snowboarding

We ended 2011 in style and started it off with a bang...2 days into 2012 we went snowboarding. Eric's good buddy/coworker has been dying to have Eric show him how to ride, so he was the instructor for the day. We all know Eric's a superb teacher, I mean just look at me, I'm his successful student!

Ok, not really. I still suck at snowboarding but if we went regularly during the season instead of 2-5 times max, I'd be loads better. Probably haven't really made the hubs proud...yet. For some people, snowboarding comes more naturally. I think Eric is too nice to me and I relied on him too much in the beginning. I fell in love with him on the mountain because he was so patient. I'm sure there were times that he just wanted to push me down the mountain and say, "see ya at the bottom", but he didn't. Which he probably should have because I might have been better off. He was just so sweet, always holding my hands, helping me get off the lift, and yelling kind words of encouragement. He still does.

Six years later, I'm still waiting for the day until I get good, but that's not going to happen on its own. I need to toughen up and grow some balls when it comes to tearing it up on the mountain. Because lets face it, I'm doing everything but "tearing it up". I need to be able to hang because it's a big part of Eric's family's life. Greg owns his own snowboarding shop, Gear Swap, and Greg and Shasta started their own clothing company, Flake, For the Snow Minded. These entrepreneurs live for snowboarding and always hook us up with our gear.

I watch people ride down the mountain and they make it look so easy, I don't know why I can't do that. I thought I'd be a pro by now. Don't get me wrong, I love the sport and love it even more since Eric and I get to do it together. But snowboarding would be 10x better if I was good, or just tried harder. Too bad it's just so expensive. Everything about the sport cost you an arm and a leg, everything from your get up, to your gear, to your pass. Not. A. Cheap. Sport.

I have no idea why I just went on that random rant. Anyway, here are the pictures.

Ray falling off the lift.

Catching a bite to eat. All these idiots paid $30 on 2 burgers and fries, while we went to Subway on our way up and spent $10 on a sandwich AND goodies to eat on the lift.

It was a beautiful day but I've never seen it so dry and barren. I could see the tops of trees under the lift, dirt, even rocks. Not the best day to be on the mountain but still fun.

Nice FLAKE beanie babe.

Even though Ray pretty much sucked and fell a lot, as expected, he was stoked on the sport. Being that Eric was the pro amongst the group, we wanted him to show off his mad skills at the park. So he did. 


And here's the part where it gets dicey.


When Eric threw in a backside boardslide he got on the rail going too fast. He lost his balance coming off the rail and landed on his back, sandwiching his left arm between his back and the hill. 


We were trying to milk the time we had on the mountain since we had a babysitter (thanks Greg), but when Eric said we needed to go home I knew it was bad. I've never seen Eric get hurt, let alone be in so much pain that he wanted to leave early. The further we made it down the caynon, the more pain he was in and nearly vomited in the car. I was going to drive straight to urgent care but Eric was trying to be a tough guy and wait it out til the next day in hopes of getting better. Well, the next day came and he could hardly move his arm so I off to urgent care we went. 


The verdict: avulson fracture of the ulna. Doc said to come back in 2 weeks, if wasn't better then he'd need surgery. Luckily, it's almost 4 weeks later and his arm is doing much better. He hasn't even been back to see the doctor. He was out of commission for a while and the Gear Swap van sat in our driveway for 3 weeks waiting to be unloaded. We finally got around to unloading it last weekend. Eric's injury made him pretty much useless, don't worry he'll admit it too. 


As I'm writing this, Eric's out riding with his brother. I told him to keep is board on the ground, to stay in bounds, and out of the park. Trying to get a rise out of me, he sent me this picture:

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Greg, Trevor, and Eric all used to work at the Best Buy in American Fork. They've gone their separate ways and Trevor's the only one still working in AF. It was time for them to be reunited again for some man on man action on the mountain. While the boys played, the girls ate. I met up with Jalaine and her old roomies and sister at Joe's in Springville...can you believe I forgot to take pictures???

