Hanging out in NoCal

On Saturday, we loaded up the truck, and started the trek from Las Vegas to Sacramento to visit with more of Brett's family in NorCal. The drive was full of mountains covered with snow, some very flat land, LOTS of cows at one point, and not much else...however, it was all worth it once we got to where we were going. We were greeted with open arms at Grandma and Grandpa Bollman's home that night. Brett and I chowed down on the yummiest egg salad, and after chatting for a bit, decided that we were beat, and turned in for a good night's sleep.

I really enjoyed Chuck Neighbors' presentation, Not the Way I Heard It, at church on Sunday morning. We spent some time chatting with family before heading over to Brad's for a fun afternoon with more family.

That night we played some cribbage with Brett's Grandpa. He and I played a set of 3....I won the first game, he won the 2nd....and then I lost the 3rd game by ONE point! It was an intense game though....during one round, we each scored over 20 points with our hands. Crazy! I will definitely have to get myself a game board....I really like it! Brett took a turn against Grandpa, and also suffered a defeat.

Monday morning came real early, as we were packed up and ready to meet Marisa and Eric at 7am in Roseville. Brett and I made a stop at Sports Authority on our way home the night before to get me all prepped for our day of snowboarding at Alpine Meadows in Lake Tahoe. This was only my second time to attempt this sport. The last time I'd done it, was a day lesson at Copper Mountain last year with Lora in CO. I had enjoyed it, so I decided that I wanted to try it again.

Everyone entertained me and joined me on the bunny slope for my first run, and after about 10 minutes, I begged Marisa and Eric to go along their way, and we'd meet up with them at lunch. Brett was so awesome. He was very encouraging, patient, and a great teacher. I was not picking it up as easily as I would have liked, but I was determined to power through. I gave myself a little bloody nose on one of my face plants, and knew that I'd bruised my tailbone a few times from those spills too. In the first few hours on the slope, there were more falls than positive accomplishments.

We all met up for lunch, and felt a refreshed after some hot food in our bodies. I told Brett to head up with Eric so he'd have a little bit of fun, and Marisa kindly offered to take me back to the bunny slope. After a few more falls, another pretty hard one on my cheekbone, she thought it would be a good idea to head up towards the top to meet up with the boys. While I was a little nervous to try an actual trail, I was definitely through with the awful bunny slope.

I made it off the grown up chair lift, and while the slopes were a LOT more steep, I was having a lot more fun up there. The snow was full, fluffy, and I managed to figure out how to "feather" down the mountain, so I was upright for most of the time instead of on my bottom. When we met up with the boys, I had the biggest smile on my face.

Unfortunately, the smiles didn't last long, as we trailed over to another lift to get to the top. This part, the part that was definitely made for skiers, was so flat, and it was starting to take a toll on my sore and tired body. To make the longest part of the day, short, we got to the top for the beautiful view of Lake Tahoe, and then slowly, very slowly, with a little bit of frustration, exhaustion, pain, and much more, finally made it back to the bottom of the mountain.


So, I made it through Day Two of boarding. Phew. It was so wonderful to get the chance to meet Marisa and Eric, and spend some fun time with them.