Parker Desert Races & Snowboarding

Our little family had a very busy weekend! We were at the very west edge of Arizona for the Parker races on Saturday morning. Then, Monday morning, we were at the very eastern edge of Arizona for snowboarding at Sunrise in the White Mountains.

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It has become a Milloy family tradition to drive to the Parker "Best in the Desert" races. They start at 7am in Parker, so we wake up between 2-3am so we can be there when the race starts. The drivers race trophy trucks, sand cars, jeeps, and all kinds of other vehicles. Maddie was a little trooper. She was so excited about the race cars. Everytime they raced by, she would stare open mouthed and say, "Whoa!" I don't know why I didn't get video of it. It was hysterical. It started raining on us mid morning, so we went to eat breakfast. Brandon took us to Crossroads where he used to eat all the time while he was laying over in Parker. The food and service were excellent- we may include this restaurant in our Parker tradition. Maddie had a fun time stacking creamers, butter, and syrup containers. We were all impressed by her engineering skills. Maybe she'll be an architect.

Maddie and Daddy exploring the desert.Maddie being her tomboy, adventurous self. She loves dirt and rocks, so the wide open desert was full of fun for her.On Sunday, we had a house full of people over for the Super Bowl. Brandon and I are self-admitted fair weather fans. We don't watch sports unless our friends are over. Then, we root for the popular team and act like we know what's going on.

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Monday was snowboarding day. Laura came over and watched Maddie all day for us so we could have a little get away. Although we missed our love bug, we had a blast! We left the house at 6:30am and headed east. The drive is beautiful and reminds me that most of Arizona is forest and mountains. I always forget because we live in the typical Arizona valley of the sun. We are very lucky that we only have to drive an hour to get to snow.As the sun came up, we found the snow. Snow makes everything so beautiful and clean.Doesn't this look like a postcard? This was in the middle of nowhere. We found wild horses grazing in a winter wonderland.Sunrise Ski Resort

This is the rental shop where we rented my boots and board. They've carved out walkways to the doors so people can get through. I am so glad I don't live in the snow.Going snowboarding on a Monday was the best idea ever. There were 5 other cars in the parking lot and we had one side of the mountain to ourselves. It was so peaceful and quiet! It also took a lot of stress off me since I am awful at snowboarding and spend more time falling off the lift and on my butt in the snow instead of snowboarding. Brandon and I borrowed snowboarding clothes from friends and ended up being camo buddies. Yay! We never lost each other! :) Brandon was so patient with his uncoordinated wife. He would snowboard aways down the hill and then sit in the snow and watch me fall my way down. I was tired, frustrated, and irritated and he kept brushing the snow off me and helping me back up. Over and over again, I told him to just go and I would make it down. He wouldn't leave. It was kind of embarrasing, but comforting to know if I got stuck in a snow drift, Brandon would come save me. I love my Brandon. And I love our matching camo jackets. Derrick and Rachel came with us and had lots of fun too. Don't they look like they're straight out of a snowboarding magazine? So cute.

More beautiful scenic pictures from the ski lift.

Yes, that says 24 degrees outside.

We survived! A little sunburned and a lot sore, but we survived!

Maddie in her dad's snowboarding boots.