Ski Trip 2018

The first time I ever tried to snowboard was when I was 18 and at my parents house for Christmas break in college. My family had recently relocated to Michigan and my brother had really taken to the sport, so he wanted to show me up me to try it.  A couple of my friends from high school who had snowboarded before were in town we we loaded up and headed down to the majestic Mt. Holly (aka a former garbage dump turned into a ski hill) near my parents house where I attempted to snowboard! The key word here is attempted...in reality I spent a couple of hours attempting to stand up on a snowboard without falling before giving up and retiring to the lodge for the day while my brother and friends spent the day on the slope. At that point I decided that snowboarding was not my forte and that I'd stick to summer skiing.

Fast forward about 7 years when my BIL and (now) SIL asked us if we wanted to take a trip to Sugar Mountain, NC to ski/snowboard. Eric had never been and I only had my one completely unsuccessful experience under my belt so naturally we said "heck yes we want to go!" Clearly the mid-20s versions of us were lots of fun and had no trouble throwing caution to the wind, so we loaded up and headed to the mountains for a weekend on the slopes!

Sunset on the slopes!

Now you may be asking why we opted for snowboarding as opposed to the much easier snow skiing (or so I've been told)...well it's because the people we were with who had experience on the snow were snowboarders and could teach us. I've thought over the years that I should try skiing but we only go once a year and I'm not willing to give up half a day to learn something else when I can get myself down the mountain on a snowboard without falling. At this point in my life I would be considered a geriatric Olympian so there is really no need for me to progress to backside 1440s or 900s with a front-side grab.

For 4 years in a row we made a ski trip part of our annual trip rotation with friends.  We did Sugar Mountain twice (2011, 2013), before we took the plunge and spent a week in Steamboat Springs, CO, and then spent my 30th birthday weekend on Ober Mountain in Gatlinburg. But then life got in the way and all of a sudden it had been 3 years since our last ski trip, so when some friends of ours suggested a trip this year we jumped at the chance, to head back to Sugar Mountain for a long President's Day weekend (which tends to be our ski weekend with the extra day off and works out as a nice birthday trip for me!)

We headed out early on Friday morning and got there just before dark....thank goodness because our cabin was at the top of a steep, narrow, curvy road with no guardrails....gulp.  There was actually one switchback that Eric had to back up and re-position his truck every time we went up. But our view from the Owl's Roost was 100% worth it!

 I could stare at mountains like this all day long!

 The cabin on top of the hill....

Since we were exhausted from our travels and first night revelry (as all ski trips go) we slept in on Saturday before heading to the ski shop and the slopes.  Of our crew almost half had never skied or boarded on snow before, so we stuck to the easy hill until they got the hang of it.  However, we were quickly reminded of why we are typically night skiers.....the lift lines were absolutely ridiculous.  I'm talking 30 mins of waiting to go up....I was thrilled when the majority of the crowd left after the night ski session and we were able to hit lots of different runs during the evening session.

Obligatory lift picture

All smiles after the first evening on the slopes!

We made it home late that night and thankfully had the presence of mind to throw dinner the the crock pot before we left, so we refueled and then fell into food and exhaustion-from-skiing comas.  The next day we decided to forego the afternoon ski session and head to Blowing Rock, NC to see the sights and grab something to eat. We made a stop at the Jerky Outpost on our way, and the guys got to sample several varieties.....

 We preferred to take in the views while the guys shopped

So many pretty mountains!

Some of the more unique varieties included python, shark, camel, kangaroo, emu, and ostrich jerky.

We ended up having a delicious lunch at The Speckled Trout Restaurant and Bottle Shop before we headed back to the slopes via the scenic route.  We took a very windy mountain road (thanks Google Maps) and took an alternate route via a literal gravel/dirt road.  It was not as mountainous, but we were very thankful we were in trucks with 4 wheel drive.  I believe it was on the 2nd or 3rd switchback on a steep decline that we were all laughing so hard we were in tears because we realized how ridiculous the situation was.  But we made it out and back to the slopes for night number 2!

Scenes from The Speckled Trout....the taps were old tools, and some of the fare: Drunken Brussels Sprouts (sprouts and pork belly in a whiskey reduction) and the prettiest deviled eggs I'd ever eaten!

