Ski Days

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It's still ski season...somewhere!  ABasin is still open, I know that.  They're still getting snow out in Colorado and places like that.

Skiing is mine and my dad's thing.  I've never been skiing with anyone accept him.  Mom used to go, but now it's just the two of us!  We have a blast and tell mom what she's missing.  Mom and I spend an extra week at the beach; Dad and I spend a week in Colorado.  I reap the benefits of both!  Even though I am so cold natured, snow skiing is a different story.

There is the cute little store in Maggie Valley that I've always wanted to go in, and Dad took me in a few afternoons this year!  What first drew me to Jelly Bellies was the sign for Blue Bell Ice Cream, but once I got in, there was way more than that!  It was a great place to shop!   It made me feel like I was on vacation.  I got some rocky road fudge, Heath Toffee fudge, dark chocolate sea salt caramels, and chocolate almond toffetts, all homemade.

I contemplated buying these mints just because they made me laugh.

If it did, I would be killing two birds with one stone quite often.

My ice cream and a new notepad for jotting down "utterly important" notes.

All bundled up and ready to go!

While we were out for those couple weeks of snow, Dad and I got up extra early to get in the best skiing conditions.  The Cataloochee Ranch up top made for a pretty picture.

Even driving through Morristown had some great scenery.

This ended up being my lock screen photo on my iPhone for a couple months!  It's great to get to ski in some real snow.

 

 Sitting inside at dinnertime is always fun, I'm not sure why.  I think it is just the change of scenery and opportunity to hang out in the lodge and warm up by the fire!

My mom got the opportunity to show some of the classes at her school some ski gear and tell them about this great winter sport!  This is Gretchen showing off my skis, boots, and helmet for her class!  Her mom, Julia, works at Manley with my mom and is very involved with our church, too!  I just love this precious family!



Valentine's Day Weekend

This has been another long weekend extended by snow!  I am so thankful for all that!

Here, I made my own healthier version of banana pudding!  Instead of pudding, I used a banana cream yogurt (and added some vanilla froyo) and used cereal and graham crackers instead of vanilla wafers.  Add in some mushed banana, and there you have it!

Thursday morning, Dad and I got up before sunrise to face the road conditions to go skiing at Cataloochee.  The roads were a little sketchy in places, and it took a while longer to get there than normal, but it was totally worth it!  I have never seen so much snow there in all 12 years that I've been skiing!  We called it "mini Colorado."  They actually had a foot of powder.  The Meadows on the backside from the top was also open.  If you have never skied in powder, you just do not understand how much burn it puts in your legs.  I am really sore today!  It also flurried snow the whole time we were there.  I had an absolute blast.  It brought back memories of last spring break.

This morning I made my own miniature cinnamon rolls!   They're very easy and can be made however you like.  All it takes is whipping up your own icing, slicing up some bread, spreading on the icing, rolling it up, and sticking it in the oven!  Then you have bite-sized, healthy cinnamon rolls.

See, look how cute.

I am a big fan of Hobby Lobby and all their positive and inspiring decorations.  Mom and I went today to see what all has come out since Christmas, and they're already on the ball for all the spring holidays!

This was a wall decoration with one of my most challenging and favorite passages of scripture, 1 Corinthians 13.  Considering today is Valentine's Day, it went quite well.

Sometimes it is extremely hard to love people.  We may think that doing good things is, well, good, and it is.  However, we are not called to just do "good."  God's Word tells us to "do everything in love."  1 Corinthians 16:14  Without love, our good works are not true.  Sweet and simple, this passage lays out what true love is:  patient, kind, does not envy, does not boast, is not proud, not self-seeking, not easily angered, and keeps no record of wrongs.  It does not delight in evil, but rejoices with the truth.  Love always protects, trusts, hopes, perseveres, and love never fails.

I always get a little gift from my mom and dad for small holidays, too, and this is what I got this year:  A daily "calendar" of Peanuts inspiration!  I'm so excited to see something new each day!



 

Another daily thing I've been doing lately is looking at a daily promise from God on 365promises blog.  The author paraphrases a promise from God's Word as if He were speaking directly to you, then puts it with a beautiful picture with the original verse below.  It's a great way to remember how much God loves us.

Billy Graham Evangelistic Association has a magazine called Decision that they send out each month. The big features in the latest edition were stories about the Duck Dynasty opinions on homosexuality as based on the Bible's Words.  I started reading them today, and have seen some very interesting views of this issue.  A quote I really liked was by Ross Rhoads:  "Someone may argue, 'I was born this way.'  All people are born with the tendency to sin, but that does not justify yielding to sinful acts."  Many of the magazine's stories from "Ducking the Issue" are also online.

Cataloochee and Creek Cafe

Happy Martin Luther King Jr. Day!

Since I didn't have school today, Dad and I took a trip to Cataloochee last night.  Except for some ice, especially when the sun went down, it was a fantastic night to ski!  After the 4:30 day pass people left, there was no lift lines to wait in at all!

"Selfies" are not my thing.  I don't like to hear the word or apply it to myself.  It's just annoying.  So this is not a selfie.  This is a picture of me at Cataloochee.

 

Today I did something else I've been wanting to do for a while!  That seems to be happening a lot lately, doesn't it?  After letting breakfast digest, Mom dropped me off at the Jefferson City Community Center so I could swim and run a little bit.  She went to Walmart while I was doin' work.  One of my new favorite places is in downtown Jefferson City, called The Creek Cafe.  The place is so cute inside, the workers are super nice, and the food and drinks are delicious! 

 

I brought my devotion book to read, too.  Today was about being fresh in desiring the Lord, not stale.  God has given us new life to desire Him and to be satisfied in Him!  When we feel stale, it is because our relationship is not focused right.  Just go to God, and He will restore your spirit! 

