Flat Stanley

Damon and Flat Stanley at Solitude

Flat Stanley skiing at Alta

Flat Stanley enjoying the sunny weather.

Our last visitor of the ski season was Flat Stanley who came to visit us from Chiang Mai, Thailand.  Flat Stanley, for those who don’t know, is a character in a children’s book who is flattened by a bulletin board.  He discovers that  there are some benefits to being flat- sliding under doors… and being sent via mail.  Damon’s cousin’s son, Htoo Eh, mailed us Flat Stanley, I made him a hat and scarf, Damon made him skis and gloves and we took him up to Solitude and Alta before we mailed him back to Thailand.

New Clogs

I finally finished Gavin and Connor’s new clogs. Photos of the boys in the sweaters I made them for Christmas courtesy of my dad.

Hugs

Hooray!

Alta

The last several weeks we’ve received some spring storms which brought us good snow through the end of March and early April.  Our last visitors of the ski season were our friends Squirt (who was in town for a wedding) and Christina.  Unfortunately Squirt and I forgot our cameras the day we went up to Solitude, but here are photos of Alta the day we went up with Christina.

Chris getting ready to head down the hill

At the top of Supreme chair

From the top of Supreme chair

View from top of Supreme Bowl looking at East Castle

East Castle

Devil’s Castle

From top of Collins chair looking at Devil’s Castle

Mt. Baldy with Ballroom below

View from top of Collins chair

View from top of Collins chair

View from top of Collins chair

Devil’s Castle

Devil’s Castle

For Sale

My parents’ house

103-102

We’ve gone to see a few Utah Jazz NBA games this season (opening night and Boston Celtics). Tonight we saw the Minnesota Timberwolves beat the Utah Jazz 103-102 from the 16th row. Really fun game.

Kevin Ollie with the ball

Solitude

I have finally loaded the software to download the pics on my phone…

Some photos from the Summit chairlift for my friend Jamie who doesn’t ski but wanted to know what it looked like up there.

Riding the Summit chair

View from the top of the Summit chair

Another view from the top of the Summit Chair

Jackson!

  

 

At Grand Targhee with the Grand Teton in the background

 
The last weekend of February we went to Jackson Hole with our friends Jody and Mike and 11 friends of theirs (or friends of their friends) from Seattle. It was a fun weekend skiing at Jackson Hole for two days and at Grand Targhee for one day.  

This was our first trip to Jackson Hole (and Damon’s first trip to Wyoming).  We rented a place walking distance from the Jackson Hole base, enjoyed the food and libations at the Snake River Brewing Company , Mangy Moose, Osteria, Q Roadhouse, Cowboy Bar,Silver Dollar Bar and the Merry Piglets. The fare was all pretty standard (brew pub, Italian, barbecue).  Oddly the Merry Piglets is a Mexican restaurant.  We had a great time skiing, exploring Jackson, and hanging out with some fun folks.

To get to Grand Targhee you have to drive into Idaho and then back into Wyoming.  On the way back to the house, we stopped at the Victor Emporium in Driggs, ID to have some huckleberry shakes before meeting up with the rest of the crew at the Mangy Moose.  Years ago Jody had stopped there during a cross country road trip and she remembered the shakes being delicious- she wasn’t mistaken.  It is always a good sign when they give you a fat straw with your milk shake.

Martin attacks the bear at the Cowboy Bar

At Grand Targhee with the Grand Teton in the background

Damon, Bryan, Jay, Me, Jody, Jordan, Mike, and Kathy at the base of Grand Targhee

Jody and Mike at Grand Targhee

Bryan outside of the Victor Emporium, Driggs, ID

The Mangy Moose

Most of the crew at the Mangy Moose, Jackson

Knitted Christmas Gifts

Connor modeling his new 'patos

I have always wanted to knit a sweater but didn’t quite have the courage to start one on my own. Over the years friends have given me various patterns for baby sweaters since they knit up faster. Last fall I was sitting on the plane next to a woman who was knitting on my way home from Seattle. We started chatting and she said she thought I could knit a sweater and that if I needed help she’d be willing to help me out.  With Teri’s help I made this for Connor for Christmas:

Connor's Sweater

Fish Buttons on Connor's Cardigan

Connor modeling his new sweater

Gavin requested some new slippers so I knitted up some felted clogs for him- and once I made one pair I had to make a second pair for Connor.

Clogs before felting

Felted clogs

Unfortunately for Connor I made his clogs his actual size and so they’re a little snug. I need to finish up a second pair for his birthday… which was last month.

Sundance Visitors

This year we had a full house during Sundance again.  Eryn and John came out the first weekend.   We had some celebrity sightings in Park City- not that I knew who the people were but other folks did.  We went to see “Tyson“, a documentary about Mike Tyson and he was at the Q&A which was really cool.  We got to go skiing with John and Eryn at Deer Valley on a day when it was really clear which was great.

Eryn & I on Main Street

Mike Tyson at Q&A

John and Eryn at Deer Valley

Eryn & I at Deer Valley

Chair lift

Deer Valley Veiw

During the week we went to see “Mystery Team” a comedy/mystery about high school detectives,  ”Burma VJ” a documentary about video reporters in Burma during the 2007 uprising, and “Taking Chance” a really well done drama about a soldier escorting home a soldier who has been killed in action.  I also got to see “It Might Get Loud” a documentary about guitarists Jimmy Page, the Edge, and Jack White , “Prom Night in Mississippi” a documentary about a high school that holds its first integrated prom in April 2008, “Yes Men Fix the World” a documentary about 2 men who sneak into corporate events (or on BBC) and pretend to be spokesmen from industry and tell us what we always wanted to hear, “Afghan Star” a documentary about contestants in Pop Idol- Afghanistan’s version of American Idol, “End of the Line” a documentary about overfishing of the oceans and what we can do about it, and “Dirt the Movie” a movie about the health of our soils which I was really hoping would tell me something new.

My favorites of the festival were Burma VJ, Taking Chance, and Prom Night in Mississippi- but they were all good.

The second weekend of the festival Maia and Gavin came out to celebrate Chinese New Year and Renee came down to see some movies and do some skiing. Apparently I didn’t bring my camera out much while they were here- we did go skiing, play Wii, and enjoy hanging out.

Gavin and Damon play Wii

Colorado

In December (yes, I’m that behind) I was in Colorado for work and managed to time my visit with my friend Meg’s vet school externship. I got to spend some time in Fort Collins and hang out with Meg, Mary Beth, and Justin (whom I didn’t manage to catch on camera).  Damon came up for the weekend andwe had a mini-reunion with our grad school friends, Paul, Kavita, Jen, Dave, Michelle, and Jeremy in Lousiville.  We spent the rest of the time with Damon’s buddy from high school, Ken, and his family in Denver.

Phoenix, Tania and Santa

Michelle, Damon, Paul, Kavita, Dave, Jeremy, Amy, Meg, Sarah, and Jen

Phoenix and Ken

Checking out Downtown Denver

Damon and Ken Chatting Up Some Ladies