Book of Leakes

2011-12-09T16:41:00.002-07:00

Moon Eclipse!

We had an eclipse of the moon this morning and the moon was full to help see the eclipse, so I recruited Jamie and Kim to come out in the early morning dawn and go for a hike to see the eclipse.

We left the house at 4:30 a.m. and drove to the mouth of Little Cottonwood Canyon. Then hiked to Bell Canyon reservoir. Only we had to climb a hill on the west side of the reservoir to see the moon.

What a beautiful sight Salt Lake is at night.

The moon was spectacular also.

Sorry my camera and camera skills do not catch the eclipse very well, but the adventure was worth it! Thanks Jamie and Kim for coming out into the cold with me!

Breakfast after was a sweet bonus!

2011-12-09T16:03:00.002-07:00

Dreams!

They make us work harder!

They provide purpose in life!

Completion gives us a sense of accomplishment!

They dare us to do things that aren't on the normal agenda!

So guess what Kevin got for Christmas!

I'll bet you didn't guess this!

Well, Kevin spent a long time doing his homework, deciding on how big, what kind, how much he should spend and decided that, this was it! When this plane came up for sale, the price was good, the size will get him his license and it will be fun!

The cute little guy Kevin bought the plane from was living in his hanger with his wife, he was 85 years old and a man of many talents. You can't see it, but he builds coffins in his spare time. There is a coffin on the other side of the plane. And his wife was just as talented. She had many art projects and they were really good.

Sorry babe, I don't have to live in a hanger, so therefore, I am not going to live in a hanger! They did a great job of making it a comfortable home. There was a bath and two bedrooms upstairs and they were comfy and roomy. The kitchen was all top of the line modern appliances.

Brandon; friend, commercial pilot and instructor, Kevin and Adam.

Adam already has his license, so he can fly any time.

Chase has always wanted to get a license, but it might be a little while before Chase is licensed, he has a heavy school load and that is by his choice. Go Chase Go! We don't want to interfere with your school work! So get it done so you can come fly!

And Kevin is ready to begin the process of school and lessons.

Did I mention how Kevin's eyes twinkle and he floats like a little kid who just got a brand new plane! Adam is also!

So the year of 2012 will be up, up and away!

2011-12-04T20:25:00.008-07:00

Tree Down!

Utah had an East wind blow through and it was a strong wind. The Bountiful area had hundreds of trees blow down. Big beautiful 30 yearish old pine trees.

The Frog's (aka. Grandma and Grandpa Larsen) had one of their big pine trees blow down also.

So in good ol fashion family togetherness. We met on Sunday and cut that baby into pieces. Rocket and Grandpa ran chain saws.

The tree was wedged against another tree and had to be cut so it would come all the way down!

Kevin, Jamie and Adam ran a limb chipper and managed to chip up a huge pile of limbs. Garrett, Myself and Frog helped where ever help was needed.

Tom and Arial are digging the tree root out.

In two hours we cut up the tree, chipped up the limbs, filled Rocket's truck full of wood, swept up the yard and dug up the trunk. Then Froggie fed us dinner.

It was a good evening!

2011-12-04T20:18:00.000-07:00

This is Homework Adam. He is so close to being down with school.

Graduation in May - Go Adam Go!

2011-11-24T22:24:00.088-07:00

Thanskgiving in Oklahoma for 2011!
Morgan and Chase have not been to Tiff and Rob's place, so Kevin decided since they had time off from school and Kevin had a few days off, we were driving to Oklahoma for turkey. Yum, Yum.
On the way, we think we got some bad gas in Wyoming. Our truck would be moving along at 75-80 and than we would lose power and couldn't go faster than 60. With a little help of gas cleaner additive and patience, we made it to Tiff and Rob's.

We took Cadence her Christmas present and that was first on the agenda once we got our Hello hugs!

A BIKE! Who would have guessed. This is a balance bike, it doesn't have pedals and helps kids learn to balance, thus, a balance bike. Cadence wanted to ride faster than Kevin could put it together. She already is a star. She rides it backwards, tips it from side to side, runs into things and lives to try again. And that is just in the living room. Wait until she can zoom up and down the sidewalks.

"I go fast, Mom!"

Morgan and Chase have the "We drove straight through for 19 hours with gas and potty stops only," look.

"See the dog dog's Grandpa, Can we go outside?"

Our favorite way to eat turkey is deep fried. I'm so glad that Tiff and Rob like it this way also.
Rob and Kevin are checking the turkey. "Is it done yet?"

We managed to sneak a family picture taking session in with the rain and the wind.
You did good again, Chase.

Morgan and Chase slept on a blow up mattress and Cadence liked to jump on the mattress. Well she was having fun, so we joined in. We would circle the mattress and alternate pushing on the mattress so Cadence would bounce up and down.

Giggling and laughing

A little hat fashion show with Chase taking pictures!

We had an enjoyable weekend/holiday. Than got back in the truck and drove home. Again straight through with only potty, food and gas breaks.

The truck had a fuel filter change and ran great on the way home!

Make sure you all come back now, you hear!

2011-11-20T23:13:00.004-07:00

We sent Tiffany and Cadence home and a week later Tiff ran another marathon.

Route 66 in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

This girl loves to run!

In fact she loves to run so much, that this race finish time qualified her for the Boston marathon. Boston 2013 here comes Tiffany!

Good job Tiff! You are an inspiration!

2011-11-11T19:16:00.011-07:00

Tiffany and Cadence came for a visit!

We sure love having them visit. We spend every minute we can with these guys, cause our visits are too far apart. This visit was special. Great Grandpa Leake is dealing with liver failure and he didn't think he would make it through the holidays. So Tiffany came to spend some time with Grandpa. Precious, valuable moments!

Cadence has taken to calling Great Grandma Leake, "Grandma meow, meow!" Cause Grandma has two kitties!

The weather was beautiful and we couldn't resist a hike up corner canyon to Ghost Falls. Cadence fell asleep quickly and just bobbled along!

But she woke up and didn't want to miss out on stretching her legs and checking out the Falls for herself!

We found Grandpa for lunch one day!. Grandpa shared a sip from the sippy cup!

We took Ohno for a walk to the church park and kicked up some leaves!

Cadence wants Grandma to teach her how to drive.....Cadence likes trucks too!

Cadence also loves tuna...she was soooo hungry that she was eating as fast as she could and made herself a tuna smile. So stinkin cute!

Yes we spent a bit of time in the truck and car seat. But when you have cool shades, it's all good.

The visit was lovely and then we had to send them home again.

2011-11-03T21:57:00.012-06:00

The sun was shining, we had a little bit of snow and Karina and I went for a hike up Bell Canyon. The hike to the resevoir was dry but once we headed east up the hill, we encountered some snow on the trail. That didn't deter us and we made it all the way to the falls.

