Death March at Ryder Lake!

June 30th about 4:00 am, the alarm goes off and I throw it across the room! It is way too early to wake up on a day off or any other day for that matter. Laura and I slowly climb out of bed to get ready to leave by 5 so we can meet everyone else at Christmas Meadows by 8. Today we were headed to Ryder Lake; a nice 9 mile jaunt from the trail head to the camp spot. It really wasn't bad. Other than the fact that Laura and I hadn't been backpacking since our trip to Red Castle back in 2005. We were both huffing and puffing by the 3/4 mile mark! 

Anyway, we got to the trail head about 7:55 and everyone else showed up within a few minutes. We were on the trail by about 8. As always the meadows were beautiful and it wasn't long before we had seen a couple of moose.

We couldn't have asked for better weather this trip. The days were cool, the nights were warm, and the sky had just the right amount of clouds to make for great pictures.

By lunch time we had made it to the "Meadow" made so famous by Grandma Lila Colton's painting. This is what is looked like all those years ago.

This is what it looks like now... It was beautiful! This has to be one of the few places in the world that even after so many years looks just the same. What an amazing place!

About 3:30 we all straggled up to Ryder Lake and the camp site Brysen and Nate scouted out for us. It was a great camp site; far enough away from other campers and with a nice opening in the trees that gave us a great view of the lake and the waterfalls.

The mosquitoes were horrendous and if we didn't keep covered or keep the repellent slathered on they may have carried us off to be heard from no more!

We had a beautiful sunset that night and everyone slept pretty good.

We woke the next morning with the sun and had a bit of breakfast; a pop tart, some water, and a few snacks. Jordan "forced" Sarah, Laura, and I to go with him to the top of "Colton Peak" and he wanted to get an early start.

No comment here...

Not far above Ryder Lake is McPheters Lake; amazing view.

That's right, Laura, we're going all the way up THAT and THAT is just the beginning!

This hike was so amazing (am I using that word a lot?).

Every step brought new sights to see and each was more amazing than the last.

We made it to very tippy top and Sarah piled up some rocks to get even higher!

They say a picture is worth a thousand words. Well being there was worth thousands of pictures and we almost took that many!

There were only a few really scary parts. You know the kind that one slip would have meant certain death... for sure... without a doubt... and this was one of them. The ledge at the bottom of this crevasse was just a couple feet wide then it was several hundred feet of shear cliff to a rocky splattered death! It was a lot of kicks!

As we made it back down to McPheters we were all quite pleased with the hike and more so that we didn't have to watch anyone fall screaming to their death!

You may have noticed that you didn't see Jordan hanging over any cliffs this time. Well, it turns out that Sarah was charged to keep him safe and from doing anything "crazy". She failed miserably!

Here come the "Cliff Hangers".

They started out pretty mellow.

Some didn't even look too "crazy".

Then I got daring and that was it...

Jordan had to take it to a new level!

and then just a bit further!

Remember how I said we were all glad we didn't see anyone fall to their death... that anyone would have probably been Jordan! Now just to clarify, I would have been right there along side of him but someone... I won't name names but she's my wife... wouldn't have let me sleep next to her for a week had I gone up there too!

These next few pics are of us fishing. The fish were biting and we all caught plenty for dinner. Kate just couldn't stand to have the fish she caught get hit over the head so she let hers go. What a sweetie; I'm sure we just caught them again further down the bank and they got hit over the head anyway but it is the thought that counts, right!?

After a great dinner of fish and MRE's and a bunch of other yummy trail food I think we all slept very well that night. We were all pretty well exhausted by now and slept good regardless of the hard bumpy ground!

Our hike back took about half as long as the hike up did. Everyone was ready to get to the cars and head home for a long shower and a real bed. All in all those of us that hiked to the top of Colton Peak went about 22 miles over the weekend and we all came home alive. Jordan was very proud of us!

First Day of School!

Jamie is in first grade! Our little girl is growing up.  She got the early schedule this year and that means we wake up by 6:30.  Jamie is not a morning person (neither am I) so I'm a bit scared.  The excitement of the first day made it easy to get up and ready and to the bus stop 10 minutes early. All the buses have pictures in the window so the kids can tell which one is theirs. Jamie's has a big blue "Y" in it. I'm not sure what it stands for but...maybe I'll ask one of my brothers. Anyway, when Nathan and I went to pick Jamie up at the bus stop in the afternoon, she wasn't on the bus! Panic! Where is my baby!!?? I quickly calmed down and called the school. The secretary informed me that a lot of students get on the wrong buses, especially on the first day. They tracked her down when she made it back to school after riding the "giraffe" bus around some unknown nieghborhood. So, she caught the later "Y" bus back to our bus stop. She must be growing up because she was not even a little bit upset after the whole ordeal.

