Capitol Reef Thanksgiving

We had a great time down in Capitol Reef with Ralph's family... picking out our mini christmas tree, watching Alta be hyper and crazy, eating yummy food and lots and lots of pies, going on walks, playing with lizzie, charlie, and elliot, and more than anything getting away from salt lake city and enjoying time with family.

p.s. sorry Alta I had to post that picture it is just too amazing!

Friend Thanksgiving!

Thanks to Dave and Emmy for opening your home it was such a fun dinner, and we had lots of fun playing with Donny and Hobbes such cute baby boys. We can't wait for more thanksgiving coming up on thursday! We are thankful for such great friends! And i'm not so thankful that Ralph cannot just look normal in any pictures!

oh there you are laina! with a giant chunk missing from your arm.

Good Good News!

Ralph and I have had a very anxious week waiting to hear if he was accepted into a Math Education Masters program at the U. And......... he was accepted! Yay! If you know ralph you may know school is not his favorite so it is really great that he has finally had someone acknowledge his hard work and want him for such a great opportunity. It is a grant to help get better math and science teachers into high schools, so they will pay for tuition and a stipend as he is in school and they help him find a teaching job. Woo hoo! We are very excited!

Fall Harvest

Back To School and Beouf Bourguignon

It cannot already be september... but it is. Life for us just got a lot busier, Ralph's in school, I'm back to teaching art at Bonneville Elementary, and coaching volleyball at East High School, and taking classes to get my teaching license. We have had a nice little break this labor day weekend ,however, and after seeing "Julie and Julia" three weeks ago Ralph has had his mind on this Beouf Bourguignon recipe. We, like everyone else who saw that movie, immediately went to Barnes and Noble to buy Julia Childs french cooking cookbook. It was sold out. Ralph waited patiently for it to arrive from amazon. And finally... We have enjoyed the smell of it cooking away all afternoon and I cannot wait to have a taste.

Calf Creek/ Capitol Reef 2009

We started out the weekend thinking that we were going to go on a three day backpacking trip down Coyote Gulch with my Dad, Ralph's Dad, Heidi, Kelly, and Caleb.  We searched for the crack in the rock to get down to the river all night the first night and could not find it.  We were running out of water and it was dark so we camped where we were.  Ralph got up early and luckily found the car.  We had to get water so we headed back along the long bumpy road to Escalante.  Then we decided to bag the Coyote Gulch hike and we hiked Calf Creek to the lower falls which was so fun and refreshing.  Then we spent a night just outside of Capitol Reef and hiked up to see Cassidy Arch.  It turned out to be a great adventure but we all slept terrible that first night.  It was a great learning experience for us.  Here are a few tips if you are planning on doing the Coyote Gulch trip or camping in the desert... 

Have a big jug of water in the car...

Take a compass and use landmarks as your guide...

Take bugspray or netting, we are still scratching all of our bites. 

Mt. Olympus

Ralph hiked Mt. Olympus this summer with my dad and my sisters Heidi and Kelly.  Here are some cool pics from the top.  I, thankfully, had a conflict and could not go. 

If Kelly was this pooped I probably would have been in tears.

Nice pose.