Aubrie's First Skiing Experience... AAAHHHHH!!!! - March 12, 2011

Probably since I met Landen and we became friends he's been bugging me to go skiing.  He loves skiing and has done it for years.  The pressure came on a little more strongly once the snow hit a few months ago.  I've been dragging my feet because frankly I didn't want to die!  He would be looking online for new skis and say, "Hey look!  I found some that would fit you!"  Ummm...no thank you.  But as time went on he wore me down.  He needs to thank some of the patients in my office at work who encouraged it, especially Leah.  She is a ski instructor at the Canyons Resort in Park City.  I was doing her ultrasound one day and we got talking about skiing and she told me I had to try it and that she said she could get us some discounted passes.  Going for 1/2 the price made it a little more appealing...I'm so cheap!  So, I decided I would finally do it and Landen was sooooooo excited to say the least :) 

Well, I sure had an experience of a lifetime!  I had to go rent my ski equipment and this is how I was feeling afterward:

Saturday came and I was preparing to face the mountain!  Not gonna lie, I was nervous.  Very, very nervous.  We got there and got all our gear on and headed up.  When I got to the ticket office to request the tickets Leah left for us I was trying to pay and the girl looks at me and said, "Those are free."  WHAT?  Leah left us free day passes instead of 1/2 off passes!  Oh my goodness!  That was the nicest thing ever!  It was awesome. 

(note, these two pictures were taken at the end of the day after it started raining, but when we got there it was beautiful!!!  It was sunny and pretty warm :)  I was really grateful for the great weather!) 



This is my scared smile...



All ready to go :)  I definitely wore the yellow jacket just in case I needed to be rescued...

Finally Landen and I got on the new heated bubble lift (it was pretty amazing that it was heated!) and headed up the mountain.  And this is the point where I started freaking out!  HA!  I was so scared.  We got off the first stop of the lift...and that was our first mistake!  But we didn't know it at the time.  Oh, I almost forgot to mention that I fell the first time off.  Blah. The beginning of the run wasn't too bad and Landen was teaching me how to snowplow and control my speed that way, but I didn't know how to turn yet. Well, eventually that run merged with another one...a BIG BIG BIG one!  AAAHHHHHHHH.  We didn't know this was going to happen.  I was trying to go down but it got too steep for my skill level.  There was really no way I could ski down it.  Due to my lack of being able to turn we were stuck in the dead middle of the run, no joke. Luckily it was so big that people coming down could see you and had plenty of room to avoid us.  Eventually I just laid there and cried because I couldn't do it, I just couldn't.  I had to take my skis off to turn them around and then we headed for the side.  I just scooted across.  It was ridiculous.  Oh, while we were in the middle this snowboarding instructor came down and asked us what was going on and then she started kinda yelling at us that we were in the wrong place for beginners and she was just really rude and then just snowboarded away and didn't even offer to help!  That didn't help my emotional state at all.  Anyway.

We got over to the side, finally, and we were trying to decide what to do when some workers/ski patrol guys came and asked us if we needed any help.  They were sooooo nice!  I'm so grateful for them!  They literally saved me!  They told us they would get me out of there and to where I needed to be.  They carried my skis down while I walked down...and eventually slid down on my butt...to where it flattened out and I could get my skis back on.  We had to take a lift back up...yes, UP...I wasn't too thrilled about it at first, but it worked out.  They were so good to me and wanted to make it a good day.  Hey, I got off the lift without falling that time!!!  Progress!  That one got us almost right to the beginners run :)  Happy day!  They skied me the rest of the way down...so I pretty much got a free lesson from them!  That was pretty cool.  It felt soooo much better being where I should have been...glad we finally made it there!  They took me through the ski school part and helped me learn how to turn.  They kept telling me to let my skis get a little speed because they work better if they're moving.  Well, I finally started to get the hang of it and it was actually fun!  Yes, I said FUN.  It ended up being a positive experience thanks to my new friends :)  Oh, and thanks to Landen, he was soooo good to me!  He was so patient...love that boy :)  We got back to where they do the adult ski school and I finally got to sit down and get some water, I was exhausted at this point.  We sat for a few minutes and I wished I could have practiced a little more, but my legs were shot, so we took the gondola down to the bottom.  Landen made me promise the night before that I would go at least one more time after today and I will definitely try it again.  It was fun once I finally got the hang of it so hopefully next time I'll be able to remember how to do it :)  All in all it was a good experience!  I'm glad I finally did it!  Now nobody can bug me about it anymore. 

