It's Finally Here!

No, not the baby, silly. Even better! The ski season!

So it was off to Alta with Todd to enjoy some early season goodness. Ah, winter!

We hiked up to Germania pass under a bluebird sky. Some beautiful tracks had already been laid, but there was plenty of untouched feathery snow still waiting for us in the trees.

At the top, we snapped a few shots and then prepared to plunder some fine Wasatch powder. Here I am, ready to go. Yes, those are ladies sunglasses. No, I don't have a good reason for wearing ladies sunglasses. What are you going to do about it, wiseguy?

Enough with the fashion critique, this is it! The very first run of the season! A moment that is anxiously awaited all year by every self-respecting ski addict! Three feet of new snow, 2,000 vertical feet of frozen delight, and it's mine, all mine! Here we go, the inaugural turn of the season... feel that, the snow's so soft and wonderful... almost through the very first turn of the season...

Hey! What the...?!?! Nooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!

And so, not even through one full turn, this happens:

Yep, broken binding. And correspondingly, broken heart. So sad.

I tried skiing on just one leg, and while it was suprisingly doable for a while (10 feet), it became apparent that something else would have to be done. Fortunately, Todd was a Boy Scout, and so he knows to always be prepared. In this case, he had some handy cord, which I used to tie my boot to my ski.

Yeah, I know what you're thinking: "That doesn't look very sturdy." And you're right - it wasn't. If I put any sort of torque on the ski at all, it came right off. But, if I kept a bunch of weight on my right foot, and leaned way back to keep my toe in the bail, I could link turns.

Back in business! Time to go ski some trees!

Total binding failure! Head plant!

So, I would turn a little, fall a lot, and slowly made my way down. Todd ripped it up next to me.

When we finally got down to the bottom, this is what my binding looked like. What a cluster.

Still, it was great. The first day of the season is always magical, and this one had sunny skies and soft snow, even if it also had mechanical failures. Here's to a long, snowy winter!

Three Things...

1. Our dog Gus has also created a blog! Check out his first entry by clicking on his picture in the top right hand corner above.

2. If anyone likes Mary Kay products and needs something new or wants to start some early Christmas shopping, I'm placing an order on November 15th (assuming I get enough people interested). I'm offering 35% off all items, so you can't get a better deal than that!! If you want to order go to http://www.marykay.com/ to view the products. You'll see the full prices listed there, so take the 35% off of those to get your total (I will also add tax and $3.00 for shipping). Send me the exact product description, and I'll place your order! You can email orders to me at katyblommer@hotmail.com.

3.

Pregnant Pics Procrastinator

Okay, okay, I know I told everyone I would start a blog when I got pregnant, and technically, I never said when during the pregnancy I would start it. Well, it turns out I'm fast approaching my 8th month (CRAZY), so I decided I better get on top of things because I know I'm not going to want to do all this formatting crap when I'm trying to handle a newborn.

So far the pregnancy has been GREAT!! Aside from the weight gain and the teenage acne I've been loving every minute of it.

We're having a boy, and he's due January 4th. We don't have a name picked out yet, so any suggestions anyone has would be helpful.

Mike took some pictures of my large, pregnant self last week, and because everyone keeps asking for pics I've decided (after much contemplation over whether or not I want everyone to see how much weight I've gained) to post them here. He is an amazing photographer, so of course, the pictures are great. He did, however, make me stand in a giant, creature-infested wheat field to get the shot. I didn't like it one bit, but of course he was right, and the pics turned out great!