We called the Chevy dealership this morning and they reported that Ruby is in paint and the Silver Fox was ready for pick up! So our wonderful friend Doug took Mike to pick up the Silver Fox this afternoon around 3.


Then at 4:45 I received this text: "Funny thing... I'm back at Hudson (the body shop) because the breaks went out. Thankfully I was at Enterprise Rental (changing over our rental contract) which is 2 blocks from Hudson. Ronnie's (the repair guy) is about to take a look."


UGG!!! Basically, the brake line got bumped, for lack of a better term, during the accident and the Jeep was leaking brake fluid. Therefore, even though the repairman had test driven it on the highway at 70 miles per hour, once Michael got in, the brakes went out. Praise the Lord he wasn't on the highway or slippery roads and that he was easily able to get back to the repair shop and have them check it out. This is what they found: 


The good brake line

The bad brake line


So, the Fox is back in the shop getting the brake line repaired and refilled with fluid. Hopefully we'll be back to our whole fleet by the end of this week... hopefully.


dear indoor plumbing, water in a glass, and a roof over my head,


i am so very thankful for each of you and how your presence in my life makes everything so much easier. this time last year i was sitting among brambles making thanksgiving dinner out of cheese, hashbrowns, and very little water. i am thrilled to have slept indoors this thanksgiving and not have to search for water (but also glad to have had the chance at nols to experience "roughing it"). 


love, nicole


dear my awesome family (all of you!),


you are the loves of my life!! i couldn't make it through life's ups and downs without you. i absolutely adore you. thank you for such a wonderful weekend back in dallas. it was a blast- from running in the Turkey Trot with our own turkey, to making Mamaw's dressing, to watching hilarious episodes of the SNL Lawrence Welk show spoof! i can't wait to see all of yall again soon. you are more than i could ever have asked for and much more than i deserve. 


love, nicole/co bear






dear frontier airlines,


thank you for safely transporting us to dallas on tuesday. i also really loved the awesome chocolate chip cookie you served on board and the "extra leg room" area that we got to ride in. 


love, nicole 






dear working car engines,


you make it so easy for us to get from one place to another. with you we can get in the car, decide where we want to go, and go there. without worrying about it. you're the best!


love, nicole 


As you might recall, last week we had our EPIC car accidents which I blogged about here. Since then we have been chatting back and forth with our AMAZING insurance company USAA- the best insurance on the planet, if you ask me- thanks, Army! And have gotten things moving right along. We were able to get the Jeep (aka the Silver Fox) towed to the body repair shop the very day after the accidents, and we took the 4 Runner (aka Ruby) in today. 


Since both of our vehicles are tied up, we went ahead and splurged on a rental so that we could, you know, keep driving around town and doing fun things. So, they hooked us up at Enterprise rental with this beauty:




A sick, 2011 GMC Yukon with leather seats, satellite radio, and an engine that doesn't like to run...


We of course didn't figure out the "engine that doesn't like to run" part until we started driving it. At first, the truck was okay. We couldn't get the heat to come on no matter what we did (only cold air blew), there was no washer fluid, and only 1/8 of a tank of gas when we picked it up. Not to worry, we weren't going to have the thing for long and it drove decently enough. 


Then, we were driving to work on the highway yesterday and the check engine light came on followed by the digital message informing us of the "Engine Overheating" and subsequent "Power Being Reduced". For a brief moment we wondered what all that meant, and then the car began to power down. Although Michael had his foot on the accelerator, the speedometer slowly ticked down from 50 to 40 and eventually to 0. ON THE STINKIN HIGHWAY!!! 


We pulled over, stared at each other in disbelief, turned off the car, turned the car back on, and miraculously went on our merry way with no further troubles.


We thought that perhaps the problem was that we didn't turn the car on early enough before we left. So this morning we let it heat up for 20 minutes- it was only 1 degree outside after all. Then, on the way to Copper, the stinkin Yukon powered down not only once, but THREE times! GRRRRR!!! 


