Mallory and Emily

Here is a photo shoot I did with Emily and her dear friend Mallory.

Being dramatic

I took these on a unusually warm day in February so we took a break and just laid in the warm sunshine.

Colorado-The mountain

Me attempting to snowboard

Carter taking time to pray before heading down. :)

Carter (I never got as good as he did here with my toe side edge.)

Dad, Charlotte, and I at the base

The gorgeous view

Emily riding up in the gondola

One of the prettiest things was when the sun was shining yet it was snowing, its makes the snowflakes sparkle. We don't usually get snow let alone snow while it is sunny so I found it very interesting, 

All of us except mom on the day it was -9. I think we all look splendid in goggles and face masks. :)When you start going fast it's so cold it takes your breath away.

Riding the ski lift. 

In case you ever go to Breckenridge, don't ride the "5" chair lift. It's evil, I fell down every single time I tried to get off of it, so I stayed away from that one. I always seemed to have trouble getting off of chair lifts. Once I fell down and they didn't stop it so I had to lay in the snow until they stopped it so it wouldn't knock me down. :) But by the end of our trip I considered my greatest accomplishment of the trip to be getting off the chair lift without falling more than 50% of the time. 

The top of the mountain

Rainbow

We spent one of our days in Vail; Charlotte is in the middle in pink. 

Note to beginning skiers: don't go to Vail your first couple of days because it's impossible (without walking) to get down from the top without going on a black diamond. But since Emily and I could confidently do the blue slopes we headed to the top and then went part way down and then rode a ski lift down the rest of the way.

Having lunch at the Vail lodge

Lottie

Emily and I

Our wonderful lodge mom

Dad and Lottie

Lottie ready to head up

Self portrait of Emily and I before we headed down a steep blue slope

You can't see it too well but the mountain views are incredible

The people are in the way but there is a gorgeous view behind them

Looking down on Vail

Family portrait

View from Breckenridge

Dad, Charlotte, me, and Emily

Dad on our last ski run of our trip

Colorado Pictures part 1

Here are some general pictures of our surroundings in Breckenridge, CO.

Mom and Emily waiting in the Atlanta airport

I am not used to frost on windows, especially on the inside of the window

Flying into Denver with a sunset sky.

On our way into the mountains after landing in Denver we stopped at a pizza place, Beau Jo's, for supper that some good friends of ours had recommended

Having arrived after dark, we were delighted with this view out our windows when we woke up. Simply breathtaking.

Lottie playing in the snow outside our condo.

We had a lot of fun playing together :)

My lovely in-love parents

Charlotte demonstrating the depth of the snow. Lucky Charlotte doesn't sink very far into the snow and so she could walk through it, but I sunk down above my knees... very hard to walk in.

icicles

The town of Breckenridge was lovely and still looked like it was decorated from Christmas because of all the lights.

This store was super cute and had a lot of expensive items one could make very cheaply at home. :)

On Tuesday night we bought some crepes after our day of skiing. I had strawberry and chocolate and it was delicious.

Emily thinks so too.

We all had numerous cups of tea thoughout the day but I think it looks prettiest in the morning light.

It was cold. Enough said.

Day 6

Today we went to Vail for the day. We were delighted by the warmer weather, it hit 30 in the sun! A vast improvement over 20 below yesterday. Though it seems smaller than Breckenridge, once you go up the chairlift you realize how large it truly is. Vail's trails were harder than Breckenridge's, poor Charlotte could only do the bunny slope. Emily and I headed up to some steep blues and then headed to the top. The view from up there was breathtaking. It was snowing lightly but the sun was still shining which made the valley glow. Emily and I did not have the guts or skills to go down black and double black diamonds so we just took the chair lift back down. :) Carter on the other had a wonderful time going down the black diamonds in the bowls on the backside of the mountain.

We headed home after the slopes closed and are preparing for our last day of snowboarding tomorrow. Though very sad, I think we will be ready for some warmer weather (it was 70 at home today) and for our muscles to not to be so sore, though my legs sure have gotten strong.

Day 4 and 5

It's COLD.

Yesterday, we were skiing when it was -9 degrees.  While skiing down the hill the windchill was about minus 22. It takes your breath away. Today we went dog sledding, it was -20! On this trip I wanted to experience negative temperatures and I sure got my wish.

Yesterday we skied all day. But because of the cold we had to take more breaks.  Today we took the day off and went dog sledding just outside of Breckenridge. There were 8 dogs pulling the sled and one of us drove it while the other sat in front. The other four people sat in a sled pulled by a snowmobile driven by our guide, Charlie. The dogs were really pretty and super excited to pull the sled. Whenever we stopped they would start to bark and howl because they wanted to keep going. Other than being bitterly cold the weather was beautiful, sunny, and clear. Afterwards we headed home and relaxed for the afternoon and thawed out after such a chilly outing.