I'm Going to Jackson...

Jackson Hole, Wyoming!!

Eddie and I haven't been on a vacation without children in about 2 1/2 years and it was finally time!!

This was our Jackson Hole crew!  Ben and Brooke are sitting at the far end of the table.

Michelle (black and white-striped top) and her boyfriend, Chris, are the ones sitting closest to the camera.

That's Michelle and I just after we landed in Wyoming.  Can you tell we are so excited?!?  Our flight didn't leave Texas until 5 pm so it was dark by the time we landed, got a rental car and made it to our condo.  

So we didn't get to see the view from our front window until the next morning.

 Pretty picturesque, huh???  And do you see those little red post things across the street.  

That was the lift!!  We literally walked across the street each morning and were ON THE LIFT!!!  Awesome.

The night we got there we went to the grocery store thinking we'd just buy some milk and cereal type stuff to have for breakfast each morning UNTIL....this handsome fellow VOLUNTEERED to cook for us each morning!!  Thank you, Eddie!!

Here we are before setting out our very first morning there.

Eddie and I have only been skiing once before...for one day...with no ski school or instruction.

We were definitely the rookie skiers of the group.

We headed up on the lift hopeful that the little we learned on that 1 day 6 years ago would come back to us.

No luck!!  Both of us fell down exiting the first lift.  =)

At least we looked the part, though!

After much time spent on the ground the first morning, we finally broke down and went to ski school...which ended up being more like a private lesson for just Eddie and me.

I learned SOOO much and was ready to conquer the next day on the slopes...but not before enjoying a fabulous kid-free dinner!

Before dinner, Brooke let me play beauty shop with her hair.  I secretly LOVE to play hair dresser!

Check out her super-cute rocking' curls!!

See that?  No high chairs, booster seats, cheerios, diaper bags...ahhh...the simple life!

The whole gang, with full bellies, after a long hard day of skiing, posing for a picture in the snow.

So.  Much.  Fun.

Pretty sure we've decided to make this an annual trip!

Second day.

After our half-day of ski school and mastering the greens, we were ready to hit the blues!!

Left my camera at home that night...so on to day 3!

We were doing pretty well, on 1 set of blues, so we decided to take the Gondola all the way to the top of the mountain and ski all the way down on some new sets of blues.

When we got to the top we realized how foggy it was...you could barely see what was coming up ahead of you and was tricky to keep up with our small group.  But we did it!!

Such a feeling of accomplishment!   

We went up the Gondola again later in the day.  They have this awesome restaurant at the very top with great food and a magnificent view!

Ben and Brooke ran in with us to grab a bite and to let Michelle and Chris (who literally skies at an expert level) do some tougher slopes that Eddie and I just weren't ready for this time around.

But next year we will be!!

Don't know if you can fully appreciate that view behind us...but it was A.MAZ.ING.

That last night.  Chris and Michelle volunteered to make us dinner.  They both are FABULOUS cooks.  

Chris has even spent a lot of time working in restaurants and you should SEE how fast he can chop stuff!!

I wish I had a video of that!!

So our last night we just ate family style around the table eating the most delicious filets, baked potatoes, bread and some other colored vegetables on a kabob.  =)

So delicious my mouth waters just thinking about it.

Thanks for cooking Chris and Michelle!

And, because I don't want them to feel left out, Ben and Brooke cleaned it all up when dinner was over.

So...let's get this straight.

Eddie cooked breakfast every morning and Ben cleaned it up.

Brooke and Chris made us all sandwiches each day to take on the slopes.

Chris and Michelle cooked dinner the last night and the Wyatt's cleaned it all up.

Right.

So, apparently when I'm on vacation, I am ON VACATION.  =)  Don't expect me to lift a finger!

It was Sunday night after all and SOMEBODY had to watch the Grammy's and see what kind-of tribute they were going to pay to Whitney Houston!!

The next morning, we LEFT our condo by 5:45 a.m. Wow.  That's so early!
But we had the best time ever!!!

Of course, this all would not have been possible without Ms. M (aka - Eddie's mom or Gie-gie)
She made the 5-hour drive to our house to keep the girls while we were gone.  Not only did she manage to get them up, dressed and out of the house each day, but also somehow managed to have the playroom cleaned, dishes done and her own sheets, towels and linens all washed and put back together when we got home.  You grandparents have to stop being SSOOOO fantastic!!  It makes vacationing so easy and fun for us we are going to be tempted to do it more often!!

And finally, thank you to Chris!!
He did all the research in figuring out the location, the place to stay, the rental car, and the flight arrangements.  He was our concierge, our tour guide, our chauffeur, our cook.  He pulled the ENTIRE trip together and was doing work for us the whole time we were there!  I know there was probably a TON done behind the scenes that I don't even know about.  Thank you for making the WHOLE thing so easy and fun for the rest of us!!