We don't have any pictures this week, so I'm just going to share a few things and my thoughts about them:

1) Evelyn played drums in church again. They did some of the oldies, including "Get Together" by the Yougbloods. That was fun. She really does do a great job and always gets lots of good feedback from the people who are there. I am also impressed at her preparation. She does a lot of things, and puts in the time that it takes to do them well. It's pretty cool.

2) We are picking up the Durango from the shop today. We got new tires on it and got everything fixed up to turn the keys over to Ev. It's a little bit scary. I've been driving with her to school every day and she does a pretty good job, but there have been a few minor incidents that make me worried about turning her lose on the world. I guess we all have to learn though.

3) Remember when Maren got rats a couple of weeks ago? Well, it turns out that unbeknownst to Rachel, she bought a pregnant rat. Now we have 13 of them. I try my best not to think about it, but when I do I find myself a little bit put out. Also, Maren possibly has an allergy to the rats and can't sleep in the same room as them or else she breaks out in a rash. This whole thing is turning into quite the fiasco. I'm not sure what a happy ending would even look like at this point. Happy or not, the status quo can't last much longer.

4) A lot of people in our family have been dealing with a little bug with cold-like symptoms. It's been sort of yucky, but I think it's pretty much behind us now. This has also led to a confounding factor in trying to figure out what is going on with Maren (see above).

5) We had a storm come through our area, which led to some of the best skiing of the year. I was at Schweitzer with a friend on Sunday, and then Rachel and I headed up on Monday for more silky smooth turns. I know it is pretty much every week, but I honestly can't think of a much more joyful activity than skiing. It fulfills something deep. 

6) Jackson has committed himself to learning how to snowboard. This means that he gets left far behind everyone else, and he has already taken some pretty nasty falls, but so far he has stuck with it. He has two whole days under his belt. 

7) On Saturday night, Rach and I went out to dinner with some friends, and then they invited us to a club afterwards. I feel pretty comfortable in a lot of different settings. This club was not one of them. The dinner and the company were nice though.

8) I find myself feeling very grateful right now for the life we get to live. We are all healthy, and able to do things that we like and that fill our lives with meaning. We spend a lot of time together as a family- usually on the weekends-  but we each also have our own friends and interests to pursue. I love having teenage kids, and coming home from a ski trip the other day to a house full of friends and activity led to a feeling of deep satisfaction. 

Well, that's about it for this week. No pictures. That happens sometimes.

Have a good week!

It snowed 14 inches during the day on Friday. It snowed 8 inches more overnight. We woke up on Saturday to bright blue skies and warm temps. We were at Snowbird- my favorite resort ever. It was one of the best ski days of our lives.

We were actually up on the mountain Friday and Sunday as well, and all the days were wonderful. But Saturday. Oh my.

Besides skiing, we saw lots of family and celebrated birthdays for Maren and Evelyn. 

I feel at a loss for words here. Let's do some photos:

Everything about this day was just joyful. Jubilant. Euphoric. 

The Snowbird tunnel is worth the visit. We didn't spend much time in Mineral Basin- preferring instead the runs off the cirque traverse, but the museum quality of this magic carpet lift is really neat. It feels like an old-school Disneyland ride. 

Maren is actually much sweeter than she looks with her ski mask on

If a photo is worth a thousand words, this is it. Because of all the snow that fell during the day (Friday), getting out of the parking lot at Alta was quite the ordeal. Rather than hold up traffic with our little minivan, we opted to have dinner in the car and watch a movie while things cleared out. It then took us some digging and several runs up the ramp to finally make in onto the main road. I thought it was fun. I'm not sure that everyone agrees though. The next day we made sure to put chains on our tires.

Poor Lindsey felt sick for the entire weekend. She did one run on Friday, and then sat in the lodge for the rest of the day. She didn't even go up with us on the other days, opting to spend time resting and playing with her cousin instead.

Also, Lindsey being the charismatic kid that she is, came off her day in the lodge in good spirits. She said that she made a lot of friends while sitting on the couch, including with a girl named Kara. Apparently they had both traveled a lot for skiing and they talked at length about their favorite resorts. It was only on the drive home when we were talking about Jackson Hole that Lindsey piped in- "Oh yeah. My friend Kara lived there and she won the Kings and Queens contest." Wait- what? It checks out- Kara Munsey is a mild ski celebrity who sat on the podium in 2018 and now lives in Salt Lake and works as a nurse. That's pretty neat.

Shannon did a nice birthday party with family for Maren and Evelyn.

This is the cake she had made. Pictures of Ev and Mare are printed onto the frosting, and the cake decorator custom designed a bunny (for Maren) playing the drums (Ev, obviously). 
How neat is that?

Family, travel, skiing, food. What a great weekend!

Have a good week!

