Baby it's cold outside!

With winter here we have tried to enjoy it as much as possible. My youngest brother was able to hook the siblings up with ski passes. So I went skiing on Christmas Eve Day with my parents and my brothers. I thought I'd be ok since i had been running some up till the 1st of December (so i wasn't completely out of shape). But just so you know skiing and running use different muscles (all of them are in your legs--cause that's what hurt so much). I haven't been skiing for a number of years since we've been doing the snowboarding thing over the last few. Blake likes that better since he's never really loved skiing in the first place. I have not been skiing even a few years beyond that since pregnancies, and small children, and finances kept me from the slopes. Needless to say i was totally excited to go skiing. I should explain that i have never been the daredevil skiers that my brothers have been. I'm more about enjoying the cool crisp air and beautiful scenery and that kind of skiing. If you're going so fast down the hill that every thing is a blur you're missing half the stuff i enjoy skiing for. Plus it makes your boogers freeze. I was hoping that since my parents were going my dad would go with the brothers and i would ski with my mom, and we'd go at the slower pace. But my dad was counting on my mom to keep him from having to go at top speeds with my brothers. We just ended up all skiing together which was a blast. So as a teenager i was never able to keep up with my brothers skiing and that has not changed. They were patient and would go down supper fast to one spot, and then stop and wait for the rest of us (my mom and dad, and lastly me). I did learn one very important thing, i didn't miss the ski boots much. Oh and a few other things--hold on to your poles like the stickers on the ski lift say, lift your tips, goggles and sunglasses are great at keeping the snow out of your eyes but when it's foggy and you're skiing in a cloud both make it harder to see anything, having the right gear does help at all times whether it's boots, gloves, 2 skis, and 2 poles. It was such an awesome day. I loved being with my parents and my brothers. We had some good laughs it was great. Thanks Darin for the hook up, thanks mike for the good laughs, thanks to the wives of my brothers for letting them go, thanks dad for warming my toes, thanks mom and dad for the ride, and sorry if i was "in the way of the pictures" and "ruined them". Sorry no pictures from the day--i wasn't smart enough to take my camera and mom and dad have not shared their pictures yet.
*total side note, last time i went skiing with my family was when Blake and i first kissed 14 years earlier. good times, good times.
the boys have also started to enjoy the additional fun activities of winter as well. Sam for his birthday got a snowboard from target (not a real one, but one to see if snowboarding was something they'd enjoy). so far Sam has done pretty good and Ethan is going to be the adventurous one. He was trying to do jumps over at our neighborhood park. in just a few tries both boys seem to have accomplished as much as Blake and i did after a morning of trying our first time. Good thing we have some good hills around here to keep them happy for a little while.
And with all the hills around us as well we have sledding right close to home so we don't' have to pack up to go anywhere. The week between Christmas and new years even our neighborhood had a sledding night. Had a fire pit and soups and hot chocolate to stay warm with and some flood lights to light up the area. It was a blast. The boys have loved being outside in the snow so much we let them go out while we stay nice and warm inside. I just have to say again how much i love it out here where we live.