Who needs the alps . . .

When you've got this?

Milcreek Canyon from the Pipeline Trail, July 2010

Swim Class

This summer I signed up for parent/child swim class with a couple friends at Kearns Oquirrh Fitness Center. So far the teacher is a huge disappointment, but it's fun swimming with Aven and our friends.

l-r: Nique, hiding behind her son Jaxon, Aven and me, Amber and her son Payton. Payton and Jaxon both took this class last year, so they're old pro's showing Aven the ropes.

Kick, kick, kick!

I thought this was a funny picture of Aven. It looks like she's lounging on the surface of the water.

Blowing bubbles. Something Aven hasn't quite got down yet but loves watching me do.

Brandi

Ian and I went to see Brandi Carlile with our old friend Becky, who we had not seen in over a year, at Red Butte Garden on Sunday July, 11th. I have been a Brandi Carlile fan ever since I first heard "The Story" which was made popular by Grey's Anatomy (or so I have heard). We have just missed seeing her here in Salt Lake a couple times and were ecstatic that we were able to go see her this time around.

Becky, also a huge Brandi fan, decided to accompany us since she couldn't find anyone to go to the concert with her since the majority of her friends are apparently un-hip enough that they had no idea who Brandi even was. We had a great time catching up with Becky and enjoying the tunes.

Following are a few pictures I borrowed from Becky's facebook page:

Brandi rocking out.

This was one of the best concerts I have ever been to. She was a great performer and had plenty of amusing stories to tell in-between songs. I loved how her encore wasn't just two songs. She just kept playing right up until the 10 pm deadline when music has to stop (because of the noise ordinance).

The closest I could get to a portrait of Becky and Brandi together.

Due to Ian's lack of wrap around sunglasses, he spend the first part of the concert enjoying the show with a dish towel on his head. Guess what you're getting for your birthday Ian?

All three of us enjoying the show.

Cute Aven Photos at the Cabin

I just wanted to post some more of the cute photos we took of Aven at the cabin over the 4th of July.

She looks like she's concentrating really hard on some deep philosophical problem, probably something to do with the nature of the rock she is holding in her hand.

It's okay she was fine, Cara caught her at the last minute, it was just perfect timing on the photo.

 She's taken off down the road looking for adventure or just another rock to pick up.

Fun Sprinkled with Sadness

We went on our first trip to Flaming Gorge 4th of July weekend. This trip was a little different for me than past trips. My dad and aunt have decided to sell our cabin. I am heartbroken about losing this place that has seemed so full of magic and wonder but at the same time I completely understand and support their decision. In between bouts of sadness we had a lot of fun and I took a lot of pictures of my favorite details of this old place. I won't bore you with those, but I will share a few favorites from the trip:

A family portrait in front of the cabin my grandpa built with the help of family and friends. My grandpa left this world in 2007 but going to the cabin has made me feel as if he is still here. I'm afraid that losing this place is going to feel like he is totally gone.

Now on to happier moments:

Aven was mostly interested in playing with rocks and sticks. I could tell she was hungry when she started trying to eat them.


Aven also enjoyed playing in the water at Mustang Ridge. Is was very cold, but she didn't seem to mind as long as she had a rock in her hand.


We went to a classic car show at Flaming Gorge Lodge. We enjoyed the cars, Aven had fun toddling through the field it was held on.


On Sunday it was 48 degrees and it rained and hailed like I don't think I've ever seen before. We tried to do a lot of indoor things like visiting the dam visitor center and Red Canyon visitor center. We walked along the edge of the cliffs at Red Canyon during a break in the rain.


And last but not least, here is Grace squeezing under the fence after pursing a chipmunk. Don't worry, she's far too slow to ever catch something. She's our big lumbering bunny.


In closing, I would like to thank my grandparents for a lifetime of fun and for the opportunity to have such a unique experience by providing this wonderful home in the mountains for all of us to enjoy. Not having a cabin won't keep me away from Flaming Gorge, but I will have to learn how to love camping. Here's to enjoying this place as much as possible while trying to sell it!
(L-R): My grandma (Carm), grandpa (Bob), and their friend Roma during one of the early years of cabin construction- they are standing on the very unfinished second floor.

Sweet Disposition

In honor of father's day, here's some recent video of Ian's favorite babe:

Bluegrass, Comedy, and Rain

On June 16th we went to see Steve Martin perform with his band, The Steep Canyon Rangers, at Red Butte Gardens. The day before the show was sunny and somewhere in the neighborhood of 80 degrees. The day of the concert was windy and cool which turned into rainy and cold for the concert. We wore our winter coats, packed blankets and umbrellas and enjoyed a picnic of wontons, pasta salad, brie and bread, cookies, fresh berries and wine. Despite the cold we had a fabulous time. Steve Martin was laugh-out-loud funny in between every song and the music was great. We're headed back to Red Butte on July 11th to see Brandi Carlile. We're already looking forward to it.

Late Night Overtime

As most of you know I work for a Water and Sewer company. My job primarily consists of making maps and maintaining our geographic database of all the pipes, valves, manholes and myriad of other things we have in the ground. Every now and then I get the chance to do something more hands on in the company. This month I volunteered for our hydrant flushing program. Basically once a year the company sends out 5 teams to open up fire hydrants throughout our district to help clean all the minerals that settle in the pipes during the year. We have to do this at night to minimize the impact on our customers, since having that many hydrants all open in the same area will dramatically drop the water pressure nearby. That means that for the past week and continuing for the next 2 weeks on Tuesday and Thursday I am at work from 6:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. as normal and then I go back out to work at 9 pm and work until midnight opening up and closing fire hydrants. Then I go back home and wake up in about 5 hours to go back to work. I knew going into it that it would be hard to miss all that sleep, but I knew it would pay off both fiscally (overtime is good money), physically (it's good to do some hard labor every now and then), and mentally (in terms of becoming more well-rounded it's important to learn more about how things work). I also hoped that it would pay off artistically, and it did. I included a teaser clip of an image from a series that will be posted on the art blog Cara created for us to display our creativity, "Creative Exploits" http://creativexploits.blogspot.com/
 

Creative Exploits

We have a new blog in addition to this one. It is called Creative Exploits and focuses more on making art in an effort to enrich our lives. Check it out at: http://creativexploits.blogspot.com/

Hey, we never claimed we were smart . . .

Ever since Aven was born Ian's brother, Brance, has been asking when Aven would be old enough to ride a bike. Now that she's a year old we can safely take her riding in our Chariot bike trailer and to Brance, who is a bike riding fiend, that's as good as being able to ride a bike. So, today we strapped our bikes to our roof mounted bike rack and headed out to West Jordan to go bike riding with Brance. I needed to stop at Whole Foods on the way to pick something up and like idiots we drove right into the parking lot. The one that has clearly marked 7' 2" clearance bars over every entrance to the lot. I'll let the pictures illustrate the rest of the story . . .

Our car looks a lot like this when the bikes are mounted on top.

This is what our roof rack looked like after it was torn off the top of our car by the clearance bar. Amazingly the bikes landed right side up with a very loud and scary sound. The only damage to the bikes was a scratch on Ian's handlebar and a broken reflector.

The factory rack did not fare so well. Luckily, only one side was broken in the accident.

We just happened to have our trunk mounted bike rack in the back of the car and so after much cursing on Ian's part we were able to get going and continue with our planned bike ride.

Despite a little bit of bad luck, we had a great day. Oh, and by the way, happy birthday Dennis!