Goodbye 2010

What better way than to end the year, eating, partying and hanging with family and friends.  Goodbye 2010!  It was a good year!

(Go Utes!) Come on 2011, It's going to be another great year!

 

Traditions

 Grandpa has a hot air balloon and as a tradition, we like to fly it on Christmas Eve morning!

The weather has to be right.  Little to no wind.  No wind is preferable cause we bring Santa along.

Santa rides in the balloon while Grandpa, the pilot, hovers the balloon over houses and Santa looks for Rudolph.  "Has anyone seen Rudolph?"  Occasionally Mrs Santa goes along for the ride.  The rest of the family follows the balloon. We are the "chase crew".

We have walkie talkies in the vehicles to rib, tease and poke fun of each other while the balloon is in the air.  We also use them to keep from getting lost and being there for the balloon when it comes down.

Well this year, the weather was good.  A very small breeze.  Great flying weather, so we launched from a park off of Highland Drive and 9000 South. at 7:00 a.m.  As the sun came up, our canyon winds began to blow a light breeze.  No problem! 
However, this did not allow for hovering.  Santa
was really going to miss Rudolph this year.

The balloon had to stay higher than we like to avoid dangerous things like trees, power lines and chimneys.  As we approached 7800 South and about 200 East, there was an elementary school that Grandpa was going to try to land at.  We, the chase crew, didn't think that he would land there because he was so high in the air and the wind kept moving him west.  So we were all waiting at the front of the school when Grandpa came down in the back of the school.

Some of our more alert crew members were paying attention when Grandpa landed behind the school and were on their way to catch him.  Grandpa came down faster than usual, due to the wind and many trees that could snag the balloon, so the crew was not quite there to pile on the basket and keep it from going back up.  The balloon touched down, then went back up, tipping the basket, Grandpa somehow somersaulted right out of the basket.  And away went Santa.

Can you say, "ah oh".  "Oh Crap", and a few other things came from the lips of crew members.  Most importantly, was Grandpa ok.  He stood up and looked at the balloon, rising above the trees, swinging back and forth without him in it.  Immediately we gave him a walkie talkie and he started talking to Santa.  Now Santa has been through a few exciting experiences in his life, due to his police training, required for entering  homes in the dead of night, and his pilot training, cause you have to be able to fly a plane, in case the reindeer are sick.  After a few minutes of pilot instructions, Santa had it all under control.  Now find a place to land!

We were entering an area of congestion, many houses, apartment complexes, power lines, roads, cars, few open areas to land, and the "no fly zone".  (West of I-15).  Santa found a field west of state street and started giving directions and instructions.  But the crew, even after parking in front of houses and jumping  fences, could not get to the balloon fast enough.  Some of the crew continued following on foot while the rest of us, drove around the corner.  And Santa did it.  He successfully landed the balloon and all was well....except for Levi getting hit by a car, (just banged him up) Kristen tearing open her pants on the fence, (nice behind), being yelled at by a homeowner to get off his fence, Brittany having labor pains and the police, fire trucks and news cameras showing up.  Now who called 911??????

Santa changed clothes and Grandpa drove away before the cameras arrived.  Hehe!
This was a Christmas Eve we will be talking about for a long time.  And Thankyou to the angels on our shoulders.  This could have been ugly!

( This is a picture of our family at Thanksgiving time.  We have a big crew!)                                                                     THANKYOU GRANDPA!                           WE LOVE YOU!                                      AND MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Snow

I love to play in the snow.  Snowmobiling, Skiing, Snowshoeing, Riding horses.
I love snowflakes, snow piled on pine trees, crunchy snow under your shoes.
I love cold crisp air, Brilliant blue skies, Ice on waterbuckets.

Ohno likes snow also, but his short legs make it hard to get around.  He is standing in this picture.

Turkey Day 5 K in Riverton.  Saturday before Thanksgiving!  Woot Woot!

It was quite chilly, the wind was blowing, snow clouds were hovering and we were wondering why we decided to run this race.  BECAUSE WE CAN!

It helps to have a group of 12 and then you see friends that are also brave enough to leave the warm comfy house with smells of Breakfast, to run a little run.

