Mammoth

Finally! I'm back with something to blog! January was an uneventful month for us. This week, the Bushlings invited us to Mammoth for a couple days to go snowboarding. It was a blast! We left Tuesday night and didn't get up there till around 11pm. The kids were wired and didn't go to bed until after midnight. Then they got up before 7 the next morning. Needless to say, we were all tired that day. But we still managed to have a lot of fun.

After we got over our scare with Tanessa. She got up that morning and said she didn't feel very good. She was feeling dizzy. Me, being the kind, compassionate mom that I am told her she was fine. One of my most common phrases when my kids are whining is, "suck it up!". Imagine my shock and horror, not to mention my guilt, when I was braiding her hair and she got this glazed over look on her face and wouldn't answer me. I laid her on the couch and she was this pale, ashy color. I called for Dave and him and Marcie came running over. He checked her pulse which was fine and after she had lay down for a few minutes her color came back. When she was little, she did this a few times and would actually pass out. After worthless ER doctors and pediatricians, we finally found a ped that took action. He referred us to a neurologist (who found nothing) and a cardiologist (who discovered she had some congenital heart defect). She was 6 at the time. We went to another specialist who put wires in her heart to check the electrical pulses in her heart and he didn't think that was what was causing her to faint. Long story short, we never did find out the cause of her fainting episodes and she hasn't had one since. Until this week. Back to the fun part of my story.

When she was feeling better, we headed up to the mountain. All the boys got full mountain passes and all the girls got beginner passes. Turned out to be a good thing since Tayah had hurt her tailbone riding her motorcycle and Tanessa started to feel dizzy again on our second run. We went in for lunch and Dave took her to to the first aid and had them take her blood pressure. It was a little low but ok. They said it could be altitude sickness, have her drink lots of water, and gave us directions to the hospital. After lunch and a few bottles of water, she felt fine. The boys went back to boarding and the girls rode the gondola up to the top of the mountain. Tanessa got back on the lift and was fine the rest of our trip. Tayah didn't want to go again cause she didn't want to fall on her bum again.

Ali and Tayah

Tanessa

Wednesday was a gorgeous day. Warm and sunny. At the end of the day, we all rode the gondolas back up to the top to take pictures. All the kids

The whole gang
Bushlings and Hansens

Our family


That night we went out to dinner. Marcie and I went to the store and let the husbands give kids baths and get them ready for bed. The kids had ice cream and popcorn, played for a while, then went to bed.

The next morning we headed up to a different part of the mountain. This time it was cold, windy, and snowing. After lunch, the boys went on a long run to another part of the mountain and us girls rode the gondola to town where there were little shops. It was too cold to walk around for long so we went back up to the hill, grabbed our boards and drove to where the guys were headed. We took the scenic route but we made it eventually. We went snowboarding some more. Buy then the snow was powdery, which was new to all of us. It was fun. A little sticky (we got stuck a few times) but still fun. At least it didn't hurt when you fell!

The girls on the gondola

It was time to go home way to soon. Wouldn't you know it, two days of snowboarding and I didn't get hurt. Then walking out to the parking lot, I did the whole cartoon character slipping on the banana peel thing, only I slipped on ice. Landed right on my back and my head. A big knot on my head and my back and neck are still sore! What a dork!

I love Mammoth, though. It was a great experience. We had so much fun with the Bushlings, I seriously don't know how my family is going to survive when they move away. Thanks for inviting us, guys, we had an awesome time!