Kate’s family, along with our friends the Wonnells, came to visit this week. Rob Wonnell and I hit the slopes early on Saturday and had a great day of boarding with thin crowds (especially for a Sat during Spring Break) and a ton of snow.

After the initial “first-day-sickness” for Greg and Collette, the whole family hit the slopes on Monday while Rob and Sarah stayed home at did some snowshoeing.

Because the main house here was already rented out, we found another rental home just down the street… which was kinda nice for Kate and I, it felt more like a vacation.

Sadly, while Rob, Abby, Molly and I were out on our last day of skiing, the Wonnell’s van got a flat tire. The bummer was that when it was in the shop getting a new tire, the mechanic dropped it off the lift with the driver’s door still open, causing some slight damage to the bottom of the door. Could have been worse, but a pain none-the-less.

Oh, and when the girls and I were on the Independance chair lift on Peak 7 we saw a moose. Not something you see everyday.

Here’s some select photos from everyone on the trip… you can see the whole bunch here.

Today was an epic powder day. I ditched work for a few hours and hit the slopes for a once in a life-time session of boarding in nearly a foot and a half of fresh powder. It wasn’t the first time it’s snowed this much, but it was the first time I got to play in it right away.

Kate and I are super excited because today our friends the Wonnells are coming to visit, followed by the rest of the Miller clan tomorrow afternoon.

Lucky for them it’s still snowing buckets.

BTW – The new masthead photo is a shot from our side window… which incidentally is completely covered in snow. It’s like a cool ice cave.

My (Joel’s) parents are in the Dominican Republic now with a few couples from their church. Catch up with them at drcouples2008.wordpress.com.

This past weekend we drove down the mountain to Colorado Springs to celebrate my grandmother’s 80th birthday. Saturday was a beautiful start to March with temperatures reaching into the 70s (that’s where the shorts come in). Kate was invited to a “girls only” brunch celebration at The Cliff House, leaving me to fend for myself.

Having several hours to kill, I thought I’d do some auto maintenance, since we’re limited with options in Breck. Having left all my oil changing equipment back in Kansas, I decided to visit the ‘ol Jiffy Lube. At first I was skeptical, but they drove my truck right in and 5 guys immediately started working on it. A short 15 min later, they rang me up and I went out to grab my truck, but as they started pulling it out of the bay, I saw the oil filter shoot out and black liquid started gushing from beneath my poor 4Runner. Turns out that some yahoo put on the wrong filter… one that was a bit too big (you think he would have noticed it just slid on), so when they started up the truck, the mounting pressure just spit out the new oil filter, along with about 3 quarts of oil. Then some guy comes out and gives me a whopping $10 gift certificate (like I’m ever coming back), but eventually the manager shows up with an additional $30 voucher… good for one more “free” oil change.

Sadly we forgot our camera once again, but we had fun hanging out with mom, the aunts, uncles, and cousins who all brought their children.

And a special thanks to Brady and Andrea who once again let us crash at their place at the last minute.