Bell Canyon Resevoir

Ice

Top of Bell Canyon Falls!

Karina

On our way up the trail, we passed this cute older man who was coming down. He said he was hiking to get in shape for skiing and asked if we were doing the same. I told him we were out for some mental health therapy. He stopped, turned around and looked me in the eye and asked "What is the problem"! He made my day. Someone who actually listened to the words being spoken and was concerned enough that he was willing to ask if he could help me. I meant it as a means of enjoying the moment, the day and company of a friend.

He was an inspiration to me today!

2011-10-31T18:48:00.000-06:00

There is a monkey in Oklahoma that is knocking on doors looking for trick or treats.

Don't be too scared, she is really cute and has a great ooh ooh, eeh eeh!

2011-10-31T18:22:00.001-06:00

Fall Horse Rides are awesome!

We like to ride in the fall, it isn't too hot and the bicycles are hibernating.

10-28-11 A beautiful fall day for a ride in Dimple Dell.

Rocket and Chester! Rodney, my bro, likes to go on trail rides with me. Today we loaded up and roamed around Dimple Dell for a couple of hours. I love this place, it is close to home and still feels like you are in the hills.

10-31-11 Another beautiful day for a ride in Yellow Fork Canyon!

We saw a lot of deer today They are all grouping together getting ready for the winter weather that is coming. Some let us get really close. Four legged horses with wierd and noisy appendages aren't very scary.

Stella and Morgan. I don't know if she had flashbacks to our last attempt to ride up here, but I did! Stella was a good girl this day!

Annie and I.

Can you say beautiful? HAVASUPAI!

2011-10-13T21:57:00.099-06:00

First we gathered a bunch of friends together who wish to go on an adventure.

Then we drove from Salt Lake, through Vegas, crossed over the Colorado River, turned East and drove another 3 hours following the Colorado river to arrive at the Hilltop parking lot.

We donned our back packs and posed for a picture overlooking the chasm we are going to drop into.

Jamie and Adam

Shauna and Candace

Karina and Therron Froggie and Bullfrog, (Annette and Gary aka Mom and Dad) had already headed down the trail and missed the before picture.

Mike had to make a quick stop before starting out. These were nasty out houses! Mike and Barry started about and hour or so behind us, but quickly caught up!

Down the cliff and into the desert for a 10 mile hike!

We are ready, we have water and sunscreen!

There is a trail going down the side of this cliff to get to the trail at the bottom....

than head into a canyon, where God created a unique, delicate yet majestic beauty in the desert. Our destination, Havasupai, a collection of waterfalls.

Come along on a picture tour.

In the beginning, the switchbacks... this was also the end when we came back out.

just keep walking...

walking, walking...

mule team coming down carrying tribe supplies and hikers back packs

beautiful, beautiful

Are we there yet? This was a little farther than half way, we think.

These are the smoke stacks for the hidden village of Indians tucked securely away in the depths of the rock. :)

Yea, we made it to camp. Food, take off my pack and hiking shoes, I have Happy feet!

Waiting for water to boil!

A look at Mooney Falls from the top of the cliff.

We want to go to the bottom of Mooney Falls, or do we?

Entering the unknown.

Going down...Thank goodness for chains!

Yep, that is the way down and the way back up.

Mooney Falls from the bottom

There were caves behind these falls that we swam through the falls to get in to!

The Frog's and I

Havasu Falls

Playing and jumping off of Rock Falls

New Navajo Falls!

We had such a good time! in a beautiful part of the world!

Pommelled by a Horse

2011-09-26T02:38:00.033-06:00

This is Stella- She is the tallest mare/horse we have in the barn. She is part Thoroughbred, thus she is really fast. It also akins her to a kid with severe ADD. She has big doe eyes, and is a sweet horse. However she is the reason for this post. She is also a bit unpredictable and we are always wondering what kind of a mood she will be in for the day. She isn't mean, just likes to kick her feet up and needs to get the wiggles out.

Today Morgan and I wanted to go for a horse ride. We loaded up Annie and Stella and drove out to Yellow Fork for a pleasant 3 hour ride.

We unloaded and tied the horses to the horse trailer with Annie closest to the tack door. A normal standard operating procedure. Morgan brought along the lunge line to run Stella in circles for a bit in case Stella had a case of the nervous jitters, but Stella was being an angel. A model horse. She came out of the horse trailer calmly, stood at the horse trailer nicely and let Morgan put the bridal on without lifting her head to the sky.

I had Annie all saddled and just needed to put on Annie's bridal. Then off to spend some time in the hills, all covered in autumn leaves, enjoying the beautiful fall weather. I got the bridal and ducked under Annies head to get on her left side to put on her bridal.

Stella had moved her rear end around and had it almost touching Annie's rear end. She is standing more parallel to the trailer instead of 90 degrees. She was standing on one back leg with the other stretched out to the side closest to me. A wierd stance. I didn't feel comfortable with her rear end so close to Annie, so I put my hand on her rump and pushed, to get her to stand up and move over, so that she would be standing at the horse trailer at a 90 degree angle. Safely and normally.

Stella moved all right! First she sat back on her heels. She was pulling on the rope tied to the horse trailer. Then she started shaking her head as if to say, "let me go", then the halter broke. She was pulling so hard on the rope that the release flipped her over onto her back, with her saddle on and there she landed.

Now, I am standing at the horse trailer, next to Annie's head and Stella's stomach. Stella is on her back and I am staring at Stella's front hoofs on my left side, and her back hoofs against the horse trailer on my right side. Not a good place to be!
Morgan said "There was a moment of calm, when all three of you looked at each other, and then all heck broke loose."

A moment of calm; I felt it, I saw it, we were all assessing the situation and it only lasted a moment. I was thinking. "This is not good, when she starts pawing to get up, I am going to get hammered by her front hoofs", that were right in front of my stomach, "I have got to get out of here!" Annie seemed to be thinking, "what the heck are you doing down there?" Stella seemed to be thinking, "now that wasn't what I thought would happen, what did you do that for?" She was looking at me with her big doe eyes, so innocent, such a victim.

I put my right arm under Stella's hoofs to roll her away from me and duck back under Annie to safety, when all heck did break loose. It seemed like the best escape plan.
What I remember after that was, chaos, hoofs flying, me falling down chaos, then me on the ground and the sound of hoofs hitting the ground around me. That is when I started to scream. I thought, "if I scream, they won't step on me". When the chaos stopped, I got to my feet to get away and the pain in my legs began.

I stood there, hunched over, my hands on my knees, deciding if any thing was broken. Was I bleeding? No! Thank goodness, all the pain was in my legs and my one arm. No head injuries or body injuries. No blood. I was upright! Morgan is asking, "Are you ok? I shake my head yes, cause I am trying to catch my breath. "Just let me sit down for a minute", I managed to say.

