G'day mate from Downunder

Here we are in Australia! Melbourne was great. We saw Wicked which was wicked cool! We went on a day trip down south to the Great Ocean Road. It was cool - the pictures don't do it justice - especially cause you can't tell how WINDY it was!! We saw Koalas and Kangaroos on the Great Ocean Road. The kangaroos are just like deer here - they're all over and they have signs for them on the roads. There are herds of them in the fields munching on grass - funny things. The wild parrots were cool too - though they figured out quickly that we didn't have food for them!
We had some incredible coffee and spent time exploring the city. The food was a marked improvement over Fiji! We saw The Dark Knight at the Imax theater - it was awesome! It's winter here so we're wearing all of our layers at once...

We're in Sydney now and we're wearing our friend's clothes... we met a very nice couple in Fiji that lives here and they have graciously taken us in, given us a bed right on the beach in Coogee, cooked us meals, provided a laundry machine, warm showers, and just all in all a truly wonderful time. We're lucky to have met them! Thanks to Ruka and Nina!!

We've been wandering around Sydney - including a tour of the Opera House and a ferry ride out to Manly Beach. We're thinking that we may head back to the city today and explore some more. Band of Horses plays tonight in downtown (they're the band that plays the song from our first dance - No One is Going to Love you More than I do.) - the show is sold out - so we'll see if scalping happens in Australia... we're counting on it.

We've walked all over and Liz got her hair cut last night! She looks gorgeous. Her new do is chin length and light and airy - she loves it! I'm happy that she decided not to Buzz cut it;)

We're off to Bali tomorrow for 3 weeks! We have absolutely nothing booked - so maybe I'll end this post and go book a place at least for tomorrow night!

Hope you all are doing well - be sure to comment on our pictures or on the blog here and let us know how things are in your lives!! Miss you all!

Mark and Liz

And the part you've been waiting for - NEW PICTURES:
http://picasaweb.google.com/mhewing/AustraliaMelbourneAndSydneySoFar

BULA!!

Hello Everyone! First thing I have to say is.....Pizza!! Tonight we're in the main island of Fiji,
Viti Levu and we just ate Pizza. I know I know, we've only been away for 3 weeks but it was very exciting to be able to choose our own restaurant and our own meal (we'll get a little more adventurous tomorrow but tonight was just pure comfort food!) Let me give some back ground....we have been traveling between many small islands (like small enough to hike around -which we did) and the only food is what you're given for each meal. For example; lots of donuts and starchy foods and let me tell you it's really hard to find the meat on the neck cut of lamb. So, Pizza was fabulous!
All food aside, Fiji was wonderful and beautiful. We last wrote while at Oarsman's Bay Resort where we did 3 more scuba dives - one with our first shark encounter!! From there we made our way to Manta Ray Resort where we had a chance to swim with Manta Rays- which are huge and look like birds soaring in circles underwater, it was amazing!! There at Manta Ray we did more snorkeling and loads of beach laying!! Manta got our vote for having the best food of the 3 week trip!! From there it was on to Sunset Resort where we encountered more bugs in our bure then we had seen in the whole of our trip! We also made a little doggie friend that slept on our floor and kept the cockroaches away! We hiked around Waya Island where Sunset is located and did a whole lot more beach laying! From Sunset we planned to hike across to the next island resort. No Fijian could understand why we would ever want to do that!! After much explanation we were on our way. 2 hours later we arrived at Wayalailai Resort where not a single Fijian could understand where we were coming from and why we were not on the boat. At least we gave everyone a good laugh! Let me say we have heard some of the best laughing ever in the past three weeks, the islanders we've met just don't hold back, it's infectious! So, back at Wayalailai they were full even though we had a booking - there was no room at the inn. So because they were sympathetic to us being on our honeymoon and didn't want us to sleep in the dorms, they set us up the nicest palace of a tent! it was swanky! Check out the photos!! The second night of our stay they put us up in the fanciest cottage where we spent the rainy day finishing our books.

