Spring has come, and we have all found ourselves repeating this week, “I can’t believe just a couple days ago we were on the mountain in the snow.”

It was with great sadness that we all completed our last run, shredding to a breaking stop at the bottom of Pacific Highway at Brighton. No more lifts. No more strapping in. No more goggles and gloves or 40 (Edit by Gabe: Or 50 mph :D) mph board speeds and snowy mountain-top views.

What a run of a winter season we had, though. Something hopefully we will never forget.

Before we blast forward into a spring hiking season with red rock canyons and flowing streams, I wanted to pause to take a moment and remember all that made this winter snowboarding seasons so special.

Gabe and I made this slideshow to help us relive all our times on the slopes.

To an outsider, it might look like just a bunch of “astronauts” wearing the same clothes with the same white scenery in the background. But to us, each resort, each day, and each run was unique to itself. We have opinions and perspectives on the differences between A. Basin  in Colorado and Canyons in Park Cities, Utah. We can tell you where to go for great blues or double black runs. And we can tell you which lodges to eat at or when to just bring a sandwich and Capri Sun when you’re tired of burgers and brauts. 😉

The kids have literally spent hundreds of hours on the  slopes this winter, and have become expert little snowboarders. I count it a priceless gift that they were all able to excel at the same time. Because of it, we were able to trust them to stay together and roam over the whole mountain alone. Over time, we knew that they could handle those blacks and double blacks as tres amigos without los padres around. I must admit the first times, I was freaking out inside, but after they came down with smiles and zero broken bones enough times, I started to relax. 😉

When I did have the honor of riding the lifts with them, or even starting the runs with them, I got to see why they love snowboarding together so much. Kids are just hilarious!! They find creative ways to have fun that us adults just don’t really consider. They always look for paths through trees or places to do a jump. And I remember at Steamboat Springs, we were about to start our run, Isaac and Jadyn were doing backwards SOMERSAULTS with their boards attached. I was dying laughing, but after a couple flips had to tell them to stop for fear that they’d just keep rolling down the mountain!

That same day, they convinced me to do my first black, knowing that I could just “break” my way all the way down. Well, it was becoming a slushy kind of day, and as I was trying to use all my concentration to just get down the run alive, I could hear them laughing at each other and saw them having a blast. While they were effortlessly getting down the black, they would grab a handful of the slushy snow, and make quick snowballs, and then peg each other with them! As they were going down a black run!!! I wished I could have recorded them, but like I said, I was just just trying to breathe and live. 😉

I’m sure they have a million more memories together that were not captured in these pictures. And a skill that will last them a lifetime. Thanks, Don for making this a priority for our family this winter season. And thanks to Colorado Ski and Ski Utah 5th/6th Grade Passports that encouraged us to try as many resorts as we could.