I sat down and felt nauseous, so I shuffled to the truck to get my water bottle. I told Morgan that I still wanted to ride, just give me a few minutes. After 10 minutes, I decided that I had better not ride, so Morgan unsaddled and drove us home.

What a way to start the morning!

After examing my legs, as the bruises started to form, I am guessing I got kicked or stepped on, 6 times. Behind both knees on the tops of my calfs are bruises the size and shape of Stella's hoof. My left ankle is very tender, swollen and the I have a bruise all the way around my ankle. My right thigh has a bruise the size of a grapefruit. My right hip and left buttocks are also bruised.

But with all the bruising and pain, I feel lucky! This could have been so much worse! If she had hit me in the stomach, the chest or the head, I would have needed an ambulance. No wimps allowed if you want to be a cowgirl! I never cried. I couldn't. It hurt too bad. Just in case you were wondering if I could cowgirl up!

We decided we would try again next Monday, cause Morgan doesn't work on Monday's. And I went home to elevate my legs and ice them. Some ibuprofen was on the menu. And Stella, oblivious to my pain, went out in the pasture to eat more grass.
10/4/11
It has been 1 week and I progressed from a waddle, to a shuffle, to a slow walk. Today, I walk pretty good and the bruises are turning yellow, but the pain in my legs is non stop. I manage to get 2 -3 hours of sleep at a time, then I pace the floor.

Best I can tell is that I have a calf contusion. Ice and elevation are my friends.

This is annoying, but again, I feel blessed to only have leg injuries.

10/6/11 Thurs. OK, I packed my butt up and went to the Insta Care and had my shins xrayed. If my kids were the ones injured, I would have had them into the doctor the day it happened. But I am the Mom and I am supposed to be tough. Enough of tough. Let's be smart. I didn't want to leave on our hike to Havasu Canyon next week and injure myself more if I had fractures. The diagnosis-- No fractures and yes calf contusions.

I started applying heat on tues and it is making a world of difference. I will just take my Ibuprofen and the pain pills the doctor gave me. In case the hike with a 35 lb'ish pack is torturous.

2011-09-24T22:37:00.008-06:00

Dirty Dash!

Is just that. Jamie, Morgan, Chase, Kim, Sam and I ran through mud, obstacles, up hills, through ravines, more mud, down hills, through water, more mud, to a big finish in a mud hole.

We had soooo much fun.

Have you heard the expression, "Happy as a pig in mud", yep, we were having a good time!

This event is held at Soldier Hollow and you have the option of running 5.5 miles or 3.5 miles. We chose the 3.5 for this year. It was perfect.

In the begining, we were clean!

But clean went away, really fast!

Slip and Slides are slippery!

Chase jumped over that wall like a rabbit! Run Sam Run...

Wahoo! We are almost done!

The last mud pit to cross to the finish line!

It, was cold, it was muddy, it was fun!

2011-09-19T20:51:00.006-06:00

Going to Oklahoma to babysit! So excited!

Tiffany and Rob are going to ride the Oklahoma MS 150. In Oklahoma, they start in Tulsa, ride 75 miles, stay the night and then ride the next 75 miles into Oklahoma City. Buses are than provided to bring them back to Tulsa.

And we get to watch Cadence for the weekend.

I flew out on Wednesday and Kevin arrived Friday night, well Saturday morning. His flight was delayed in Dallas and almost didn't depart Friday night due to weather. He was suppose to arrive at 8:30 p.m., but finally got to Tulsa at 1:30 a.m. Saturday morning. Grrrr!

But look at what we found.

Short but delightful weekend!

FYI:

Oklahoma (Okla = people)
Humma = Red
Oklahoma = Red People in Choctaw

2011-09-10T11:28:00.008-06:00

2011 LOTOJA

Our Group: Kevin, Jamie, Shauna and Nate

206 miles, 1 day, 3 states

Nate's finish!

Our Finish!

Since I am writing this blog, I want to Thank Kevin for encouraging me, believing in me and riding with me.

Jamie for being my trainer all summer long, your magic push fingers and your

"you can do it"'s.

And Nate for wanting to ride with us even though I am slower than you guys!

Our support crew: Morgan, Chase, Adam, Grandpa Bullfrog and Grandma Froggie

Without the support crew, we couldn't do this every year!

This was Kevin's 10th (actually 11th) year to ride Lotoja. The first year he rode was with his Dad in 1990. Kevin got the stomach flu the day before the ride and only made it half way before he had to get in the vehicle. But this year. We were riding in a group and we were going to finish strong.

During sign in, Froggie won $125.00 from the All About Socks kiosk. This is a good sign! Not to mention the ride was on 9.10.11

Our original plan was to ride with Tony and his family on their tandem and John and his family on their tandem. But they weren't quite ready at the start so we headed out with the first wave off the line at 6:30 a.m.

Sieverts caught us about half way to Preston and we rode with them into Preston.

On to Strawberry Pass and the first climb of the day. I was suffering with stomach aches from Preston to Montpelier. Not bad enough to throw up or go the bathroom, but it did slow me down.

Just before Salt River Pass, I felt better and wasn't bothered the rest of the day.

Not so for Kevin. He got sick to his stomach at the top of Salt River and started throwing up. Salt River is half way. Kevin than had trouble keeping any thing in his stomach the rest of the day.

Weather was perfect! Warm and beautiful!

We didn't have any flats!

Our Support crew did a fabulous job keeping us fed, watered, positive feedback and if it wasn't for Chase, I would only have 2 photos of this entire day!

But we did it! After the Snake River neutral feed zone. Nate rode on ahead. We found a coke for Kevin at a support spot about 8 miles from the finish and Kevin was able to keep that down. Nate ended up finishing only 10 minutes ahead of us. Sieverts finished about an hour ahead of us. We finished and we were stoked!

And the rings were delivered at the awards ceremony.

It was a great ride from my perspective. How can you go wrong when your support crew and riding buddies keep you going. It helps if you want to succeed!

Love you guys!

Every year I ride Lotoja I get a life lesson, this year my thoughts are:

Life is like a Lotoja ride. Some parts are easy, some are hard. There are hills to climb and then there are hills to zoom down. We practice all summer for a one day ride. In life we practice all our life for that one moment or event that let's you know your alive! Some things can be done alone, but when you have others with you, your success has a better chance of happening.

Keep the Lord with you everyday! We could all use a support crew!

2011-08-12T21:58:00.005-06:00

2011 Midnight Ulcer

This was the crew for our annual ride around Utah Lake, at night. We have turned this ride into a tradition and we love it. 100 miles on a weekend of a full moon.

Starting at 6:30 p.m. at the IHOP in Lehi. We ride west to Redwood Road, then South to Elberta, East to Payson, then North through Springville, Provo and back to Lehi, IHOP.

