The best winter exercise

A couple of years ago we received snow shoes for Christmas. The first time out I fell in love with the sport. There is something magical about walking around the forest with snow covering everything. It is so quiet and peaceful.

We decided to head up American Fork Canyon with Greg, Lauren, Taryn and some of her friends. Last year we had gone up this trail but didn't make it very far so we thought we would attempt it again. I can't remember what the trail is called but it's above Mutual Dell. We headed up the trail which was really snow-packed. I prefer to go where nobody else has gone so the snow is nice and soft, but we forged ahead on our packed trail. It would have been easier to take off our snow shoes and just hike up it, but we were told higher up we would need the snow shoes. At one spot we decided to head straight up the mountain and see what we could see. After about killing ourselves climbing up we chose the easier route back down and just slid.

Tom lost control and tumbled into Lauren. Luckily nobody was hurt but it made a great picture. We attracted some attention sliding down and an older couple stopped to watch. They were coming down the trail so we asked them what was up ahead. They told us there were two meadows and we really needed to see the top meadow.
Since they were older then me and Steve my competitiveness kicked in and we had to make it to the top meadow. I think the kids would have stopped anytime and headed back, but I had to prove that I could make it.
The first meadow was really pretty, but we had been told the top meadow was better so we headed on. The trail was less snow packed which made for easier walking.

We were all exhausted when we made it to the top. It was 2 miles from the parking lot and since this was our first snow-shoeing trip I was impressed that we had did it. We looked around and nobody could figure out why we had to come to the second meadow. We rested for a bit then started the trip down.

In the first meadow somebody had built a snowman. Before I could stop her Taryn ran full force at it and knocked it and herself over. I thought I had raised my children better. We made it down the hill in about 20 minutes. Much easier then going up. Hopefully this weekend we will find the time to go again. If you want a great work out in the winter there is nothing better.

Christmas 2010

I love Christmas. I love the decorations, the smells and the music of Christmas. As the kids have grown alot of our traditions have gone by the wayside and we are finding that we have to reinvent Christmas at our house. Which is hard with the kids growing up and moving on with their lives, but hopefully we can create some wonderful family traditions with the grandchildren. When the kids were small we rarely made it out to the Moon's Christmas Eve party, but this year we grabbed Taryn and headed out to Duchesne to have dinner with my family. We gathered at the resturant so there would be plenty of room. I had to get a picture of Navyie with Taryn since they both had the hair decorations. This is the only picture I took, I put down the camera to get some food and forgot to pick it back up. The food and company was great and I really enjoyed having a soda fountain. We drove back home and opened our Christmas Book and then tried to watch Elf. Taryn lasted maybe 10 minutes and after about 30 minutes I had to go to sleep.

Christmas morning I was awake at 5:00. Not because I was excited but because my body thinks that is when I should wake up. Steve got up around 8:00 and we skyped Heather and Kevin and the girls to see what Santa Claus had brought them. Braelyn showed us all her gifts but Berkley was obsessed with the make-up kit she had received and spent the whole call putting on make-up. Thank goodness for modern technology so we can see the girls.

Opening up gifts didn't take long with just 3 of us. When I was shopping in Sedona with my friends we found this cute store. I loved the jackets but knew I had to find a small one with extra long arms to fit Taryn. We searched for awhile and finally found this one. I can't believe it fits and neither can she.
Greg and Lauren came over around 10:30 and we watched them open their gifts.
A couple of years ago we started a tournament on Christmas and the winner got to keep the gold trophy for the year. Taylor won the first year and Taryn last year. Poor Taryn had to move that trophy 7 times last year. The first year we did a WI tournament last year we played ping-pong and guitar hero and racko. This year I choose games that I thought everyone would have a fair chance at winning. The first game was 9-ball. We played 5 games. Lauren won one, Steve won one, Greg won one and I won two of them. I think Lauren was the most shocked when she knocked the nine-ball in and won.

The next game was Ker-plunk. This was a game both me and Steve played as children. We decided that the loser would be out. It came down to Lauren and Steve playing for the championship.
It was funny watching how intense they became. Lauren was the winner of Ker-plunk. The last and final game was Mexican Train. We decided that we would play 3 games and if we needed a play-off then the winners would play a game to determine who won. I won the first round, Greg the second and Taryn the third so we played a fourth game. Taryn only had one tile left when Greg laid a double. That caused each of us to draw several new tiles and totally threw Taryn off and I won. So I'm the winner of the golden trophy and it has a special place in my curio. Grandma Roberts came over to spend the day and after all the teasing Steve gave her I don't know if she will ever play Mexican Train again. Of course the highlight was the phone call from Taylor. Steve talked with him for a few minutes in Spanish and said he sounded great. He loves his mission and hopes to stay in Compton for along time. I'm excited because we only have 2 more phone calls and he will be home. We had a lovely Christmas dinner and it turned out to be a great day.

