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!