This morning we hiked to the top of the island - it was gorgeous - we then caught the boat back to he mainland and that brings us back to the Pizza...

And finally what you've all been waiting for: MORE PICS
http://picasaweb.google.com/mhewing/TheRestOfFiji

Enjoy!!

Love Liz and Mark

Fiji and the trip so far...

We finally made it to Fiji after a long couple of days of travel. We left Crested Butte Monday for the long drive to Denver followed by a number of shopping trips in the big city. Michael and Vindya kindly put us up for the night and fed us lots of incredible Indian food - what a blessing that was before our departure!! We left Denver Tuesday evening and arrived into LAX for our flight to Fiji... departed at 11:30pm on Tuesday night and didn't arrive until 5:00am on THURSDAY!!! We completely lost Wednesday - hope you had fun cause we never experienced July 9th... so we're both that much younger... weird stuff that date line!


It's winter here in Fiji!! Brrrr!! Just kidding. We went from the longest day of the year (our wedding day) to short short days in the Southern hemisphere! Though it is winter and it has been a tad windy... the weather has been gorgeous despite the blustery conditions and a short-lived shower here and there. We've spent our first 7 nights at the Nabua Lodge on the island of Nacula in the Yasawa group of Fiji. The Nabua Lodge was a fun taste of real Fijian culture with mandatory participation in the Bula dancing every evening, good food served family style, and friendly fijian characters to help us along the way. They've taken us snorkeling in the blue lagoon, hand line fishing (we didn't catch anything), shown us their traditional dances, sold us jewelery, cooked us dinner in their traditional Lovo (earth oven) and gave us a tour of their village.


We're officially certified!! Our dive course was incredible, we had two of the most amazing dives (though we have nothing to compare to quite yet except posters and books - and these were both JUST like the posters or better!!) We've seen incredible species of fish and coral and crystal clear water! We're sorry we didn't buy an underwater camera - but we'll most likely splurge on one for our next dive which is on Saturday (we'll be feeding sharks!!!). Even our "confined water" dives which normally take place in a pool were held in the Blue Lagoon made famous by the Brooke Shields movie.


We've met wonderful people so far with time at each meal to meet people from all over the world (not many Americans traveling so far). We loved meeting Renee and Brigit from New Zealand and Germany - sorry we didn't get to say goodbye - unfortunately our final exam ran over... yuck exams on our honeymoon!! We both passed with flying colors!


We've just now arrived at our next stop down the island chain - we're at Oarsman's Bay Lodge which is a bit swankier than our last digs - hence the internet access.


We're going tomorrow to watch the village rugby match - but besides that and the shark dive we have nothing planned other than laying in the sun on the beach! The white sandy beach here is absolutely amazing with incredible snorkeling right off the beach... including a little pod of squid that live out there - they're pretty neat.

Check out our pictures from the past week here:

http://picasaweb.google.com/mhewing/FijiNabuaLodge

We love you all!

Getting Ready to Leave

Oh the trials and tribulations of getting ready to leave for 3 months. We've spent the last week or so getting everything organized for our trip. If you haven't heard by now, Liz had a slight mishap on her bike Thursday after our wedding.... to the tune of her getting hit by a car. An ambulance ride and a long night in the ER with a full CAT scan of her back proved that she just had a very sore butt (what a pain in the ass;) - so long story short - she's ok - we're dealing with some legal issues that I won't go into here - but hopefully it will all be sorted out upon our return... not quite what we wanted to be dealing with just prior to our trip!

So thanks to all of you again for making the trip out here - we loved having everyone here and we're still basking in the afterglow of having such a loving group here to celebrate with us!!!

So Fiji has proven to be a bit more taxing than we thought it would be - we were initially going to simply book the first week or so and then wing it from there - but as it turns out - it's peak season and the places we're going only have 4-10 beds per island... so here's our itinerary as it stands:

http://www.fiji-dive.com/ this is the dive company we’re learning to dive with during the first week. We'll be certified then to dive for the rest of the trip.

