Family, Friends, and one great Jazz Fest

Spring break; the 50th reason why I love teaching. Okay, maybe it ranks a touch higher. It is always such a needed break to help push through to the end of the year. And this year (in classic Mindy fashion) I packed in as many people and places as I could to fully embrace the 9 days off. The journey began with a road trip to Park City to spend some time with my beloved niece and nephew, (Ruby and Owen) and my sister and brother-in-law (Audrey and Chip).

Now if that is not enough love in itself; add to the mix my sister Tina and our mom! We attempted to surprise my mom with me being there, but the news had slipped out prior to my arrival and become a hilarious turn of events and acting. We did manage to surprise her with a surprise birthday party hosted at the DuRoss's with all their wonderful friends who know and love Gigi! Happy 70th mom!!!

If you can't go to Africa, bring Africa to you at the zoo!

And my favorite discovery at the zoo.....the payphone! HA!

Fun at home dressing up and prepping for Oma's party!!

And the lady of the hour arrives!!! We celebrate in Mulliken fashion with ice cream cake, champagne and cleaning!

Then off to NEW ORLEANS for jazz fest!!!! This has been on my bucket list for awhile and let me tell you I don't know if I will ever have a better experience than I had this year. First of all the novelty of this place blew me away. So much culture, history and partying all in one place that is below sea-level with cemeteries above ground. And on top of it I had the best tour guide I ever could have imagined; and a native at that - Ms. Emily Lawrence. Who also has great connections with family and Shell so we did it right - thanks pops!! John Mayer, Billy Joel, Ben Harper, Band of Horses, the Gospel tent and Jill Scott (my personal favorite) were just a few of the many performers we were so lucky to experience all in one fest!! Not to mention the food - beignets (a tool used to eat powdered sugar), alligator pie, crawfish ettoufee, and poboys is just the beginning of the feasting. I also figured out that I love the combination of the most delicious strawberry lemonade and bourbon for a hot day outside listening to great music. The fest is not where it ends - we had to make a trip to Bourbon street and check out Lafitte - the oldest bar in the U.S. Overall I had an experience that left me wanting more!

And one more of Ruby and Owne because I cannot get enough of them and I had one last visit after flying back into SLC to see the fam!!!

Weddings, Easter, and April Fools

It is not ideal that on my birthday I feel more sick than I have in years; apparently I have the flu and I don't know that I have ever had it before because I don't remember feeling this awful in a long time. But despite its inconvenient timing and the party I was supposed to host, I have found this day to be a needed one. I had a chance to connect with friends and family that I would not ordinarily had time to on a typical Saturday and a chance to sleep for 15 hours. The first highlight of the day is when my dear friend Tamara (who is in Germany and has just had twins who are 6 weeks old) called and we got to catch up for for more than 5 minutes. And of course in second place on the highlights list is the ice cream cake that was delivered by Emily from a crew of good friends. It is Mulliken tradition to have an ice cream cake for your birthday and I swear its in my veins...I crave one every year for my birthday. And third on my highlights list of this sick day is that I get to contribute to my blog, which I have neglected for a couple weeks.

Eighth grade ski day (which turned into gaper day) in celebration of completing a week of State testing...

Easter weekend brought Kyra's bridesmaids together in Golden, CO in search for her wedding dress....and YESSSSS - we found the one!!! At the same shop I had bought mine, which I swear is the best wedding dress shop; Eco Bridal in Denver if you are the market. Of course we kicked off the morning with some Bloody Mary's to celebrate the occasion.

I headed back to Steamboat Saturday night so that I could partake in a proper adult Easter brunch celebration at Jen and Ben's house. An amazing spread of french toast, quiches, cinnamon rolls, bacon, spreads and the best part..... a surprise Easter egg hunt for us!!! I had an egg in hand before they had finished the word hunt in their announcement to us. It was the best - I found 1/2 a dollar bill, a whole dollar bill, a ticket for a shot of champagne, while others received condoms, weed, and arm warmers!! Brilliant! To follow the Easter celebration we all spent the day soaking in the 65 degree weather, sunshine, and springs skiing that Easter 2013 brought us.

