Sundance

This was our first year of participation in the Sundance Film Festival and I have to say, it definitely made the week of heavy tourism here in our ski town a little more tolerable. You see typically we'll find any excuse to get out of town while Sundance is going on. But this year we planned ahead, registered for the locals ticket sales, and made it to 3 films.

The first film we caught was Sergio, here's a taste of the films Bio: Based on the biography Chasing the Flame by Samantha Power, Sergio is the story of the United Nation’s go-to guy. A cross between James Bond and Bobby Kennedy, Sergio Vieira de Mello could descend into the most dangerous places, charm the worst war criminals, and somehow protect the lives of the ordinary people to whom he'd devoted his life. After a string of doomed relationships, he was about to finally settle down with the woman he loved. And then came the call: another crisis, and Sergio was the only man for the job. Persuaded by Kofi Anaan, Condoleezza Rice, and Tony Blair, Sergio reluctantly took up his post as U.N. ambassador to Iraq.On August 19, 2003, a bomb struck the U.N. headquarters in Baghdad, marking a watershed moment in history. For the first time, the U.N. had become the target of terrorism. The news shocked the world.

The film was very well done, mostly from old footage that the film editors pooled together to tell this mans story. I found it very educational and well done.

The second film was Earth Day, which is a documentary on the US Environmental Movement. This film was also very well done. There was a lot of old footage again and it really laid out the progress and then collapse of the environmental movement that began in the 70's. It included a lot of different perspectives including the presidential involvement, the hippies, and the scientist which made it an easy watch without heavy political undertones. This film will be aired on Earth Day, April 22, this year so if you have a chance to TiVo it I would definitely recommend it!

The last film was called Against the Current, the bio: Paul Thompson, a financial writer struggling with a tragic past, decides to do something special and unique to distinguish himself. Having always wanted to swim the 150 miles of the lower Hudson River, he recruits his best friend, Jeff, and new acquaintance, Liz, to accompany him on a physical and emotional journey exploring friendship, grief, and how we cope when what we lose is greater than what life has to offer.

I think we all like this film for it's "one-liners" it's worth seeing if you get the chance!

If your interested about more of the Sundance films you can check out their site at festival.sundance.org

On another note, in Park City it is tradition to leave your Christmas lights on through the winter. For some, that means right after Sundance, but for a lot of others it can be into March or April as long as the snow hangs around. We have had a few beautiful nights with the fine ice particles in the air this past week. The other night as I was driving home I was amazed at the site of colored beams of light aspiring toward the night sky, I have never seen anything like it... I only wish I had a decent camera that could have captured the scene. The beams were create by the reflection of lights through tiny particles of ice floating in the air... it was simply breath taking! The next night we got hit with heavy snow so I ventured out to take some pictures. Again I don't really have a great camera for night time photos so most of them turned out blurry but this one kind of gives you the feel of a cozy winter night in Park City!

A new year!

Well this year is no different from the past 2 years with our annual "I think I'll run the Ogden Marathon this year" goal. It's a good one to set even if we don't always go through with it... for us it's more about keeping life in balance, and there's no better way to clear the head and body than a little exercise!!! The fact that we can both participate and enjoy the athletic activities has been a real blessing in our lives. I'll still admit that most of our "together time" is catching a few of our favorite shows on TV, but the lasting memories will always be the crazy stories from races and the good conversation during our long runs together.

Here's to 2009!

Welcome Home

Last night after we braved the drive from Ogden to Park City we were welcomed by a 3 foot plow drift and 2 feet of snow in the driveway. It is my instinct to say "let's just walk in and snowblow the drive and then we'll pull in". Tyler however, is it as an opportunity to put the truck to the test! So he hit the drift and is a bit suprised at how high the snow comes up, but he throughs the rear-deferentials on and tries again success but only for about 5 feet. At this point I attempt to get out and walk back, however, I open my door at snow level and step out into knee deep snow and decide to ride it out. We proceeded with a battering ram method, forward 10 feet or so until the truck stops then back to make room for momentum to carry us over the snow. By the third rotation we had made it to the garage. It was great! Two hours later we had clear most of the drive and went to bed.

Merry Christmas to all!

We had a wonderful Christmas this year! We feel so blessed to be close to both of our families, that's truely what made this year so great! Here are some of our photo's from this past few weeks...enjoy!

Tribute to The Rev!

So Tyler has now completed his first block of Medical School at the U. The semester was a lot of work but a success overall. Tyler has teamed up with a number of classmates and formed a study group that is now referred to as The Rev. They say stuff like "there's a revolution going on" it's cute really! Anyway, for their final week of the block they all grew mustaches... it was not so cute really, but you can judge for yourself!

The Ames Gang!

OK, I know we're not all Ames' anymore but it still fits. My older sister, Bri, came into town with all her boys. We had a great time all crammed under one roof...Mom was in heaven, until she caught a bad cold. We started it all with family picture in the park, somehow I still don't have those pictures. Anyway, we had a great time with everyone and we really miss our little Smith Family!

After the pictures the boys tried to create a little fun by dropping Mentos in Diet Coke.

It turned out to be pretty anti-climatic. We also had an early Thanksgiving dinner with the whole gang. Tyler, of course, found some whoopie cushions to entertain the kids with, those things never get old!

No matter if it's rain, snow or shine when the boys come, we'll be digging for worms!

Then we played a little rock band.

And we went bowling...

I hope the Spirit of Halloween found you!

It is the spookiest day of the year and your only chance to dress up as whatever you want and get away with it. For me this year I kept it simple with my trusty witch hat and sparkly purple cape. We usually throw a big Halloween Party but we decided to take a break this year. Perhaps if the stars align we will resurrect it for next year! Here are a few pictures of the house this year. We got a lot of comments on how great it looked and some people even took pictures! Of course we always have the fog machine going and spooky music play loud enough that you can hear it on the street. One of our neighbors really gets into it as well so we always have a lot of fun!