I'm Not Alone...

Once again, the demons started in on me last night as I realized Andy was leaving us again for work.  I was an emotional wreck last night as I silently prayed for strength to make it through yet another crazy week of being a single mom.  I mentioned in an earlier post how alone I often feel here in Utah and then this morning on my way to home from picking up Kendall from school, I heard this song on the radio.  It was Kutless's Carry Me To The Cross.  I have heard it before (the album was just released last month) but never paid much attention to the lyrics.  Today I heard each word, loud and clear.  It was as if God himself played this song, just for me, at the right time.  

God's timing is always perfect, isn't it?

When the path is daunting
And every step exhausting
I'm not alone
I'm not alone, no, no
I feel you draw me closer
All these burdens on my shoulder
I'm not alone, I'm not alone
You pull me me from this place

Hallelujah
You carry me every day
You carry me all all the way
Hallelujah
You carry me to the
You carry me to the cross

How your love has moved me, yeah
To the foot of all your glory
I'm not alone, I'm not alone
I'm not alone

Hallelujah
You carry me every day
You carry me all all the way
Hallelujah
You carry me to the
You carry me to the cross

All of these cities you have built
And every cathedral you have filled
To all of creation you gave life with your hands
And with those hands you comfort me
You lift me up from my knees
And carry me
You carry me

Hallelujah
You carry me every day
You carry me all all the way
Hallelujah
You carry me to the
You carry me to the cross
The cross
You carry me to the
You carry me to the cross

Me? A Soccer Mom?

Yes, it appears I may become just what I swore I'd never do. (I don't drive a mini van yet so there is still hope!)  Some parents from Kendall's school are getting a bunch of 3 & 4 yr. olds together to play 5 v 5 soccer this spring.  So Kendall and I headed out to go get her some equipment so she could practice before the season starts next month.

Here she is!  Sporting her shin guards (aka leg warmers), her swim goggles to keep the sun out of her eyes, her 'new to her' petticoat skirt and her new pink soccer ball!  It's all shades of pink so technically she matches, right?

I think I'll need lots of lollipops to consume during her games so the coach in me stays quiet - my players use to supply me with them so I wouldn't get myself in trouble with the officials during games!  ;)  Maybe the skirt with the shin guards is early preparation for field hockey?

Getting Inked!

Last Saturday night (while consuming green drinks and jello shots) my dear friend Alyssa and I finally decided to go through with getting inked.  Both of us had tats already, but we've been talking new ones about this for a while now.  We got the name of the guy who did my friend Cara's and Alyssa called and set us up with appointments.

We were both so nervous the day of our appointment.  I was actually sweating on my way to meet her!  I have this tendency to "google" everything and all I kept reading that morning was how much more a tattoo on your foot HURT compared to other places!  Ugh.  I was a wreck for someone who already has a tattoo!  We went to see Matt Miskol at Yellow Rose Tattoo.  It's in Sugarhouse and a very clean, attractive tattoo parlor.  We had to wait over an hour until he was finished with our designs and ready to start work on us - that didn't help matters.

We finally go back to get our new ink and I end up going first - I did that with my last one too.  Probably a good thing so I couldn't chicken out!  Matt started on my tat and thankfully it wasn't nearly as bad as I had envisioned or as bad as I had read about.  The worst part was when he got to the bottom side of my foot.  Thankfully I didn't have a lot of ink down there!

I was so thrilled with how it came out.  It's pretty close to my original design - we had to modify it a bit because I wanted it as small as possible without losing too much of the design elements.

I was inspired by Deuteronomy 31:6 for this tattoo:  "Be strong and courageous.  Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the LORD your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you."  Hebrews 13:5 was also encouraging:  For God has said, "I will never fail you.  I will never abandon you."

I have often felt alone while living here in Utah (not something I've shared with many people).  Part of it is because Andy's been gone so much of the time, but the other part is because I'm so much further away from my friends, my family and all that is familiar to me.  It's not a feeling I'm comfortable with or use to.  I am thankful for my many dear, sweet friends here, but it's difficult to overcome it somedays.  Through a bible study I did at our church after I first moved here, I realized that no matter where God leads us on this journey, he will never leave us.  This tattoo is a great reminder for me when I'm going through those moments of loneliness.

This was the worst part of it - that spot hurt the most

After I got home that night.  

The night I got it was the worst for me.  It was throbbing and I had to take some Advil and prop it up to sleep.  The next morning I felt completely fine.  I'm dreading the healing process when it starts itching like crazy!  Sadly I can't wear shoes right now until it heals - and my new cowboy boots are scheduled to arrive in 3 days!  Ugh!

Spring + Skiing = SUNBURNED Faces!

Yesterday we decided to take advantage of the 50 inches of snow that fell in the mountains through Monday by going skiing.  Andy took a day off of work and we twisted Riley's arm to miss school for one day (He hates make up work).  We headed up to Snowbird to spend what may be our last day skiing of the season.  The morning conditions were fantastic!  We had a blast.  Andy took Kendall on her first run of the day - supposed to be Big Emma, but he followed me and Riley down Lower Bassackwards.  That's a BLUE not a GREEN trail!  Ugh!  Poor girl wasn't happy about her warm up run being the most difficult of the day!  Then we headed over to Baby Thunder to show Dad the Mini Miner's Camp as well as some of their favorite runs.

