2 Reasons I love SLC

Number 1.....

Number 2....

Skiing with the Armstrongs :)

As you know the family came into town and Roger and Kari were the last and final wave. They flew in Wed night and waisted no time to hit the slopes. I took Thursday off and showed them around Snowbird. It was snowing that day so it kept the snow really nice and full of powder!!! I asked if they wanted to know what level they were skiing before or after.....Roger said after. Too bad Kari reads the signs too well because apparently she was cursing me while I took them down a double black diamond :)

This is Roger after he fell on the double black diamond and me posing for the camera because I never fall ;)

They took off Monday night but not without hitting the slopes with me one more time! I was so excited that they got their blue bird day of skiing in though! Too bad we get off the tram with Emma and Lori and we loose Roger and Kari before we get to the top of the run we were going to take.....it took us less than 5 minutes to go our separate ways! After a couple hours we met up again and I took them through some secret powder that was saved just for employees! Kari thought it was beautiful! She loved seeing the fresh untouched powder minus the one traverse that led into the trees and Roger loved falling in the powder! He looked like a little kid in a candy shop! Needless to say it was a great way to end the trip (Roger's legs were toast after our final powder run).

Here is a picture of everyone happy after we met up again and post double black diamonds in bad visability! For a second I thought they were going to disown me but it was all good after the sun came out....geez they're totally from Southern California!!!!

Here is a video of Kari and Roger coming down their final powder run at Snowbird. We got to Tiger Tail just after they opened it!!!!!!!!!!!! :)

haha Lynds I figured it out!!!! ....and even without any help from Tony ;)

Olsens come to Utah!!!

Ashleigh and Mike drove into town on Saturday night with the kids. Mike has to work in Park City on Thursday so they decided to come hang out with Aunt Z a couple days earlier. Today I took them to Sugarhouse Park to go sledding!!! (Something I swore I would never do). Tyler loved the big hill but Ryan thought there were too many bumps! They had a blast! After an hour they were still having heaps of fun but Nathan's hands were so cold Ashleigh pulled the plug! Check out Nathan's boots....I swear they're from Rainbow Bright!!!

Nathan had a very difficult time walking in his boots on the snow/ice but it was hilarious to watch! He would come running over to me and each time I was waiting for him to completely biff it but it was always the one time he managed to stay on his feet! We've definitely bonded since I came back from Australia! It's good to know he still remembers me :)

After a fun filled day of sledding we went bowling out in Bountiful with my aunts and cousins! My cousin Corey got a job at Orchard Lanes and hooked us up for free....that's my kind of evening!!!!! Nathan had fun bowling and Tyler even beat me on one of the games! I bowled a 75 and he bowled an 81! Pathetic I know but at least I redeemed myself with a 125 for the next game! It's fun having them in town!!!!!!

Here is Natahan protecting his bowling ball! Then there is a picture of Tyler and Mike bowling together! Tyler got over this little contraption and started throwing (to the best of his scrany ability) the ball down the lane. Mike would then come up and bowl so both balls reached the pins at the same time! We had a very fun night!!!!!

California meets Utah!

I'm not usually the biggest fan of New Year's Eve because I find it just an excuse for people to get waisted and since I don't participate in that behavior I usually play games with the family. Being in Utah made that a bit difficult but I had one of my best New Year's to date! I went up to Snowbird for the torch light service. Waiting to go up the hill we took a group photo. It's Emma, Chin (a regular on the tram), Laurie, Max, me and Melony. We all complain about working at Snowbird but we just can't get enough of the place!

This is Brian from Ski Patrol making sure we all got our flares safely. He is just so cute I could eat him :) He took a photo of Laurie, Emma and I with the pretty sunset in the background. Once we got up the hill we played around with our flares before lighting them!

Here is Emma, Laurie and I with our flares lit and ready!!!! Everyone rides the lift up to this black diamond run and skies down the hill with 2 flares on each end of their stick totally waisted! I don't know how no one gets injured!!!! It's definitely a sight to be seen and I'm stoked I finally made it to one of these spectacular events!!!!!

After the torch light we watched a firework presentation (I LOVE fireworks!!!!) Then I made some new friends!!! This is my new friend Tim. He is from Australia. I find it entertaining that while I was there I never kissed anyone (I made a promise to be good) but within a month of being back I manage to no longer be good. That is his friend Will. This was pretty much my New Year's. I was ready for it to be over by 9pm but lasted until 11 and toasted it in with my Sparkling Cider!

Snowbird...it's good to be back :)

I came back from Australia really needing to start earning an income again, so to those of you that have figured out I'm back but I haven't called you PLEASE don't take it personally! I pretty much live at work, like literally I have a bed and everything! Here is me and Emma! Everyone refers to us as the 'A Team'! We were going over incabin-evacuation but took some time out to take a silly photo. Afterall work at Snowbird isn't really working :)

Work at Snowbird is anything but dull this season. Last season I just checked tickets and that got pretty boring after awhile so now that I operate the tram it keeps me on my toes much more! We've had a couple gnarly storms. There was so much snow that we were "inter-lodged" the other day for about 3 hours before we could even leave the building! It was insane!!!

These storms don't just come in on their own! They come in with some pretty intense winds! When it's windy it makes driving the tram rather difficult past the towers! I was on my way down (which is always the hardest) and I had winds gusting up to 47mph straight towards me. I was waiting for them to die down so I could "safely" get past the tower. Well that didn't really happen because as I was waiting my front window popped out!!!! I kinda freaked out and my boss was on the com-line laughing at me because apparently the tram was swaying about 15ft, so I redocked and about 3.5hrs later was able to get down the mountain! When it gets that windy they make a tram operator sleep in the ski patrol hut so we can drive the tram past a tower in the morning...this is me hanging out watching TV on my "peak night". It's actually a lot of fun! I was dancing in my spandex and waving to the cat drivers when they'd pass. Apparently it doesn't take a lot to entertain me!

I took the Aussies up to Snowbird and gave them a few pointers before I had to head off to work. I came out during one of my breaks and watched them come down Chikadee. Once they saw me they undid their snowboards and WALKED down the hill.....I had to surprise them on my next break to get these photos of them. They picked it up really fast, especially for not having any real lessons. They lasted about half the day and then joined me on a couple tram runs....I enjoyed the company :)

Here is Hannah tearing it up on Chikadee and then Eliza shredding the gnar! They made me so proud!!!!

Pretty California

It's images like these that make me wonder why I've choosen to live in Utah away from my family. I guess it's because I can visit this and still appreciate it and it is all done for free :)