Hittin' the Slopes!

Yes! We finally did it! Aaron and I went skiing today!!! Kevin Moser has been asking us for a few years now to give skiing a try, and so this year we finally did. We loved every minute of it - well, maybe not all the falls. We both fell more times than we can count, but so did all the other beginners! That's just part of it - you have to get out there and do it.

I was only really scared at one point - and I think it's only because of what someone was telling us. Aaron and I had gone through the lessons, practiced for quite a while on the bunny slope, did the beginner's hill a couple of times, and felt ready to go on to the next step. So, we did. Matt and Tara McCasland were with us and were great coaches. They had been watching us and said we were ready. We rode the lift up and at the very top of the hill we ran into a guy we knew. After chatting for a few minutes, he asked if we had done that particular hill before. When he discovered it was our first day skiing and our first time on that hill, his eyes got really big and said, "Oh, no - you're going to have problems!" We were thinking, "What!?" He went on to say that I would probably be okay, but since Aaron was bigger, the momentum he would pick up would make him go too fast and he would probably "run right into the line of people at the bottom of the hill." I am not kidding - those were his words exactly. We quickly said goodbye to him and were like, "Great! Here we are at the top of this "nightmare" hill and there was only one way to get down!" I was about ready to shove the guy off at the top if he wouldn't have stopped telling us all these horror stories. I'm not kidding - he was very serious. I "suppose" he meant well, but the damage was already done. Grrr! Matt and Tara told us to just forget what he had said, but that was a little bit hard to do. I was scared and there was no where to go but down. But, I told Aaron, the worse thing that can happen is . . . we'll fall! And we did! :-) But, we got back up and continued down the hill and had a blast! We ended up skiing that hill about 3 more times before it was time to go. We really enjoyed skiing and plan to go again. Thanks, Kevin, for insisting that we try! Here's some picture to prove it really happened!

What a fun day! I'd do it all over again!

Actually, getting off the lift is kind of difficult. Aaron would ride up with Matt so he could help him, and Tara would ride up with me to help me.
For non-skiers, the lift does NOT stop, you have to ski off of it - yes we both fell getting off of the lift. :-)

An "action" picture of Aaron!

Kristin and Mark Foster also skied for the first time today
(not many pictures of them since they had to leave early).

I would like everyone to notice the sign above Aaron's head.
We were advancing - whoo hoo!

This is a little far away (I wasn't about to get that close with my camera), but from left to right is Matt, Kevin, and Aaron.

It was VERY crowded on the slopes and in the ski lodge. We didn't know any different, but Kevin said it was the biggest crowd he had ever seen out there - at least 9,000 people!

Bless Tara's dear heart! She helped me so much and was very patient. She even waited for me while we laughed hysterically after my pitiful fall so she could help me get up. Honestly, the hardest thing I did all day was getting UP after a fall. Try doing that with 6-foot feet that are very slick on a hill!!!