Welcome to the Howe Hotel!

For the past two and half weeks we've had family visiting! Unfortunately our two bedroom apartment is really more of a 1.5 bedroom apartment because the second bedroom is so tiny, so sleeping 5 people can be kind of difficult. We did, however, have a lot of fun together!

My sister Natalie was on an aerobed in the den, and my parents were on an aerobed in our front room. It was a bit of a tight squeeze, and these pictures were taken before the people and all their luggage arrived! Now that everyone has gone home, our place feels HUGE.

In addition to my sister's new baby and Dave's graduation, my family was in town for:

My Sister's Endowment at the Mt. Timpanogos Temple

It has been wonderful as the oldest sibling to be there as my sisters and brother have gone through the temple. Side note - it was so sunny that I could not keep my eyes open for a picture no matter what trick I tried. Even the 1-2-3 open your eyes right before the picture takes didn't work. I guess I need to get our more so a sunny day doesn't blind me!

My Cousin Allison's Wedding

Unfortunately we not able to attend the actual wedding because I had work and Dave had finals, but we did go to the reception that evening. It was fun to see the Lambert side of the family, and my cousin was a beautiful bride!

There was a player piano at the reception that was fascinating to my niece Anne. She loved watching the keys, and then suddenly decided that she wanted to make some music of her own. Luckily we were nearby and able to cut her concert short before too many people noticed.

Skiing at Snowbird

One great part of having my dad in town is that he takes me skiing! I have been skiing with my dad since I was little (he taught me everything I know!) and so it's always fun to have a ski day with him. We went to Snowbird on Saturday and enjoyed some warm hot weather. This was true spring skiing! The snow was nice and soft and by the end of the day I had taken off my coat, fleece, hat, ski gloves, and ski pants.

Skiing in shorts - the only time I've ever had to put sunscreen on my knees!

Two Degrees Down, One to Go!!

Dave graduated from the BYU MBA program on Friday!! My parents, his parents, and his sister Elizabeth all joined me at the Marriott Center for the big event (and big it was - there were almost 1,000 graduate and undergraduate students walking).

We are both so glad he decided to go back to school and can't believe how fast the last two years went by. It was a great experience! According to Dave, however, finishing the MBA program for him was kind of like graduating from middle school. He has completed one more step in his education, but still has the final big step to complete - the PhD. University of Utah, here we come!!

The graduate student robes have strange sleeves, kind of like a dementor, don't you think?

The academic hood that looked a lot like a tail before we figured out how to put it on correctly

He's done - I am so happy and so proud!!

Awesome Day!

Today was an awesome day! Snowbird got over 20 inches during the last few days - what a treat! This was probably the best day we had so far. We were even lucky enough to get a few hours of sunshine before the clouds rolled in and it started snowing.

Amazing views from the top of Hidden Peak (11,000 ft)

Dave thinking "Why did it have to start snowing?"

The best snow we found was in Mineral Basin - we did 8 runs on the backside before taking a break for lunch. This video was taken on our 3rd run so the hill was a little skied out at this point, but our first couple runs here were on untracked powder - so fun!

Some Reasons to Celebrate!

Today we've had some exciting things to celebrate! (Next week looks to be pretty eventful too, so stay tuned...)

We got our taxes done with only 3 days to spare! Procrastination? Yes, but last year we wrapped everything up right on the 15th, so this year was actually an improvement. Woo hoo!

A not-so-subtle hint the Easter Bunny left for Dave on Sunday

More big news - today Dave gave his acceptance to the University of Utah, David Eccles School of Business PhD Program! Who ever thought we'd be going over to the dark side?? Just kidding :) Although we are BYU fans at heart, we are excited about this opportunity and are really looking forward to the next 5 years!

And last, but not least, my sister Amy had her baby! Richard "William" Hindman arrived early this morning and is a handsome guy. We are excited Amy and her family will be in Utah with us for another year - we hope to spend a lot of time with little Will!

Spring Ski Day

On Saturday we went skiing and it was a beautiful day - 45 degrees and not a cloud in the sky!

Pretty much perfect if you ask me :)

There hasn't been a lot of snow lately, so the bumps were icy, but we had fun cruising on the groomers. Woo-hoo!