Jackson Hole & Jellystone

It's been awhile since we visited our condo in Jackson. In fact, we realized this summer that Smurfy has never even been, so we decided it was definitely time! We snuck up for a quick trip over the 4th of July weekend & had so much fun. We even drove up to Yellowstone for a day to see Old Faithful, but the kids weren't so much interested in that. They just wanted to look at animals. They could have looked for animals all day. I think that was the highlight of their trip. We started an "animal sightings" record so the kids could mark down what we saw. They counted 4 moose, 2 elk, hundreds of buffalo, 2 grizzly bears (ok, maybe it was the same grizzly bear twice....), an antelope, a fox (does it count if it was dead?), a bald eagle, several deer, and a yellow-bellied marmot. That's just plain fun for the whole family!

Wasatch Back

Yippeee!!! It's over! Ok, we had a blast and I'd so do it again, but I have to say I'm glad to have that one checked off my list. When my friend Brooke said we were doing wasatch back, I thought, "Seriously?" "No, I'm not that kind of runner."
Luckily, they gave me easy legs, great running mates, and perfect weather. I couldn't have asked for more. (Well, maybe for a little less rain at the finish line....that was a bit of a disaster). Otherwise- a great weekend with great friends. Thanks to Amberlee for these awesome pics (I stole 'em from her Facebook), and to Brooke for, as usual, being the running "beast master". Can't wait till next year. (or, can I??????)


Is this guy hot or what???? Their team was called "Running Naked" & trust me, they nearly were. We followed him hanging out the car window, hootin & hollerin for miles!! His wife must have wanted to kill us, but hey, whatever keeps you goin, right?

This guy is hot, too! He was such a great support to me. I was lucky enough to get to run through my hometown & Seth made sure the whole neighborhood was outside cheering me on. It was so, so cool. Then he followed me on his bike cracking his whip the whole time. Not as cool. But it made me run faster, so that was good!
You must love our outfits, right? Our team was called "Sweatin to the oldies". We were supposed to look like we were in one of Richard Simmons Jazzercise classes circa 1992. Sweet. Love you Amberlee!!!!




Nice face, Mandy. Must've needed to poo...... Hey, it happens. (Ask my s.i.l Megan :)

Lake Powell

Ok- I've been informed by some friends that my blog is getting absurdly out of date. To my credit, its only June & this has been one crazy summer!!!! I was going to try to do this in one catch-up blog, but its too hard, so I'm starting with Lake Powell. Earlier this month we were invited by some friends in the neighborhood to go on an adults-only Lake Powell trip. Let me just say a trip like this was long overdue & simply genius!!!!! I don't know what we've been thinking taking our kids to Lake Powell all these years. Don't get me wrong, I love our family trips, but there is something about Lake Powell.....and peace......that go hand in hand! So thank you thank you thank you Erika & Shawn for what was really one of the funnest things we've done in a long time. We made some great friends & had some really good times.






Just a little side note....in addition to all the great fun we had waterskiing, wakeboarding, surfing, etc. etc., there was one scary incident. The men spent one whole evening rigging up a zipline across one of the canyons near our houseboat. They really worked hard to make sure the line was secure and everything was safe. However, they didn't make sure everyone who would be riding said zipline was strong enough to hang on when the handle got jerked out of their hand after a 20-ft freefall. Can you see where I'm going with this????? So, I plunged off the edge of what I'm told was about a 70-foot cliff, dropped about 20 feet, had the rope yanked out of my hands, and continued to fall, super-man style 50 more feet into what had to be the worlds best (or worst!) bellyflop. Man, I didn't know water could hurt that bad!!!!! Every inch of my skin felt like it was on fire, and within minutes of coming out of the water I had bruises on nearly my whole body. It was ugly. Everyone was really freaked out, especially after a second girl also fell off the rope & got hurt pretty badly. Needless to say after that the zipline was dismantled & I believe that is the end of my ziplining career. There was a houseboat full of friendly folks nearby who videoed the whole thing. If I can ever manage to get my hands on that video, I'll post it here for you to mock me endlessly.
In the meantime, I took some photos of my wicked bruises.
"Classic Peg"- right? Noone will get that but my fam- but Oh Well!

