Cool Eats and Cold Water

We took the kids on a little road trip to check out some places we found on a motorcyle ride. We thought that they would think that the Road Island Diner was a pretty cool place to have breakfast. It is an old-fashioned silver diner that was moved across the country on a truck from Rhode Island to Oakley, UT in 2007. It is like stepping back in time. Their biscuits and gravy are not bad either...considering they are made by westerners. ;-)


Our next stop was Provo River Falls on our way up Mirror Lake Highway.


The kids enjoyed exploring all around the falls.




Even though the water was really cold, they eventually put on their swimsuits and got in. There are my bathing beauties sitting under the overhang next to the falls.




Marcus took Sandy's bet and went through the falls to stand behind the water. He got $10 for his brush with hypothermia! Can you see him through the falling water?



Me and my pups sitting above the falls.

New Toy

Well, I finally succumbed to peer pressure about riding a scooter and bought a motorcycle last Saturday. I got a Yamaha FJR1300. It is a sport touring bike. That means it has a performance engine and good clearance for turning, but also has an upright seating position and other comforts for longer trips. On Sunday, I took a ride with Jason to Little Sahara recreation area near Jericho, UT. It was about 150 miles round trip on some nice country roads. I had a blast and look forward to many road trips this summer.

Me and the bike on the west shore of Utah Lake. Provo/Orem is on the other side of the lake at the base of the mountains.

Idiots du-jour racing up sand mountain at the same time others are descending. I can see why the sign at the park entrance said "Days since serious incident: 0"

Redneck Sandy in his PBR shirt, surrounded by his trailor trash brethren.

St. George Friendly Games

Mallory's team participated in friendly games in St. George, Utah, the first weekend in March. The pictures from the games were taken by Mal's coach's husband, Jon.
The weather was gorgeous! It was nice to escape winter for a while. Although, the ride to and from St. George was a little challenging. You drive through some high elevations while traveling south through Utah. So, most of the team had to do some white-knuckle driving through the snow. We had some team families spend the night just 30 minutes north of St. George and they awoke to 6 inches of snow, while we awoke to sun and palm trees! Utah is an amazingly diverse state!

This shot is a little far away, but that is Mallory in the red jersey scoring a left-foot goal...go Mal, go!

This shot was taken a split second before Mallory went flying over the goalie's leg. It was a big dive and tumble. She was on the ground for a few seconds, recovering. If you click on the picture you can see how tense Mallory was. She said that she knew she was going down. Her left leg is bizarre looking!

In between the games on Saturday, we went to the Pasta Factory for a little carb-loading. :-) Here are our silly girls having fun. Mallory is at the top, right.

The Pasta Factory was in a quaint, historic area of St. George, called Ancestor Square. There were little shops, restaurants, and an art gallery. After lunch we wandered around and did some window shopping. There was a little pond with goldfish in the center of the square. The girls stopped there for a picture. From left to right are Kara, Ashley, Mallory, and Carly.

February Fun

Morgan celebrated her tenth birthday in February. We took Morgan and three of her friends to a local beauty college. They had their hair styled, nails painted, and make-up applied. We then returned to the house to have pizza and ice cream cake. Morgan and the girls had a blast! The top picture is Morgan and Sarah, showing off their nails. The second pic is Sarah, Morgan, Tori, and Mariana...all smiles!




Of course, there has been much skiing and boarding activity over the past month. The kids are loving it! I can't believe how adept they are. I went up to Brighton with them a couple of weeks ago and Morgan kept saying, "Mom, could you go a little faster?" I was clearly cramping her style. By the way, there is nothing cuter than her little goggled face surrounded by her fur hood. Marcus and Mallory are just a blur as they shoot past me down the mountain. I occasionally see them over-head on the lift...and hear them yell "Mom! Pizza-slice, pizza-slice!" A not so nice reference to my lack of skills.

New Year / Marcus' Birthday

Happy New Year 2009! We are at Tara and Jason's for a fun PJ party. Another year in the books. I got laid-off from Move Networks in early November so I spent my holidays trying to find a new job in our lovely economy. The good news is I have landed a job at a company called Omniture and I start on Monday (Jan 12).

Marcus wanted an ice cream cake for his birthday. As you might have guessed by the candles, he turned 14 on January 1st.

Marcus has a small sleep-over party with a couple of his good friends.

Morgan doesn't miss a chance to get in on some ice cream cake.

Christmas 2008

Here is a quick slide show of 51 pictures of our Christmas.

Christmas Cookies

My friend Tara has made sugar cookie dough for the kids to bake and decorate every Christmas since we moved to Utah. She uses her grandma's recipe and they are delicious!

Mallory's friend and soccer/basketball teammate, Carly and her mom, my friend, Shayla also took part in the fun this year. We made fudge and chocolate covered pretzels too.

Marcus participated only long enough to put about a pound of frosting on one cookie and then beat a path out of the kitchen...too much estrogen in there for him! :-)