Taos or Bust

I married into a cool family.

And by cool, I mean awesome.

They love Jesus. They love having fun. They cook good food. The list could go on...

They love family. They love doing things as a family.

Which includes owning a family business. They own a business that sells chainsaws. Well, technically not just chainsaws. But really, the chainsaw part of it... that's insanely cool.

They don't just sell chainsaws as a family though, they take cool trips together as a family.

I was invited to my first annual MLK weekend ski trip shortly after Brandon and I were engaged. And when I found out that this was a yearly tradition, I knew I scored big by marrying into this family.

You can't go wrong with an annual family ski trip.

It was the inaugural ski-weekend for me. My very first time to experience the yearly tradition (even before joining the family, no less). It was a weekend with awesome skiing, some laughter at Napoleon Dynamite, and some awkwardness by sleeping in a king-size bed with Brandon's sister and mom. Thankfully, they gave me one of the edges of the bed. :)

Minus the two years we were in The Big Chicken, we've managed to make it on the annual MLK weekend ski trip every year since.

The tradition goes like this...

A cabin is reserved. A different cabin every year (so far). Which really, adds to the excitement as you can't be absolutely positive of what's waiting behind the front door of the cabin. Could be zero water pressure. Could be a mouse. Could be a hidden movie theater. Could be sheer awesomeness.

Then they plan a menu and buy food. And really, it's only appropriate to buy enough to feed a small village. Partly because there were 23 of us there this year. And partly because that's just part of the tradition...being ready to supply food for an army. Plus, when the weekend is over and we bring the food home, there's enough to completely restock a pantry. I benefitted from that this year. (thanks guys :)

Every year that I've been around, we've gone to Taos. Though I've heard rumors of them skiing other places before. 

And Taos it was this year. Which turns out was a great decision. They had good snow this year.

(brandon, kristin, david, amber, justin, austin)

We decided to go out on a limb this year and let Eden have her first attempt at snow skiing. Brandon and I both learned when we were about her age, so we thought we might as well try this year since it'll be several years before she has the chance to try again.



Long story short:
It was free for her to try. Free ski rentals. Free lift ticket. Even though she didn't like it and didn't get the hang of it at all, I'd still have done it all over again.

Extended version:
BUT, if I was to do it all over again, I'd make sure and have her boots and skis ready for her so she wouldn't have to hang out during that whole process. I've forgotten how much of a pain it is to rent skis and boots. By the time we'd done all of that, she was already tired, hot, and hating the process of skiing. Plus, she felt completely unsure of the slippery snow underneath her skis. We couldn't even get her to stand up on her own. Though she thoroughly enjoyed skiing between our skis over and over, our backs REALLY didn't appreciate that.



She's all smiles above. But don't be fooled. There was some serious tears melting away the slopes up there. But she was cute. She gave it her best shot.
We'll give her a few years, and she'll be a regular ski bunny in no time.

Brandon and I both got to ski a full day together the next day.
It was the group consensus that day though, that we're getting old, and enjoying the "old people" style of skiing much more these days.
A few years ago (ie: pre-kids) we could ski non-stop for hours.
This year, we enjoyed a nice cup of hot chocolate almost every 2 runs. Which of course increased our bathroom breaks. But no one complained about having to stop so often. Secretly, we were all thankful that we weren't the only one that had find a bathroom.



The kids hung out with BonBon and Uncle David the next day and got to sled down the driveway.




It's a tradition that I'm going to miss getting to be a part of over the next few years.

But still, an annual tradition that makes this family even more awesome. It's so nice to be part of a family that even has traditions that will be missed.