Jared Price Family

Happy Birthday, Brandon!

2010-11-11T14:10:00.000-08:00

It about killed Brandon that he had to wait a WHOLE MONTH after he turned 8 to be baptized. He's a terrific kid in every way, and we're so thankful he's part of our family.
On the trail to Eagle...

Family Pictures

2010-11-08T09:04:00.000-08:00

Labor Day Fishing

2010-09-22T21:06:00.001-07:00

We spent Labor Day in the Uintahs hiking and fishing. What a beautiful day! All of the kids caught fish, luckily (Brady even caught the $2 fish- the albino!). I'm not sure why Jared bothered to get a fishing license- he spent the whole time baiting hooks and taking fish off lines. Esther came too, to make it a real "reunion" hike from last summer.

We took a bunch of pictures and someone's eyes were closed in every one. Oh well.
Esther leaves us soon for Georgia. That will leave a huge hole, but we wish her all the best.
These girls are growing up way too fast.
These two keep us on our toes!

Back to School

2010-09-22T20:50:00.000-07:00

Brady's first day of preschool. Wednesday and Friday mornings at the elementary school. I wasn't going to do preschool at all, but the teacher called and said she had openings, so we tried it. He's having a great time, and I can get all of my errands done ALONE!

Hannah's first day of middle school. Vista Heights is a brand new school. She was pretty anxious about all of the different classes, and the rotating schedule, but has adjusted easily. Another new adventure- riding the bus!

First day for Emily (5th) and Brandon (2nd). Emily never gets the teacher she hopes for, but always ends up liking who she does get. If Brandon's brains don't leak out of all of the holes left in his mouth from losing teeth he should do just fine.

Pioneer Trek

2010-08-03T13:46:00.000-07:00

Jared and I were asked to go on pioneer trek with our stake as a "ma and pa". We had a group of 7 awesome kids, 4 from foreign countries, so we were the international family. We went to Martin's Cove and Rocky Ridge in Wyoming, and pulled handcarts along part of the actual Mormon Pioneer trail. Despite a major storm that left everyone drenched and kept us up half the night, one of our "daughters" taking a side trip to the ER for an infection from mosquito bites, and living in pioneer clothes for 4 days (no showers), we had the most amazing experience. In fact, those events made it even more memorable and wonderful. People tried to tell us how much we would be affected by this adventure and we didn't really pay much attention. I know lots of stakes go on trek all over the country, and people will have their own unique experiences. Ours was four of the most fun and spiritual days we have ever had, with a group of truly amazing youth who are facing challenges that touched our hearts and left us in awe at their strength.

Homecoming

2010-08-03T13:06:00.000-07:00

After three LONG years, my parents finally returned from their mission in Uganda. The whole family was able to be in San Diego for their return, which was as thrilling as you can imagine. The kids are wearing crested crane hats in Grandma's honor- her favorite bird in Africa (although, her shoebill sighting was probably more memorable for her. But go ahead and google a picture of the shoebill, and you'll know why we made crested crane hats!) Words can't describe how happy we are to have them home again, though we all felt very blessed as they served. There were 4 new grandkids they had never met: Norah (Chad and Stacey), Luke and Lily (James and Amanda), and Lilah (Mike and Camille). Also a handful that were babies when they left. Airports are too stressful for Ammon, so my parents went to visit him Sunday.

Ethan's family

Chad's family

My family

James' family

Camille's family

Esther's family ;)

Updates

2010-05-14T13:39:00.000-07:00

Sorry I've been slacking. Here are some of the events for the past few months:

If you were following the Winter Olympics you might remember one of the US womens' skeleton team, Noelle Pikus-Pace. She is a neighbor, so our little city had a welcome party for her. She is one of the most amazing people, with a positive attitude like you've never met.

Weekend trip to St. George for Hannah's dance competition. Nice weather, fun hiking.

Kids' first ski trip to Alta during Spring Break. Awesome, warm day. Started out rough, but by the end of the day the kids were all bombing down the beginner runs (Brady skied between our legs, but did a great job keeping his skis straight.) We're thinking of ski passes for Christmas this year...

Jared took Brandon to a mini BYU football camp in conjuction with the first public scrimmage. I don't know who had more fun. Jared is just glad to have someone to ingrain with BYU football mania.

And here's a few of my favorites. Brady and his friend Jace are as thick as thieves. They both love Toy Story, and one day asked for their Halloween costumes. They were in them all day and you can just imagine what adventures they had together. (By the way, Hannah was "Jessie" because Jace said she is Woody's girlfriend, and he's got a crush on her.)

