Skating on Ice @ the Gallivan Center

I LOVE the ice rink at the Gallivan Center. So swanky and urban, it ALMOST makes me feel like I live in a cool city... haha And btw, now we know Steve's new cell phone takes crappy pics.

Chick Flick?

So, its rare that Steve will take the opportunity to chill with just the guys - but last night we was able to hit a Guys Night Out movie w/some friends.

So, this morning I asked him what movie they saw and it was "Ghost Town" (a romantic comedy). Funny - cause thats the same movie I saw with my girlfriends last month for GIRLS NIGHT OUT! BwaaaaHAHAHAHA

Sorry - this just cracks me up. I ♥ you Eddy.

Five Mile Pass & Little Moab

Good times. We sustained minor damage (trademark of a successful trip). Soon, the jeep will be converted (accidentally on purpose) to the "trail" jeep only... and Sue gets a new car... *I hope, I hope, I hope*







Steve's DREAM conversion to our jeep -

Dinosaur Park

Body Worlds

We went to the BodyWorlds Exhibit at the Leonardo last night! Oh baby! It was just crazy! I was scared out of my mind - I didn't know that I'd make it through without either fainting or puking. I thought it would be totally disturbing. But once we were there looking at the exhibits I was so fascinated that I forgot to be disturbed! The human body in all its delicacy and intricacy. Absolutely awe-inspiring! This is a show I will never forget. Those images are permanently emblazoned upon my brain...

And this kid does a good job sharing my enthusiasm... :) He is too cute:

More Halloween...

Wyatt's kindergarten class

School Parade
>
Children's Museum

Trick or Treat

Barbs' Halloween Party

Ya know the kind of grandma that makes each of her grandchildren feel like they are her favorite? The kind of grandma who serves love with all the wonderful homemade goodies that come from her kitchen? The kind of grandma who throws festive Halloween parties just for fun for her grandkids and shows up decked out in full costume? Yeah. That's Wyatt's grandma Barbs.


This is Leo. Wyatt's fave stuffed animal that he can't sleep without. Photography credit: Wyatt

Scarecrow Festival

Wyatt rarely wears regular clothes lately. He's either a pirate, spiderman, batman or a blue power ranger almost everyday...
Here's all the cuties we spent the day with at the Scarecrow Festival at Thanksgiving Point:

Lake Powell Triathalon

This was way fun. I feel a new obsession coming on... :)
The whole fam damily... (almost...)

Steve shaved his head bald for the occasion. Look at those GUNS! :)

scary pic of me - but w/e...


more pics later...

Choosin' Time

In my opinion, there are two things that we need in the White House right now more than anything: A PERSON WITH A STRONG MORAL THREAD and A FINANCIAL GENIUS. Americans today have a "what's in it for me?" and "How can I get more of it for me?" attitude. Total greed and self-servance at it's extreme. And so here we are in an economic disaster that has been decades in the making. We've never had to make a more important decision regarding President of the US in my lifetime. It blows my mind to think that we passed up on the person who EMBODIFIES my two qualifications: Mitt Romney = strong moral thread and a financial genius. (I know you are all laughing at me right now, but I don't care) But since we only have two choices...

I've wondered and thought about the decision a lot. Unfortunately neither candidate is a pro on the economy. However, I've made a choice and here are a few of my reasons: (and btw - I NEVER vote on any election based on party. It doesn't mean JACK to be a Republican or a Democrat anymore... just my humble opinion...)

Health-Care:
I call McCain's plan the "non-plan" b/c that's what it is. It doesn't address the problems or solve anything for people who actually need help. Obama seems to have a reasonable approach to health-care. At least he has a plan!

Politicky:
McCain's VP pick (although I like Palin and I think she is a breath of fresh air) was 100% political. That is scary. McCain is old. It is statistically relevant to assume that, if elected, Palin could become President of the US. I like the girl, but heaven help us if that were to happen. NO WAY is she prepared to be President.
Obama impressed me so much early in the primaries. He was motivational and inspirational and was drawing people into the political process who had given up long ago. The drawn out fight with Hillary, though, ruined that image of Obama for me. But, he still has it in him and the charisma that he has is impressive. Just getting people who don't care involved in the system again could change our country. I like that.

