LAKE POWELL 2009!!!!!!!

Well it is that time of year when we again head to Lake Powell. We normally have 21 of us make the annual trip but this year Micah did not make the trip because he did not want to miss any of the football conditioning. I was impressed with his dedication, this is one of Micahs favorite trips. The water was 80 which still feels refreshing when the outside temp. is 100+. Some of the highlights were Riley learning to deep start on the wakeboard, not only did she learn but she went outside the wake. Riley also caught a pretty good size catfish on the "Barbie" pole. Payton drove me around that lake for hours on Pa's Jet Ski. Payton has been wakeboarding for a few years but she is getting really good at cutting accross the wake. And Mariah wakeboarded and also surfed. So here are a few pictures from our trip.Payton soaking up the sun

Karrie showing off her mad skills

Mariah Surfing

Payton wakeboardingRiley getting set

Riley outside the wake!

Riley Cracks Me Up!

Well two weeks ago my Dad had open heart surgery. The night before the operation I took the kids in to the hospital to see him. He had been at the hospital all day under going about every test possible.We were all feeling very anxious about the surgery. As we visited with him he was telling all of us what they were going to do to him the next day. He told us all the i.v.'s he would have including one in his neck, the tube down his throat. How they would cut open his legs to take veins out for the bypass. Then he told us how they would take a saw and cut open his chest and then spread it apart. Not a pretty picture to say the least. Well Riley was sitting on the foot of his bed just taking all of this in. As my Dad finished the gruesome details Riley looked him straight in the eyes completely serious and said "Well atleast you don't have to get a Strep. test".
A week before Riley had been to the Dr. and they swabbed the back of her throat to test for strep. It was so funny and really lightened the mood. I guess it is all about perspective.

Spring Break Part 2

So after a day at the pool it was of to Disneyland. Disneyland is a great place to go especially with young kids but if your an adrenaline junking and like the big fast roller coasters it is a bit of a let down after Six Flags. We had fun at Disneyland though, we hit all the classics like Space Mountain, the Matterhorn, Splash Mountain etc. And not to brag or anything but I got the High Score on the Buzz Lightyear ride. We had to practically had to pull Karrie away from the Pirates of the Caribbean ride.Just look at the excitement and joy on the faces of Mariah and Riley as we get on the "It's a Small World"ride.
The next day we went to Huntington Beach. The water was still pretty cold but Payton and Riley and Ace got in it all the way. The rest of us went in up to our knees. Ace loves the water and got mowed over by the waves a few times before he caught on and learned to get out of the way. We also flew a couple of kites I had found at the store. If we only had a beach and ocean in Utah it would be perfect.
Well after a long day at the beach we went and ate at Chilli's then headed back to the hotel. We took an air mattress and they Kids took turns sleeping on it. Micah and Riley were on it this night. All the kids got in bed and we went to sleep about 11:30-12. Well at 2 am Payton came up on my side of the bed and said "Dad I just threw up in the Bath room" she was very calm trying not to wake everyone up and I thought oh it couldn't be that bad so I went into the bathroom and yea it was that bad. She at least threw up right on a big towel that was on the floor so clean up wasn't to bad. Well she felt a little better so I put her back in bed with Mariah and gave her a garbage can just in case. Well about a 1/2 hour went by and I heard her jump from bed and run towards the bathroom she did not make it. At this point I moved Riley out of the bed with Micah and put her in with Mariah. They were next to the bathroom. Well again about a half hour after she went back to bed she was up again. She was so sick she was actually sitting on the toilet and throwing up in a garbage can at the same time. At this point I woke Micah up and told him to go get in my bed and I spent the rest of the night with Payton on the air mattress. She got sick one more time that night. I am not sure what time it was but the last time we went back to bed it was starting to get light outside. Oh I forgot about 4 am I decided to go and find her a Sprite in the vending machine. Well I took my wallet headed to the machine and I had no $1 bills or change so I had to go down to the lobby from the 10th floor and get change. I went back to the vending machine by our room put my money in and the Sprite was sold out. Now this is a huge hotel 1600 rooms so I walked to the other end of the floor and the vending machine was not working, I finally found one on the 9th floor. What a night! Well the next day she felt better but was drained. I was a bit tired myself but she wanted to go to California Adventures so off we went.