Koda

2010-01-06T11:32:00.001-08:00

Forgot to add in a post about our new dog. Early on a Sunday mid-November, Jared's brother called us to see if we wanted the dog he purchased for his kids in a fit of insanity the previous day. He said he knew it was a mistake the minute he handed over the money, but gave it a night to let the impossibility of it really set in. We figured we weren't out anything and told the kids we'd give him a week trial. Needless to say he is still with us, and we really love him. Some of you know we've tried dogs before, but Koda has been a great dog (read: easily trained!). We thought he looked like the little bear by the same name in Disney's Brother Bear.Recent
First day

New Years in San Diego

2010-01-06T11:09:00.000-08:00

We decided to go thaw out in San Diego after we got home from Glenwood Springs. Since our train home was delayed (see previous blog), we arrived home about 4:30 pm Sunday instead of Saturday night. We had hotel reservations in Mesquite for that night so we emptied our suitcases, filled them again and hit the road! It was a whirlwind, but we were glad we did it. We didn't do anything but hang out with Ethan and Marci and their kids, but it was perfect. Monday night Tony and Georgina were over for dinner before they took off for their New Year's trip. I have to add Jared won this year's ping pong game (a tradition when we go down for New Year's). We had great weather and enjoyed being by the water. New Year's Day we went with Ammon to Mission Bay.

La Jolla
Del Mar

Mission Bay

Christmas 2009

2010-01-06T10:30:00.000-08:00

Amtrak Zephyr from Provo, Utah to Glenwood Springs, Colorado December 23- 26. Clair, Roz, Marc and Esther also travelled. Thanks to the Grahams for the idea!

On our way to Glenwood Springs- what a fun way to travel!
Took a tram up the mountain in Glenwood Springs to tour two natural caves.
Hot springs Christmas Day
Chinese for Christmas dinner!

Thanks to bad weather in the mid-west our train home was delayed 18 hours. We took advantage of the extra day ice-skating at the local rec center.About 8 pm Saturday, waiting for the train when we thought it was coming at 3 am (original departure time was 2 pm Saturday). It didn't come until 8 am Sunday- luckily the Hotel Denver across the street was good enough to give us discounted rooms. We felt sorry for those stuck on the train for those extra 18 hours!

Niagara Falls-Palmyra Trip

2010-01-06T09:40:00.001-08:00

Jared and I found a great deal on flights to Buffalo early in the year so we decided to plan a fall trip instead of our usual summer one. What a blast we had! It was a quick trip, only a few days, but so worth it. We saw Niagara Falls, Palmyra and all of its church history sites, and the gorgeous fall colors in such a beautiful countryside. The kids were truly a joy to travel with, and loved the plane ride as much as everything else (Brady felt the need to point out every plane he saw all weekend- even at the airports!) Here are a few pictures of the trip:

The monument at the Hill Cumorah
View of the Palmyra Temple from the Smith Family farm
Interior of Smith family frame home
Inside the Sacred Grove
Lake Ontario

First Day of School

2010-01-06T09:24:00.001-08:00

I have decided to really appreciate this school year- my first and only when the kids all go to the same school and start and end at the same time! Of course, Brady is home with me still- thank goodness! I'll definitely have to adjust when he starts school.
Obviously I am posting this WAY after the first day of school, so I can tell you they are having a great year.
Hannah was nervous becuase her teacher has a reputation of being very tough (especially about cursive writing), but she loves him.

Emily loves being in Uncle Mike's spelling group- the kids all feel pretty special to be related to the most popular teacher in the whole school!
Brandon transitioned to full-day school no problem (well, okay, eating breakfast quickly can sometimes still trip him up), and is doing a fantastic job of helping out his young rookie teacher.

Summer of Hikes

2009-08-09T17:02:00.000-07:00

So, if anyone ever actually looks at this blog you've probably thought I had abandoned it. The thing is, most of the time I forget about it, and when I do think about it I question if it's worth the time because I'm definitely not blessed with the ability to make my family sound as fun and wonderful as they really are, as many of my blogging family and friends are.

This summer I decided that instead of sitting around watching TV for three straight months, I would try to take the kids on a hike a week. I clipped articles, searched the internet, asked Utah natives, and catalogued every hike I heard about, then decided on a few that weren't too long or difficult, and- here's the most important part- had a water feature at the destination. We had a very wet, cool, pleasant June here, but that meant every hike in June we got rained on! We kept it up in July and the kids did their favorite hike- see if you can guess. One hike, Horsetail Falls, is missing. You'll see friends and family in some of the shots- Esther went on almost every hike with us.

Now we're about a week away from school starting, which is so hard to believe. We are going camping this weekend so I know we'll get in at least one more hike. I know life will get too hectic to keep up the one-a-week this fall, but I hope we'll keep hiking until the snow falls. There are hundreds of books out there about keeping kids close to nature, and though I haven't read them I'm sure I would agree with them all. I have seen and felt the benefits first-hand this summer, and hope we will keep these memories forever.

