photosparke

Capitol Reef Again

2010-06-10T14:44:00.010-07:00

It can't be a good sign when the maintainer of this blog forgets about it. Yes, it's true, I forgot I ran this little space. But hopefully we can get back on track for now. Based upon our last post, we like Capitol Reef. If it weren't completely obvious, now it should be because we just returned from our second trip there this year. Our first night there, we quickly set up camp then met our neighbors (from home) at their house in Torrey for a rousing game of Uno Attack. The next day, I had a little work to do in Dixie National Forest, so while I did that, Travis hiked Navajo Knobs. I'd share some of his photos with you but he hasn't imported them from his phone yet. We met up in the park later that day, then were joined by our friends Wendy and Troy that night. We had a great time hiking, laughing, eating, making fun of our camp neighbors, and playing Frisbee in the park. Here are some photos from the weekend.

Barker Reservoir, Dixie National Forest

Dust from the road to Barker Recreation Area (you should have seen it on the way out!)

Posey Lake, Dixie National Forest

Nakedstem - great name for a flower

Fruita

Globemallow, Capitol Gorge

Imperial Walker!

Pectol's Pyramid

Hickman Bridge

Hickman Bridge

Hickman Bridge trail

Butterfly on Firecracker Penstemon in Grand Wash

Capitol Reef

2010-01-09T07:55:00.005-07:00

We got to spend New Years Eve and Day in Capitol Reef this year. After an out-of-our-element stop at the mall in Orem for Chick-fil-A, we headed south. We had a nice New Years Eve dinner at the Sunglow Cafe in Bicknell and were the only non-locals there with the only foreign car in the dirt parking lot. On New Years Day, we had to drive 20 miles west to Loa to get Trav his coffee and to find something for breakfast. We ate bagels with peanut butter in the grocery store parking lot, and then drove back to Capitol Reef. We checked out all the petroglyphs, then hiked to Hickman Bridge. On our way back, we hiked about a half mile of the Canyon Rim trail and then turned back because I wasn't feeling all that great. I caught a cold right before we left home. We then drove through the park and down Notom Road near Caineville until it turned into the dirt Burr Trail. Torrey, Utah, the town just outside Capitol Reef, closes down for the winter and even the gas stations were closed on New Years Day. We ended up making soup in our room for dinner. Thank goodness for microwaves. The next morning, I wasn't feeling any better, so we had breakfast at the coffee shop that was finally open, then headed home. It was a short trip but oh so fun, and the weather was perfect. Here are most of our digital pics. I shot these with my iPhone, which has a pretty decent little camera...

San Francisco!

2010-01-04T12:28:00.003-07:00

We finally took a real vacation in 2009, and right at the last possible second. We flew to Vegas Dec. 12 to see Dave Matthews and Tim Reynolds at Planet Hollywood, then flew to San Francisco on the 13th for five days of fun. Here are some of our photos...

Park(e) City Redux

2009-08-09T17:22:00.014-07:00

Waiting in line to get on the Alpine Slide

Cons!

Ready to tear it up!

Perhaps the greatest thing about buying a waterproof and shockproof camera is that we can hand it off to the kids... Emma shot this one of Mia and the next two...

Notice the sign over Max's noggin.

Underwater Emma

Jackson shot this one of himself.

Videos! Our favorite is probably the last one, but they're all worth a few seconds of your time.

Thanks for a great weekend in Park City, Parkes! Happy Birthday Emma!

Flaming Gorge and the Green

2009-08-09T16:43:00.010-07:00

Over the Fourth of July, we had to (got to) go to Flaming Gorge National Recreation Area so I could do some Forest Service work. We camped at Red Canyon and Mustang Ridge, kayaked from Sunny Cove, toured the reservoir in style in a State Park Ranger boat with John the State Park Ranger and Ali the Forest Service Ranger, and the highlight of the trip was a trip down the beautiful Green River in a Forest Service dory with Shaun the BLM river guide and his girl Becky. It was a great but short trip to a place we never would have thought to go.

Buckboard Crossing

Greens Lake

Red Canyon sunrise

Antelope Flat (left)/Mustang Ridge (right)

Little Hole, the put-in for the Green River trip

The bow of the dory and the Green

First boat-in campsite on the Green. Look at that crystal-clear water!

Near Trail's End campsite, above Red Creek Rapid

Heading into Red Creek Rapid

Bad video of our first rapid. Although it was only a Class II (or maybe even a 1+), it was exhilarating!

Our dory at the take-out, near John Jarvie Ranch.

Southern Utah

2009-06-09T20:41:00.006-07:00

Trav and I spent Memorial weekend in Southern Utah, and I finally had time to put together a little slide show of our digital camera pics. All of my Polaroids are in my Flickr photostream, with lots more toy camera photos to come. We spent our first night in Panguitch, at the aptly named Panguitch KOA. We rolled into town at 10 pm, and by 6:30 the next morning, we were on the road into Bryce, so unfortunately, we can't tell you if Panguitch was a nice town or not. Trav said the coffee from the Sinclair blew. We stopped at Ruby's to grab some breakfast foods and drove on into Bryce and stopped to eat at the first viewpoint which I can't remember the name of. Trav stayed in Bryce and hiked 15+ straight-down/straight-up miles while I went off to work for the Forest Service. I saw some really beautiful places that I never would have known about otherwise.

