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The company Jason works for sponsors a ski week every year at Sundance Resort. Thanks to their sponsorship, hitting the slopes is extremely cheap during that week. This year the deal included a super day pass, good for both day and night skiing, and lunch at the resort for only $30. What a bargain! It would normally cost $90 for all of this.

Since Jason and I are always looking for excuses to board, and this price was way too good to pass up, we skipped work on Friday and headed up to Sundance. Jason’s brother Jeremy and our friend Aaron tagged along.

The day was exceptionally sunny and pleasant. Beautiful! A snow storm had hit the night before and left a fresh sprinkling of powder…even better. While the lower regions of the mountain quickly lost their new-snow-feel due to the mighty sun, the upper regions, accessible by the Arrowhead lift, were soft and powdery all day.

This is me, Jason, Jeremy, and Aaron. Jason wanted us to all pretend we were doing something super cool for this picture but we had been boarding all day and were into the night shift at this point. We were pooped...and sadly not energetic enough to feign coolness.

The only time the exquisite spring sunshine vanished on this delightful day was when we were literally boarding inside a cloud. Up near the ridge of the mountain a cloud settled in for a bit as it struggled to climb over the saddle making visibility extremely limited and the temperature drop. It was a strange experience…I’ve never roamed around inside a cloud before. But the mist soon sank into a nearby valley and it was clear and spectacular once again.

Although the good deal alone would have been enough to entice us onto the slopes, Jason’s company went beyond just making this activity economically friendly. They rented the rehearsal hall at the resort for employees and their guests to take a break in, eat lunch, warm themselves by a giant fire, play some Wii, or watch a movie. Additionally, they gave free swag to everyone. Sweet!

We met up with Jason's longtime friend and coworker, Dan, while at Sundance. He took a break from teaching all his girls how to board to ride a run with us.

It was a lovely day and well worth the $30 price. Having our friends with us made it even more awesome. Aaron was, as always, a great help in improving my snowboarding skills. Thanks Aaron for your patience and knowledge! You’re amazing!

Incidentally, there are no restrictions on who can join us for ski week. So friends and family members feel free to take advantage of this discount and keep us company next year.

Like everyone else, we think we have some terrific nieces and nephews. They are talented, sweet, intelligent…and perhaps a bit mischievous. Unlike most couples our age, in this region anyway, we are not knee-deep in our own child rearing. Because Jason and I have purposefully delayed that adventure we have more time, money, and patience for our nieces and nephews than most of our counterparts. Hence, we have an opportunity to be the “cool” aunt and uncle that every kid wants but few have.

The kids liked shaping the cookies, especially Miles.

As the glamorous auntie and uncle we like to plan fun activities for our nieces and nephew periodically. These activities hopefully not only give the kids something to look forward to but also provide a break for their parents. We thought my brother’s and sister’s kids would enjoy a little Valentine’s Day celebration so we schemed one up for them. However, due to sick children, this event got delayed until after Valentine’s Day. The kids didn’t seem to mind that the holiday had come and gone though as they baked and decorated heart shaped cookies and made paper airplane valentines.

Miles loved helping roll the dough. He called himself "the steamroller".

We had a good time laughing and making messes with the rest of the juveniles. They are special little people and we hope it will at least take them a few more years to realize that we really aren’t that cool.

Jason and I went to a Flash game last week. What’s the Flash you ask? If you live in Utah Valley and need to ask this question then you must be completely unaware of your surroundings.

The Utah Flash is a NBA team that is based in Orem; they are part of the NBA’s development league. Although this is only their third season, they received the title of division champions last year. They play at the McKay Events center at UVU and tickets for their games start at only $8. Yeah, eight dollars, it doesn’t get much cheaper than that.