Boat to Nabua

10-16th Nabua
http://www.fiji.hotel-pictures.com/offshore-islands/nabua-lodge/index.html

Scuba lessons start the 12^th. We lose the entire 9^th to travel because of the date line.

Hike from Nabua to Oarsman
17-19th at Oarsman
http://www.oarsmansbay.com/
Oarsman is quite expensive… so we’re only staying there a short time. The beach here is supposed to be the nicest amongst all of the islands of Fiji.

Boat to Manta Ray
20,21 at Manta Ray
http://www.mantarayisland.com/
Manta Ray is known for its dives with the Manta Rays… also expensive so we’re only there a short time.

Boat to Sunset
22-25th at Sunset
http://www.fiji.islands-resorts.com/resorts_ex.cfm?Memberid=377
We’re staying here for a while – it’s going to be nice – it came highly recommended by Carson and it’ll have great hikes and snorkeling at our front door. It sits on a spit of land so both sunrise and sunset are visible over the ocean... and during low tide the spit becomes a bridge that we can hike to the next resort...

Hike to WayaLaiLai
26,27th at WayaLaiLai
http://www.bcdi.ca/wayalailai/
This one is supposed to be great too – and will be our last two nights on the Yasawas in Fiji.

28th in Nadi so that we can catch our flight to Australia the next day.

So far the plan is to rent a car in Melbourne and drive to Sydney over the course of 5-6 days. We'll see.

Love you all!!! Hope you all are doing well!

Mark and Liz

We got married!

Here are some pictures:
http://picasaweb.google.com/mhewing/BeforeTheCeremonyGettingReady

http://picasaweb.google.com/mhewing/Ceremony

http://picasaweb.google.com/mhewing/CeremonyPosesAfter

Thanks to everyone that came! We had an incredible time with you all and we sincerely appreciate the effort you made to come join us in this remote destination!!! Hope you all enjoyed Colorado! Come visit again!!! Liz and I love you all - thank you so much for being a part of our lives and for supporting us through everything! We wouldn't be here if it weren't for you all.

THANKS!

Flobots on Jay Leno

In case you missed it:

Yeah... sweet.

Wedding SIte is Melted! Marriage License, Etc

The wedding site is finally melted out - it's going to be a blast! Now we just have to work on getting electric out there... hmmm....
http://picasaweb.google.com/mhewing/WeddingSite053008

We picked up our marriage license! The photographer is going to be our good friend Kate Seeley! There are more gift options under the registry section of www.lizandmarkgethitched.com if you're not so into the Donation button ;)

Now for all the rest of the details...hopefully we'll be ready by the time you all get here!

Skiing Mt Ruby

Went skiing on June 1st! Snowmobiled out to Ruby and did laps. All of the pictures can be found here - there's a lot of em...
http://picasaweb.google.com/mhewing/MtRubySki060108

Claire's Dedication

The same weekend as Greg's Graduation was Claire's (my niece) dedication. It was a nice ceremony. Pictures can be found here:
http://picasaweb.google.com/gewing/ClaireSDedication

Greg's Law School Graduation

Greg's Law School Graduation from Catholic University in Washington DC was on May 23rd - Liz and I flew back for the event and spent almost a week getting to hang out with my brother and his family - it was great to have so much quality time with his two daughters!

Pictures can be found here:
http://picasaweb.google.com/mhewing/GregSGraduation0508

Or a more thorough account can be found here:
http://picasaweb.google.com/gewing/Graduation

Flobots Killing it - Live on Carson Daily

Oops

Apparently the Flobots are on tonight and not last night... Check out NBC - Last Call with Carson Daily.