We met up in Bryce later that evening and drove out for dinner at Bryce Pines, a place our friend Kelly recommended. It was delicious. After pork chops and a steak and apple pie, we drove to Cannonville and spent the night at the Cannonville KOA, perhaps the world's finest campground ever. We want to live there and be camp hosts! There's a photo of one of the host's RVs in the slideshow. We spent Saturday at Kodachrome Basin State Park, and another night at the KOA. Sunday we drove up US 12 to Torrey and Capitol Reef, two little places we fell in love with and can't wait to visit again. We didn't do much hiking due to the rain and the trails we wanted to hike were closed because of flash flood danger. Sunday afternoon we were able to hike the Hickman Bridge Trail, and Monday morning we hiked Grand Wash. There are lots of photos from Grand Wash in the slideshow. It was gorgeous!

We had a really fun trip and look forward to going back again.

I used Photobucket for the slideshow and it's giving me extreme grief, so please enjoy the slideshow as its own separate post. Argh!

2009-06-09T20:41:00.001-07:00

Chips and Salsa

2009-04-16T18:49:00.006-07:00

Trav loves it when I take photos of him. He also loves it when I post said photos on our blog. (Note the sarcasm.) I've recently started shooting a lot of film again - instead of just Polaroid - and I've fallen in love with my vintage Diana toy camera again. It's been about two years since I used it last, and this image is from one of the last rolls I ran through it back then. We kayaked Pineview that day. It was late June of the first year with our kayaks. We put in on what I guess you could call the neck of the Point. It was a little sheltered beach just past the Sheriff's cabin on the north side, which as of last year, they'd closed by way of new No Parking signs standing sentinel over the dirt parking strip. Anyway, we put in and paddled to a nice little beach further west on the point, and played in the sunshine and ate lunch. I remember chips and salsa. That was our summer of kayaking with chips and salsa. We'd put our picnic lunch in a soft-sided cooler and tuck it in the stern of one of the boats, and off we'd go. Turkey sandwiches and chips and salsa.

We paddled more that summer than we have in summers since, and just thinking about it all makes me a little nostalgic and very anxious for the coming warm weather. And thinking about it also made me remember the video I made with my cell phone on what was probably our third or fourth outing that first year. It was 2006, April 22. Pixelated and tiny, it's a nine-second clip of Trav happily drumming on the top of his kayak while floating amid the soon-to-set sun. The water was glassy and deep blue, and seagulls chattered overhead. What fun we had. I am looking forward to getting out on the water again.

For the Love of Polaroid

2009-02-18T16:48:00.002-07:00

As mentioned on my other blog, my work for this show is probably the biggest thing I've ever done in my photographic "career". It involved learning to see my work in a new way, a lot of time and effort and stress, and you know what? Every bit of it has already been so worth it. Just seeing the finished product gave me joy beyond belief. It's going to be the coolest show ever. (If you click the image, it'll get bigger so you can read it. It's worth it.)

Jug Mountain

2009-02-01T21:09:00.002-07:00

Trav and I spent the first week of 2008 in McCall, Idaho and while we were there, we snowshoed at Jug Mountain Ranch. I shot this way back then with my vintage Lubitel camera and only just finished the roll last week. It sat in my camera for a year before I had time to shoot with it again. Trav bought me this camera for my birthday three years ago and I've only ever shot black and white snowy landscapes with it. I'd like to shoot at least one more roll before the snow disappears for another year.

Precious.

2009-01-23T16:50:00.000-07:00

We heart Barack.

Zip Line!

2009-01-04T14:35:00.004-07:00

Yesterday we went to the Utah Olympic Park and rode the zip line a couple of times. We rode it twice two summers ago but when we saw an article in Sunset last month about riding in the winter, we knew we had to try it. When we pulled in the parking lot, the thermometer in the Subi said 16 degrees F, and that was in the sun. The lift and the zip line were both in full shade. Needless to say, it was cold. It's been about 24 hours and I'm not sure if I'm completely thawed yet. The lift ride was chilly enough, but the zip line goes about 50mph, so figure in the wind chill and that's possibly why I couldn't feel my thumbs, which is why our video below got cut off halfway down the line. It's not easy working a tiny camera with tiny buttons with chunky fleece mittens. Below the video is us on the lift the first time up, before the cold really hit us. If you click on the photo, it'll take you to our Flickr photostream and you can see the other pics we took at the Olympic Park.

Donut Falls

2009-01-04T14:33:00.003-07:00

Back in December, Trav took a week off work to go play in the snow. He went to Mueller Park, Dog Lake (see photos below) and Donut Falls, and then he cross-country skied at North Fork Park. He's quite the ace with our digital camera. He made some beautiful photos. Here are some from Donut Falls, and if you click on the photos, they'll take you to our Flickr photostream and you can see all the photos he took.

