Ahh, Monday is almost over! Just a quickie.

Its been an eventful week here in Utah with my good friend and strength coach, Tschana giving birth to her baby girl!  Hazel Luna Schiller was born this Monday and boy is she cute.  Here she is, curled up in her quilt and resting soundly.  That's really all she does these days, eat a lot, sleep a lot and cry a little every so often, but crying is tiring, so then she needs to sleep again, but get's hungry again so quickly, so she has to wake up and eat and then it all begins again. Tschana and Matt are already such attentive and loving parents it is really fun to go for visits.

Hazel Luna Schiller

The welcome home brigade in picture form.

Another shot of Hazel

I made biscotti for my first time ever and it turned out pretty tasty, though a but on the crumbly side.

Working on my agility.  Still has a long ways to go, but summer is just beginning;)

Krazy Kones.  That's right, they are extra crazy when spelled with a K.

On Sunday I skied up a canyon from Salt Lake and ran home to Park City on a beautiful trail.  There are so many cool adventures to be had out here!

The wildflowers were out in force and my iPhone just never seems to do them justice.

My trail

I came home from the Seiser Alm Pre-Olympic Camp!

It has been a while.....I am sorry readers, I really have no valid excuse except sheer laziness.  My apologies, it will not soon happen again that I make you wait to long for an update.  At this point going back in time to all that happened from February until now seems tedious and not so interesting to read about anyway, so I am going to skip ahead for you all to the now.

Right now, I am in Park City.  I just got back from an awesome Bend Camp with the team, filled with lots of SUN, skiing and good times with teammates and friends in a great town.  It felt early to be getting back on snow, but as soon as I got going on day 1, I was pumped about it.  We spent 10 days training in the morning on the snow and the afternoons in the woods on bikes or running and in the gym jumping around and lifting heavy weights only to put them back down again.

Now it is nice to be back home in Park City, getting back into the swing of life here.  I am spending the summer living in Mike Engel's house with him, which he has generously offered up to me again.  I am not sure how I am ever going to repay all of the generosity I have been showered with in the years I have been a skier.  Pass it on I guess.

Here are a few shots of good times over the last couple weeks.  The most exciting news is that my good friend and strength coach, Tschana Schiller and her husband Matt just gave birth to a beautiful baby girl this morning named Hazel Luna and I can't even wait to meet her.  All of my friends are getting married and having babies these days.  I can't believe I am already at that age, and yet so, so far away from any of that myself! Oh, funny times.

Be well.

My mom and I in our Kentucky Derby Hats!

My mom taught me how to quilt this spring and this is the quilt I made for Tschana and Matt's baby!  I was extremely proud of it, as I have never made a craft of any kind that was worth saving:)

The first tulip of the year in PC.  They are my favorite flower, fyi:)

Most of our Running with Ed team this spring.  The run is a relay race that goes through all of the schools in the district and raises money for Park City Education Foundation.  Super fun day and cool event.

My good friends Tyler Riedesel and Josie Vordenberg.

Bend Camp!  Some of the Wasatch Nordic Ski Team.

About to shred the Whoops here in Bend!

Sadie taking care of all her injuries.

Girls meeting night ended in the Fro-Yo shop!

Pretty psyched coaches taking selfies on my phone. Yep. 

CRUST SKI!!!!  I haven't gotten to do this crust ski up to the base of Brokentop in about 4 years and it was an amazing day for it.  So special to be up there again.  These days are a perfect reminder of how lucky I am to be a skier.

Jessie getting her hike on to get up the steepest section.

We had a visitor in Sue Vordenberg, Pete's mom, come over for some delicious appetizers and great company one night.  Sue lives here in Bend and is a big supporter of the team and lifelong skier herself.

My bike with it's newest sticker! Thanks Skids for helping me shred!

My good friend Bonnie Glover came to town and did a little jumping on the tramps at the COE.

Bonnie and I.  Bonnie was on her way to do a 1/2 Ironman Triathlon in Boise this past weekend.  Just the thought of swimming a mile plus made my legs weak.

Luke Adams graduated from High School on Friday and we threw him a sushi takedown party.  He has accepted at Whitman College in Walla Walla for next year.  Congrats Luke!

Handmade sushi rolls!

Toni, Luke, Lindsay and Greg Adams, Noah's host family.

A rollerski to brunch party on Sunday to Katie Perhai's house!

Katie really went above and beyond for us all!

And Cheryl even flew in for the weekend from Denver! So nice to have everyone back together again!  Tschana headed to the hospital to have Hazel about 8 hours after this picture was snapped.

