Ski Date

Last Monday David and I both found ourselves off of work.  It wasn't a holiday weekend so we decided to have a ski date day at Deer Valley.  It was incredible.  We had great snow, blue skies, and warm sunshine which all mixed together makes for my favorite kind of day in the mountains.  On top of the great atmosphere, since it was a weekday we pretty much had the place to ourselves.  We had such a fun day together - one of my favorite dates this year.

Beginning of the day

Snack Lodge

Incredible scenery

We found lots of powder in the trees

It was so great to have the whole day together - just us.  I'm getting much better on skis and am finally able to keep up with David.  Last year he'd go down some tough stuff and I'd find an easier way down.  Now, I'm soaring down with him.

We skied all day only stopping for lunch. Deer Valley by far has the best food of any of the ski resorts.  We shared a bowl of all natural turkey chili and scarfed down lots of cornbread muffins then headed back out on the mountain.

We took a little break in the trees and snapped these pics.  

David jumped a cliff...

Now all you blog readers should be convinced that Utah has incredible skiing.  Come on out for a visit!

Visiting Friend from Afar

A couple weeks ago my awesome friend Alison flew out for a long weekend.  We had an incredible amount of snowfall during her visit - almost 4 feet in the mountains over the weekend.  Alison is a great skier so it was fun to have a couple ski days with her.

Her first day here we spent the day at Canyons resort in Park City

They have a great new chair lift that we call the orange bubble.  An orange shield comes over you and it has orange heated seats which feel really great on a cold snowy day.

In the Orange Bubble

Lunch break at the lodge

On Saturdays Canyons has outdoor concerts at the bottom of the mountain.  We listened for a bit before heading back in to SLC.

The next day we played around in Salt Lake.  It was a holiday weekend with great snow so the resorts were fairly crowded. We took Peyton to Millcreek and played for a while.

Alison's snow angel.

Chasing Peyton

That is a lot of snow!

Then we met David at Sugarhouse Park just down from our house and went sledding

On Alison's last day we headed to Solitude.  We had a great blue sky day with tons of snow.

Alison on the slope

Me

Beautiful Day

It was so great to see her.  We wore ourselves out during the days so we didn't do too much at night.  We did find time to have dinner at Trio - one of our favorite local restaurants.  If anyone heads to SLC, you should stop in for some delicious pizza, salads, and pasta.  

New Years

New Year's Weekend was much enjoyed. We started our last day in 2010 with friends playing in the park - Peyton's favorite pastime. Then went early afternoon bowling with a group followed by dinner then ringing in the new yar at Klatt's awesome house in the mountains.  

 The girls at the pre-party bowling extravaganza
Sorry, no boy pics

 Ada makes quite a cute little pirate

So do these gals

 Ready to ring in the new year

Christmas in Tennessee

Thankfully we were able to fly to Tennessee for Christmas this year.

We had breakfast with some fun med school friends at the wonderful Blue Plate Cafe

Glad we got to see Barton who inteviewed for residency in SLC and finds out where he'll be placed in a few weeks.  We're crossing our fingers that he'll join us in Utah this summer!

Anthony and David got to catch up as they are both in the same year of residency for orthopedic surgery in different places. Manny is living it up in Birmingham and we always love seeing the Whaleys who are now living in Philedelphia. We were lucky to be able to meet up with friends who had all moved away and happened to be in Memphis at the same time. 

On Christmas Eve we had dinner with my mom's side of the family.  It was so great to be able to see everyone that I grew up seeing on an almost weekly basis.  Now it feels so strange to go such a  long time without them. 

Maggie had a great Christmas

My lovely grandmother, Memaw.

Hopefully Tracy, Jack, Brandi, and Elizabeth will come out for a visit soon

My brother Alex and Cooper

Maggie with Pop

David and me on Christmas Day

With Catherine

One of my most favorite Christmas traditions involves making homemade candy with the ladies

This year we just had me, Nanny, and Catherine and we had a blast.

Pawpaw made his famous sausage and cheese balls.

They are his specialty and always disappear within an hour or so

David pretends to help, but usually is just the taste tester.  I take that back - he did pick the pecans

Divinity contest: Each year Catherine and I battle to see who makes the prettiest divinity.  You see, you have to be very quick at shaping it once its ready or it becomes clumpy.  The best divinity is a smooth perfect ball.  Usually I beat her, but I think she got me this year.

Intense work

Back in Utah, we had a plethora of packages from David's family.  We did get to see them all in Birmingham for a night, but they all mailed our gifts so that we wouldn't have to travel on the plane with them.
We had a lovely night at David's sister and brother-in -law's home in Birmingham eating dinner, playing games, and catching up.  The next morning we even got to meet for breakfast before heading home.  I must say that we have 2 adorable little nieces.

We got to have Christmas again after flying back to Utah.

This is what Christmas looks like when you move over 1600 miles away from family.

Peyton got a very large bone and some toys.  She loved them.

There you have our Christmas in a nutshell!