Dog Lake

2009-01-04T14:26:00.002-07:00

Here are a few photos from Trav's December trek to Dog Lake in Big Cottonwood Canyon. If you click on the photos, they'll take you to our Flickr photostream and you can see all the photos he took along the way.

12 Days of Christmas Videos - Day 12

2008-12-24T08:06:00.002-07:00

Click here for Day 12, 2007.

Because what's Christmas without Dolly (and Kenny)? Thanks for indulging us another year. Merry Christmas!

12 Days of Christmas Videos - Day 11

2008-12-23T09:33:00.001-07:00

Click here for Day 11, 2007.

12 Days of Christmas Videos - Day 10

2008-12-22T16:54:00.001-07:00

Click here for Day 10, 2007.

12 Days of Christmas Videos - Day 9

2008-12-21T08:36:00.003-07:00

Click here for Day 9, 2007.

12 Days of Christmas Videos - Day 8

2008-12-20T18:19:00.000-07:00

Click here for Day 8, 2007.

12 Days of Christmas Videos - Day 7

2008-12-19T09:03:00.001-07:00

Click here for Day 7, 2007.

12 Days of Christmas Videos - Day 6

2008-12-18T08:42:00.002-07:00

Click here for Day 6, 2007.

12 Days of Christmas Videos - Day 5

2008-12-17T08:01:00.007-07:00

Click here for Day 5, 2007.

12 Days of Christmas Videos - Day 4

2008-12-16T08:43:00.001-07:00

Click here for Day 4, 2007.

12 Days of Christmas Videos - Day 3

2008-12-15T11:11:00.001-07:00

Click here for Day 3, 2007.

12 Days of Christmas Videos - Day 2

2008-12-14T08:13:00.004-07:00

Click here for Day 2, 2007.

12 Days of Christmas Videos - Day 1

2008-12-13T13:54:00.007-07:00

We hope you enjoy our second annual "12 Days of Christmas Videos" spectacular!

Forgot about last year's videos? Refresh your memory! Day 1, 2007

Christmas Parade

2008-12-13T06:08:00.004-07:00

I'm a bit slow posting these, but here they are nonetheless. We enjoyed the Ogden Christmas Parade two Saturdays ago. I think I liked the part where Max "helped" Simon the most, and that wasn't even part of the parade.

Meet Garrett!

2008-11-28T08:31:00.003-07:00

My new nephew Garrett was born Sunday, November 23 at 2:59 pm. He weighed 8 lbs, 3 oz and is 20.5 inches long. His hair is blonde and he smells delicious. I can't wait to see him again. And no, I don't wish I had one of my own, thank you very much.

Trav 1, Mt. Nebo 0

2008-11-03T15:15:00.003-07:00

He did it! Trav finally conquered all 11,877 feet of Mt. Nebo! It was a 16-mile roundtrip straight-up/straight-down hike (that he won't admit he's a just little sore from) in which he encountered tracks from a big black bear, a little snow, lots of altitude, and only two or three people all day. Congrats, Trav. I'm sure proud of you, dude. Enjoy Trav's slideshow of Mt. Nebo pics...

The Disneyland 13

2008-10-22T21:06:00.007-07:00

Thank you, thank you, thank you Steve and Linda for the coolest Disneyland trip ever, and thanks Kevin, JoDell, Kristen, James, Jackson, Kacie, Max, Emma, and Simon for making it so great. 40" can't come soon enough!

'Betes and the Zoo

2008-09-28T16:16:00.005-07:00

We went to the Diabetes Walk yesterday and the zoo. Trav wishes to thank everyone who came on the walk. It was a really fun day!

The elephant exhibit, and my inability to straighten my Polaroid camera when I shoot.

Birthday Mountain

2008-09-28T14:09:00.004-07:00

Trav hiked his birthday mountain Friday, and unlike Nebo and Timp, he actually made it to the top of Ben Lomond. This was his 9th time on the trail, and 7th time on the summit! Happy Birthday, dude!

The Fair!

2008-09-28T13:47:00.006-07:00

We went to the fair weeks ago and I completely forgot to post these photos. It was a good year at the fair, with deep fried potatos, Cass' deep friend PB&J on a stick, ice cream, roasted almonds and cashews, the yellow slippery slide, the smelly animals, the Jesus tree, and of course, Dwayne and Vicki.

(This is Trav and Cass on the slide. Again, I still don't know how to work my camera. Obv.)

(Me and Trav on the slide, video by Cass, who knows how to work my camera.)

Trav + Timp

2008-09-03T18:52:00.006-07:00

Trav attempted Timpanogos Sunday and like Mt. Nebo, was turned away before the summit. This would have been his third time on the peak, but the first big storm all summer forced him down. He made it to the shelter and Emerald Lake though, a good 10 miles from the trailhead, before the cold and clouds moved in. Trav took some nice pictures and a funny video... Lots more here.

Lots more here.

"The most fun ever!"