This is one of those weekends that already feel like a dream. Yesterday at this time I was sipping coffee, looking out the window at snow-covered peaks, and getting ready for an epic day of skiing. This was day three in our little condo that had served perfectly as a home base for our adventures, sitting just minutes away from the lift. We had already explored most of the mountain, and since this would be the last day out there, we each had a few specific objectives. Maren and Rachel raced the steep groomers that were used for world cup training. Addy had her best runs- maybe of her life- on the moguls. And Evelyn hit the steeps with the cool headed composure that can only come from years of experience. Lindsey and Jackson...made a snowman...maybe? Panorama is one of those "perfect" resorts with something for everyone, including big mountain terrain formerly only accessible via helicopter. We loved it, and I think it is unanimous that this was the best ski weekend of the winter so far. 

And then this morning I dropped Ev off at the high school and just drove into work as if nothing had happened. We'll catch up on some super-bowl stuff tonight, and celebrate Maren's 12th birthday. I'll pick up some groceries, and maybe go to the gym. Life goes on- but for a little while it will feel different as we come off the high that was the weekend.

We had space to spread out a little compared to our normal hotel rooms. Here we are getting ready for the day.

The condo was next to a big frozen lake

Speed queens

 I spent most of my time with Ev and Addy in steeper terrain

Movie nights are a pretty normal part of these weekend trips.

I have no idea what is happening here. They found a large letter A? Ok. In this picture they are posing like Moses is supposing. Also, this reference will not be lost on these kids, even if they weren't thinking it in the moment.

Getting ready to drop. A little bit lower coverage than normal made these runs extra spicy.

The view out our window. The mountains up here are unreal.

Have a good week!

It has been such a fabulous, refreshing week. I don't even know that I could fully explain why. Just, a lot of good things all adding up together. Here are some photos:

These two little girls have joined our family. Tito and Daisy. They belong to Maren. She loves them so much. And they are much more manageable than rabbits.

Evelyn and Josh have officially been "dating" for a year. They are booth goofy kids, both great musicians, and both fun to hang out with. Josh had never been skiing before. They spent a good day hanging out in Wallace together, and then went up to the resort with the family. Evelyn was a very patient teacher to an eager student. The rest of us had a great day higher up on the mountain.

Ev is also part of the ski club at school and has been doing trips with them. The last one, she said, was one of her best ski days of the season so far.

The obligatory Silver Mountain picture. 

It was about time I get a photo of this. Every time we go skiing, we all have to wait for Rachel to do her leg swings before we can do the first run together. We kind of give her a hard time about it, but I guess an extra two minutes in the morning is worth it for good knees. 

Ev and Josh

I never thought of myself as the kind of person who would own a nail gun (or any other kind of gun, for that matter). Well, I guess sometimes we surprise ourselves. The Wallace project is in full swing right now. I have all the same feelings as I did when I was a kid building forts and treehouses. Rachel and I went up without kids on Sunday and got some stuff done. We also went out to dinner, spent the night in Wallace, and had a great breakfast the next day. We even got a few ski runs in before heading home. As for the kids, they got themselves off to school and never really even missed us. It was a great getaway.

I didn't take any photos during our little local getaway, but I sure like hanging out with Rach and I made her take this selfie with me to signify the time we had spent together.  

I've mentioned this many times, I am sure- but I really like our Wallace house. Like- even more than I thought I would. The feel of the place and the time we spend up there is irreplaceable. 

This week we began a project which is likely to take us into the summer months, but at the end of it we should have a nice bonus room with enough space and bedding for at least four more people. I think it will be nice, hopefully cozy, and a good place to get away from the craziness that sometimes dominates the rest of the house. It definitely enjoys a great view over the valley that we will take advantage of. There will be a lot of work between now and then, but it's work that we are looking forward to. With no timeline, we can just do a little bit at a time whenever we happen to be up there. Right now, with ski season in full force, that is almost every weekend. Rach and I will also carve out some time in our schedules to spend some alone time up there, working on the room and enjoying the quaint restaurants where we have become regulars.

When the only choices you packed are either ski clothes or a swimming suit. It's okay- the whole evening was sort of silly so it fit the mood.

Getting this wood up to the attic was stupid. And we only have to do it about a hundred more times. We may have "edited" the ceiling to make this job easier for ourselves. 

Success! Now let's do it again. And again. And again...

As for skiing this weekend, it was wet and foggy. I secretly like skiing in the fog, because it is possible to surprise yourself- the very definition of reacting in the moment and a true test of how sharp your reflexes can be. I am not the only person in the family who shares this sentiment, and we all had a great time.

Low-light goggles ready to go

Love it!

Sometimes you find yourself in the air without understanding why. Lindsey learned this the hard way.

Besides weekend activities, we also had a fairly eventful week. Kids all finished finals, so our house feels more relaxed now by several degrees. We all went and saw a play together (SIX), which was mentioned in last week's post. On Sunday we hosted a meetup at our house for my work team/fantasy football league that Rachel had organized. Rach and I went to the climbing gym together. None of these things stands out in a huge way, but they all work together to make a pretty good week.

Have a good week!

What a weird winter we are having. First, no snow. Then, arctic temperatures. Then some snow, but followed up quickly by a week of warm rain. Last night our family was walking the streets of Spokane in light jackets and it seriously felt like a mid-September evening. Weird.

