2009 DO IT RIGHT!

Hostess with the mostest!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

I don't know why we felt the need to throw another party but this one about did me in! Jules, Mel, Jen and I threw another party at Rice Eccles Stadium (who are more than difficult to work with.) It was a lot of fun but very stressful and time consuming. I would not recommend using that venue to anyone! Now our DJ Matt Bell...whoa hold the phone! He did such a great job and I would recommend him to anyone. It was a fun way to ring in the new year. But nothing would top the first few days of the new year (most of which was spent in the car...but totally worth it!)

N*O*L*A

UTAH vs. ALABAMA 31-17

Destination: New Orleans
Travel time: 56 hrs
Total driving distance: 3600 miles
States traveled: 7
Days off work: 4
Trip total cost:$150

I found out a year ago from my good friend Chelsea Clouate from Louisiana, that New Orleans was also referred to by the acronym N.O.L.A. which is my first name. Little did I expect to visit the crazy city one year later. About 4 hours after our new years party, Jen and Mel dragged me out of bed and into the car headed for Louisiana. I was anything but bright eyed and bushy tailed at the thought of spending my four-day weekend in a car. But I have, what Mel refers to as FOMO (fear of missing out) and couldn't pass this up. We drove 28 hours on merely 3 hours of sleep, ran out of gas in Texas, (nice one mel!) and entertained each other with random gas station purchases... candy cigarettes and whoopie cushions to illustrate some. We detoured through Durango and Ouray which made for quite the scenic trip and made it to our ghetto hotel on Canal St. only a few hours before game time in time for some good ol' southern ribs and jambalaya.

GO UTES!!!

The game was incredible!

We scored tickets for $30 outside from a scalper. Of course we didn't sit where the seats were, we stole into the lower bowl near Jules and Covey who had flown down the day before and enjoyed the victorious win from the 20th row. We were only about 9,000 strong in the arena but out cheered Alabama. The sound of our fans cheering "UNDEFEATED" was enough to make me cry! Oh I love my Utes! After the game, we the fans flooded to Burbon street, where we met up with more friends, ate pizza and stayed out till 3 in the morning. Oh what a trip! Less than 10 hours later we would head back 28 more hours of driving to Utah. Oh what fun it is to be 24 in 2009!

Happy Holiday Cheer!

Christmas time! I know it's been a while, I thought I'd throw a few pics of the holiday cheer before I started into 2009. The whole family was here and we celebrated christmas in Park City at mom and dad's. The most exciting part was finding out the Darrick and Kellie are going to have a girl! Oh yeah...they're pregnant.. I forgot it's been a while. I'm going to be an aunty!!!

SNOW!!!

Prays were heard, the night was still,
A small shriek from my lips did spill.
Snow is falling all around,
Hearts unhappy cannot be found.
Christmas songs all in full play,
Words like "pow" and "gnar" we often say.
New skis, fresh snow, lift tickets and more,
Ski season is here and we're out the door!

If you can't tell, I'm cheesy and excited that winter finally showed up again! Some friends and I hit the Canyons yesterday with about 8-10 inches of new snow. Not much of a base underneath it, but enough for a good party on the mountain! I am unable to download pics right now, but as soon as I can, Ill post pictures from yesterday.
Happy Holidays!

CHANGE...

Change is the name of the game for me and I decided to blog about it today.

I start my new job at the Mountain Center up in Park City for the Quicksilver Rossignol Group tomorrow, so I am enjoying a day off inside away from the COLD! Due to the change of seasons, my days of being a Garden Girl came to an end Thursday. It was a fun day working with my boss Sarah and the whole gang. This job has been physically challenging but very rewarding. I will miss it!

With the change of the weather, the leaves and the length of daylight, I feel my life has taken a turn as well. Some days I'm excited about change, other days I wish I could step back in time. I didn't get my dream job earlier this summer, my parents no longer reside in Maui and I recently jumped back into the hideous scene of being single. Life is as spontaneous as ever and so unpredictable...

Amidst all this change, I found hope. The new job infects me with ski fever and I have every hope of finding my niche. My parents finally live close enough for Utah to feel like home again and despite the disappointment and heartache, I learned a lot and treasure the experiences I've had this summer. This past weekend of General Conference I found wisdom in a talk given by one of the General Authorities. He said, "hope has the power to fill our lives with happiness," and that "it is the foundation of our faith." Another one of my favorite talks was Joseph B. Wirthlin who quoted a phrase his mother used to say "Come what may and love it." The perfect motto to the rest of my year...come what may and love it! Between the two talks, I realized that there are certain things we can't control in our lives but with hope and faith, we can learn to love it and move on still loving life and hoping for the best.

