Brian Head 2008

Growing up, our family and about 5 other families would take yearly spring skiing trips to Brian Head Utah. They were so much fun and the source of many fond memories. About 5 years ago, the vacations stopped and my dad took his young mens group instead! I guess we were all getting older and it as harder to find time when we could all get away. This year, my dad decided it was time to start it up again. Unfortunately, most of the families were not able to join us, but the Clawson's came and with all the new family additions... we were still high in numbers. I feel so blessed to have been able to take this trip once again and spend time with the whole family. Although I do not do well in the cold... I still can ski just as well as before and had a blast! Haws snowboarded for the 2nd time in his life and fell in love with the sport. I can't believe how well he did! It must be those strong hockey legs and some of his old surfing skills coming back to the surface. Here are some of the shots I got. I wish I had more photos of everyone in action... but those are hard to take on the slopes, especially when I avoided taking my gloves off at any time.

Haws and I left after a half a day at work. I love road trips with Haws. We have such a good time listening to tunes, talking and just being able to spend hours together with out much distraction. It is rare that we get a chance to do that.

The sunset as we left Vegas was beautiful! I love this picture. The rail looks pretty cool.

Our "Prom" pose in the ski clothes.

Dana and Chase came from Provo. It was so much fun to hang out with them. Haws and I even had the joy of sharing the loft with them. Between Haws talking in his sleep and strange noises coming from Chase... it's no wonder we didn't get much sleep :)

After a half day of skiing on Friday, Haws and I headed to Salt Lake to attend my friend Justin's wedding reception. It was so good to see him and meet his bride Beca. I am just sad I didn't take any pictures. We then went to Cafe Rio (we had tried to do this in St George and got there 3mins after they had closed... bummer) and toke it over to see Jared, Sarah and Thor. This was the first time we met little Thor and he was such a good baby while we were there. I am so glad we got to see them all... the 3 hour drive was definitely worth it!

After our visit with them we went to stay with my cousin Kristin, DJ, Dalton and the twins, Ava and Sophia. Seeing them was so much fun. It is hard for them to travel with the kids, so I am glad we could stay with them. Thanks again Kristin for putting us up and thank you DJ for educating me on politics and the Ron Paul revolution!

We got back to Brian Head in time for lunch and another half day of skiing. Sunday we skipped the skiing and went to church. It was a small branch and the speaker was great. A young return missionary with some really good experiences to share. It was a good thing we took that day off of skiing because it ended up snowing all day. We didn't even get a chance to take the snow shoes out. I was really bummed.

Johnny forgot you can get burned even when it is snowing.

Luke and Joshua loved the snow. I think they are even cuter all dressed up in the ski clothes. I didn't think that was possible.

This is me and Brad. I am in my "serial killer" outfit. I didn't care what I looked like as long as I was somewhat warm. Turned out... this wasn't enough and I had to take breaks to defrost my fingers. Sort of take the fun out of the whole experience, but oh well.

Typical Brian Head night of games and relaxing. This is a great shots of the night life.

An intense game of phase 10...Chase crashed out on the couch, Brad and Dad watching basketball and Kori trying to keep Luke from getting into all the ski stuff.

We all had such a great time. I can't wait to do it again next year! This is a tradition we really have to keep going. Now if only skiing was possible to do when it's at least 60 degrees outside...