Ski Day!

Nick convinced me that we needed to take a day to ourselves, ditch out on work and go skiing.  It was such a great idea.  We had good snow, no lines and no rain.  A great April tradition! !

A masterpiece

Deven has refused to use another piece of paper for a good month or so but finally last week he felt his masterpiece was finished.  I've been trying to figure out what to do with it because it doesn't really fit on the fridge!  So I decided that taking a picture of it and having it as a post would work just as well.  Here is the artist and a full display of his work.

Peek-a-boo!

Deven has been really in to peek-a-boo lately.  The sun (yes the sun) was in his eyes so on went his hat and a new game ensued!

Change of plans

We set out for one destination and ended up in another...it was pouring in Seattle but we got to do some window shopping, drink a excellent cappuccino and walk around with Deven while pushing the stroller. Note to self, Deven is not a fan of the stroller any more. He was also a little apprehensive about the Pike Place Pig. Here are my guys!

21 Months

Deven is asserting his Independence this month. It's a little difficult though because he isn't really sure what he wants and he is generally incapable of being...well...independant. The conflict has created some serious tantrums this month. Trying not to laugh out loud, Nick and I have held as firm as possible and we try to let him work it out on his own. Eventually he picks the boots or the tennis shoes and all is right with the world again. With this new attempt at Independence though has come some really fun conversations with our little guy. Truck and bus are still his favorite but he has added words/phrases like: momma jacket off, daddo sit table [for dinner], no Sammy out, good-night kiss, moose, Deven's turn, movie, Dora, Elmo, Thomas Train! Our favorite is still LUUUUUVVVEE YYYOOOOOOOUUUUU!!! We are swimming on Tuesdays, going to the Library on Thursdays and every once and a while (more than once in a while) we have a treat at Starbucks! Deven is getting taller and heavier every day. Books, flash cards, trucks, trains, music and hockey seems to be his favorite things. Here are some pictures we were able to catch this month.

Nick's 30th Birthday

Like last year Nick spent his birthday on the mountain skiing all day and night. This year the only difference was that this was his 30th birthday and we decided to make anyone crazy enough to join us come celebrate. I was just talking to friends and it seems to be a theme two years running that I become deathly ill at Nick's birthday parties. Last year - without any alcoholic assistance - I got the stomach flu and well...you can imagine. This year thankfully it was just the normal flu; nothing Day Quill didn't sufficiently mask. Let me say attempting to ski for a 24 hour period is both the stupidest and most fun thing I have ever done. We had a pretty good turn out given the mid-busy season timing and the birthday evite titled "Ski Marathon." Nick thankfully decided to take this year's competition less seriously so there were many breaks. In fact we spent most of the day on the back side of the mountain. It turned out to just be me and the guys during the day - I got to drink out of a flask on the chair lift and they even pretended that I was keeping up with them! Seriously good times. Here are the men! (Nick, John, Ryan and Pete)
The weather was a little foggy in the morning but it basically burned off by mid-day; perfect weather for my first time up in three seasons. I don't have too many pictures but in summary there was skiing, hamburgers, chili, skiing, bar lounging, hot tottie & beer drinking and some more skiing. That was just during day light!!

After the sun went down more friends joined us and the night skiing ensued. Codie's famous cup cakes filled our belly's but it turns out when you are exhausted with another 12 hours of skiing left, drinking the case of beer you brought up in a back pack just doesn't sound appealing. No worries though we rallied. My last runs were around 11pm and before I collapsed on (and later) under a picnic table in the lodge for about five hours. Here are the boys an hour or so before I passed out. You should have seen them at breakfast.



I am told that Ryan and Nick came back for an hour or two sleep but I was certainly not conscious. I woke up around 5am when the boys came in and after breakfast we all went out for a run at sun rise. AMAZING!


Think about it, what other time can you ski at sunrise? This made the whole crazy 24 hours worth it!! Nick said he had a blast so I believe we can call this birthday a success. We were home by 11am but no worries, Deven was well taken care of. In a couple of years (maybe not for a Ski Marathon) Deven will be up there with us...here is proof!!