I'm back at school! I had a wonderful break, but I'm also very happy to be back in Denver. Daniel and I left Phoenix at 5am on December 30. Our friend (and my boss) Jeff invited us to stay for a few days at his family's brand new cabin (million-dollar plus) so we went up there before coming back to Denver. It took us almost 12 hours to drive there from Phoenix, which was actually less than we thought. We were concerned about weather and driving in the snow, but the roads were all clear.
This "cabin" is incredible. It's up on a huge mountain surrounded by snow and forest. There are five bedrooms including one "spa" bedroom that seriously looks like a spa. There's a steam room AND a sauna. A movie theatre (complete with the seats and hug screen and everything), an outdoor hot tub, and workout room with like 10 different workout machines. The lights, TV, stereo, everything is controlled by remote control. They have rhapsody on their TVs. They just moved in the week after Thanksgiving. Jeff's parents designed the whole house themselves so everything is the way they want it exactly. We felt very lucky to be invited up there.
When we got to Jeff's house, our other friend Nikki was already there. We spent the first night enjoying the outdoor hot tub surrounded by 2-3 feet of snow and a million stars. Then we watched the Phantom of the Opera in their in-house movie theater while eating popcorn from their popcorn machine. The next morning we went to a local cafe for breakfast and then Jeff took us tubing. This was mine and Daniel's first time tubing. I was excited, but also really nervous. Holding on to an inflatable tube while flying down a huge mountain sounded very scary to me! We bundled up and put on our warmest clothes, but it actually was a beautiful day. It was sunny and about 40 degrees. That may not sound beautiful, but when you're wearing long underwear, a sweatshirt, a coat, goggles, hat, gloves, scarf, etc. 40 degrees feels warm. There is a big golf course near Jeff's house and in the winter it is a perfect sledding hill. There is a series of hills that go down to a lake at the bottom. Of course the lake was frozen over. I think it's really funny because when lakes freeze and then it snows, you can't even tell it's a lake. You actually have to be really careful that you don't go out and walk on it without realizing it because you can fall through the ice. The first time I wanted to go on a tube with Daniel because I was scared. On the second big hill, we flew into the air and landed upside down! It was scary but so fun too. The snow was probably 2 feet deep, so when you fall off you land over a foot deep in snow. Then we had to walk back up the mountain which took probably 30 minutes. The altitude made it hard to breathe and it was really steep not to mention falling 2 feet with every step you take. So it was difficult to walk back up the mountain. After the first time walking back up we decided to designate a driver to pick us up at the bottom and drive us back up. We went down 4-5 times and every single time I flew off at some point. The last time I fell on my head and my hat and goggles went flying. I had a bad headache after that and I'm still a little sore in places. But It was so fun; I definitely want to do it again.
We went back to Jeff's house and took off all our wet, cold clothes. When I fell and skidded in the snow everything got really wet as you can imagine. We relaxed for a few hours and Jeff's friend Corrine joined us to go out for New Year's Eve. We went to dinner and then ice skating on Keystone's huge lake. Living in Arizona means I never really went ice skating outside, so this was very unique. They also had a big Christmas display made entirely out of chocolate and an ice sculpture of santa's sleigh that we sat on very briefly. There were fireworks at 8:00 over the lake. People who know me know that I don't always do so well with fireworks. But last time I saw them, I actually did okay so I thought I could handle this. Well I neglected to factor in the ice. Every time there was a noise, it echoed loudly off the ice. So I basically freaked out the entire time. It's so annoying, but I can't help it. And it annoys Daniel a lot too. Anyways, we drove to the other side of the mountain to see their annual torch lighting. It was very very cold. I stopped feeling my toes after 30 minutes outside. We stood at the bottom of the mountain and watched as about 50 people skiied down the mountain holding lights. It was completely dark so all you could see was lights moving down the mountain. It was so beautiful. Then there was another fireworks show which I watched while drinking hot chocolate inside Starbucks. :-)
We went back to Jeff's and soaked in the hot tub until about 11:30. We watched the ball drop in Times Square on TV and then we all went straight to bed. It was a very exhausting day, but really fun too. I love the snow and all the fun winter activities!
Classes start on Monday and I am actually excited. I'm taking Chemistry, Biology, Physics and spanish. I love science, so I think I will enjoy my classes a lot. Science classes means no group projects, no presentations, no papers to write. Just show up to class, study, and take the test. And labs are kind of fun too. Next weekend Daniel and I are going skiing with his dad and brother. They're flying here a week from today and we're going to stay up at Keystone. I hope that I can finally get toe turns down and really enjoy snowboarding. But, that means I'll miss work for a couple days. I think it's worth it though. I had so much fun in the snow this week, I can't wait until it snows in Denver and I can go play in it! Unfortunately, it's 63 degrees today (am I back in Scottsdale?) so there's not much chance of snow for a couple days.
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