Riley and Andy spent much of the morning together - zipping down the empty slopes like they were in hot pursuit!  We met back up for lunch at Creekside where we determined we were going to take the kids up the Tram to ski Mineral Basin after lunch.  Riley has skied Mineral Basin, but Kendall hadn't been up there before.  They loved riding the Tram to Hidden Peak (11,000 feet).  We snapped a few pics and then headed down the other side.  It was slushy over there, as was to be expected with all the sun yesterday, but we had a great time.  We all stayed together on the green trails and had so much fun.

Riley and Andy decided to ski down from Hidden Peak via Chip's Run (another BLUE trail) so Kendall and I took the Tram back down to the Snowbird Center.  We met up with Andy and Riley on our way back over to end the day on Big Emma.  Riley and I made our way to Gad Zoom with intentions of heading to Gad 2 to go all the way up to Bananas, but the lift was closed so we just came down Bassackwards to end our day.  While we were on Gad Zoom we were looking over towards Big Emma to see if we could spot Andy and Kendall making their last run.  I didn't have to see them, I could hear Kendall's "whoo hoo!" all the way from Big Emma, past the Mid-Gad lift to the Gad Zoom lift.  There was my little Powder Hound zooming down Big Emma squealing with delight the entire time!

Sadly, we all forgot to apply sunscreen yesterday and all of us are beet red!  Riley has raccoon eyes from his goggles.  Kendall and I have bright red cheeks and noses.  While Andy has fried his entire face!  I applied a tea compress to the kids and I this morning which is supposed to help with sunburn (thanks to Pinterest!).  Hoping we heal quickly!  Everyone knew why Riley missed school yesterday when they saw him this morning!  Poor kid!  Thankfully the kids aren't in any pain from the burns.  That will teach me, huh?

Taking a break while waiting on Sissy

No wonder we all got sick with "powder flu!"  Look at that blue sky!

Awesome conditions to start our day

My happy, little, Hershey kiss-eating ski buddy!

 Lunch Break!

From Hidden Peak looking towards the Heber Valley

I think I'm winking in this one!  ;)

The Salt Lake Valley is behind us

Little Miss Kendall skiing down Lupine Loop all by herself!  It's a rather narrow pass, but she knows to stay near the inside so she doesn't fall off the other side!

What a gorgeous day!

Here she comes!

We couldn't get enough of the beauty surrounding us!

Andy and his shadow

Breathtaking!

Waiting for Sissy - I figure by next year, they won't be waiting so long for her!

My three most favorite people in the entire world!

Love the scenery (and the little snow bunny in pink!)

Momma and her munchkins

Riley thought it was pretty cool that you could ski from Snowbird to Alta - he was bummed to learn he didn't have a ticket to do both!

Looking down the canyon

Absolutely beautiful!

Riding the Tram back down - not nearly as crowded as on the way up!

Some signs of spring - snow melt

We had a fabulous time together!  I'm so glad we were able to spend the day with each other.  Thankfully Andy had few interruptions and that was a welcomed change.  He's been so busy and gone so much from us that it felt great to spend time doing something we all enjoy for an entire day!

Joe Paterno Tribute - Lubrano for Board of Trustees

Love this video regarding the BOT and Joe Pa.  Worth watching if you haven't already seen it.

Skiing At Snowbird!

Last weekend Andy was out of town so I decided to take the kids skiing at Snowbird - but not just Chickadee this time!  Riley and I were going to introduce Kendall to Mid-Gad and Baby Thunder.

We parked at Creekside and started our day heading up Mid-Gad and eventually  making our way over to Baby Thunder.  Part way through the morning, we met up with some friends and Riley got to ski with his buddy Alex for a good part of the day.  He was thrilled to have a friend to ski with instead of hanging out with me and Sis.  Kendall was happy because she adores Alex's sister Katie and we got to have lunch with them.

Here are some pics and video of our day at Snowbird:

Lovely 'bluebird' day

Waiting for Sis

Love the view of the Salt Lake Valley from Snowbird

Mom and Sis on the 'flying sofas'

First reaction to Big Emma was "Whoo Hoo!!!!!"

Trying to keep up with Riley to snap a quick photo is next to impossible, especially with Kendall being the caboose

Waiting on me to put the camera away

My skiing duo

Looks like he's gonna ski right off the edge

Taking our only break in the day

Eating snow every chance she gets

Hope you didn't get sick watching via Riley's helmet camera.  He took a nasty spill at the end of his video.  Somehow he managed to slide backwards under a tree.  The snow was as deep as he is tall and very soft deep powder.  Poor kid had to take his skis off to climb out - then his ski fell back in and he had to go get it again and climb out.  By that time, he was freaked out (because he went one way and Kendall and I went the other) and soaked with sweat.  I took off my skis and went into the woods to find him and there he was, exhausted and emotionally spent.  I almost fell in the hole too so it was no surprise he struggled.  I was proud of him for doing the right thing and handling the situation as well as he did.  He's a good little skier and has been taught well how to get himself out of tricky situations.