Tuesday morning I woke up again at 5:00 and just puttered around the house when I went up to the rec room and looked out the window and this what I saw.

It was horrible, I started screaming at Steve and we both got dressed and ran outside and down the street. We were joined by half the ward and we all stood in horror watching our neighbors house go down in flames. It took awhile to get the water on the house, but the fire was so intense I don't know if anything could have saved it. We watched the garage cave in and then the second floor fall down. Soon it was just the frame of the front door and window and then they collapsed. The house was destroyed in less then an hour. Luckily they were in California visiting so nobody was hurt.

Usually when you see houses on the news that have burnt you still see the shell of the house, but there is nothing left of this one. They both bore their testimonies in church today of what is truly important and of God's plan. Yes they will miss alot of stuff that is gone, but he brought up an interesting point. He said the things they will miss the most are the things that have no value as far as money is concerned. I totally agree with him. Hopefully something good will come of this fire for them. Christmas is now packed up and ready to go next year. It is exciting to see what 2011 holds for us.

Company Party

Tuesday morning we woke up to this. All week the forecast for the weather has been rain in the valleys and snow in the mountains. We received about 8 inches of snow and had to get a picture before the rain melts it all. Steve was thrilled it snowed so he could get the four-wheeler out and do some plowing. Taylor has also been hit with this storm and riding a bike has kept him soaked. It's hard to complain about moisture when we live in a desert.

When Steve went to work on his own and Christmas rolled around we missed having a party to attend so we decided we would have our own company party. We go out to eat and then do an activity. This year we went up to Salt Lake and ate at the Red Iguania which is one of Taryn's favorite resturants.

It's decorated in the bright Mexican colors and looks like a dive but it is always packed and when we left there were people waiting out front in the cold. The food was great and the company even better.

We try to hit Temple Square every year to see the lights so this year after dinner we went to see the lights. It helps that Taryn knows Salt Lake because she took us to this parking garage that nobody knows about and we parked without a problem.
I had to have my picture taken by this tree because the orange and white lights were so pretty. We all got a bit dizzy walking through the trees with all the red lights.

After the Grand Canyon I'm really into the jumping shots so we wanted to get a jumping shot. Steve held the button down and was ready to take the picture but with the flash we just couldn't get the timing down so here are the two pictures of us looking pretty stupid. We gave up after two shots but will have to figure out how to do it with the flash.

We had a fun night, but I can't help missing my other two children. This will be my third Christmas with a missionary and I'm excited for the phone call but can't wait for the Christmas when I have all my children home again.

We ended the night visiting Taryn's favorite nativity. I think it might be my favorite also. I really do enjoy these company parties.

3,364 miles!

Earlier this year we had a bright idea that we would drive to Kentucky to spend Thanksgiving with Kevin, Heather and the girls. Yes I did say drive. When I told somebody we were driving to Kentucky they said to me "Don't you guys have frequent flyer miles you can use". Yes we do, but we have wanted to take our car on a road trip. The car was very comfortable and we enjoyed seeing the country but 14 hours a day driving is too much for me. Was it worth it? For these two little girls we would do anything. But next time we will fly.

We left Saturday morning and decided to stay Sunday night an hour away so that we could arrive at their house rested and ready to play. We got there early Monday morning and Berkley answered the door. At first she just looked at us but then jumped into my arms and I got the biggest hug. Braelyn then saw us and came running down the hall to give us hugs. That first day I would be holding Berkley and she would turn and look at me and say "I love you Munga".

That afternoon Heather took us to a park by their house. We played at the playground and climbed trees.

I can't believe their faces are so calm because there was some complaining from them as we put them up in the tree.

My cub scouts had built bird houses this month and I had some extra bird seed so I brought it along and we made some bird feeders from the pine cones we found at the park. After we hung them in the tree in the front yard the girls would keep looking out the window to see if the birds had discovered them.


Taryn was supposed to fly in on Wednesday but when she heard there was a blizzard coming to Utah Wednesday she had Steve switch her flight and arrived Tuesday night. She had just got over being sick and was exhausted so she spent alot of time in the chair with one of the girls on her lap.

