A Week of Thanksgiving

We were so happy that Jeff & Julie and the kids were

able to spend the week of Thanksgiving with us.  

We are "thankful" to be grandparents and love it

when we can all be together!!

Our week was filled with good food and good fun--

These 2 boys played football every minute they

could, "thankfully" no one got hurt!!

These 3 boys enjoyed seeing the Aggie's defeat Idaho

 in Logan.  They were "thankful" for warm temperatures!!

On Saturday evening we went up to Salt Lake City,

walked around the new City Creek Center and

then around Temple Square to see the lights.

That made us very "thankful" for our Savior, Jesus Christ

So "thankful" for our family . . .

(And "thankful" for a responsible son, Peter,

who had to miss out because of work.)

One TOUGH Mudder

 If there's 1 word we could use to describe Nic it would

be "adventuresome".  So when he told us that he was going

to compete in the Utah "Tough Mudder" with some friends

 from BYU-Idaho we were like----Ok--great--have a good time!!

That was until the day before the race when I decided to google

Tough Mudder to find out more about it. I learned it's an event that benefits

the Wounded Warrior Project.  Great, it's for a good cause, but then I read on and

 discovered that it is a 12 mile obstacle course designed by British Special Forces.

Some of the obstacles consist of crawling on your belly through mud, jumping into

 a tank of ice cold water, scaling 12 foot walls, climbing over man made mountains, 

crawling through pipes and my favorite----sprinting through a field of live wires,

 some with a 10,000 volt shock.  After reading this I sent a text to Nic asking him

one question------WHY?

The very clean and energized warriors ready to begin

(I might add it was a pretty chilly morning that day)

After their first "mud immersion" they're off!!!

Nic was most concerned about getting his large

6' 3" frame over the walls but he made it with

help from other "mudders".  The course is all about

everyone helping each other make it through.

Jumping into---you guessed it---more mud!

Did I mention that you run about a mile in between each obstacle?

That adds up to a 12 mile run people!!

Yep---this would be those live wires I mentioned.

Nic did admit that their shock was a little more than he had anticipated.

The good news is he lived to tell about it !!

The exhausted but VERY proud "Tough Mudders"

Autumn Splendor

Not to be outdone by the Colorado Fall pictures that

Jeff and Julie posted (which were beautiful) I decided

 to post pictures from the fall outing we took recently

We drove up Provo Canyon to Cascade Springs, 

the perfect drive for seeing fall colors in Utah County

Jason & Ari had the ultimate experience in their

Jeep wrangler without the top

As we were walking back to the car I noticed

this leaf that had fallen and come to rest

 perfectly in the branches of this tree

I love this picture as you can see the very top

of Mt Timpanogos in the background.

We really do live in a beautiful place any 

season of the year!!

A Boy & the Bruins

Our little Mo is obsessed with the Mt View Bruins

and his Uncle Diesel who plays on the team

Diesel is # 44

Mo was so excited to be at the first home game in the

 Bruin Bowl on Friday night to watch Diesel in action

So on Saturday, Jason turned their back yard

into a mini "Bruin Bowl" complete with

the MV logo in the center of the "field"

After hearing this we couldn't help but show up

for dinner on Sunday decked out in our Bruin

uniforms ready for some action!!

Diesel and his teammates huddle up

Mo ready to meet his mighty opponent . . .

He helps to make the tackle . . .

He gets the ball, runs to the end zone . . .

and SCORES !!!

Livi cheers him on!

A little boy in "Bruin Heaven"

Rocky Mountain High

We just returned from spending 6 days in the 

beautiful Colorado Rocky Mountains.

I'm not gonna lie . . . I wasn't real excited with

the idea of camping out for 6 days but that's

what my guys wanted to do so I bucked up

and went along and I'm glad I did!!

We spent the first night at a campground near Aspen.

While headed to our next campsite we stopped

at a picnic area which was the trailhead for a short 

hike up to this waterfall.  We also went over

Independence Pass which makes you feel like 

you're on top of the world

The second night we camped at Turquoise Lake  (below)

with the town of Leadville in the background.  It was

 home to the"Unsinkable Molly Brown"

On Wednesday we made it to our destination of

Rocky Mountain National Park.  Jeff, Julie and

the kids met us there

After setting up camp at the Moraine campground,

 we set out to explore the wonders of the Park

We took a shuttle ride up to Bear Lake

and from there hiked to Alberta Falls

which was awesome!!

Day 2 was a short hike to this place called

the Alluvial Fan.  It was formed when a dam broke

in 1982 sending boulders down the hillside.

These crazy guys took the opportunity

to cool off in one of the pools at the bottom

This is Sprague Lake which had a boardwalk

making it possible to walk all the way around the lake

Meanwhile back at camp, above is the view of Longs Peak

that we woke up to every morning, yea . . . it was tough

Dr J cooking us some pancakes for breakfast, below we're

roasting hot dogs and of course we consumed LOTS of s'mores

The happy campers :)  really, the smiles on our faces say it all . . .

we LOVED Rocky Mountain National Park!!!