THE Wedding!!!

When Skippy and I saw Kate and William announce their engagement last November, we both agreed that we must "save the date". Skippy has always talked about her fond memories of being a week away from giving birth to me way back on July 29, 1981 and watching the wedding of Charles and Diana all night long. Now, it was my turn to enjoy the "wedding of the century!" So, good ol Skip hopped in the Myron mobile and trekked down to Salt Lake to celebrate "THE wedding" with me!

One of our first stops was to go down to Thanksgiving Point and walk through the Tulip Festival. It was beautiful and I kept myself more than occupied by taking pictures, crouching in the dirt to get the best shot and analyzing shadow/sun/dew/kids to get the best shots.

If anyone sees me strike this pose anywhere near a golf course....they better look out, cause it means I'm kicking and stretching and getting ready to launch one of my 200 yard drives. My golf game is actually pretty good, especially my putting and chipping....but this year...oh this year...my driving has improved dramatically! Watch out Seymour Family! The Seymour Family Golf Tournament which will be held the weekend of Allen's graduation will surely prove who the best player in the family is. Best ball wins each hole, and I am banking on winning at least a few. In fact, I plan on playing so well that I will be invited to the Annual Lion's Club Jackpot golf fundraiser in August. So, watch out, because I'm ready to GRIP IT AND RIP IT!!!

Skippy with all of her foresight, thought to bring decorations and traditional English treats to the wedding party! So, we decorated the living room with bells and signs, she brought a cake and brought her wedding knife, she had ribbon from her wedding and she even framed a picture of the bride and groom. We had chocolate covered strawberries, biscotti, Chessmen cookies, muffins and champagne. She even brought confetti canons, which she blew after the I do's! We watched and listened to Fox news as Shepherd commentated and eventually warmed up to the whole affair. At the end he was still comparing the fiasco to a football game and tailgating, but it turned out to be quite entertaining!

My aunt so thoughtfully inquired if I was "taking notes for my big day" and I informed her that I was wearing flannel and that "the big day" probably wouldn't be happening if I continued to insist on wearing flannel :)

So, thanks Skip for another really, really fun weekend!!! It's always a FUN time with you!!!!

I Can't Believe It's Over....Again

Today was the last day of the season at Brighton. There is still a 145 " base and 12 inches of fresh falling tonight (Notice the storm moving in on the bottom picture). Just on the snow they have up there alone, we could ride at least for another 3 weeks! The injustice of the BLM closing them down so early! Thank goodness for Dick Bass. (Owner of the Bird). I'll still be riding tomorrow.

I was up there on opening day this year and had 26 wonderful days at Brighton this season. Some of my favorite things about Brighton include:

• Local bangers "Hey! You're my bartender!" I heard that again today!
• Nice clinic techs
• Chill liftees
• An ever changing and well groomed park
• Sweet tree runs
• Easily accessible back country
• Parking 20 yards from the lift
• My favorite chair lift in Utah; Great Western- overlooks Timp and Big Cottonwood
• Few, if any, tourists

Anyone who ever rides with me knows....I HATE wearing my coat and a helmet. I have not succumbed to wearing a coat yet, but I have to wearing a dome piece. Now, I am going to just throw this out there....no..I am not going to wear it every single day I ride..but I will make an effort to wear it as much as possible. I bought a R.E.D. helmet and they come in all kinds of cute colors, so maybe I will invest in buying a few and if I don't feel like too much of a penis head, then maybe I will wear it. And yes, that is how I felt today. But, by the end of the day, I barely even noticed I was wearing it.

I'll admit, I may have shed a little tear today. I have a hard time leaving "winter" behind. The problem is, is that it is still winter and we could still be riding! As mentioned last week, riding is my favorite thing to do and it really makes me so sad to leave the season behind. But, tomorrow I will hit up the Dirty Bird and all will be right in my world again. :)

Life Is Good

Life is Good

My mom and I both keep a "happy journal". Basically, we just write about things that make us happy. We don't write our whole life stories, just the little tidbits of our lives that are memorable and that make us smile. I have not been writing much lately, because I haven't felt like I have had much to write... So, Skip, here are a few things that make me happy now:

• Biff licking my head and "holding" me
• Mischa's long Mormon Claw bangs
• The fact that Mischa Clarice has her own Facebook page
• Cherry blossoms
• A wedding to celebrate
• Homemade chex mix
• 5 hour energy
• Pink tulips
• Having the right wax on my board
• Pow days in April
• Landing new tricks
• Sitting in the trees, watching the snow fall
• Being able to stay in Utah
• The excitement of finding a new place to live
• Celebrating Allen getting his Masters
• Celebrating the birthdays of all my Aries
• Lhasas
• Concocting my own drink recipes and having people love them
• Deep tissue back rubs
• New riding music
• Multi colored Sharpies
• Writing Arabic calligraphy
• Grass
• Planning my Dirty Thirty party

Oh Happy Day! يا يوما سعيدا!