Luckily we called the nice people at Enterprise Rentals in Silverthorne and they drove a new vehicle out to Copper for us and towed the crazy Yukon all the way home. We are still quite unsure as to what was going on with this massive vehicle, but for now we have a lovely Nissan Pathfinder with working heat, lots of fuel, and most importantly a properly working engine!! 


dear awesome ice breaking tool,


thanks for helping my awesome husband break up the 3 inch thick ice on our driveway this afternoon. it would have taken a TON longer had it not been for your fantastic ability to break up huge blocks of ice. now we have a clear driveway that is ready for tonight's blizzard!


love, nicole


dear crisp mountain air,


thank you for blowing through my hair and reminding me of the awesome power of God. although i cannot see you, you effect a great deal of my day up here in the mountains by bringing in weather, moving around snow, and determining whether i play outside in a t-shirt or puffy jacket. you bring me a breath of fresh air. 


love, nicole






dear mini skiers,


thank you for being the most adorable thing on the mountain-especially when you are trying to carry your own skis. and for your sweet innocence which reminds me to not take myself too seriously. 


love, nicole


dear apple in my fridge,

i am so thankful that you are available to me whenever i am hungry. you are so tasty and delicious- especially with a little peanut butter.

love, nicole



The Lord works in mysterious ways and sometimes uses crazy situations to remind us that He is with us and watching over our every move. Yesterday there was a freak blizzard in the mountains during which we experienced not one, but two car accidents. Mike, Pepper, and I are all just fine- praise God. So here's a little rundown of the day's events. 

Our friend B needed to run an errand to Dillon, so I offered to drive him. I chose to take the Dillon Dam Road because at the time, the weather wasn't too bad. However, as I was driving white out conditions with blowing snow and almost no visibility came up. The Dam Road is extremely exposed with the Dillon Dam on one side, and a huge drop off on the other.

This is the Dam Road on a clear day.

I was driving very cautiously at about 5-10 mph, as were most of the other drivers. The visibility was so low, that I had to use the guard rail as a guide across the road. Then, about 3/4 of the way across the road, a large Toyota Sequoia came barreling down the road (I estimate he was going 25-30 mph in A FREAKIN BLIZZARD) and side swiped me. Praise God that no one in either vehicle (including little Pepper Dog) was injured. Had he been about 1 foot over, he would have hit me head on and we would be in a much worse situation. I was literally praying aloud in the car the entire way across the Dam and know the Lord heard my prayers. We had to continue to the other side of the Dam because stopping was simply not a safe option. Luckily, there are security guards on either end of the dam so they were able to call each other and the police and get the situation taken care of. Two minutes after I pulled off the road, they closed it due to low visibility- go figure! 

While I was waiting for the state police, I called Mike and he offered to come help me. Unfortunately, as he was driving on I-70, a moving truck cut him off causing him to lose control, spin out, and drift off into a snow bank where he hit a small tree. Even though this tree took a little chunk out of the driver's side running board, it caused him to stop before running into some much larger trees a few feet away.

This is the Silver Fox this morning before getting towed out. Mike was traveling in the far left lane in the opposite direction than the Jeep is currently facing. 

The police came out and tagged the vehicle during the night, although when we called them, they told us that since there were no injuries they had too many other accidents going on the come deal with the situation. 



He, too, was completely unharmed, but had to dig himself out and hitch a ride back to town to get a wrecker for the Jeep. Due to the significant number of accidents on the highway (which later became utterly shut down for a stretch of about 100 miles all night) the tow truck service was not able to retrieve his vehicle until this morning. Praise God that he is safe and that a really nice lady picked him up in the middle of a blizzard, drove him to the wrecker in Frisco, and then to our house in Breck! What a blessing!! 

Both vehicles sustained significant damage - the Jeep has a bent front tie rod and the 4 Runner is missing the driver's side rear view mirror, part of the back fender (some of which the city police officer brought us from the road, and some of which is still lodged in the side of the Sequoia that hit me), and the passenger door won't open. It is truly a miracle that neither of us got injured. Praise God! Also praise God that we have great insurance coverage from USAA. They are already processing both of our claims and have been nothing but nice.


 Poor Ruby!

I never realized how much I use my driver's side rearview mirror until it went missing.

By the time I was finished talking to the officer that arrived on scene, I-70 (read: the only way home) was closed. So Pepper, my friend Brandon (whom I'd been taking to Dillon on a errand) and I called our friend Tyler who lives about 5 (non-blizzard) minutes from where the accident occurred to hang out until the storm passed. Needless to say, by the time it passed, it was quite late and we didn't feel like pressing our luck, so we wound up sleeping at Ty's for the night. Another huge blessing as other cars and truckers were being routed off the highway and forced to get a hotel or sleep in their vehicles. Thanks, Tyler!!

We are so grateful to God for the hedge of protection around both of us, our friend B, little Pepper, and the other drivers yesterday. Although we were both quite shaken, and our cars are damaged, we don't even have a nick on us. We are truly hemmed in behind and before. 

