We took a family vacation to Breckenridge, Colorado last month, we had an enjoyable, memorable time. We took I 80, it was icy and there was low visability, it added a few hours longer to our drive, but when we got there we heard that I 80 had been closed, so we were grateful to have gotten there safely. Isaac went to Ski School and learned to ski for the first time, he did really well, and we were proud of him for sticking with it and finishing the long day. Nick was pretty patient as he tried to teach me to ski (this was only my second time ever). I scared him a few times when I whizzed down the slopes at full speed, but not full control! Sophia and Savannah spent the day in a day care there on the resort. The day care is called "Belly Button Bakery" they baked chocolate chip cookies and played patty cake. Sophia was good, but Savannah gave them a harder time. It was so nice to relax and spend some alone time with Nick. I think I could really get into skiing, it was a great day. We rented a cabin for the long weekend, it was set high up in the beautiful snow covered mountains. The van only got stuck in the snow once! It was a great place to get away and enjoy time with the family. We sat out in the hot tub every night, it was so peaceful to have snow falling all around us, and enjoying it in warmth. Nick and Isaac went sledding, the girls stayed behind to avoid the 50 mile an hour winds. They had fun, but had to stay bundled up to keep warm. Sophia has asked several times since we've been home to go back to the cabin. It's nice to enjoy nature and all of the beautiful creations we're blessed with.

Wow, it's 2008! A lot has happened since our last post. We had a very nice, quiet Christmas in Cheyenne. Isaac and Sophia had so much fun ripping open their presents. Savannah opened her first gift and it was a soft, plush horse that plays music. She loves horses, and was perfectly content with her gift. She didn't feel the need to open any more gifts the rest of the morning. She just sat and hugged her horse. Don't we all need to be more like that and be thankful for the little things and not expect the world!! Isaac was excited about his wonderful gifts, he got a digital camera, markers, crayons, a whole box of paper, winter clothes and other misc. stuff. Sophia and Savannah received a darling little pink kitchen complete with a seperate fridge and freezer. They only like to play with it if I'm there with them, I hope they gain more interest later. They got several accesories to go with it like a play mixer and toaster. They also got a shopping cart, Santa's helper wasn't thinking when she only got one, they are constantly fighting over it and it has spent lots of time in the storage room in time out. Nick got me a nice T.V for the kitchen, which has gotten lots of use. It's nice to have some entertainment while I'm preparing dinner. We had a nice spiral ham dinner and just enjoying being together as a family. A few days after Christmas we loaded up the mini van and made the trek to Utah. The weather was not great, we were up against the wind and the blowing snow drifts. We made it to Midway and had a nice visit there. The next day we were on our way to St. George for the Larsen Christmas party. It was a fun night, but we were all disappointed that Lowell and Marilyn weren't able to make the trip. Gordon and Debbie are always to sweet to host the family and make us comfortable. When Isaac got out of the van he said "It's summer here, there's no snow." The weather really was pleasant and I remebered why we wanted to live in Southern Utah. We spent the rest of the week in Hurricane with my family. Nick planned a few climbing outtings with Gordon and a fishing trip with my brother Ryan. We had a fun New Year's Eve Mexican Fiesta where we enjoyed a salsa and nacho bar. It's always fun to be with family, we love our visits home. On our way back to Cheyenne, we stopped for a quick visit to check on Lowell and Marilyn. We were happy to see that Lowell looked more healthy and getting back to his ornery self. (Just don't ever buy him Nalley brand pickles, make certain they're Western Family!) We love you Lowell!! Then we were on the road again. We were making good time and things were going smoothly when all of the sudden we drove into snow drifting across the road. We had to slow way down for traffic and then we were at a dead stand still for 3.5 hours. The roads were icy and the wind was blowing fiercely. We were sitting there wondering what was going on. Finally traffic started moving at a very slow speed and we made it 20 miles to the next town. That was from 8:00 -11:30 at night, and we were tired and beat from the drive. We had Lyf(brother-in-law) book us a hotel in Rawlins, MO. We got the last room, and we got a fairly decent nights rest considering there was only one bed. We were treated to a nice hot breakfast and we were on our way home. On our way home we realized why we were stopped in the middle of the freeway for so long. We saw one diesel accident after another, and that was the next day, I'm sure there were other accidents that had been cleaned up already. We counted ourselves blessed for not being one of the accidents, sitting in the car for 3.5 hours and spending the night in Rawlins was a small price to pay. We were happy to be home.

Thanksgiving 2007

We had a quiet Thanksgiving dinner this year. I was on call and couldn't leave town. I didn't have to go in to the hospital, so it wasn't too bad. We had a great dinner thanks to Emily. With just the kids, we had lots of food. We hope next year to share Thanksgiving dinner with family.

Great Wife!