!!! يالا بنا

I just spoke with my Graduate advisor...and I am on track to graduate in May 2012. So... one more year!

3 More Middle East Political Science classes

4 more semesters of Arabic language

1 Thesis...

I have to take an intensive Arabic Language class this summer so I will be staying in Utah- YAY!!!

I Can't Believe It's Over!!!

Today is the dreaded April 17th..... Closing day for Park City Mountain Resort and Canyons. I managed to withhold the tear that I wanted to shed in mourning of the lifts closing and the end of winter.

There really is nothing I love in my life more than snowboarding. I absolutely love summer, but now that the Sweet Unit is missing its motor, it will be a loooooong summer for Mischa and I. I will have to say that I am very much looking forward to hiking in Park City this summer with her, but it will be a while because there is still a lot of snow and it will take a while to melt and for mud season to pass.

Not to fear, however...Brighton is still open until Sunday the 24th and the Dirty Bird is hoping to be open until.....drumroll..... THE 4TH OF JULY!! They currently have an incredible base depth of 180 inches with more snow to come.

With that said, this was the first year that I had passes in Park City and it was so exciting to explore two new mountains!! My park riding has improved after being able to ride the great parks that both resorts have and my switch riding improved dramatically after riding the super groomers at Park City. My back country awareness and steep and deep powder riding improved after hiking the ridge at Canyons and my tree riding improved after ducking and dodging the tight trees at both places... (although one could say that I still have not completely mastered the tree riding concept because I have a bruise the size of a small animal on my left hip after flying like a bat out of hell and nailing a tree last week...).

I couldn't have asked for a better day today....The entire Salt Lake valley was covered in clouds and it was raining. It was raining in Parleys and it was raining in Heber. I was only wearing a t-shirt and it was sunny and beautiful in Park City! Other than busting out a few scorpions and crashing after a few attempts at a 360 I was happy with my riding and enjoyed watching everyone else in the park.

I am hoping to get about another 2 months in, at least, but this is the beginning of the end. I just have to remind myself that with all the free time I will have from not riding everyday, I can look for a new job and actually become fluent in Arabic!

So, good bye Canis Lupis, Dutchman's, Big Mac, Dream Catcher, Gondola, Eaglet, King Con, Georgeanna, Super Pipe, my "favorite spot" and Monitor bowl. I'll be counting the days for the chairs to start running again! - Hey Canyons....Early November this year, huh!

Clinging to Winter

One day I'm in beautiful, warm, sunny Las Vegas, the next I'm back on the mountain, clinging to the last few days of the season.

When I left the SLC for Vegas on Saturday, it was 80 degrees and sunny. I rolled into town last night and there was snow on the ground, it was 22 degrees and my mailbox was full of powder alerts and back country avalanche warnings. It may be spring on the calendar, but it is still winter in my world!!!

It snowed about 14 inches across the Wasatch which made for a really nice day up in Park City. I found some nice new tree runs off of McConkeys by cutting off of Georgeanna and then again through Parleys Park on my way to King Con. The park was great, no one was in it. In fact, there were very few people at all up there. The conditions were still great and it does not even seem real that the season will be over in less than 2 weeks! I may even shed a tear! I won't be on the Sweet Unit all summer. I will probably be in the library. Oh well....there's always New Zealand if I really get stir crazy!

The Dirty Thirty!

And so it begins...... the first of my close friends to turn "The Dirty Thirty".....

In honor of Lisa turning 30 this past week, I trekked down to Vegas to help her celebrate. I wasn't sure if we were going to be mourning our youth or celebrating our good health and future. I was happy to find that we were celebrating and that she was graciously accepting the fact that she was now out of her 20's. I strongly believe that dating an older man helps to make the one that is turning 30 feel young still. (My dirty thirty is coming up, I better get on that last statement! :)

Unlike many of the women I know, I am not worrying about turning 30. When I was 21, one of the bartenders that I worked with was turning 30. She was absolutely stunning, yet I did think that she was "old". She said that she had never been happier than when she turned 30 because she knew what she wanted and what she didn't, she knew what made her happy and what was appropriate and reasonable to expect out of her life and the people in her life. I have completely adopted that attitude and will remind myself of it daily for the next 4 months leading up to my big day!

So, HAPPY BIRTHDAY LISA!!! You are more beautiful than ever, and you just keep getting more interesting with each passing year!