The Uintahs are offically OPEN

We had a family reunion in probably one of the most beautiful camp grounds in Utah if not the world. Scott's uncle happens to be a die hard fan of Washington Lake and we love it as well. It helps to have him as a connection though because he was at the gate waiting for the camp host to open the campground for the season. Being the first in meant that he picked the two best spots for our families and we were able to reap the benefits. We were right on the lake and had the most spectacular views! We rented an RV from our neighbor (he has a business renting them) and Scott drove it up there like a pro ( I would have been so intimidated- it was 35 feet long!). Anyway, the battery wouldn't hold a charge- so we had no electricity the whole time- but the sleeping accommodations were amazing! It slept 10 and we filled it up with all of our family plus Grandma and Grandpa, Kim and Kylie. What a great weekend. The bests were: the boys fishing, Elle falling asleep in the hiking backpack, making the camp necklaces (Davis is pretty proud of his), catching frogs, shooting the b.b. gun (totally a boy thing), and yummy food. The worsts were: my camera battery died (is this a theme for this summer?) so I only have a few pictures from my camera. I used Ron's most of the time, but I don't have CD of them yet, Cam throwing up in the middle of night two and driving him down the mountain and then back the next morning when we figured out it was just too many treats, and of course, no electricity in the motor home. All in all we were so glad to be there and be together. We had a great time with the relatives and look forward to next year.

The boys doing what they love to do up there: fish!Kylie and Elle

Grandpa and Davis (check out that view- what handsome guys!)

Free Willy

I am taking a risk since I have never actually seen this movie, but I thought that the title was appropriate. We might have said "Free Goldie". In September, my boys won a goldfish at the school carnival. We brought him home thinking that we might have a month or two together. Come June and Goldie is still with us. It is amazing actually considering how low on the priority totem pole that his survival is for me. Anyway, Scott talked the kids into the idea that Goldie would be better off in the pond near our house "where he can swim and make friends and eat as much as he wants". So we made a family outing out of letting Goldie go free. It was kind of cute if you ask me- and the kids kept asking for reassurance that this was the best thing for Goldie and he would be truly happy. We hope to see him someday when we stroll by the lake...

My new "do"

So I decided to cut my hair. Sarah told me that all haircut decisions had to be blogged. Actually, I decided about the same time I sat down in Mykel's chair to get it cut. I like the way it turned out- after she was done I said "I didn't realize how much I liked my friend's hair until I asked you to cut mine the same way." It reminded me of my friend Kristi's style. I am still getting used to the difference (12 inches cut)- not being able to put it into a ponytail was kind of hard when we went camping last weekend. I'll have to get some cute headbands or clips or something.

Video players are heaven sent

For me this post is a little ironic. Why did I name a post about a trip we took to a National Park about a video player? We decided to take advantage of a week with no baseball and go to Moab. The problems began when we didn't commit to the idea right away. We kept going back and forth. Finally on Sunday, we decided to give it a go Monday morning. It had been an unusually cool June up until then. We happened to choose the hottest week of the month to make our trek into the desert with 3 kids. Okay- so we hurry and get ready to go. About 20 minutes into the drive we realize we forgot the hiking backpack. What to do? There is no way to carry our seriously squirmy and seriously strong 18 mo. old on any sort of hike. And on her own, well- she has only been at the walking thing for 6 months or so... There was no way Scott was going to turn around and go home. It had taken us long enough to pack up and get on the road as is. So we stopped in Lindon and bought a carrier. No harm- the one we were going to bring was on loan to us anyway. About 1 hour in to the drive we realize we brought nothing to entertain our kids. Serious mistake to drive any further than an hour with no video player. That thing is like magic. You put in a DVD and presto! your kids stop shouting at each other and zone in on the screen. Oh well. The true irony of this whole thing was that although we never thought we would make it through the drives (going there and coming back- at one point all 3 kids were crying at once), it was a great little trip. We loved being in nature (with no videos- talk about irony) and letting the kids explore. Even though we had been to Arches before, it was amazing all over again. The kids loved it! They even hiked to Delicate Arch (about 2 1/2 miles round trip). We were so impressed! The last of the irony- I went to this picturesque place and forgot my camera! Lucky for us we found a disposable- so we have a few pictures to show for it. We would do it again though- this time we would just bring our DVD player. Ha. Ha.

Lucky number 7

Davis turned 7 and boy did we celebrate! We invited 3 of his closest friends to a Bees game. It was a party! Davis decided to invite his grandparents (both sets) and his aunt Kim and Kylie too. We had quite the crew! I called in advance and arranged for them to announce his birthday on the big screen. Too bad he was off getting ice cream and missed it. I was waiting for the announcement so I noticed, but they said "Happy Birthday to David"! Poor kid- I am sure that is a preview of what is to come in his life. Oh well. Other than that, we couldn't have made the night more perfect. The Bees won, they had fireworks (flag day), and the kids got to run the bases after it was all over. We didn't get home until after 11:00, but it was worth it! A perfect summer night.

