Copper Mountain in True Grizzweaver Style

There's a joke in Derek's family that something has to go wrong every time they take a vacation. Now that I've been married into the family for 10 years, I've lived to see it for myself... and our own little ski weekend to Copper Mountain was no exception.

Derek has been working at the clinic that is right at the base of the ski lifts for the past month. He's been home most Sunday/Mondays, but for the rest of the month, Daddy was only with us via iPhone during scripture study every night (which became difficult as the kids argued over who got to "hold Daddy.")

Although we missed having Daddy in person and he didn't entirely enjoy life as a bachelor, there were some definite perks. Derek got into great shape as he spent nearly three hours each day at the gym in Silverthorne. And, whenever it was slow in the clinic, he could grab a pass and hit the slopes for a few hours--he hasn't snowboarded that much since freshman year.

So for the last few days of his stint in the mountains, we made plans to experience mountain life with Daddy. Grandma Nancy agreed to watch the kids so Derek and I could ski together for a day before they joined us at the condo. However, Derek woke up Thursday morning feeling awful-- he had the flu. He was determined to not let it get the best of him, and did one run with me. Unfortunately, that was all he could do before returning to the clinic (at least he had connections there!) where he rested all day while I skied alone. It was a bummer, but I was glad that I got to ski nonetheless.... I think I've been once in the past 8 years since we've started having kids.

I remembered how much I LOVE SKIING! It reminded me of the carefree days of college when Leslie and I took the BYU skiing PE class at Sundance-twice. It was an awesome excuse to ski twice a week, and even better, I was encouraged to sign up (both times) by my dad, who taught me to ski. Which also has made me and Derek realize that we just need to bite the bullet and teach our kids to ski, even if that will mean a few agonizingly slow days on the mountain. It really is amazing to be able to experience the grandeur of the mountains and cover so much territory.

After an exhilarating day for me (not so much for Derek), my awesome mom brought the kids up from Denver so they could stay the night in the condo and then go tubing the next day while Derek worked his last shift.

The kids were so cute, running around the condo, saying they were in "skiing paradise", exclaiming that it was even nicer than our house, and telling us what nice parents we were for bringing them there. We had Campbells Chicken Noodle Soup for dinner, which they exclaimed was the best dinner ever, and then did a puzzle while Daddy laid feeling miserable on the couch.

I tucked everyone into bed early so we could enjoy the next day, and then snuggled up by myself on the couch and watched "Pride and Prejudice" (someday I'll at least have Jane to enjoy chick flicks with.)

The winter evening bliss came to an end around midnight when Ethan woke me up because he'd puked all over himself in bed. Jane was next, and then they alternated about every hour for the next 6.

Derek still felt miserable by the time it was daylight, so he called in sick to work. We packed up the condo and since we'd already purchased tickets for the tubing hill, decided that I would take Reid and Luke while Derek, Ethan and Jane watched a movie and waited in the van for an hour. No sooner did we leave for tubing than did Jane throw up all over Derek in the van (apparently she hadn't gotten it out all over me during the night.)

Needless to say, we were relieved to make it home by Friday afternoon with no more messes and happy to have a washing machine.

We'll have to try this ski weekend thing again.