Oh- P.S.- You can see more of our trip by checking out the "Beckstrom Lake Powell Crew" link in our blog friends list. We hope to make it an annual trip- it was really the best!!!!

The Last Days of Winter

As I bid winter its final adieu, I realized we did a lot of fun winter activities over the last month that didn't get blogged. So, as a final hurrah- here are our favorite wintertime memories from the month of April.

Amberlee & I took the babies for a day of snowshoeing. I am a novice snowshoe-er & was a little nervous- but it was really fun, and a great workout!




We took the kids up to snowbasin to watch their Papa Art compete in the Winter Xterra series. He did a great job- it looked insanely difficult.


The kids got a little bored watching the ski races, so we took them to do a little sledding. Their favorite!


This is Smurfy's first time on skis. As you can see by his attire, we didn't intend to take him skiing, but he was watching the other kids & wanted to try it so bad! It was pretty funny. All we had to put him in was a big sweatshirt & some borrowed snowpants, but he had a blast!

TRIP TO GRAND TARGHEE!!!!




These are some pictures from our trip to Targhee with our friends in the neighborhood. They do a spring skiing special that is such an amazing deal & the kids had a blast! We will definitely make it into a yearly tradition! It was such a fun little getaway.





So there you have it. The last of our winter fun! I'm a little sad to see it go.....actually, that's a lie. I am sooooo ready for SUMMER!!!!! Just a little more enduring the painfully long & unpredictable mountain Spring & it will be here! I wish you all a good spring & a hot, hot summer full of fun!

Easter!

TaGgeD!

Ok- so I'm responding to Amberlee's Tag......against my better judgement. The Tag was to write 10 honest things about your true self- or something like that. The problem is, I've been thinking about it for 3 days and I've only come up with 5 clever things. So, I had this great idea. I would make Seth come up with the other five, since he hasn't contributed a post for a long time. Pretty soon here, you're going to see the basic difference between men and women, and why men, for the most part, do not blog.

So, without further adieu, here's my five things:

