Tuesday, December 13, 2011

I'll Just Stick to the Bunny Slopes Thanks.

So last weekend my friend Joe came into town and invited me to go skiing with his family. I was so excited however there was this minor flaw to this great plan. I have never skied before. So already you should know that it was a good weekend.
So he knew and his mom was all prepared to teach me.
So the first lesson that she tried to give me was to get get back up after falling down.
She was like, "It's going to happen so it is important to learn."
So she "fell over" and taught me what to do. So it took her like 15, 20 seconds.
So then she stood up and told me it was my turn and that because I needed to know she was not going to help me at all. So then she made me sit down like I had "fallen over" and make me try to get up.
So after almost five minutes she finally helped me up and said, "We'll work on that later, lets try stopping."
What a huge fail! I was so embarrassed but it really was so funny! But who know it was kinda, just a little bit hard.
So then she taught me how to do the pizza slices to slow down and stop. So then it was my turn to try. And I don't think that at the time my pizza slices were as good as they grew to become because I couldn't stop and I went past the little flag marker and into this huge ditch thing that had so much snow in it that me and my skis got stuck. So then Suzy came into try and save me but then got sucked in herself. So then we are laughing because we are stuck in snow that literally came up to my hips. So then she also took this time to teach me how to pop off my skis so I could some what crawl my way out of this pit of snow.
So finally after another five minutes I started stopping again.
I felt kinda bad because a little while later when Joe's dad came over she was like, "Honey. Why don't you try and she if you can explain it differently to her."
Pretty much translates into, "Oh my gosh home girl in totally incompitant and keeps falling over and I want a break for a few minutes because home girl is killin me."
It was like, horrible but funny. I honestly felt like I should have video taped forever one so you would know that it was really as bad at it sounds. I just kept falling over. And over and over and over. Luckily I didn't walk away with any bruises that were too crazy, but there were a few. And benefit. I did finally master the art of being able to get up. 
Ugh. It was horrible.
But, after a while (a semi-long while) I started doing pretty well. Well enough for me to try the lift. So they warned me that it was gonna be a little weird at first and that it might fall over. Well they forgot to tell me to lean forward to so yeah. I defiantly fell over. But, after the second time, I was a pro and totally mastered the art of the lift. So that was a big accomplishment.
So like I said, after a while I actually got pretty good. Well goodish. I still wasn't Lindsey Vaughn status goin all crazy and what not but it was good.
So at one point Joe was like, lets try a run. It'll be super easy. It's just like a bunny slope except a little longer. 
So after he convinces me to go,  I wanted to die. So the first slope we come to was super steep! I was like Joe! Are you serious right now. So we start going and, of course, I start going towards that side of the mountain off into the flagged area towards the trees. So I couldn't stop and I just kept going so I just decided to do what I do best and fall over.
So after we make it down this tiny little steep hill of death, it did get a little easier. Until Joe and I found out that the easy run that we had planned on taking was closed! So then it combined with another run that was ridiculous. The whole last hill was completely steep and I just wanted to slide on my back all the what way down. I'm sure that would have been a lot fast.So anyways, after 46 minutes of this one run, and about 45 falls later, we finally made it to flat ground. It was really a lot of fun but I felt so lame. Haha. 
And it was super irritatingly, funny that I would see these little seven, eight years old passing me, looking at me, and judging me through their little doll size ski masks because I kept falling with every inch of progress I made.
Like, if I wasn't trying t ski and was just watching safely from the lodge with some hot chocolate then I would have been totally so impressed by them and their ability to do flips and trick and single handed trout grabs when they were only as tall as my  hip. But because we were on the same snowy field, it brought it to a whole new level of competition. A level that wanted me to push them, or throw and small snowball, or maybe my skiing pole at them as they flew by me. Judging me. But I love kids! Yay for them.
So anyways. It was super good. I loved it. Hopefully when or if the next time I go it won't be so bad. But even for falling over a lot it was so much fun. 
But I think was made me feel a little better was knowing that that my skiing outfit was cute. That whole thinking of if you look good, you feel good really is true. 
However it was always much better after I dusted all the snow off my back that way it didn't it didn't totally show like I had just fallen all they way down the slope. Yes. Much better.