Phil's Visit - more Flobots - Wedding

Liz's brother - and my soon to be brother-in-law - whoa - came to visit this weekend for his birthday. We took him snowmobiling, fishing, and had a general ol' good time. Snowmobiling pictures can be found here: http://picasaweb.google.com/mhewing/SnowmoWithPhil

The Flobots are officially blowing up - checkout the latest Billboard top 100 - they're #3 in the Hot Modern Tracks chart - #55 in the Pop 100 - and 64th on the Billboard Hot 100... not too shabby. Oh and 39th on ITunes for their single - Handlebars. OH and 12th for their album Fight with Tools - they were 15th the other day - steadily rising.

They're on Carson Daily tonight - so if you're still up and reading your email - watch it! Or just watch it on YouTube tomorrow. You can watch the new music video for Handlebars now as well:
http://video.universalrepublic.com/?plid=1481452858&v=1534502575&aid=0

We've picked out the menu for the wedding! Be sure to check www.lizandmarkgethitched.com for updates.

Ceremony Site as of 05/14/08

Charley and I went for a walk this afternoon to assess the progress of the snow melt out at the top of Peanut Lake Road where the ceremony is going to be held... it's snowy... I'll let the pictures do the talking...

The day's photos can be found here: http://picasaweb.google.com/mhewing/WeddingSite051408

Wedding Honeymoon Donations

It may be tacky but Liz and I have decided to not register for much of anything being that we largely have all the things that we may need to establish a nice little home wherever we end up. We've decided that what we would most appreciate instead of blenders and bedding sets would be help for our honeymoon. We've added a Donate button to our Wedding Website - it's listed under the Gift Registry section of the site and conveniently accepts all major credit cards along with a number of other payment options... So please do forgive our tackiness - but we greatly appreciate your help!! Feel free to come up with creative ideas like: Here is one night's stay at an all-inclusive resort in Bali - or here is a nice dinner for two on the beach in Tahiti...

http://www.lizandmarkgethitched.com

Ben Garthus

For those of you who know Ben Garthus - he's one of my Groomsmen - and was the reason that Liz and I met. Liz moved into Ben's house as Ben was moving out - and it was at Ben and my Birthday party at Gallery Sovereign that Liz and I first spoke and became interested in one another.

He has since moved to Minneapolis where he is a graphic designer - working on a lot of the consumer product packaging that you've grown to love in the grocery store.

His art work has progressed immensely since the days of Gallery Sovereign - so I wanted to share with you his new artist statement and a link to some of his new work at the Rosalux Gallery in Minneapolis. It's impressive - and I'm proud of him!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/24824788@N07/
"The major focus in my work is consumer culture, over-consumption, and the byproducts produced. The United States is the embodiment of this. We do not have the long established cultural history of most other countries so consumer capitalism often seems to define us.

Over the last four years I have worked as a packaging designer for large multi-national food corporations. As a result I have an intimate love-hate relationship with consumer packaging. I experience it not only from its birth, in the design process, but to its ultimate death, as it is consumed. Although I enjoy the creative process, I am conflicted about contributing to the excessive packaging and the distortion of truth that many large companies propagate. One of my earlier series, “Confessions of Consumption,” investigates this phenomenon. Focusing on the refuse I generate allows me to make personal work using impersonal subject matter.

“A Commemoration of Convenience” also stems from my work in the packaging industry but not from the perspective of graphics; the cast plastic sculptures investigate the forms themselves. This piece is a documentation of the containers that flow through my life. It acts as a personal reminder of how much I actually participate in the consumer culture that I am critical of. Many of these objects are imbedded in our society and are difficult to avoid. It is for this reason that they are important.

Reconfiguring my artistic practice to fit my current work situation is crucial to my art. By embracing my day job and using it for inspiration, I have been able to revamp it into something more desirable. In one of my newer pieces, I used my commute to work as an art-making activity. With “Emission Control,” I attached canvas to my exhaust pipe and stained it while driving, furthering the idea of efficiency and reuse. I enjoy the daily ritual of making art even if only for short periods of time; it is a way of reclaiming the day.

In the past I considered myself to be a painter but many of my recent works are headed in sculptural direction. The more concept driven my art becomes the less important it is for me to make a distinction. I am interested in how different materials communicate ideas. I enjoy the process of learning how to create with unfamiliar substances. Each time I adopt a new material, new obstacles arise. In the process of solving those problems, different aspects of my work are brought to light.