Side note: Pepper had fun playing with Tyler's cats all night!! Haha. It was a good laugh at the end of a rough day.




dear pepper dog,


i am thankful for your playfulness, curiosity, and never ending love. whether you are romping through new snow, hiking with us in the mountains, or just gnawing on your bone, you bring joy to my life! you are the best dog and you always know how to cheer me up, even when i am down. thank you for being such a loyal companion. i look forward to many more years together.


love, nicole


dear Protector God,


i am thankful that you keep us safe in the midst of fear, anxiety, and the unknown. i praise you for knowing all that will happen to us in our lives even before we were born. i find such safety in knowing that you are all-knowing and that you have a plan and purpose for our lives.


love, nicole 






dear snowflakes,


thank you for piling up on one another all over copper mountain and the rest of summit county. you are beautiful and also very fun to ski on!


love, nicole





dear emmanuel fellowship,


thank you for providing a place for us to worship this morning in both english and spanish. praising El Senor with such a passionate, loving group of people was a huge blessing! i can't wait to go back again. 


love, nicole 


dear friends and family,


thank you thank you thank you for the tons of birthday wishes, calls, texts, facebook messages, gifts, and cards. i was overwhelmed by the outpouring of love that i felt yesterday. i am beyond blessed! plus, i didn't have to sleep in a tent last night like i did last year on my b-day- yay!


love, nicole 






dear denise austin,


thank you for being cognisant of the fact that your voice is not the most pleasing to listen to when i'm doing yoga and therefore providing a "music only" option on your videos. it is greatly appreciated and motivates me to stretch after a long day of skiing.


love, nicole 



dear bubby,
thank you for your selfless service to our country and for your willingness to do what it takes when others do not. i am so proud of you and grateful that i get to stand by your side and be called your wife. i admire and adore you. you are, and will always be, my hero.
with boundless love, your sweetie



dear veterans at home & across the globe,
i am beyond thankful for your sacrifice and service to this country- whether it be over seas (time and time again), stateside during a national crisis, or simply chugging through the daily grind that is the military. you have strength that others merely dream of and we are proud of you. thank you for willingly giving of your time, your energy, your bodies, and your hearts. we are always behind you and grateful for your service.
love, nicole


dear military wives & husbands, families & kids,
you are the backbone of today's military- the unglorified support behind the front lines. without your steadfast love and support our men & women couldn't go out there an accomplish everything they are called to do. thank you for all the tears you've cried, for all the days you've waited & for all the unabashed love you have for your service member. your spirit and dedication cannot be matched. thank you, thank you, thank you!!
love, nicole 


dear Cat,


thanks for calling me this morning and asking me to go skiing. even though the conditions weren't great and i almost got killed by an instructor (who shall remain nameless), it was really fun to be out in the crisp mountain air skiing like a girl!


love, 
nicole 


I ran across an awesome blog today http://thxthxthx.com/. It's an entire blog devoted to thank you notes for everything from loneliness to donut shops. It has inspired me to commit to writing a thank you note each day leading up to Thanksgiving. Thus, I present to you my first thank you:



dear pinecones outside my window,

thank you for sitting in the tree and getting covered by snow which makes me feel all warm and wintery inside. you make me excited that winter is coming.

