Gem State Invitation - Boise, Idaho

Today was the day Emily competed in the Gem State meet in Boise.  

warm ups

introduction of the teams

3rd in floor

second in vault

first in bars

first in beam

 And, first overall!  Way to go, Emily!

 As an extra bonus, SMAS won first place in team!

Floor Routine at Gem State Invitational Gymnastics Meet

Emily is on the left, second from the top
in the light pink helmet

Another cold morning at drop off for skiing, but she was excited and ready to go for a great sunny day on the mountain.  She was thrilled that today was the day ski patrol was going to talk to them about safety.

Then this weekend we will be off to Boise for the Gem State Gymnastics Meet.  The competition leo finally came so she will get to look like an official gymnast.  Cross your fingers she comes home with a trophy or two!

Ok, seriously.  It can stop snowing already.  This afternoon I removed the latest couple of inches with the snowblower, only it can't blow the snow up and over what's already there, so it basically hits a wall of snow and falls back into the driveway.  And out the dog door is another wall of snow.  And somewhere under the five feet of snow in the backyard is a new patio table that I'm pretty sure we won't see or use until, well, maybe September!  It's a good thing someone is happy when there is snow.

Because this girl is getting good use out of her season pass and skied both days this weekend.  She absolutely loves it, and even asked if she could fit nordic into her already jam packed busy schedule.  She's also told me that she's dropping out of school after this year, so maybe there will be time for nordic next season.

Her other hobby is building with her legos, and we haven't had a dinner at the table without a lego set in progress since Christmas.  It's a good thing we are more of a TV tray in the living room kind of family.

Baldy Pictures

Sharing the pictures I received from Emily's new Freeride Instructor.  We switched Emily's group this week.  Emily had been moved up into a group of "aggressive boy skiers" and for the past two weeks didn't come home very happy about it.  She's now in a group of girls, two of them familiar faces, and had a great time.  So glad she's finally in a group that shouldn't change for the rest of the season.

Emily is in the light pink helmet, black jacket, and multicolored pants.

 Kaitlyn's Bowl is a mogul course, but Emily at first called it the bagel run.  She still can't remember mogul, now told me she wanted to go on the vocals today.

Swiftsure

When I hopped online Monday to see if I could find out if Swiftsure riding lessons were still being held (they weren't), a familiar face surprised me! Of course, I've seen these pictures, but I didn't know they were on the Swiftsure blog!

Snow Day x3

Last Friday we woke up to a surprise - school was cancelled.  It was a beautiful sunny day, but -26 with wind chill.  The roads were clear, so we decided to head to Twin Falls and stock up since we were  expecting three feet of snow at that point.  On Saturday, Emily skied at Baldy, it was -3 at the base and a heat wave of 17 degrees at the top.  Sunday we went skiing on Dollar, and that was when the storm started to move in.  It wasn't the best day for skiing!

Monday's day off didn't come as much of a surprise.  We started the day off with a nerf gun battle.

Then we spent some time clearing the drive and the big pile of snow the city left us at the edge of the driveway from plowing the street.  By the time the afternoon hit, there were blue skies once again so we met up with friends and attempted sledding.  The snow was way to heavy and wet, and it was more sludge than sled so we moved indoors for a play date with 7 girls.  But by that evening another storm was moving through, and we crossed our fingers for a day off on Tuesday.  We weren't so lucky!  We went to school, but another foot of snow fell during the day.  Buses were stuck, buses were rear ended... and the cities of Hailey and Bellevue couldn't quite keep up with the snowfall.  Tuesday night at 10 we got the message that school would be cancelled on Wednesday!

Wait, what?  I've worked for this district for 10 years now, and school has only been cancelled three times and we just got three days off in one week?  There is a bit of shock there, but I won't complain.  Today turned out to be another beautiful blue day, but we definitely needed time to dig out from three feet plus of snow.  While Aaron used the snow blower and I shoveled, Emily happily built a snowman and worked on her fort this morning.  It was also time to tackle the load on the roof and attempt something with the backyard, which is a bit out of control.  

 For the record, he's standing in the dining room shoveling the back patio...

Luckily, today's sunshine helped the roads clear up, except for the 6 foot pile of snow down the center of every street in town.  Every street is a one way street, but Emily was quite happy to be able to go to gymnastics this afternoon.  And it looks like we will get a break until Tuesday, that's when it supposed to start snowing for another 4 days with another foot of snow (at least) expected.  And there really isn't any place left to put it.  

"Best of all he loved the fall" - but winter is okay, too

Today we had wanted to take a sleigh ride before snowshoeing, but the sleigh rides were all sold out.  Oh well, that gave us more time to hike with our friends on the snowshoe trail out to the Hemingway Memorial, a three mile loop.  It was a beautiful day to be outside, and we just might try that sleigh ride next weekend.  

Ernest Hemingway memorial

Sun Valley sleigh is in the background

Baldy ski hill in the background