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.