Moral Thread:
I was floored at McCain's disrespectful tone in the debate last night. He was so snarky and just out right rude. The rolling eyes, the frustrated gestures - he is truly a madman acting out of desperation. It scares me. He has willfully made FALSE statements about his running mates and their positions, etc. b/c he is beyond frantic for the presidency. I can't imagine that he could keep it together as President. We just can't have a hot-headed madman running our country.
Obama has had his moments... but I have hope that he has the moral thread we need to inspire people to do the right thing and get above the "greed mentality" that we live in. Like I say, it's only a hope... but thats better than nothing, right? haha

WOW! This post is way too long. I doubt anyone will read it. But, I could go on & on. I haven't even touched many many important things. But, I'll be voting for Obama. Not that I'm voting for him b/c of the color of his skin... but I'll be proud to say I voted for the first African-American President. I think he's going to win (although not in Utah)... I sure hope so.

p.s. Wyatt does not approve. He likes McCain b/c "his face looks good & I like his tie". Who the HECK is this kid? Yikes!

Fall Fun

Fall is my absolute favorite time of year in Utah. (Well, I love summer even more, but you know what I mean - except for that whole part about HAVING to be in the water all summer cause it's so stinkin' hot, oh yeah, that IS the good part! haha). Anyway - last Friday my parents took Wyatt to the circus so we had 3 whole hours of Wyatt-free time. What to do? Ride the Crest again, of course. I am so bummed that I didn't bring my camera b/c the entire trail is Gor.Geous right now! It was like riding through a picture-perfect umbrella of Fall colors postcard. If you haven't been in the mountains lately - GO! Do not miss the most beautiful reason to live in Utah. :) (until winter - when its a sparkly snow-dusted winter wonderland up there... and the spring wildflowers are beautiful, too...) Ahhh I love Utah.

And we took Wyatt to "Cornbelly's Corn Maze" the other day... It was pretty fun. There are lots of fun kids activities besides getting lost in David Archuleta's hands, shirt and eyes! haha

Facing the Fear

I've set a goal. I WILL compete in the Lake Powell Triathalon Oct. 18. I am facing my fear of swimming (despite the fact that I can't, swim that is) and I'm just goin' for it. It's not going to be pretty. I really hope I don't drown. I'm not so much a competitor as I am just a "please, I hope I finish... I don't even care when" But, I'm so excited!
PS - If you see me, please ask me how my triathalon training is going. I feel that since I'm putting this "out there" I HAVE to do it now. This is the entire point of this post. Sorry to bore you.

Getting to know Sarah Palin

Governor Palin's speech at the GOP Convention last night: (Part 1 of 5 - She introduces her family)



(Part 2 of 5 - She talks about her experience as "hockey mom" and Mayor & Governor)



Anyway, I won't post all the videos here but her entire speech was great.

My initial reaction when I heard McCain chose Palin for VP running mate was I felt kind of insulted. It seems that McCain believes that the women of America will vote for another woman blindly. But after watching her speech last night, my first impressions of her were:

smart, articulate, relatable, bold w/o being brassy, likeable, straight-shooter

I think I like this girl. It's going to be fun to watch the debates.

First Day of Kindergarten

Guh, I love this kid!

Wyatt was super excited this morning to go to kindergarten. He had a great first day. He absolutely LOVES Mrs. Hillyard, she is like the most perfect kindergarten teacher, ever! I'm soooo impressed. And Wyatt in his little school uniform, oh the cuteness.

I did well, too. I shed a few tears but not in front of Wyatt, so I was proud of myself. I basically took it out on my treadmill and my bike. It's all about the endorphins, I swear they are all I need to get by.

