May the Best Team Win

Today was the first basketball game of the season for JD and Georgia. Because they are in the same age group, 3rd and 4th grade, I requested they play on separate teams. I absolutley recognize that they are together ALWAYS. They like being separated and a little competition doesn't hurt:).

This is a great organization by the way. Upwards is a christian ministry that reaches out to surrounding neighborhoods through churches in the area. They attract many players to the variety of sports they offer. They begin with prayer. Each practice is held with a devotion and a memory verse. They are awarded for their memory verse and the characteristics played out in the game. I love to watch the game because they are super gentle with the kids. When a call is made, the ref stops and explains to the player what they did wrong. Love it! I think it only goes through 6th grade but I think they will come out with a great expeirence!

They suited up..... They eyed each other ....and shook hands. May the best team/brother or sister win! They won't always play each other but today it was JD's team vs Georgia's team. JD was eager and ready, he has played before. Georgia was nervous but, handled it well.

Derek and I, along with Mema and Chuck sat on the sidelines. We cheered for both sides. Funny, because I'm sure at one point the parents around us noticed we couldn't make up our mind on which team we were rooting for. In the last quarter, the coaches put JD and Georgia guarding each other. That was a sight to see! You could really hear us cheering one or the other on.

In the end Georgia's team won. They both gathered their snacks and were happy players. No sore losers today! Thank goodness....but not every week will end this happy I'm sure.

Vacation Conclusion

We turned in our skis yesterday afternoon. They say all good things must come to an end. It was the best day by far. JD picked up on the basics of skiing within an hour or so. He was sooo happy. He still fell alot but he said it was way better than falling off the snowboard. He even tried a couple of small bumps(next to the jumps). The conquered those and it made his day. Aaron accomplished every trail with the exception of the black diamond. Georgia nailed the jumps even with a little air underneath her! Derek nailed several trails that Aaron did and also nailed the jumps! Aaron found a trail that even I could do. I was skeptical at first but even Derek said I could do it so I tried it. It was lots of fun. It finally snowed!!! We saw it, felt it, and some of us tasted it...lol. The best was skiing in the falling snow. It was sad to turn in the skis yet we knew we had really enjoyed ourselves. We are blessed.

Today we enjoyed a lazy day. Aaron, JD and Georgia hiked and fished on Eric and Deborah's mountain. Derek hung out at the skate park in town while Deborah and I went to do some shopping.

We ended the evening with a date night. Derek babysat while Aaron and I went to dinner. After dinner we took our chances in the casino. Aaron LOST...not that I'm rubbing it in...I went in with $40 and came home with $60. I was very excited. Usually Aaron wins money and I spend it all. Can you believe we are in a whole other state and our date night still ended with a trip to Walmart! Oh, well:)

We head home tomorrow morning. With a long drive ahead of us we are eager to get home yet sorry to leave. Thank you Eric and Deborah from the bottom of our hearts! Going on this vacation was fun and it was a major bonus to stay with you and spend time with you. You have a beautiful home and we couldn't have been more comfortable. We pray that God will bless you for your hospitality! We had fun. The scenery is beautiful. Pray for our safe travel home.

Skiing Day 2

Well, I don't have pictures this morning. Yesterday I took a few but not alot. We had a lot of fun. Georgia, Derek, and Aaron are pros. Aaron just went on harder and harder trails. I'm so proud of him. He isn't afraid to challenge himself, or us for that matter.;) Georgia and Derek went pretty much where ever he suggested. I think Georgia only fell one time. Derek fell a little bit but he is snowboarding and that is quite harder than skiing. But he was pretty fearless and did all kinds of jumps. I went on a couple of harder slopes than yesterday(still super easy compared to others) The first one Aaron took us to, I was initially irritated. It looked hard and there really isn't any way to get out of it once you are there. The lift takes you there and the only way back is to ski or snowboard. So, I slowly inched my way to the beginning and then I took off. I was going way faster than I was comfortable with and I just screamed...lol. BUT I made it and didn't fall. Aaron was really proud of me, and so was I. So, I tried a harder one. That one didn't turn out so well. I got going too fast and tried as hard as I could to slow down and just fell over-on purpose. The second time I tried that trail wasn't as graceful of a fall. My poles got tangled and I really don't know what happened. I crashed! My skis went flying, My poles went flying, I went flying, snow got up in my sweatshirt and down my bib! Aaron and Derek quickly came to my aid and asked if I was ok. I was...lol. I didn't even know my skis were off till I looked at my feet. Then I spent the next few minutes trying to put my skis back on. That's not easy on a slope. I finished that trail just fine. I tried it a third time because, well, I'm stubborn. I fell again. I seriously thought about just sliding down the slope on my rear. Derek said that was ridiculous and I needed to put my skis back on.

