Serious Lack of Snow

Snow so far this winter has been disappointing. Supposedly, the 5 year average snowfall at Sundance for the month of December is 85 inches. This past December, they only received 5.5 inches of snow. How tragic! So instead of snowshoeing like I usually do for New Year's, Janie and I tried some cross-country skiing at Sundance. The snow wasn't bad, and we had a lovely time being outside. I'm praying for more snow because I just don't know what to do with myself when it's too cold to bike and not enough snow to ski or snowshoe.

Christmas Letter 2011

Christmas 2011

Oh my. Another year has come and gone. The saying is so true that says time flies by even faster when you’re older, and so is the saying about forgetting things when you’re older. Lately, I’ve been telling my student employees that I’m not responsible to remember anything unless they email me, write it down for me, or put it on my calendar. Good grief! I’m only 31!

For part of the year, I actually had a roommate again. Can you believe it? The best kind of roommate: my 19-year-old niece, Jen. She moved in with me during her sophomore year at BYU to escape some crazies she was living with. We had a lot of fun together, and I didn’t have to give up my precious kitchen organization because she hardly has any stuff! Bonus. Her stay with me was short and sweet before she took off for a study abroad in London. Sigh.

I had an abundance of adventures this past year. I think I’m feeling some need to get them out of my system and be utterly irresponsible in the process! Or maybe I’m just going crazy in my old age. I skied some seriously epic ski days - I’m talking three feet of new powder each time! And I coined some new powder-day sayings: “no budgets on a powder day” and “no illnesses on a powder day” - if that gives you a hint of how irresponsible I was. I went to Hawaii for a week in February and finally used my SCUBA certification, and, get this, went on my first ever, and probably last, helicopter ride/tour! 

I also fit in a backpacking trip to Canyonlands National Park, two organized road bike rides (one 60 miles, and the other 100 miles), a hike through some slot canyons, a couple fishing extravaganzas with my new fishing pole (where I learned to clean my own fish!), bought a new 29er mountain bike (that I looooove!), a business trip to Chicago, my first 12-hour mountain bike race (don’t worry, it was a relay - I didn’t ride my bike for 12 hours), and dove into the truly adventurous world of online dating. And the cherry on top: I went to Europe in October! I visited Prague in the Czech Republic, Vienna, Austria, and Budapest, Hungary. Prague is a beautiful city with street performers everywhere. I loved all the pastries, cakes, and tortes in Vienna, and Budapest stunned me with its baths and central market full of ethnic foods and crafts.

Grad school continues to be a big part of my life despite still working full-time, still taking piano lessons, still racing for my mountain bike team, and overcoming the sickest year of my life (three colds, shingles, and the flu - all in the first eight months of school!). But I finished and rocked my first year of school with my best-ever grades. I love it. Seriously. Going back to school has been my best decision to date.

I would be remiss to leave family out of a Christmas letter, or an entire year! So it’s a good thing I didn’t leave them out. I hosted some family in my fabulous guest room several times throughout the year - like for Robyn’s annual ski trip with me and Teri, and my mom’s visit for the Sundance Outdoor Theater production of The Sound of Music. I also went home to Idaho to see my dad, in the lovely Blackfoot, and for a quick trip to Robyn and Doug’s cabin in Cascade; and I went to California to visit Joni and Adam. And of course, I’ll go home for Christmas.

Lastly, I’m so grateful for this time of year to celebrate the good news of the birth of the Savior, Jesus Christ. I know He lives and loves each one of us, and that through Him we can return to live with our Heavenly Father again. I hope all is well with you and your loved ones and that this letter finds you well and happy! Take care and keep the emails, blog posts, and Christmas letters coming! 

My Favorite Christmas Ornaments & Decor

I was sorely tempted to not put out my Christmas decorations or tree this year. With my trip to St. George last weekend and finals all last week, I wasn't going to get to it until this weekend - only two weeks before Christmas, which did not make it seem worth it! And I have to admit the other deterrent was the fact that I'm the only one that will enjoy my decorations - I'm not having a party nor do I have any roommates or family to enjoy it with me. BUT there were six little reasons why I decided to put my Christmas out - six heirloom Christmas tree ornaments that Mom gave me that Uncle Rob gave to her a long time ago. As I put those ornaments on my tree tonight, I thought it might be a great blog post slash family history entry to blog about my favorite Christmas ornaments and decorations and why they are my favorites.

Here are the six ornaments that convinced me to put up my Christmas this year. These are my all-time favorites because of the memories I have from my childhood with them. Every year, Mom and I would put these on the tree and every year Mom would tell me how these came from Uncle Rob from his time serving in the military. He was stationed in Germany when he bought these in Stuttgart and brought them back to the states for my parents in about 1969. There were several boxes of ornaments - enough that Mom gave all of us girls some of them. I have two of each of these ornaments.

This is the ornament that celebrated my first Christmas in 1980. Of course this must be a favorite.

These ornaments are among my favorites because it reminds me of the true reason for the season: to BELIEVE in Jesus Christ who is the giver of PEACE and JOY and that we are to celebrate NOEL by remembering Him.

I bought this candy dish when I was on my study abroad in London in 2000. It reminds me of the Christmas concert that the local singles ward in London put on for the community and for which we BYU students sang the traditional English Christmas carol, The Holly and the Ivy. When I saw the lyrics to the song in the dish, I just had to buy it.

I love this snowman figurine because he's on skis! I think my mom gave me this.

I love these little snowmen carolers too. I think my mom gave me these too. She gave me a lot of my holiday decorations.

This little snowman putting on her ice skates reminds me of the ice skating class I loved so much that I took it three times while I was an undergrad at BYU. Mom gave me this too.

And then of course the nativity scene that I dreamed of for years and finally got for Christmas from Jill last year. I love it. The little box with yellow rocks in it, by the wise men and camel, is real frankincense that a coworker gave me for Christmas several years ago. I think she got it in Jerusalem because she and her husband have directed the Jerusalem Center several times.

MTB in STG

I chose to study for my final exams on my mountain bike down in St. George, Utah. I think it was a pretty successful study method. Ha ha! Getting to St. George was the adventure. We hit a big-time snow storm about an hour south of Springville, and didn't get out of it until 30 minutes outside of St. George. It took us six hours to make the drive when it normally takes about four. The roads were that bad - about a dozen cars in the burrow pits, one upside-down, cars sliding all over the road on the black ice, several driving with their hazard lights on going 30 mph, and blinding snow flying at the windshield like we were on the USS Enterprise in Star Trek going warp speed. But we made it without any problems.

We enjoyed several hours of mountain biking on Saturday in 45-degree weather, which for mountain biking isn't too bad since I can get really hot while mountain biking. Then we met up with our team friends for dinner and birthday cake - the whole reason we were down there was to celebrate a couple team members' birthdays. We rode our bikes once more on Sunday. Then we headed home! Just in time to watch the First Presidency's Christmas Devotional. It was a fabulous weekend. :) (The pic is of Dave, Wendy and me on the very difficult Zen Trail that I hope I rode at least half of it on my bike as opposed to walking it. Ha ha!)