So Thanksgiving, Thanksgiving.

So as most of you know, or found out, but I did not come home for Thanksgiving this year. It was my very first Thanksgiving away from home however I was still able to spend it was my family.
The Monday before Thanksgiving is when the whole Preston Family (minus one granddaughter) was going to show up and stay in the house for a whole week. 
How many people total?
There was:
Grandma Preston,
Jeff and Aki and their two kids,
Andrew and Pam and three of there kids,
Brendan and Corinne with me and Kate,
And Shawn and Megan with there four kids, making a grand total of 20 people living in one house for one whole week. Yes at points it might have seemed a little crazy however it really was just so much fun. It was the first time in four years that all the family had been together for a holiday.
So because there was going to be so many people I thought that it might be a lot easier to cook the weekend before and freeze everything it and just pull it out as we need it rather than have about fifty thousands dishes to have to cook and clean in one night.
So the Friday night before I went to Costco with Beth and Kate. Oh how I have missed my Costco time. So then after Corinne and I ran a few errands the next morning I spent the majority of my day cooking.
By the time I was done, I had cooked two lasagnas, two chicken casseroles. and cooked two of those huge cans of whole peeled tomatoes  into spaghetti sauce. Yeah. I was just a little tired. However it was so nice, and a lot less stressful, to have everything all cooked without having a huge clean up and everyone ate lots of it. 
So Thanksgiving was super fun.
We all woke up and played Turkey Bowl. It was so good. The good team consisted of Myself, Brendan, Andrew, Megan, and Matt.
The Lame team was made up of, Jeff, Shawn, Garrett, Preston, and our friend from institute Ben.
Obviously they are the lame team because they won. However it was a super close game that came down to who could cheat the better. And I am proud to say that it was not our team. Ha. False.Actually they just got lucky. But whatever. I'm not bitter. But next year, you are getting it Jeff and Shawn.
Then after we all went home and started getting diner ready.
Everyone kept asking me if it was so much different than what I was use to because it wasn't so crazy but really it was very similar to the Cola family Thanksgiving. The only thing that didn't happen was a family fight but that only happens every so often anyways so no. It wasn't that different at all.
So after dinner Corinne and I decided that we wanted to go to Target for the midnight black Friday opening since either of us had gone before. 
Corinne had invited Matt over after he got off work so he could have food but instead he had to take it to go because I made Matt go with us. It was fun. Corinne got a bunch of stuff and I got a few things and Matt got an 18 piece pot and pan set for like 20 bucks. I would say that it was super successful trip full of laughs and tired mid-night giggles.
So then we came back, dropped Corinne off, Matt got more food and then we went back out to the mall.
So I have never gone Black Friday shopping but it wasn't as crazy as I thought it would be. It was super fun and I actually got a lot of stuff.
So after we came back and sat down for a little but, Matt passed out on the couch and I passed out on the floor. It was quite funny when I woke up and was totally shocked that I was on the floor and had absolutely no clue how I got there. I guess I was just a little tired.
So after I woke up all the men and and two older boys left to run a few errands leaving Preston all by himself. So I decided that we would go on a small date. I was tired and needed something to wake me up. So we ran around the corner to Seven-Eleven and got some gas, hot chocolate, and I let him get a candy. But it was a pretty big deal because I was able to get permission for him to sit in the front seat. I think that he secretly fell in love with me.
So then after the boys came back we all played this game called Ticket to Ride. So there are only five pieces so the married couples were each their own team, Riley and Garrett were a team and I got stuck with Matt.
So this story made short. Matt and I have never played, or had heard of this game, but we won! We TOTALLY dominated. I think they were all kind of bummed but were super impressed with us. I was gonna take a picture but Shown started putting away all the pieces so I couldn't post my win.
Uh, can you say sore loser? Ha ha. Just kidding.
But I feel like my Uncle Randy would have been so proud. I wanted to call and tell him but I think because of the time difference he might have been asleep, but I think that  brought honor to my family that night.
After Friday everyone started departing one family at a time. It was super sad to see them all leave but it was super fun while it lasted.
So my first Thanksgiving away from home was super good.
I was really sad that I wasn't able to be with my family however I loved being with my adopted family!