Zions and Thanksgiving

Just a bit of follow up from Lindsey's post on our Zion's trip. It is very true that the weather was COMPLETELY different than last time we visited. It warmed up to about 60 degrees during the day and as long as the wind wasn't blowing you could hike in short sleeves. It was nice to see Zion with all of the colors, although all of the waterfalls from the rain last time were pretty cool as well.

This is one of our many attempts at a jumping picture we actually got right. It's actually really hard when you can't see the light flashing or hear the countdown beeping coming from the camera!

Hiking food. We decided to buy a loaf of bread, some strawberry jam, and some peanut butter for our hiking lunches. Oh yeah, and some jalapeno Cheetos. Worked pretty well, I highly recommend it.

This is the view from atop Angels Landing. We weren't allowed to hike this last time because it was snow capped and the trail is on a really narrow ridge. We met a really nice French/Canadian/Congolese couple at the top. It was also fun to listen to them make fun of other hikers on the way down since they knew most everyone else couldn't understand them!

It's officially CHRISTMAS TIME!

We picked up our tree last Saturday. Despite the fact that last year our tree was a little overwhelming for our little house, we bought a bigger one this year. We bought a new stand last year so it has managed to stay upright this year as well. The tree marks the official arrival of the Christmas season because Lindsey actually started listening to Christmas music months ago.

Our first real snow this year (it snowed some while we were in Zions, but that doesn't count.) I had decided during the summer that I was going to shovel all of the snow into one main pile in the yard, but upon commencement of the project found that it was logistically challenging...and my hands were frozen because it was taking too long (the winter gloves are still packed away somewhere.) So, keeping the dream alive, I decided that 3 different piles would be sufficient. I guess a man made sledding hill wouldn't be all that great anyway...

Then and Now

We have visited Zion's twice in our lives have we have had VERY different weather although it was at the same time of year (only one weekend different). Last time it was POURING rain - not even joking we were soaked but we weren't going to miss out on the opportunity to see the beautiful waterfalls coming off the cliff walls. One of the hikes that we did the first time we went was Emerald Pools but it wasn't so Emerald - this time it was. I hope you appreciate these then and now shots!

Then

Now

What a beautiful place!

13.1 Mile Backpacking Run

Okay, they were two seperate events, but it could be kind of fun...don't you think? Over the two previous weekends we went backpacking in the Uintahs with Brent and Ashley and then did the "family half," although only 4 of us did it this year.


The Fantastic Four. Michael, Chad, Lindsey and I all felt pretty good about our times. Michael was first of the group, Chad second, Jace third, and Lindsey fourth. We all finished in about the top 12%, so I think it was a good year. Michael and Chad finished close to the top 5% I think. Nobody came to see us or take our picture at the end so we waited until we got home, that's why we all look ready to run some more! :)


Lindsey had her best time ever. I'll decipher the fields on the Garmin for you. Her average pace was 7:44 per mile, her total time was 1 hour, 41 minutes, and the total distance 13.1 miles. For the first time she ran with me almost the entire way.

Now for backpacking. We took a trip up in the Uintahs to Grandaddy Basin (or BigDaddy basin as I like to call it.) It was awesome, there were tons of flowers, lakes, trees, and mosquitoes (nothing deep woods OFF! can't handle.)

A sample of the vegetation.

We thought it was awesome that you could both see the perfect reflection in the lake as well as see the rocks and logs on the bottom.

Some more of the common flowers in the meadows.

The only way to get ourselves and the moon in the picture! The moon was really bright our first night.

Hot dogs the first night. Notice Ashley's roasting stick, pretty classy.

A bit out of order, but this is the trailhead. Our probably lonely, quite talkative, retired NASA engineer, GPS skeptic, trailhead host kindly took this picture for us. He didn't even blink an eye when Lindsey decided she was going to change her underwear in the middle of the parking lot. :)

A pretty common sight. There were small streams running through the rocks everywhere. It was really green.

The trees were too thick to see much of anything most places so we were pretty excited when it opened up to this cliff face where we had a great lookout point.