2008-09-01T11:18:00.011-07:00

Who knew that the South Davis Rec Center was so cool?! We had "the most fun ever!!!" Saturday with Katie, Cass and Keegan, and Wendy, in the pools, waterslide, high dives, and snack bar area. We took a picnic and yummy cupcakes and really enjoyed what seemed like the last day of summer (it's 60 and raining right now). Thank you all for coming. When are we going again???

Judging from these photos, you'd think I've never used a camera before... Sorry for the crummy pics and video. Apparently you can't rotate videos so they can be viewed right side up. Oops.

Trav's splash
Katie's splash

Cass and the Keegs

Bees!!!

2008-09-01T11:16:00.004-07:00

We went to a Bees game last weekend! I'm not sure that any of us actually watched the game, but it sure was fun.

Head Spin

2008-08-18T05:59:00.006-07:00

I imagine taking three kayaks out for an afternoon of adventure is something like trying to get little kids out of the house for the day. All the preparations are enough to make your head spin, but of course, it's completely worth it. First there was the trip to the grocery store for sandwich stuff. Trav volunteered to go while I got ready, and he made me write him a list with specific instructions on turkey and how I like it sliced, and what kind of rolls and Sun Chips to buy.
When he got back, he put the orange boats on his car. There are two straps and two tie-downs for each boat, and it takes him about 15 minutes to do them all. While Trav was shopping, I organized all the straps/tie-downs, the PDFs, the scupper stoppers, the bilge pump, the beach towels, the sunblock, the cameras, and myself, and while I was untangling some of the tie-downs, I realized we were missing the straps for the green boat, so off to Lowe's I ran. A half hour later, I was home with straps and more ice.
The green boat, an Ocean Kayak Malibu Two XL, is a big sumbitch. It's 13' 4" long and weighs 61 pounds and in case you're wondering, no, it's not at all awkward to carry (note the sarcasm). It takes both of us to lob it onto my car, and lob we do. It rides upside down so we just have to pick it up and kind of flip it and drop it on the rack at the same time. After getting it up there, we had to tuck old towels between the boat and the crossbars (because I keep forgetting to buy Yakima crossbar pads from work) so we can cinch it down hard. Otherwise, it's plastic on plastic and the boat wiggles around too much. Trav strapped on that boat while I packed the cooler, and then I shimmied under the car to put on the tie-downs, and within ten minutes, the orange boats and I were following Trav and the green boat down Main Street on our way to Pineview where we met our nephew Brandon and his friend Josh for an afternoon on the water. The whole process, not including the drive there, took an hour and a half. Sheesh.
The cool thing about the Ocean Kayak is that it's basically an extremely oversized surfboard. You can stand up on it, swim/jump off of it, and climb back on with relative ease, and that's just what the boys did.

Park(e) City

2008-08-11T07:23:00.009-07:00

Happy Birthday Emma!!
Simon, noshing on some cake

My ride on the Alpine Roller Coaster (Kristen's favorite new thing)

(It's a really bad video - I was going very fast - but I have the technology now with the new camera, and I'm gonna use it!)

Thanks to Kristen and James for letting us move the party to Park City! Thanks to everyone for coming, and we missed those of you Ogan/Wilson/Simmons who couldn't make it.

Yonder!

2008-08-09T07:38:00.005-07:00

We found ourselves in Boulder, Colorado last weekend for two nights of Yonder Mountain String Band and now we're having band withdrawals. We hippie-danced front row at Boulder Theater Friday night, and continued our rhythmless, white folk-dancin' way up on the 40th row at Red Rocks Saturday night. Both shows were amazing and we couldn't have had a more fun trip. Here are some pics and a video (with sound!) of our adventures...

For more Boulder fun, check out our Flickr.

The Dancing Hippopotamus

2008-07-14T18:37:00.006-07:00

Katie, Cass, Trav and I spent a lovely Sunday together, first at the Blue Plate for breakfast, then disc golf at Solitude, and dinner at Porcupine. After using Solitude's rental discs all last year and once this year, we finally bit the bullet and bought our own. I went to Play It Again Sports Saturday and found Cass a very special birthday disc, a brand new pink TeeRex distance driver that she named The Dancing Hippopotamus. For me and Trav, I bought four used discs, all distance drivers, and they all kick ass. My favorite is my beat up white TeeBird that the previous owner drew someone flipping the bird on, and the Orc, that we named Old Blue. Trav used the yellow Valkyrie, dubbed Old Yeller, and the tie-dye disc.

Here they all are, including the rental discs that we returned yesterday...

The underwear/cheap Mardi Gras bead tree on the side of the lift at Solitude

Katie, Cass, and Trav all looking for their discs on hole #2

This is how Trav, Cass, and Katie throw their discs
This is how I throw mine Thanks for a really great day!

