Happy 2009!

Dear 2009,

2008 was one of the best years of our lives:

Scott and I met, fell in love, and got married. We traveled, took cooking classes, ran a whole bunch of marathons, and LOVE being newlyweds!


So 2009, as you can see, you have a lot to live up to. Good luck!

The new year is off to a pretty great start so far. We spent the last day of 2008 and first day of 2009 at my family's condo in Brian Head. It's been at least a decade since I have seriously considered skiing... but I married a hard core skier man, so I thought I should at least give it a try.


It was SO much fun to run into Hil and Wade on Giant Steps. Good times.

Yes, this is me showing off the full extent of my current 'pizza/french fries' level skiing abilities. As mentioned earlier, it's been 10+ years since I have strapped 2 separate pieces of wood to my feet. It wasn't pretty, but I made it down the mountain in one piece.

I LOVE Scott's sexy Christmas beard. Grrrrr!

We were on the mountain until the sun went down. We were SO tired!

This picture is for my niece Kate... remember our little 'adventure' on the double black diamond? Hmmm? We are definitely taking a map with us next time.

We LOVE Brian Head!

The Staples clan always ends up gathered in the kitchen at the end of the day.

My Dad was blessed with SIX daughters and only ONE son. So, when the whole family gets together, my Dad and brother can't be blamed for wanting to have a little "man time". Famous Larry-ism: "I have a wife and six daughters... even the dog is a girl. There is WAY too much estrogen in this room right now. My son and I need to go out and shoot something." Enter the annual "first weekend in January Larry Staples' son, grandsons, sons-in-law, and daughter's boyfriend pheasant hunt." The girls went shopping all day and our men came home with a big bag full of dead birds. Modern hunter/gatherer society is awesome!

Nephew Michael was a champ preparing the pheasant for dinner. Is there anything more appetizing than a garbage sack full of meat? Don't answer that. When eating the meal, I just told myself the meat came straight from the grocery store. (I usually ignore the fact that all meat has a few unpleasant stops before it makes it to the sterile packaging of my local mega-mart.)

The newest son-in-law did his part to prepare a feast for his woman. Actually, thanks to a recipe from Alice Winterholler, the pheasant was delicious! And, despite the safety net of having 4 dentists at the dinner table, nobody chipped a tooth on stray buckshot. Thanks Michael and Scott for doing such a great job prepping the birds!