Ohana Means Family

So my grandpa died last Saturday. And since his funeral is on Friday, and Maikal and Jess didnt have school on Friday, they told their teachers that we had family stuff on Wednesday. They figured that they should get a day off school for Grandpa Lowry. Kinda hilarious... and technically they werent lying. Family stuff = Family Day Snowboarding.
I wont lie. I was nervous to go with them. I think I've only ever been snowboarding if Matt and Josh were with me. I like snowboarding and I'm not horribly wretched, but at the same time, if I dont go I dont really miss it. And without either brother here, I felt like the only reason why I've ever gone is because I want to spend time with them and usually because I paid when we'd go and they needed me there. So a snowboarding day without Matt and Josh - I couldnt even wrap my mind around it. Sure Maikal and Jess are family. But it just didnt feel the same. We'd tried going snowboarding a few weeks ago, but they made the fatal mistake of leaving me in charge of the alarm clock. My nervousness combined with the morning meant that it got vetoed. They chose to be smarter this time and not let me be in charge of getting everyone up.
I had the worst sleep of my life Tuesday night. All night I tossed and turned. So when I heard the boys start to stir, I felt dreadful. The boys wanted me to be excited... and really I wanted to be excited too. So I sucked it up and got in the car.

 Jesse began to read "Percy Jackson: The Lightning Thief"... I love when people read aloud to me (despite that my Dad and David Alan think reading parties are weird). And I was glad for the book choice.

Maikal already read the book and gave it his stamp of approval (which is legit people cause Maikal picks out some great books).

And I tried to be less nervous about the upcoming day.

We got to the hill and Maikal put on his snowboard bindings. Unfortunately for him - he found out on our first run that he put them on backwards, which required him to ride switch. But Maikal's really good so he didnt have any trouble doing that. Being actually on the mountain, with my snowboard, I remembered how much fun snowboarding can be. I dont know why I insist on forgetting and getting nervous. I love the feeling of carving from your toe to your heel with the wind whipping past your face.

Everyone that came on our Family Day trip?

Jesse, Melina and Makea, Maikal and Nathaniel.

So Maikal and Jesse are hilarious. Why you ask? So I'm riding on the lift with Jesse. And he tells me that Maikal just bought his snowboard last year and has only used it twice. Maikal was ahead of us on the chair lift, and so when Jesse called forward to tell Maikal that, Maikal disagreed but Jesse assured me that sometimes Maikal has a terrible memory but is too stubborn, so he always thinks he's right.

Fast forward to the next chair lift up. Maikal and I are riding together and he begins to defend himself to me. The first words out of his mouth? Sometimes Jesse has a terrible memory but is too stubborn, so he always thinks he's right. Then he began to come up with cold hard facts why Jesse was wrong about him only having used his snowboard twice. The scratches on the bottom, compounded with having been snowboarding with Corey Hyde and other various people, lead Maikal to the conclusion that Jesse was mistaken. I loved how worked up he got though. It wasnt like he actually was mad about it - Just a Lowry rant tho. I think the line "Hey smart guy who thinks he's smart - You left the plastic wrap on the ham" was dropped in regards to Jesse.

So after our first run we ran into Landon Hatch - who was there with two of his friends (Angela Bridge and Lindsay Stringham) also playing hookie. We spent the rest of the day with them and it was a great time. The thing I really liked is we were all about the same level (except Maikal really), so when we'd go we werent really having to wait at all or worry about going too slow. We just rode and had fun. No pressure at all to be good.

Maikal and Jesse

Melina and Jess

Nathaniel, Maikal and Landon

We also had some fun with jumps.

We all had our moments.

I managed to land a couple of super girly jumps.

Maikal showed off his mad skills. Nathaniel got some massive air.

Landon wiped out big a couple times, but also had some really great moments.

The boys tried things they'd never done before. And I tried to capture them before my camera died or my fingers stopped working (believe me... there is an awesome shot where I completely missed a huge jump Jesse did and just caught the snow and his head at the edge of the picture).

Favorite picture of the day tho?

And yes... That is a superman cape Jesse is wearing.