A Surprise and Some Gems

Few things are more neat than a 16 year old boy truly giddy with surprise.

My youngest brother, Cougar (yes that is his real name and I'll tell you how he got it some other time), is in the Musical Productions class at Davis High.  At the end of their semester they do a musical revue, showcasing their talents and just plain having fun.  It is a great show, but Preston and I were not planning to drive the 4 hours north to see it since we've done a lot of traveling lately, and Storm Gandolf was letting loose.  I told Cougar this and he was heartbroken.  He is the only one home, and as entertaining as our parentals are, he is bored stiff and lonely.
Being the adventurers we are, we made a rash decision: we'd brave the extra-snowy-even-for-Utah weather and surprise him.

And I'll tell you what, it was a success.
We waited in the lobby after the show got out and then Preston "bumped" into Cougar.  Cougar looked to say sorry and then his face lit up in shock.  He looked behind Preston to see me, and then he let out a squeal (a very manly squeal of course) when he realized it really was us.  Boy oh boy I could replay that scene in my head a million times over.
The rest of my family didn't know we were coming either, and they were equally happy.  It's so nice to be wanted.

We spent Saturday sledding, and I have not had that much fun sledding in years.  My parents were like kids. I almost choked laughing watching my mom fall off her sled and slide backwards on her slick coat with her legs stuck straight in the air all the way down the hill, a little "poof" of powder at the end finishing the scene.  What a hoot.

Boo yeah.  Record for longest run.  Take that, 20 pound kids.

I wasn't kidding about all the powder.  White washed e.v.e.r.y t.i.m.e.
Oh yeah, and my mom's a champ.  She has a torn ACL, but that didn't stop her!

Some "Gem Moments" from the weekend:

*Cougar's face when he saw Preston and me
*Preston cleaning snow off surrounding cars in SUU's parking lot after the basketball game while I sat in our warm car
*My brother, Luke, carrying a little girl and his own sled up the hill
*Musical Productions singing "Homeward Bound" with their orange in honor of Duncan Howard, a sweet boy who passed away at 22 after living with cerebral palsy
*Preston (who has an odd obsession with facial hair), lying sick in bed:  "Now is the best time to have a mustache.  You don't want to kiss me anyway!"
*WINNER:  Running short on snow pants (we play dress up more than anything), my mom SARAN WRAPPED her legs to keep them dry.  Yep.  And it actually worked.  Glad goes pretty far.