Moab Trip - February 2015

Short little video clip of the kids riding their bikes on the Intrepid trail at Dead Horse Point.

Dead Horse Point State Park. We were on a 9 mile bicycle trail which had signs for overlook spots.

Xander. This part of the trail was nice packed dirt.

Brent

Julia. This part of the trail was slick rock.

View from Dead Horse Point, 2000 feet above the Colorado river.

More Dead Horse Point. Notice the people out there (not our people).

Canyonlands National Park - Grand View Point lookout.

Canyonlands - Grand View Point lookout

Canyonlands - Mesa Arch

Cool mural on the side of a bicycle store in Moab.

Arches National Park - Landscape arch - believed to be the longest spanning natural arch in the world, spanning 290 feet across. In 1991, visitors heard cracking and popping noises while they were under the arch. They ran down the hill, and a giant slab of rock fell away from the arch making it thinner. No one was hurt. But since then, they have closed the trail that used to go underneath the arch.

Looking away from Landscape Arch

The end of the Landscape Arch trail.

Xander

From Landscape Arch, we hiked a "primitive" trail on our way to see Double O Arch.

Double O Arch - Below the large arch is a smaller one - hard to see in this photo - easier to see two photos down.

People walking across the top of Double O Arch. (Again, not our people.)

Double O Arch

The weather was still nice when we decided to turn the Double O Arch hike into a loop (instead of an out-and-back). We walked on sand, dirt, and slick rock. The trail is marked with small stacks of rocks called cairns.

Still hiking on the loop after Double O Arch. The scenery was amazing. The clouds rolled in and the weather was changing.

It began snowing really hard. You can see the tiny snowballs on the sand.

This is what Landscape Arch looked like as we neared the end of the loop. Snow on the ground and gray skies.

This is Delicate Arch from the lower view. The hike up to the upper view of Delicate Arch is fabulous, but we had just finished 5 or 6 miles with the Landscape Arch hike, and it was cold, and no one seemed to want to hike uphill again. So we just looked at it from below.

Fresh Food

We are somewhat addicted to sweets.  All of us. Brownies, cookies, ice cream - they don't last the day. I try not to bake very often, but sometimes the sugar, chocolate, and KitchenAid beckon me to build a treat. But we also love fresh foods.  I buy fresh foods, and they disappear so quickly. And someone is telling me we need more. After one shopping trip, I decided to keep track.

This is what I had after shopping Saturday morning:
14 oranges
6 grapefruit
2 lb strawberries
9 mangoes
1 pineapple
13 apples
1 jicama
2 packages baby carrots
1 package sugar snap peas
4 bananas
6 avocadoes
12 lemons





This is what was left the following Friday:



It's kind of a sad-looking fruit bowl.

Doodles

Brent always doodles during church.  I don't think I've ever seen him not doodle during church.  Maybe once when he lost his pen.  This one had me chuckling.

He turned the program with this color photo...

into this

Thought bubbles:
"That's a good crash hat"
"Son, wear a helmet"
"I want a helmet"

Farewell, My Friend

I wish I could remember the exact date I got this phone.  I know for certain that it's been at least 8 years.  It's possible that I've used it for a year or 2 more than that.  It still works.  It's been soaked in a canoe, dropped, sat on in my back pocket over and over, and dropped in the snow.  I could send and receive texts, make and receive phone calls, and it held a charge for up to 3 days.  No camera.  No frills.

I kept thinking that when it died, then I'd get a new phone.  It never died.  I finally decided it was time to catch up with technology and get a smart phone.  The phone is quite smart, but it makes me feel dumb.  I need a phone tutor.  Farewell my old friend, Nokia.

Swimming at State

For the Grandparents...

Since you couldn't be there, you can watch Oli's State swims at BYU.

February 3 & 4, 2012

100 Backstroke

He's in Lane 5 out of 8.  Lane 8 is farthest away.  He's in the Orange cap.

He took 3rd in his heat, 9th place at State.

He beat his previous best time, but I can't remember by how much.

100 Butterfly

He's in Lane 6 out of 8.  Lane 8 is farthest away.  He took 1st in his heat, 9th overall at State.

He took about 1.5 seconds off his previous best time.

200 Medley Relay 

His team is wearing orange caps.  They are in Lane 7 of 8.  Lane 8 is closest in this video.

Oli is the 3rd swimmer for his team, swimming the 50 butterfly.

Their Medley Relay team placed 11th at State.

We're hoping for a podium finish for his Senior year

Names

I glance through over 6000 names every month in my job as a commissions analyst.  Once in a while, a name catches my attention, for better or for worse.  I'm keeping a running list of them.  Here they are...

Holly Wood

Wilden Lovin

I think some dude just made that up and uses it when he can.  That can't be for real.  But that's what's on his account with his cell phone provider.

Kilbreath

An unfortunate last name

Pane Anesthesia

This is the name of an anesthesia group.  It's kind of like owning a bakery and having the last name Baker, or being a tailor with the last name Taylor.  There's a word for when your name matches your occupation - aptronym.

Laughter 

That’s just a good last name

Jayde Green and Kelly Green

These two are on the same cell phone account.  I had fun thinking of what other names would go with the last name Green - Hunter, Olive, and Forest would work.

Kelery

Rhymes with celery

Rusty Bumgardner

If your last name begins with the word “bum”, you should never use an adjective for a first name.  Avoid  names such as Hairy, Sandy, Tanner, Misty, and of course, Rusty, in front of the word Bum.  And if your last name is Bumgardner, consider legally changing it to just Gardner.

13-Course Meal

We are very fortunate to have friends, the Fishers, who love to cook and feed people.  Really fancy cooking.  Like the type not many of us do.  Kulani grinds, forms, and smokes his own sausage.  He dry-ages his own beef - I didn't even know what it was until we ate with these good friends.  One time, they even had a live chicken/hen? and served it up to us that same evening. Sometimes, I don't even know the names of cheeses he buys.  Being invited to one of their dinners is truly a unique experience and a culinary treat.  

They have 4 young daughters and they both work full-time. I don't know how they do it, but they're a great team in the kitchen.  At our latest visit, we were greeted with a 14-course menu (so many meals that our host forgot to include one of them.)

Thankfully, many courses are tiny.  But no one leaves their home hungry, ever.

This was a favorite-television-show-themed dinner.

Seared scallops with apricot wasabi marmalade

Crispy polenta with a portabello ragu - I wanted to eat the mushroom sauce straight out of the bowl with a spoon.  The flavors were divine.

 Cuban pork over sliced bagette - and he makes this sausage himself.

Refreshing pineapple-peach smoothie

 Blue cheese wedge salad

 Pozole soup with a tomatillo sauce

Bruleed banana slice with Nutella and real whipped cream

Garlic shrimp with sticky rice

 I forgot to photograph the intermission - a tiny cup of homemade ginger soda

Chili-spiced marinated chicken

Dry-aged New York roast with homemade potato chips.  This dry-aging process sounds scary, but we've had his steaks done this way several times, and have never in our lives tasted better steak.  He also uses a special water bath to cook and hold them at a certain temperature before searing them quickly before serving.

 Gruyere cheese with tart apple slices (and this cheese I have heard of)

 Rum raisin rice pudding for dessert

Another extraordinary meal and evening of conversing and meeting new people.  How does one reciprocate this type of event?  Maybe I should offer to babysit.  That, I could do.