June (The month of baseball)

We signed both of the boys up for baseball this summer. Because they are different ages, and different leagues, we ended up with a baseball game every Monday through Thursday night in June (except for Strawberry Days for all you PG natives out there). It has been a lot of fun, but unfortunately we have had to miss a few games for other summer fun that has come up. Davis has been playing coach pitch and is getting pretty good. He insists on wearing pants to every game (never mind that it is 100 degrees outside) so that he can 'slide' (oh, and there are no outs either, but he is serious about it all the same). This is Cam's first year so we are paying our dues with T-ball. He loves playing, but the games seem to drag for some reason. He would love to play coach pitch (and could do it), but they save that for the older kids. He loves getting out and playing and having big brother cheer for him for once.

How to Win a Trip for 4 to Cancun:

1. Sign up for the 2008 Utah Valley Race all night. A big THANKS to Mark. I first read about the race on his 'not a blog'. Since I am a serious Amazing Race junkie, I could not stay away. It sounded like a local version of the show! We chose to race with our friends/neighbors Jennifer and Jathon. What a good choice that turned out to be! We would later find out that we each had different strengths to offer the team. Voila! We became Team Cedar Hills. Before the race- Jennifer has two shoes.

2. Do your research. We looked up the phone numbers and addresses of all the attractions in the Valley. We also read the book they gave us about Utah Valley and highlighted information we thought might help us on race day.

3. Go to SCERA to check in, get clues, and start racing. (Orem) The first leg of the race began at 5:00 pm on Friday. We were given clues of where to go to earn points along the way. The first team back with the most points at the end would win (or most points and fastest time if there happened to be a point tie- which will be important later). Oh yes- and NO SPEEDING. They gave us GPS devices for our cars to make sure they could track where we were and how fast we were traveling. Quote: "We love Julia!"

4. Do a 100 foot free fall waterslide. (Provo) Our first decision was to head to Seven Peaks for a quick waterslide. It is a 100 foot drop, striaght down, so you actually kind of "free fall". Good thing we had no time to hesitate- we just did it. Jen lost her shoe in the hustle of changing clothes and running out to the slide- we searched for a moment, but to no avail. She ran the rest of this leg with only one shoe. What a trooper! Quote: "I got such a deep wedgie, they are going to have to clean streaks off that slide!"

5. Test drive a car in Lindon. We had to figure out some word puzzles to guide us on our test drive. Our first clue led us to The Purple Turtle, the second to Discovery Park. It took us just a second to figure out the clues, but some teams had given up because they were a little challenging. Quote: "Hey, there is no GPS in this car, we can drive like we are actually in a race!"
Notice Jen's stocking foot.

6. Polish off an order of Shrimp Tacos at Bajio. (American Fork) Yum! Not so tough- especially with four of us working on it at once. Quote : "Did you double dip that fork?!?"

7. Learn to be a "band" at the Music School. (American Fork) We had a date with destiny at 7:00pm- Scott and Jathon were on lead guitar, Jen was playing bass. I kept us all in rhythm (LOL) on drums. Good thing we had such a cool instructor. Thanks Ben!
http://www.themusicschool.us/

8. Go to a Wild West museum and try to figure out where to get our points. (Lehi) They gave us clues that led through the museum and eventually to a "weapon maker" who taught us about arrowheads. I ate a freeze-dried, cheddar flavored cricket (you CAN feel the antanae and legs sticking to your teeth- but it is not too bad). Quote: "Oh, that's a real owl!"
http://www.hutchingsmuseum.org/

9. Find race symbols hidden inside a Parade Home. (Lehi) The setting- a gorgeous home tucked into the hills at Traverse Mtn.; we are trying to go through the house as quickly (and accurately) as possible. I think Jen was just glad to have one of those blue booties to cover up her already disgustingly dirty sock.

10. Play wallyball and billiards at Noah's Center. (Lehi) We went to this cool building where you can rent rooms for specialty events like receptions, but you can also play basketball, ice skate, and more. I think the wallyball team we played against (2 v. 4) was surprised at how good we were!

11. Go to Cold Stone and eat (hurry!) a quart of ice cream. (Spanish Fork) It sounds like it would be easy, but when you are trying to rush, it is not so great. We were glad to have Jathon. He probably ate half while the three of us struggled. None of us felt the same after that. Quote: "I just opened my throat like a snake and it slid down."

