A little bit of Park City in our own backyard...

O.K., first off a rant. Sorry, but I GOTTA VENT! I want you all to know that I had worked long and hard on this post last night. I actually had it completely done. Finished! Complete! I went to click 'Publish Post' and it told me it was 'unable to do so at that time'. No problem, right? I'll just hit 'back' and re-try it, right? WRONG! When I hit back to try again... the handy-dandy little 'auto-save' feature obviously had some issues of it's own and none of my post had been saved. No, wait... I take that back... it saved the FIRST TWO SENTENCES OF MY POST! That's it! Let's just say I took it about as well as Katie took her 'rainbow cookies burning in the fires of Hell' In fact, I do believe I quoted her little rant verbatim. Yeah... I was a little mad. So, it was lost. And I had to start over. But not last night. Today. Because last night, well... I was honestly afraid at what I might do if I stayed within punching distance of the computer.

Whew... sorry for that, but I had to voice my frustrations towards Blogger and it's 'Auto-Save' that is not-so-much 'auto' and only 1/4589th 'save' A word to the wise... click 'Save Now' from time to time and save your frustrations for more important things. Like scorched cookies.

Anyway... back to the post. The Georgia snow has come and gone, and so have my dreams of keeping the blog up to date. I have been trying for days to find the time to post some pictures from our ski trip, but yeah... that ain't happened. Fortunately for me, Mother Nature seems to have given me a free pass and allowed to kill two birds with one stone. (Sorry about your birds, Mother Nature...)

So, first... our ski trip. Several years ago, some friends of ours decided to plan a ski trip each year in January. Well, this worked great until we all started having kids. First it was Erin, then Jennifer and I the next year, and finally Dawn. We managed to go three of the past five years, and the husbands even managed to finagle a guys-only trip once. Not too shabby considering there are nine kids between the four couples. Anyway, the first year we went to Lake Tahoe, then Banff, Canada the second, and this year to Utah. We look so forward to the trip each year and we always have a blast! Not to mention that it is nice to have some 'kid-free' time with our friends.

Now to the pictures...

Day One: We started off our trip at Park City. (This was my favorite!)

Here we are waiting in the she ski rental store...

The girls... Erin, Me, Jenn, and Dawn (What do you want to bet that she is actually smiling under that mask?)

This was the view looking down on to one of the restaurants on the mountain. Here you see two half-frozen Richs, looking a bit rough at the end of the first day.

Day Two: The Canyons. This place was also really nice, but a bit of warning to the newer skiers (like myself) who don't have the skills or the sheer stupidity required to do the crazy, thrill-seeker slopes. There were no green trails present at this resort. (Even though the 'effing web site clearly stated that there were...) So if you're coming lookin' for the bunny slopes, well... you'll just be S.O.L at The Canyons. The blues are great and pretty manageable if you have some experience, though.

Jennifer and Alan on the sky car up to the resort.

(Left to Right) Some Random Snowboard Guy, Jenn, and Erin on a ski lift. (Bottom Right) Two random and lost-looking skiers. Brad looking at a trail map while Jennifer feels the effects of altitude sickness. I felt so bad for her... she felt terrible that day!Day Three: Alta (and yes, the sky was really that blue... it was gorgeous!)

The view form the top...Here we are in front of our condo on the last day... sad to be leaving, but so excited to return home to our kiddos.

And speaking of which... being that we are the most thoughtful, wonderful, loving, and caring parents around... we brought the kids back the best surprise we possibly could... SNOW! Well, so the snow came a few days after us, but who cares. The kids loved it!

Here is my little Snow Princess... just slightly happy about getting to 'play in the snow like Caillou'! (B.T.W., does any other mom out there happen to hate that whiny, bald headed little cartoon freakshow as much as I do? And what about his parents... total jobless pushovers with never-ending patience who totally allow the brattiness? Anyone?? Well... maybe I just have some deep-rooted Caillou-hate built up. Maybe I should look in to some therapy...) So where was I? Ah, yes! Allie, my beautiful Snow Princess...

Finally getting to try out her new snow boots...

...and loving the prints they leave behind.

Here she is trying out my latest, greatest invention! It's a snowball maker! This fabulous little creation lets you make snowballs without ever laying a glove the snow! Because, really... who out there likes cold, wet gloves??? O.k., so it's a measuring cup. (which I've heard is used for cooking, which it that thing where you prepare meals yourself at your own home. Needless to say that little cup got more action that it's seen in awhile. I'm just not much of a cook!)

Figuring Wyatt was too young to enjoy the snow, I kept him inside while Allie played on the back porch. However, when he saw her outside... well, let's just say he would have no part of that. He went straight into tantrum-mode and totally freaked at the idea he was not included! So I bundled him up and let him go out and play with too. My bad, Wyatt! Excuse the heck outta' me... Who am I to underestimate you? Here's my handsome little Snow Monster, hamming it up as usual. The hat lasted almost as long as the snow itself, which was gone in no time.

Well, that's it. Consider yourselves almost up-to-date. I still have to post the pictures of Wyatt having his first taste of birthday cake. But, you know... I'll get to it. Sometime.