We had some new riders this year, Arial and Shelly came along and did awesome!

We had beautiful weather and a tail wind, also some strong riders who pushed our speed along so that we averaged 21 miles an hour.

This was the first year we have arrived at Eureka before dark.

We arrived at IHOP in Lehi about 1:00 a.m. for breakfast.

Thanks everyone. It was a great ride!

2011-08-05T21:18:00.001-06:00

Some people call us crazy!
Some call us sick and twisted!
Some call us thrill seekers! (One of my personal favorites)
But throwing people out of a perfectly good airplane is fun. Not only for us, but for the person we throw out of the plane. They want to jump!

Chase's birthday was coming up and we added him to our family club of jumping out of a plane. We all pitched in, with some contributions from his family and Chase received a gift certificate to skydive jump.

Since his birthday is in December and it is really cold and Skydive Utah is closed in the winter. It took a while to find a nice sunny, no wind day, but we found one and out to Skydive Utah in Tooele we went.

After a little practice of jumping up

And jumping out

It was time to get the equipment on and get serious.

Get a good luck/good bye kiss

And get in the plane, he was off to fly.

Yep, he did it.

Here he comes.

A nice fanny slide landing

And the smile is priceless.

Happy Birthday Chase!

2011-07-24T06:17:00.002-06:00

2011 Larsen family Reunion at Grays Canyon/Snake River!

Every year we gather together to play in the water and sun....somewhere! We came back to Jackson Hole this year to run the river. It is just too much fun!
Grandma and Grandpa go up a few days early to secure a camping spot along the Grays River and wait for the rest of us to arrive.
Let's get this party started...

Load up! Let's float! Let's get wet!

Morgan's mosquitoe netting needs to come off before we get in!

Tom and Froggie are untying the raft...or are they?

As soon as Rocket squeezes into his spray skirt.

And Gregg tightens Svetlana's life jacket!

A few more life jackets, wet suits and sunscreen...

Haul the boats to the water...

And we are ready to push off.

There is flat water and a variety of waves on the river, but Kahuna and Lunch Counter are the big waves we all look forward too with excitement and trepidation. Will we make it through or swim? This year, because of the high water, Kahuna was washed out. There wasn't a wave to be found in Kahuna. But Lunch Counter did not disappoint us. It was big and gnarly. The water comes into a rock chute and then rolls into the center. Grandpa Bullfrog called the water "disturbed". We had a hard time finding a line to keep our boats in.

The best part about Lunch Counter, is that there is a pull out on the road above and a trail that brings spectators right to the waters edge. A fantastic place to take pictures. And I did just that, when I wasn't in a boat.

Chase and Garrett show off their stuff!

Grandpa likes to fill the raft up with girls and show us what he's got!

Jamie and Adam make a good team navigating the river!

Gregg and Svetlana got a little sideways, but Gregg put his oar in and kept them upright. And Rocket shows some tricky manuveurs.

It looks like Tom and Shelly lost their boat under the water.

Josh rolls out of a wave and sets up for the next wave!

Meanwhile, the cheerleaders have made it through Lunch counter and pulled their boats off to the side so they can view the wave they just made it through alive, and watch Josh and Rocket surf the waves.

Another round brings Tom and Garrett in a ducky. It is fun to switch partners and see if the new alliance's can keep the boats upright.

Tom and Shelly

Josh

Jamie and Adam

Garrett and Chase

Grandpa Bullfrog, Arial, Morgan and Geri

Friends - Gregg and Svetlana

Rodney Rocket!

Grandpa Bullfrog, aka Dad and myself, Shauna

Can you tell we had a great weekend. Lots of smiles before, during and after!

Evenings are not complete without a good meal, a fire and reliving the days adventures.

Fun on the water good food and a fire - Life is good!

Too tired to move, Chase is remembering the swim he took!

This year the mosquitoes were plague like uninvited guests. The momma's, pappa's, aunts, uncles, cousins, you name it, they were buzzing and biting up a storm. Adam was our in camp exterminator.

Another great adventure on the river. General consensus is, let's come back next year!

2011-07-12T21:02:00.012-06:00

2011 Harley Ride

For the Harley ride of 2011, July 6 - 12th. Ray wanted to return to his favorite ride. It is a 33 mile stretch from Willits, CA to Fort Bragg, CA. A twisty windy road of floor board to floor board motorcyle bliss. And to accompy Ray this year would be Kevin, Al and Jim.

Ray, Kevin and Al rode from Salt Lake to Reno where they met up with Jim. Jim flew in from California, rented a bike in Reno, and off they went to California. This was Jim's first Harley road ride and he had FUN!

Jim Yorgeson

Kevin

Al Takemori

Ray

This years trip had beautiful weather!
After leaving Reno, the group looped around Lake Tahoe, headed back North through Truckee and Quincy. South to Yuba City and West past Clear Lake to arrive at Willits and onto Fort Bragg.

Fort Bragg is located on the famous Highway 1. Highway 1 follows the coast line from Washington to Mexico with breathtaking views all along the coast.

Tradition is to stay at the same little Mom and Pop hotel in Fort Bragg. And drive down to the harbor to eat sea food in a little diner on the water.

The trip would not be complete without a ride North, up Highway 1 to Leggett, home of a giant sequoia tree called The Chandelier Drive Through Tree. Carved in 1930 it is aproximately 6' wide by 6'9" tall.

Heading back, they altered their normal route and headed south on Highway 1 to Highway 128 and through Napa Valley before heading east on I-80 to Auburn.

Lunch break!

And a rear end break!

Then North on State road 49 to Grass Valley and Sierra City. Another beautiful, beautiful day!

Ray loves riding in California. He has been there with his friend Jack Sieverts, wife Monica, Dan, Kevin and I, Al and Jim and maybe more....

It truly is beautiful and worth every mile!

Whether rubbing your good luck charm,

or trying to keep the speed limit under control.

We recommend this ride and would be happy to ride again if you need a buddy!
Happy riding!

2011-07-06T23:25:00.001-06:00

We are getting into chicken farming. We have added some girls to the yard. 25 baby chickens. Kevin is building the chicken palace/coop while the girls camp out in my kitchen in a swimming pool. Hopefully this will only be for a week or so.

I think our Grandparents are smiling down from heaven. (They raised chickens)

Aren't they cute. In 4 months we are going to have a lot of eggs.

2011-07-03T15:02:00.027-06:00

New friend, aka: Adam's cousin; Anjii Hansen.

Anjii came through Utah the first time on the 4th of July after racing in CO. She was on her way back to CA and stayed with us a couple of days. She then came back to race in the Tour of Utah hand cycle competition on Aug 13 and we had the pleasure of having her stay at our house for a week.
We took advantage of our time together to share a few rides.