We had a very successful evening this time around despite the ice that had formed on the higher slopes....I did one of the icy runs and did not go back up that high the rest of the night.  As expected we were even more exhausted after our second night on the mountain, and despite wanting to enjoy our last night of vacation we raised the white flag of surrender and went to bed.

The trip home was pretty uneventful, but man did the Smokey Mountains show out!  They gave us quite the fond farewell, and I hope we get to see them again next year!

New Years Recap (and Roll Tide)

How 'bout them Bammers?!?  I'm am almost positive that at least 50% of the population of the state of Alabama is functioning on very little sleep and lots of coffee today after the incredibly exciting National Championship Game last night.  With it being a come-from-behind overtime victory, I am sure there were very few fans who switched off the game early.  I am glad Bama won, but I am also glad that it was a good game with lots of story lines to it: Coach vs. Former Asst. Coach, brothers going head to head on the field, Bama just barely sneaking in to the game thanks to an Auburn loss in the SEC Championship to make it an all SEC game, and Bama pulling their 25-2 QB at halftime to put in a true freshman to up against Georgia's true freshman QB (so many talented freshman played a huge role in the game!).  You can't make this stuff up. The die hard Bama fans are all wearing smiles today, but they're also not tooting their horns like they have in years past because they know how close they were to not getting this one.

So the real point of this post was to wrap up our holiday season, and the only thing I have left is New Years....Eve and Day because the two combined were quite a doozy, so let's do this.

If you recall from my last post I was headed back to AL on NYE.  I made it home around 2 p.m., and thankfully we were spending NYE at some friends' house so I didn't have to come home and host like I did last year. I managed to unpack the car, walk the pups, make dessert to take with us, and get ready all in a 4 hour span.  *pats self on the back for being Superwoman*

Our New Years Crew

Some good friends of ours were spending their fist holiday season in their new home after living in a rental while the waited on their old house to sell (out of town) for the past 4 years, so needless to say they were thrilled to get to host everyone!  It was an awesome dinner party complete with fancy tables, Moscow Mules, fireworks (jury is still out on whether the kids or the grown men had more fun with those), karaoke, and of course a champagne toast at midnight. 

 Believe it or not, this was a Pictionary drawing of Spongebob Squarepants, and yes someone guessed it correctly.

....and the best part?  I got to go home and not have to pick my house up afterward!!! Don't get me wrong, I LOVE hosting things at our house but our porch is not built for winter gatherings so it was nice having somewhere else to go!

We made it home in the wee hours of the morning, but were wired from the festivities so I made dips for the football games the next day.....at 2:30 a.m. I think I finally gave in around 3 a.m., only to be roused by the pups around 8 (such is life).  As hard as I tried (ok I didn't try that hard) I was not ready to go 2.5 hours later when Eric wanted to head back out to another friends' house to watch the football games.....12 straight hours of football games to be exact. I think I made it for the second half of the first game, went home to take a nap and try to at least unpack my suitcase from my trip to Memphis and got caught up watching the GA/OK overtime game, and made it back for the second quarter of the Bama/Clemson game.  Thank goodness the game had an uneventful second half so I could say "see ya" and head to the house. 

I think I was still playing catch up from Christmas all week last week, but I think I am finally there.  The house has been de-Christmased (which took me a week....gah!), and I am ready to take on 2018!

Bring it 2018!

I will leave you with one of my favorite puns I've seen this morning about the game last night:
"Thank goodness the QB change at halftime wasn't Tua little Tua late".....I know, I know, super corny, but still good.

Christmas Recap Part 2

A couple of days after Christmas I set off for Christmas #2 or #3 or #4 depending on how you're counting, in Memphis with my parents and brother. There was more food, more relaxing, a puzzle (of course), and even a trip to IKEA! Unfortunately Eric had to coach a wrestling match that weekend so he had to stay behind for practice and the match.

Jones Family Christmas pic 2017

I am pretty sure LG and Maggie had the most fun of any of us while we were there. They played constantly, to the point that they both slept the entire day after we left.

And still shots of them were next to impossible to get (the dogs, not Mom and Dad)

Maggie taught LG how to dig holes and then got mad because 

all LG wanted to do was dig said holes.

Mom got a new cookbook for Christmas so she and Matt made quick work of trying out a few new recipes.  The Banana Roll was the winner....think pumpkin roll but made with banana bread....YUM!