12. Bowl 360 points at South County Lanes. (Payson) Where were all those strikes we normally bowl? We must have been distracted by the racing pressure. It was nice that the guys at the bowling alley kept announcing how many points we had accumulated so we didn't have to waste our time bowling too many points. :)

13. Race across the county to Sundance. (No speeding!) Get a mountain bike (for Scott) while the rest of the team hikes up the hill to an ampitheatre. Write a limrick about the race (wish I had a copy- it was truly poetic- ha, ha!). Hike/bike back down. Jen (one shoe) was struggling, so Jathon carried her down- wow!

14. Play arcade games at Trafalga. (Orem) We were trying to find the games that hauled in as many tickets as possible. We ended up with 149! Not bad for a bunch of 30-somethings. Our kids would have been in prize heaven. Too bad only 50 of them counted for points.

15. Search the Orem Owlz stadium for point cards. It was dark by this time (almost midnight). We were trying to find points hidden among the bleachers. We found one- the lowest points available- but at least it was something. We were pushing the end of our time limit for this one.

16. Solve a riddle using clues on Provo Center Street. We had a bit of a hard time with this-it was dark- we were not sure which letters to use- which statues to count, etc. But in the end, we figured it out. Again- Jen is running (no walking the whole time for our team) up and down the street as we search.

17. Ride a tandem bike through BYU campus. (Provo) Good thing we had some BYU alum along for the ride (that and the map of campus helped too). It was dark, so our in our pictures, it is hard to see the landmarks, but we made it. The handlebars on mine and Scott's bike were broken (I mean falling off), so steering was the hardest part of this challenge for us.

18. Hurry back to SCERA to check in for a pit stop. (Orem) We checked in around 1:30 and tried to get a little sleep, but I kept racing in my mind and probably only slept for an hour. Jen's shoe had been found, but we decided to pick it up in the morning. We were running on adrenaline, I didn't even want to eat. Snacks and water sustained us the whole time.

19. Team rankings are posted. After second guessing every move we had made, we found out we were in second place. Yahoo! That was all the motivation I needed for a second wind. Game on for leg two starting at 5 am. When we got our next set of clues, we solved one that needed an appointment and tried to call for a time slot. No answer. We were getting frustrated, fearing that we wouldn't get the time we wanted. When we got through, we ended up getting an appointment for 8:30 instead of the 7:30 we wanted (this will be important later).

20. Hike to the "Y". (Provo) A first for me and Scott. Number who-knows-how-many for Jathon and Jennifer. Jen had two sandals which was an improvement from one shoe, but still not ideal. It was beautiful watching the sun come up over the valley (not so much that it distracted us from planning and strategizing along the way). Jen was hiking through some serious back pain, but she never quit. On the way down, Jathon manned up again and carried Jen part of the way. Quote: "That 8:30 time slot is really going to mess us up"
Jen in sandals- all of us on the "Y"

21. Find a yard sale. (Provo) We needed to buy a team mascot at a yard sale. We happened to find one on the way to pick up Jen's shoe. Too bad the lady wasn't outside yet (it was already 6:15). We figured signs and stuff out meant yard sale on. So we knocked on the door. She came to the door a little blurry-eyed, but happy to help us. We bought our mascot "Nucnac" (Cancun backwards) a toucan- who we figured would bring the luck of the tropics to our team.

22. Frisbee golf. (Provo) 6:30 am-It was a nice dewy morning to run through a park, chasing our frisbees and trying to get them into a metal basket. All in all, no frisbees lost, two holes played. Our score was so high, we didn't even keep track. Quote: "Can we just pay for the lost frisbee and move on?"

23. Go to CLAS ropes course for some early morning canoeing. (Provo) Our task was to canoe down the river in teams of two and find a beaver dam. We were able to spot it quickly in part because Scott decided he would paddle while I searched the shoreline. Some of the other teams were unable to find it quickly and spent 30 minutes or more looking. We were done in less than 5. Quote: "You guys really work well together" "Thank You"

24. Drive to the other end of the valley for "real" golf. (Cedar Hills) We each had to hit a ball past a certain flag (one for men and one for women). Scott and Jathon step up and exceed the mark no problem. Jen takes a few tries and gets it. I am still trying. Scott knows my golf history and he is nervous that this will be the hold up for our team. I am worried too. Out of nowhere, I hit a beautiful shot that makes it! I couldn't believe it. I was so excited, I had to take a moment and enjoy. Quote: "Keep your head down, keep your head down."