love, 
nicole 





My mom came in for a visit last weekend. We had a wonderful time together and I was so happy that she came. Surprisingly, we got to ski for two full days while she was here! I knew the mountains were going to be open, but I had no idea that we would get two full days of great skiing. When she told me she was coming, I figured we go get a run or two in at Loveland or A-basin. Instead, we skied from open until close on Sunday and Monday.
Family ski trips are among my favorite memories from growing up. Nearly every year the Horn family made the trip up to Colorado. It was a great opportunity to get away from the business of Dallas, enjoy the beautiful mountains, and spend time together as a family. It was also this commitment to skiing every year that gave me the passion for the sport that I have today.
My mom is a great skier. She has beautiful form and she skis her ability. There is no pretention to her skiing – she just enjoys making left and right turns on simple slopes. She likes the athletic challenge, but is happy with a day on mellow slopes. She is the kind of skier that I like to ski with – someone with no expectation or competition in mind.
Priscilla also has a pretty amazing history in the sport, although she would never let you know. In grade school, Mom learned to ski in Lucerne, Switzerland. My grandfather was stationed in Germany in the late 1950s so she was able to learn in the birthplace of modern skiing. Mom also went skiing in Hokkaido, Japan with my uncle Lee in the early 1960s. They were on a Boy Scout trip, and Mom skied on a pair of “Haga Hickory” wooden skis. In those days, skiers used lace-up leather boots. There was no gore-tex, prima-loft, or vented goggles. Heat-molded, comfort-fit boots were not available. Skiers didn’t have shaped skis. The modern comforts that make it easy for us were totally absent. Skiing back then was about the skier and the mountain.  It was simple. And that’s the way Mom skis.
I think it is pretty darn cool to hear about Mom’s early days of skiing. I also think that just about everyone in Summit County would find my mom’s adventures in the early days of commercial skiing pretty darn cool. But if you ask her about it, she will tell you that it was no big deal.
On any given day in Dallas, my mom is usually involved in about five different things. Priscilla Horn is not the type to sit around eating bon-bons and watching soap operas. If she’s not volunteering, attending a bible study, hosting a party, visiting her mom, or exercising – she’s visiting her granddaughter in Atlanta. She has a lot on her mind. So getting Mom on the ski slopes is a great thing. She has a chance to relax, take in the mountains, and forget about all of her commitments. We were also able to share something that I love.
Why do I love skiing so much? The answer is simple – peace and adventure.
Skiing is peaceful – no matter how busy life gets, when you can make turns down a snowy slope, what else is really important? The serenity the mountain gives is like nothing else!
Skiing is an adventure – No other sport offers the exhilaration of flying down the side of a mountain, with your feet fixed to two planks
Mom loves skiing for the same reasons. She may not need to ski fast, ski bumps or jump cliffs, but she feels the same things. Although Mom downplays her enjoyment in the sport, you can tell that she truly loves it! What’s my evidence? Last Monday we skied at A-Basin, which had only 3 trails open. The lift lines were long, the snow base was shallow, and the runs were repetitive. Yet even the mention of leaving the slopes before 3 PM brought a look of disappointment to her face. The bottom line - mom wanted to ski.
But who am I kidding really? The thing my Mom loves the most is her kids! She didn’t come out here to ski – she came out her to visit her son and daughter-in-law. Priscilla loves to spend time with her kids especially because we are so spread out. Suzanne and Richard live in Atalnta, Leslie just got a job in New York, and Nicole and I live in Colorado. It's challenging for mom to travel all over the countryside to visit her kids, so the chance to spend time with us was a big thrill for her. I think she was just happy being together. I can’t remember the last time I spent so much quality time with her. 
Last weekend was a great experience and will be a great memory for many years to come. We never expected to have such a wonderful time on the slopes, but I’m glad we did. I look forward to many great ski trips with the family in the future.


's kennel. This was the way a text message I sent to my mom came across yesterday. She called later, after reading the entire message and scolded me for freaking her out! Oops. Sorry momma :)




Yesterday we listed Pepper's old kennel in the Summit Daily and decided to include a cute picture to go along with it and convince everyone that it's worth purchasing. Pep hasn't used this kennel in quite some time (or maybe ever) because it is WAY too big for her, so she was none too keen to get in it. Therefore we did what any good dog parents would do and bribed her by placing little bits of turkey Hansel and Gretel style leading into the kennel. Then we shut her in there and snapped a quick pic. 


We now have a cute ad and she's (likely) not scared for life... Dogs only have a 7 second memory, right?


For the past few weeks we have been sitting around wondering when winter was going to arrive. Mike started getting a little stressed last week when we heard that we were almost 2 weeks behind our snow fall totals at Copper compared to this time last year, but I calmly assured him that winter would not forget us. And then yesterday morning we woke up to this:



The previous night's evening rain shower had transformed into this beautiful stuff called snow!! Unfortunately, the storm caught everyone in Summit a little off guard, or as Mike put it "with its collective pants down." So Pepper and I stayed hunkered down all day sitting back and watching the beautiful snow pile up outside our door. It is magnificent and I think it's safe to say that winter is here to stay! 



Last week, Michael and I embarked on what we thought was going to be an epic adventure through Zion National Park. He had to attend annual training for the Reserves in southern (and I mean southern) Arizona at Fort Huachuca for two weeks. He left on October 1, I finished my last day of work at the preschool on October 8, and then drove all the way across Colorado and New Mexico to meet him. 


We had a good time at Fort Huachuca where we visited the Kartchner Caves and Coronado National Monument on the US/Mexico border. 


 The border... yikes! I'm not gonna lie, I was a little sketched out by being right along the border especially since Michael spoke with a border patrol agent who told us that there are always scouts hiding in the hills! Border patrol= a very intense job!!