And let it be known that these will be the last photos we'll ever take with the POS digi cam that surprisingly lasted us a long time. After dropping it off the lift at Solitude last August, accidentally dropping it, purposely dropping it, and having the battery compartment mysteriously stop shutting in Zion (hence the tape), not to mention all the times it just plain didn't work, we've retired it. Please welcome our newest camera, the Olympus 850 SW. I spent a lot of time researching this new camera and felt that it would serve us well for two reasons: the "S" stands for Shockproof, and the "W" stands for Waterproof (remember our previous digital camera that took a swim and died?). I'm so excited about this little camera. It takes videos with sound, does underwater videos and photos, and has a bunch of other technical features I won't bore you with. So, here she is, the Oly 8-fiddy!

Mt. Nebo

2008-07-14T18:08:00.013-07:00

What started out as a supposed 9-mile roundtrip hike to Mt. Nebo quickly turned into a disillusioned ass-kicking fest. Trav researched the Mt. Nebo trail on LocalHikes and felt confident that the information he found was mostly accurate -- we've never been misled before -- and headed south for a therapeutic hike Saturday morning.

His problems began when he got to Payson and found that the freeway exit on his directions didn't exist. He improvised and went to grab some trail mix at the Maverik because, well, it's adventure's first stop, only to find that they were out. He went to Macey's podunk grocery store next and the only redeeming value of the whole store was that they were playing "Gypsies, Tramps, and Thieves" by good ol' Cher when she wasn't a plastic computerized creepette.

Trav then drove up the canyon and to the trailhead, only to find that there was trash laying everywhere. He said it was disgusting and rude, so he picked all of it up and tied it up in a trash bag and stowed it in the car. He grabbed his pack and headed to the trailhead sign, and that's when the major problem hit. The d-bag who wrote the Mt. Nebo info on LocalHikes was severely misinformed. The Mt. Nebo trail is nowhere near 9 miles roundtrip. It's 11. EACH WAY.
After waiting around for a group of annoying asses to leave the trailhead, Trav headed out on the now 11-mile trail.
Although his morning started out so oddly, he enjoyed some beautiful scenery and some much-needed solitude...

This is as close as Trav got to the peak......because the trail suddenly disappeared and an all-out bushwack began. Tired, hot, and left only with enough water to get back out, Trav turned around and disappointedly ambled back out to the car. He called me from the road and after saying "Hello?" I heard, "Nebo - 1, Travis - zip." He walked in the door an hour later and said, "Honey, I just got my ass handed to me by a mountain."

"I play disc golf!!"

2008-06-30T14:09:00.006-07:00

Cass, Trav and I thoroughly enjoyed our first disc golf outing of the summer yesterday. We saw a moose and a bunch of hippies, one of which gave us some very good throwing tips and now we are pros. Ha!
the moose

Trav "sledding"... he ran and tried to slide down on his feet but ended up on his ass, and with snow down his shorts!

Trav and Cass at tee #18

We came home and had an impromptu hot dog grill/fireworks show. Thanks to all who came!

Trav's smoke-bomb-bucket redux

Solstice BBQ

2008-06-24T20:35:00.007-07:00

Thanks to everyone who came to our first party in our new house, and thanks Wendy for the pinata and all the help!

Guster - Demons

2008-06-11T18:41:00.001-07:00

We've gone music-less on the blog because it's annoying. Steph tried telling me that music on blogs is annoying but I guess I had to learn for myself. Instead, watch and love this Guster video with Joe's kick-ass banjo, which isn't on the studio album.

Zion

2008-06-02T11:11:00.005-07:00

We spent a very relaxing and outdoorsy looong weekend in Zion. Many more pics here.

Home

2008-05-16T19:55:00.002-07:00

We're home!! We're unpacked, settled and thoroughly enjoying our beautiful new home. Thank you to all of you, throughout the real estate process, who offered encouragement, support, a listening ear, and endless help as we struggled to sell our house and find this gem. And thank you as well to our parents and a couple of wonderful friends who helped us move in, put together the furniture, laugh, and get settled. We love our new house!

notice our cool deck!

plenty of room for a Subaru, three kayaks and a bike, and the yard stuff (and it's not leaning!)

my sweet yellow kitchen

the breakfast nook

2008-05-16T19:51:00.003-07:00

the beautiful view out our front window

our bedroom (no more moose!)

