Bed Head

Lately, as I have been getting to work at 7am, I have been taking showers at night instead of in the morning. Instead of styling my hair after my evening shower and hoping it still looks good the next day, I've been doing something else much easier.

After my hair air-dries for about 30 minutes, I stick it up. I usually do a couple of french braids. Although the last few nights I have used the bobby-pins to stick strands of hair into little curls - it only takes a few minutes. It doesn't bother me to sleep in wet or pined/braided hair and it's awesome to wake up in the morning and just unbraid/unpin my hair while i'm eating breakfast. Easiest morning routine ever! And I actually like the way my hair usually looks, too.

If you look at yesterday's picture, you will see what the pinning looked like from the front. Here is the back:

Don't worry, i don't wear my hair like this to work. When I wake up, my hair is all over the place anyway, so I always take it down.

Goggle goons

Dooney and I intercepted a little bit of sun today on the slopes.

He insists that my burn is worse than his and wanted me to post it on the good 'ol blog for votes. After he, himself, saw these two pictures together he surrendered to admit that his, in fact, is much worse than mine. Blue bird powder days are the best days - so grateful for such a beautiful day! Usually we put on sunscreen when we are expecting sun, but today it surprised us. 

Nothing New

Sorry for the lack of posting and THANK YOU for the sweet comments on my blog post last week.

Nothing much new is going on here. Work and skiing dominate our lives for the most part, which is a nice balance to attempt to maintain.

We had a wonderful friend come and visit for a few days last week, which was great.

Landon's been on Spring break and the mountain received FOUR FEET of snow in the last week, so we have been loving that. Today was one of the first days that I feel like I have been able to ski powder well. I had about 5 major spills and was extremely exhausted by 2pm, but besides that, i felt like i was floating on a cloud most of the day. It was amazing!

I went to a baby shower of a girlfriend yesterday. It was nice to spend time with women and celebrate her and her coming-soon baby girl! I've spent several hours during my evenings these last couple of weeks sewing for her shower. I was very happy with the way that things turned out. And wow, baby onesies are not easy to work with - so very tiny!

Here are a few tutorials for some of the baby things that I made:

Boppy Cover from Vanilla Joy

Burp Cloths from diapers from Sew She Sews

Pacifier Clips from Dana @ MADE

Finding the Sweet Life

I've touched a bit on my thoughts about being back to working at a "normal" job. I LOVE working at Tracy Aviary, I think that's pretty apparent. I love my job there and I am very grateful for it.

McBrayer powder boards

Although, working 8 hours 5 days a week during all the daylight the day has to offer is conflicting in me. Whenever I mention this to family members they say something like, "welcome to the real world", or something along those lines. And I just pity them all in thinking that every life is lived a certain way when it is lived in a "responsible" "adult" fashion. Working a job that sucks the daylight out of 5 of 7 days is my choice - and it is also theirs.

So I don't complain about having to work 5 days of the week, I'm just evaluating this lifestyle and deciding if it is for me. Although my work, I believe, is valuable to society and is valuable to me, it is not as valuable to me as other things in my life. And so I have a difficult time justifying sacrificing time with the things that are of the highest priority for that which is also valuable, but lesser so. But the irony is that those things might be difficult to maintain without the support of a "regular" job. Like, I would love to ski every day, but I can't support a ski habit without an income (and some health insurance just to be safe!). I'm not considering leaving my job (does it sound that way?) because I LOVE it and I NEED it. I'm just trying to figure out how to make it work...

This week, I put in 40 hours in only 4 days instead of 5. It wasn't the best week to start because of day-light-savings and some evening work-related activities. Just as it took my body a little bit of time to get used to working 5 days 9-5, it will take a little bit of time to adjust to this schedule. I am just SO GRATEFUL that I have the opportunity to choose this kind of schedule. My boss and my employer are wonderful. 

So one extra ENTIRE day to spend with my student-husband, puppy dog, and Rocky Mountains. Mmmm, the sweet things in life...

Tuesday morning we woke to this luxury of white.

Today it's in the 50's and gloriously hinting at spring. Yet, Doons and I are hoping for some more snow around here. We still have two months of skiing (we're hoping!)

And on that morning, I discovered these:

The dirt is frozen solid and rock hard.

I am amazed at the grace and resilience 

that God gives living things. 

I am grateful that I am among them.

From the archives

These are pictures that I have saved on my computer. They have all been on here for many many years. Whenever I do a clean of the computer (which isn't too often, but has been done recently), I can never seem to delete these. 

Do you ever browse the internet and come a cross and image that moves you in a way that you just have to save it so you can hold on and view it again and again? That's what happened at one time or another with each of these:

Pretty sure this one's from SouleMama

Maasai Shepherd boy

Home

This is a church on the way to Estes Park. Every time I drive by it moves me. So glad to have a picture to enjoy it even though I no longer have the opportunity to make the drive.

Maasai footwear

Wisdom

Joy

Peace

Patience

Love

My new birdy friends

Tracy Aviary is beautiful in the winter. Without the crowds and the Utah desert heat, the birds spend their entire days exposed outside, instead of hiding or resting in their shaded enclosures. It's a great time to get to see the birds close. 

A few months ago, I had the opportunity to "shadow" the bird keeper that watches the raptors. They are my favorite, although I'm not sure if it is because I feel like I know them better after the shadow or if I have always liked raptors best. They're such powerful creatures.

This bald eagle used to hiss at me every time I would walk by. 

Now I think we're friends.

We have 3 Golden Eagles at the Aviary. 

They are so beautiful.

All of the Eagles at Tracy Aviary used to be wild eagles until they were severely injured in the wild and deemed no longer able to survive on their own. So now they live the rest of their lives fat and happy with us. We're pretty lucky to have them!

This big boy is my favorite. Andy is so cute and smart and huge (wingspan of 10 FEET!). We just celebrated his 52nd birthday about a month ago. Andean Condors are not only endangered species, but they are also mountain birds. Just love this guy. 

Skiing with Doons and Dad

We've had a lot of guests at the house lately. I guess that's my excuse for not blogging these days. That, and the fact that I don't take many pictures any more, and my life seems pretty boring and un-blog-worthy.

Last week, I skied 5 days. I guess that's exciting. It was beautiful. Every day the snow was entirely different than the day before, and so was the company. From blue-bird-low-powder days to days of total snow-dumpage-into-deep-powder days, to cruisin-on-the-groomers-though-the-crud afternoons. Wow, we had a little bit of everything. And I loved each day.

Our family motto:
  "Any day on the mountain is a good day"


Landon has always said this and I entirely agree. There's not much that we love more than days in the mountains. The mountains always put my life into perspective for me. Every selfish petty issue that may blind me in my daily life completely disappears among the clear mountain air and dense evergreens. I love to be amongst the wild wilderness where there is no layer of religion or materialism or duty - just pure beauty, raw and revealing. mmmm. just love it.

Right now the clouds have enveloped my neighborhood and the snow is being heaved onto my house and front lawn in heaps. I love it.

Working this winter is a huge bummer for me. I wish i could pick and choose the days I want to ski instead of sitting at a computer in our little office trailer all week waiting for the weekend. Oh well... it just makes those days in the snow that much sweeter, i guess!