Two More Trips to Beaver

Alright, I think you are all going to get the idea that all we ever do is ski... partly true for Shane and Bradley every weekend. But really, I came out of retirement after over 11 years not skiing and it was just like riding a bike, you never forget. Emma has made amazing strides in just three trips total skiing, she can do it all on her own on the flatter stuff. She's only 3 and it was amazing. Most of our shots were videos so the still shots don't do it justice. (I've tried to upload videos several times and they never work out.)
Day One:Saturday, Jan. 19, 2008 started out with one potty trip after another and we thought we'd never get Skiing. First Shane, then Me, then Emma (Bradley and Uncle Mark went straight to the lifts) but we got our business taken care of and it was finally off to the slopes.

I got the pleasure of riding on the lift with Bradley. It was so fun to chat with my son in the stillness of the mountains. It was snowing and with black gloves on we spotted some amazing, huge, perfectly formed snow flakes landing on us. Bradley is so observant of things in nature.

Emma's first attempt at skiing on her own, she kept yanking her hand away from Shane as if to say "let ME do it." She wants to learn so much.

Emma was ecstatic at the end of the day. She had so Much Fun.

Day Two:
Monday, Jan. 21, 2008 Bradley was out of School for Martin Luther King Day and so Shane took a vacation day. We dropped Lindsay off at Nanny and Papa's again (Thanks again Nanny and Papa) and the four of us went up to Beaver Mtn. Again. This time we skipped the bunny hill and headed straight for Gentle Ben (over a mile long green run). Emma learned to snow plow ("pizza shape") and parallel ("french fry shape"). She was loving it and never wanted to go back to the bunny hill again.

I wish I could include a video, but she really was amazing. She even got to where she could turn slightly to aim herself to you.

Waving to her public. She is addicted to the slopes and there is no stopping her now.

Next year maybe Lindsay will Join...Oh wait she'll only be two, well, we'll see. Ha, Ha.

Check Out Shane's Garage

Shane started his own blog for his projects and such. He set it up a while ago, but he is finally posting. The first one is about Bradley's pine wood derby preps. This year they are having a scout division and an adult division. The Scout division has to fallow all the rules but the senior division only has the weight and dimension requirements. Modifications and additions are encouraged. They turned in the cars yesterday for registration and the race is tomorrow. We have yet to take some pictures of the finished products...so stay tuned for the Race here at The Leavitt Family and look at Shane's Garage (See Family Links) for the prep and eventually finished products.

There's One In Every Family

Our kids have each probably been caught doing this at least once, but Lindsay was caught and she knew it. That didn't stop her. She yanked down the princess potty seat and continued on her quest to unroll a roll of toilet paper. Mom finally had to stop her. Boy was Lindsay mad.

A Work In Progress (at Uncle Brad's Request)

Uncle Brad (Ball) heard us tooting our horn that we also had begun to make an igloo. We wanted to wait until it was finished to post about it but not sure when that will happen. Brad requested our work in progress so... here it is.Well, Bradley started out making little bricks with a toy truck and frustrated at the time the little bricks take to stack he scrapped the whole thing and started over.

This time he used the dog's water bin to make the blocks. Much bigger and sturdier.

Once Dad got involved it went even faster. But the sun was going down and the snow began to get crunchy from the Cold.

This is where we have left it for over a week now. The weather has been too cold making the old snow crunchy and the new snow has been too dry not good for making bricks. Also Shane and Bradley have been working on their pine wood derby cars instead. So the Igloo waits...

Just Me and My Dad at Beaver Mountain

First run up the Dream Lift, Bradley is excited and ready to go, all nice and warm, in his new ski coat he got in West Jordan over the New Year holiday.

A neat shot just out side of the bathrooms on the Gentle Ben run. Look at the over hang of snow/ice accumulated on the roof! It hung over a couple feet and was 3 feet high!

Bradley has really made some big advances in his skiing ability, from stepping into his turns to bravely choosing more challanging runs to try.

Just a quick pic off of the Dream lift. The conditions were awsome with about 3 inches of fresh velvet.

Bradley is doing so well he has graduated from the green runs and is on to the blue. This is the back side of Beaver Mountain on Marge's Triple. This ski lift was added a couple of years ago opening up hundreds of acres and tons of powder. If Brad keeps this up by next season he'll be skiing the black diamonds.

Snow too tall, Shane says "Bradley carry me to the Jeep I'm too tired." What a great day.

After a long day of skiing an exhausted Bradley makes good use of the snow mountained up from the freshly plowed parking lot. It was a lot of snow. Season Passes Rock!

Emma Learns to Ski at Beaver Mountain

Emma is a quite a bit apprehensive for her first trip skiing. When we got to Beaver Mountain (a 35-40min. drive) she said "I don't think I want to learn to ski anymore," as she looked up at the menacing mountain.

Shane offers Emma words of comfort in final preparation for the lift line. "Emma don't worry, this is fun and Daddy will hold you the whole time."

Bradley is a pro now with his skiing and offers moral support to his sister.

Uncle Jeff looks on offering support as Emma gets locked into her skis for the first time.

Mom was there to take pictures, but really she just wouldn't have missed it for the world. Next trip mom will ski but this time she and Lindsay were inseparable. Lindsay took the cold (about 17 degrees) like a champ.

Still quite nervous in line for the lift to Little Beaver her first run. Shane ended up just skiing with her like this all the way down the mountain. When ever Shane would stop Emma would say "well, get going!"

When Emma got to the bottom of the first run being helped by Dad the whole way the first thing out of her mouth was "I WANT TO GO AGAIN!" A Happy Camper Now! Even through the falling snow you can see the smile on her face. She said she wanted to ride that ride again as if she were at Disneyland.

Shane is in Heaven and Emma is hooked. She said she wants her own skis that she can keep and not have to take back to the store (rentals.)

Lindsay warming up in the lodge kept trying to crawl under the tables to get candy that people had spilled there... Yuck!!! Luckily for us Lindsay was too puffy from head to toe to actually reach anything and grasp it.

A tired Emma after at least 6 runs up and then down the mountain with Dad warms up in the comfort of the heated van. She and Lindsay (not pictured) relaxed in front of a movie as they snarfed down some Cheetos. We are so proud of her for being so brave.