Chris left for London on Saturday afternoon. We had snow for most of the day but the roads seemed to be fine.
He got to use the new security section at the airport and deemed it much nicer.
He will be in London and then Brighton for the Sales Kick Off for the Europe and Asia areas of Logic Monitor.
He got to London in time for Sunday School at one of the local wards and then, with the rest of the day to find things to do, he went to the "Back to the Future" Musical.
Turns out the lady he sat beside at the theatre was from Colorado too!
Kristen is thinking that she needs the Mazda, especially as she has a practicum class this semester that requires her to be in a classroom.
When Chris took the Mazda in for an oil change, the repair shop gave him a list of repairs and work that needed to be done.
He ordered some parts and decided to do most of the work himself...with Misha's help.
Misha enjoys learning basic car maintenance.
In Chris' limited time on Saturday afternoon, he and Misha spent time changing fluids and filters. There's still one thing that needs to be done at a service garage, but that'll happen after he gets home.
The girls were excited to see Julie today and spend some time with her family. It always takes Julie's girls a little time to warm up, but once they do, they are all great friends once again.
Amy and Kristen hadn't seen Julie and family since August when we were all out in Utah dropping Kristen off. They had planned to go in September for the girls' birthdays, but they were all sick.
Kristen's boyfriend, TJ, has a sister. She and her husband just purchased a new house in Utah that happened to come with chickens!
TJ's sister asked Kristen to paint the chickens on the wall in the basement. FYI, the chickens are named Chicken Tender, Chicken Nugget, and Chicken Pot Pie.
Last semester, Amy added an Information Systems minor to her business degree.
She had a bunch of IS classes this semester but found them to be overwhelming and of little interest.
She considered moving her minor back to Marketing since she had already taken a number of classes with that emphasis. She planned to talk with her counselor at UVU to set up a new plan moving forward.
Her counselor was not available, but she met with another one who has been such a tremendous help. He "locked in" her graduation plan, helped her change her minor, and worked with her to drop 2 or 3 of her IS classes and switch to a few marketing classes.
Unfortunately, she was already 2 1/2 weeks into the semester and had a lot of work to do to catch up in the new marketing classes. BUT... she is more at peace with this direction. In fact, her whole demeanor and attitude shifted in a happy way just by changing her minor and ensuring that she will graduate in December!
We planned a snowmobiling adventure back up at the Sunlight Mountain Resort.
I was impressed with our snowmobile tour guide, Ty. Within ten minutes of meeting the guests, he had everyone's names memorized. That's a skill.
We got our winter layers on, got boots and helmets and then received some instruction.
There was about six ski-doos plus Ty on his "sled". We rode for about an hour, stopped and played in an open field, and then returned to the resort. I was glad that I had put on so many layers.
I had fleece-lined pants, fleece lined snow pants, a shirt, fleece jacket, and two puffy jackets. I was even more happy to see that the handles for both the driver and the passenger on the ski-doos were heated.
My helmet was a little too big and kept falling forward. The clear plastic visor sure helped with the windchill on your face though.
We had asked for a late check-out from the hotel. We hurried back from our snowmobiling tour, packed up all of our stuff, stopped for a quick lunch at Jimmy Johns and then were on our way home.
The roads were clear and we were down the mountain before the majority of the traffic hit.
My brother Brad found this thoughtful gift for my birthday. It is called the Grace Bracelet and is from the Inklings Collecting on the GoodNewsBrandCo.com
"Inspired by the grace all throughout the miracles of Jesus Christ, the genuine freshwater pearls in this bracelet symbolize the refining process we experience in the process of becoming. He will turn trials into blessings. He makes beauty from the ashes. Wear this bracelet as a reminder that He is a God of grace. *Due to the nature of freshwater pearls, there will be some irregularity to their size and sheen."
Such a thoughtful gift.
The card that came with the bracelet said:
"Perhaps our moments of weakness and want are gifts in disguise. We must remember that grace comes through grit. It is borne out of the seeking and waiting and wanting; they lead us to Jesus. He is a God of miracles. They come in all different shapes and sizes. But perhaps the greatest miracle of all will be you. Who you become on the journey. The heart that will come out on the other side of all of this. Refined. The beauty He makes from the ashes."
We ate the complimentary breakfast at the hotel and then settled in to watch a session of General Conference.
Chris was feeling some sore muscles from the previous day of skiing. We enjoyed our pass to Glenwood Springs Hot Springs that allowed us to come and go throughout the day.
We stayed for about an hour in the morning, returned to the hotel to shower, and then drove through the mountains listening to Come Follow Me podcasts.
This is Mt. Sopris outside of Glenwood Springs.
We came across the cutest little hamlet: Redstone.
Kids were skating on a small ice rink and the town looked to be straight out of a Hallmark movie.