We spent some time at Utah Lake

We watched Anjii race. Which she did fabulous!

Drove to the top of the Alpine Loop and watched the tour of Utah.

Then we spent a few hours of paddling on Tibble Fork Resevoir.

Anjii- It was a pleasure getting to know you better. Thank you for joining our crazy family activities and bringing a few more to our schedule. and Thank you for sharing your enthusiasm for life, your positive energy and a few late night chats. We wish you the best in life!

2011-07-01T14:31:00.003-06:00

Everyone loves a Parade!

Ever since Kevin bought the VW bus, I have wanted to be in Riverton City's 4th of July parade. Fill the bus with kids, dress like hippies and throw candy out of the windows.

Well our neighbor Ed Davenport has a Ferrari Testarossa. He signed up to be in the parade and wanted to have a bunch of his Ferrari friends drive in the parade with him. When he had only a few takers, he asked Kevin, through me, if we wanted to drive the VW's in the parade. I instantly replied "YES!"

Ed and his Testarossa led the pack. His was the only Ferrari.
Fast car, followed by the slow, easy rides!

So Adam, Jamie and Adam's nephew Trevin drove the black and white Oval.
Trevin would throw his candy out the sun roof.
Here Morgan is getting excited to get the parade going!

Chase and Morgan drove the tan bug!

Going slow down the road! These air cooled cars wanted some speed!

Kevin and I drove Ed, the bus, filled with Adam's sister, Eichelle, her kids Damon and Lainey. The kids had fun throwing candy out the windows!

Kim and Don brought their 67 Mustang.

Then afterward, we all came back to our house for burgers. (Except Ed).

Sweet day!

2011-06-28T20:21:00.005-06:00

Visitors from Finland!

My uncle Wayne went to Finland a few years ago to see relatives. While there, a family that was a friend of our relatives, offered his cabin for Wayne and Deb to stay at. Now they are in the United States and coming to dinner at my house. I was so excited to meet a family from Finland.

They were lovely. So gracious and full of stories. I loved the evening. Thank you Wayne for keeping in touch and including us in inviting them over for dinner.

(br) Asa, Ken, Froggie (Mom), Bullfrog (Dad), Kevin, Ruth, John, Debi, Christel

(fr) Shauna, Wayne

2011-06-24T20:13:00.001-06:00

There was so much snow this year that Utah Lake is very very full! The water is to the top of the boat ramp and covers some of the roads. Boating at Utah Lake is still wonderful.

A day on the lake with Kim, Don and Sam Trop. Beautiful evening. And fun!

2011-06-17T21:49:00.001-06:00

RAGNAR RELAY - aka. WASATCH BACK!

Run 192 miles

Logan to Park City

12 people, 2 Vans - Team: Cops and Robbers

32 hours 23 minutes!

Ragnar (n) - In mythology and legend, a man, often of divine ancestory, who is endowed with great courage and strength, celebrated for his bold exploits and favored by the Gods.

Check out this team of great courage and strength! Who decided to have a bold exploit and run together for 192 miles of fun, encouragement, personal achievement, with a little pain and suffering.

Candace ran this last year with her work and enjoyed it so much she registered and put together a team. The best part was the comaraderie of training. We got together for a few group runs, compared progress and enjoyed each others company. The second best part was completing the challenge.

I was runner #7. Lucky me. My total miles to run was only 12.2. My first leg was flat, I was the first runner in Van 2 and we started about 12 noon near Pine View resevoir. My second leg started about 8 p.m and climbed out of East Canyon resort. In the last 2.5 miles, I had the most elevation gain of my leg. Total elevation gain was 626 feet. It doesn't sound like much. But it was a good little hill. As I climbed, I kept telling myself, "no matter how slow you go, do not walk!" And I did it.
The third leg was flat, but the hardest, due to sleep deprivation, (only 3 hours of sleep). I started running right after the sun came up.

Adam was runner #8. Total miles to run was 16.3. His first leg was flat and east of Pine View. His second leg was more difficult, if running downhill is hard for you, Adam thought it was easy. He ran 7 miles, all downhill, from East Canyon to Henefer. Total elevation loss was 957. His third leg was fairly flat, a slight uphill, through Midway. This was also his hardest leg, due to sleep deprivation and a big blister.

Jamie was runner #10 Total miles to run was 15.5 Jamie's first two legs were relatively flat, But her third leg was the "Ragnar Hill". This is considered the steepest section of the total 192 miles. In 4 miles there is an elevation gain of 1678 feet. She climbed a paved mountain road that had some switch backs. The snow had to be cleared from the road this year, due to the enormous amounts of snow we had. The snow banks were 4 feet high that we drove through at the top. She did awesome. Had to slow a couple of times to catch her breath, but she ran this section in great form.

Our van/suburban of 6 consisted of Adam, Jamie, Myself, Lyndsey, Carli and Angie. We did so good together, we laughed, suffered, shared snacks, slept, stunk and cheered each other on. We got along so well. I would do this again with this crew.

Our Team!

Carli

Favorite saying of the day: "Be Happy with the body God gave you"

It was a pleasure to run, ride and suffer with you.

Lynsdey

Climbed over Trappers Loop and was still smiling!

Finished Guardsmans Pass and was still smiling!

Angie

Ran a marathon the weekend before and came out to play with us!

Encouraging, Positive, Inspirational, Burb driver, Last Runner!

After 2 days of waiting in lines for the Honey Buckets, we were so excited to go home and flush.

Van 1

Candace, Phil, Kristen, Casey, Travis, Brad

Thanks for the great weekend!

2011-06-04T20:22:00.000-06:00

Going Cruising!

Morgan's mother-in-law, Kathy, wanted to take her family on a cruise. And bless her heart, she thought the Leake family would be fun to have along. We hope she wasn't disappointed. Well we didn't say "no" to such a great invitation. So the first of June we went on a cruise with the Birks family.

We drove to California so we could stop in St. George and do a little mountain biking. Then we went to California where Jim and Karen, graciously, let us stay at their home. It was a beautiful start to a vacation. We lounged around the pool.

Played disc's and Barbacued.

We went running on the beach and borrowed Jim and Karen's beach cruisers for a ride in the sand.

Thank you Jim and Karen!

Monday afternoon, we left Jim and Karen's and boarded our boat.

What do you do on a cruise? Well you get your picture taken....

And you eat...

You learn how to fold towels...

Run on the deck....(to wear off all the food you eat)

Eat some more...

Learn some tricks...This waiter and our waiter had a new trick for us every night. They were great.

Sit on the deck in the sun/cloudy sky and get cloud burned while trying not to have goosebumps cause a rainy cold front came in just for your vacation...(although we saw very little rain)

Get your picture taken, again... Play some games...

