ARCHES

Last week I felt like a little kid asking "how many more days before Christmas" as I waited for the weekend to arrive. We had made plans for a quick one day trip to Arches National Park. This is where I had gone to for spring break during college, Jeff and I came here on our honeymoon, and we made many miscellaneous trips to the surrounding area afterward.

My mom stayed with Claire and Megan while my Dad, Jeff, Erik and I left at 6:00am on Saturday. We met up with a family friend, Lauren, at the visitors center and then drove to the Delicate Arch trail head. It felt so good to be out hiking and this trail can accommodate different levels of abilities.

After the hike we got lunch in Moab at the "Golden Arches" (okay that was pushing it...with the whole arches theme) and were home by 5:30pm. I took a quick shower and then my Mom and I attended the 6:00pm LDS General Relief Society Broadcast (via satellite at the nearby church building). Phew. You've got to have days like that once in a while, they are a blast.

While this photo was being taken a group of Italians came up and started taking his picture too. Kindof funny I thought, but then again he is a good looking kid!

My two main men Jeff and Erik.

Look close, it is Jeff and Erik under Delicate Arch.

Mi padre. Thanks for coming with us Dad! And thanks for toting along your super cool camera to take these photos with!

Our friend Lauren who met up with us just for this hike. We actually share relatives but we come from different sides. She will soon be leaving on a mission for the LDS church and is heading for Cape Verde, Africa. A perfect match for this river guide girl!

The honeymooners a short 10 1/2 years later!

Our artistic interpretation of a "Cairn" (the stacked rocks that are used as trail markers).

Erik and Janae immediately following the hike.

This second picture was taken maybe 4 minutes after the above picture.

High & Low

The game is "High and Low". How you play it is to go around the table at dinner and ask everyone what was their high and low for the day. Yep, that is all.

This not so complicated game started with our neighbors Dawn and Dave. We have tried it for the last month or so. This has proved a low key and easy way to get the whats up on other family members. We want our kids to know it is okay to share the bad along with the good.

Past Answers:
Erik's high - "Lunch" (he never says this when eating at home, only for school lunch)
Claire's high - "Picking raspberries"
Janae's high - "Watching Erik run his first race" (and the Moab trip)
Jeff's high - "Hiking to Delicate Arch"
Megan's high - I would guess it to be hanging out with her Dad.

Claire and her friend, Claire, were so excited to pick raspberries while we were visiting the house of her Sunday School teacher. Any time you go to garden where someone has tomato varieties (grown from seed) with names like "Black Pineapple", "Mr. Stripy", and "The Dutchman", you know this yard is going to be worth seeing. Janet's garden was beautiful. I love how she has integrated fruits and vegetables into her boarders as ornamental yet practical elements. A feast for the eyes and the girls tummy's too!

The bush's were dripping with juicy sweet raspberries!

The elementary school had a fundraiser/fun run this past week. Erik and his friend Matthew ran the 2.1 miles in 25 minutes. I volunteered at the finish line along with Jeff's grandma handing out popsicles. If you have never participated in a race, you should. The energy and the adrenaline is such a rush. Even as a popsicle handing out bystander it was inspiring to watch all these kids just beaming after finishing a course much longer than they would have every tried on their own.

Puppies vs Princess'

It is September and this summer is finally slowing down. I don't really have any specific stories to tell so I'll put out some of the latest. (In August my cousins, John and Brady, came by. It has been way to long since we have seen them. They happened to be in town so stopped by to visit and have dinner with us. Thanks for coming!)

This past week the cool new game to play in the neighborhood has been "Star Wars". The boys will get out their Light Sabers and have mock battles.

A friend, Meredith, and I compare boys to puppies. When her family lived in the neighborhood and our boys played, they would always tackle and wrestle each other. We would let them with the hopes they could learn how to get the excess energy out without hurting each other (they do need limits...of course).

Claire is happy to be back in a dance class at her grandma's studio. Light Sabers aren't something she is into (note: she will be the one to point out that she does like to wrestle with her Dad and Erik). That once a week dance class is Claire's pink dress and slippers, twirling and whirling, princess time.

Now to the tune of George of the Jungle, "Watch out for that tree!" Megan is going on 14 months and hasn't been interested in walking until this past week. Something clicked and she is now eager to try it out. Megan has been practicing walking by holding on to our hands and also by herself in going from one object to another. This has been a week of bruises, bumps, and a bloody nose. Hang in there Meg!

I did go to my quarterly appointment at the Neurology Clinic last Wednesday. I said it before, but it is so impressive the level of comprehensive care they provide. I am higher up on the Lithium drug trial wait list then what I thought and could possibly start as soon as October. Blah blah blah...moving on...

Jeff has had some fun work trips this year. He has been to London twice and just got to go to Montreal. I'm glad he was able to get out and about. Jeff doesn't travel so often it becomes tiresome but enough to keep work interesting.

That is the whats up on us.

Labor Day Weekend

I love how visually open Southern Utah is: the red rock, the green vegetation, bright blue sky, the cactus, the lizards...it is all good. I think the desert is beautiful.

The parents of one of our friends own some property outside of St. George. They opened up the place to guests, so our friends invited three other families from the neighborhood to come hang out with them over Labor Day weekend. I can say we had a wonderful time, but that wouldn't even come close!

I was snapping pictures the whole time and not until we came home did I realize how many were of Erik.

A boy and his bike.
Erik trying to impress Raquel with a big caterpillar he found.
Lizard hunters: Matthew, Erik and Scott. Erik is holding a smallish size lizard (which is fine by the mother in me). No one would hold the largish size tarantula that was later found (which was also fine by me).
Kevin and Tyler taking out a dune buggy.
Megan, Claire and Jeff in the pool.
It sure is hot, what should we do...let's go swimming again!
This was the overall best group picture of the kids (our Megan was missing). I should have taken a photo of all the parents trying to get their kids to look in the general direction of the cameras, let alone smile!