Monday, October 17, 2011

Sunday Drive over Alpine Loop

If you haven't been up the canyon to see the fall colors--drop everything and GO NOW!

We spent Sunday afternoon driving up and over Aspen Loop into American Fork Canyon. The mountains were on fire with every color you can imagine. The aspen trees were the most brilliant color of yellow, almost fluorescent. Then after the summit we dropped into the lodge pole pines of AF canyon. We stopped and explored along the way. We squatted on someone's recently deserted campsite and stoked up their old embers--spontaneous bon fire! We hiked down to the river--which bandit (our puppy) was terrified of. Finally his love for us surpassed his fears and he crept down to be with us. It was a magical afternoon. Then we continued on, catching the I-15 at the point of the mountain and joined the Nielsen clan for a fall fiesta.






Top 10 Things I don't want to forget about this moment:
*The hatchback open and the kids in the back looking out. The silouettes of their little backs and blowing hair.
*The crisp, healing air.
*The joyful hollering of Troy and the kids when they discovered a mossy river.
*The slippery tree stump that made both Troy and I fall in the river.
*Bandit sitting at the top scared to death--then finally, slowly inching toward us.
*That color of yellow.
*Finding leaves on the trails-especially the speckled one.
*Discovering gold dollar coins in the car that paid for us to enter the park. We would've had to turn around-we both left our wallets at home.
*Ash saying the mountains looked like a rainbow.
*Just driving at our own pace, in no rush, just soaking it all in.

Saturday, August 13, 2011

Troy Does the Snowbird Hill Climb...again!

We thought he was nuts the first time...but now we know he's lost his marbles. Every 2nd week of August we drive up Little Cottonwood Canyon to spend a week there and there are always bikers climbing the treacherous 3500 ascent. One day i said outloud, "I would NEVER do that!" and before the words were out Troy said dreamily, "I want to do that one day." Well he surprised us all and did---which really isn't a suprise at all for those who know him well. His fan club this year included both our parents, our cute 4 kids who cheered for everyone who crossed the finishline, his devoted wife (me), and the clarke family who were also cheering on Sam, their dad. It was a beautiful day and he did amazing! 10 miles. 3500 feet uphill. 1 hour 30 min. Crazy and incredible.


























Friday, August 12, 2011

Memorable Snowbird Moments-2011

Hiking to Cecret Lake with 2 men, 5 women and 11 kids (14-month-Kayla to 13 -year-old Madi). I have NO idea how long it took but it was hilarious! Indy kept Bree laughing. Steph carried Kayla most the way (and sometimes Alec). Ash walked the trail holding hands with Uncles Ben and Jarem. Jarem took Tegan and Indy around the lake and got a lot more than he bargained for (It's burning!)














*Troy driving down to his first week for MBA classes on Tuesday and Thursday.
*Swimming at the kids pool with our fun aunts and cute cousins.




*Playing tennis, buying stickers and getting ice cream.



*The rides day! We didn't get to go last year so it was twice as anticipated this year and we soaked up evey minute of fun. Madi finally weighed 75 lbs. to ride the zip line!! It was our first year on the ropes course.






*Tif set us all up on blogs including every one of our kids. We got way into designing them.




*We watched Jurassic Park, Tron, The Rules (again), and home movies.
*Zumba! (Year 2)
*Laying out by the adult pool and talking for hours (Daph, Tif and Holly).
*Playing Guitar Hero with Uncle Jarem & Aunt Chan....and whoever else joined in. Having to be patient with all the tiny cousins wanting to "sing."
*Baby Valen :-)




*Troy's 2nd annual Snowbird Hill Climb bike race.




*A shocking shortage of males as they were working or gone to school. (Troy and Robb both got accepted to MBA programs this year!!)
*We missed Ani & Russ and Jay & Mel's families this year :-(

Just like the Snowbird decor, every year has the same feel with it's own unique changes each year. We act like we are the only family to ever jump on these couches and throw garbage in the dumpsters below. We are always too loud for the neighbors and more so with each added little person. We relax in the form of hikes, stargazing, crafts, swimming, tennis matches, walks to the lodge, movies, alpine slides, bungy tramps, tram rides, mountain biking, and lots of games. As expected, it feels like home this year. Only "home" this year included 3 more condos than the unit Mom and Dad bought 33 years ago (and a whole lot more people.)


Tuesday, August 09, 2011

New and Improved!

Welcome to our new and improved blog (thanks to my sis TIF!) Notice you can now link to all our blogs and go back and forth. Here we are at Snowbird for my 33rd year...the only place I find the time to do this sort of thing. Pictures to come when I get home to my desk top! Until then, I posted 900-something on the Shutterfly link. Enjoy! Hopefully these blogs will help us avoid a dreadful family newsletter. Not dreadful to read, but have you ever tried to gather pics from your family????

Monday, January 03, 2011

Please don't delete!

In reading jane's blog I learned that blogger will DELETE this blog if I don't post for 6 months. I am not quite ready to jump back on the blogger horse but I will some day and I want to make a book out of my old posts. So please, blogger, don't delete. I promise to be better....

Tuesday, July 28, 2009

Ok-I'm really excited about this! Thank you to my dear friend, Jane, who is the world's best bragger about her friends. Her enthusiasm has been very motivating for me!
My other dear friend, Gina, came up with this amazing idea and I can't wait to put it on! It really spawned from our love of these kids and our tiring of asking for money. :-) My kids have been dying to help these kids in some way but I don't dare take them on our medical trips yet so this is a really cool way for them to do something! They are so excited to race and what I love is that we picked a race length that fits every member of the family so families can do this together. Run 13 is an amazing company that basically gives you back your entrance fee in free food and t-shirts. Troy and I ran our first 5k with them on Pioneer Day and we were very impressed (with ourselves and run 13). So come run with us if you want--my most favorite part about this is that so many family and friends are running with us!!
Join us in the Race against the sugar cane …
Racing the Cane
6k/3K/1K
When: 9/19/09
Where: Mountain View High School, Orem Utah


A fun way to get your whole family involved in Humanitarian work and physical fitness!
*50% of proceeds go directly to help impoverished kids in the Dominican Republic.
*We will be collecting used shoes at the race to send to the DR so the kids there can have a RACE of their own through the sugar cane fields!


We are partnering up with http://run13.com/6.html who put on a huge fun-filled event with blow up toys, music, and food.

Mark it on your calendars--more info to come!