birthday

yesterday was my birthday! what fun i had sitting in sessions all day on my bday - woohoo! no, it was a great day. got several cards from family and friends...as well as an interesting gift from my family! my teammates & quadmates got me some yummy ice cream to celebrate with, of course which we ate right after aerobics...and just before going out to accomplish our mission!

Happy New Year!

to start off 2006, my family & i went snow skiing. though all of us are nearly-pro water skiers, we quickly learned that snow skiing was a bit different. nick and i had never been snow skiing, so we decided to take an one hour lesson rather than killing ourselves. mom joined us since she said she was horrible 20 years ago. the lessons were...helpful, but didn't really teach much. i learned that it is much more of a learn-on-your-own sport. so how did it go?
















mom's "are you crazy?" look

mom decided to stick with the beginners' slope for the first couple of hours. finally i convinced her to go down the next one with me. o how i laughed. she struggled the most with the lift. slid off of it on her back the first time; then the second time, she didn't even get off! they had to stop the whole thing and help her jump out of the seat b/c she waited too long. seriously, i was dying of laughter.
















luckily, i caught on pretty quickly. i hung out on the medium slopes for most of the day, without any falls. woo hoo! then after a snickers, i thought i was ready for a big one. dad and i went together. oops, i lost control at one point. i must brag, it was my only fall (and not a bad one.) then i had to go down it again, just so i could say i did it without falling. accomplished! it was exhausting, but a blast.
















dad remembered how to ski from years ago. i thought he was going to make a fool of himself, but i must say he was pretty good. i still can't figure out how he always came down so slowly though.





















this is what nick became famous for

at the beginning of the day i was worried that nick was not going to have fun. to begin with he hated the lessons, then he accidently went down one of the little slopes backwards, then rolling. after our teacher left us, he decided to just go for it. he skiied all day on several of the slopes. he was the object of everyone's attention. either they were watching him for entertainment or to keep out of his way. he came straight down the slopes like a speed racer, as fast as he could. no turning. he wiped out every time, but one. i'm talking about nose dives into the snow, then rolling down the slopes. it scared me everytime, but he always got up laughing. a hoot!