Bush's Baked Beans: Winter Break

So the word is out. There's officially a sport I cannot get enough of. Skiing. Rather unfortunate considering where I live. However, Justin and I have tried to make a promise/goal/secret pact with the devil that we will go skiing at least once a year. I'm not sure how feasible that will be, but gosh dang it, I don't care. But back to a quick synopsis of the vacation that started this love affair.

Over the Christmas break we were fortunate enough to go with his family on an extended road trip through Texas, staying in Colorado for a week over Christmas, out to Utah for the following week and then back to Colorado for a few days before heading home. The reason? Justin's grandpa, one of the sweetest men you'll ever meet, turned 80 and we were having a huge family reunion. So why not enjoy the extended vacation?

Starting out we drove to Dallas to meet up with his brother and his family to drive up to Mount Crested Butte, CO, one of my new favorite places. While the drive itself may not have been that enjoyable (I've never been a fan of car rides more than 3 hours. I'm a wimp and I'll admit to it) it was definitely worth it. This beautiful little town is wonderful. Full of ski bums (I never really understood that phrase when Justin used it, but it made perfect sense once we got there) and snow. We stayed on the second story of the house and had snow covering most of our window.

I went to ski school the day after we arrived and was held back from going up the mountain because I was the slowest kid in the class. Granted, the teacher didn't really work with me as much as the other 20 students, but that's neither here nor there. The next day I went up the mountain and cursed a few times in my head because I thought I'd never get it. The third day though my MIL and SIL decided to take me to down a run that they especially liked called Houston. They said the one right outside of our house was actually a bit harder so I thought, "Well, what's the worse that could happen?" So off we went. And it clicked. I LOVED IT! While the lifts themselves and I did not get along so much in the beginning (as my incredibly patient MIL learned the hard way via me knocking her down whenever I fell), she finally taught me the secrets (Justin's a snow boarder so he wasn't much help in regards to tips) and it worked. While it took me until my last day of skiing to never actually fall, it was a lot of fun; falling and all. There's a sense of pride when you look up a mountain and say, "I skied down that thing and didn't die!" They even got me a shirt that says, "This is not a souvenir, but a sign of survival". Below is a hi-def world class shot of my skiing skills in action. I'm the next Peekabo Street.

Justin after doing a run with his dad:

Mt. Crested Butte and the lift outside of the door:

After the skiing we drove on to Salt Lake City for the family reunion. Justin's mom is the middle of 7 and what a fun family. I've always thought my family was the coolest, which it is, ;) but I love her family. While I wouldn't trade my grandparents for anyone else's I'm glad he has the grandparents he does because they're great. I remember going on a few outings with just them when we were both living in Provo the summer we were engaged and they just made me laugh.

With Grandpa and Grandma Harrison. They're missionaries at the Family History Library in SLC

The days leading up to the family reunion were spent visiting mission friends we hadn't seen since either the mission or since the summer we were engaged and a lot had gotten married in between now and then so it was great to meet up with them and their spouses. Unfortunately we kept forgetting our camera so we don't have pictures. But it was great nonetheless. We were stuck driving during a snow storm in a really crappy car with little to no traction (I've never been so close to hyperventilating) when we headed down to Provo so that added to the excitement. We went to BYU so I could visit some of my favorite spots/relive favorite memories. In other words we basically spent the entire time in the library.

The HBLL: my only steady boyfriend throughout college

The two areas where you could place a $50 bet on finding me any given night:

The Social Sciences area (usually in the back- I'm a recluse)

The L. Tom Perry Special Collections. I always felt so special doing research there.

Plus the Carillon tower. In fitting tribute it was even playing "Come, Come Ye Saints" while I snapped this picture.

The next day was the family reunion where we played all kinds of games ranging from ping pong tournaments, human foosball and marshmallow wars to our own special variety of Minute to Win It