Daddy Daughter Date

Hi, this is Anna.

On Friday night my Daddy and I went ice skating. It was very fun. We first went to dinner at the Old Spaghetti Factory. It is one of my favorites because it has one of my favorite foods -- spaghetti with red sauce. I also like to sit in the train at the restaurant. For dessert we ate spumoni ice cream.

I fell down like 7 times at the ice skating rink. Me and my daddy did a trick, twirling me front and back. I had a lot lot lot lot lot of fun. One the way home we got me and my mommy flowers. I got pink roses and my mommy got kind of a bouquet.

Guys trip to Moab

Jacob and I recently completed our annual guys trip to Moab ("annual" meaning that because we have done it two years in a row, Jacob will demand it every year -- which is actually great). We met several of my BYU roommates there, and the highlights of the trip include completing a Jeep trail without loss of life or vehicle, Jacob and friends getting lost in a cave, hiking to Delicate Arch, floating down the Colorado River, crushing our remote control Jeep under a real Jeep and shooting a gun (a real highlight for Jacob).

"Wicked" trip to LA

Lame roller coaster ride at the Santa Monica pier, $5
Overpriced parking at our hotel, $25
Cupcakes at Sprinkles in Beverly Hills, $40
Watching the kids dig Wicked, Priceless

For Spring break we escaped to California to see the musical "Wicked" and to spend time with family. The play was fantastic -- it was Jacob and Anna's first big-time play experience and they really liked it. For those who have not seen it, Wicked is the story of what happened to the witches before The Wizard of Oz. Fun storyline, great music.

We also spent a couple of nights at the beach in Santa Monica. The weather was awesome -- mid 80s at the beach. The kids woke up early the first day (6AM) and asked if we could go hunt for sea shells on the beach. We did -- and we let Jacob and Anna run ahead of us because Nathan was too distracted with playing in the sand. So we eventually catch up to J&A, only to find them playing in the waves. The water was frigid -- these kids are CRAZY!

On the second day we toured Griffith Park Observatory to fuel our kids' interest in space, and then took a stroll down Rodeo Drive. The former was great, the latter lame. We got suckered into going to a "famous" cupcake store. If overpriced cupcakes makes you famous, then I am in the wrong business. :-) The picture below is from the Observatory and includes all the Dutton cousins (current count anyway -- I am sure Krista has a few more in her).

To cap off our LA experience, we spent a day at Universal Studios. The place was empty so we could walk on any ride. The highlight was the Jurassic Park ride. Anna thought the ride was "so cute" -- until the BIG, unexpected drop at the end.

We also had fun spending time with the fam. The kids were spoiled as usual, so I've made it my goal this week to make life incredibly hard for them -- shock therapy to bring them back to reality. :-)

Happy Easter

We had a nice Easter Sunday at the Dutton home. The kids woke up early to collect their Easter eggs and to see what the bunny brought in the middle of the night. The biggest hit was a bubble maker for Nathan -- see the pic below. And, as is tradition in many homes, we dressed our like all alike, paraded them to church, and rushed them home before they could get snot on their clothes and ruin a family picture.

We hosted Easter dinner at our home this year and had over 20 people attend. Kim and Chris came bearing presents for the kids -- Kim created a cool display for Jacob and Anna with some butterflies from her collection (the butterfly is pinned in a shadowbox). Jacob totally digs it, and it being Easter and all he was trying to draw the connection between the bug, the holiday and what he had learned in church that day. Then he asked Kim, "was the butterfly crucified?" It was a great question -- the bug was dead, and he did have pins in him. After we stopped rolling we had a good talk with Jacob. :-)

Yeehaw! Our trip to Nashville

We went to Nashville last weekend to visit Jayme, Blake and family. It's a great town -- we took a tour of Vanderbilt (where Blake is a medical student), went Honky Tonkin', visited the site of the bloodiest battle of the Civil War, toured an old southern plantation whose owner was the inspiration for the Scarlett O'Hara character in Gone with the Wind, jammed out to some country music at the Grand Ole Opry, and walked the grounds of The Hermitage (home of Andrew Jackson)....all in three days!

There were three highlights of the trip. The first was spending time with family (gotta say that one, but it's true). The second was going Honky Tonkin' -- which basically means going from club to club to see different country bands playing in the heart of Nashville. It ended up snowing that night a few inches which caused some crazziness -- schools closed, firemen stopped their truck in the middle of the tourist center to they could take pictures of the snow, and revelers started doing snow angels in the street. The third was going out to dinner with Jen at the Opryland Hotel and then seeing the Grand Ole Opry. We are not huge country music fans, but the music was great and it was nice being somewhere new without the kids so we can plan out the rest of their lives without interruption. :-)

We left Jacob and Anna with Grandma and took Nathan with us (thanks g-ma). On the final day we took Nathan to an aquarium to see some "feeeeshhhhhies." They had a stingray petting zoo -seriously, and it was cool. The stingrays come and eat shrimp right out of your hand. Nathan liked watching them from a distance but wanted nothing to do with touching them.

