Shredding Powder Dude

This past weekend marked our seventh MLK day in the mountains and the seventh year in a row that my mom has come to visit. It is just the sunny burst of joy we need in the coldest, grayest month of the year and I look forward to it every time. It used to be a solo trip for Mama and we would go do girl stuff like shopping and pedicures but ever since birthing out their grandbabies it has been impossible to leave my dad at home so he has been tagging along for the last couple of years too. Which is great, but he has a schedule that we all need to work around and it usually means no pedicures.

So this year, a couple of days before their visit and a week into snowpocalypse 2011, I got an email from my Mom saying that she wanted to give Jaime and I the day off. She would keep the boys and treat us to a day of snowboarding on Sunday. Seriously? Like the whole day? I was so happy I could cry. She could have said she was keeping the kids and sending us to the library for the day and I would have still been ecstatic... but snowbording? How Fun!

They arrived on Saturday and we all had a nice dinner at Doc Chey's where I mentioned something about the following day and my Dad says, "What? Where are you going?" and my mom kinda nods and is like, "Their going snowboarding, we're keeping the kids." His face registered minor panic but he kept his cool and went along with it and the next day we were outta there with the sun.

I have really tried to share Jaime's love of snowboarding over the past few years and feel like I have put up a good effort ( Note: I would still rather be on a beach, book in hand, anyday). I am pretty good in the sense that I can go to the top of the mountain and make it all the way down without falling. I take it nice and easy with no tricks or anything outrageous, but I do ok. Jaime, on the other hand is crazy good, almost too good for any mountain around here. So good in fact that a man in a full hunting suit that was doubling as a ski suit called him a show-off this weekend ( but then laughed and was like, "har har, I wish I could do that...") I guess that's what happens when you delay college for a while and move to Colorado. Anyway, I like having him as my date, he makes me look good.With the exception of one seriously gnarly fall off the chair lift and a semi injured rotator cuff it was an awesome day. And I am even happier to report the the grandparents survived as well and the boys were extra charming and wonderful.

It is so nice to remember who Jaime and I are together when we aren't chasing, feeding or carrying a toddler. Granted, we talked about them most of the time (and even looked at a couple of pictures on the cell phone) but it was great to have that alone time and remember why we fell in love in the first place.

Thanks Mom and Dad, you're the best!