 I DID IT!!!

 

When we got down to the bottom we went and ate lunch, which was delicious!  The worst part was wearing those dang ski boots!!!  I was sooooo ready to get those off!  After lunch Landen went and did a few runs by himself so he could actually SKI...and I went down to the car to get out of those boots!  Man...that felt soooooo good :)  Then I went and walked around some shops until Landen was done.  By that time it had started to rain so we headed out.  It was a fun day!  Glad the first time is over though!!!  The second time must be better...it has to be....I'll let you know in a few months! 

On our way home we stopped at the Outlet Mall in Park City...and it was awesome!!!  We got some sweet deals!!!  We saved over $400!  Oh yeah, that felt good.  It's probably bad that we found those outlets...I'll have to limit my time there...ha! 

A Visit to Provo - February 19, 2011

One rainy day in Feburary Landen and I headed south for the day...we went to Springville to meet up with our friend Brandon so he could help Landen fix his computer.  It had died.  Literally.  While they talked computers I read my book.  Eventually we had to go to Best Buy to get a new hard drive for Landen's computer then we took Brandon to lunch at Zupas (another favorite!!! YUM.).  From there Des and Erin came and picked me up so we could hang out while the boys kept working on the computer.  It was soooo good to see them, it's been way too long.  We went back to Des' apartment and hung out and visited some old friends there.  It was weird being back at Alta now that I'm married...yep, really weird.  But it was a fun visit!  Especially because my friend Jeff saw me and literally jumped into my arms and wrapped himself around me so I was completely holding him!!!  What made it so much better was because it was JEFF.  He doesn't do things like that.  But anyway.  It was fun catching up with the girls!  Love them!  Des and I helped Erin get ready for her date that night...and that inspired some picture taking...

We decided this would look great on Rin!  Who wouldn't want a piece of that?!

I look deep in thought...I think I was just super tired!

Des' roommate found this mini Where's Waldo book at DI...it was awesome!  But I can tell I'm getting older, it was straining my eyes a little...

Desirae, Me and Erin back together again :)

We were talking about how funny the mannequins were posed at this one store...so Rin demonstrated for us as follows:

I have such great friends!  It was a fun rainy afternoon!  After Erin left for her date Des and I did a little shopping...aka walking around looking at things.  Then Landen was supposed to come pick me up...umm, yeah, I had the keys. OOPS.  So Des had to drive me down to Springville, but it's all good :)  Fun, fun day!

Sleepover! February 18, 2011

My "little sisters," Kailee and Brittany came over one Friday night to visit and have a sleepover!  I don't care that I'm 26, I can still have sleepovers!!!  The funny thing is that I used to babysit these girls...and now they're both in COLLEGE! What?  When did that happen???  Ah!  I'm getting old!  But anyway, we had a blast!  We got pizza and ice cream and ate and talked our little heads off...and Landen suffered through it all!!!  Okay, I don't think he suffered too bad...he seemed to enjoy himself...and he was able to give the girls advice on guys from a guy's perspective, a guy who is impartial...what girl doesn't love that?!  It was so fun to talk and laugh and stay up late...I'm so glad we were able to get together.  They make me so super happy :) 

Brittany, Me and Kailee

Love, love, love these girls!!!

Quote of the night: "I'm pretty on the inside!!!"  So we had to take a picture to go with it!

Valentine's Day ~ 2011

This was obviously Landen and my first Valentine's Day together :)  Our celebrations were spread out over the entire week and we had a great time.  We went out to Texas Roadhouse (our favorite!) for dinner one night...and it was delicious!  Landen got the movie "SALT" for his gift...glad I get to enjoy it too!  Bonus.  My gift comes with a story.  While we were in Logan we took my ring in to get it cleaned and buffed because I nicked it pretty bad.  Our friend Kris, who sold us our rings, was there and when I showed her she says, "I think I'm going to send this out so they can buff it really good and re-dip it..."  UM...EXCUSE ME?  SEND IT OUT???  I was NOT okay with that!  I didn't want to go without a ring for at least a week...no thank you.  So i got browsing around just for fun.  I asked Kris what was really cheap or on sale and she brought out this one...and I loved it!  It's all sapphires:

So this quickly became my Valentine's gift!  I wore it as a fill in for my wedding ring until I got it back and now it's my "fun" ring.  I love it!  Funny how I ended up with a piece of jewelry for our first Valentine's day together when I'm the girl who always says, "Don't buy me jewelry!"  HA!  I'm satisfied now though, I don't need anymore.  Happy Valentine's Day to the love of my life!  Love you, Landen.