And I'm a dip. I told Steve I wanted to go on a bike ride to get my mind off of it and so he went with me. When we got home I looked at the clock and we were 5 mins. late to go pick up Wyatt from his very first day of school! Very effective at getting my mind off of my worries, effective at motherhood? not so much. So. embarrassing.

Park City Mountain Resort

Mini vacation in Park City last week. Wyatt goes to his first day of Kindergarten on Tuesday - I'm already having summer withdrawals.

All I wanna do is have some fun

Amber and I hit the Sheryl Crow concert last night. She is a writer for Usana and gets free tickets every now and then so it was a very last minute thing - but we had a great time. Thanks Amber!!!

This was the perfect way to wrap up this summer! Sheryl Crow's lyric has been my theme for this past summer. Several months ago I realized that my life is cruising by at warp speed. So I decided that my new focus would be making memories with Wyatt. I was not going to worry if my house/yard was perfect, etc. just wanted to make memories with Wyatt b/c he's growing up so fast and when I look back it's the fun activities/vacations, etc. that I remember (and I bet he'll remember). So early Spring I sat down with a calendar and thought of all the places I wanted to go, fun activities I wanted to do throughout the summer and got them planned and on the calendar. I also scheduled a regular time each week to go on a hike, a regular time to go boating each week, and a regular swimming day at Murray Pool with Wyatt. As I look back over the past summer, we missed a few of the plans I had originally made but overall we really made a lot of memories. Steve calmed down quite a bit from his usual workworkwork frenzy and we really had a blast. I'm definitely sticking with my theme next summer.

Hidden Falls

This is more of a jaunt than a hike. The best part about it is the rock climbing. Wyatt could free climb around on the rocks forever.




BTW - Little interesting tidbit about my husband. Talk about a sports freak! Steve stayed up til 4AM the other night watching the American Basketball team win the gold medal. And he's already getting pumped for football season. I feel like I lose half my husband every Fall!

Kindergarten Orientation

Went to Kindergarten Orientation last night. I'm going to need a BooHoo room. Seriously, how am I going to get through this????

Catchin' up on the blog

Boating, Hiking, Mountain Biking - same ol' same ol'

We aren't very original, we keep doing the same stuff week after week, but we're having fun! (makes for a boring blog, however! oh well!)

Oh yeah - last weekend we did go to a movie- Dark Knight. TOTALLY disturbing! Pretty good though, if only I could get the mental picture of that freaky joker out of my head. Yikes!

And seems like forever ago (but I just uploaded the pics) but we went to the zoo.



And we had an awesome time at my good friends' street party last night! He plays in a band and they block off an entire street and the band plays all evening and its super fun. Tons of kiddos with glow sticks dancin' in the street. I wish I would have taken pics - tons of cute moments. I love getting together with great, old friends. Except it always gives me "big family envy" because they always have lots of kids that are totally growing up fast and I still feel like nothing's really changed for me in the last 10 years! :) (Oh ya, I guess I have one kid of my own - why does my 1 seem less significant than their 6???) And, BTW, I can't believe my friends have kids going through puberty, but it's true. Yikes! It really freaks me out to think that in a blink of an eye its going to be Wyatt! Heaven help us all.

TWIN LAKES HIKE





ROCKPORT

We actually went to a different lake (other than East Canyon) a few weeks ago. Totally rained on us. You know you are a die-hard when you are wakeboarding in the rain! :) And especially Mark b/c he was hit by a truck just 5 days before this day... He was hit by a truck at 40mph while riding his bike downtown. Luckily he walked away from it - thank goodness!



We've ridden WASATCH CREST and DOG LAKE via MILL D the last two date nights/days. Since I've never ridden Dog Lake from the Big Cottonwood side before, short trail recap (for future reference): Good ride, worked my wind (to say the least), steepest at the top and the bottom, pretty meadow in between.

Can't think of anything else of interest lately... except that I've turned into a couch potato watching the Olympics every night. And BTW it's really getting in the way of my sleep!

Oh yeah, I turned 34, bleh.