In confronting the things that frustrate me, both in my life and in our society, I can find peace in the process. By using materials and subject matter that are a natural by product of my life, I am transforming them into something that is relevant."

Fun Video

Here's Damien skiing from Monday:

We're back

We returned Friday from our separate adventures. Liz went back to MI for a Bridal shower, to try on her wedding dress, and a bachelorette party amongst other things. She had an incredible time and came back with a new haircut and a fresh glow about her that I find incredibly attractive (Liz will have to login and write more about her trip). I, on the other hand, returned from a week in CA with a sunburnt forehead - not quite the glow Liz was hoping for... and now it's peeling. Sweet. Aforementioned sunburn was achieved while driving around San Diego in Shawn's little Alfa Romeo convertible. We saw some of the Red Bull air races, helped Jackson decompress from his POW training with the marines, laid on the beach, ate some fish tacos, watched some surfing from the pier, played some football on the beach, and received a personal tour of a Harrier up close and personal with First Lt. Aaron Frey (Jackson) aka Call Sign Amber.

I then flew to San Francisco to see Eric and Sarah and their new daughter Mica. What an incredible new family - Mica has an adorable little personality and at 16 months she's quite the talker and attention hog - I loved getting to hang out and dance with her. It was fun to see Eric and Sarah too... ;) We went to the MOMA - which had an incredible photography exhibit. We met up with Damien's dad at his bagel shop in Sonoma and then went for a wine tasting. We went sailing with Schulyer and cruised around Alcatraz and past the Golden Gate Bridge - it was a breezy blast!

Upon return to CO we were met with a large muddy mess as the snow begins to melt in Crested Butte - we're contemplating having a back-up location in case our outside venue is still snowed-in - and with the forecast calling for 6-12 inches tonight it may be awhile before it melts out.

Went snowmobiling Saturday - there was 6 inches of fresh - and it was some of the best snowmobiling I've ever had - until it wasn't. Got the sled stuck against a tree and ended up having to come back the next day with some friends to get it out. Went mountain biking today... rough life.

All the invites are sent - and the reality is sinking in - it's soon!!! Woooeee!! Wedding planning - lots of fun final details.
Shawn and Meghan enjoying the sunshine in San Diego.Mica and Sarah ham it up.The Golden Gate bridge from our luxury sailing yacht....The trolley in downtown San FranciscoThe Golden Gate Bridge.
The sled track down to the tree... the broken stump in the left foreground was 5 inches in diameter - somehow the sled still works... just a few broken plastic panels...Sled worked enough to tow Eric and Damien to the top for a number of laps.

Eric drops a nice one.Damien airs in.

Birthday, Flying, Traveling, Invites

Spent this past weekend in Moab, UT celebrating the 29th Birthday of Me... it was a blast. We had a large crew of people from Boulder and Crested Butte. Liz surprised me with some Strawberry Shortcake in the desert with candles and everything - it was quite nice.

We mountain biked Saturday and Sunday and much fun was had. Thanks to everyone that called and emailed on my birthday! It's April 26th - for those of you that didn't know - now you do - so no excuses next year! ;) The pictures from the trip can be found here: http://picasaweb.google.com/mhewing/MarkSBdayMoab they're mainly mtn biking sequences... didn't get a single picture of me... but I'm not the good looking one of the two of us - so that's ok.

The first batch of invites went out yesterday - the second batch will be a week or so behind them as the printer screwed up the quantities... oh well. Everyone should know by now that they're invited... we're in the process of refining our honeymoon plans - we're trying to find places that have the best exchange rates and the best cost of living - right now we're leaning toward: Fiji, Tahiti, Bali, and Thailand. We'll let you know how things progress. We're still planning on not registering for much and simply asking for help for our trip.

