Friday, December 26, 2008

Merry Christmas!!


Rich and I had the most mellow Christmas we have ever had, I think. It was just the two of us, which is unusual. We usually invite over some of our other "orphan" friends for dinner, however, this year, Rich was working and everyone was taken care of somewhere else. Kathy is out of town so she wasnt around either. Actually, it was really nice - very very relaxing and warm. Rich was able to get home from work around 10ish or so, which was lucky. We had a nice breakfast and then opened presents. We'd like to thank our families for all the wonderful goodies! Lots of books to read, snuggly clothes to wear and things to "play" with! We had a blast opening all the great presents! Afterward, I took a nap, Rich read, we did some stuff around the house, took a nap, read, prepped dessert, napped, made dinner.... :-) Actually, it was I that did most of the napping! Like I said, a really mellow Christmas! We cracked open our "crackers" to get our little surprises and our crowns for dinner - even Heat Miser got a crown this year! We had an amzing dinner of filet mignon, with a blue cheese topping and a port reduction sauce... and white chocolate bread pudding with homemade caramel sauce for dessert - of course some very good wine as well. Afterward, we snuggled up on the couch and watched the original, 1973 movie musical of Jesus Christ Superstar - it was awesome! Funny, I saw the lead - Ted Neely in the stage show last year - 35 years after! The snow fell, and fell, and fell, leaving about a foot on our driveway for the morning shoveling. All in all, a wonderful holiday! Rich is still working all weekend, on call, unfortunately, but next week he is off so we can play! :-) Merry Chritmas and Happy New Year to all of you!!

Sunday, December 21, 2008

Weekend Fun in the Snow

Lots to do when the snow falls! Although we didnt get up skiing yet we still had a ton of fun without gravity! On Saturday, I attended a skate ski clinic with Rhonda, Andy, Tam and Lara... Rich went, too, but didnt do the clinic - he and his friend Zach did laps around us! Tam and I will be participating in a winter triathlon in which one leg is skate skiing so we thought some instruction would be a good idea. The clinic was put on by the race and was free - great! We also were given water bottles, gel and very nice running hats! I've skated a handful of times before, but am always looking for pointers on technique. With skate skiing, it's all about technique, the better you are the easier it is. Tam, Rhonda and Andy had never tried it before. We had a lot of fun, but it was very cold...mainly because we werent' moving for so much of the instruction. Once we got to do a couple of laps on our own we warmed right up!
On Sunday, Rich needed to do some Christmas errands and swim - it's his only day off this week as he is on call for Christmas and working all week, so........ I couldnt get him up skiing and I didnt want to go by myself. No worries - I called my friend Eli to see if she wanted to play - lucky for me, she was just getting ready to go for a hike up in the foothills behind the University. We had a great hike on and around the Shoreline trail! That's it! Happy Weekend!

Saturday, December 20, 2008

How Quickly Things Change


A week after the "perfect bike day" we were cross country skiing up East Canyon. Since then it has been doing nothing but dumping snow... I think we've shoveled a total of about 2 feet off the driveway in the last week! Of course, this is fine with us as we love the winter, especially in SLC. The snow makes the mountains unimaginably beautiful and, of course, is great for skiing! Unfortunately, we havent been up to downhill ski yet - just havent been able to fit it in, looking at going tomorrow - although the high temps are supposed to be ZERO - might not be too bad if the wind is calm. Today, we are heading to Mountain Dell for a skate ski clinic, well, I"m taking it, Rich is just skating as he's already pretty proficient at it. Want a good cardio workout?? Try skate skiing - it's amazingly hard! haha. I've gone about 10 times over the past couple of winters, if I can go more often I think I can get better - I better, as I'm doing a winter triathlon in January which include skate skiing! Yikes!
For those of you who havent been out to visit, I'm putting in some pictures of "where we live". As I was driving home the other day I couldnt resist snapping pictures out my car window (probably not the smartest thing!) because the mountains and the area looked so pretty. It's a great place to be!!
Hope everyone has a great Christmas! More on the holidays later!

Sunday, December 7, 2008

Perfect Bike Day



Wow, December 7 and 50 degrees, no snow and great trails!! Somewhat of a different winter this year. Did a 2hr ride on the Bonneville today (with 100 other people), enjoying the great weather. As the forecast is for a maybe, possible, perhaps chance of snow in the valley, maybe the last real ride for a while. Although, until the snow is ready to skate on, I may be riding. Anyway a good relaxing ride, Karen was flying on the way home, just cruising over the terrain, giggling and singing "Weeeeee", "Weeeeee". So, happy biking fora little while longer!!!!