Thou almost makest me waver in my faith...

How is it possible for such a tiny bit of metal to hold full-sized people? Parker took us over to the Blackfoot lift today. Paul said it's about 50 years old. He may have been exaggerating slightly. But it did not inspire greater confidence in the welds that hold the thing together.



Well, at least now I've tried all of the lifts at Targhee. Just don't ask me to ride that particular one again. Not only was the lift a little dicey, but the run Parker chose was NOT GROOMED. Call me high maintenance, but I like my runs to be manicured. As you can see from the photos, we had beautiful, blue skies today. No serious falls or broken bones to report...all in all a great day on the slopes!

History repeats itself...

What is it about seven year old boys that compells them to try walking home from school instead of riding the bus? When Parker was seven, he and a friend agreed to walk home from school together. The only problem was that Parker's friend lived about a block and a half from school, whereas we live about 2 1/2 miles from school. Parker made it home alright, he was just very late and very cold. When he didn't show up on time, I called the school and was told that yes, the bus was running late. Parker walked in the door a few minutes later, so I didn't think anything of it. He then told me he had walked home! Needless to say, I called the school and had a chat with them.

Fast forward nine years...Jacob came home yesterday and told me that he, too, had decided to walk home with his friend. He lives about a mile from the school. The bus driver saw Jacob walking down 5th West and gave him a ride the last half mile to our home. Later that evening, she called to make sure I knew about what had happened. I guess there needs to be a standard "no walking home from school" speech given every year.

Paul to the Rescue

The boys didn't have school yesterday because of District teacher inservice, so we decided to go skiing. Tyler and Brandi came with us. Paul brought his snowboard and skis so he and Tyler could trade halfway through the day.



Just after lunch, Paul and I were coming down a run when we came upon a girl in obvious distress. She was about 12 years old. She was standing in the snow next to her snowboard, with her gloves on the ground, crying. Paul asked if he could help her. Between sobs, she told him that she had gotten into deep powder and gotten stuck. The group she had been with kept on going, not realizing she wasn't following. She had taken her gloves off to get her board off, but her fingers were so cold and stiff that she couldn't get them back on. She didn't know where her group was, or her parents, for that matter. She was pretty upset. Paul tried to get her gloves back on for her, but they were soaking wet. Paul took his gloves off and put them on her. He asked her if she could make it to the bottom of the hill, but she was too cold and didn't think she could. So he picked her up and skied down, carrying her in his arms. I grabbed her snowboard, his poles and mine, and followed them to the bottom. When we got there, the lift operator came over, thinking that she was injured. Paul explained to him what had happened. The guy took her into the lift shack to warm up while they found her group. Who says chivalry is dead?

Keep it Coming!

Winter is still hanging around, but we aren't complaining. This morning Paul and I went to a wedding, then raced home, changed our clothes, grabbed the boys and our gear and headed for the hills. Parker hitched a ride with friends earlier in the day. We got a good couple of hours in before Targhee closed. They got 14" of snow in the last 24 hours and almost 500" this year. We got about 4 inches here at home from this last storm. The snow was fablulous! Paul took his snowboard this time and loved it. It was his first time back on a board since last year. He's feeling pretty good. He starts round 3 of the oral chemo a week from Monday. His next PET scan will be at the end of April.

The boys are doing well in school. Parker says he's starting to think in Spanish, so I guess the immersion class is working. They are only allowed to speak in Spanish and the teacher uses no English. Hayden has found a new series of books that he enjoys reading. Jacob has been busy practicing for a play and learning to dance for the 2nd Grade Fairy Tale Ball. The kids get to choose any fairy tale character and come dressed like them. Jacob has decided to go as a troll. Is a Yoda costume close enough? I get to be in charge of decorating the gym, again. I did it when Cameron was in 2nd grade, too.
I recently started working part time as an office manager for a friend of ours who owns his own company. The best part of the job is that I can do it from home and pretty much set my own hours. I'm learning alot and enjoying the challenge. School is great. I have about 4 weeks left of the semester. I've been working on a major project for my Shakespeare class. We get to choose one of the plays and develop a film adaptation proposal, complete with budget, cast, advertising and merchandising ideas, etc...It's been alot of fun. I've made a trailer for my "movie". Maybe I'll post it later on. After Cameron watched me putting a movie together for my project, he's decided he wants to make one of his own. He has been busy getting footage ready to edit and add music to. We'll let you know when the world premier will be held.

College is easier when you actually work at it!

Well, midterms are over, and I am pleased to announce that I aced both my tests! I got the top score in both classes. It's amazing what can happen when you're going to school to learn, rather than socialize! Just after I got my midterm grades, I got an e-mail from the Registrar's Office stating that I was in academic peril. It seems that my past poor performance had come back to haunt me. Fortunately, there is this lovely program called Academic Renewal. In a nutshell, it makes it possible for you to petition to have the University ignore a semester's grades where your GPA fell below 2.0. They're still on your transcript, but it doesn't affect your cumulative GPA. I had to write a paragraph explaining why I was making the request. It was approved and now everything is okay. I thought it was funny that at the bottom of the e-mail it said that a letter would be sent to my parents. Be watching the mail for that one, Mom and Dad. I promise, I'll do better this semester!

We got more good news today. The company that makes the chemo drugs that Paul is taking has a Commitment to Care program where they provide you with the medicine for free. We went through the application process, but were denied. They said we hadn't paid enough out-of-pocket yet, but should fax them our receipts after another month. I did that today, then followed up with a phone call to make sure they had gotten the fax. They said a case worker would contact us if there was anything else they needed. About an hour later, a woman from the company called to say we had been accepted into the program for 2 years! That will save us over $19,000, our portion of the cost. We are so happy and grateful that we won't have to worry about how to pay for Paul's medicine.