Kids' Spring sports

Once all the festivities of December are over, January starts us off with a year-long array of sports, And even though there's still some snow on the ground, it always feels good to get outside!

Morgan tried track this year. She started on the JV team and by the end of the season, she was on the varsity team. Had she been able to compete in the finals, she would have taken first place in the 800 m. She got her mile down to under 6 minutes!

Bradley played futsal, indoor soccer.

So did Brian.

Brandon tried volley ball for the first time and loved it!

Bradley and Brian also did baseball again, but this year they were on the same team. Bradley was the pitcher and Brian was their star batter. What a fun season we had!

And that's how we start off the year. We snow ski on Wednesdays, so I don't ever schedule sports on those days but then our Saturdays are filled up with the rest of it.

For the summer, the kids play tennis and we water ski every Monday and when school starts up, the kids also start up outdoor soccer and then basketball. And then the whole routine starts over again in January with the spring sports! Needless to say, I live out of my car for those 9 months. There are days when all I'm doing is chauffering kids around that I don't even get to watch their games! But I say, hey, what else does a mother have to do, right?

Moad Adventure

Dave and I were invited by some friends to go down to Moab, Utah the weekend after our amazing ski trip for what turned out to be the most spectacular adventure and again, the most fun! We rented a 15 passenger van and headed down Saturday morning.

The first adventure was supposed to be a 1/2 day white-water rafting trip. But because the river hadn't swelled to its usually angry self, it was more like floating in a kiddie pool. And we thought we'd be getting professional pictures on the sight but they didn't even show up, so we don't have any pictures to show. Besides, I need to put this adventure back on the bucket list. (I mean, we had to splash each other to get wet for pete's sake! The water was a mere 38 degrees)

Now, like they say, pictures are worth a 1000 words and even these pictures can't do justice to the rest of the trip. It was simply amazing! After rafting, we went rapelling at Morning Glory Bridge, (for those of you who don't know this arch, it's simply the best place to go rapelling in Moab!) and we explored Fiery Furnace with a private guide and hiked up to Delicate Arch--Utah's symbol.

Our rapell guides

This was a 2-part rapell. First, we rapelled down through a crevase to get to Morning Glory Bridge and then rapelled down the bridge to the bottom of the canyon. We had two guides who travel the world rapelling the most exotic places like Europe and South America but they spend every summer rapelling Moab because they say it's amazing.

That's Mark on Morning Glory Bridge. He planned this whole trip.

And this is Dave rapelling down the bridge.

Dave is rapelling upside down!

So of course, I've got to rapell upside down too!

What an amazing view!!! We rapelled that! Now, we have a 2-mile hike out of the canyon.

Later that night, we ate at some Mexican restaurant. Can you see that we're barely awake?

And I don't remember making it back to the RedStone Inn motel. (hee haw!) It's all a blurr. I only remember waking up too early the next morning for another full day of fun!

We drove to Fiery Furace with a private guide who let us explore all the arches. I have to say, it's the most beautiful place to visit in Utah. I loved it!!

And that afternoon, we hiked up to Delicate Arch. For those of you who have seen our license plates, this is THAT famous Utah arch.

Wow! It's the perfect mathematical equation...A perfect group of best friends + the most amazing adventure = Perfect memories!

Easter Vacation

Happy Easter!

Well, so many of you have been asking about our Easter break that I've had to hurry to put this up! To make a long story short, we were supposed to go down to Kodachrome Basin, southern Utah, for our yearly camping (for us 'cabin'ing) trip with some friends, but since the weather had suddenly turned nasty, we decided at the last minute to head up to the Moyle's cabin for one last ski splurge. It turned out to be the best skiing any of us had done the whole year!

View of Brighton ski lodge from the cabin

We played card and board games

Bradley, Morgan, and Parker getting warm in the sun


We roasted marshmallows (Hailee's were the best!)

Of course we ate a lot! (Henry, where are the other boys? You look like a lost puppy!)

Garret, our Eagle scout in training and one of Morgan's best friends, did a great job of burning newspapers! Now, he just needs to learn to get the wood to burn too!

We skiied 'til our legs fell off...or they closed down the lifts, which ever came first.

Me, Natalie, and Jeana. Jeana just finished her last dose of radiation two weeks ago, just after finishing her chemotherapy for breast cancer. She's a survivor!!! And skiied for three hours straight this day! We're so proud of her!!






sledding



more sledding




Bradley doing a trick

Brandon ski jumping

VALENTINES PARTIES

This year, I thought it would be fun to host a dinner rather than go out. So I invited some best friends over and after dinner we played the mormon version of the Newly Wed game. All three of us have been married for 15+ years, needless to say, we aced that game!

Wayne & Margaret Redding and Jen & Malcolm Woodmansee

Then a week later, grammi and papa hosted a family Valentines party with delicious food and the best games. What fun!!!

Morgan invited Garret

OOGA-BOOGA game. I think Brian won this one!