More changes reflect in the fact that I recently became a big fan of the color pink. Not just because it's girly, more importantly because it signifies Breast Cancer Awareness. I don't know why I'm interested in being a dedicated supporter, but I have since collected quite a few pink ribbon items. My nalgene bottle, camera case, gardening gloves...even tic tacs.

Here are a few more pics...
My sis, my boss Sarah and me (garden girls gone wild my last day) Arden, the little gal I tend on Wednesdays and a sneak peak of some hard work this summer...Many of you may think I didn't do much this summer but play However, I did learn a few trades one of which happened to be rock work.

MY TRIP TO CHILE!

" AND TAKE YOUR MONEY..."
Some of you might think this irrelevant, but my theme song for the trip was paper planes by M.I.A. and this picture is in lieu of it. Oh this is Portillo by the way... The first shot is of me and the second is Cory at Valle Nevado (let's pretend it was a sweet landing ;) It needs to snow soon, I can't wait for the season!

Skiing on my 24th BDAY!

Friday the 22nd I turned 24 and what better way to spend my 24th than on the slopes? Corey and I took a ski shuttle an hour and a half from the Santiago to El Colorado Ski Resort in Farrellones through one of the sketchiest canyons. I was laughing the whole time...these drivers are crazy! If you've experienced the road to Hana in Maui, imagine a more barren, steeper incline along with some crazy Chileans who pass on blind corners, (a fellow traveler referred to it as Chilean Chicken)...and that should paint a rough picture of this experience...it was awesome! I couldn't get over how tall the Andes were and how high we were! The skiing was surprisingly good and left ear to ear grins on our faces. Skiing mid-summer in Chile?? Who would have thought...this is going to be an expensive habit...

WELCOME TO CHILE!

Dramamine, earplugs, three seats to stretch out across and an eye mask makes for an incredible 9 hour, red-eye flight! There's no better way to fly. I passed out about an hour after take off and woke up to this...Good morning Andes!! I believe this peak was Mt. Aconcagua - the tallest peak in the Andes mountain range. I was more than thrilled to finally arrive! Chile is currently on my top 3 fav. countries! I hope this blog illustrates why..
(I have way too many great pictures to post in one blog so I made a slide show, you can check out all the pics by selecting "view all images.")

The first few days were spent in Santiago, (with the exception of my birthday which I posted above.) with my friend Ximena Dona and her family. When speaking of great people, I will always think back to this family and how hospitable and welcoming they were. For the time being, we were family and I will always consider Ximena my Chilean sister! The first day we arrived, we were treated to a home cooked meal complete with a birthday cake for me! What a surprise! They also invited us to their cousins 18th birthday where we met several relatives and ate more cow than I thought was edible. If Cory's face didn't approve I replied as her uncle came around with the bowl of meat "No carne, gracias!"
The next week we headed up to Farrellones (for detailed road conditions see the previous post) where we stayed at the cutest A-Frame hostel (aka Tribeca A-frame hostel for rockers!) It was owned by Bryan from New York and ran by the coolest couple from Tahoe, Jerimiah and Andrea. I have to admit, I was refreshing to speak and understand English for a few days. The hostel was so cosey and warm, we had so much fun up there! My only complaint was the failed hour and a half attempt to hitch hike. The Chileans up there would drive around us and pick up the locals...unbelievable! The next day it dumped about 5-6 inches and we skied powder all day! Thanks to the Brits who gave us a ride, we were able to enjoy a whole day of faceshots!

The last stop was Portillo. We caught a bus from Santiago to Mendoza, Argentina where we got off a few miles from the border in Portillo. This resort topped the charts! Its nestled between towering cliffs just aside a frozen lake and the view was absolutely breathtaking! We scored a bunk, two days skiing and four gourmet meals for $180. Try that in Park City...I don't think so! The snow wasn't as soft as Valle Nevado, but the terrain was steeper and we found some killer lines. My favorite was the rocket rope tow that shot us up the steepest mountain at mac-90! I laughed so hard I almost fell off several times. Ski Magazine was also doing a photo comp. that week so we were able to sneak a peak of the slide show and upcoming photos for February's edition. We also got to meet and hang out with the skiers and photographers who were a lot of fun. Ironically enough, Jason West was there shooting, Cory and my old boss's husband from Solitude. It was a fun weekend!

The last town we visited was Val Paraiso, a port town two hours north of Santiago. This town was very unique complete with graffiti art and smelled of fish. We found a decent restaurant where we were serenaded by a cute Chilean man in a white dining coat and had some killer Chilean Sea bass. I love this country! I highly recommend it and already can't wait to get back!