Braelyn loves to dress-up. It's probably her favorite activity so I told her that I would be her fashion designer and make-up some costumes for her to model for her papa and mom. Here are two of her favorite ones. The first one she is a Japanese Indian Princess and the second one she is a Red-Neck Princess. Yes, we came up with some great outfits.

Steve has missed seeing the girls in the morning with their messy hair, so one morning I heard Berkley get up and hurried and grabbed her and brought her into our room so Heather could sleep a little longer. Soon we were joined by Braelyn. It was fun to snuggle and play with them in the morning. We miss that.

Thanksgiving day the girls wanted to wear their princess dresses and while we waited for the pies to cook they let me curl their hair. Then after they filled the nut cups with yummy chocolate mints. I have never seen Berkley so happy then sitting at Thanksgiving dinner eating those mints. The bad part is that is all she ate for dinner, but she was happy.

I guess the mints weren't enough chocolate because after dinner we made chocolate santa suckers. The girls helped paint the red chocolate into the forms and we had some very interesting suckers.

I guess the sugar high finally left Berkley. It was a nice day with wonderful food and the only way it could have been better was if Greg, Lauren and Taylor would have been with us.

The next day we went to a horse farm. You can't go to Kentucky without seeing the horses. They kept alot of the old race horses and it was interesting to hear about them. We saw the horse that was in Sea Biscuit. Braelyn's favorite was the miniture horse.

We thought this horse had an interesting name and had to take Heather's picture by it.

We left early Saturday morning. We said our goodbyes Friday night and my heart couldn't take another good bye in the morning. Plus neither of us sleep well and we were up and out of the house around 5:30. I think I stopped crying about the time we left Kentucky. I enjoyed the visit and was grateful we were able to see them again. It's just hard thinking that the next time we get to hold them could be months away. We are thankful that we made the trip safe and sound.

Closing it up.

I always hate the weekend when we have to shut the cabin up for the winter. It was really hard this time because the weather was so nice. We only needed the fireplace at night and in the morning. Jackets were perfect outside. I didn't even get cold on our four-wheeler rides. But we know that living in Utah the weather can change like that and it has. I've been wearing a jacket inside our house here to stay warm. We got out there Thursday afternoon and Steve wanted to go for a ride. I have not wanted to go on many rides lately so I said I would go. We loaded up on the green four wheeler and thought we would drive the loop. It had snowed the week before but most of the snow was gone and we thought that the road would be dry. Big mistake it was really muddy and the tires would kick mud every where. We decided to go the whole way and when we were almost to the bottom by the beaver ponds we saw this.
Two bull elks with their heads cut off. We were pretty mad that someone would do this and leave the meat behind. I'm fine with hunting as long as the meat isn't wasted. We got home and Steve called the poaching hot line. After describing to her where we saw them she hooked us up with the fish and game lady that patrols up there. She knew exactly where we had saw the elk. She then explained that these two elk got in a fight and their horns hooked and they ended up drowning in the beaver pond. So fish and game came up and cut off their heads. We were happy that it wasn't poachers.

Friday we went on some more four-wheeler rides and that night Steve went for a ride by himself. We have a theory that if we leave the camera at home then that is when we see moose, elk, bear and all other interesting animals. Steve had left the camera at home so of course he would see not one but three bull moose. He saw the first one across the valley so he took off in a hurry to see if he could get a closer look. He rounded a corner and right in front of him was this big old bull moose. The moose looked at him, but didn't seem to mind Steve that close to him. About ten minutes later another bull moose came through the thicket. They started playing around and were pushing each other with their antlers. Steve did have the state of mind to turn the four-wheeler around in case he needed to get away. He watched these two for awhile and then a third bull moose came into the picture. He was so excited when he got home and couldn't The next morning we got up and went to the spot where he saw the moose. I did bring the camera with me so therefore we didn't see any moose. I had never been on the pipeline trail and the view was awesome.

I couldn't resist doing another jumping shot. Maybe that will be the new thing I have everyone do in all our pictures. These crack me up, probably because we look so stupid.

Well now for the count down to when we open the cabin back up. Today we were trying to figure out the cost of running electric heaters all winter so we wouldn't have to drain the pipes and we could also spend winters up there. I guess it is pretty obvious where we like to spend our time. But we do have a trip planned to Kentucky to see Kevin and Heather and the girls in two weeks so life is still good. We will just try to stay busy until April and we open it back up.