Christmas skirts

For the tree that is....My mom wanted to make us a quilt & I suggested that she make us a tree skirt. She managed to get it to us on Christmas Eve all the way from MN! She did an amazing job, it turned out wonderfully & now our tree looks complete! Check out the gorgeous pattern....

Perfect colors!

very elaborate stitching on the back, all done by freehand by her friend

A neat momento! How special!

Our tree with all the trimmings!

Christmas

We had a nice Christmas this year, despite being away from family & friends in MN (we'll see them in Jan.) The snow has been FABULUOUS, so we spent much of the days skiing...but made it to a candlelight service on Christmas Eve, had wonderful meals together, & saw the movie Marley & Me. We attemped fudge for the first time...we'll have to try again...pretty much turned into a sticky mess. Oops! Good thing he didn't marry me for my cooking skills. :) Hope you all had a very merry Christmas & a wonderful New Years! Zelli, the Christmas dog
Our oh so lovely tree

Santa came to our house!

Jeremy's Birthday

To help Jeremy celebrate his big day we had a great morning skiing, then enjoyed a nice italian dinner at Tuscany restaurant. Happy Birthday!

Tiramisu, & he even shared!

You know it's bad when....

The ski hill is open & we head to the desert instead! We took advantage of a quick overnight down to southern Utah to Goblin Valley State Park & Capitol Reef National Park. We had fantastic clear blue skies & sunshine, however a little to cool & dark for camping we decided. Check it out:

Valley of the Goblins

Deserted except for these 2

Looking into the valley

The air here is some of the cleanest in the country with 150 mile visibility

Land sculpted by sand

Action shot: our new favorite thanks to Rina

Jeremy amongst the goblins
Red Buttes as we head out

Morning sun from our deck in Capitol Reef

Hickman bridge

Views from the Navajo Knobs....Jeremy's 10 mile hike

The Castle rock formation

Ancient petroglyphs, over 1,000 years old

The Castle & the Knobs far away (highest pt. left of my head)


Taking in the 360 degree view from the top of the Navajo Knobs

More domes

Fun to get away! Now it's back to work....have a good one y'all!

PRAY FOR SNOW!!!

ZION

We headed down to Southern Utah for a few days to go to a Advanced Wilderness Life Support course (www.awls.org). We learned many essential things, including mulitple ways to evacuate someone out who cannot walk. Who knew one important thing to carry with you in the backcountry with a group of women was a pregnancy test (helps determine if abd. pain could be related or not!)? Anyways, we got out to play some too....here's some pics! The weather was gorgeous during the day, cooler in the morning & evenings. Beautiful place! Fun times!

Biking the Jem Trail: near Virgin, Utah

Smooth like butter!
Watchman trail at lunch break (Jeremy believes in "visual food")!

Summit of Angel's Landing...or is it a demon?

Looking out into Zion's canyon

The start of the "Narrows" at dusk
Kolob Canyons, the Northern part of the park

REAL Salt Lake

So, being a pretty new team & after a couple of poor record years...we made it to the playoffs!! We won versus the Chivas, but this time were defeated 1-0 by the New York Red Bulls. We totally dominated the game & had several good shots at goals, but just couldn't get it in the net! It was a cool, but fun night! Thunder sticks to help cheer them on & all. Go REAL!!!

Charelle, Carl, Tallin (almost 3 months & already a fan!) & Jeremy making some noise!!!

Seven random things

OK...I got "tagged" by my cousin Jennifer days ago so here are the rules:
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Post the rules on your blog
List 7 random things about yourself
Tag 7 other people to do the same, pass along the tag
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Here we go:
1) I like to sleep with the covers & my hands up by my chin.

2) My latest addiction for a snack is string cheese.

3) I ski greater than 50 days per ski season (& can't wait for the next one to start!)

4) I have one tattoo (& plan to keep it that way).

5) I want to go sky diving someday.

6) I ALWAYS eat breakfast and a banana.

7) I clip my nails into the sink (my husband disagrees with this practice) :)

I now tag.....
1) Rina 2) Jen 3) Stacey 4) Julie 5) Miranda 6) Courtney 7) Katie
Have fun!

SNOW...like 3 feet of it!

We headed up to Alta to get some of our own fresh tracks of the new snow! My oh my was it DEEP!!! We had fun playing around and getting used to everything being WHITE again! Yippeee! Here's some pics...

Corner Canyon

We had some time this morning to check out mountain biking in Corner Canyon, just minutes from our house...& just across the street from Jeremy's parents. The trails are just being developed, but it's hard to believe we haven't hit 'em sooner since they are so close! It was a pretty fall day, despite the chilling blow you over breeze. Enjoy these pics....

Fall Portraits

Since we had to "fire" our first photographer for our wedding, we ended up having an "engagement" session included in the package we chose with our new photographer, Jacque Lynn (www.jacquelynnphoto.com). We had a great day to get out & enjoy the fall colors in Mill Creek Canyon, where we got married!!! Here's a couple from the collection....

Snow day!

So, they had predicted this storm to hit yesterday...so when it didn't really happen we just thought it wouldn't. Well, sure enough it started snowing right as we were going to sleep. Here's what we woke up to today!Snow accumulation in the backyard
Zelli is excited!
Landcruiser with a coat

Craziness! Ski season in the works! Yippeeee!

Poor doggy

So, our poor Zelli had an aural (ear) hematoma. These are fairly common & can happen pretty easily from scratching the ear, shaking the head. We called & took her into the vet for repair after reading about them online. Her right eye had always been dripping clear fluid as well, we figured irritated by the hairs that were turned in from her lashes. The vet also performed a "wedge resection" to turn these hairs out of her eye. As you can see, see now has to wear this lovely "Elizabethan collar" around the house for 10 days so she can't get at her sutures. Luckily, if we are able to watch her, we can remove it. She has a tough time navigating about the house as her turn radius isn't nearly what it used to be. Poor, poor doggie! She has been getting lots of love & treats! Lots of cheese too, one of her favorites, to take her medicines with. She's been quite the trooper & healing well & quickly otherwise from what we can tell. Love ya Zel!
Please help me! I'm a good girl.