Since we had never been to a Flash game I decided it was about time we attended one but I wasn’t sure if it would end up being worth the effort. Here’s what I found:

The players were surprisingly good, the game was quite entertaining, and our view was excellent! For the price, you won’t get closer seats at any decent sporting event; we were 12 rows back from the court and our tickets only cost $19 apiece. The atmosphere was very family friendly; there were kids everywhere! I would estimate that about half of the spectators were children and most of them really seemed to be enjoying themselves. It was neat to see so many kids cheering and getting into the game. It wasn’t so cool, however, to be bombarded in the back continually by children that were being improperly supervised and running up and down the aisles. This brings me to my next point and Rachel Pet Peeve #3. Parents who take their pack of kids to a public event, movie, or party and act like it’s someone else’s responsibility to keep those kids inline, or think that just because they don’t mind that their children are running amuck that no one else does, should be disqualified from procreating. Seriously people, do you not realize how annoying your kids are? If you don’t want to take care of them then, for crying out loud, don’t bring them! It isn’t someone else’s job to discipline them! Geeze! Anyway…now that I’ve gotten that off my chest let’s move on…besides the out of control youngsters, the game was a fun experience.

Although there were quite a few people at the game, you can tell from this photo that they could use a few more fans.

Although there wasn’t as much pomp accompanying this game as you would find at a Jazz one, the location was close, the tickets economical, and the match still enjoyable so I’m sure we will be going to another Flash game soon. And hopefully next time the parents that aren’t interested in watching their children will leave them at home…or at least won’t sit directly in back of us.

Valentine’s Day is always a treat for me because not only do I get to hang out with my most favorite person on the planet but I also usually get to eat some awesome food and do something cool. Does this make me a cheese queen? Absolutely. Am I proud of it? Absolutely. By the way, this post is oozing with cheese…consider yourself forewarned.

This is the group of friends we celebrated our marriage with.

Last Friday Jas and I continued our Valentine’s Day festivities by attending “A Celebration of Marriage” with a group of our friends. This yearly happening consists of dinner and lectures on ways to improve your marriage. Sounds lame right? Well, it was actually quite interesting, thought provoking, and fun. Jason is a pretty darn perfect husband so he doesn’t need much in way of advice, but I think we both walked away from the event with a few ideas on how we could make our relationship even better. Thanks Fran for organizing our group’s attendance!

Finally! I got a decent picture of Jason taking a jump. He may not be Shaun White but I think he's very talented.

On Valentine’s Day itself Jason and I woke up, checked the snow report at Brighton (6 new inches overnight), and decided to go boarding on a whim. It turned out to be an excellent idea. The snow was soft and the weather lovely. When Jason and I got home from our boarding expedition I quickly shifted gears and begin preparations for the romantic candlelight dinner that I had planned. I made Shrimp Scampi with Linguini, Lemon-Butter Green Beans with Pine Nuts, and a Mexican Chocolate Crème Brulee. Everything was quite tasty but the crème brulee was delectable! At the bottom was a band of creamy cinnamon syrup that was concealed beneath the rich chocolaty custard. Topping this heavenly indulgence was oven roasted brown sugar caramelized to perfection with the help of my kitchen torch. Fab-u-lous! The charm of the occasion was accentuated by twinkling tea lights and scattered rose petals…and of course great company. After all, any dinner with my best friend, who happens to be hilarious and adorable, couldn’t be anything less than amazing.

I set the table for a lovely private dinner.

On a side-note, I know a lot of people detest Valentine’s Day: the crowds, the mushiness, the PDA. Yes, restaurants and theaters are usually quite packed on Valentine’s Day but if you never go out among the love struck masses I think you are missing something. This year Jason and I skirted the V-Day crowds, not by design but simply because that’s how my event timing turned out, and to be honest I kind of missed the craziness. So what’s so appealing about being in the throngs of V-Day couples? When you go out on Valentine’s Day you are surrounded by people holding hands, snuggling, staring contentedly at each other. Everywhere you look there are couples on their first dates, excited but awkward, married couples that are relieved just to have a few hours away from their kids, older couples that have been together for practically their whole lives yet you get the sense as they chuckle and hold hands that those lifetimes haven’t been long enough. What’s more, you can tell that this occasion means something to all these people by the way they have dolled themselves up for their special someone even if that someone has been with them for many years and has seen them every morning with their hair askew and their face smeared with mascara.