Summer Fun

So, I want to catch up on all the fun summer stuff we have done since school is starting in a week! This post will cover pretty much the whole summer. I've taken the kids on a bunch of nieghborhood outings (this awesome woman in our neighborhood planned an outing for every tuesday of the summer. It's been so fun!) We also went to Logan and the zoo for the 4th. So, here's all that stuff:
Neighborhood outings:
Kennecott Copper Mine-

Nathan was pretty excited about the tires that are bigger than our house.  He wanted to take all the little vehicle models on display in the museum. He threw a fit of course but the whole thing was really interesting even for the kids!

Silver Lake, Big Cottonwood Canyon-

This was such a beautiful walk - not even a hike really.  You can take baby strollers on it.  We saw lots of flowers and animals including some moose, prarie dogs, ducks and ducklings, and chipmunks. It was so nice to be up in the cool mountains on a hot summer day.

Wheeler Farm-

A wagon ride, feeding geese and ducks, and riding ponies were some of the activities we enjoyed at Wheeler Farm. We saw lots of cool farm animals including a very pregnant little goat.  Shoulda got a picture of that!  She was wider than she was tall, poor girl. The kids enjoyed riding Marshmellow and Nibbles (the ponies) the best!

Obscene: designed to incite to lust or depravity

Now that we have your attention! Feast your eyes on this culinary masterpiece.

Behold "Frozen Peanut Butter Turtle Pie"

Have you ever seen anything so glorious?

It's the mouth-watering sensation that's sweeping the nation! 

Well, at least it was a big hit in our kitchen! 

Look for Frozen Peanut Butter Trutle Pie on Reciplease

Time to Move On

This blog has been a long time in the making. As many of you know last year we decided that it was time to move. We wanted to be closer to work and to get a bigger house and most of all we needed a garage! Well, that was my "most of all" anyway.

Laura and I put our first home in Kearns up for sale late last year. It was a lovely home, by the time I got through with it and it served us well. The story of our move is long yet we feel the Lord guided us to the right place. The house in Kearns was on the market for 6 months with just one showing and they went with another house that had a garage... I couldn't blame them.

We let the house listing expire while I was in Korea with a plan to list it again when I returned. And this is where the real story begins! So, I got home on a Tuseday, slept for a few days then called the Realtor. We had the house listed again that Friday. Saturday we had two showings and one offer which we accepted. The folowing week was a whirlwind of dragging the kids around to look at houses, excitement, and bitter disappointment. The day before I was to leave once again for a 5 week school I stumbled apon our furture home.

We had already put an offer on a home for which we felt like we were "settling". I was browsing the internet looking at more houses and this beauty caught my eye! I admit it was the 3 car garage that drew my attention at first. But as I looked through the pics I felt like we really should look at this one.

I told Laura to come see what I had found. She was reluctant at first. She was sick of looking at houses and really didn't want to get her hopes up just to have them dashed again as had happen earlier in our house hunt. We both agreed that this one was worth checking out.

Living Room                           

Mind you that this was Thursday and I was leaving the next morning for 5 weeks. Our house had sold and we needed to find something fast! So I called our realtor and told him we had one more we wanted to see. He got the showing setup for 1:00.

                             Family Room

As Laura and I drove to the house we both felt excited and nervous. As we came into the house we knew almost right away that this was our home!

Kitchen... and Laura

It was beatiful and just right. We told the realtor to call the seller and make an offer. By about 6:00 that night we had the house under contract and then I was off in the morning for Georgia leaving Laura with a couple Powers of Attorney and a "Good Luck!"

Nathan's Room                                    Jamie's Room

Laura and I spent the next 5 weeks working through all the processes of buying and selling a home. Laura got to do most of the work while I just made phone calls and tried to provide moral support.

Master Bedroom

Everything worked out just perfectly... almost as if it was meant to be...

     Guest Bedroom/Office               Future Theatre and Storage rooms

We moved in on my birthday, Memorial Day weekend, and as they say... the rest is history.

Garage... I know, it's big!

We have been in our new home for about a month and a half and love it. Already we have made lots of improvments, built storage shelves and made even more plans. We can even park the van in the garage now; a feat many people never accomplish even durning a whole lifetime!