JD was a different story. He did ok but still, it was too hard. Falling over and over and over was not his idea of fun. He just continued to have a rough time. I felt bad for him. The bottom of his pants tore(thankfully, they were from a thrift store and we didn't rent them), his gloves tore and filled up with ice, his goggles broke and he was so tired and sore. Aaron and I decided to see if he just wanted to ski today. He was soo excited to trade in the snowboard for skis. Skiing would only take him an hour tops to learn and then he could really enjoy the last day. He could stick with the bunny slopes and easy street. SO, Georgia and I are gonna work with him on that today. It should be fun!

Ski Lessons

It was a cold crisp morning for us today. We all got up and headed out early to the ski run. I was feeling a little better. I was really dehydrated and tired the day before. The excitement was insane!! We were all soo ready. Well...some of us thought we were. When we got there we jumped out of the van and everyone quickly dove into their equipment and boots. Of course, Mom and Dad had to go last because we had to get everyone ready and paperwork turned in. JD and Derek were done quickly. Georgia was overwhelmed by everything she had to wear. She was already layered, and couldn't get comfortable with the scarf, goggles, beanie, and me making sure she had chap stick on...lol. Finally, we were ready....and then realized we needed to go to the bathroom and it would be better to go before the lessons started. So, we started over again...lol. We eventually got it.

In the pictures I included a picture of a very empty parking lot. THIS is why we chose this time to come! Hardly anyone is there! Perfect timing. Our ski instructors were pretty good.

I was nervous to start but I got the hang of it. Aaron was great, for him it was like riding a bicycle. He even did a blue run today, if you know what that is. I don't know yet, I'm not in that club yet...heehee. I'm not very good yet-hey I can do the bunny slopes! Georgia looks like she was born on skis. She was a pro within 30 min!! No fair. She did use poles but they told her she didn't have to. She wanted to use them because Aaron and I were. But as soon the lessons were over she asked if she could goto to the bunny slopes. She took off without us and before we knew it she was already down the slope and on the ski lift to do it again, all by herself. She is fearless. The boys chose snowboarding. Their instructor was pretty good but we later figured he could probably have explained it better to JD. Derek caught on and did pretty good. He even did a few jumps today! He looked so cool! JD took ALOT of time to learn. Our instructor warned us it would take the majority of the day before they really caught on to working the snowboard. But, once they learned they would love it! We coaxed JD and tried to help but he is stubborn... like someone else we know ;) and wanted to do it his own way. Once he got passed the pity party and his determination to quit, he tried one more time with Aaron's help. Aaron told him to just GO. BINGO! He did it and loved it!! We were all cheering him on. We knew he could do it.

Aaron and JD rode a lift up to the top of the mountain and got a couple of breath taking pictures. It's hard to believe what we are seeing and feeling with our hands and feet (and eyes) is real. It's like we are stepping into a painting. God's magnificent painting. He created all of it. We are blessed with the time to play in it.

We all had a blast and can't wait for tomorrow! We took some tumbles and got up again and kept going. When we were done we were exhausted, sore, and HUNGRY. We cleaned up and closed the night with our favorite restraunt in Ruidoso. Farley's.

Thank You God!

Winter Park

This morning was beautiful! It was really sweet to see the mountains as we stepped out of church. We all went to eat lunch together at K-Bobs. Boy, was it good! Then we went back to the house and put on all the snow stuff. Today we were going to Winter Park.

Winter Park was a snow play area for tubing! We had so much fun! We started in our own individual tubes first. Then once we tried all the runs we switched it up a bit. JD and Derek went head first. Aaron went flying so fast he couldn't stop and almost went into the fence. The attendant wasn't happy about that and gave him a "warning!".
Georgia and I spun around a bit. Aaron and JD went together on a tube. Georgia and I did as well. After a couple of hours we were too tired, but did not want to miss out on sliding around on the disks and playing in more snow.

We decided to go back to the same spot we were at yesterday. Today we had a new disks and wanted to try it out. The kids were really wanting to have a snowball fight and make a snowman. Derek and JD split up to make their weapons. Georgia and Aaron made a snowman. (those pics are on my phone and I haven't figured that new thing out yet.) I mostly watched. After awhile, some men came and asked Aaron to help them get their truck started and we began to get worn out. Once Georgia's tears started we knew it was time to go home(Eric and Deborah's house).....there is this little creek we all had to jump over to get in and out of this snowy spot. Derek, Georgia, and Aaron made it across. Derek was helping Georgia and saw me looking skeptical at the creek. It was partially frozen. He read my mind and said,,"Mom, your not gonna fall in."....and I fell in!!!! Cold!! Wet!!-just my foot, but STILL!!! They had a good laugh.

Finally, we headed out. We were really tired. We stopped to pick up our ski rentals and snowboards. WHEW!!