When you go out on Valentine’s Day it’s easy to be so enthralled with your partner that you are hardly aware of what passes beyond your tiny sphere but if you take a moment to glance around you you realize that this holiday really isn’t just about the two of you and your little bubble of bliss. The multitudes of pairs dining near you are there for the same reason you are and when you see the adoration and respect you feel for the person sitting across the table from you echoed in their faces as they gaze at each other you appreciate just how much love binds us as human beings. As you glimpse at the crowds you understand that Valentine’s Day isn’t just about celebrating our partnerships, it’s about celebrating our commonalties and connections as human beings. We all need love…and maybe the Beatles were right, maybe that is all we need….well, that and perhaps some flowers, or chocolates, or expensive perfume…

Valentine’s Day activity planning was my task this year. I opted for something Jason was sure to love: spending a couple days at the Canyons Resort and on the slopes. (The terrific “Pair Pass” deals the Canyons has right now made the choice a relatively easy one.)

This is one of those cheesy self-taken snapshots but I still like it.

Although the Canyons Resort is historically important to both of us, we haven’t boarded there in years. For Jason it represents the magnificence of his glory days. While he was in college he got season passes there every year and literally arranged his whole life, and school schedule, to optimize his time on the mountain. The Canyons for me holds significance of the bittersweet variety: my very first attempt at boarding took place there. Ah yes…the pain, the misery, the beginnings of a hobby that I now absolutely love.

I got a better picture of Jason jumping this time...at least in one sense. He looks a little like an eagle impersonator in this shot.

I decided that rather than squishing everything into Valentine’s Day weekend I would prolong the fun by taking Jason up to the Canyons the weekend before. Jason, as expected, was very excited about my Park City plan. We headed up on Thursday night and had a delightful dinner at Café Terigo. (If you ever go there I would highly recommend their bread pudding with hot butter rum sauce. It’s divine!) The next morning we woke up, put on our snow gear, walked a couple minutes to the gondola, and headed up the mountain. Ahhhhh….the simple pleasures of waking up and moseying on out to the lift. Does life get any sweeter? Hint: the correct response is “no”.

This is me on Saddleback, a run that was once my nemesis. We are good buddies now.

It snowed practically the entire morning as we boarded, which helped to make the runs decent, but sadly the snow was still not as excellent as it could have been. Nevertheless, we relished our chance to ride the Canyons’ seemingly infinite terrain. I also found great satisfaction in riding down Saddleback, the very first run I tried to board over a decade ago. I too vividly remember that first endeavor; it was an endless succession of falling. It took me over an hour to make it back down to the lift and my knees and butt were so bruised I could have been mistaken for a chimney sweep. That’s why I found great pleasure in riding this hill once again and not falling, not taking over an hour, and not bruising myself. Yes, the ecstasy of no longer being a beginner is astounding.

Here's Jason outside our lodge trying to look tough.

After a full day of boarding Jas and I were not done gallivanting about. We headed down to Salt Lake City to see the Big Bad Voodoo Daddy play with the Utah Symphony. Wow! I’ve always been a fan of these guys but they were even better live than I had anticipated! After the concert I got to meet the band and get their autographs. Their lead singer even graciously offered to take a picture with me. Sweet!

Here I am with Scotty Morris of the Big Bad Voodoo Daddy.

I must say that my Park City plans worked out quite well but, then again, planning is one of my fortes.

Although our weekend was lovely, the Valentine’s Day surprises aren’t over for Jason. Next weekend is sure to bring awesomeness! Awesomeness that will certainly be the topic of another longwinded Rachel blog.