And finally, April fool's day - possibly one of my favorite day's of the year. I pulled my pretty standard but never growing old trick of toothpaste in Oreos on my students. I just get such a kick out of it and they fall for it every time. When it comes to sugar, they go nuts and the greediest get burned the best - it's hilarious. I also had fun placing water soaked cotton balls on Emily's rear window of her car and spelling "honk at me". If it is the right temperature the wet cotton balls will stick immediately and freeze over night and I was blessed this April Fool's with the perfect night of frost so that my trick went off without a hitch. Poor Emily for living close to me. I also got my mom of course - every year. I don't know why, but she has become my favorite target and I get her every year. I always think she is going to call my bluff, but I guess a year is enough time to forget.

GEAR TEST Reunion 2013...

A huge thank you is the first thing in order to the Backcountry Magazine crew: 60 cases of upslope beer, 5 days of skiing/gear testing at Powder Mt., 8 skis a day, two of my best friends from Steamboat,one cat run, and 2 beermingos = a really good time. Gear testing remains a highlight of the winter for me, and every year I think it can't get any better than this year, yet it does. On the drive home I thought to myself; you know it has been a good trip when you have lost your voice by the end of it, your legs are sore from skiing for 5 days straight, your brain is worked from analyzing gear, and your abs hurt from laughing night after night. The progressive party continues to progress, the friendships build every year, and the reviews seem less daunting the more you write. This trip truly defines the phrase "work hard, play hard". For those who have a foggy version of what happens at gear testing it goes as follows: Arrival day: We show up Tuesday night and immediately begin to put a dent in what seems to be an endless amount of beer; catching up with the crew and drooling over the pile of skis we get to hop on for the next few days. Typically this night tends to be a tamer one with most retiring around midnight after a days travel. DAY ONE: The first day is a little slow going as we have to unload skis into the patrol shack and reorient ourselves with the routine of gear testing forms, tickets, and binding set-ups. The anticipation has built as we stack hundreds of skis on the rack and pick out the first pair in the rotation. I usually pair up with my similar sized boot friends, Cookie and Krista, so that we can swap out skis with little to no binding adjustment and be the most effiecient and effective gear testers that ever existed. We grab our skis and take a run or two on each ski and then trade. As tempting as it is to chat and catch up on the chairlift we save it for the bus/evening events and take out our notepads and immediately analyze every aspect of the ski. Our goal is to test at least 8 skis a day with a lunch break to write some of the reviews before our minds get too cluttered at the end of the day. We typically ski bell to bell and wrap up the day with a beer and a bus ride home. This is the routine of just about every day of the gear test with some cat skiing and photo shoots intermingled. The apres ski consists of some hot tubbing, dinner cooked by Muffy (Howie's mom) and Nancy, and a lot of review writing. Once everyone has logged a few hours coming up with the best similies and descriptors that they can the evening events begin. This year day one evening event turned out to be initiation of the beermingo for all the rookies. A bigger night than expected, but nonetheless a great kick off to gear test 2013. DAY TWO: highlights included 6-8 inches of fresh, with DPS skis being tested - good combo...AND of course, a stop at the famous Shooting Star Bar (the oldest bar in UT). This place is classic - put it on your list to visit when in the state of UT. DAY THREE: highlight - the Progressive party. Every house staged a theme - 1st stop: Family house - chimeny sweeps (my new fav), 2nd stop: - Benchwarmer House - Beer-a-thon (huge hit for the competitive group we are), 3rd stop: Mancave - be out by 8'o clock (not a good theme since the party started at 8:30), 4th stop: Partyhouse (this was where I resided for the week) - beermingo and dirty girl scouts, 5th and final stop/dance party: Workhouse - Frat Party. DAY FOUR: Highlight - cat skiing after another 6-8 inches of fresh snow. We took all the kids who made it to gear testing out for their first cat skiing experience - ranging from 7-11 years old (I definitely wasn't doing anything that cool at that age - lucky). We had to split into 2 groups so we ended up doing some photo shooting with Mike and the skittle/sorbet colored crew. These were far and away the best turns of the trip!! DAY FIVE: Departure day - always a sad day. I guess the highlight is saying goodbye to all the life long friends you have gotten to connect with again and looking forward already to next year. 358 days to go!