Dance a little...

Sing a little kareoke...

Eat some more...

And....get your picture taken. The boat time was a lot of fun...

Shore time was also fun.

Our first stop was Catalina Island.
The cruise boat was anchored out in the bay so we rode these tenders/shuttles to the shore.

We had to get a little squishy, but that was ok.

Our first adventure was to rent golf carts and tour the island.

What do you get when you have a couple of golf cart drivers who race VW bugs?

A golf cart race. It was kinda slow, but the passengers loved it!

We saw the island from way up high.

Hung out on the pier!

Tested the water temperature.

Saw some wildlife!

Braved the tide and got our picture taken.

Got our feet wet!

It was a good day!
Next stop....Ensenada.
We didn't book any excursions through the cruise lines, we were adventurous.
When we got off the boat at Catalina. We knew we wanted to take golf cart tours so we found the golf cart place and were the first ones in line to rent carts. Easy.
Same with Ensenada. We didn't book a Buffadora tour, we found one when we got off the ship and took a 30 min tour bus ride around the bay to Buffadora.

Buffadora is a cool blow hole. When the water comes into the rocks, it shoots in the air and spray falls all over you.

Problem is...It is hard to know when the big one will blow. Not behind Morgan and Chase.

or Jamie and Adam

or Kevin and I. Good thing we got a picture of it happening. I think it was shy!

Then lets go shopping. Traditional Mexican street shopping. The vendors are calling you to their store, with the promise of a good deal. "Hey pretty lady, I have vanilla, you want tequilla. How about a t-shirt."

We did find a few things we wanted. But the pressure was overwhelming!

When we were done shopping, we headed back to town on the bus.
Once we came to town. We headed out to find authentic Mexican food.
It was soooooo good.

Last minute shopping at the pier!

We had a day at sea, where we shivered under the clouds on the deck and enjoyed relaxing while we sailed back to Long Beach.

We got off the boat on Fri and headed to Huntington Beach with the Birks to play in the sand and water.

VACATION 2011- GREAT!

After we left the beach, we stopped at a VW car show. I love this Double Cab bus/truck!

We then parted ways. The Birks family went to their hotel and we headed back to Jim and Karen's house. Again we had 5 star accomodations at the Yorgason's.

Saturday morning, after a run on the beach we left beautiful Carlsbad California and headed for home.

We stayed in St. George instead of driving all the way home and rode our mountain bikes one more time. This is sooo much fun!

And then there is the drive home, after a week of fun, sunshine, sand between our toes, lots of yummy food and a few laughs. It's time to head back to work!

We are well rested. Well sort of! Some of us needed a little more sleep!

Chase, please keep your eyes on the road, but it helps to be awake when your eyes are open.

On our way from California to St. George, our truck lost the alternator. We managed to get to St. George, where we bought a battery charger and charged the battery on the truck all night. In the morning we thought all would be fine. We had a good charge and thought we could make it all the way home.

Before we got to Payson, the electrical systems started to fail. We pulled off in Payson and charged the battery for a half an hour and headed home. One more hour was all we needed. As we came over the point of the mountain, (only 10 minutes from home) the systems were failing again. We made it over the point, down the hill to the exit and headed up the hill on the Bangeter exit off ramp. Instead of freeway speed we were traveling about 35 miles per hour. The light turned green just in time for us to coast over the ramp and down the hill. Another green light and we were heading down the hill to the river bottom. Coming up the other side to Redwood road we were coasting but still had power. The light was green again and we made the right turn onto Redwood Road when, hold on boys and girls, we were without power.

It is a slight down hill from the light at Bangeter to our house and we kept coasting. Then there was a break in the cars and we made a left hand turn, coasted into the drive way, coasted to the front of the garage and, wa la. We were home.

I love angels on our shoulders. To have all the lights be green and a break in the traffic to make it into our driveway was a gift from heaven.

Another adventure! Another fabulous time!

2011-05-26T14:49:00.002-06:00

We are going to a birthday party, wawa!

We get to go to Oklahoma to go to Cadence 1 year old Birthday! She is growing fast...

Hauled a boat to Okalahoma and hit a road alligator, but other than that, the drive was good. We drove straight through. 23 hours, with stops for potty and gas. Kevin did not want to waste any time sleeping somewhere. It was time to see a granddaughter, daughter and son-in-law.

And look what we found.

So stinkin cute! Don't you love this milk beard!

Who's here?

First we did a little shopping, need food for a birthday party and visitors!

And we hung out at the house and helped hang a few pictures!

We had a great birthday dinner, cake and party for Cadence. Tiff does a great job with cakes, entertaining and food.

This cake looks bigger than Cadence.

She was happy to share some cake.

What Cadence didn't share, she ate and ate and played.

We had to get the hose for the furniture and patio and put Cadence in the tub.

So blessed. Friends and family from near and far.

Grandma and Grandpa from Salt Lake

The Bowlers from Chicago

and friends from Tulsa.

Now for presents.

Two happy cute kids

Aiden and Cadence!

Grandpa, what's in there?

Grandma kisses.

And Grandma play time!

We spent some time on the boat!

What a good looking boat!

Daddy is going to let me drive, hehehe!

I am going to go fast.

Watching the skiers with Grandpa!

What a cute family!

The bouncing rear seat "Betties" and Babes"

This is my favorite picture!

So glad we could help celebrate your 1st birthday!

We Love Our Tulsa Family!

2011-05-21T15:39:00.000-06:00

In the beginning.....

There was a swimming pool, running shoes and a bike.

Then there was a friend named Jodee who called and said

"There is a "Women of Steel triathlon" race, you should join with me."

So I did! And so did Kim!

--Bike and Running shoes are ready!--

Jamie, Kevin and I had already decided in January that we were going to swim this winter to:

Change things up, give us something else to exercise.

Our first swimming days were comical. We floundered, we splashed, we plowed

through the water and worried the lifeguards, that someone might need saving.

--I'm ready! Let's do this!--

So, I contacted a swimming instructor who gave us some pointers.

Much needed and much appreciated. No drowning for us!

This is the pool. You swim down one side of the lane and then swim back on the other side of the lane. Move over to the next land and do it again. Completing 3 lanes for 300 meters. I felt like I did good. The training helped. The hard part was slower swimmers in front or s-walkers. (Swim-Walkers). It was hard to pass.

Jump out of the water, run to the staging area and get on the bike.

My favorite of course!

Two laps for 12.75 miles on the bike and then...

Run, Shauna, Run!

3 miles to the finish line.

This was a lot of fun.

Jodee did great, so did Jodee's daughter-in-law Shauna.

And here Kim and I are celebrating.

And scheming, when should we do another Tri.

Thanks Jodee for the idea!

Thanks Kim for the hours in the pool, encouraging my swimming

And our early morning rides!