I'm sure all of you know what a great wife Emily is. I will give you another example. On Thanksgiving we had our own little dinner. Emily made apple pie from scratch for me. She doesn't like it and didn't eat any of it, but she knows that I like so she made it. She's wonderful.

Isaac's Story

Isaac handed me this paper which was typed up on the computer by himself. Emily said it has to do with an assignment he did at school. I thought it was quite funny. I typed it just like he did.

Isaac's Story:

When im hungry i would deliver pizza then i/ll eat pizza i can eat better then the babies the pizzaman would leave and come back tomorrow and give us peperoni pizza and the pizzaman would give savannah sophie or isaac and give mommy and daddy onion pizza and the pizzaman would not come on sunday mommy daddy savannah sophia and isaac would be good at curch its the sunday 8th september 2008

Isaac

Isaac's 7th birthday party

Emily made a spongebob cake for him. It took her three hours to complete. Isaac has some friends from church come to the party. He got a spongebob bouncer which everybody loved. They did some other activities, which I don't know much about, but Emily made it a great party. The twins participated like they were just part of the group.

Isaac did say he had fun at his party.

Emily will give her thoughts of the party: This was the first birthday party that Isaac actually wanted to play with his friends, it was fun to watch. There were 7 boys plus Isaac. We made spongebobs out of real sponges, pipe cleaners, and big googly eyes, then we made oceans by putting water, baby oil, blue food coloring, mini sea shells, brown glitter and blue beads into a baby food jar. This was the favorite activity, and the most messy too! Isaac told us he wanted a spongebob bouncer for his birthday party, he's been planning this for about 5 months. He printed off huge spongebob bounce houses from the internet and showed them to us, letting us know that's exactly what he wanted. After inflating his bouncer, we told him he could get in and jump, he said "I'm waiting for it to get bigger" I had to burst his bubble and let him know that was as big as it would ever be. He may have been a tad bit dissapointed, but after bouncing with his friends, he loves it. It really was a fun birthday party, and when Isaac told us he had fun, it made it well worth it.

Isaac is in a regular 1st grade classroom this year, he has a para(they were called teacher's aides when I was in school)that is one on one with him. She intervenes when he needs special assistance. I've been very impressed with his school and his teacher. I think it's a challenge for him, but he's up for it. I took frog cupcakes to his class on his birthday, the kids loved them. I have to say after decorated the massive spongebob cake and 24 cupcakes I don't want to see frosting for a while! It was an exhausting day, but we'll all have good memories.

Isaac is 7 years old

Wind River

We caught brook and cutthroat trout in Upper Silas Lake, but at Island lake there were large cutthroat trout. I landed a 18 incher that had a fly and line in his mouth that he had broken off somebody's line. I was unable to get a picture of him, but did manage some of the other big fish. Isaac caught a nice 13 inches by himself that tasted very good. We kept 4 of the smallest fish, but they were all over 12 inches. I've never caught that size of fish in the Uintahs so I was very impressed with my fist trip to the Wind River Range. I plan on an annual trip each summer, just call me if you want to join us.

Wind River

This was our second night at Island Lake. We were very tired after finally making it to this lake. It was a climb of 1.4 miles from Upper Silas Lake. We set up camp a distance from the lake, but had a nice spring running 25 yards from camp. Also there was firewood everywhere, which we took advantage of.

Wind River

This was our first night. We started hiking at 4:00 pm and ran out of daylight. We found this meadow with a stream running through it and made camp. I quickly caught several brook trout and we had a quick dinner before the rain hit us. We were safe in the tent all night and in the morning it turns out we were .3 miles to Upper Silas Lake. We stopped there for 2 hours and caught several fish before heading to Island Lake.

Wind River Mountains

Isaac and I took a backpack trip into the Wind River mountains. I had never been there and choose a basin that was 5 miles into the main lake. The hike was difficult as we gained over 1,500 feet in elevation. I've included several pictures. Isaac did very well carrying his pack. He was ready for the trip physically, but we came home a day early because he got homesick and was crying about not wanting to fish anymore and wanted to go home.

More of Snowy range Medicine Bow National Forest

In the mountains again

We are starting to settle in here in Cheyenne. We have found a neat alpine area just west of Larame with lots of lakes. We can drive right to many of the lakes or hike in with many trailheads in the area. It is all above 10,000 feet so it's a great way to get out of the summer heat. We are enjoying it while we can because the road is only open 5 months out of the year due to heavy snowfall.

The kids love to go fishing, but the girls mainly like to throw rocks in the water. Isaac is great at casting, but doesn't ever seem to catch fish.

Isaac and I have already gone backpacking and we are so happy to be out of the midwest where you cannot due any of this stuff.

My job is going well, but is very busy at times. I think it will turn out to be a good job.