I wanted to get Eric good with an April fools joke...I didn't get around to it but Jalaine thought I played an April fools joke on her at dinner. It's been 2 months since I stopped nursing and I've been waiting for my monthly visit to grace me with its presence. Well, it hadn't come yet and I was getting worried so I decided to take another pregnancy test. I told my story to the girls at dinner and Jalaine thought I was going to pull the oldest joke in the book and say I was preggers. I wasn't faking it (if I were to do an April fool's joke it'd be better than the "I'm pregnant" one). I told them it was negative and I've been waiting for my period to come. Well, a couple hours later at Dairy Queen my monthly visit came. How random.

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THE DAY AFTER:

We hit the slopes after breakfast and met up Greg and Shasta as they were almost done cleaning the lodge. 

Forgot to do this last night!

Riding the kegger down the mountain

                      

 

We're all rockin' Flake beanies

                    

Bra tree

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WEDDING DAY! 

You would never know that Greg and Shasta put this party together on their own.... it was absolutely off the HOOK!

Tucked away in the trees just at the base of Crest at Brighton is the Wasatch Mountain Club Lodge.  Greg and Shasta had taken us by the place earlier last Fall... but if we hadn't been there before I swear we never would have known it was there, even though it's only about a 50 foot hike above the Brighton Lodge.

This place is everything you'd picture an apres ski lodge to be; log-cabin style walls, huge fireplace, and about 20 beds upstairs for all your peeps to crash for the weekend.

Although their announcement said "winter wedding" a disclaimer saying "wear your freakin' boots" may have been more appropriate :)  I only slipped twice....

There were lots of helping hands to carry the loads of food and goodies up the hill.  

The  second floor of the lodge is the designated sleep area, complete with  "his" and "hers" separate entrances and stairs down to the main floor.  Made for a perfect area for last minute touch ups before the bride and groom got the party started.  Shasta had a posse of girls helping her get ready (including me) and Greg suited up while Eric helped him tie a full windsor in his hand-made tie, and Cass hooked him up with a stealth microphone.

Getting ready right before she heads downstairs.

Greg with his niece (one of the flower girls) and nephew (the ring bearer). Tender moment.

The lodge was PACKED!  We had a great vantage point from behind the groom for some candid shots!

Somebody's ready to party...

We must have taken 15 shots in a row and didn't get Leila to look up once. This was the best turnout. 

Natalie (Eric's sister) and her husband Dave flew in from Pleasanton, CA for the festivities

Eric's cousin Joel seems to be listening intently to what his mother and aunt Eileen have to say.

Eric's oldest sister Kimberly with her very exhausted daughter Audrey

There were sooooo many babies at this wedding too!  I couldn't believe how many peeps in Greg and Shasta's friends and family have babies.  Guess it's about time they jump on the train too eh?

Check out them boots!

The SECOND most anticipated event of the night was "last chair, first run as husband and wife". Part of what Greg and Shasta really loved about choosing their wedding location was to be able to have their friends ride-in and ride-out of their celebrations... and with being slope-side, who wouldn't?!  A whole posse of peeps with their gear on hand suited up to join the bride and groom for a night run on Crest!

Yes.  That is Shasta strapping in with her full wedding garb!

I can't wait to see the video that Cass shot of the bride and groom snowboarding with all their friends that night!

After their run it was back to the party for the after-party.  Greg's friend Scott plays guitar for The Rubes and he hooked up the evening's entertainment.  The Rubes ROCK!

At the end of the night it was pretty awesome to see the parking lot of snowboards as we began our decent down to the car.  We loved partying with them and wished we could have stayed til the very end, but we had a baby back at Grandma's to get home to.

It was such a fun night and most definitely one of the most unique wedding's I've ever been a part of.  It's funny that the party was both unique, but expected... in the way that this is the ONLY way I could have imagined them getting married.  It suited them perfectly! We love you Greg and Shasta and welcome you to the Married Peoples' Club!

P.S. Happy 5 year anniversary to us. We will celebrate next weekend!