1. I hate getting out of bed every morning to get the kiddo’s off to school. Each morning as I lay there, I contemplate briefly what would happen if I just didn’t- just this once. I mean, really, how bad is it to be late for Kindergarten & 1st grade, right? Only problem is, I think about it nearly EVERY day. “Just 10 more minutes….. they’ll still make the bus” “I don’t really have to do Kenna’s hair today- her yesterday ‘do will totally pass” “Maybe if I just send them out the door with toast & a baggie of cereal, they can eat on the bus.” Yes, people, I torture myself with these kinds of rationalizations EVERY day!
2. I watch entirely too much t.v. Here is a list of the t.v. shows that I must see on at least a weekly basis (some are bi-weekly or even daily. Gulp….) Grey’s Anatomy, Private Practice, Scrubs, The Office, Dancing with the Stars, American Idol, The Biggest Loser, LOST, Oprah (that one’s every day!), Heroes, The Bachelor (when it’s the season- luckily we’re on break), and Desperate Housewives. When I have extra time, I also don’t mind catching an episode or two of Thirty Rock, Kath & Kim, Law & Order, Extreme Makeover Home Edition, Friday Night Lights, Saturday Night Live, is this list looking pathetic yet? I must say, this could not be done without the magic of Tivo. I put the kids to bed , then Seth and I enjoy about four hours worth of television in a little over an hour and a half. I get my daily Oprah fix while folding laundry, running on the treadmill, or cooking dinner, so I’m not a complete couch potato! However, If I’m really being HONEST, I guess I’ll also have to count the daily episodes I can’t help but see of Dora, Diego, Wonder Pets, Max & Ruby, and a whole bunch of other cartoony-crap. The good news? I haven’t seen a commercial in 4 years. Yippee!
3. I want one more baby! I know, I have too many already- but something inside me just tells me there’s one more. Unfortunately, something inside my husband says “Run like hell!” if I even mention the topic. He is positively against the idea. Its sad :( I feel bad that Makenna will never have a little sister. But, then again, even if I did get pregnant, what are the chances I’d even get a girl? I’ll tell you what they are. THREE to ONE. Those are tough odds. So, for now, I’ll just dream about a baby & hope someday Seth will come around. Unfortunately, he only has about 5 months to get on board, because THIRTY is my deadline. Bummer.
4. I’m addicted to sales. Better than many people’s addictions, but still a problem, eh? It’s not so much sales, even, but CLEARANCE! Oh, how I live for a good clearance. Every so often at Old Navy, they’ll do their 50% off clearance sale and I swear, you’d think it was my birthday I get so excited. First the clothes are marked down to a really great clearance price, then, you get to take 50% off THAT! I walk out of there with clothes for the kids for a BUCK – no exaggeration. The problem is, I go so hog wild that I end up with $300 worth of $2-3 clothes, half of which I DON’T NEED and/or don’t end up using. I just think “Well, for 2 dollars, I must need 3 of them!” It’s the disease of my long-lost aunt Sylvia (who isn’t really my aunt at all, but this crazy cat-lady my mom made us visit when we were little). Bless you, Sylvia.
5. I’m too involved. That is to say- I participate in too many activities. I know I should cut back, but I love the interaction with other members of my community, my church, my circle of friends, etc. I attend bunco, book clubs, cooking classes, play dates for the kids, “picnic in the park”, aerobics classes at the gym, enrichment activities, gardening seminars, freezer-meal exchange groups, scrapbook and/or stamp clubs, and girls nights. I volunteer at the school in 2 of my kids classes, at the gym (to get a free membership), to babysit for family and friends, and in my church where I help with enrichment & now am the nursery leader (groan……) I regularly ski, run (am currently training for the Wasatch Back), hike, mountain bike, and waterski. This summer I played in a soccer league of old ladies that was so much fun!!!! In my spare time, I have two part-time jobs, one as a real estate agent, one (my new passion!) as a shoe-party consultant. Oh, and did I mention I’m also trying to raise 4 kids, put a hot meal on the table each night & somehow not allow laundry to entirely consume me?????? Yes, I think its time to cut back.
Ok, here goes:

Now, Here are Seth's Five:
1. I love to ski.
2. I love to talk about skiing.
3. I love to read about skiing.
4. I am a little bit obsessed with the end of the world.
5. I hate housework/projects.

You See? Man vs. Woman. So different. Oh Well. Hope you enjoy reading them both. Now I'm supposed to tag: Tami, Rachel, Hillary, Lisa, Jami, Heather, Chris, Megan- really, anyone who bothers to read my dumb blog. Lots of love to ya'll.

Goose on the Loose

So, its spring break & the weather outside is positively frightful! I looked out this morning to see the ugliest, gray, snowy day possible for mid-April, and realized this is one of the only things I don't love about Mountain Green. Spring takes ages to arrive. Anywho- back to looking out the window at the ugly grayness.... so I look up the hill in our backyard where there are all these huge old dead cottonwoods & I see a freakin goose. Yes, a goose. A huge gandery-looking thing perched at least 40 feet in the air on a dead tree stump. After doing a little more investigating, I notice that his mate is comfortable riding out the storm in the hawk's nest up above. Yes, this nest was previously home to a lovely hawk family. They have returned every year for 3 years, but apparantly this year, they have been kicked out by a big, fat goose. I swear, I have never seen one of those things so high up in the air. Its not normal. But, then again, nothing about spring in my neck of the woods is, I suppose.