mountain-air self-portraits

we mosey to the mountains

The day after our Olympic Park fun was the day we headed to the family cabin. To get to the family cabin in Big Cottonwood from Park City, one can take a very LONG drive down to SLC and back up through the main canyon road. Or one can take a short-cut on an unpaved road called Guardsman's Pass. As you might imagine, that is what we did. To say the road was rough would be an understatement. At least 1/3 of our party was motion-sick upon arrival. Here you see two of our party trying to re-coop:

Here you see two of our party watching out for wildlife:

They took their job quite seriously.

Right up the road from the cabin is Silver Fork Lake. A perfect place for taking a little walk and searching for wildlife.



It became evident quickly that we would mostly likely not see wildlife because the majority of our party was wilder than actual wildlife. We did see some pretty flowers, though.

We also struck "Cool and Dangerous" poses:

And fancy poses:

And with amazing luck we did see wildlife - a squirrel!!! The kids were beyond excited about the squirrel saying they had never seen one before. They are silly.

We were also "lucky" to see some ducks. They were all over the place.

I love the mountains. I love the aspens. I also love the cabin. Hard to believe I'm a city girl when I'm up here.

The cabin has many fabulous activities, including (but not limited to) Chinese Checkers.



It even has a perfect reading corner.

Happy Family Times (can you spot a few differences between these two pictures?)


Three Manly Generations-


Three of my favorite people-

the end of summer

Tomorrow is a big day around here: The last first-day of school the children will ever share while going to the same school. Must I be so dramatic? No, I must not. Perhaps it is the heat that is getting to me. Or perhaps it is the notion of putting people's name on SO MANY school supplies. The list this year for 5th grade was exceptional.

Grace is thrilled with her class assignment. In her words - "I have THE best teacher, and one of my BFFs is in my class!" I think we are all thrilled.

Jimmy seems to be rolling with the punches. He has some friends in his class. He picked out his first day shirt. He has an Angry Birds pencil case. He's set.

He also cracks me up. When told he would have to eat a strawberry today he said, "well, is it a chocolate covered strawberry??" He was crushed when he found out it was not. But then immediately hopeful we could just find some chocolate to dip. Clearly he has not fallen too far from the tree.

He also was thrilled at finding a folder in the back-to-school section of the store featuring Diary of a Wimpy Kid. So thrilled in fact that he called out to all shoppers, "Hey! I just found Diarrhea of a Wimpy Kid!!!," over and over and over again.

Its been a great summer, but does it really have to end????

one strong man

Lately Jimmy has been into being a very Strong Man. He told Nate tonight that real strong men take their shirts off when they lift weights. He is confident his pecs are getting bigger. How could they not be???

During our little trip, half the pictures I took of him involved a Strong Man pose. Here are some for your viewing pleasure.

Perhaps competitive weight lifting is in our future?

rocky mountain high

One day we ventured to the Olympic park in Park City. Seemed like a great place to whet our appetite for all things Olympic. While we were there we learned a valuable lesson, "everything tastes better when you're high..." Good to know.

Turns out it was Western Days at the park. And of course when its Western Days, one can hula hoop if one desires. 

Not even knowing it was Western Days, Jimmy had brought along his bandanna. He's prepared like that. 

Western Days and Olympic-style fun is even better when you have a grandpa along! 

We were there to see the Flying Ace Aerial Show. To say it was awesome would be an understatement. 

Former and future Olympians from a variety of ski and board events strapped on their gear, trudged up the hill, slid down what appeared to be giant slides, and did flips and tricks and twists and eventually fell into a large pool with great style. 

We LOVED it. Even my niece attacking her bottle on my knee love it. 

Nana and Poppy were astounded. 

Its a long way up that hill. 

But the thrills are so worth it. 

Afterwards, you could go and meet all of the tricksters, take pictures and get some autographs. 

Grace had them sign the under-brim of her hat. Smart young lady, she is! This is my favorite picture. I don't think I could pull of pink stripped hair (but then again I can't pull off a triple twist into the pool on skis nor can I handle moguls let alone medal in them!)

Grace, meet Shannon. Shannon meet Grace! 

the first 36 hours

This post could also be called "When  We Travelled North."

A long time ago (like almost two weeks ago). We packed up the car and headed out of town. Our first stop was of course in Kingman, AZ. Yes, you have heard of Kingman - its in that song, Route 66. Its a great little town, I'm sure for lots of reasons, but our reason is Redneck's Southern Pit BBQ. Some of the best BBQ west of the Mississippi (yes, I do realize that Kansas City is west of the ol' Miss, but this place is good!).

Here is our Grace as we await our delights. Please note the sign on the building behind her - we really were in Kingman.

See, its on Route 66.

Our next stop was Vegas. This picture is a bit blurred, but most people in Vegas seem a bit blurred, don't you think?

We stayed here. Fabulous if you want a roomy one bedroom suite, non-gaming, a family friendly pool with no swim-up bar and a better price than you'd pay for a room in Kanab (if you were headed North the other way).

We were well-rested after our night there and ready to hit the road. See -

We stopped for lunch in St. George. A cute little town. I'm sure we need to check it out further another time.

Then we drove and drove some more and more and more, and found our way here.

That's Provo for all you non-BYU folks. Dinner at El Azteca Taco Shop. A must if you haven't. Love their chile relleno. Is this a travel/food-logue? Yes, yes it is.

And finally - bonus points if you can tell me what the above picture is? Nate and I went there on our first date after his mission. Cliche for sure. But we like it.

The next stop was up through the canyon to a little place called Park City. A fun family reunion of sorts was about to begin...