I'm flying tomorrow morning for my second Biennial Flight Review - hard to believe it's time again... time flies - ha - no pun intended. The BFR happens every two years and is required by law for all pilots to prove their proficiency... hopefully I am - I should go to bed instead of writing in the blog... bummer thing is that the flight school where I fly is ending their plane rental as of tomorrow - I'll be looking for another way to fly here shortly - sounds like there may be at least two options - but nothing as easy as having one at my disposal whenever I wanted.

Aerial photography has picked up again - been getting calls and emails left and right - which has been nice. Spring and Summer are always the busiest.

Liz and I are both heading off to travel on Thursday. I leave for CA to visit Steve, Jackson, Jenelle, Robert, Shawn and his beautiful wife Meghan and then head to San Francisco to see Eric and Sarah - I'm excited. Meanwhile, Liz is traveling to MI for a bridal shower and to have her wedding dress fitted - exciting stuff! I'm sure it'll be gorgeous! I pick up my wedding tux tomorrow - hopefully it looks pretty stylish!

Ok - off to bed - good night everyone!

Flobots

Just thought I'd throw a shout out to former-roommate Jesse Walker and his band The Flobots who are making it big - and living the dream! They signed with Universal this past month - and their song Handlebars is leading the request lines for most of the radio stations that have begun playing it! They are in the top 100 most purchased songs on iTunes! Here's a brief article:
http://www.denverpost.com/entertainment/ci_8707202

There is a war going on for your mind - if you're thinking - you're winning. Thank goodness there are bands out there making good music with intelligent lyrics - I'm proud to say that I knew him when...

We rise together! Check them out on www.flobots.com or watch this video:

Rafting

We just got back last night from 3 days of rafting on the Colorado River. We started in Loma, CO and ended in Westwater, UT. It was absolutely amazing. Charley had her first river rafting experience along with her first camping trip - she fit right in and loved it! She did manage to get some pretty serious burrs which I think hampered some of her desire to run around. She only fell in once and with 45 degree water she learned quickly from there on out. It was quite the trip. There were numerous bald eagle sightings including two nests. We even went cliff diving and rock climbing! It was the first time that the state opened that section of land along the river to Turkey hunting - so part of our group went hunting and came back with two birds. Fun was had by all (except for the turkeys)... Gobble. The full photo album can be found here: http://picasaweb.google.com/mhewing/RubyHorsethiefCanyonRaftTrip

Snowmobiling

Went snowmobiling the other day up at Irwin by Mt. Owen and a number of other peaks. It was gorgeous. There are some pictures of Steve Church's cabin for the Rancourt's viewing pleasure.
The pictures can be found here: http://picasaweb.google.com/mhewing/SnowmobilingApril08

Finally got the sled running full power today - I'm excited to go out on it again tomorrow.

Liz is part-timer of the year!

Liz was awarded part-timer of the year at this year's end of the year patrol banquet. The Golden Spool as it's called is an honor and I'm very proud of her - you should be too!

The season ended on Sunday with a glorious Spring day filled with debauchery and some great skiing. We spent the day on Monday taking the mountain down - which was fun to have the entire mountain to ourselves as we took down all the ropes and dismantled the ski area for the summer.

We're off to the patrol pig roast this afternoon.

The second picture is of the King and Queen of Flauschink (the king happened to be a patroller this year) - Flauschink is a crazy little festival that the people in Crested Butte have created to "flush" out winter and bring in spring - hence the "scepters" that look curiously like plungers. The last week of the season the king and queen parade around town and on the mountain - they held court on the peak for a long time Sunday before going to Flauschink hill (a spot on the ski area that sits in the sun above the ice bar) where there is much merry making. It was fun - it's a great way to end the season. The woman in the picture is Stacie (Liz's co-worker and good friend at the Clinic in town).

Hope you all are doing well!

Some short ski Videos

Here are a couple of short videos from the last few powder days.