This is a few of us before the start.  Do we look cold.  Oh yea!

Have you heard the story of the tortoise and the hare?  My girls are hare's and I am a tortoise.  They beeboop around the course and then come back and get me.

I am not complaining mind you.  My thing is to just keep going.  I will get there.  Not the speediest time.  But I get there. 

What fun times to spend with friends and family.  Inflicting a little self induced pain and have someone there to cheer you on.  Let's do it again!!!!

One of our favorite things to grow in the garden is "big" pumpkins.  If we water them well they can grow over a hundred pounds.  These pumpkins were about 60 pounds before Kevin used his knife and did a little magic cutting on them.  We always keep one for our front porch and then share the others with someone else.  As you can see....It was raining for Halloween this year.  But Kevin still cut them up.

Coming Soon

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VW

Coming Soon

Coming soon!

To Bee or not to bee?

To take honey, or leave the honey?

To split the hive, or don't split the hive?

To feed them sugar water, or don't feed them sugar water?

Just a few questions to ask when you have bee hives.

Unfortunaltely our bees did not produce enough honey this year that we wanted to take their honey.

Greedy human beeings that we are.  We refrained!

Sad for us!  Hopefully this will ensure the hives make it through the winter.

It is so sad to have these beautiful, healthy hives, be dead in the spring.

So, no new honey this year!

Cadence at 4 months! What can you do with a 4 month old, well.......

We took her for her first boat ride!

She loved the boat, the sun, the water,

hanging out with Grandma and Grandpa.  Can't you tell by that smile.  We think Tiff kinda loved it too!  We sure did :)

The weather was soooo nice that we had to take her on her first horse ride!  She slept most of the time.  But when she was awake... She just hung out!  Get this girl some cowgirl boots and a hat, cause we have the ponies!

    

Great Grandparent time is a must!!!!!

A little cookout with Grandma and Grandpa Johnson before heading home.

We also managed to get in a little hiking!  High altitude, fresh air, leaves changing.  Good times!  We loved having Tiffany, Rob and Cadence here to spend some time with us.  We didn't waste a single moment and it still was too short.  See you guys soon!  Until then, we have telephones!

Love, Weddings and Cakes

 Arial and Garrett Johnson
Married 9.25.11
Welcome to the family Garrett!  Hope you can handle us!

 Tiffany stayed in town for an extra week and was gracious enough to make Arial's wedding cake.  It was a beauty!

Of course it tasted good too!

Family pictures!

What better place to take family pictures than in Jackson Hole, WY.

So the day after Lotoja we had a picture taking session.

 We found this frame and had some fun taking pictures.  A few laughs.  Cadence wasn't happy about the sun in her eyes, but she did cooperate for awhile.

This was my favorite.  Old wood barn and the majestic tetons in the background.

Thanks Chase for your professional eye and talent.

Thanks fam for another picture taking moment.

LOTOJA

We train all summer....

We eat for it....

We sleep for it...

Tiffany and Rob come to town to ride....

It's a family thing...

Plus friends!

We love it, hate it, can't wait for next year, glad to have this year over!

We dig deep into our mental pysche.

After 206 miles we can't eat another banana, cliff shot, swedish fish or salted nut roll.

No more power drinks.  Stomach cramps!

Bring on the shower, mexican food, biofreeze, ibuprofen.

The pain and tiredness wear off and the euphoria sets in.

We rode 206 miles in 12 hours 26 minutes.

The weather was fabulous.  Winds were mild.

  It was only 36 degrees and pitch dark when we started.

Tony and Katie crashed before the starting line and bent their front wheel.

3 tandems, 3 individuals in our group.

10 flats for the day and

We couldn't do it without our support crew.

Another great Lotoja experience!

At the Starting line, Tera, Jamie, Shauna, Kevin and Nate.

Kevin and Tiffany crossing the finish line!

Jamie glad to finish another great year!

August of 2010

Fall weather is the best time to play outside.

A little mountain biking!

Kevin, Adam and Chase.  Departing for the Wasatch Crest Trail.  They were still smiling when they got to the bottom!

 And my favorite thing to do in the fall is.....ride the ponies.  Thank you everyone who likes to ride with me!