T, Margo, Matt and Cheryl

Pre-Olympic Training Camp!

Still in Seiser Alm!!! We are so lucky!

Perfect tracks, beautiful sun lots of days, and snowing the rest of the time. The training life is good up here.

Noah heading out on a ski.

The Italian Team was staying at our hotel with us until this past Saturday and it was fun to mingle a bit with another team.  A few of us skied with Debby, one of the Italian World Cup athletes a couple of days, and we are plotting how to do some more training together in the future.

Here are a few shots of our gorgeous vista.

Our hotel: Hotel Panorama

Seiser Alm to Poland and Back!

After a great training camp after the Tour de Ski with Jessie, Noah and Matt, we all jumped in the van and headed out on our 9 hour drive to Poland where the weekend's World Cups were to be held.  It was hard to leave the epic snow conditions here, as Poland was not meant to have much at all, but we knew we would be coming back in 5 days, so that made it a bit easier.

Seiser Alm

Poland was really fun, as I was able to do a skate sprint race, which I really like to do, but usually don't have a spot.  I ended up qualifying for the rounds for my second time ever on the World Cup, and finished the day in 15th and had the time of my life!

Holly sent me these pictures from her live feed back in USA.  Pumped to get Holly back tomorrow after her little rest in Boulder and Park City the last 2 weeks.

Ahhhh....happy place.

Great ski this morning on perfect tracks! 

As a reminder:

The website CrossCountrySki.US has the entire EuroSport feed of every Cross Country World uploaded to the internet, just for all of you avid fans out there, but maybe not willing to get up at 4 am to see us compete on the weekend. TOTALLY get that!

Just a very quick snapshot of the last 2 weeks....

Jessie, Holly and I in Toblach, Italy after stage 5 of 7.

There has been a lot that has happened in the last 2 weeks, and I really want to recap in more depth, but I am torn between getting a post up and taking the time to reflect on this period of time that has just passed.  So, I will do both.  Here are a few pictures from the last couple of weeks to give you a brief idea of what I have been up to until I can sit down and take the time to write the post I would like to write.

The Tour de Ski happened.  And, my parents came to watch the last 3 stages!!

Noah, Jessie and my good friends, Karin Camenisch and Markus Ljungdahl decided to drive over from Davos to watch us race Alp Cermis.  The 3.5 hour drive turned into an epic 9.5 hour drive, through a blizzard and closed roads, but they made it and I feel so incredibly lucky to have such caring friends as these two gems.

Our awesome massage therapist, Steph, who keeps us feeling our best throughout these grueling 9 days, me, and Holly after the Final Climb.  Holly didn't complete the last 2 stages of the Tour this year, but was there cheering her lungs out right where we needed her most.

Holly, Jessie, Steph and I all smiles after finishing the Tour.  It's a pretty fun feeling at the top of that mountain at the end of the 9 day Tour.

My parents and I took a mini 3 day vacation and headed south to Tuscany the day after the Tour.  Rest is what is needed for a few days following, so it was a great opportunity to spend some much needed time with my family and check out an area none of us had ever been to before.  We stayed 2 nights in a small town called Castellina in Chianti, which is about 20k outside of Sienna.  It was a really cute little town, complete with a castle, vineyards and olive trees everywhere, and great little farmhouses that you can rent a room in for the night.  We found just such a place and enjoyed the quiet, beautiful views from the patio when we weren't out exploring, which I have to say was not too much!

My parents and the view from our farmhouse.

The first night we arrived I saw one of the most beautiful sunsets I have ever seen in my life. A picture never does it justice, but to give you an idea...

We checked out Sienna for a day, which is a super old city with narrow, cobblestone streets and gorgeous, old buildings, some that were built thousands of years ago.  It's pretty unbelievable how old some of Europe is.  My dad and I enjoying an espresso.

Me and my parents excited to have time together. I can't tell you all enough how wonderful it was to be with my family again, even if only for a few days. Skype is great, but there is nothing that compares to a bear hug from your dad and some good quality mom time. I didn't realize how much I needed it.

Panoramic view of the square in Sienna

View of the city of Sienna.

I am now training in Seiser Alm, Italy with Jessie, Noah and Matt before we all head to Poland for a weekend of World Cup racing and then head back here for 10 days of training again before our last World Cup before Sochi!  It is all coming quickly now.  There are some really beautiful pictures from here that I want to post, and some fun activities that happened yesterday on my birthday, but I have to get to bed so they will have to wait!

Ok....maybe just a taste of my life right now....

IM SO LUCKY!!!