Colorado...Here We Come!

On Thursday Wes and I flew to Denver where we met up with Paul and Audrey Crabtree, Jamie and Steven Schlegel, Scott Schlegel, and Justin Clem. Jenny joined us the next day. After spending a short time at the Crabtree's house we headed to the snowy mountains. Parts of the trip were a little scary because of the the thick snow, but we made it safely to the beautiful house near Beaver Creek. Wes' great aunt and uncle graciously let us stay in their 5 bedroom, 6 bathroom vacation home for three nights. Thank you Aunt Dianne and Uncle Chick for an awesome place to stay!

Friday and Saturday was spent skiing at Beaver Creek. On Friday we had tons of snow and wind blasts of 70 miles per hour. They closed several lifts due to the bad weather. There were times during skiing that the wind blew the snow so hard it felt like sand was pelting my face. Yes, it was quite painful and sometimes frightening. At one point Jamie and I were on the mountain resting in a restaurant and waiting out the hard wind. The plan was to wait for the others to make a run down the mountain without us, ride the lift back up and we would join them on the way back down. We were hoping the wind would die down, making it easier to see and more comfortable to ski. Unfortunately, during our rest we received a call from the guys saying the lift was closed due to the winds. We couldn't even ride the lift down. Jamie and I had to ski down by ourselves in the bad weather. I know we were both praying and God looked out for us. We made it down safely. At one spot the wind had just knocked over a tree across the path. Thanks Jamie for being there and helping me down. I would have been terrified if I had to go down by myself in that weather. The next day the weather was beautiful! Wes and enjoyed walking through the shops in Beaver Creek Village, and then I read while the others skied. I had enough skiing and enjoyed relaxing with a book.

Besides skiing and shopping, we enjoyed cooking some late breakfasts and our own pizza in a kitchen that fit all of us, eating at some wonderful restaurants, playing some fun games, loosing to Paul in poker, catching up on each other's lives, and laughing at all the guys who haven't changed since college. The house had an outside hot tub where we got relief for our soar muscles. It was amazing to sit out there, soak up the view of the snow capped mountains, the soothing hot water, while parts of our hair froze. We were entertained by a couple of the guys who decided to jump out of the hot tub into the freezing snow.

Well, I had an absolutely wonderful time with everyone. It is always good to catch up on each other's lives, reminisce about ACU days, and laugh, laugh, laugh. We definitely need to do it again sometime! Wes and I are so blessed to have such good friends.

The gang.

Let's go skiing!

Wes did a terrific job driving in these conditions!

One of the slopes.

The amazing house we stayed in. The snow in the yard came up to my knees!

All the girlies!

Digging our trench for our snow war.

Wes and I after some ski runs.

The guys doing their Sing Song faces! They could have done their shows for us, I am sure.

Relaxing in the hot tub!