the downstairs family room

the book nook in the family room

Trav's Green Room

Painting with Light

2008-05-04T08:48:00.003-07:00

The house selling (and buying) process has been a joke for us. Not including the time we spent/wasted trying to sell and buy a new place last year, there've been weeks of emotional extremes, and we happily closed on both of our houses on Friday night, before this photo was taken.
So why is Travis painting in the dark? Funny thing. The dude who's buying our house is getting an FHA loan, and per government standards, there can be no chipped, cracked or peeling paint on any part of the exterior of the home, and we were unaware of this (we have a conventional loan) and no one bothered to alert us of this until, oh that's right, six hours before closing. We had to paint our entire garage, and touch up every painted portion of our house. It was a monumental undertaking in the time we had.
First off though, very big thanks to Cass for coming to the rescue and helping us! We owe you dinner at Porcupine, and beer. While we were slapping paint down late in the afternoon, the appraiser came to approve the paint and in turn, the entire loan, and we weren't quite finished so she said she'd be back Saturday between 11 and 1. We busted our asses, hurried to our closings at Kevin's office, grabbed dinner, stopped at Lowe's to order a new fridge for the new house (!) and buy more paint brushes, and then stopped at Steve and Linda's for illumination solutions (halogen lamps) and painted until the wee hour of 11 pm, so that when the appraiser came back, we'd be good to go.
Saturday morning comes and we find ourselves back outside, touching up any possible problem area, but at this point, we were out of brushes so I was dabbing paint on tiny places with my finger (seriously) and we were just feeling really desperate. 1 o'clock comes and goes and no appraiser, so Trav calls the buyer's agent (she's the only person we could reach on a Saturday) and she says, "Oh! The appraiser stopped by yesterday while you were at your closing and she approved everything." Great! So it turns out we painted in the dark for no reason! We were so very happy to be approved, but so mad that we wasted our whole night and most of Saturday painting. Oh well. Now as long as no other tragedies occur between now and Wednesday morning, we'll be sleeping in our new house that night. Wish us luck, send good house vibes, and most of all, thank you all for your continued support and prayers and well-wishes. I say this cautiously, but... WE DID IT!!

Kayaking!

2008-04-15T09:33:00.005-07:00

We finally got our kayaks out on the water for the first time this season. A few Pelicans, Grebes, a Great Blue Heron, and a lot of massive jumping fish joined us on our very leisurely Sunday afternoon of paddling and floating on Willard Bay. I took these photos with my favorite new camera, a Polaroid SLR 680 (thanks ebay!).

Apple

2008-04-07T19:33:00.002-07:00

I'd forgotten about this Polaroid shot of Trav that I made when we were leaving Hovenweep National Monument back on New Year's Day of 2006. It was a beautiful day, a perfect way to start a new year.

Road Trip: Moab

2008-03-21T06:46:00.005-07:00

We hit the road last Friday night on a whim and road tripped to Moab for some much needed spring sunshine. We spent two days hiking in Arches National Park where we overheard "Well, I forgot you're a rocket surgeon!" at our picnic lunch, saw a child climb about 100 feet up a sandstone fin while his entire extended family ignored him, chastised a parent for encouraging her son to carve his name into redrock (not one but five times), got slightly sunburned faces, laughed our asses off at pretty much everything, sang along to loud Guster car concerts, enjoyed really good Mexican food and margaritas, and drove far away from home and snow and cold temperatures.

Trav standing beneath the North Window

Delicate Arch trail

A self-timer shot of us near Sandstone Arch

Many, many more on our Flickr page.

"They have music!"

2008-03-01T09:54:00.006-07:00

With the launch of Kevin and JoDell's family blog, and the fact that "they have music", Travis prodded me all week to put music on ours. So in case anyone is still even looking at our blog, you'll notice it's now accompanied by the likes of Yonder Mountain String Band, The Be Good Tanyas and Widespread Panic. Take a looksee at our playlist way down below and hear what we like to hear.

2008 Romp to Stomp

2008-02-25T17:18:00.000-07:00

We enjoyed a beautiful sunny and snowy Saturday morning snowshoe at Mountain Dell. It was Trav's and my fourth Romp to Stomp, Kevin's third and Jackson's first.

December w/the SLC Parkes

2008-01-19T08:03:00.000-07:00

Happy Winter!

2008-01-07T18:38:00.000-07:00

Twelve Days of Christmas Videos - Day 12

2007-12-23T16:57:00.000-07:00

Merry Christmas to our families and friends! Thanks for indulging us.

Twelve Days of Christmas Videos - Day 11

2007-12-22T18:15:00.001-07:00

Twelve Days of Christmas Videos - Day 10

2007-12-21T13:02:00.000-07:00

Twelve Days of Christmas Videos - Day 9

2007-12-20T11:07:00.001-07:00

Twelve Days of Christmas Videos - Day 8

2007-12-19T09:33:00.001-07:00

Twelve Days of Christmas Videos - Day 7

2007-12-18T14:47:00.002-07:00

Twelve Days of Christmas Videos - Day 6

2007-12-17T10:35:00.000-07:00

For those of you (me) who don't get why Oliver is a Christmas video, click here for a real Christmas video.

Twelve Days of Christmas Videos - Day 5

2007-12-16T10:33:00.000-07:00

Twelve Days of Christmas Videos - Day 4

2007-12-15T10:32:00.001-07:00

Edit: The original video with picture was removed from youtube due to copyright claims by NBC, so here's a version that's just audio.

Twelve Days of Christmas Videos - Day 3

2007-12-14T11:06:00.000-07:00

Twelve Days of Christmas Videos - Day 2

2007-12-13T11:48:00.002-07:00

Twelve Days of Christmas Videos - Day 1

2007-12-12T19:20:00.000-07:00

and for extra fun: Leg Lamp

Happy Birth-Day

2007-11-06T20:11:00.000-07:00

Say hello to Mia!

