Ski Santa Fe - SPRING!

First of all what a GORGEOUS day on the mountain.  Need I say more?

Well, there is more to say about Miss Harriet...

Wow, it's been a long process to get Harriet to ski.  She started at the ski resorts in the day care when she was one and we went to Vermont for a week and David would pick her up and ski down to our lodge with her at the end of the day.  Then, she graduated to the chipmunk ski school last year where she spent our $120 ski fee to swing in the chairlift swing all day.  I don't think her skis ever touched the snow.  This year, she spent one day worth of ski school - skiing for only one hour and the rest in the car with me.  She did go to a couple of classes at Sandia where she was willing to go down a 20 yard slope with her pizza on.  And finally, FINALLY, last weekend, she got over the hump.  She agreed to a half day of ski school (there was no convincing her to stay when we went to pay for the rest of Grace's afternoon.)  But, since it was the second-to-last open weekend of skiing and the holidays are all past, NO ONE was at the resort.

So, Harriet's half day was actually a 4 hour private lesson with a cool guy in a cowboy hat.  As much as we wanted to turn it into a 7 hour private lesson, we agreed to honor her request and pick her up at lunch. David and I skied with her the rest of the afternoon.  And, by the end of the day, she was SWOOSHING down the bunny slope at break-neck speed.  She has no need for learning to turn yet.  She loves going fast and doesn't mind the occasional crash that used to terrify her.  She just tumbles head over heels, pops back up and goes again.  


heading up the bunny slope chair lift

Harriet's first time at the top of the mountain - ready to ski down!  

We ALL had smiles on our faces at the end of this glorious day.  Grace learned a ton in HER 7 hour semi-private lesson (only 2 kids in her class.)  I LOVE spring skiing!!  Oh, how I hate being cold, more than anything.  I hate waiting in line for the lift when you are freezing to death.  So, when the temperature is 50-60 degrees and I can take my coat and gloves off and soak in the sunshine while riding up the chair lift with no line, and then take a cool swish down the mountain - it is heaven.  Sitting on the deck for lunch is like being at a spa and then watching the kids have a huge blast with no complaints that their hands are cold, or their feet are freezing, is just so great.

I have no desire to fly down the mountain or to try any crazy steep or ungroomed hills, so I just love being able to slowly work my way down on an easy run through the trees.  It's like going on a walk on a nice day.  I have no desire to learn to ski better either - I don't need to!  I know everything I need to know to enjoy it the way I like to.  Sorry babe - you can do the blacks on your own or bring a friend.

Thank you spring skiing for a gorgeous and productive day.  Good Job to Harriet too!  We are so proud of you for trying hard and learning to ski!

Birthday Parade and a Trip to SLC

Wow, the March birthdays really seem like a marathon sometimes.  David turned 37 right before Grace's birthday.  We did acknowledge him with a little family party and invited his family over for cake and presents.

Then, just after Grace's birthday, we flew to Salt Lake to continue the party!  (yes - I said FLEW - thank you thank you Daddy for your sky miles.  Oh how lovely it is to fly and not drive.)

We went to dinner with Aunt Jess on her birthday, took Grandma Primmer (who came up from Cedar City to join the party) to the Toy Story - Disney On Ice on her birthday, and then Melissa had a giant bash at her house for everyone complete with a magician.  We even threw in Harriet's birthday since she won't get to go to Salt Lake in April for her special day.  Uncle Nick went to TX and missed his part of the party.   Seriously folks - no one in the family is allowed to get pregnant in June ever again.  We can't have any more March birthdays!

Here's a little photo tour of the celebrations:

 Great Grandma Primmer with all the munchkins ready to go into Disney on Ice!

 Grandma, Mom, Me, Melissa

Grace and Sean (and Bullseye and Buzz!)

Kate and Harriet in matching outfits (and double Jessie dolls!)

(couldn't decide which picture was cuter)

oh, Andy from Toy Story 3, you make me want to bawl my eyes out that these kids are growing up

And, then, back to Aunt Lissie's for the party:

opening a "few" presents... spoiled rotten by the Grandmas and the Aunts

the true birthday girls of the weekend - what a hilarious pair - I love hanging out with both of them

not sure which one laughed until they wet their pants first... I'm sure one of them did ;)

 some delicious birthday cakes from Aunt Em

 waiting for the magician to start

It's so fitting that Harriet's current favorite book is "There is a Bird on Your Head"

nicest bunny I've ever met - I guess that's a job prerequisite for being a magic bunny.

Oh we had such a blast.  Our other days included:

Heading to Hogle Zoo - that place never gets old (well, at least when you go with Melissa - she allows one hour or less before she drags you up the hill to the car.)

I don't know why, but I love these pictures of the backs of my kids at the fence.  As I look at them from years past, you can see how little they were when they couldn't even see over the first rail and climbing up.  Now they are resting their arms on the top rail?  Good growth chart...

playing, playing, and more playing

playing in Grandma's yard and play shed - wow she's got some great stuff in there

visiting Grandpa at his new cool store and working the cash register while robbing him blind of all his fun inventory.  This brought back so many memories of going to work with my dad when we were little and helping him with all his stores.  Thanks for the "grandkid discount" Dad :)

Aunt Em took us to see the Lorax.  Uncle Randy drained and shined the hot tub, only to let these little mess-makers have a spring break par-tay in it (someone had a little shampoo left in their hair?)

And we finished up our trip with a quick run up to the new Natural History Museum at the U of U.  This place is incredible.  I still get chills when I think about how awesome it was.  The building is so, well, what's a good word?  RAD!  A genius of architecture.  You can barely tell the building is even there as you drive up - it blends in with the mountain background almost seamlessly.  The exhibits were just perfect and so forward thinking and unique.  We could have spent a whole day there, but felt pretty lucky to get to go with Grandma and Aunt Jess after work on the only day they were open late.

ahh... the view...

Thanks SO MUCH to my whole family for treating us to such an amazing week.  We love you and miss you and think we are so lucky to have you.

Di Qi Ji

 That's Chinese for Orange Sash.  After about a year and a half of being a gold sash, Grace FINALLY was able to test for her next belt level.  This time in karate has been very trying for us.  While Grace continues to love going to class, we got pretty frustrated that she wasn't able to move forward faster and felt like we went to class after class with little improvement.  19 months without any acknowledgement of improvement or advancement is kind of a long time for a kid.  I don't entirely agree with the system.  It was partly due to the structure of the class for a long time - that she wasn't able to work on the requirements and then the sheer number of requirements became pretty steep.  The list of forms and moves for the orange sash are much much greater than those for the gold and she had moved to the upper age group in the mean-time too, and so was given even more to learn.

She had to memorize and perform:

*7 kicks and strikes

*4 blocks

*3 forms (long series of movements)

*13 self defense techniques (shorter series of blocks, kicks, and punches)

*count to 20 in Chinese

*recite the Kenpo Creed from memory along with rules of concentration and values

Grace set a goal in November to be able to test for her Orange Sash by her birthday.  Her instructor finally took her seriously and in the mean-time also changed the structure of the class to be more conducive to learning and memorizing the forms.   Both things helped her to move along and stack up her knowledge so that she actually tested on the day of her birthday.  No pressure there!  Luckily, it all worked out and she passed her test.  I think she appreciates that Orange Sash more than anything she's ever worked towards.  She's definitely never had to work that hard or that long for anything in her life.  What a great birthday present for Grace!

Gracers, we are so proud of you and so excited that you were finally able to move up.  We hope you keep it up and will be our little Black Belt ninja girl some day.

Apparently the video is too long to upload to the blog.  Take my word for it - she was intense!