To Ski or Not to Ski

The girls are in 5th grade so they have a Ski Utah Passport. That means for the $25 processing fee they can ski every resort in Utah four times for free (with a paying adult!) So in order to ski, they have to have an adult who also wants to ski. Enter Mom...who else has so much free time??? After all, they can't be they only ones in the family who don't get to learn how to ski...ok Romney has had to just wing it and wasn't given much opportunity (ok, NO opportunity...add that to your list of items to discuss with your therapist!) Anyway, they have had one lesson, one Aunt Jessica who spent a day with them and a couple other times when we bought a pass and turned them loose on the hill, always at Sundance. I have tried downhill skiing a few times over the years and I just get cold and wet and hurt my knees and I am not good at the ski lift! I have stuck with cross country skiing enough to learn to do that well enough to enjoy it and because I go often with fun ladies, it is an enjoyable experience for me. Did I mention we usually go out to lunch afterwards...that may influence why I like it! I was talking to my cross country ski friends, who are also all very good downhill skiers about how I wish I could like downhill, but I just don't. One friend asked me where I had tried it and I said Sundance. She said of course I wouldn't like it if that was my only experience. For over a year she has told me that I need to ski Park City and I would like downhill. She graciously scheduled to take me and the girls to Park City and we went today. Can I just say that at the end of the day I felt like the guy in "Green Eggs and Ham"? My friend is Pat...she has been saying,

"You do not like it,
So you say.
Try it! Try it!
And you may.
Try Park City and you may, I say."

Me:
Pat!
If you will let me be,
I will try it.
You will see."

She told me that Park City had the coolest lifts, that would slow down so you could get on (I didn't have to have anyone push me so I could even get to the line to sit on the lift!) and they would slow down when it was time to get off! (they did, I just had to stand up and ski away...ok, not so smooth the first time, but I got the hang of it! But I certainly couldn't blame the slow, smooth lift for my fall!) She said that the hills were gradual descents and I could work my way down (ok, "snowplow" is the only real technique I possess, but it works!) She took us down one run and then remembered an easier lift and run to practice on so we did that for awhile and then she took us to the top. For anyone who skis Park City, we skied down Claim Jumper and ate lunch at the lodge and then skied down Home Run. I skied at Park City and my only falls involved the lifts! In fact, after those long runs we went back to the first place and I learned how to turn and ski back and forth instead of my usual "snowplow and prayer" position! It was a great day and I can now say,

"I like downhill skiing,
I do! I like it Sam-I-Am!"

Of course, I still have limitations...not on a boat, not with a goat not in the rain or in the dark...but hey, if you're headed to Park City you might just want to give me a call!

Now We Know!!!

I love blogs! Since sending out missionaries, I have thought that email was invented for missionaries and military personnel and their families...it's a great way to hear from them in pretty much real time and know what is going on. Blogs are the next best thing when the Mission President's wife keeps things updated. As some of you know, we knew before Christmas that Jordan would be receiving a "Dear John" from the girl he left at home. We kept waiting for some kind of response from him that he had received it but it never came. He didn't bring it up when he called home for Christmas so we didn't either. We all just kept wondering. In fact, just before Christmas, the girl decided to email him in case he hadn't received the letter...still no response from Jordan that we knew about. Today I was checking the mission blog because it had a new post "Random Pictures from Interviews". It sounded promising as I remembered Jordan saying he was looking forward to his interview sometime soon in a recent letter. Browsing through the pictures we found Jordan in a group photo and then the writing said, "President is having a special moment with Elder Gardner! He is reading his recently received "Dear John!" Not much sympathy more of delight!"






It is good to know he has some support for what could be difficult times! I am sure that he was sad as he considered her his best friend and I know he had thoughts for a future that included her. But as a mom, it is good to know that his mission president is concerned for all the things that matter to him and is there to give him a hug and some advice when I cannot. Maybe this week we will get an update from him! An earlier post from the mission blog referred to the "Wall of Fame" (the elders call it "shame") where they post their "Dear John" letters. It's nice they find a way to help the Elders move past the bumps in their mission and focus on the reason they are there in the first place! We miss V and wish her the best and know that everything will work out as it should. Besides, Adam said that they teach you in the MTC, "Somebody might marry your girlfriend, but no one will marry your wife!"

A New, Clean Page and a Fresh New Year!

After doing all the after Christmas clean up, I was feeling pretty good. Then I found the token two or three decorations that have to be missed and found after all the decoration boxes are packed away. I found a spot for those and thought I was done. Then I checked on blogs. Oh, I still had some "undecorating" to do and change my blog from the Christmas design and post! I was wanting something colorful as I am tired of the dirty snow and dirty sky color I have been seeing, but then I found this black and white background and I liked it! A clean, fresh look. Then I didn't have a picture of feet for my "footnotes" theme header...but I remembered this picture I took when I went skiing just before Christmas...this is where I will be leaving my footprints (hopefully just ski tracks, really) for the next few weeks.
I have had a hard time trying to figure out the direction for my feet this year. I know of some places we have plans to go... Las Vegas, Hawaii, Washington D.C., Wyoming (for Trek) and of course, New Zealand (and maybe Tonga!) I am sure my feet will take me all over my house...especially the kitchen and laundry room... and out to my car to drive all over town...I hope to leave footprints on the treadmill and by my TV when I pop in an exercise video...I hope I leave footprints in places my children will want to follow! I hope I will have some of you along with me making some of those footprints and ski tracks!
In fact, Cheryl and I made some tracks this week. She had to be in Orem for a meeting so she called me and we had lunch when she was done. We decided on sushi...we decided "all you can eat" was the most economic way to try several kinds...we ate way beyond "all you can eat" and didn't need to eat for the rest of the day! But is was fun and we would do it all over again...ok maybe we wouldn't order the last one or two...
Anyway, I will keep working on where my feet will go and what some of my "footnotes" will be this year. Please call me if you have any idea for places we can take our feet or a direction that would be fun to go...