Winter Carnival & Reno Visit

A quick picture before dinner with Dave's old boss at McCall's Italian restaurant.
Winter Carnival in McCall is always great, but even better this year because we got to see some of the festivities.  The snow sculptures are also a lot more impressive this year, and I'll have more of those when I get back to McCall to see the final, finished versions.

The Carnival fireworks were beautiful in McCall.  We just made it there in time to see them.

Right now I'm in Reno, hanging out with Grandma in these stressful times for her.  We get to go places everyday, and later this week Mom will come with us too, hopefully to the hot springs. 

More Skiing

The view from the top of Brundage Mountain is beautiful in every direction. 
These are Dave's new Rossignol bindings.  Thank you Grandma Koehlinger & Mom & Dad!
Skiing the Lakeview Bowl at Brundage yesterday.  I try to get more pics of Dave, but he's not much for that, so it'll just be pictures of me for this week.  We've been skiing 3 times a week, and even made one of those a trip to Tamarack.  We've also been hitting the gym 5 times a week, so all is good.  In other news, we re-amortized our lot loan.  It's almost like refinancing, but you have to put a lot of money down, and they don't adjust the rate.  This last pic is in our parking lot.  I think it's funny.  They plow the snow into a huge pile, but it looks like this year they don't have enough money to pay to haul the snow away.  So it keeps getting taller, and trickier for the snow plowers to work with.

Skiing

Check out my frosty hair.  We look like a great pair of bandits!
It's been a stormy week, with everything from rain to hail, but the skiing has been fun!  We went on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday to Brundage Mountain, which is just 20 minutes from our place.  Monday was the best powder skiing I've ever experienced, mostly due to the powder ski's I was on.  It's a pair that some really rich friends gave me last spring.  It feels like floating, or like the ski's are taking me on a trip and I just have to stand and enjoy.
These are my new boots.  Aren't they gorgeous?  From Christmas monies from Mom & Dad (thank you!) and Grandma Koehlinger (thank you!).  They're my first real pair, as the ones I was using all these years are Dave's from a secondhand store in Colorado.  They fit perfectly and are as comfortable as snow boots, and they're actually made in Hungary so they were meant to be:)
Dave strapping in and getting ready to go.  He looks great in the powder!

This was the lack of visibility today.  It was fun, albeit scary when you couldn't really see what run we were on.  We'll be taking some runs this weekend at Tamarack at work, and it should be great with sunshine in the forecast.

The Holidays

We worked through the holidays as usual, and still have a few days to go before a welcomed day off.  But we found time to relish the joys of the season.  We had our first Christmas dinner together this year (in the years before I was always working at Morels and Dave was printing pictures).  On the menu was a vegetarian shephard's pie, stuffing and mashed potatoes, accompanied with champagne (Thanks Mom & Dad!)

We loved all our gifts, Thank you very much!!!  Everything was thoughtful and wonderful.
We rang in the New Year in our usual Idaho style: working until 11:55pm and then running to the Seven Devils Pub for the countdown (with the name tag and work shirts still on).  This year we made it 30 seconds before midnight, hugged our friends and were off to sleep.  

Everything looks pretty here blanketed by snow.  We're planning to ski at Brundage on our days off, and of course to sleep and eat like rock stars.  Happy New Years everyone!  Love you!!!

Winter Came

If you were wondering how much snow we've had, here it is.  I think the best measure is always our kitchen window, or Dave's lower back after shoveling.  Notice that our lake isn't frozen yet, and it usually doesn't until late January.  Also note the bears that I think I have pictures of almost all of you with in the summertime.  It's back to work for us, taking pictures on the mountain.  We've been open the last two weekends, and will work from Christmas on through January 12th.  We rotate between taking skiing pictures up on an intermediate ski run, to pictures of the kids on the bunny hill, to portraits, and selling them in the office.  It's gotten down to -12F at night, which means that even the daytime is very chilly, especially if there's wind.  Today is the first sunny day in a while, so I thought I'd take some scenery pics and post them while I can.  I hope all of you are well and warm.  We miss you and wish you the best Christmas ever, and a joyous New Year celebration!

Atlanta, Smoky Mountains, & Thanksgiving Fun

We are so lucky to have such wonderful family and friends, and to be able to visit them in our off season.  Highlights, let's see: Mom and I made our first turkey together and it was fabu!, also my first Thanksgiving home since high school, the sunsets at Bodega Bay, Gracie standing on a huge burl on a giant redwood, the cumin spiced lamb curry with mint sauce, and hanging with Grandma & Grandpa drinking his home brew. In Tennessee: our expedition in the Smokies and the bear sightings, Isaac's Superman suit, that yummy steak dinner (Thank you Grandma Koehlinger!), disco dancing video clips at the mirror maze, and the card games with muscadine.  Atlanta rocked the house with the best food in the world, literally, including the best apple pie in the world on the way to the lake house, the view from Brian's lake house, accidentally pulling ashore about four seconds before it became pitch black, the bloody mary making competition that I barely won, and having my face hurt from laughing so hard all week long.

Viva Las Vegas!

Our week in Las Vegas with our friends Polly & Artie was absolutely wonderful.  Lots of sun, pool-side relaxing, luscious food, and we even won some money!  We stayed in a KOA cabin in Ely on the way and enjoyed a haunted house and a campfire.  In Vegas we stayed at the Flamingo on the strip, so we were right in the middle of all the fun.  We ate at a lavish Mediterranean tapas bar on the patio of the new Palazzo and got to watch the Treasure Island pirate show from our table the first night.  We also tried the buffets at Harrah's, Sahara and Caesars, and my favorite was the $3.99 steak and eggs at a seedy club in a small casino on our way out of town.  I just love Las Vegas!