Bryce Canyon

I've heard of being up a creek without a paddle, but up a tree? This was actually up there pretty high.

Of course Sarah has to mimik Big Brother.

Jade. Don't worry... ...he caught himself.
Leave it to Jade to goof around.
What a stud! Derek

Dad & Denise. Kickin' it at camp. Okay maybe not really kickin' it...but you get the idea.

Sorry, but I just don't have room to put in all of the pictures that I would like to put in. I may try and do a slide show of this trip a little later. I am still a novice at this blogstuff.

We went to Bryce Canyon with David and Sherie and Dad and Denise. It was a great trip.

This is Julie and Sarah with the canyon behind them.

It is amazing to look into this canyon and imagine how it was formed this way.
Alicia, Sarah and Derek. Yes mom was nervous while they were posing for this picture. It's as if the canyon was going to grab them and pull them in. We learned to take the rest of the pictures while she wasn't looking.
Derek and Sarah. Climbing as usual.
Uncle Jeff with Andrew.

Okay he didn't care for the hat much at first, but he eventually liked it...really.

Just as we like 'em. Caged! Derek, Sarah, Alicia, Jared & Jade.

Sunday Giggles

Okay, so today is the first day in our new ward after our split. Since we lost our Bishop the Stake President is presiding. Julie had to work and Derek is sitting on the stand to pass the sacrament.

Sarah looks at Alicia and just starts giggling for no reason. Alicia just gives her a weird look at first and then starts giggling herself. They start laughing so loud that I have to step in a quiet them down, but it's not working.

My arm is on the back of the pew and so I tap Sarah on the head and tell her to be quiet or I will need to take her out to the foyer. By this time she can't contain herself. Attempts to stay quiet only end in an outburst that is even louder.

While I am trying to keep them quiet Sarah looks up at me with a face that was sincerely trying to be quiet without success. Something just hit me and I just lost it. I started laughing so hard my eyes were watering. Sarah taps me on the head and says she will have to take me out.

I quickly put my head down to minimize the noise, but I think it may have been too late. I looked up with my eyes filled and noticed that our new Stake President was looking my way.

I think I may be safe from any callings for a while.

Subway Hike In Zion

The Left Fork of the Virgin River is a hike known as the Subway in Zion National Park. These pictures are from my hike with our friends the Uaje Family. This is my second trip through the Subway this month. It is a 10 mile hike and has 4 rappels, 2 of which are down water falls.



Meet the Uaje Family. Austin, Jay and Nick.




Derek, Nick, Jay and Austin standing in front of the 30-foot waterfall. This was an awesome trip. This waterfall is actually about 1/2 way through the entire hike. You can walk behind the waterfall. There is a little room back there.



This is Nick. He is doing a cannon ball into one of the jucuzzi pools.



Derek, Nick & Austin at the Cascade Falls.



Derek, Nick and Austin in a water hut after one of the waterfall rappels. Don't they just look at home?



This was one of the best Subway hikes I have taken. Too many stories to even tell here. If anyone would like to experience this hike for themselves just let me know and I will get the permit to hike it with you.

Rappeling Down Dixie

This is the mountain that we rappeled down. They have spikes at the top to hook up a basket that they use to repaint the Dixie when needed.
This is only about 60 feet to the bottom. So it's perfect.
Here I am hooking up Derek to the harness.
After I get him hooked up I have to hoof it to the bottom get ready to catch him. We just have a rule that two people have to check the harness and hook ups before rappeling.
This is Derek getting ready for his rappel. Nice view of the city.
Okay I wasn't really ready for the picture.
Wow, I get great signal up here. This is Alicia texting away. This shows our fantastic view of St. George.

Hello Badger!

This is Badger. He is about 8 yrs old.

Badger is a Shiba Inu. That means
"Brush Dog" in ancient Japanese. He looks like a fox though. His
breed supposedly dates back to the time of Christ.
This is Badger in his Christmas attire.

Meet Bear

This is Bear. He is 1/2 Border Collie and 1/2 unknown. We suspect that the other 1/2 might be black bear, because that is what he looks like. Derek thinks he's a lab.





