outrunning a storm

it was my mom's birthday over the weekend, so paul, roxy and i decided to go to utah to celebrate with her and spend time with sebastian. we stayed with paul's mom and dad so we could catch up and enjoy time with them too. thanks for the glorious breakfasts, gerry! gabi had a weekend long dance competition in denver so she was busy and happy and stayed here. we took the northern route this trip and if you've ever wondered what a wyoming winter looks like, the top photo gives an accurate description.........cold, windy, big sky, emptiness, with blowing snow. if you look closely, you may spot an antelope or two for garnish.

sebastian!! so, so nice to be with my kind and handsome son. he's so cool, he hung out with his mom and dad the whole time we were there joining us for a mothers out birthday lunch. happy birthday, mom. so great to be able to share it with you. paul's mom mervyl and my mom karen are good friends and live close to each other. how lucky is that?! on sebastian's suggestion, we lunched at my now favorite salt lake city restaurant, gourmandise. inside, it felt as though we were lunching somewhere in europe and the bakery, which makes everything in-house (wowza!) was filled to the brim with french pastries, tarts, cakes and more. how to choose............ok, ok....i'll take the chocolate raspberry mousse slice, mmmm.

we ended the day up provo canyon walking by bridal veil falls. about that time, we checked the weather and saw that a snow storm was moving in earlier than forecasted and it was a big one. THIS was what was predicted. so we made a quick decision to cut our visit short and leave next morning. a hurried goodbye to family, including roxy's dog cousins and we were off. luckily, we were able to keep one step ahead with the storm chasing us the eight hours home. we awoke with the snowstorm settled over denver/boulder and more and more to come throughout the day.

now, a day later, the storm has passed and we are left with the magnificence of a clear, colorado winter's day. this morning, paul sent me the last two photos above, the view of our valley from his office. i'm so glad we made it home, just to see this.