Perfecting the roll

Top: the finished product; Bottom: Cheesecake Factory dessert one day included Vanilla Bean, Godiva Chocolate, Red Velvet, and Tiramisu cheesecake slices. 

Of course no trip to Memphis is complete without a trip to the Three Dog Bakery.  Since Maggie gets to go often, she begrudgingly let us take just Peanut and LG.  They're becoming pros at the bakery.  They jumped out of the car and ran right up to the door like they knew exactly what we were there for. Treats....duh!

 Getting their complementary treats.

LG said we were taking too long so she laid down to start on her bone.

 Side note - I found the winning combination for driving long distances with dogs: new bones + a 45 minute walk prior to leaving.  They didn't get restless until we were about 30 minutes from home.

Another highlight of the trip was our outing to the IKEA store.  I've only been to an IKEA once so I was pretty excited to go back.  We found a few things we could not live without (many we had no idea we needed), but one of my favorites were kitchen drawers that you can open with your hip (or knee if your tall like my family)....they were pretty amazing.

I am ready to schedule my kitchen remodel like yesterday....but we can't do white cabinets. Keeping those suckers clean with 4 dogs in the house??? Ain't nobody got time for that!

Minus Eric not being there, it was the perfect ending to our Christmases.  I packed up the pups on New Years Eve and headed back to Alabama because we had NYE plans that actually didn't involve a large group of people at our house.....(that never happens!)...I promise to have a full recap on that soon!

Mom and Dad's tree is the tree that keeps on giving (yes it's decorated with Lottery Tickets!)

Christmas 2017 Part 1

It's hard to believe that another holiday season has come and gone...no seriously it flew by so fast this year I felt like I hardly had time to enjoy it. I usually spend the weekends leading to to Christmas on the couch watching Christmas movies and admiring our tree but I am pretty sure that happened all of 3 times the entire month of December.  However, I stayed up way too late every night and worked a few extra hours the week before Christmas all so I could say sayonara suckers on December 22 until the New Year.  I really needed some time to recharge my batteries for 2018 and I although I am only a few days in I think it worked.

Our beautiful tree and our 2017 ornament.  We have one for every year since we got engaged and since we did mot of our traveling via our camper this year, I thought this one was perfect!

So what did our Christmas break look like?  Lots of fun, lots of time with family and friends, and waaay too much good food!

We started Christmas weekend with a birthday/Christmas party for one of our friends.  We ended up with a houseful of folks and played Dirty Santa and had a blast!  Great way to start things off!

Our crew....complete with random mutts running through the picture.

Eric checking out the Dirty Santa loot....he insisted on wearing his ugly Christmas sweatshirt I made several years ago even though we said nothing about wearing ugly Christmas attire. I added a little something extra to it this year.  The ornaments have fallen off over the years so I replaced them with beer bottle tops.

The next day was Christmas Eve.  Since Eric is a notorious last minute shopper, we braved Wally World for a few last minute gifts before heading to have Christmas with his family.  Our nephew stole the show this year, and was the most precious little elf handing out everyones gifts and opening his own of course.

 Christmas with our favorite elf!

              We all know who is in charge here....                             What are those? "pliers"

         dad and uncle are putting his toys together           What do you do with them? "squish things"

          while he doesn't have a care in the world!

SILS on Christmas Eve

We had Christmas morning at our house, complete with breakfast casserole and presents for each other that were actually given to each other on Christmas Day (an anomaly for us). Eric got me a robot to clean the house....and it does such a great job! It's perfectly polite, too.  If one of the dogs gets in it's way it will stop and go around it....and it only chased one of the dogs one time. LG was not amused. 

I did your typical Christmas Day hibernation, but Eric was itching to try out his new Go Pro so he braved the cold, windy weather so he could. You can watch their first GoPro Video HERE. I am amazed by the quality of video he was able to get with it all while he had it strapped to his head.  Stay tuned ...There are more videos to come!

Headed to Christmas Lunch at his grandma's house

Christmas in Memphis was up next.  I headed out with LG and Peanut a couple of days after Christmas (Eric had a wrestling match so he stayed behind with Hawk and Beau) to spend a few days with Mom and Dad and Matt while he was in town. But that's a post for another day.