25. Learn about how buying pearls can help others. (Lehi) There is a woman in Lehi who has started a jewelry business that gives back. She helps women in need buy hiring them to make the jewelry she sells. I eat stuff like this up. I love to see a local business with meaning. Jathon had to identify a real pearl bracelet in a bowl of imitations. We only had a few minutes to complete the task- since we got there at 8:00 at had to be at Utah Lake by 8:30. He did really well (no pressure with all of us looking on).
http://www.myprincesspearls.com/

26. 8:30 appointment for sailing on Utah Lake. (Provo) A blessing in disguise. Bonneville School of Sailing was kind enough to give us a chance learning a bit about sailing. It was amazing! They were so kind. We had to save a "man overboard" (code for inflatable Homer Simpson doll) while we were out in the bay. Scott had the longest arm, so he was selected to reach over the side to grab it. I thought we were going to lose Scott into the water. He was so far out that his knees were off the side of the boat! Quote: "Port just a little. A little more Port."
http://www.nowbringmethathorizon.com/

Jen has both shoes back and Homer is safe on the boat again.


27. Go river rafting on the Provo River. We headed up the canyon for a rafting adventure and got there just in time. They happened to have an extra raft at the start point that seemed to be waiting for us. Normally you would paddle some and let the current carry you, but we were in no mood for taking it easy- we paddled our hearts out- no resting. I think the guides were surprised at how quickly we made it down. Quote: "We love the Scouts!"
http://www.highcountryrafting.com/

28. Text like you know what you are doing. (Orem) We went to a Sprint store and had to send four text messages to an employee. They were long and had big words in them. I was really intimidated since I never text. (It takes me too long) Thankfully, each one of us sent our message perfectly since the guy who worked there was the text police. He seriously combed through each message looking for mistakes. Phew!

29. Lead a Llama through an obstacle course. (Spanish Fork) Did you know that there is Hare Krishna temple in Spanish Fork and they raise llamas? Well, you know now. We went there. On the way we found out that Spanish Fork is the home of the 2008 Utah County Fair AND the "Home of Pride and Progress"- another little known fact. Working with the llamas was a truly unique experience. When people ask about the race, one of the first things we mention is the llamas. Quote: "She thinks it is a dog. It is a llama, not a dog."
http://www.utahkrishnas.com/main/home.asp

30. Bait a hook, catch, and release a fish. (Payson) We went to an out of the way, but very charming little trout farm. Each of us had to complete this task. The people there were very helpful- it seemed the excitement of the weekend- all these crazed people coming through, catching a fish, and leaving. Quote: "Fishing at a trout farm is almost too easy, it makes me appreciate waiting when you fish."

31. Drive to the Young Living Farm. (Mona) Wow. This is way out there and completely beautiful. Too bad we missed the exit that would get us there quickest- we found our research on it a second too soon. It was frustrating to know we were taking the long way- but no speeding (gotta love 75 mph!). When we got there we had to identify the scent of lavender. Just when I had it another team walked up, so I pretended it was another one to throw them off (I'm so sneaky). Our tasks were paddle boating (hard to steer!) and climbing a rock wall. The best part was watching "the guys" run past another team to get to the boats first. They were full-on sprinting.
http://www.younglivingfarms.com/

32. Stop at the Red Barn for some (more!) ice cream. (Santaquin) Thankfully this one was a "baby" size. We were elated. The thought of eating more ice cream made all of us a little nervous.

33. Go through the Springville art museum looking for certain paintings. We were given a list of items to find in paintings in the museum. Our strategy was to split up the list and find what we could- then help each other. It worked. We found them all! Quote: "I still need two pastels."

34. Hurry back and hope for the best. (Orem) So it was back to the SCERA to hand in our points and see where we came in. We checked in around 1:30 pm- almost the same time we had checked in 12 hours earlier for the first leg. They had some pizza there for us, but none of us were hungry yet. We were still so wired. Quote: "If we win, that's great, but this has been worth it all by itself." WHAT A FUN NIGHT!

35. Win the grand prize! Well, if you are still reading this, you deserve a prize... this blog entry is almost as long as the event itself (well- not quite, but I couldn't leave anything out). They brought the top five teams, of which we were one, on stage and narrowed it down to two. The top two teams had the same amount of points- the difference between the two of us was ONE MINUTE! Too close. When the race director said "Team Cedar Hills" we couldn't contain ourselves. We started jumping around, 'high-five'ing, and hugging. You would never have known that we had been up all night pushing ourselves to the limit. We won a trip for four to Cancun! YAHOOTY! Quote: "When we do this again next year..."
Notice "Nucnac" in the lower right- our trusty mascot.

Yep- it is true. We won a trip (we can go where we want- we have credit at a local travel agency). You can see all the results at http://www.raceallnight.com/ Let's not leave out that we also won 4 tickets to the Wild Outdoor Festival at Thanksgiving Point this weekend. What a night! Since then we haven't stopped thinking and talking about it. Who knew you could do 29 activities in 17 hours (taking time out for the pit stops)? It turns out that the 8:30 time slot we were so worried about was exactly what we needed. If we would have done it any other way, I don't think we would have won. It was so, so close between us and the 2nd place team. We are so excited about everything we did and all the fun stuff there is to do in Happy Valley. No wonder the people down here are so darn happy. It is catchy.