Halloween '07

2007-11-01T19:24:00.000-07:00

Utah State Fair

2007-09-16T10:12:00.000-07:00

We enjoyed a WT night at the state fair on Wednesday. We skipped the world's largest pig, the deep fried Coke and the Gary Allan concert, but didn't miss the horse pull, the roasted corn on the cob, the fresh-cut french fries, the cows and the bunnies and the butter sculpture.

The engagement picture we never had

Sleeveless Cowboy… the best part about this man was not the sleeveless western shirt, it was the faded tattoo of a bull elk with “Sharon” in calligraphy below it. I also like the state fair-face on the girl on the right.

I hope these two are still in love

4H Elvis… or is that Little Richard?

No kidding.

Opa!

2007-09-11T17:21:00.001-07:00

Here we are at the SLC Greek Festival last Sunday. We heart MySpace. (It’s Mary behind the “Opa!” sign.) Great food, fun and laughs were had by all.

GREEKS HEART THE MAGIC BULLET!!

Really bad shot, but that black round spot in the center of the photo is that woman’s hair. She was tiny but her hair was not.

the party, the tub, the kids... oh and crack kills

2007-08-20T18:56:00.000-07:00

Disc Golf!

2007-08-13T19:10:00.000-07:00

We enjoyed our Sunday afternoon yesterday at Solitude, playing (and further falling in love with) disc golf. Here are a few photos...

Beneath the lift

Cass and Steph at hole #13

Trav near #13

Simpsonized!

2007-08-06T08:55:00.000-07:00

Try it! It's fun! Simpsonize Me!

Chicago!

2007-07-14T13:59:00.000-07:00

Here are a few pics from our first trip to Chicago and a super short timeline of what we did:

July 3: Arrived at Chicago Midway at 11pm, took a cab downtown to HI-Chicago, voted Best Hostel in the World in 2006.
July 4: Navigated Chicago's public transportation to the dock to take an architectural boat tour. Took another bus and a free trolley to the Field Museum of Natural History. Walked the waterfront to Grant Park and the Taste of Chicago. Tried a Chicago dog, spinach-stuffed pizza and Eli's famous cheesecake. Hung out all day in the park, listening to Robert Randolph and the Family Band (he toured with DMB a couple years ago) and John Mayer, all for free!! Walked to Millenium Park for dinner, then back out to the waterfront for Fourth of July Fireworks.
July 5: Picked up the rental car and drove four hours north to Door County, Wisconsin. Ate lunch in Sturgeon Bay, walked the town, drove to Bailey's Harbor and had a lovely steak dinner on the harbor, walked that town, tried some Wisconsin ice cream (good stuff!), drove back to Sturgeon Bay.
July 6: Drove north to Egg Harbor for breakfast at the Cupola Cafe, drove north to Gill's Rock to board the passenger ferry to Washington Island, Wisconsin. Rented bikes on the island and pedaled around and out to School House Beach, then back to the ferry landing. Chatted with an odd, loud couple back on the mainland while they ate smoked fish and ice cream and we had Mackinac Island Fudge ice cream. Drove south to Fish Creek for dinner and then to Potawatomi State Park on Sturgeon Bay and camped.
July 7: Visited the Potawatomi State Park tower then drove into Sturgeon Bay for breakfast. Drove north to Sister Bay for groceries at the Piggly Wiggly, then three miles south to Ephraim. Rented kayaks and paddled Green Bay in Lake Michigan. Walked to the public beach and swam in Lake Michigan. We never imagined we'd be swimming in the Great Lakes! Hung out on the beach and walked back to the car at the public marina. Realized the car keys were missing, retraced steps, made many phone calls, got "stranded" in quite possibly the most beautiful little town in America. Checked into the Evergreen Beach Resort kitty corner from the marina, made more phone calls, went to dinner at 9:30pm at Wilson's and enjoyed a lovely walk after dinner back to Evergreen. Watched Sturgeon Bay's fireworks from Ephraim's public dock.
July 8: Called tow truck. Walked to breakfast at The Chef's Hat. Enjoyed a nice walk back in the rain. Tow truck arrived and we rode down to Green Bay to the nearest Budget facility, picked up new rental car, drove four hours south back through Chicago to see Guster and Dave Matthews Band at Toyota Park in Bridgeview, IL. Excellent concert, scary parking lot (inconsiderate drivers). Drove back to hostel in downtown Chicago.
July 9: Walked Millenium Park, Michigan Ave, Wabash Ave and tried to ride the El (elevated train) but they didn't take cash, only tickets, so we walked back to hostel. Picked up luggage, drove to Midway airport. Got delayed about 4 hours due to crazy weather disturbance, got home around 10:30pm. Best trip EVER!!!!!

Sear's Tower from the architectural boat tour

Mold-A-Rama at the Field Museum

Cloudgate and a very tiny portion of the Chicago Skyline, Millenium Park

Us and our rented beach bikes near School House Beach on Washington Island, Wisconsin

TONS MORE on Trav's Flickr page, like 100 pics. Tons.

Colorado

2007-06-25T11:54:00.000-07:00

Here are a few from our trip to Colorado a few weeks ago...

On top of Trail Ridge Road in Rocky Mountain National Park

Big Head Todd and the Monsters in concert at Red Rocks Amphitheater

Garden of the Gods

Lots more on Trav's Flickr page.

