Best Christmas Present

Luckily we have some really great friends who give us really great christmas presents.

Yesterday we went to Laina and Thane's house and we did a little gift exchange and lunch while cute little Hobbes took a nap. And we got a Mason Bee House from them... I opened the box and was thinking "how cool it is some sort of sculpture," but it actually has a use, as well as being cool looking. Apparently Mason Bee's like these small little holes to create their home in so all I have to do is hang this up by my garden and hopefully those little pollinating guys will come and help our garden. This got me so excited about planting our garden next spring, I'm going back to my seed catalog to check out some fun things to plant. Thanks Laina and Thane, you guys are awesome friends! We love you, and little Hobbes too, even if he cries when we hold him.

p.s. anyone else want to give me the best gift ever... how about a garden like this...

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.

Cataract Canyon

Most of our group

Phenomenal scenery

Rafting on the first ten rapids. With our awesome guide Jesse, Ralph's brother.

Ralph was REALLY excited for this trip.

Dollhouse hike with crazy awesome rock formations

View from the top looks pretty good eh?

More dollhouse awesomeness

Our guides were pretty awesome and very entertaining. This is the best whipped cream game ever.

Overall an awesome trip, oh and I'm sorry Jesse I had to mention it, we did flip on the buttonhole a fairly avoidable pourover on the river but we did get to practice our awesome self rescue skills.  Thanks Jesse, we had an awesome time!  

Foothill Stake Trek

We had a great time being ma and pa to our cute trek 

family here are some fun pictures

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Wierd Picture

What a wierd picture, it looks like ralph and I are looking at each other but we did not plan this.  Huh, weird.

Mission Beach

Max and his new favorite playmate.

sisters!

Out to dinner at the awesome restaurant C-level check out that view!

lookin' good on the rollercoaster

Double your pleasure Double your Fun!

May Day Birthday!

I was just about to start writing a little shout out to my honey bear for his birthday when he asked from the other room, "what are you doing?"  and I said, "nothing."  and he said," are you sure you aren't blogging about me?"  He would have no reason to suspect me for doing this, I didn't say I was going to write about him, I didn't mention anything about it, and he had been in the other room for twenty minutes already.  THIS, is one of the many crazy examples of how well Ralph knows me.  I think something, and he seems to already know about it.  Perhaps this has to do with my very, very awful poker face, or perhaps it is more a credit to Ralph and his intuitive nature, and his caring awareness of me.   What else could a person want or need from a spouse than to know and be shown that they are the most important thing.  This is what Ralph does for me.  And I just had to publicly declare that my husband is the Best Husband, so too bad for the rest of you ladies, you can't have him, and to the guys, you should try to be more like him. 

p.s. this is an older picture I just love it because it was kind of the beginning for us.

Sun Valley

Our friends Emmy and Dave treated us to a fun weekend trip up to Sun Valley last weekend.  It was nice and sunny and here we are at the top of the original ski lift.  Not as much fun to hike up as it is to ride up I'm sure.

Ralph being...Ralph

Biking down to town.  It was such nice weather the backs of my hands got sunburned from our biking trips.

Guess who is really pregnant?  Yeah I know I am really convincing but don't you dare ask me when I am due.

Eggcellent

I would not say Easter is my favorite holiday but I do have to say that I love dyeing Easter eggs.  One day my eggs will look like this but for now I'll just dip and dye.  There is something magical about putting a pristine white egg into the cup and pulling out a vibrant egg.

Spring Training

Ralph and I have started our newest attempt to get fit.  Well really I've joined him he has been going for a few months now.  He has been lifting weights and now we have started running every day.   We are building up in mileage now, last week we ran twelve miles and this upcoming week we are shooting for eighteen.  So if you see us ask about how our workouts are going and PLEASE keep your easter candy to yourself, unless it is cadbury mini eggs, then give me all you've got!

I TOLD you she looks like Kelly!!!!

Sistah Sistah!

I love you sisters!  Heidi my little sister just sent me this awesome photo of us when we were little.  Check out how well it captures our personalities.  And if you have seen Horton Hears a Who then you know how well Kelly my youngest sister looks just like Katie that weird little fluffy kid that was in Horton's class.  Ha Ha how perfect, thanks Heid and thanks for the shot up your skirt!  woo hoo!

Hey you Valentine's Day Pathetics!

So, it was brought to my attention that people have crappy taste in movies.  Jenny and I didn't want to think for ourselves tonight and thought, "Hey, lets see what movies other people recommend for Valentine favorites." This is what was recommended, Cinderella, Sleepless in Seattle, Kate and Leopold and other such ridiculous movies.  Gag me.  So this is a list comprised of movies that Jenny and I think make the cut for worthy Valentine's Day movies in no particular order, except alphabetical.

- Amelie

- Chocolat

- Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

- Garden State

- Love Actually

- A Man and a Woman

- P.S. I love you

- Pride and Prejudice

- The Princess Bride

- Stranger than Fiction

Boo Yah!

Some Recent Artwork

Ralph and I are sick at home the last few days... one of the downsides of being a new teacher is that you get to catch everything goes around the school.  Luckily for Ralph his immunity will be built up too.  So I decided to post some of my recent artwork, most of these have been given as gifts to all my wonderful Dad's but I was hoping by posting this I will be inspired to actually paint more, if only I had lots of time and inspiration.  Most of these are inspired by special places, Lake Powell, Capitol Reef, and Toquerville.  The barn painting is of the Toquerville barn built by Scott's grandfather.