Hitting the Slopes Again - Literally

Okay, so I know it's been awhile since my first, and last, blog. Alot has happened since then. We flew to SC for Thanksgiving (had an awesome time seeing everyone!) and then after returning to Arizona, we finished out our assignment two weeks later. It was really hard leaving Flagstaff since it had been our home for seven months but we knew if we stayed we would never want to leave and there are more adventures out there calling our names. Now we are in Englewood, Colorado - a southern portion of Denver. We haven't started work yet and I have to admit I'm REALLY nervous about it. This is the first assignment where we have to take a test on our first orientation day and IF you pass, THEN you can work in this state. Alot is riding on this exam and I've had butterflies ever since we arrived here! During this week of waiting, though, Randy and I decided to take our minds off of the coming work worries and spend a day on the slopes. We headed out to Keystone Ski Resort, me praying all the way that I would at least remember how to get my skis on, let alone remembering how to get down the mountain safely once my skis were attached to my feet. When we arrived it was a blazing 2 degrees, but beautiful with the sun shining on the snow covered trees and buildings. We made our way to the ski lift and up the mountain with no problems. The sights going up the side of the mountain in the gondola were breathtaking - but that could have also been my breathlessness from being nervous - who knows. Anyway, Randy graciously went down a green slope with me for the first run of the day. (For those of you who don't know - "green" slopes are easy, "blue" slopes are more difficult, and "black" slopes are the "are you stupid?" slopes - or in my case many times when we skied before, they were the "Randy I can't believe you talked me into this" slopes.) I did better than I feared I would, but still spent most of the day getting used to the whole feeling of flying down the mountain on thin waxed boards, which are securely fastened to my boots - rapidly diminishing my chances of escaping without injury. I did fall once, my left ski deciding it wanted to stop and my right ski continuing bravely down the slope leaving me in a very awkward split position for a moment before I landed squarely on my stomach and slid to a stop. Randy, of course, laughed at me. Despite my almost constant fear of bodily harm, I really did have fun. The last slope we tackled was a blue and I was actually getting the hang of it again. It became cloudy during the afternoon and started snowing while we were skiing, which was really beautiful, but extremely cold! So, we headed home for the day - exhausted but happy, and for me, thrilled to still be in one piece.