Colorado (& NYE!) 2016

Ouch. Monday morning. 

But not any Monday morning - the Monday morning after two weeks of vacation. 

But not only THAT - it's the first Monday of "busy season." What's that you hear? CPAs crying. That's what that is. 

So this Monday is the Monday of all Mondays.

But enough of that. We'll focus on the Monday when the sun comes up. For now, we'll just recap my past week in the beautiful Pagosa Springs, Colorado. 

No really. This was my view each and every morning....

And this morning I woke up to an alarm and honking horns. Helloooo reality. 

So how'd this all come about? Well, Jeff and his roommate (we shall call him Toby) turn 30 about two weeks apart from each other. Toby's uncle has a mansion cabin out in Pagosa Springs, CO, so they rounded up the crew (crew being 14 of us) and we headed out for a week of skiing and to ring in the new year. 

(folds hands together) Now for a moment of honesty. 

I was not overly excited about this trip. You see....I don't ski. I tried once my freshman year of college and it was not a great experience. And until that ski trip I had never even seen snow. So snow bunny I am not. The only way I told Jeff I'd go on this trip is if I could just sit in the (warm) cabin and read all day while they went skiing. That sounded like an okay plan to me. Then the week we left, I decided to buck up and sign up for ski lessons with the rest of the girls. So after a 15-hour car ride to Colorado - that was day one. Ski lessons. 

Me waiting for the instructor to start. Only after I saw the "bunny slope" and started crying. I wish I was kidding. I may have beaten cancer but I am NO tough cookie and was scared senseless. 

Actually let's just talk about this "skiing" thing (I ended up loving the actual act of skiing so I feel like I can go ahead and speak freely about the acts that lead up to skiing). 

Like WHY do people do this on vacation? There is no leisure in this sport. First of all, your feet are trapped in giant boots that look like something straight off Iron Man's suit. I looked for the "rocket power" button on mine but couldn't ever find it. And not only are they clunky, but you can't stand up straight in them. I understand that the fact that they throw you forward helps you when you ski, but what about the other 75% of the time when you're just trying to be a human? 

And if that's not enough, you have to carry two skis and two poles that are almost as tall as you while you walk in the Iron Man boots. Now Jeffrey and his 6'6 frame could pick up my skis as if it were a small stick, but Lord. A bit much for the females to handle. 

And if that's not enough, you're walking uphill in high altitudes to even get to the ski lodge. Breathing requires great effort and concentration.

And if that's not enough - you're dressed in 37 layers and can't move. I now thoroughly understand how the Michelin man feels. 

source

So you get my drift? The ski lesson hadn't even started and I was 100% certain I would not be returning to the mountain the next day. And and hour and a half into the lesson I was 100% certain I would not be returning after lunch. 

But alas - I persevered, and by the end of the day - I was having fun! 

Skiing is fun. Learning to ski? Not so much. 

My shots from the ski lift and the mountain. I thought I had a pretty good view....until Jeff showed me his pictures from his triple black X factor runs (see below). Whatever - I'm proud of my greens :)

The girls after we conquered a mile and a half green! And these smiles are actually genuine, in some other pictures earlier in the day they were not :)

We high-fived at lunch and then went our separate ways again. In fact I didn't see this kid much at all the first few days of the trip :)

Here are the views from the top of the mountain - the place that will always be imaginative to me because I shall never ever visit it. #greensforlife

The boys went skiing the next day too, but the girls took a break. In fact the next couple of days for me looked a lot like this...

Book. View. Coffee. Aaaaaand....

Fire. Not too shabby for Katy!

We also played a lot of board games - including Battle of the Sexes. Ever played that game? Where girls answer guy questions and vice versa? Yeah - it's hard. And I still can't process that the dimensions of a 2x4 are 1 3/4 by 3 3/4...like what IS that?! 

Whatever. On Wednesday we woke up early (you can add that to the lack of leisure - I had to wake up at 5:30 a.m. on this vacation!) and the majority of us went skiing again ...but in quite the different elements. Remember that view from above? Yeah not so much on Wednesday. 

High of twelve degrees and snowing allllllll day. Bring it. 

This day was definitely my favorite because the boys went skiing with us on the greens! How sweet of them. So I got to ski while Jeff was bored out of his mind snowboarded right next to me! He also got some go pro footage of me skiing so I have proof of my athleticism. He also has proof of the time I accidentally followed him down a blue and completely wiped out. Good times. 

But nevertheless, I loved scootin' down a mountain with this one. And I don't do athletic things - so this was a milestone for me! He was pretty great about challenging me, but not pressuring me. He would cheer me on and pick me up when I fell - but when I was done, he let me be done :)

Please note the Iron Man boots. Tell me they don't look like they'd have superman powers....

On Thursday we all took a break and headed to the Hot Springs. I took this picture from their website, but this is what it looks like. These are 23 natural springs - or hot tubs - at all varying temps. Yes, please, and thank you. Thursday was a good day. 

I'm telling you - we had 14 smiles from this crew. Twas a very good Thursday. 

...then it wasn't so good. We all headed to a sports bar/restaurant in town to watch the OU bowl game. And if you also watched, or saw the results, you know that some of the smiles quickly faded. 

Boys at halfime - tryin to act like models or something, who knows.

Thursday night was NYE! And what else do you do for New Years when you're in a cabin? You have a pajama party. More specifically....a onesie party.

Yeah. We sure did. 

Also - Jeff picked these out. So for those of you who are wondering how this girlfriend got her boyfriend to wear a matching striped onesie that said "Special Delivery" on the tushy - think again!

And then we busted out the selfie stick. Do you know how hard it is to get 14 people to look/smile at the same time? Too bad Austin ruined the one good picture we had. Sigh. 

Then we went out on the deck, froze, and partied with some sparklers!

And no, mine aren't lit. I don't do fire. I'm a wuss. I can light a candle and that's about all I got. 

On Friday a group went home, and the rest of us just played in the snow, watched movies, and did a little shopping in town. More importantly, I got to experience an igloo! One day the boys worked really hard building an igloo (snow cave) that was big enough for 14 people. I'll have to say, it was pretty impressive!

I've said it before and I'll say it again - at certain points in our lives we completely turn into 5-year olds. And I love it. 

Speaking of - we then went down the snow slide the boys made. And it scared the everloving bejezzus out of me. I had NO idea it was going to be that fast. Which is why I sound like I'm being tortured in the video. I shared this on Instagram, but if you missed it you can watch (and judge) here.

That night we played the most competitive game of Monopoly I have ever witnessed for about 4 hours. Things got real folks. #andnoonelikedjeff

And that was a wrap! Such a great trip with amazing views, amazing activity (once actually going down the mountain), and amazing people. 

_____

Sigh. And now we are back to reality. No snow. No igloos. No hot springs. 

If you'll excuse me, my cubicle is calling. 

Until next time,

Katy