Sad Update

We are supposed to be in California, having fun with the Warners, playing at the beach, swimming, visiting Sea World and the Zoo, right?

Well, we are NOT! Due to car issues we had to spend one night in Beaver and are now back home in Provo. It sucks! Big time!

I don't want to think about it anymore, so I won't blog about it anymore either. Maybe later.

Backpacking Adventure

A couple of years ago, when Noah was just a wee 8 months, we took him backpacking at Havasupai. I, Karl, had been wanting to take him again, so on Memorial Day weekend I decided to take the extra time off to go with him up Rock Canyon. In our preparations, we soon realized that Noah was a bit too big to carry in my backpack...

So we decided to have Noah hike and that we would split the load fair and square. Although my fair and square load was 98% of the weight, Noah carried the most critical gear of all - two trucks, and a piece of PVC pipe that is his hammer. Actually, he also carried our water filter.

Noah wasn't so sure about backpacking once we got to the trailhead, but he soon got into the groove.


We hiked up close to Red Slab, checked out the mini cave, went up by the climbers, and then continued on up the canyon. We set up camp across the stream a little ways beyond the green gate, played cards, and drank some hot chocolate.


Right as we finished up our hot chocolate, a heavy cloud started dumping rain on us, so we went into the tent and slept well.


I wasn't too excited about camping anymore in the morning and was about to start crying for Mama and going home, but Noah convinced me to go up farther in the canyon so we could at least check out some of the best stuff in Rock Canyon - a big boulder, bridges, rocks to throw in the stream, etc.

We threw rocks in the stream for most of the morning.

Then I carved a knife and a screwdriver out of a branch, and Noah made an excellent grin.


We checked out some more climbing sites before packing up.

Noah picked the pace, and he picked most of the side routes we explored. Of course, Noah went easy on the pace for me. So I could keep up. He paused every 15 seconds to check out beetles, snails, bristletails, cool rocks, sticks, and anything else we came across, so I'd have a chance to rest. Nice of him.

Noah fit best in this picture on my shoulders, but he really did walk everywhere we went.


Next time, maybe Max can come.

Crazy Camping

A few weeks ago, we threw the kids and a bajillion other things into the car to go down to St. George for my first real race of the season. I would have preferred to go down by myself but that was not an option. One-night camping trips (with kids) that include a 4 hour car ride are not on my list of Favorite Things To Do. But Karl's uncle's basement was flooded and therefore unavailable and hotels are never an option.


I know. These pictures don't look like things were too crazy. But that's because I took all of them in the first few minutes of what turned out to be a long, long night. When we first got to Sand Hollow Reservoir, it was beautiful. Except for the bugs. Oh, and the fact that we thought the campground was right by the start of the race but it turned out to be 2 miles away!


We got out of the car and into the red sand. We did not make it to Moab this spring, so Noah was especially excited.


We threw rocks.


We got dirty.


We splashed in the water.


But only Noah went swimming.

So much more fun than a boring hotel, right?

But then I had to drive another 30 minutes into town to pick up my race packet. I left Karl with two dirty, hungry, tired boys. That's a big job, especially when camping in sand. But Karl is a trooper and never complained. I was the one complaining. Because this was not what I consider ideal pre-race conditions.

When I finally made it back, everyone else was in bed. The only problem: the wind. We were once again reminded why they named the nearest town Hurricane. Very fitting. And it never stopped blowing. All night. At 11:30 I was still wide awake and now covered by an inch of red sand. Including my eyes. Max kept stirring and so I finally decided to move the two of us into the back of the car. That seemed like the best solution. Karl had to move into our tent to keep it from blowing over. Unfortunately, Noah was not heavy enough to keep his tent on the ground, so it blew over with him in it. That was around 3:30 am. And that was also the end of our night. Max, Noah, and I had a little earl morning "party" in the car while Karl was trying hard to pack everything up in the dark and storm.

Well, as for the race: they cancelled the swim. Too much wind. Not a surprise to us. So they had us do an additional 5km run at the beginning. I usually don't like duathlons but this one turned out to be fun. I was able to run away from the ladies at the beginning and never got caught. Lucky!

Now (three weeks later) that we have (almost) cleaned up the mess we came home with (except for the red sand I still find in the dryer and other random places), we all agree that it was an

unforgettable epic adventure.

And you can never have enough of those, right?

Kids in Action

I love these 'action shots' of Noah and Max.
Neither one of them can sit still for very long. Actually, Max cannot sit still AT ALL. That is why we love to go to Grandma Becky's house. There is plenty of entertainment for both of them.

Check out that hair!
















Sprinklers + trampoline = tons of fun


While Max is waiting for his turn on the tramp, he is busy playing tether ball. He loves playing any kind of ball.




















Did I already mention that I love spring? I love spring!

Max adventures

Max's biggest adventure in the last little while has been learning to crawl.



He is very good at it by now and can get anywhere he wants, including up our many stairs, in record time. I love hearing his little hands and knees tap the wooden floor and knowing he is coming to see us. He can get to the toys he wants and is much happier. Who wouldn't be? But he for sure is a lot more trouble, as well.



He loves pulling himself up and checking out things.



To his dismay, he still needs to sit in the boring stroller sometimes. But he is determined to solve that problem by learning to walk in the next few months.

What Noah's been up to

After our long (blogging) absence, I thought I would fill you in on what has been going on around here in the past few weeks.

Much to Noah's delight, we have been having a lot of rain, especially earlier this month. He could care less about going outside when it is sunny and nice. But as soon as Noah sees rain, he is in his rain outfit and out the door. I stopped washing his muddy clothes a while ago. I just hang them up to dry and eventually the dirt falls off. Now everyone is happy.


Spinning in a puddle is still his preferred form of exercise. Especially on Sundays before church. Go figure...

Then we even got some snow at the end of April. Craziness!


Noah loved it although it did not last long. He told me he wants it to be winter all the time. I definitely disagree. I love spring!


Mandy, Fay, and Kimball brought warm, sunny weather with them from California. Yeah for spring! We all went to Thanksgiving Point and loved the beautiful flowers there.


Ad you can tell, we were having a hard time getting Fay, Eric, and Noah to be tulips.


It is so fun to be outside for most of the day and not wearing many layers of clothing. Well, at least that is what Max and I think. Noah was refusing to wear shorts for a few weeks in really warm weather. When asked what's wrong with shorts, his answer was: "An enemy could poke me in the leg." Mmmh, that makes sense.













As you can tell, we are making progress in weaning him from winter clothes. Unfortunately, sandals are still an issue. They don't have enough traction and don't cover enough of his feet. Noah wants sandals that go up to his knees. So I will be returning the awesome, expensive Keen sandals I bough a few weeks ago. Too bad.

Other than that, Noah does the usual 3-year-old stuff: he learns letters and shapes, sings songs, plays with friends, tests his parents' patience, ride his bike and scooter, entertains his brother, throws an occasional fit, etc.

Blog or Sleep?

I know, I really need to update this blog.

I can't wait to do it. I think about it all the time. But there is always something higher on my list than blogging. And right now that something is sleeping. Sorry.

But just in case you have been wondering:
Yes, Max is crawling. He has been doing so for more than a month. He is too busy getting around and into everything to tell you about it though.


I promise to be back soon.