You might want to sit down...

...'cuz this is gonna be a long one.

I know everyone is dying to know every detail of our lives since our blog has been blacked out since the end of April.  I would never want everyone to be so utterly disappointed, therefore, I blog.

If you want the good stuff, just look at the pictures, but if you want my usual dry commentary, feel free to read the quick snippets in between.  Consider yourself warned.

We will start with our trip to Hurricane Wash/Coyote Gulch/general Esclante area/Bryce Canyon National Park.  Brent and Ashley went to Coyote Gluch last year around this time and decided it was worth a return trip with reinforcements.  I won't lie (not to imply that I do normally), when we started hiking down the middle of a dry wash in 90 degree weather with nothing but sagebrush to beckon us forward, I was questioning the sanity of backpacking through such a place with my toddler in tow.  Ashley and Brent have never let us down, but as anyone in the financial industry knows, past performance cannot guarantee future results.  However, after about 6(?) or so miles we actually dropped into Coyote Gulch, and it was all worth it.

When I saw this sign I thought maybe this was really a disguised trip to Lake Powell to lounge on a house boat.  No go.

Gavin's quarters.  We brought one backpacking tent for Gavin (and Lindsey) to sleep in and the rest of us slept under the stars.  It was very interesting to discover his bedtime routine.  In this case it involved crawling all over the tent, including up and over Lindsey multiple times, until he found a corner to stick his head into and then promptly falling asleep head in corner, knees under him, hindquarters in the air.  Thank goodness for that tent. 

No sagebrush here!

Stylin' new shades...or the only ones we could find with a strap so he couldn't just rip them off immediately.  He hates them.

Up and out of the gulch.  It was quite a climb for the first few hundred yards.  Lindsey looked terrified, but that could have been becuase of the Nalgene hurtling down the precipice at break-neck speed towards her head.  Don't worry, the Nalgene was a little scraped, but held up like a champ.

Even Superman has kryptonite.

The passing of the child.  He didn't like having to be passed through the slots any more than Lindsey liked the slots.  Especially after some inconsiderate fool sparked her anxiety by declaring if we didn't move faster the flash flood was going to get us.

Apparently I need to go on a diet.

Yeah, we're cute.  Okay, Lindsey and Gavin are cute.

After Coyote Gulch and the slots we headed to Bryce Canyon for a quick tour.

Okay...Lindsey has the child, what's everyone else's excuse???



Next trip: Ledgefork Campground by Smith and Morehouse reservoir in the Uintah's. 

It was REALLY cold.  I told Brent to be a man and just jump in.  Someday maybe he'll be a man.

Gavin showed his first signs of loving to push the stroller.  He pushed, and pushed, and pushed.  It kept him very entertained.

Gavin would have jumped in.  He was surprisingly okay with the frigid water, as long as it went no higher than his ankles.  Lindsey felt about the same.

Our camp activities including target practice with the slingshot, hatchet throwing (don't let Brent fool you, he is very experienced with a hatchet), and mexican golf.

 Moving ahead a week or two...and we find ourselves in McCall with all of Lindsey's family.

First order of business: hike to Boulder Lake.  Second order of business, avoid the water, it actually still has floating ice chunks.

This picture is in the wrong spot, but I'm too lazy to move it.  Campfire antics a Ledgefork, or Bryce Canyon.

Yeah, he's handsome.

Back to Payette Lake in McCall, which is a bit warmer.  If you love water, and you love pushing a stroller, what could be better than pushing a stroller IN the water!?!?

First ever swing ride for Gavin.  I think he gave it 4 out of 5 stars.

Who knew that little boys liked destroying sand castles more than building them?  He only made Brent and I cry once or twice.  In his defense Gavin was very good at cleaning off the monster truck right after he used it to destroy a castle.  Everybody has their priorities.

The boys playing in the sand with Grandpa Lovell. 

Spontaneous kayaking that broke out.  The culprit has never been found.

 Then just a few odds and ends from the last week.

Thanksgiving Point petting zoo.  Gavin and Paul enjoyed watching the assorted fowl strut their stuff.  Sadly this is as close as we came to getting a group shot.  Thanks for inviting us guys.

Gavin likes to climb on top of things and stand up.  This causes Lindsey and I great anxiety when we think about the future.  We got him a balance bike (he's a bit small yet) and he decided he would rather just stand on top of the box

Congratulations!  You finished!  Hopefully you don't regret your time spent blog stalking.

P.S. - Please forgive any spelling or grammar errors, sometimes I'm not smart enough to think and type at the same time, and I refuse to proofread a blog posting.

It's spring!

Spring kicked into high gear and so did our fun!

We were going to be scrooge's for Easter since we figured Gavin wasn't really old enough to care about an egg hunt, but luckily for him Chad and Rebecca invited us over to egg hunt at their house.  Gavin didn't really get too into the egg hunt, but he was certainly curious about what was inside.  Since it was Easter you may think that is chocolate on his face, nope, it's dirt.  Mud to be exact, dirt mixed with Gavin slobber.  Maybe he wasn't that into finding eggs because he noticed the next smallest kid in the hunt was three times his size....

We all knew it would happen some time, but we hoped that maybe it would take a little longer.  Gavin has become... a boy.  Yes, he has recently learned the joy of dumping powdered sugar on the floor and playing in it, he now knows that most things with handles on the front will open and can be emptied onto the floor, and that if he tips the vase over it will break.