It was a fun day and we were all done by 6 p.m. We had gone on every ride we wanted to at least twice. Then on Saturday Mariah, Micah, and I went to an Angels game. We had a great time I had forgotten how much I use to love baseball when I was growing up. There is just something about a Major League game. The game went by really fast and we enjoyed some snacks. You have to have a dog at a baseball game right? Even Mariah loved the game. She was asking me questions all through the game.

Wow 19 years!!

Karrie and I just had our 19th anniversary on the 24th. I am not sure how 19 years could go by so fast. Karrie was 19 yrs old when we started dating. Since I love to travel with Karrie and believe me I don't know anyone that likes to travel more than Karrie, I thought I would post 19 pictures of places we have loved to travel to together. In no particular order.

Lake Powell so many memories

Trip to Omaha, Iowa, Missouri (my mission) my sister was living in Omaha at the time.

Fun trip we had to Long Beach

St. Thomas one of my favorite places.

Disneyland of course!

Puerto Vallarta Mexico fun trip with my family 21 of us

Bahamas

A cruise I don't remember where we were at the time

Aruba Palm Beach might be the best sand I have found, spent the whole day in the water.

Puerto Rico another place I love to go. This Castillo El Morro

Yellowstone

Seattle, this was a work trip for me that Karrie came with and we had a lot of fun.

This is us on the World Trade Center south tower six weeks before 9/11

Xel Ha Mexico six months after we were married.

Cayman Islands Sting Ray City.

Curaco

Key West

Jamaica

St. Johns (Cinnamon Bay) OK this really is one of my favorite places

Riley's A-Z Book

About 2 weeks ago we went to Riley's S.E.P. At her S.E.P we were given a book that Riley had made. It was her A-Z book of things she was grateful for. On every page she drew a picture and wrote what she was thankful for. I thought this should provide some good insight into Riley. So we got home and I took her book and set down to read it. I am thinking that she probably put me in the D's or the T's makes sense right? So I open the book and start thumbing through it. I get to C and she has Cat with a cute picture. So I am thinking D is next, I turn the page and there are several things under D. There is Dog makes sense, Doll OK, and dress, huh!! Where is Dad?? Well I must be under the T's. So I keep turning. I get to M's and there is Mom how cute. Then P's there is Payton how sweet. So I get to the T's and what does she have???? Just one word "Turkeys" Ouch! So I did not make it into the book, so I thought I would share some of the things that did. So here we go. a can, Elephants, Lions, Kangaroos, Jam, Ice cubes, Horses, a Goat, Monkeys, Nuts, Popcorn, Raccoons, Snakes, Utah Utes, Viewnont, Whales, X-Rays, a Yak, and the Zoo. I heard that I almost beat out the Yak, maybe next year. She is such a funny girl who loves to tease me. I love that about her.

Soccer night with the girls!

Friday was a busy but fun day. After the swim meet Karrie and I had told Payton and Riley that we would take them to the U of U women's soccer game. Payton had received five tickets from the soccer league that she plays in and since it was not cool enough for Micah and Mariah we let the girls take a friend. I thought it might turn into one long night (soccer + cold weather = long cold night). But I was surprised the soccer was actually fun to watch. I guess the only soccer I have really watched is the little kids and to see these college teams play I was impressed with how athletic they are and how fast the game moved. It wasn't very crowded so we got good seats. We stayed warm with a few blankets and a hot chocolate run at halftime. It was a good game the UTES won 4-3. At the end of the game the girls got to go down on the field and make a tunnel for the players to run through, now that is something you could not do at a U of U football game. They also got to run around on the field and Payton just happened to have her soccer ball with her, imagine that.