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A Return to Alaska for a Friend

In mid-December, after an email about one of our best friends, we returned to Anchorage. It was so beautiful up there with all the trees covered in frost and gorgeous bluebird skies.

Our friend Kevin had been skiing and experienced a seizure, luckily before he began the North Face run. As he was checked out at the hospital, they found a brain tumor. Surgery was quickly scheduled, and Ben and I made sure we would arrive before it to be with him, help out his parents, and have a little fun with him, as seen below.

The "head protection" we brought him was actually some packing material that we all had fun with while we still lived in Anchorage, we would pretend they were moon boots. And somehow they made it to Colorado with our stuff, so we brought it back for him to use post-surgery :)

Kevin and his support group (Ben, Lisa, Tisha, Amber and his parents) heading to the hospital, with the head protection too!

Alaska Trip continued

We were fortunate to be able to see Andy and Lisa and the twins for dinner real quick, along with Sam and Cindy. The girls were hilarious! They give fabulous "stink-eyes"!

Before we left to head back to Denver, we stopped one last time to see Kevin, he was up and ready to go, amazing recovery! We brought him the Costco-size bag of Swedish Fish (his favorite) to munch on. All in all, it was great to be there for him and help his family out.

This was about 10am in the morning, as we were in the airport heading to our gates.

And here's the gnarly scar Kevin had. We were kinda sad because we wanted to have him have a mohawk, and he even asked the doctors before the surgery if they would....guess he'll just have to work on one from here. :)

Unfortunately, the tumor ended up being malignant. But the doctors think they got most of the mass out. We have high hopes though because he's young, super healthy (a mountaineer), is willful and has so much love and support from his friends and family. So, for those of you who know him and for those of you who don't, if you could just put him in your thoughts we can all help to beat this thing!

Kevin - we love you and can't wait to hang out again! We're here for you always and forever. You're the best friend anyone could remotely even dream of having. And of course, keep singing:

In the light there's no darkness
So why not live the life we love
And love the life the life we live
Live the life we love

First runs of the season!

Last weekend we took a trip west to the awesome resort of awesomeness skiing - Vail! There isn't a lot of snow yet, but the day was beautiful and the company was great.

Brian, Lisa, Matt and Ben takin the first run up the lift

Almost a total bluebird day

Takin a self portrait as we're headed to the back bowls - were mostly closed though. John and Ben behind me, I was leaving them in the dust.....err snow. :)

Ben and Brian takin a breather.

Can't wait to go 100 times more and really make our Epic pass worth it!

Getting ready for Xmas with friends

With the help of Brian and Vanessa, we added some Christmas cheer to our house this weekend. Since we didn't have the huge Alaskan wilderness to chop our own tree down in, we went to a local Boulder tree farm and picked up a beautiful spruce.

Our first tree as husband and wife! :) We even found and hung up the ornament that Ben bought for our first Christmas together 5 years ago!

Vanessa helping add some cheer! You probably don't recognize her for 1.) she's turned around, and 2.) her hair is now short and brunette!!! She looks great and I hope to have a front picture of her soon!

Hung up our stockings near the tree, including the puppies below the TV! (yes, we do in fact own a TV, and for those of you wanting to call out Ben on his "Blow up your TV" comments, its only for movies :) )

After a long day, Brian, Ben and our friend passed out beside the decorated tree, dreaming of sugar plums and skiing the next day!