So, a very fun trip. Thanks to Jayme and Blake for hosting us.

Aladdin Play

Anna and Jacob "starred" in the Aladdin Musical at their school this week (well -- they performed the opening act). They did a great job. Anna loves an audience, and Jacob warmed up to the idea after a while.

Nathan was ready to party. See the picture below -- we'll certainly use this photo to embarrass him when he gets older. :-)

Basketball

Jacob and Anna have been taking basketball lessons. You'll see from the video below that the lessons have "really" paid off. :-)

Park City trip

We spent President's Day weekend in Heber and Park City. Jacob, Anna and I did some skiing while Jen and Nathan shopped. We also all went ice skating, swimming in a hot spring in a crater and jammed out to Guitar Hero on our Wii (yep -- we've succumbed).

The twins are becoming good skiers. Anna is cautious and tries to show good form, and Jacob has nicknamed himself "the bullet". He tries to go strait down any hill, and sometimes hits trees, people or ends up in a massive wipeout (all of which happened on President's Day). So...we are working on staying in control.

Caught in a blizzard

Last week Jen and the kids had quite the adventure. At about 3PM last Wednesday they were headed to basketball practice, and a massive storm blew in. At 3:15 I got a call from Jen and she said that she could not see past the end of her car -- all cars are the road had simply stopped. The storm was supposed to pass quickly, but ended up stalling right at the Point of the Mountain (which is where Jen was). Jen then noticed that she was not on the road at all. In the "white out" conditions, she followed a car that crossed oncoming traffic and they were now all in a field on the wrong side of the road. The Highway Patrol shut the road down and they had to simply wait the storm out.

I was able to get within a mile of Jen at about 6PM, but cars were littered all over the road and I saw at least a dozen accidents. There was no way to get to her -- the road conditions were awful and the wind was just howling. At 10PM a tow truck tried to get Jen back on the road but ended up getting stuck himself. So now Jen, Nathan, Anna and Jacob were stuck in the cab with a tow truck driver. At 11PM a "search and rescue" team arrived and took the fam to a nearby church that they converted to a shelter. I arrived at the church at 11:30 and we spent the night there.

All told, over 100 cars were stranded on the road and were towed out the next day. A school bus was also stuck with over 50 kids on it, and one elementary school kept kids at their school overnight instead of risking the bus trip. Several long-time Utahans commented it was the worst storm they've ever seen. When we arrived back at our home the next morning we had a 5 foot snow drift blocking our house. I eventually hiked through it and brought snowshoes back for the rest of the family and they hiked in.

So....quite the adventure. The kids thought it was exciting for the most part, and Jen was as tough as always (she just make the kids catch up on a week of reading while waiting in the car). Still, I'm pretty sure our next car will have four wheel drive.

The kids are famous

A photographer from the Deseret News drove by our house yesterday while Jacob and Anna were playing outside. It was our first "warm" day in a long time and they were riding their bikes, throwing snow, etc. The photographer asked is he could take some pictures, and the picture above appeared in the newspaper this morning. Jacob is throwing a snowball at Anna.

The article can be found at http://deseretnews.com/article/1,5143,695252402,00.html?linkTrack=rotator:cvr.

Skiing at Brighton

Today I took the kids skiing at Brighton for their final lesson of the year. The video below documents the craziness. Additional video here (Jacob skis backwards).

Utah Roads

I snapped this picture on my cell phone -- this is what the roads look like around our house.  And this is one of the major roads.

Fun in the snow

We have had a tremendous amount of snow this year. This morning I shoveled 8 inches off our driveway, and then another 8 this evening. So...all that snow calls for some fun. The kids and I did a little snowshoeing in our backyard tonight, and they tried to slide their way into a creek bed. Jacob ended up on his head, and Anna was too buried to move. So naturally I did a "cannonball" on the hillside and sent an avalanche over both of them.

Two front teeth become one

Anna lost a big tooth this week. I can't decide if she looks like a grandma with no teeth, or just a kid that is much older than my baby Anna.

Happy Holidays from Elvis

This holiday season we had a ton of family in town -- Jen's dad from California, Jayme and Blake from Nashville, Great-grandma Halverson from St. George....plus the usual locals. We enjoyed sledding, lots of snow, skiing and of course, feasting.

Santa, in all his wisdom, decided to bring Jacob a guitar for Christmas. I hope you enjoy this unique rendition of "Blue Suede Shoes."