Koda

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.