Beach Trip

For the week of the 4th of July we headed to So Cal to visit Mike's family and to spend some time at Laguna Beach. Along the way we went hiking in Red Rock Canyon near Las Vegas, toured the USS Midway aircraft carrier and Mormon Battalion exibit in San Diego, explored tide pools and mountain bike trails, and tried to keep the kids from seriously hurting themselves in high surf conditions.

The kids are at such a great age right now as they love to be out discovering new things. Pix below.

Ragnar Relay Wasatch Back

Last weekend Mike ran the Ragnar Relay Wasatch Back, a 188 mile relay race from Logan to Park City on the back roads of the Wasatch Mountain range. It's a fantastic event with over 12,000 runners this year -- as much as party as it is an athletic event with decorated vans, costumes, and crazy people running in the middle of the night. This was Mike's 4th time doing the race and they had their best performance this year...though they are not a.....shall we say, a competitive team. :-)

We are going to do the Las Vegas Ragnar in October -- anyone want to join us?

Stewart Falls Hike

Went on a hike today with the kids and some of their cousins to Stewart Falls near Sundance. Ages ranged from 2 to 10, so we had quite the crew. When we got home one of our neighbors had built a zip line tower in an open field near our house. The thing was amazing -- here's Anna sliding down.

Moab Trip

Last weekend Mike took Jacob and Anna to Moab on a trip with his friends from BYU. A weekend of Jeeping, hiking and golfing -- what could be better? When we got home Jennifer asked the kids if they had fun. Jacob's reply: "It was awesome!" Anna: "It was OK." What?!?! She's our cautious child and did not like getting so close to cliffs on the trails.

Spring Break Trip

For spring break this year we headed to Orlando for some pure fun at the parks and on a cruise. Forget about trying to weave in some educational element into the vacation -- this trip was all about swimming in warm water, playing all day, eating great food and not sleeping.

Some of the memorable moments included:

• On our drive to Kennedy Space Center, Jacob asked "what is that all that white stuff?" He's a Utahan -- the white stuff was beach sand.


• Watching the space shuttle take off at night while at sea. The pilot of the mission is Jim Dutton.


• Anna ordering chocolate mousse, only to be disappointed that the desert did not look like a moose. Jacob ordering escargot, only to be ecstatic to find that meant he could eat snails.


• During a Toy Story play, Nathan yelling "YEEEHHHAAAWWW" when Woody came onto the stage for the first time.


• Watching the kids hug and dance with a dolphin in the Bahamas.


• Anna screaming for several minutes through her snorkel when she found a shark.


• Nathan saying "Mommy, I love this trip" a dozen times a day.


• Jacob's constant questioning about when could he go boogie boarding again.


• Seeing a 2 week old gorilla play with it's mom....from 5 feet way at the Animal Kingdom.


• Jacob and Anna singing on stage during a karaoke party. When Anna was asked by the host what she liked best about the cruise she answered "just spending time with my family." Yep, she's our perfect child.

We'll spare you the rest of the details....we simply had a great time. Here are some pictures.

We woke up today to....

....a lot of snow. The picture abover shows how the snow built up on our deck railing overnight. We had about a half foot at our house, and Brighton received 18 inches.

Anna wakes up, sees the snow and asks, "Dad, this is a powder day, right?" My kids are well trained. Here's a quick clip from our skiing.

Weekend in Park City

Had a great time in Park City this weekend. We stayed in a condo with Jen's sister's family and Mike's neice from California. This is the 4th straight President's Day weekend that we have spent in Park City, so I am trying to convince Jen that it's a tradition so we have to go back every year. :-)

Highlights of the trip included taking Mikayla skiing for the first time, hitting what must be the coolest bowling alley in the world (Jupiter Bowl), attending the Tabernacle Choir performance, snowshoeing in Round Valley, snowmobiling at Daniels Summit, and losing to Chris at all board games.

Black Diamond Kid

Last weekend I took Jacob skiing (Anna had a cold), and Jacob wanted to push the limits of his ability. After telling him several times that we could not hit a double black diamond run, I took him over to one so he could see it. The dude had no fear, and just started skiing down it. He made it down with no problems, and made us go back to take his picture in front of this sign.

Jacob is definitely our adventurous one. This week he told me that he thought my job was boring -- I tried to explain to him that what I do is really cool, I love it, etc. He said if I had a cool job I would be traveling to the moon or finding lost cities in the jungle. To each his own, I guess.

First snow

Last week we received our first significant snow of the year, which called for snowman building, snowball fights and sledding. Pix below.

Thanksgiving at Disneyland

We spent Thanksgiving at Disneyland this year. It was a great way to spend the holiday with what felt like millions of our closest friends. :-) We actually had a blast with Mike's family.

Halloween Pictures

Halloween was the holiday that would never end this year. Between school, church and neighborhood parties, the kids got dressed in their costumes no less than 6 times. This allowed Nathan to try his hand at all of his halloween ideas -- at various times he was a cowboy, pirate, mummy and skeleton. Jacob was a mummy and Anna a butterfly. Pictures below.

Quick Chicago Trip

Mike had to be in Chicago for a couple of days this week, so Jen came a long for the trip (HUGE thanks to Michelle for watching the kids). What a great city! It was beautiful with the river, Lake Michigan, diverse architecture and plenty of fall leaves. Highlights of the trip included visiting the Chicago Art Institute's Impressionist Collection (lots of Monet's and the famous American Gothic -- farm couple holding the pitchfork), taking an architectural boat tour, shopping on the Magnificent Mile, and dining with old friends. The food was absolutely amazing.

Will we survive the weekend?

Jennifer flew to Minnesota yesterday to visit her sister, and left the rest of us to fend for ourselves. I know both of our families are wondering if we will survive.

So far, so good. After school ended today we headed up to the mountains on what may have been the nicest day of the year. The weather was perfect, and it's peak fall season in the higher elevations. We took the ski lift up at Sundance and hiked to Stewart Falls. We've done this hike several times starting at the Mt. Timp trailhead, but this was a first coming from Sundance and I much prefer this new route. Great tree cover for much of the trip, a few small stream crossings, and spectacular mountain views.

We capped the day with dinner at The Spaghetti Factory, Anna's favorite. Except for Nathan's constant "where's mommy?" questioning, we are surviving well (except me...that's why I'm blogging at midnight :-) ).