Mark drops off the low end of wolf's lair


Mark Selto Dropping a Cliff in Fredos


Chris Phillips dropping off the diving board (Warning: explicit language)


Mike drops off of Moosehead Rock


Mark drops off of Moosehead Rock


Mark flails off of Cheeseburger Rock

You'll never guess...

MORE SNOW!! Monday and Tuesday were some of the best skiing I've ever had in my life... maybe we should postpone the wedding or move it to Hawaii - or at least you all should bring your skis in June!?? The beach is starting to sound better and better!
Mike and Carson going big in Wolf's Lair. Life is good.

More Skiing

The season will wrap up at the resort next Sunday (a week from tomorrow) - it'll be sad - but the skiing is still incredible so we'll be utilizing the snowmobile and the skins a bunch. Hopefully the snow will be melted by June 21st!! It's supposed to snow all week...

While returning from Jackson and Jenelle's wedding we drove into a blizzard.... it left us with a solid 24" of snow or so. Monday and Tuesday were powder days! Monday we spent on the resort and Tuesday Liz and I spent in the backcountry - we skinned up Red Lady Bowl which faces town - it was gorgeous - though it got a bit windy up top and Liz was a bit dehydrated.

I patrolled the rest of the week which was fun. We started doing guided tours of 3rd bowl yesterday (which I led) - the skiing was incredible (we had to close the terrain to the public before this last storm cycle due to the East-facing aspects becoming an avalanche concern - so we led people to the North facing aspects which are till skiing like it's mid-winter.) I went back today on my day off to do two more tours... it was fantastic.

Here are some pics from the Monday after Jackson's wedding and a short video of our buddy Mark dropping a pretty large cliff:

The Wedding of Jackson and Jenelle

The wedding was a blast! Jackson and Jenelle looked incredible. Jackson in his Marine formals was looking sharp and Jenelle was a gorgeous bride to say the least. It was an honor to stand up there with them on their special day. It was great to be up there with all the guys from college. Needless to say we had a blast!

Unfortunately we don't have any pictures of the bride and groom - I'm going to place all the blame on Liz for this one... I was a groomsman so I couldn't be more normal shutterbug self. So send us a picture if you have one for me to post!

We do have some fun ones though:

Some skiing pics

Had some new snow on Friday - we both Patrolled all weekend. Here are some photos:

Liz styling it out in her patrol vest with the Peak behind her.

Gothic Mountain basking in the early morning lightTeocalli Bowl and the Morning Glory run with fresh snow and a cloud of sunlit crystals

Fredo's Cliffs and powder...mmmmm

Looking down Coyote Pass - it's good to get first tracks.

Yep - real good to get first tracks.

Winter Craziness

More snow today - and tonight - and tomorrow - through Monday... fun to have more powder days!

Breaking News! I'm taking an indefinite hiatus from the corporate job - there are many many reasons - which I'd be happy to share with you all if you want to chat about it. My old boss continues to be incredibly generous. For now the plan is to patrol as much as possible for the remainder of the season and focus a bit more effort into the Aerial Photography business. I'll continue to consult on an as-needed basis for IPS - but I've handed my two remaining searches to colleagues in the office. I also plan on backcountry skiing and snowmobiling a bit more - have to take advantage of this incredible snow year (it's one for the record books).

Liz and I continue to plan the wedding - remember to BOOK EARLY and call if you have any questions.

The Heard

The guys rocked out last week at the Lobar - the place was packed and the music was great.

You can find all of the pictures here:
http://picasaweb.google.com/mhewing/TheHeard02

Everyone - hope you're doing well - we've updated some lodging information on our wedding website:
www.lizandmarkgethitched.com
We've booked a number of rooms at a discounted rate at one of the brand new hotels on the Mountain - Mountaineer Square.
You can book online here using the code ewing-rancourt:
www.skicb.com/mygroup

Liz and I are both feeling a bit antsy for warmer weather... it's been cloudy and cold - the snow has stopped for the last week or so.

We're looking into our wedding registry - I think we're leaning towards a website that allows people to help purchase parts of our honeymoon. We'll keep you updated.