Kubla Khan in Kartchner Caves

We spent a week together at Fort Huachuca and then headed out toward Zion via the Grand Canyon. My family had an epic adventure at the Grand Canyon when I was a kid (and by epic I mean HORRIBLE!) so I was very excited to go there and leave with a better taste of the beautiful canyon. 

We arrived on Saturday afternoon after literally driving all the way across the state of Arizona so we caught a glimpse of the canyon and then set up camp for the night. 



I'd never been car camping and let me tell you, it's the way to go! You have all the benefits and conveniences of your car but still get to sleep out under the stars. 


Sunday morning we woke up before the crack of dawn, layered up, and went to the rim to watch the sunrise. I thought I had seen some beautiful sunrises before, but this was simply majestic. What a perfect way to celebrate the Sabbath Day by basking in the glory of the Lord's creation!






Just magnificent!

You may be surprised that that was the extent of our Grand Canyon experience, but it was. We would definitely like to go back and hike the North Rim, but it's always good to leave wanting more. 

So, we hopped back in the car and continued our drive to Zion National Park! Before we got there, we drove across the Lake Powell Dam, which is both beautiful and sad at the same time. It's crazy to be driving across the desert and find such an immense amount of water. What an anomaly. 



Eventually, we made it to Zion, which is one of the most beautiful National Parks in the country. 




Our intention was the meet up with two of our friends from NOLS, Dane and B, and drop a slot. Zion is a canyon system made up of numerous vary narrow canyons called slot canyons. When we were at NOLS we spent a great deal of time "dropping slots" which basically entails climbing to the top of a canyon system and then climbing back down through the canyon through a series of rappels. The one we had selected, Behunin Canyon, had about 11 rappels with the largest being a free-hanging 165 foot rappel! We were super stoked until we woke up Monday morning to rain!! Slot canyons can flash flood during a large rain storm within minutes and they are not a place in which you want to be caught! We thought about staying around to climb, but unfortunately most of Zion is sandstone which just crumbles when it's wet, so that wasn't an option either :(

With heavy hearts, we decided to forgo trying to drop the slot and got back in the car to head home. On Monday we drove across the state of Utah and the rest of Colorado racking up four full states and over 2,000 miles for this little road trip! The best part of the drive back was that we drove through Green River, Utah where we had stayed the night during our NOLS course. Even though Green River literally consists of only two gas stations, a state park and an RV park, it was very exciting for both of us to return to a place that was the start of our epic journey in the canyons. 


I guess we'll just have to try again next time...



After getting all of our gear packed, we loaded busses that took us out into the Wind River Mountain Range in Wyoming for 10 days of backpacking. 

(Please note: my backpack becomes much more svelt over the course of the next 94 days as I became a much more efficient packer thanks to NOLS)

Once we were dropped off, we held a few short classes on topics such as "How to use bear spray" and "How to wipe in the backcountry" (but we won't go into that...) before staggering our start times and heading off into the wild unknown. Our first camp site was simply breathtaking:



In fact, almost all of our campsites were absolutely gorgeous, but one of the most interesting things we learned in the Winds, besides how to read a topo map and find routes through confusing terrain, was how to cook in the backcountry. This was a concept that hadn't occurred to me prior to NOLS. But out there, we cooked everything from cheesy fried bagels to pizza. 

Our first meal- cheesy cashew pasta

Cheesy pizza with sausage (a NOLS favorite)

Yummy backcountry brownies

And of course, oatmeal cookies



Last December I wrote this post with more details about our travels in the Winds. 


I've never done a post like this before, but I saw on a fellow blogger's website that she dedicates one day a month to declaring to the world why her husband is awesome. Well, mine is pretty cool, too, so I thought I would share a few of the things that make him great.


Number 1- He ALWAYS makes me laugh- even when I don't want to. 


Number 2- He takes me on awesome adventures.


Number 3- He lets me pack as much as I want. 

All of these bags were for the two of us for one trip- this was in the pre-baggage fee days.

Number 4- He's an Aggie.


Number 5- He proudly and humbly serves our country and safely returned from a 15-month deployment to Iraq. 


Number 5b- He looks GREAT in uniform!!!


Number 6- He's really strong, Ms. Parrish.


Number 7- He let us adopt sweet Pepper Dog. 


Number 8- He's a good cook. 


Number 9- He doesn't get mad at me for doing stupid things like driving our truck into a snowbank. 


Number 10- He loves it when I take pictures of EVERYTHING!! 



Well, most of the time any way.

But the biggest reason my husband rocks is because he's my best friend. Through all of our ups and downs, and the craziness of life, he stands beside me. We are truly sole mates. I love you, Bub!