What I got to eat was their homemade chicken salad sandwich on fresh apple wheatberry bread.  Oh man, could I eat that every day.  That's the best chicken salad I've ever had!  They also have a lot of coffee flavors, and I got vanilla.  The flavors are so good, I didn't even have to add any creamer!  Refills on flavors are only 50 cents, too.  The ice cream they serve in their store is delivered each week from Sevierville's Apple Barn!  That is one of my other favorite places!  You just can't go wrong with a place like this.  The 4 flavors I've gotten lately are Bear Claw (which has brownies), Irish Cream Cappuccino, Caramel Turtle Fudge, and Peanut Butter Fudge.

 

Lately, I've really been trying to make the most of every opportunity I get, because life is so short.  I just love life and all that God has blessed me with, so I want to use every moment to do something good.  It was also a great day off from school getting to spend time with my mom, because since things are moving so fast now, we don't get to be together as often!  Today was a great day of bonding.

Stuff I've Been Up To Lately

It has been a while since I've had any time to be on my laptop since school has started back!  So here are some things that I've wanted to share that I saved as drafts until I had a chance to tell all about it.

This was our first day back to school.  We had a 2 hour delay, so I ran with Dad before cleaning up and getting ready for school!  It was about 27 degrees at 5:45 when we started.

I've been loving some Pieces candies lately!  I got my mom some York Pieces for Christmas, and I've been eating them, too!  York, Heath, and Reeses Pieces make fantastic pancakes!

One Friday after school my friend Katlyn came home with me, and we went for a run from my house and back.  Then we each made our own half of a pizza and baked it! 

Yum, yum, and fun, fun

The next day, Saturday, I went over to the country club to help decorate for the Sub-Deb hosted formal.  It looked like Christmas in there!

AP Psychology is one of the two AP classes I am in this semester.  I think it is going to be very interesting!

Dad takes me to Cataloochee almost every weekend during the winter so we can get the use out of our snow ski season passes.  The town of Maggie Valley is small, but cute!  I love little areas like that.  They have a shopping strip down the main road that has almost every store having ice cream.  I spotted one with a Blue Bell Ice Cream sign next to its own sign, so I got Dad to take me on our way home one Sunday afternoon.  This store had all kinds of treats and goodies, and of course the ice cream.  It was also next to a coffee shop I hope to go into one day!

This picture is a little blurry, but in person, it looked amazing!  From my driveway Friday morning, you could see the moon through the trees so pretty.

Tonight on BET the movie Glory Road was just on.  I love that movie; it is such a great true story.  I thought this was a fantastic quote from the coach of the Texas Western Championship team.

There's also my Twitter if anyone wants to follow!

@makenzie_jones

 

At 9:00 tonight on ABC Family another fantastic movie is coming on-The Blind Side!

 

Breakfast, Birthday, and a Ski Trip

I got to sleep in for my last time for a while, unfortunately.  I just love to sleep.  I did some exercises, then around an early lunch time, I fixed this hearty healthy "brunch" to power me up for the day ahead and refuel from the night and workout.  I told my mom it was great because I got almost everything in one bowl.  Protein from egg whites and almond butter, fruit goodness from a banana, whole grains from cream of wheat and oatmeal, and healthy fats from the almond butter.  Adding eggs was an idea I got from Carrots 'N' Cake blog. 

Yum!

Saturday, January 4th, was the birthday of a little girl named Alicia who I sponsor through World Vision.  When I was in 8th grade, my parents surprised me with tickets to a Casting Crowns concert as part of my birthday present.  During intermission, this organization was the "entertainment" for a lack of better terms.  It seemed like something I really wanted to do, and it is not too expensive.  All it takes is $35 a month, and you get to help a child learn and grow in life in and in Christ.  My parents and I decided that each month would come from my $20 of allowance and the other $15 from Mom's unlimited car wash pass.  (Who needs that many car washes per month!? haha)  Our letters have been coming back and forth pretty quickly recently.  Above is the translated letter.

Here is the letter Alicia wrote herself back home in Rio Verde, Ecuador.  Since I have been through Spanish I so far in school, I can read almost her entire letters without the translated one!  That makes me so excited!  There are a few words in some sentences that I don't know, but by using context clues, I can figure out the general message of the entire letter.  I can't wait to hopefully one day get to talk to her in person.

Here she is!  12 year old Alicia!

Around 2 in the afternoon, Dad and I left for Cataloochee in North Carolina.  It is fairly close, only around an hour and 15 minutes in traffic with nothing crazy holding it up, so we always get season passes.  Conditions are iffy here, like most places that are mostly man-made snow, but Saturday (and many others) was one of those days when I just don't want to leave!  Snow skiing is my #2 love, behind running.  I've been a skier since I was 4, and I hope to do it the rest of my life!  Going down the mountain on a good snow day is such a rush and another way to experience the beauty of God's nature.

This is a view from the top before we went in for dinner.

Now, this isn't the one I ate, but this picture is for explaining purposes.  This is literally the best protein/granola bar I have ever tasted in my life.  Olympia Granola had several flavors in the gift shop at Cataloochee, but the Turtle Mocha was calling my name...and still is.  I want another one. They are quite pricey though.  One bar is 2 hearty servings, but it is just too yummy to put down.  This flavor had ingreedients like dark chocolate, honey, and espresso to give it amazing taste and health boosts, and also filled with tons of grains and nuts to get you going, too.

On the way home, I broke into some more dark chocolate.  I always go for the dark because it's not too sweet, and it is healthier, too.  Milky Way and Snickers both make wonderful dark chocolate versions that I like to keep on hand!