Of course, the weather usually has very little impact on our plans as a family. I would have missed out on a lot of formative experiences and great times in my life if I had worried about "conditions." Sometimes, the crummiest situations make for the most memorable experiences. And that is how we found ourselves driving up to Wallace in the rain, crossing our fingers that there would still be snow on the mountain when we arrived.

There was, and things turned out great. Ev had invited a friend to stay with us for the weekend, and spent the majority of the day teaching her how to ski. Just as memorable though, will be the time we spent hanging out at the Tin Snug, eating ice cream and browsing their collection of vinyl. Or the evening at the Wallace house, playing games and watching movies. Or meeting up at lunch time, drenched and laughing at the sloppy mess we found ourselves in. I mean, sure, we weren't linking powder turns all day, but we all had a great time. I love these days.

Besides our time on the mountain, we had a few other noteworthy events take place this week. For me, I was occupied with study club for the better part of two days. I really look forward to these weeks, and meeting with other doctors who share a passion for what they do is refreshing in the best way.

We also went, as a family, to see the Broadway tour of SIX. We have been looking forward to this ever since we first saw that it was coming to Spokane. The general consensus was that even though we had gone in with high hopes, our expectations were all either met or exceeded by the performance. Also, like with other things, there is an added component of satisfaction when we do things together with friends, and the whole evening was just a ton of fun. 

Anyway- here are some photos of the week. Our kids have finals in school over the next few days and that has caused no small amount of anxiety in the home. I'm sure they'll do great though.

Enjoy the pictures and have a good week!

Oh, yeah. I forgot about this. Rach gave me control of our under-the-stairs closet and I made this little home office just in time for finals! Yes, we are using all the space we can find in this house.

Ev and Kloe

Sometimes this is the easier way down

A view out the window at the resort gave us a clue as to what we were in for. Pretty sloppy.

These next few photos are from the set that Resrospect played a couple weeks ago. Apparently they had a professional photographer taking pictures.

And here is from last night, when we saw the play

We had a four-day weekend last week. Up until the very last minute we had plans up in the air and nobody was really sure what we were going to do. Let me start by saying a huge "thank-you" to Shannon and Adrian, who tolerated our fickleness and ended up, at the last minute, hosting us in their home for three days.

Here is the story: Originally, we had booked a slope-side condo at Panorama- a resort in Canada that we really like. We were super excited about this. Usually on these ski trips we all crowd into the most affordable dingy hotel room that we can find, so this was a special treat. As the dates drew nearer, however, the temperatures started to plummet. Two days before we were to leave, the forecast called for a high of -25 Fahrenheit. Did we really want to ski in that? But we are the Hazards. No such thing as bad conditions, right? Only bad skiers and bad gear. That was the gospel truth. We don't back down for something as menial as the weather. 

And so we braced ourselves for the cold and held the course. One day before departure, temperatures continued to drop. And then the resort announced that it would not open due to the cold. Darn! Our family breathed a collective sigh of relief. I guess plans would have to change after all, but we could do it now with our heads held high. Rachel made a few phone calls, Shannon offered up her home, and we were soon on the road to the comparatively tropical climate of Utah for our winter getaway.

On the way down we made a quick stop in Rexburg where we hung out with my parents. This was nice because they were originally scheduled to come up to our house last weekend to see Evelyn's performance. Due to a quick change in plans, however, they ended up cancelling that trip. I guess it worked out though, because we got to see them after all. 

Once in Utah, we skied two days at Snowbasin. They had received nearly five feet of snow in as many days, and the turns were nice and soft. It was pretty busy due to both the holiday weekend, the great snow,  and the fact that many of the other resorts in the area were unreachable due to road conditions. An insider tip from a friendly parking attendant got us parked right next to the lift on both days though, and in spite of the crowds, we were able to find open fields of powder high up on the mountain.

One nice thing about skiing in Utah is that we also have a lot of family in the area, providing us with a social calendar that we might not have elsewhere. We couldn't see everyone in the area, but had a fabulous time eating meals and catching up with those who we were able to be with. We are also planning a trip down next month to ski LCC, so hopefully we can catch some of the other people at that time.

Here are some photos. Have a good week!

Bowling

This was the line in the lower parking lot for the bus shuttle that took you to the lift. It was a 2 hour wait (after sitting in traffic for an additional 2 hours). After seeing our family, for whatever reason, the parking attendant gave us instructions and permission to go to a different spot that was literally right next to the lift. "Just tell them that Gabe sent you." It was perfect. Thank you, Gabe.

We went to a nice pizza place with Shannon's family. Here's Jack eating three different kinds of pizza at the same time. I guess he couldn't choose. To be clear, he is not holding it like this just because I was taking pictures- He is actually going back and forth between different slices as he eats. Weird kid.

For a while now, kids have been independent enough to allow us to have "lodge dates." We don't do this every time, but it is always nice when we do get to have these times.

The dreaded "family zone." We call them "moving trees," and negotiating this ant hill is some of the scariest skiing we do. Thankfully, most people stayed pretty low on the hill, allowing us a lot more room to play on the steeps at the top.

Cousin time

And, of course, the ferrets. If you read Maren's update last week then this picture will make a lot of sense.