I ended up having the whole first week of April off and convinced Lindsey that she should join me on a little trip.  We also decided to invite Ashley and Brent since they had planned their schedules to coincide with my new schedule that was no longer going to be my schedule.  Confused?  Just go with it.  So, we piled all of us into the truck, threw in all our gear, and loaded in a weeks worth of wood even though we were only camping for 3 days.  What's a truck for if you can't fill it to the top?  We had a lot of fun.  It was 75-80 degrees and perfect weather, except for the one night where the wind blew all of the red southern utah dust underneath the fly of our tent and covered us.  I think I sneezed red dust for a week, and had to floss to get it out from between my teeth.  Gavin was a champ though, he loved seeing everything from the pack and only got upset when we wouldn't let him eat dirt. 

Never let go, never let go.  Yes, he's asleep in the pack but still has his hand in his cheerios container.

Best outdoor playpen ever: the pickup bed!  This was the only way to keep him from eating too much dirt while we played some games at camp.

One of the slot canyons we hiked.

Mom, are you sure we can fit through here??

As mentioned, we had a lot of wood to burn.  Ashley refused to move away from the fire no matter how much wood we put on it, even after Brent hit her pants so they touched her leg and she screamed...

As Lindsey put's it, our Gavin is a rock star.  Why you may ask?  He does have a pretty sweet guitar which includes a light show, but that's not why.  Gavin went in to have surgery to remove the skin tags next to his left ear this last week.  We learned that he looks pretty darn cute in a hospital gown, and that surgery can't slow him down.  Yeah, it was a pretty minor surgery, but he came out like a champ.  He whimpered a bit when he woke up, but was pretty happy after guzzling two bottles of pedialite to soothe his dry throat.  Being intibated is apparently no fun, nor is being incubated.  Sorry, inside joke, but couldn't resist.

Salt Lake Bike Tour!  Gavin did his first bike tour yesterday.  We had considered having somebody watch him while we rode, but we figured he might feel a little left out not getting up at 4 am with us.  Luckily he didn't so much as flutter an eyelid when I put him in the truck so he got to sleep until about 6.  As you will see however, we made sure he would be plenty comfortable and could catch up on his sleep during the ride.  Our camping pillows made it easy to doze on either the right or left, and should he decide to sleep on his face his after ride bag was right there for a soft landing.  The poor sucker who had to pull the weight of the trailer, Gavin, and all the gear.  He must he really awesome...and strong.  We volunteered as bike marshalls again.  In years past we hadn't really had the opportunity to help people, we just assumed it was because everybody knew what they were doing.  It turns out on the people in the front know what they are doing.  We started closer to the back since I was pulling the trailer and the start is really congested.  I did miss starting at the front and seeing a few people get nervous in the crowd and fall over, but we were able to help a lot of people, so I guess it was worth it.  Some of the people we had to help multiple times, here is what we were able to do:  put a chain back on, pump up a tire and release a brake the was rubbing badly (lady just thought she was in bad shape), find lost sunglasses, pump up another tire, point a rider in the right direction after they went the wrong way (oh wait, that was Ashley), pump up the same tire again, help a man find his wife's earring, and help the same man find his wife's earring again after he dropped it...again.  We deserve a medal.

After the tour, we went home and hung out in the yard.  Gavin loves his new Utah State camp chair.  He doesn't even try and get out, he just sits.  It is possible that it's not because he loves the chair so much but that he fell on his face the first few times he attempted to get out of it.  Nah...I'm sure he juts loves the chair.

The flowers are budding...and so are the faces.

The first flowers of spring!

But along came a 10 month to old to eat them!  But he really prefers leaves...

Don't mess with a kid that can give you "the eye"

Or "the mouth"

Our Whirlwind

I guess it's about time to get caught up.  Our post could never be complete without Island Park.  Why?  Because we haven't really done anything that interesting other than our Island Park trip.  Why was Island Park interesting you might ask?  Well, Sarah bashed her face in (slight overstament), we dug the worlds largest snowcave only to find a big pile of wood underneath it (great if needed for survival, not so good on your knees while you dig), we snowshoed, Gavin learned how to climb stairs (yeah!), Gavin found out he really likes to climb things (no!), we played lots of games (sorry Josh), and we ate a lot of food (too much.)

So, that could be snot dripping off his lip, but I'm sure it's just snow melting on his face...either way, too cute to not include.  :)

I told you!  Dam sledding is apparently an activity that should be avoided on Sunday.  Pre-accident conversation went something like this:  Jace to Sarah: "You should probably put your feet down so you don't just take off down the hill before everyone else."  Ashley to Jace: " I think she knows how to sled." Jace to Ashley: "No, I don't think she does."  Jace: 1, Ashley: 0

Obviously I was the one that worked the hardest on the snow cave, I didn't see any pictures of me just sitting around...or maybe I just skipped them, I don't remember.  Since Grandma had the driveway plowed out this year we couldn't spend the first morning digging out parking spots so we channeled our energy into a massive snow cave.  We didn't quite get the master bedroom and bath finished though...

For those who haven't seen it, Gavin likes to stand on his head a lot, apparently the world is more interesting when viewed upside down.  He likes doing the same thing with his alphabet train, he drapes himself over it and plays with whatever is on the other side or inside.

 Lindsey has been very proud of herself.  Not only is she now baking her own bread, she recently pickled and canned asparagus.  Every jar even sealed.

A recent Sunday picture.  We take a picture of Gavin every Sunday...usually he has pants on, but hey, who says pants are required?