Autumn Adventure

For our 37th anniversary, we decided to take a trip to Jackson Hole over General Conference weekend. Friday morning we drove over Monte Cristo to check out the autumn leaves (gorgeous), then stopped in Alpine, Wyoming for lunch at Tootsie's Pizza.

When we got to Jackson, we checked into the Rusty Parrot Lodge, walked around downtown and did a little shopping. Then we drove to Teton Village where we saw this huge moose just resting in someone's front yard. That night we ate dinner at the Wild Sage Restaurant-where we got to watch the chefs prepare our food! My halibut was some of the best I've ever had...

Saturday morning we ate breakfast at Cafe Genevieve and then drove to Grand Teton National Park, stopped at gorgeous Jenny Lake then entered the south end of Yellowstone Park...
We ate lunch at Grant Village, then drove to West Thumb to see the Geyser Basin and on to Old Faithful. Along the way we saw one elk from a distance and a fox trotting along the road, but no buffalo or bear! Old Faithful wasn't going to "erupt" for 45 minutes, so we didn't wait...

There were wild fires in both Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Park, so the view of the magnificent Tetons was not ideal. That night we ate dinner at The Kitchen-fun atmosphere, food was just okay.

Sunday morning we had a yummy breakfast at the Wild Sage then started home. We took a different route on the way home...through Montpelier, Idaho, past Bear Lake and up Logan Canyon. The autumn leaves were amazing in Logan Canyon, but weren't very colorful yet in Sardine Canyon. It was nice to get away for a few days! Thank you Delbert, and Happy Anniversary!!

Twenty-five...

Darren's 25th birthday was a 4 day celebration! On his actual birthday, he went to a birthday party for Becca's nephews. On Saturday, Becca spoiled him! They did yoga at The International Peace Gardens, went out to breakfast, then fed the ducks at Liberty Park and went to dinner at Brio Tuscan Grille and to see the movie Warrior. She also gave him a gift he was super excited about...a Derrick Favors jersey! (Which he wore to the Utah Jazz vs. NBA Exhibition Charity Basketball game they attended on Nov. 7th).

Sunday we had a family dinner and his favorite chocolate chip ice cream cake from 31 Flavors.

Monday, Dale & I took him to Tuscany (the restaurant, not Italy...) for dinner to celebrate 25 years of having this great son in our lives...

Happy 75th, Mom!

My mom turned 75 on Sept. 13th...she decided for her birthday she wanted to go on an adventure to visit Washington, Jefferson, Roosevelt and Lincoln! Here my cute parents are at some of their stops on their road trip (Devils Tower National Monument in Wyoming, and Crazy Horse Memorial in the Black Hills-Custer County, South Dakota).
They loved Custer State Park in South Dakota and thought Mt. Rushmore was spectacular!
On their way home, they stayed at the Old Faithful Lodge in Yellowstone Park, and the next day went for a boat ride on Jenny Lake in Grand Teton National Park. Unfortunately it was a rainy day, so the view of the Tetons wasn't too grand! I'm grateful to have such an amazing, dedicated, loving mother and am so happy she got her wish to visit somewhere she's always wanted to go. Love you, Mom!

The Greatest Show on Earth...

For Ashley's birthday party on September 24th, she went to the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus with some family and friends. They left the circus "Fully Charged", and ready for pizza and cake & ice cream at Ashley's house.

Circus Favorites: Tabayara and his twelve ferocious tigers, the galloping stallions, the silly clowns, the dancing four-ton Asian Elephants, the Ukrainian strongmen, flying trapeze performers, and The Human Fuse (a man who rockets through the air all ablaze)!

Seven...

September 26, 2011 - Happy 7th Birthday to Ashley & Happy 37th Anniversary to us!!

Pizza, presents, cake & ice cream after the circus...love this 7-year-old!!

LAGOON

Our company party was held on Sept. 10th at Lagoon, and it rained on us again! Luckily it didn't last for long. The new ride BomBora is really fun. Jensyn & I were in the first car and it was a scream! Ashley decided she wanted to go on Wicked...that was until the ride got to the top of the hill! She was crying when they got off, but later on said that was one of her favorite rides. Austin loved the train and Jacob's favorite was Puff the Little Fire Dragon. Jacob had a little girl hop in his car with him on the Speedway (he didn't seem to mind)...

Other favorite rides were the Ladybug Bop, the Spider and The Wild Mouse. Darren made Becca go on the Rocket-she said that's her first and last time going on that ride!

We had a good turn out and appreciate all the employees do to make High-Tech a success!

LABOR DAY WEEKEND-Part Two

Monday, Sept. 5th we went to Solider Hollow to watch Brett and his dogs compete in the "High Flyin' Dock Diving Competition". This is an event where very obedient dogs compete for distance, diving from a dock into a 40 foot pool. They basically dive into the pool in search of an object their owner has thrown into the pool. The end of their tail is where their jump is marked. Tank (blue collar) jumped 8' 11" and took 4th out of 5 in his division, and Sage (red collar) took 2nd out of 5 in her division. She jumped a whopping 16' 11". Way to go doggies!

After the competition, we got lunch at the Dairy Keen in Heber then Dale, Darren & I went to the Park City Parade of Homes. We only made it to 5 houses, but we had a fun time.

Goodbye Summer...

Wow, where did summer go?? With school starting on August 22nd (isn't that a little early?), I guess summer is over-well not officially, but it seems like it...Here's a few things we'll miss about summer:

Jacob will miss playing in the fountain and playing t-ball with Uncle Deena.

Austin will miss running through the sprinklers in his diaper, and playing baseball!

These boys LOVE water!

Austin will also miss "riding" his trike on the lawn. This pink trike is 8 years old-it's been in our garage since Jensyn was little...

The start of school also means our annual shopping trip for school clothes (and a cheese-on-stick, of course) with Ashley & Jensyn. Ashley will be in first grade this year and Jensyn will be in fourth!

LIGHTNING...

August 14th - Our deck is a great place to watch thunderstorms...Darren sat out there for several hours and got these great shots!

JOSH...GROBAN!

August 13th we got home from Bear Lake, cleaned the boat and then I got to go see Josh Groban's "Straight to You" Concert. Brett got tickets from work, but he thought I'd enjoy it more than he would, so I went with Lauren. I've seen Josh Groban in concert twice before, but the third time was just as exciting as the first! He is an amazing performer...he's one of those singers who sound just as good, or better in person! He sang familiar songs and some from his new CD "Illuminations"(he co-wrote 11 of the 13 songs on this album). One of my favorites was "Wandering Kind", which is an instrumental he wrote when he was 12 years old!

I thought he would appear on the big stage, but as the band started playing, this small stage popped up from the floor and there he was!

Josh feels right at home in Salt Lake City. It's the first arena he ever played in his concert career!

Not only can Josh sing, he plays the piano and performed an amazing drum solo!

Thanks for not wanting to go, Brett!