Weekend Fun :)

February 11th:  This weekend was much needed!  After a looooonnngggg week at work, I sure needed some R&R.  And after the stress of Landen being laid off 2 weeks ago but miraculously starting a new job the next week and all the changes that brought along, we needed some time away.  We had been planning this weekend for a little while with Adri and Anita and it couldn't have come at a better time!  They came down to our house on Thursday night and stayed with us.  We had fun talking and catching up and eating delicious cream cheese chicken :)  On Friday we all slept in a little which was so nice.  After getting up and moving we headed out to do a little shopping.  It was great to just be out having a good time with the people we love!  After some shopping we ate lunch at Landen and my new favorite burger joint and it was just as good the second time around!  Then we headed down to Orem to go watch Jared, Adr's boyfriend, wrestle for the Air Force Academy.  It was awesome that they were wrestling at UVU!  We ended up sitting in the UVU fan section, but oh well, we still cheered our little hearts out for Air Force, especially for Jared!  It was so fun to see him in action...and he came away with a victory!!!  Go J! After the match Jared was allowed to stay and fly out the next morning instead of going with the team right after the match, so we got to go to dinner with him and his family and he came and hung out with us for a little while until we all headed back up to Logan.  It was such a fun day!  I really needed a fun, relaxing day and I'm so glad we got to spend it with Nita and Adri!



Friday night we drove up to Logan and spent the weekend with his family.  It was nice to be up here again.  After being here every weekend this past summer I sure miss it.  Landen was supposed to go skiing on Saturday but his friend got sick and couldn't go, so he decided to stay home.  We all just hung out all day. Adri babysat one of her friend's baby, Quincey, and she was so darn cute!  It was fun being around such a happy baby.  That night Landen and I went and visited his friends.  We ate and talked and played Scattergories...which I LOVE!  And I totally kicked butt!!!  It was fun to see Brad, Emily, Christa and Nate again.  We stayed out waaaayyyyy too late but it was fun to act like we're young again...oh wait, like I'M young again! 

Date Night - Hardy Style

Landen and I usually don't plan date nights...they more...just happen!  Like this past date night.  Now I know that one day we'll actually have to plan out these date nights, but while we can be spontaneous about them we'll take it!  So one Friday night I was feeling restless and needed to get out so I suggested we do one of Landen's all time favorite things...BOWLING!  Needless to say it didn't take much convincing.  So bowling we went.  Normally this may not be something I would fully document, but this occasion was special for me...let the next picture demonstrate why this is so:

Just in case you  need some help, look closely at the score...yes, you are seeing this correctly, I BEAT LANDEN SCOTT HARDY AT BOWLING!!!!!!!!!!!  Which is what makes this a day to document!  Oh, and it is the 2nd time it has happened :)  Of couse Landen says to me later, "Overall, with the scores from both games I beat you."  WHATEVER!!!  That means nothing, what's important is that I won THAT game!  Oh so happy.  We had a good time.  He took it pretty well :) 

Afterward we were hungry and there is this little rinky-dink burger joint that we drive by all the time and the sign always says something funny when you read it all at once.  For example: "Philly Cheese Steak Corndogs 99 cents"  HA!  We love it :)  So we decided to stop there for dinner...and it was delicious!!!  Best grilled cheese sandwich ever!  The fries and fry sauce were fantastic.  And the Oreo Shake...oh my goodness, to die for!  Love, love, loved it so much!  Maybe it's a bad thing we found that place because I am sure it is clogging my arteries as I'm only writing about it, but man!  Such an amazing find.  So it too must be documented as follows:

I think he's happy with his pastrami burger...

And this is AFTER we had eaten half the ice cream above the top :)  So yummy.  I love ice cream!

Successful date night?  I say yes!

I LOVE Space Bags!!!

I just have to admit my love of space bags :)  Let me just show you:

Before:

 After:

I know the pictures don't do it justice but they are so amazing!  Love it!