Lindsey and Ashley decided they had a better idea when Brent decided to take a dip in the lake. It was warm, but there was a cool breeze most of the time we were there.

Lunch on the lake. Lunch was ritz crackers with peanut butter and strawberry jam mashed in the middle. It was pretty tasty.

For anyone interested, we are going to do a 10k in Layton on September 12th. It's only $25 and you get a technical shirt (we choose races based on what we get in return.) We figured it's a good wind down for the season! You know it will be a great time. There is also a 5k for the same price, here is the link: http://www.theclassicrace.blogspot.com/

Spudman Video

It's kind of long, but for those who are interested here is a video of the Spudman, it shows Lindsey coming in at about the 7:30 point. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VOgwZKR79Vs

Our 24th of July

Lindsey got to spend some time at the parade while I was at work. Apparently she didn't take many pictures though...the floats must have been really exciting! I'm too tired/uneducated to figure out how to flip this picture in blogger, so you can crane your neck if you'd like.


As soon as the 24th festivities were finished I picked up Lindsey and whisked her off to exotic Burley, Idaho for the Spudman Triathlon. Despite the fact that we weren't sure if we rememberd how to swim, we had a great time. Yes, Lindsey beat me again. For some reason I like to lollygag along during triathlons. One of these days I'm going to have to get competitive...maybe later. Besides, Lindsey would probably get more competitive and still beat me.


The crew. We had a few people bail at the last moment, but we wouldn't let them bring us down. We had an awesome time. It was a little cooler than years past, and we all felt great afterwards. For those of you not familiar with my family: my brother Chad is in the red, and his wife Rebecca is in the black.

The Yard

This post is mainly for my mother who hasn't seen our yard sinces its conception.


This is my Early Girl tomato plant and if you look closely you can seen my 4th red tomato which I picked today

Do you see the white spots on my zucchini leaves? I can't figure out what it is. Some websites state that it is this mold stuff but I am pretty sure that it isn't mold since I forget to water them all the time. You can see one zucchini it this picture

This is what I was saying about my zucchini leaves. They aren't full like the squash leaves. The extensions on the leaves look really skinny and spindly....I don't know why but I don't think that it has to do with squash bugs. They have a lot of holes in them but I am pretty sure that is due to the slugs and snails.

These are all of my squash plants. It goes zucchini, crooked neck squash and another zucchini. I am picking 2 new zucchini's every day and the squash is about ready to start producing like that.

Here is the rhubarb plant. Thanks Lisa for the start! I didn't think that it was going to survive because it was really hot after I planted the start and kinda forgot to water it but it is looking really good now. I think that I will be a lot of rhubarb this fall.

Here are the lillies from Lynn's yard. They look awesome right there.

Here is the back corner. In the back on the left you can see my struggling columbine but there are some great starts at the bottom so I am sure it will come back strong next year. I love the white grass in the middle-it is a fun color and texture to add. If you look on the right side of the picture you can see some of the zinnia's that survived and one that I am hoping will survive. It looks dead in the picture but there are a couple of green leaves and the stalk is still green so I think there is hope...

Here is the side of the house. You were saying the other day that the Jupiters beard isn't actually Jupiters beard. What is it? I have had a lot of blooms on that but it is taking over a strawberry plant. You can see my Solomen's Seal but it is struggling. I think that it is too hot for it. That or it doesn't get enough water but everything else seems to be doing ok.

These are my favorites!

This is my favorite corner right now. The petunias are going crazy and then the sunflowers are so pretty. There are also a couple of flowers on the ice plant. It is crazy how plants grow! I am sure that start was only about 4 inches across when we planted it but now it is about 10 and is super full! It also helps that this corner greets you on your way up to the front door.

I have a couple more pictures but they were struggling to load. But our corn is getting taller so I am going to start the newspaper earwig treatment thing so that I have corn to eat. Then our peas are like 4 ft tall. They have given me a good harvest but they are on there way out. I am also starting to get lots of lettuce and I even have a jalapeno and green pepper growing. It is a lot of fun. Thanks for helping us get everything in! I don't think I could have done it without you and it would have been a lot more boring and expensive!