Ski Cali!

Sibling Ski trip!  Doug and I coordinated a ski trip to Cali to have fun with Jenn and Jeff for a weekend.  We had a blast.  Steve was kind enough to have reserved a couple condos for this weekend, and we took adventage of the place to stay and ski Squaw Valley.  As we flew in we knew we were in for a treat as a storm hit that night, and we drove up to the condo with the flakes falling.  Just a little exciting to have fresh powder on the first day of our fun.  

These are the youngest four of the eight kids in my family.  Next time we need to get them all out with us!  While I loved catching up with all of them, it was awesome to spend time with Jenn, whom I dont get to see much.  I love my sis!  She and I tried skiing ungroomed powder.  I have failed miserbaly in the past, but I was determined to do this.    My favorite was the face plant we both did in the powder right under the lift.  Im afraid we were great entertainment for the onlookers.  Jenn was learning to ski again, after boarding for many years, so we made for a pretty equal pair.  And I was grateful I didn't have to prove myself to my brothers!

We spend the evenings in the hot tub and BBQing up some grub.  Then we discovered the game room and it was all over from there.   Pac man, Mario bro's, and King Kong.  Memories I tell ya!

Before flying home we go to spend the night at Jeff's place and I loved getting to love on my sweet little niece.

Then back to reality I went, kids and school and life.  We planned this field trip for the cub scout boys to go to the police station.  I think it was a hit.  They really enjoyed the whole tour and I was so surprised at how well behaved they could be.  Ha ha!

Jacob played a season of basketball.  Many of his friends from school were on his team, and he loves playing with them.  Jacob is a decent player, but he is such a good friend too.  I love that he passes to his buddies so they can get a shot.  My favorite thing about watching kids this age is to see all the traveling, as they are trying so hard to think about too many things at once.  The league is pretty low key, so if at least they are trying then they don't call them on it.

Spencers 5th grade teachers asked me to come teach about a plant system one afternoon.  It was fun to study up on xylem and phloem and teach the kids how they work using these cabbage leaves and food coloring.  I forgot to take an after picture, but they worked pretty well.  

And after 10 years we replaced our leather couches.  We were tired of Skai always laying on them, so we went with fabric instead...little did know he would like the fabric just as much.

And boy oh boy were we excited to et some snow!!!  It wasnt a ton, but it was enough to get up on the Mesa and do a short ski and some sledding.  This turned out to be one of the biggest storms to grace the Mesa the whole season.  Our local resort really struggled to stay open and ended up giving up after a couple weeks.  

And where is Amanda, you say, in all these pictures!  Busy busy busy.  Four AP classes, (Calc, Biology, US History, and AP Language) and academic team season really kicks up during this time of year.  She was busy working her tail off to keep the candle  burning at both ends most days.  All her work is paying off, as she is competing as part of the Varsity A team.  They have quite a reputation, with 19 State championships under their belts in the last 20 years.  So the pressure is real!  And she made her TV debut with the first airing of her matchwitz program.  She rocked it and they won their first round with ease.