Hannah's dance recital

2009-05-31T09:24:00.000-07:00

Here is a clip from Hannah's recital yesterday. (She was in two dances, but it took so long to upload one that I didn't post the other.) She was in competition dance for the first time this year. It was a big commitment, but she loved every minute. Her team did well, competing about 5 times and getting a mixture of firsts and seconds. She will dance in the big 4th of July event at LaVell Edward's Stadium with the Jonas Bothers. She's obviously very excited for that.

Happy Halloween!

2008-11-04T13:33:00.001-08:00

Moab

2008-10-21T09:44:00.001-07:00

Another trip...

We went down to Moab for UEA weekend. What a great place. We went to Arches and Canyonlands National Parks- finally saw Delicate Arch (on the license plates here in Utah). Did a little family history searching, including a visit to Hole n' the Rock, a home excavated by my Grandpa Christensen's brothers into a huge sandstone monolith just south of Moab, and searching the local cemetaries for family names. We are looking forward to a return trip.

Emily's Baptism

2008-10-21T09:37:00.001-07:00

Emily was baptized September 13th. So many family and friends came- thanks to all. A win over UCLA later that day was frosting.

Cannon Beach- July 2008

2008-10-21T08:33:00.001-07:00

So, all I ever blog is vacations. I guess I need to pull out the camera and get everyday life sometimes too. But, until then...

We went to the Oregon coast at the end of July with Jared's family- a trip 4 years in the making. We had an absolute blast. Couldn't have ordered more beautiful weather, and the kids were all old enough to love everything about the beach. We also saw Mt. Saint Helens and downtown Portland, and visited Grandma Price and Melanie and Jason Whitt. Out of over 200 hundred pictures I'm posting just a few.

Whirlwind East Coast Trip

2008-07-21T15:13:00.000-07:00

Jared and I took off for a long weekend- 4 states in 3 days. We flew into NYC, drove up the coast and hit Rhode Island, Massachusetts and Connecticut. We had talked about this trip for years and just finally did it. We went to Newport and saw the beautiful coastal mansions- you feel like at any time someone straight out of the early 1900s is going to step out of the house. Next we took the ferry to Martha's Vineyard, where there wasn't much going on in the off-season. I was surprised at the quiet, country feel, and had pictured something much smaller. We spent Friday in Boston, travelling by subway (loved it!), with our time divided between Cambridge and the Freedom Trail. Cambridge was one of Jared's areas on his mission so he was a great tour guide! We expanded our minds walking around Harvard, walked along the Charles River and saw Longfellow's home (also where George Washington was living as he commanded the Revolutionary War!). The Freedom Trail begins at Boston Common and winds through downtown, ending at Bunker Hill. It was awesome to see the sights of so many significant events in the early years of this country. Boston has done the most terrific job of preserving historic sights and building a beautiful city right around them. On Saturday we headed west, on our way back to NYC by way of northeast Connecticut (namely Canaan, Connecticut, the sight of a BD facility I have been dying for Jared to consider a transfer to). Saturday night we spent on the town in New York City. What can I say. It's everything the pictures say it is, times 100. We tried to see everything, and did a pretty good job. It was fabulous- a real smorgasbord for the senses. We could have extended our trip indefinitely if it weren't for missing the kids (a BIG shout out to Mike, Camille and Esther for taking care of them!!). We look forward to going back someday in the fall, but even then I'm not sure it will beat the wonder of seeing somewhere for the first time.

Sledding

2008-01-17T04:29:00.001-08:00

Christmas in San Diego

2008-01-17T04:26:00.001-08:00

Pumpkin Patch

2007-10-13T15:37:00.000-07:00

Went to an apple orchard and ended up buying pumpkins.

Logan trip

2007-10-13T15:21:00.001-07:00

This weekend we went up to Logan, mostly because we wanted to "explore Utah" and we had heard that Logan is a great place to see fall colors. We stopped first at the Dinosaur Park in Ogden and learned plenty of things we now have forgotten about dinosaurs! They have big statues of probably 50 dinosaurs spread out over a few acres. In Logan we found a small "zoo" that had all kinds of fun animals- coyotes, bobcats, raccoons, bald eagles, native and exotic water fowl, elk, even wallabies! We ate at a pizza place in the basement of another restaurant- great pizza, lots of character. We saw the Logan temple, took a drive through beautiful Logan canyon, and of course, swam in the hotel pool. It's always fun to get away for a weekend!

Last camping trip of 2007

2007-10-13T15:12:00.000-07:00

We did a last minute camping trip in September after we found a great campground up near Solitude ski resort. It was cold and rainy, but we had fun anyway. The squirrels are always a sure bet for entertainment.

The next day we took a nice hike at Silver Lake.