I love this picture.  We had been in the saddle for 4 hours.  Did a loop up Tibblefork that brought us to the road.  We then walked down the road about a mile to get back to the trail that took us to the horse trailer.  Just about to the bottom where the trail meets the road is this pretty waterfall.  Thank you cute guy who graciously took our picture.  It took us a minute to get the horses situated in the water.  They were tired and wanted to keep going back to the trailer.
We originally started with 5 horses.  But coming out of the trailer, Annie was limping really bad, so Mom and Dad, Annie and Rusty, spent the 4 hours we were in the saddle, enjoying the lake and the parking lot.  Thanks Mom and Dad for letting us ride anyway.  You guys are the best.

Shauna and Stella

Josh and Skittles

Rocket and Chester

One of our favorite, close to home rides is Yellow Fork! Salt Lake County, please do not sell this property to Kennecott.  It is a beautiful place to ride and close to home.  Kennecott, if you buy this, please let us continue to ride here.  Mountain bikers and families out for a hike, love these trails also.

Jamie and Chester, Adam and Annie

Dad stills loves to ride!

Shauna and Skittles, Dad and Annie

7.30.10


We love to ride our bicycle, we love to ride our bikes.
We love to ride a hundred miles in the night time light.
We pick a friday night that sports a bright full moon.
At 6 p.m. be stretched cause around Utah Lake we'll zoom.

The miles will slowly disappear and so will the sun.
Then riding in the dark is when it's really fun.
Through Saratoga Springs and on to Elberta.
Stop too long and mosquitoes eat you for dinner.

Now East through Genola and over the hill to Payson.
Some of our lights are dead, We'll add a little caution.
We keep pedalling through Spanish Fork and on into Provo.
It's after midnight, drivers wonder if we're pyscho.

Don't quit now, just take a break.
Back to Lehi for Ihop pancakes.
Another year of nighttime chivalry
Thank you team for the hours of revelry.

July 24th at Current Creek

Instead of Jackson Hole this summer, the fam decided to take our yearly Larsen get away to Current Creek and do some camping, canoeing, fishing and just plain lounging around.

After a drive up Provo canyon, we zipped through Heber, a slow climb over Daniels Summit (Ed was only able to climb over Daniels Summit at 30 miles an hour} travel down a very loooong dirt/pavedre road...... we made it to Current Creek.  Hooray!

   

 A long drive up the dirt road in the dark is bound to disorient and confuse even the best outdoor enthusiast.  Yes Morgan and Chase got lost.  After some backtracking, they found the campground at 1 in the morning.   Who is to say they were driving around.....only Morgan and Chase will know the answer to that question.

Froggie and Bullfrog-love water.  But shouldn't frogs love water?

We did a little mountain bike riding!  The boys did a lot of mountain bike riding!We sat by the campfire, ate lots of food, paddled around Current Creek (Why do they call it current creek?)and enjoyed each others company.

  On the way home, Kevin decided to try the dirt road that comes out by Timberlakes to see if it was faster and/or shorter.  Don't know about that!  It was definetely prettier and worth the dirt road.  Ed wasn't too happy about the drive and we lost the cable to the accelarator.  So the McQuiver's tied a rope to the lever in the back and thread it through the bus where Kevin had to pull the rope to get Ed to go, shift and stear.  It was slow going, but who cares when you are driving a VW bus. (I can't get my pictures of the McQuiver rope to load, so please use your imagination).
All in all.  A good weekend!

Words are locked in my head, spinning around.

I can't make sense of them to bring them out.

So my blogging is in a funk and boring as can be.

Maybe tomorrow, we'll wait and see.

July 2010

July picnics at Grandmas are always a treat,

Her blow up ball and slide are really neat!

These little ones think the water jug is where fun is.

While others think homemade ice cream makes life bliss!

You did a great job Grandma. Just look at her grin!

Phil gave the party two thumbs with mustard on his chin!

Like Mother (Tiffany at 1 month) Like Daughter (Cadence at 1 month)!

This is sooo cute. I couldn't resist to pull Tiffany's pictures out and see if Cadence looks like her Mom at 1 month.

Tell me what you think????

I need a 1 month picture of Rob!