Oregon

2007-06-25T11:46:00.000-07:00

Here are a few shots from my trip to Oregon...

The lower portion of Multnomah Falls, about 30 minutes east of Portland

Crescent Beach from Ecola Point (slightly north of Cannon Beach, where we stayed)

Haystack Rock, the second tallest freestanding monolith in the world, Cannon Beach

Grey Street

2007-05-16T20:44:00.000-07:00

Steph and I have an obsession with YouTube lately and want to share this Dave Matthews Band video with you. It's called Grey Street.

Katie's New Blog

2007-05-15T16:00:00.000-07:00

Just passing the word along for Katie about her new blog. She plans to update it as often as she can. See it here.

Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Walk '07

2007-05-15T09:51:00.000-07:00

Before the walk

There were an estimated 16,000 participants

Emma telling us what to do while we waited for Trav after the walk

Simon

Trav's Visit to Minnesota

2007-05-15T09:47:00.000-07:00

The walking trail around the lake in Chaska, MN

a turtle

the lake

Leaving Minneapolis

Sesame Street Mafia

2007-05-13T09:51:00.000-07:00

Check it out! James' Sesame Street Mafia paintball team video.

Listen to Guster

2007-05-04T06:46:00.001-07:00

Sunday in the Park

2007-05-03T07:05:00.002-07:00

We enjoyed a leisurely day at Mount Ogden Park on Sunday…

The Dehydrator... finale

2007-05-03T07:05:00.001-07:00

Since we can tell you're all dying to know more about our adventures with the dehydrating droid, here's one last photo. Dried pineapple, papaya and mango. It's all delicious!

The Dehydrator... part 2

2007-05-01T08:17:00.000-07:00

Trav discovering the inside of a papaya

watermelon and mangoes

pineapple, papaya, mangoes

dried bananas, kiwi, mangoes, pineapple and watermelon

James, The Mighty Paintballer

2007-04-28T15:42:00.000-07:00

Here are a couple of James, doing one of the many things he does best, up in the lovely city of Pocatello, Idaho a couple of weeks ago. Go James!

Behold: The Dehydrator... part 1

2007-04-28T15:39:00.000-07:00

As if you all cared, we are now the proud owners of a food dehydrator. Who knew that this was one of the many items in REI's catalog?! We're really excited and wanted to share our first drying experience. Stay tuned for the results! Tomorrow's fun: Watermelon!

Katie at Camp

2007-04-23T07:36:00.000-07:00

Here are a few pics of Katie's camp world. It's so pretty!

Katie and Norman on the camp property

Katie's house

Katie's office

on the property

Steph's Photos in Salt Lake Visitor's Guide!

2007-04-23T07:29:00.000-07:00

Back in January and February, I worked with the Salt Lake Convention and Visitor's Bureau on a few photos for their new Spring/Summer 2007 Salt Lake Visitor's Guide (and actually got paid to do it!) and last week, it hit the stands.

Here's the cover, which I didn't do, but thought you'd like to see it.

Here's my handiwork:

Jackson is Famous!

2007-04-14T08:55:00.000-07:00

Trav was flying to Denver on Wednesday and took a look at the March/April 2007 SkyWest Magazine tucked into the seat in front of him and as he flipped through, lo and behold, Jackson caught his eye! SkyWest did a feature on Ogden and the Union Station, and the Station released this photo I took of the little guy a few years ago. So congrats, Jackson! You're famous! (You can click on the images to make them bigger and easier to see.)

This is the Delta Connection version of the magazine, but they've also got a United Express issue, which Jackson's picture is in too. I've requested copies of each from SkyWest.

Vegas in 25

2007-03-26T10:36:00.000-07:00

We just returned from a long 25-hour trip to Vegas. We saw Elvis, drag queens and the Dave Matthews Band. What more could we ask for? And on three hours of sleep, we flew home and took a nice long nap. Here are some pics...

Here we are, resting before the concert and watching The Hills on MTV. Sadly, I'm now addicted.

I was so excited that Stevie Nicks was in town! Too bad her last show was the same night as DMB. I would have had a hard time dragging Trav to a Stevie Nicks show!

One of many fountains inside Caesar's.

Apparently Vegas is the new Hawaii. These two stores are all over the islands and now here. Weird.

the kids

2007-03-26T10:35:00.000-07:00

Emma & Simon

2007-03-07T15:49:00.001-07:00

Sledding!

2007-02-03T16:36:00.000-07:00

Romp to Stomp

2007-02-03T16:30:00.000-07:00

Here we are at the Susan G. Komen Romp to Stomp Out Breast Cancer Snowshoe...

The Yeti

2006-12-13T06:13:00.000-07:00

I don't know what my mother was thinking!

Merry Christmas!

2006-12-10T14:18:00.000-07:00

Feeding the Ducks

2006-11-29T20:03:00.000-07:00

brrr!

2006-11-14T20:38:00.000-07:00

There's nothing like kayaking when it's 34 degrees!