Snowboarding - The art of falling & getting back up, all the way down a mountain!!!

Last night was the first time that I had the chance to ever go play in the snow!!! I finally sucked it up, and Ben took me to go night snowboarding at Brighton park. We got there and I really wanted to chicken out. The weather was nice, meaning not too freezing cold, and it was not snowing, but there was lots of fresh powder on the ground.
Ben gave me a quick run down on how to do it and we got up the ski lift. On the lift I was not really scared of the height, so hoped that I could over come that and enjoy the mountains. As we were getting off the lift I was all ready, Ben had explained exactly how to do it, he has missed out one important fact that I did not know. As you get off the lift there is a small slope to get out of the way, and as to be expected I got off, screamed, and rolled down the hill. Coming up quickly behind me were 3 other boarders. They ditched so they didn't hit me, and were really nice about the fact that I was learning.
I got all buckled in and then came the big obstacle, standing up! WTF?? Ben did it like it was nothing, I have no arm muscle, or really muscle anywhere, so I was writhing in the snow trying to do it, even had some men yell from the lift something about my nice butt in the air. Got to love that encouragement. Anyway I finally figured a way to get up and as long as there was a slope, I could do it.
Now I knew I was going to fall over a lot, but I don't know that I was really ready for how much time I was going to spend in the snow. We went down a small slope and I fell, got up, fell again, got up fell again. Ben was trying to show me the different ways to steer, and I just kept falling over. I was wondering if I was ever going to get up and stay up for more than 30 seconds. Amazingly I did manage it. Not too often. Ben was really patient with me. He was encouraging the whole time, and not getting impatient with me. I was so scared I was going to fall into the trees or off a cliff that it really did take me forever to get down the hill. I had one nice long run, where I was finally getting it, but then I fell over and psyched myself out. I started to chicken out again.
When I fell I twisted my knee. I was worried for a minute that I had hurt myself, but I was able to get up and keep going. I had to tell myself repeatedly that I can do this. Lots of positive self talk. Ben never once forced me or tried to hurry me up, so it made it a lot easier for me to do it at my pace. I got up and kept going, after another one of my many falls, I had just stood up when a skier came flying down.
She was new to the slopes too and instead of ditching to not hit me, she ran straight into me. I went down with a ski pole to the face and goggles, and her ski twisted in my board and twisted my knee the other way. She was profusely apologizing and asking if I was ok. I could not answer, because I wasn't sure. When you have lots of people asking, you want to cry, but I had my back to her, her friend, and Ben, so I just waved a hand and said I was ok. After a minute, I realized that I was not really hurt too bad did I get up. The last section was harder, because I could not master the heel steering, I kept falling over to stop myself heading into the trees.
People all along the way were really nice. They would slow down to ask if I was ok when I was on the ground. One time I fell backwards and just about killed myself. It was all rather funny. I was quite proud of myself all in all. I didn't cry once from pain, frustration, annoyance, or any other such emotion. Ben was so supportive the whole way down for me. I know he was champing at the bit for wanting to get out and have fun. He has not been boarding all winter long, but he was great! Even when I had to stop and sit, because my calves were burning up.
After many more tumbles and several videos taken by Ben we made it to the bottom. I ended up unhooking my snow board to walk the last little bit. My calves and every other part of my body were feeling like jelly. It took me a little bit to get down, but I got to the bottom. Ben went on another run, and I went to the car. There was one last hill to get down, and I about wanted to cry. I said to the guy next to me, how in the hell am I supposed to get down, but I managed. Once I had my board and boots in the car I went into the lodge to get changed. I almost fell over trying to change my pants. Legs = Jelly + small confined space = a long, hard time getting changed. When I took my pants off, I about died when I saw my knee. There was a massive lump and bruise forming on the right side, and a little swelling and bruising on the left.
I was worried that I had done some real damage to my knee, but I could move it fine and it didn't hurt when I moved it, so I figure it's just some bruising that will go down. Here is some video of what the bruising looks like on Saturday night (24 hours after the fact).

After all this fun and good times we went to go get some dinner. I was not feeling too good. I was tired and coming down off an adrenalin high. So Red Robin at 10:30pm at night, it was. We came home and both were worn out. I have not slept so good in a long time. I woke up a few times, aching a little, but all in all I was ready to go to bed.
When I woke up this morning I was able to get up and get out of bed with out too much difficulty. My legs were not too sore, my back was probably the worst. I knew that I would be sore, but I thought it would be worse. I was definitely doing things slower than usual, but I managed to make it through the day quite nicely. With all the fun that I had, we are going to head out again next weekend. I figure the more I do it, the better I will become, and the more Ben can go :) The goal is to learn this heel thing so I can more around from side to side and eventually learn how to carve in the snow. Also I need to learn to better overcome my fear of heights and speed combined, that way I can really learn to love snowboarding. I did enjoy the rush and fun when I was upright and moving, so I think it is something that I will like. You should all give it a try sometime...

The Big 31

I arrived back from Australia to the wonderful, cold place of Utah. The trip was not too bad, a little vomit from Isis, but all in all a nice flight. Ben was there to pick me up and that was all that mattered. We got back into life quite nicely, starting back at work in Monday.
With a week of work under my belt, Ben and I drove to L.A. for Sean and Ambers Wedding. It was such a fun week. I can not tell you how much I enjoyed catching up with Carla again and all the Chitwood clan. Ben survived meeting them and their references to Tud and all things Australian. It was such a nice break in weather being in California. Ahh I do miss the summer of Australia during the winter time here.
Before I realised it, my birthday was quickly approaching. Ben and I went out for dinner at Tuccanos, YUM!!! Then on Saturday began the naughty couch incident. Ben and Mark tried to move my couch into the basement and it would not fit!! Not once did the boys get frustrated, but I was a bit upset. Finally after a break to Red Robin, Ben, Marj, and I decided that we needed to return the couches. So I was back to step one. No couch!
To cheer myself up we had a little get together of friends. It is so fun to see people that you have not seen in ages and catch up. After the party, Ben and I caught up with Maura and Mike for some In & Out. Nothing like a late night snack to get you started!
On Sunday, the official day of birth, I went to church, took a nap, and Ben came over for the night. We watched movies and ate dinner, lots of fun stuff.
So I have officially been kicked out of the Y.S.A. and I feel totally fine about it. Well I will continue to update the blog with more events and some fun photos.

See you around. x