Finished in 1:40:56 only 19:46 behind first place in my age group.

Swim 9:14, Bike 48:22, Run 35:25.

Kim finished in 1:42:36. She swam and rode the bike faster.

Oh-I did this the day after my birthday! Makes me feel young!

2011-05-01T23:56:00.002-06:00

Last Day of Skiing at

Alta, Ski Resort

723.5" inches of snow on the mountain today!

5" of Fresh powder in the morning!

Family fun Day

Priceless!

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Here Chase, Morgan, Jamie and Shauna are standing at the top of Collins with Devils Castle in the back. Let's make some turns...

Remember how I said in a previous post that there are no friends on a Powder Day, that even applies on Family Fun Day. Tom, Arial, Garrett and Shelly made first chair, cause they were ready. We had to rent some skiis and weren't quite ready for first chair, so, about an hour later we caught up with these guys. See the powder smiles they have!

Froggie and I love our cameras.

Chase has only been on skiis once before today. So this being his second time on skiis was not going to keep him from trying out the powder.

He made us laugh with a few somersaults and wipeouts, but the guy kept smiling and was a pro after the 3rd run. Good job Chase!

Schuss Gulley was sweet!

Geri is making some pretty tele-turns!

Lunch time - Usually I take a group photo at the end of the day or the beginning.

That didn't work out this year.

It was a powder morning and peeps were heading for the slopes, no time for photos.

At the end of the day, it was cold and snowy, so we went to Frog's house for dinner instead of freezing our cookies in the parking lot, where Kevin and Adam met us for dinner.
So this is the quazi group photo.

Chase and Morgan

Grandpa, aka Dad or Bullfrog, Rocket, Geri and Arial

Garrett, Josh and Frog. (Not pictured, Tom, Shelly, Jamie and myself)

When the family gets together, we are crazy. Not naughty crazy, but fun lov'n crazy.

Here is Josh jumping a fence. This kid takes after his Dad.

Now, here is where the real crazy happens. At the end of the day. All the Alta lov'n peeps who have dressed up and love to smile, yell some hello's, throw snow balls, drink a few brews and challenge themselves to the last run down High Rustler, gather at the top of High Rustler.

Here are a few examples:

And a few more...

These people have all really gathered to celebrate Tom's Birthday.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TOM!
Whoa! How did we get here! Oh yea, we are crazy, Alta lov'n skiers also!

Shauna Pihrana, Rodney Rocket, Josh the Missle and Brother Tom!

(I wonder why he doesn't have a nickname, maybe I just can't remember it!)

The beginning of Trails End for May 1.

I love these last day of the year skiing parties.

We really don't get to ski together during the season, all together, unless...

Thank you Dad, for making it all possible.

You still work at Alta, and still love to ski, and help us out with discount passes.

Thank you Mom, for loving to ski also and loving to bring us all together for this day!

Now, the first turn is the hardest...Just breathe!

Oh and Tom, Your First, HeHeHe!

Can you see the road on the right hand side. And That tree on Tom's right side.

That's the way down. Just drop into the chute and your on your way.

Again, just breathe!

2011-04-30T16:06:00.001-06:00

Have you been to the Utah State Seagull Park?

It is incredible, lots and lots of seagulls.

Watch for special flying objects that land indiscriminately on your body.

We went there twice today. It was our neighborhood clean up and we took a trailer full of garbage to the dump. What I affectionately call the Utah State Seagull Park.

It is amazing how noisy the birds can be! The neighborhood had a lot of garbage. There were 4 trucks hauling stuff to the dump. Whew!

2011-04-29T16:03:00.001-06:00

AND IT SNOWED AGAIN!

End of April and we got more snow!

So pretty on the tulips!

2011-04-28T15:56:00.003-06:00

Way to go Geri!

My hat's off to you!

Geri graduated from college, UVU, today!
Bachelor of Science Technology Managment Degree

It was hard work, working, Josh in High School and going to school full time!

But you did it!

2011-04-25T15:38:00.001-06:00

Spring is one of those seasons that keep you wondering. Are the flowers going to bloom today, Is it going to get warm today, will it snow? It gets warm enough to take the first horse ride of the season and then it will snow again.

Today it was warm enough to haul to Dimple Dell and stretch the horses legs. Dimple Dell's trails will dry out first before the mountain trails so we felt good going here to ride. Stella and Morgan, Skittles and I were happy to be on the trail.

2011-04-22T15:13:00.001-06:00

POW POW!

The sun is shining and it snowed! Rocket has the day off so we hit the slopes of Alta!

Rodney wanted to show us his beautiful tongue, Dad and myself. Froggie is getting her skiis.

"No waiting on a powder day." or "No Friends on a Powder day!"

Frog and I are traversing to Devils Castle. We will drop into the bowl just around this corner. Dad has already gone around the corner and dropped down into skiing paradise. This year has been phenomenal. Powder the end of April and wonderful powder! Not too heavy, cold, good floating stuff. What a beautiful, sunny day!

Turn it Bro! My teleskiing brother!

And there it is....Devil's Castle.

We came, we skied, we conquered, we are smiling!

2011-04-16T22:04:00.001-06:00

Baby, its cold in Salt Lake. So off to St. George for a little sunshine, mountain biking, running, and hanging out with Nate, Christa and Sophie. Thank you Lyon's for letting us join you in sunny St. George. We had a great time!

Kevin and Adam climbing the Barrell Roll trail

I'm a poser! Me, my bike and the sidewinder trail marker!

Jamie and Adam are so cute in their bicycle clothes, helmets, and shades! The location can't be beat!

Christa is a buff Mommy. Pregnant, running and pushing Sophie! Sophie loved the ride. She is a cutie!

Critters always cause me to stop and take pictures. This cute horny toad was posing for his picture,! just in time for a breather. Thank you Mr. Horny Toad!

2011-04-08T16:36:00.002-06:00

It's Snowing for the Tour of Depot in Tooele!

But that doesn't stop them. If you plan it, they will come!

But dressing warm is a must!

Holly, our favorite race official, is dressed for warm. But then she gets to spend two days out here!

She is a champ!

Go Al! Go!

As you can see, they came!

It was a cold miserable ride. But Jamie finished without a crash, she was shivering though!

The time trials for later that day were cancelled, but not Sunday's crit.

You gotta love Spring in Utah.

2011-03-25T22:22:00.000-06:00

RUN GIRLIES! RUN!

This is the Riverton City 1/2 marathon. 13.1 miles on March 25. Jamie already finished and went back to run in with Morgan. Morgan had side aches and was a hurting. But that doesn't stop her from having a little fun in front of the camera!

What was Riverton City thinking, cause-- Baby it's cold out here. Of course you have to have your support crew. Not in the picture is Kevin and Shauna (me).

