"God's voice thunders in marvelous ways; he does great things beyond our understanding. He says to the snow, 'Fall on the earth,'"
Job 37:5-6a

Joel and I laid some fresh tracks this weekend. Joel's on the left, right after he got pushed off the cat track and into waist deep snow.

Joel's really good at skiing powder, and I'm content to take the pictures.

Now let me try to explain what happens to me. See that really scared look on my face as I'm skiing out of control? It's because I'm about to take a head-long dive into the powder at any moment....

See what I mean? And then I just smile that I didn't get hurt.....yet.

Joel can make those really pretty S shapes in the snow. (mine are more like upside down i's).

This is Friday afternoon as we were cross-country skiing up the side of a mountain that some lady emphatically told us we REALLY SHOULDN'T ski on. As it turns out, she was right. But I won't go into the details of our foolishness. We do seem to have a very good survival rate so far, which I'm happy about.

"Have you entered the storehouses of the snow or seen the storehouses of the hail..?" Job 38:22
Out here, I'm reminded of God's sovereignty.
"My ears had heard of you but now my eyes have seen you." Job 42:5

While Joel was being tortured tonight at the hospital, I was undergoing my own pain of freezing at this Switchfoot concert in Park City. It was a very entertaining night though: great music, fireworks, and then I even saved someone's life. You know, all in a day's work.

The fireworks part.

Tricia, Sally and I sat by a fire for awhile. Not pictured is the lady I caught from falling into the fire. And I don't think her beer would have been enough to put her out!

Trisha had to go home today after a month's visit. It is very quiet here now. But before we let her leave, we introduced her to some of Salt Lake's finest: the Gallery Stroll and the Sundance Film Festival. (We watched House of Sand.... I suggest this movie if you really like sand)

Shontel's inverted aerial trick. She's still working on the aerial part.

They just don't make internships like they used to... (Do they, Dad...)

Cool, skier types call these "epic conditions." Powder to the people!
Oh, and, by the way, Pow Pow is Shwank on Brighton. It means "fun."

This weekend we went to Deer Valley in Park City to see a freestyle international ski competition where men and women were trying to qualify for this year's Olympics. The mogul slope behind us was a 29% grade in slope.

In less than 30 seconds they would be down the hill and with their speed, it was pretty tough to catch their stunts on camera.

Some people didn't exactly land on their feet, which always provided a big response from the crowd. No one got too hurt, though.

Yes, Mother, I was wearing a helmet.

As you can see, it was a very clear night with almost a full moon. And CHILLY!!!

Joel takes a few questions from the press.

It seems like you might get bored just seeing pictures of Joel sleeping or of us cross-country skiing. To prevent your boredom, I'm posting this picture. Random, huh?

Here's another random picture with an animal in it. Too bad it was dark and now you can't see this cute moose. He's standing in a river and looking at us. Do you see it now?

Eeek! Why do those sleds keep following me?

This month's cover of cross country ski magazine. Caption: Trish Shows Us How to Properly Rest Our Skis.

It's the coolest new thing to come out of Utah. Hey, no one ever said Utah was "cool".

Shontel was going way too fast for me to catch her... It wasn't fair: she had the fast sled, Mom!

Joel is doing a rough rotation this month so he comes home and crashes. However, thanks to Dad V., I have a new friend to talk to.

My Friend, Furby

This little guy dances, tells jokes, and eats. I'm even learning Furbish, thanks to Furby. oo-nye-loo-lay-doo?

7 days of fun

Here's our motley crew that celebrated New Year's Eve together playing a murder mystery dinner game. This evening marked the conclusion of our "7 days of fun" over Christmas vacation. One of us was a murderous villian...can you guess who?

Our week started out by skiing some powder at Alta on Monday and Tuesday.

Bryce even tried out the bunny hill. Pretty daring for a tyke under two.

The forcast was for 17-21 inches of snow. I don't think it we got quite that much, but as you can see from Jonathan's pole buried here, it was plenty.

The Bryce-sitters for the day.

Being a Bryce-sitter is a fun job. I mean, look at that cute kid!

Enjoying some merriment

"IF MORE OF US VALUED FOOD, AND CHEER, AND SONG ABOVE HOARDED GOLD, IT WOULD BE A MERRIER WORLD.”– J.R.R. Tolken

That same afternoon, Joel, Dad and I cross-country skied in Mill Creek. It was beautiful before the sunset. Let's just say it was quite dark on the trail AFTER it set and we were still there.

I like to demonstrate a skill I call "The Sit Down". It is a necessary skill in my world of skiing.

Winter Wonderland

Dad was out-skiing me. This picture break was a welcomed stop (even though we didn't do "the sit down").

One of my few pictures of Bryce without all of his ski clothes on.

Well, I have this one too, but I don't think Jonathan would approve of me blogging this. Let's just say that I think Bryce liked it when I was the Bryce-sitter.

And the next day.....

More skiing.

True to form, Trisha even skis in style.

Later, Dad, Trish, Randy and I went to the Nordic center to cross-country ski. It looks like my skills are rubbing off on them.

In terms of frequency all of our activities, eating was second only to skiing.

We did more than ski like boys. One afternoon the ladies had high tea at a very fancy hotel. Even though we had about 5 one-bite sandwiches and little crumpets, we got full.

Snowmo-racing

A highlight of the week was racing around the tracks at Daniel's Summit.

And we thought we were bobble heads. Bryce could barely walk straight!

The views were spectacular.

See?