Especially when she led us down a steep blue and Ash, Marie, and I were going 90 miles an hour, screaming and peeing in our pants at how not-in-control we were of our legs.













Ry tryin to scrape the black stuff off the stove covers... not working.










My close call to burning down the house.
This was really not my day with fire.













The hallway outside our door...










The tahoe's - laiden with snow.






















Some awesome action shots from today.










The tubing hill...

Ski Trip - Day 2

Oh, day two. Where to begin?!
Maybe with breakfast... we made waffles on Moma B's waffle iron. The slopes opened at 9am and we hit them not long after. We had a few first-timers with us (Emily, Sasha and Cam-sorta) so we started off with the greens. Mal took some hilarious video footage of some awesome wipe-outs. Cam couldn't keep from going like 90 miles an hour and the only thing that could stop him was a tree. Emily, on the other hand liked to use small children to break her fall. Sasha had the most grace in her attempts at stopping but her getting on the ski lift was humorous. It started snowing about 11 and hasn't stopped yet. Ryan, Mal and Wes took off to be crazy on the black diamonds. When the slopes closed at four we all joined back at the lodge and thawed out. We heated up the chilie Nance made us and listened to James Taylor (i love him) and shared funny stories from our day. I just love being here with these kids. I truly adore each and every one of them TO DEATH. They're each so different and awesome and FUNNY. After dinner we headed over to Silver Creek to go tubing (thanks Laura!) but by the time we stood in line, and then realized it was the wrong line and got in the right one, all the tickets were sold out. But we made the best of it and had a snow fight, no - more like snow massacre, on the side of the tubing hill for about an hour. SO fun. We decided when we got back home that it would be a good idea to go to find a hot tub and get warm again, but it cost like $6 a person and we're feeling cheap so came back home and watched a movie. We're looking forward to tomorrow and all the hundreds of more memories we will make. But right now the boys are trying to sleep in the living room and I'm being annoying at the kitchen bar typing. The girls are giggling in the back. I'm gonna go see what they're up to... So, until tomorrow!










The view from our back balcony.













Oh HECK yes.
The awesome 80's ski clothes I promised...










THE girls










Beautiful Ryan










Marie and Ashley










Us - NOT tubing










Wesley Cole













Us - still not tubing, but rather making snow angels and snowball fighting.
Marie and Mal on the left and Emily 'snow angel' on the right.










We love Jesus.