Bear Lake

This last weekend we went up to Bear Lake with Brandon's brother and his parents. We had so much fun! We stayed in Montpelier which is close to Georgetown where Brandon's mom grew up. The highlights of the trip were definately the Minnetonka Caves and going to the lake. The caves were great. You went up/down about 900 stairs though and my hips/back are still hurting to this day but it was worth it. The kids loved it and Caleb did all the stairs himself! Brandon carried Brynley most of the way so he got a great workout!



After the caves we went to the lake and we loved it there! I think I might even like the lake better than the beach (in CA). Granted, I've never taken my kids to a CA beach but at the lake you don't have to worry about big waves sweeping them away, it's shallow for as far as you can see, it's really warm in the shallow spots, not much seaweed, etc. The sand isn't quite as nice as a normal beach. It's not really rocky it's just kind of clay-like but it's still good enough to make sand castles and bury yourself in the sand. All this and it's only 3 hours away! I think we have a winner!!!




We had a great weekend!

Mountain Biking

I've been mountain biking a few times this summer (I'm sure Lindsey would say more than a few times). I think she feels like this sometimes. Anyway, on Saturday I went with some friends up Big Cottonwood Canyon to ride the Wasatch Crest trail. Here's a link if you're interested. We Started at Guardsman Pass and went down the Mill D trail. It was a lot of fun and some of the best and most intense downhill I've done. The ride starts with a brutal ascent up "Puke Hill". Here's me at the top of Puke Hill at about 10,000 ft. I made it without puking but I did have to stop and rest twice and I walked my bike for a short section.

Here's a cool picture up above Desolation Lake just before I made my attempt at riding down the spine. I was not very successful as you will see.

The trail kind of disappears down the spine and becomes a choose your own adventure event. The adventure I chose was to first take a drop, realize I'm going too fast to continue on my desired route, hit my front brakes too hard, and endo over the front of my handlebars. I thought, no matter, Wes rode the spine and didn't crash, I'll be ok from here. So I got back on my horse and the next adventure was partially caught on film.


When I got home I reread the short brief that talks about this section of the trail on UtahMountainBiking.com and here's what it says:

"Unless you're one of the elite, plan to walk your bike over this area -- or plan for some on-trail repairs and bandaging. Our last ride, we watched quite a few expert riders "try-and-die" as we were repairing our damaged steeds. Not one rider cleaned the ridge."

Nice to know... Wes, who had ridden the trail a few times made it down like a pro, I crashed like somebody who wishes they were a pro, and Josh knew better after watching me bite it and took a more cautious approach.

The downhill section after that was insane. It was crazy fast and the trail had some cool steps and roots in it that you could get air on as long as you slowed down enough before the next step so that you didn't get yourself in a bad situation. After a good downhill section, we were stopped to take a drink and rest when my tire suddenly lost all the air in about 5 seconds. The brake pads heated the rim up so much it popped the tube. Luckily Wes is a good Boy Scout and had an extra tube or I would have had a miserable walk down to the bottom. Thanks Wes. Looks like I may need to invest in some disc brakes sometime in the future.

We had a lot of fun and it was amazing how lush and green the mountains were. There were tons of wildflowers and it was nice to be in the mountains doing something I love.

30 Weeks

I feel like I'm getting close to the home stretch. Being in the 30's (weeks, that is) makes it feel so much closer. My doctor said he'd induce me a week early as long as I was dilated to at least a 3-4 becuase my sister will be in town. That makes me excited. So I know I only have at most 9 weeks to go. (Unless of course i'm not dilated but I start dilating so early I'm not too worried about that). Unfortunately, and I'm trying really hard not to do this, I keep counting down to 37 weeks. So I try to tell myself 7-9 more weeks left. I counted down to "full term" at 37 weeks with Brynley and when I got there and past it I was mentally done with the pregnancy so I don't want to do that again. I only went to 38 weeks with her but still...

Anyway, feeling pretty good. I'm getting some mad contractions, though. All the time. Every night I get a few but some nights I get tons, like 10-12 an hour. I've called the dr once but didn't have to go in thankfully. I'm still "working out". I put that in quotes because I'm not sure you can call 2 mile walks (at a leisurly pace which feels quite fast to me) and wimpy lifting sessions real workouts. But hey, it gets me out of the house. I've gained 23 pounds so far which is less than I'd gained thus far with Brynley so I'm happy about that. This little girl is moving a TON. So much sometimes that it kind of makes me sick. Did any of you feel that way? And a lot of it is at night too. I'll get up to go to the bathroom at night (2-3 times a night, ugh) and it takes me forever to fall back to sleep because she's moving so much. I guess she's just getting me ready for what's to come. Hmmm... what else. Nothing much. This week is the last week I don't have a lot going on before Caleb starts school. The next few weeks will be jam packed and I'm excited for it because it will help time go by fast.

Anyway, that's about all for now. In good bye I will leave you with a picture of my new bangs:

And a picture of Brandon after he crashed mountain biking and fell into a river and hit his head on a big rock. Yeah. Nuff said.

Time for new paint!

I decided last week that I was going to paint the kids rooms. I've been meaning to do this for a while but I've been putting it off. First I was just going to do the nursery (which Brynley calls the "primary" aka Aubrey's room/nursery). But when I finished that I was still in the mood so I did Caleb and Brynley's room too. Here's how it turned out.


The "primary" is the same green color with pink accents in the drapes and bedding and stuff. I'll post a picture when it's all decorated.

Happy Independence Day!

We had a great fourth of July! It started off with a visit to the Scera Pool. We spent a few hours there swimming and enjoying the nice warm day. Actually, now that I think about it ... it was pretty cloudy. It was definately warm though. Anyway, then we went to my parents for a bbq. My aunt, uncle and cousins, Katie, Jessie and Cory and their kids came. It was a lot of fun to catch up with Jessie and let the kids play. Caleb loved his first encounter with sparklers.




After the bbq we came back to our house and did some fireworks in the street. Of course, the kids loved that part too. We had a great day filled with the usual Fourth of July festivities.

Best Friends...

Here is Caleb and his best friend Jackson playing in a pool in front of their house. I love the action shot.

Carrots coming out of our ears!

Yes these are straight out of our garden!