Austin, Scott, and Kate learn to ski

During Christmas break, Mom and Dad took turns taking these three up to learn how to ski.  The valley was very smoggy, so it was such a breath of fresh air to get up to Alta and see perfectly blue skies.  

Dad took Kate first

Kate picked it up quickly!

Here is Austin going up the rope tow.  It was rough going at first, but he made it and continued to improve.

Austin on the slopes--look at that bluebird day!

Kate, Austin and I heading up the chair lift for the first time

Kate and Austin

Coming back down to the valley--it was foggy on top of the smog, so pretty yucky to go back into.

Scott didn't get quite as lucky on his first day...It was snowing the whole way as we drove up to the ski resort and there was a steady line of very slow moving traffic coming down the canyon that we passed.  The ski resort had some awesome powder, but it made that first day of learning a little harder (although the falls were softer).  Scott did really well on the rope tow right away and started picking up.  Sadly, Mom was really stressed out about the drive home (you could already see cars lining up) and probably could have been a little more patient.  We did end up making it up the lift for one run which was a big highlight for Scott.

We got back to the car to leave about 4:45...and sat there until 6 without moving an inch.  There was a really big hill to get up so we were really worried about making that in the van because cars were stopped the whole way up the hill.  We were also worried we wouldn't make it home at all because of how long we sat there (a baby at home that is 100% dependent on Mama's milk made it even worse)  There were many prayers said.  When we got to the hill, we sat at the bottom until there were no cars on it, and drove the whole hill in one shot, what a relief!  Then traffic was moving at literally 2 mph, so we slowly made our way down the canyon.  Scott and Kate watched 1 1/2 movies on Mom's cell phone and finally, about 8:15, we were home!  Home never felt so good!

Scott was still a good sport, but he will have to get the next perfect bluebird day!

Mom took the three older kids one day, we had a lot of fun!  Here is Mom and Scott

 Kate, Scott, and Austin in the helmet, waiting to get on the lift

 Austin coming down the mountain.  We bought him a helmet because he has already had two concussions.

Scott coming down the mountain

Kate

It was so fun going skiing with the kids this season!