After 6 years of living in Utah, Dallin finally bought himself the Sundance ski pass.  He kept insisting that I join him one day so I could learn how to snowboard, and I'll be honest--I was terrified and always said "maybe another time."  My primary excuse was that I didn't want to leave Beckham all day, which was a valid concern for me. So Dallin called up his mom, someone we both trust very much, to fly in town from AZ and babysit Beckham while we went snowboarding. We all went to the store together to find me cute snowboarding getup.

Dallin's dad and stepmom happened to be in town the same weekend and decided to join us at Sundance.  Dallin thought that, because I picked up long boarding pretty easily as an adult, I would be able to pick up snowboarding just as easily (neither of us love skiing, but Dallin LOVES snowboarding).  I went down the bunny hill three times before we decided it was time to try a real run.  After one or two times down the green run, I was apprehensive to keep going.  But then we went down a blue run, the "Maverick," and I was shocked when it was actually pretty fun! We the Maverick a few times and my husband and in-laws kept complimenting me for doing so well for a first timer. I was very proud of myself for not falling down the whole run. At this point I was pretty hungry, but instead of going down to the main lodge for food, we took multiple lifts up to the restaurant at the very top of the mountain. By the time we arrived, I hurt all over from biffing it multiple times and was really exhausted from all the runs we had to take to get there.  Although the food restored my energy, being at the top of the mountain had me REALLY freaked out.  It took a lot for me just to start back down the mountain again, and to not throw up from everything I just ate.  I was quickly realizing that the reason I liked the Maverick run versus the first green runs or the blues we were doing now was because the Maverick was super wide, with no risk of me accidentally falling off a cliff.  Now I was facing both blue and green runs that were very narrow with steep drop-offs.  I'll admit I was a complete wreck.  When we got to a wide area on the middle of the mountain I finally had to stop and cry it out.  I had forgotten that I'm actually really scared of heights when I'm not hiking, and I had flashbacks to being a teenage cheerleader at the top of a stunt and feeling so scared and unsafe. I'll just say I was beyond relieved to finally make it to the bottom of the mountain and get back in the car after so many hours trying this new sport. 

I had been so embarrassed a lot of the day for falling so much and later getting so scared and emotional. But I'm grateful for my in-laws for being so supportive.  Dallin was a great coach and would even hold my arms and guide me while he snowboarded backwards down the mountain!