We did have to laugh when reading the sign on this building:
Enlarge the pic to read the Closed sign.
After returning to Glenwood and grabbing some food at an asian bistro, we returned to the hot springs and soaked until closing time.
Chris planned to go skiing at Sunlight Mountain Resort. It was about 30 minutes outside of Glenwood Springs.
He enjoyed the day talking with locals, skiing a number of runs, and only having a mishap or two on the slopes.
I stayed at the hotel and worked on blogging. Late in the day, I decided to walk over to Target across the river. The front desk girl at Hampton recommend that I take the street behind the hotel and follow it. I figured that at some point the road would cross over, but no, I saw Target and the shopping area across the way as the road I was on continued on.
I finally texted Chris that I was on this crazy road and wasn't sure how I was supposed to get over to Target. He was on his way back from skiing.
I mapped myself to Target and the route took me back the way I had come.
Since I had wanted to get some walking and exercise in, I couldn't complain that the path I took helped me do just that.
Chris finally arrived back in Glenwood Springs, returned his ski equipment and came to find me. We ended up at Target and shopped a little. Chris had been wearing boots but changed into some attractive socks and sandals.
We choose Slope & Hatch for tacos for dinner. Awesome fish tacos for me!
Misha bought a new "film" camera to use in one of her classes.
I love that she is loving photography.
Chris had gifts for me to open on Friday morning before we left for Glenwood Springs.
We enjoyed a weekend in Glenwood Springs to celebrate and just get away.
Chris had originally booked the Amtrak for us to take to Glenwood Springs again. However, trying to figure out the logistics of getting there before 8 am on Friday morning and what to do with our car inspired us to cancel the Amtrak booking and just drive.
Turns out that an awesome choice. The Amtrak was delayed for 5 hours before it ever left Union Station in Denver. Whew!
Chris and I left the house around 10 am and made a bit of a detour to stop and see Misha at work before heading up the I-80 corridor.
Though I wasn't terribly enthusiastic, Chris made a detour at Georgetown. Without finding a place to grab a quick lunch, he continue up the mountain to the Silver Dollar Trailhead for a little winter hiking. I wasn't feeling the need to hike.
We did, however, see something that was first for us in our 22 years in Colorado: a Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep. It was just walking up the middle of the mountain road without too much of a care until it found a place to bound up the side of the mountain.
It was awesome.
We finally reached the parking lot at the trailhead and proceeded to put on our winter snow hiking gear. I stepped out of the car to grab my stuff and promptly slipped and fell! Ouch!
The girl in the car next to us set off with her husky dog, snowshoes and a sled.
Chris and I were ready to go about 15-20 minutes later. Did you know that hiking in the snow is not very easy. We both had strapped our snowshoes to our backpacks. If we needed them, we would have them. I forgot to remove my camera because it was also strapped in, so the pack was even heavier.
Chris had much more energy than I.
After hiking 0.6 miles UP to the trailhead, I was ready to turn around.
The girl and her husky were having fun in the snow and I wished that I could have gotten a picture of her sitting on the sled with the dog pulling her down the hill. They were both enjoying the snow.
Chris and I turned around and made our way back to the Pilot. We set off for Silverthorne where we finally stopped for some lunch around 2 pm.
We arrived in Glenwood around 4 or 4:30 and got settled in at the Hampton Inn (right next to the gondola to the Glenwood Adventure Park) and not too far from either Glenwood Hot Springs and Iron Mountain Hot Springs.
Chris needed to pick up his ski gear for Saturday and then we stopped at a City Market for a few groceries.
Chris had made reservations for us Iron Mountain Hot Springs from 6:30 - 9:30 pm. Since they had a small takeout cafe, we decided to order dinner there so we didn't have to rush to fit everything in.
We soaked for about 2.5 hours. Even though we were shivering getting in to a hot tub at 103°, by the time we stepped out, we were steaming and the cool air felt mostly good.
Last time we visited Iron Mountain, we didn't have a car, so we walked back to our Airbnb about a mile or so. So much nicer to be able to drive.
Kristen started her new job at the Fedex Copy and Ship that is close to the U of U campus.
Her first day of training was on January 4th. She was greeted with this sign when she walked in.
She has been doing a lot of training and reading, which she says is boring. She learns a lot better by doing.
I started a new semester of teaching Pathways for BYU-I. I taught Teachings and Doctrines of the Book of Mormon for two years and just started teaching a new course on the Divine Gift of Forgiveness.
I have three students in my class that liked me enough in the Book of Mormon class that they also signed up for this new class. That's heartwarming.
Kristen's friend, Hannah, had an extra ticket to the musical Six at Eccles Theatre in downtown Salt Lake City.
She and Kristen enjoyed a night of dressing up and enjoying some singing and dancing.
Apparently, Six is about the six wives of Henry VIII.
