I just got back from my 4th annual birthday snowboard trip with my buddies. I did not think it would live up to last years or the anticipation, but it was by far the best trip. We had a total of 7 guys. Rass, Josh, Tony, Dean, Jerry, Greg and myself. We decided to try Big Bear California this year which turned out to be good timing because Sunrise is getting killed this year and is barely open. Day 1 Everyone met at my house Wednesday around 5pm. We loaded up in a rented RV and took off. We decided to order some pizza on the way out of town near buckeye. I started driving and Josh due to his motion sickness, took the captains seat. The rest talked for awhile then huddled around the mini table for some "cards". (No money or stakes were involved this year for obvious reasons) Not that I would have been against it, but Jerry is on the Stake High Council and Josh is in the bishopric and they keep us honest. Rass took over driving duties about 4 hours into it. Once we got to the base of the mountains, things became really interesting. We had to climb about 6,000' in about 45 miles of switchbacks in a bouncing RV. The "sickies" Tony, Greg, and Josh all moved as forward as they possibly could to the front of the RV as they started to feel the nausea. We thought we might make it till Tony all of the sudden grabbed a box and started to fill it with Pizza, Soda, Pringles and Chips Ahoy. Josh started yelling at Rass "PULL OVER PULL OVER, TONYS THROWING UP PULL OVER". Rass almost shot us all through the front window hitting the brakes. Once everyone had a good laugh and Tony finished getting some fresh air, we all started telling our throw up stories. Tony begged us like 5 times to change the subject, but it kept coming up. We finally found the cabin and piled in. It was a great place. It had two stories, 3 bedrooms, one with 4 bunk beds, a pool table, hot tub and a big plasma flat screen above a rock fire place. We watched movies and played pool till 3am. Day 2 We finally woke up and headed over to the ski shop to rent our stuff then to a nice little breakfast place to eat. The resort was already open, but we were only 3 minutes away and we had two days so we were not in a huge hurry. During Breakfast Josh introduced us to a game called Credit Card Roulette. After the meal each person hands a credit card to the waitress. She puts them behind her back and away from us. She then picks one out one at a time and gives them back to us. The last card picked pays for everyone. It was an instant favorite of ours. Everyone in the restaurant loved watching 7 guys gather around the waiter cheering for their own card and talking smack when you get yours back and laughing at the person picking up the tab. It was so fun in fact; we decided to play it with the lift tickets that were $ 50 each. So with 7 guys, the last person picked had to pay $350. I was so nervous when my card made it to the final two left. But I came out next and was yelling like I just won a new car. Josh had to pay. The ski resort was awesome. They had over 100 jumps and 100 rails and jibs spread all over the mountain. It was a true snowboarder’s paradise. We started off on the smaller hill because it was Josh, Tony, and Jerry’s first time snowboarding. Although they said they felt like they were in a 100 car accidents in those first few runs, they picked it up really well. The first day is brutal learning how to board. We headed over to the bigger mountain and could not believe how cool it was. They had jumps like the ones you see on the x games. They were huge. Some kids were pulling 540's and 360's like it was nothing. I think this is where my confidence started to exceed my abilities and I got a stupid idea. I felt like I needed to step it up and go big. Stop playing it safe. So we came to a nice big jump and everyone stopped so we could each take it and watch each other. I went first and picked up more speed than I should have, but I wanted to go big for once. Well I did. But the incline of the ramp was greater then what I expected and it launched me into the air big time. Only problem was my feet and board were coming up over my head in front of my body and I was still in the air gaining altitude when I would normally already have landed on the smaller jumps I was comfortable with. The ground was hard packed ice and I broke my fall with nothing but my lower right hip. My wind was knocked out of me and I couldn’t breathe for what seemed like a minute. My vision blurred just for a second or two and it hurt like nothing has ever hurt before. After 15 minutes I was able to get down the rest of the mountain and I was done. Last year it was Troy and Tony who got hurt and spent the rest of the day in the car sleeping. This year I was a lock for "Best Wreck". Sweet! Sports injuries Rule. Later that night we went to a great Mexican place and Jerry ended up losing the Credit Card game. We played pool, watched ESPN and sat in the Jacuzzi till around 1am. Day 3 Snowboarded again and took some pictures this time. I was still hurting pretty bad but wanted to take some pictures so I went down a couple of times and then hung out near the bottom for awhile. As much as I love pictures of myself, the next best thing is taking pictures of boarding. So at least I got to do that. For dinner we went to a great steak house and everyone ordered the most expensive things we could find. Why not? The odds were you probably would not be paying for it. Greg was the lucky winner tonight. $310 bill with tip. Ouch! We then went bowling. Dean tore it up and took first place. Unfortunately he also lost in Credit card roulette and paid $100 for everyone to bowl. Day 4 Packed up and headed home. But wait, the fun wasn’t over yet. Greg was trying to get back to the temple before 5pm for his little brothers endowments. It was not looking good. But Rass took over driving about 3 hours out of the valley and had the RV floored at 84.5 MPH. Luckily it had a regulator at 85 or who knows how fast he would have driven. With about 160 miles left we only had 2 hours to get him there. I fell asleep on the back bed and after being bounced a foot high and being rolled back and forth I got up to find everyone huddled around the front of the RV laughing and yelling for Rass to keep it floored. We were now in the middle of Mesa on the side streets and had 8 minutes left. Stuff was flying all over that RV. Tires were screeching every time we turned. Rass was sweating and was on a mission. It was the funniest and scariest thing I have ever seen. Rass was driving the RV like a little sports car and breaking all the rules. He even said if he got within two miles of the temple and a cop tried to stop him he would have not stopped until the temple. He said he was given the finger 3 times in a 5 mile span. Rass finally used the breaks and skidded to a stop right in front of the temple gates. Rass stood up flopped down on the floor and said “I’m Spent! I can’t drive another foot". His back was covered with sweat. Greg who was already in his church clothes, jumped out and ran into the temple. He later told us that he got his temple clothes on and ran to the waiting room in under 3 minutes. They were already past this point and a lady who had just closed the door to the room said "I’m sorry they have already started". Greg didn’t even look at her. He walked right by her and opened the door. He found a seat in the back and they had just pushed the start button on the video. He made it. If we had missed one red light or not ran every yellow light we saw, he would have missed it. Unbelievable. Perfect way to cap off a great trip.