Vacation in Pagosa Springs, Co.

Hello all! Here are some pictures from our family vaction to Pagosa Springs, Co. There are a lot of them, but it was Lena's first experience with snow. And also her first real family vaction to somewhere other than Midland and to the lake. I thouroughly enjoyed having this experience with her. She just squealed with joy while playing in the snow. We had a lot of fun.

April

Lena's first time to touch snow.

Lena and Uncle Jon building with blocks.

It only took 3 people to get me
dressed for snow play.

All ready to play in the snow.

Lena and Mommy in the snow

Lena and Daddy--going to play in the snow.

Lena's first time to play in snow.

Daddy is helping Lena make her
first snow angel.

James, Lena, and April in the snow.

James is ready for a snowball fight.

April, James, Jon, and Erin with the funny little
snowman that we made.

Lena and Papa

The view from the top of the mountain.

The skiiers--April, James, and Jon (James' brother)

Skiing Browns

Hey skiing Browns,

I've enjoyed reading about your adventures at Steamboat. Aunt April and I got to ski one day at Wolf Creek last Friday, on my first family trip in several years. My brother also skied, and Lena got to spend time with her "Ga-ga" and "Bapa" and to play in snow for the first time. Ashley, Aunt April wasn't too happy with me either when I accidentally took her down a black with moguls. She even let me keep leading if I promised not to do it again.

One thing I've tried that was really fun is snow blades, which are kind of a cross between skis and a snowboard: they're shorter and wider and you don't use poles. They don't work well in fresh powder though.

Aunt April took a lot of pictures and can hopefully post some too. We are trying to find time in the next few weeks to come see you all.

Hope you all keep having a blast!

Uncle James

SO much laughter!

Greetings from Austin. You guys made laugh so much. Especially Emily and "Pookie". I've always wanted to try snowboarding, but after skiing last week, I think I want to stick to skiis. Last week was fun for us too. After taking a 5 year break from skiing, it took me a bit to get back into it. The second lift up, I didn't get over far enough and got hit in the hip and knocked down. I just laughed and waved at James and his brother as they went up the lift. Then later on, I fell getting off the lift. At one time, I couldn't stop and I ran into James. He was like a wall and knocked me down. I had a great day of laughing at my falls. I got better at skiing this trip, so long as I didn't have to ski moguls. It sounds like you all are having a great time.

Lena got to play in the snow for the first time last week. She seemed to like it. She squealed as she crawled around in the snow. James helped her make a snow angel. We don't get a lot of snow in Austin, so this was a really new experience for her.

I started remembering about all the skii trips we took as a family when I was young. I think it would be fun to all go on a skii trip as one big family. I would love to skii with Mom one day, however, I'm not sure I could keep up with Ashley.

Keep having fun!

See you all soon,

April

Reagan in Steamboat

Hey gang,
This is Reagan. I am having a great time. I’ve never been skiing before so I thought it was going to be very difficult. It turns out it wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be. I went down my first black today and I didn’t fall at all. It was so much fun we did a bunch more. It is a lot of fun to be with Aunt Jill and Uncle Cary. They have taught me a lot. I also enjoy being around my cousins and hanging out with them. I am looking forward to the next couple of days because I am getting a lot better and able to go down steeper mountains. Mom, if you can read this, Dad is taking really good care of me and making sure I have clean clothes that match. He makes me and Connor wear our helmets all the time.

p.s. Connor says Hi! He is a little tired and doesn’t feel like blogging. He is doing great too. We are having a lot of phun together.

Dear Brown family,
It's Ashley better known as Pookie. We are at Steamboat having lots of fun. My dad is having a hard time keeping up with me on the mountain. He almost had a heart attack when I took him down a Black with lots of moguls. Everyone else chickened out but my dad had to follow me down. He thinks he should lead from now on.

We tried snowboarding but went back to skis after 2 days of falling on our face. We are headed to the terrain park tomorrow so wish me luck. I am planning on trying the box jump again this year.

we miss everyone. The mountains are beautiful.

love you guys
Ashley

Steamboat

Hey guys,
It's Emily. I'm here in Steamboat after a long two days of trying to snowboard and one day of skiing. Snowboarding is hard! I don't know how I got through the two days of snowboarding in one piece. One of my wipe outs I was going on my snowboard and fell and then a guy plowed over me. Another time, I fell and did what's called the scorpion. It's where you do a face plant and then your board hits your back. Skiing on the other hand was much less painful, if you don't count getting off the ski lift. Today Connor, Reagan, Ashley, and I were going on a ski lift and Ashley made it off, Connor fell taking me and Reagan with him, making me hit my head of the lift. The next time we were riding the same lift with the same people and Ashley went by herself and Reagan fell leaving Connor and me by ourselves. Close to the end of my skiing day,Connor lost one of his skis off the ski lift. Even with the wipe outs, I'm having a great time and wish y'all could see the mountains.
Bye y'all

A date with a Princess

I took Katy to my first Odessan wedding today and we had so much fun! I got to hear about a few of the things that she wants in her wedding--and just indulge those sweet dreams of the "perfect wedding". We are absolutely missing mom & Olivia, but this was a special moment for me as dad! What a beautiful princess Katy is!