Living A Dream: lots and lots going on....

It's funny how during the off season I was really good about updating my blog but once the mountain opened my posts have dramatically descreased. Alot has been going on the past couple week so I'll try to keep it brief.
The week before Christmas I decided to fly home for a couple days. Only my mom knew I was coming so it was a ton of fun surprising Jeff, Tyler and Lexi. I flew in on a Wednesday and Casey picked me up at the airport and drove me straight to Athens where we ate dinner and went out with a bunch of friends. I was thrilled that everyone I wanted to see in Athens came out for the night (except CLeve)....even Fetty who was sick showed up for a bit. I love all of you guys and I had such a great time seeing you all!! Don't worry Shannon I will put up pictures once I find my camera cord!!

After spending the night in Athens Casey drove me back to Atlanta where I spent the rest of my trip mainly hanging out with my family and doing some (ok alot) of shopping. Casey and Michelle defintely win the best friend award. Casey not only picked me up from the airport but she also drove me all the way to Athens and then drove me home to Marietta the next day. Michelle drove down from Nashville Friday afternoon just to hang out with me for the night and then drove back to Nashville early Saturday morning....not many friends are willing to drive 4 hours each way just to hang out for a couple hours but I think it was worth it. I love that we can go months and months without seeing each other and then pick right back up where we left off last time we saw each other.

My trip was way too short and it would have been perfect had I not had to fly home on Christmas Eve......As I was packing to come home I was treated to an early Christmas gift when Jackie called me to tell me that she just got engaged to the guy I set her up with and asked me to be in her wedding...congrats again!!!!! I love you both!!!

Which brings me to Christmas......Christmas started off really hard because it was my first Christmas not with family and Rachael's flight got stuck in Denver so she wasn't going to make it back to Jackson and Jenny of course was still stuck in Atlanta awaiting knee surgery. Luckily Megan was still in Jackson and was my lifesaver (of course!). Megan and Justin let me tag along for dinner on Christmas Eve and then Christmas Day we opened presents together and Justin made us breakfast before spending the day on the slopes.....we were treated to a ton of fresh powder and blue skies on the mountain which was amazing!! It was one of my most enjoyable days on the mountain thus far.....

A couple days after Christmas I signed up for a free cross country skiing lesson through the JH Nordic Center. It was alot more difficult then I had imagined it being but I had an absolute blast. There was another couple in the lesson with me and they happened to be here on vacation from Atlanta and are Georgia grads. They took the pictures below and emailed them to me when they got home. I am signed up to take a women's skate skiing clinic next saturday and afterwards I will probably purchase either a cross country or skate skiing set-up.....since I can't really ride my bike outside this will hopefully serve as a nice subsititute....