He has grown a lot since these pictures and we can tell he will still grow a lot more.



I will post updates on the Bear growth as we go.

Additional Family Introductions

It's about time I introduced more of our family. We will do this one beasty at a time. First up is Oreo. We just call him kitty most of the time. When we first got him he was adorable and loved to climb onto my shoulders and walk around with me. When I would sit down at the computer in my office he would jump on my lap and crawl up my shirt and make his way to my shoulders where he would perch and watch me work. After a while he would find the cursor on the monitor and decide to chase it around for a while. He eventually outgrew all of that.

He started getting lazy as all kitties seem to do
but was still very loving.

Kitty loves to be held. He ususally puts his paws around you and gives you a hug when you carry him.
Okay, I admit that we spoiled him a little too much. This is Sarah sleeping with Kitty.

After our move to Utah Kitty discovered the freedom of the doggy door in our new house. He began exploring the great outdoors and found a cat house close by. He has since become addicted to love and has now gone schizophrenic and lives in a bush in our neighbors yard and pretends not to remember us.

The End

Alicia's Crazy Day

These pictures were taken on Alicia's Crazy Day.
Her and Alex got bored and decided to play with the camera.

um....Not really sure what this is....?



Of course this is the sword fight. What crazy day doesn't end in a good sword fight.

Alicia's Campfire

Alicia's friend Alex (aka "it") with 6 marshmallows in her mouth.

Alicia's Campfire

Alicia and friends ended up unexpectedly playing at a water park and got wet and cold. So they got the idea to have a campfire in the backyard. Below, Taylor is doing his fire dance, even though the fire is already lit. Hey it worked!

Brie and Ben

Here is Brie and Ben by popular demand. Don't they make a cute couple??

Happy Father's Day (to all us dads)

Jeff: You are going to get a brother-in-law Sarah.

Sarah: I am? Who?

Jeff: Ben.

Sarah: Oh, I'm not sure I'm ready for that right now.

It's Official!

June 13th
Mark it on your calendar. It's the day that Brie officially got engaged! Brianna Call will become Brianna Smith. We don't have any detailed information yet, but they are thinking to marry some time in March in the Logan Temple. This other picture is me when I found out. I think I feel a pain in my chest.

Brianna

Brianna

Leave them alone for a minute and they get in to everything.

Alicia

More recent picture of Alicia. This picture was taken while she was at EFY last year

Soccer In Vegas

This was our last season of soccer in Las Vegas. We sure loved it there. This was Sarah's first season of soccer. She really loved it. Our team in Utah has not been as anxious to have pictures done so we don't have any for the current year.

Jeff

This is me in a sweater that Dave knitted. That's right Dave! Surprised me too.

I am currently workinig on my Psychology Degree for family counseling. I hope to have my Bachelor's pretty soon.

I am still doing Stay Sharp. I have contemplated selling it, but I don't know if I could ever leave it completely after over 30 years.

I am also coaching Derek's soccer team. We are just getting started on our new season. We finished 3rd this last season. That was a huge jump from last season when we finished almost last.

Julie

Julie just got promoted to manager and loves the new responsibilites. She is doing great. She is trying to decide if she wants to get her Utah Real Estate License. I think she may wait a little bit for the market to pick back up before spending too much effort on it.

Sarah

This picture is of Sarah and our neigbor, Grant. Sarah never stays inside. She is an outdoor girl. When she is not on her quad she is on her bike or playing basket ball or at a friends' house. She is definately a thrill seeker.

We went rapelling a bit ago and she was very put out that we would not let her rapel. We decided to let her try to rapel down the steps to the rock ledge just so she could hook up and go down something backwards.

Derek

Derek is still playing soccer. He plays midfield. He is such a good kid but is just now starting to get that teenage attitude. We can only hope that he is not as bad as the girls were.

Alicia

Alicia is currently enjoying her summer and actually says that she is bored and wants school to start again. She is trying hard not to be tied down to just one boy.

Alicia is a good girl and we are proud of her.