Last year, I trained with the girls to run this race and gave myself plantar factiaitus, or something like that. It took me all summer to walk again. So this year, I wimped out and didn't sign up. Kevin and I were in charge of cheerleading! Somebody's got to do it.

But the girls were going for broke. Jamie wanted to finish under 2 hours. Keep in mind that this is only the 2nd half marathon either one of them have run. And Jamie did it! With 10 plus minutes to spare.

You go girl!

And Morgan was a champ! 3 miles in she had side aches. She struggled with the demons in her head and finished. Even came in close to her time for last year, Give or take a few minutes.

Side note! Tiffany ran a marathon, all 26.2 miles on 11/21/10 in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Only 5 months after Cadence was born!

Yea, The Leake, aka Jenkins/Johnson/Birks girls are ROCK STARS!

2011-03-10T11:31:00.001-07:00

Winter fun! Kevin and I shot in a 3-D Archery league this winter.

Every tues we tried our skills at shooting 3-D foam targets. I had this cute partner, my friend Jodee, while Kevin partnered with Brian. So we got to shoot against each other. (The boys kicked our behinds, but we gave then a run for their money). A perfect score for one round is 150. Kevin is consistently shooting 146-148. This is my first year shooting and I manaaged to shoot a 148. But consistently I was averaging 138. I had a few bad mojo nights. Shot the floor one time. (Pulled on the release too early). Shot the wrong target once. What a great winter activity.

2011-03-07T11:27:00.001-07:00

Spring is sooo fun. One day you can go short sleeves, and the next you need snow boots.

Mother nature has been generously piling the snow on this year. The nice thing about spring, it only lasts a day or two and then warm weather again!

2011-03-03T11:23:00.001-07:00

MEGA CARROTS!

I planted carrots in the garden last year and we didn't eat them all. I left them in the ground and with the warm weather decided to dig them up so they wouldn't rot.

They are the sweetest, big carrots! Definetly planting carrots again next year!

2011-03-02T15:20:00.000-07:00

BURIED ALIVE!

I had this incredible experience.

I was purposely buried alive. It's a long, short story! Dad is on the ski patrol at Alta and he knows people:) (Does that sound like we are special?) People with avalanche dogs that are in training. There was a planned search for the day and Jack (another ski patrolman, who happens to be Ali's Dad, and Ali happens to be someone I grew up skiing with, and she happened to be in Salt Lake, so we went skiing). Well Jack volunteered Ali and I to be buried alive.

There were two snow caves dug, about 150 yards apart,

about 4 feet under the snow.

My cave was large enough that I had two feet to spare in length

and a foot plus around me.

We climbed into the hole, and the patrolman covered the opening with snow.

I did really well, no panic attacks, no scary thoughts. But I didn't have snow on my face or pressing on me. That would have changed this experience substantially. I was surprised how I could hear a skier, the dog running around and people talking. I was told that when in the hole, you can hear whats on top of the snow. But if I had tried to yell or whistle. I would not be heard. They say I was only in the hole about 20 minutes before Mika started to dig me out. Yep, in a real avalanche, I would probably be dead. Gives you something to think about. Wear Beacons!

Shauna and Ali

Jack, Ali, Mom, Dad, Tina and Shauna

Challenger, here we come!

This was such a fun day!

Ali, call me anytime you can come to town and ski!

2011-02-26T14:38:00.001-07:00

Snowshoeing after a snow storm with fun seekers is not for Sissy's.

You have to be able to endure laughing until your stomach hurts.

Crawling in picnic table caves, cause you were dared!

A lot of sweating, sorry girls! Snowshoeing is for buff outdoor enthusiasts.

Jumping off cliffs for the camera!

Depend on your family and friends, cause there are moose in these here woods!

And it is just fun to hang out with these guys!

Forge a path through waist deep powder, up steep hills!

Wander through beautiful forests!

Jump streams without falling in!

And crossing sink holes, hoping the sides will hold and you don't fall through.

Thank you Jamie, Adam, Morgan, Chase and Kim.

This was a great day!

2011-02-16T11:01:00.001-07:00

Tree Down!

The neighbors 75ft tall tree blew down in the high winds we had.

I was in the barn and didn't hear it fall, but Dave was in in his house and he did. It made quite the noise he said. We thought the tree would be about 70 years old, but counting the rings, it was only 35 years old.

We were blessed. It is like the tree was guided down between my house and the aspen tree. Plus the roots were over Dave's gas line. It didn't dislodge the gas line or tear up his foundation. A scratch or two on the roof and flashing was the only damage. Dave, Kevin, Jamie and Adam had it cut up and cleaned up in a couple of hours.

2011-01-21T11:20:00.006-07:00

I am going to write about my Love/Hate relationship with art. I love art! I love the stories behind the art! I love the feel of art. It takes me to another place and time. To a creator's heart and soul, to the ability to put your heart and soul out there for others to see. Ahh here is my trouble. I do not have the ability to put my heart on wood, canvas, glass or ceramics like other people do. I don't know how. That's what I hate. My inability to create. To think of a masterpiece, to see it in my mind and be able to recreate it.

So, I surround myself with the art of others and fill my house with how I feel by the work of others. Here are a few of our collections.

This is my bed headboard. It was painted by Laura Lyon, friend and neighbor who has moved to Michigan. From left to right is Zoe and Morgan, BlueEyes and Tiffany, Rusty and Kevin, Chester and Jamie, Raven and an elk, Skittles and Me (Shauna). The bed is log and created by Kevin.

My sister-in-law Geri, is an artist. She does beautiful work with all kinds of mediums. A few Christmas's ago she created this stain glass window for me. Her vision is of water.

I saw a mirror with cowboy boots for the frame at a deli one day and have not been able to get it out of my head, so I found an artist who put it together for me. Ever since I saw the mirror, I have saved our old cowboy boots. This has a pair of Grandpa Frogs boots and a couple pair from the DI that I bought because of the stitching. I love the finish product.

This picture was commissioned by Ray for Monica for their wedding anniversay. The artist is Andres Copinas. He lives in California and paints beautiful pictures of children on piers. Unfortunately my camera does not do the colors justice. It is a beautiful picture full of color of the Salt Lake Temple.

And then my Grandpa, Richard Larsen, painted with watercolors. I have memories of him sitting in his spare bedroom with the window to his back, creating his pictures. This is a picture of Albion Basin.

Recreating nature, and nobility of animals is truly an art. Edd Morgan does a fabulous job.

Cheri Onars, (I hope I have her name right), painted this scene on one of our buffulo heads. She did a great job with the Indian and Coyotes!

Grandma Leake has spent hours and hours creating counted cross stitch pictures, crocheting and knitting, and generously giving them to all members of the family.

Kevin found and purchased this Moose for me at an Outdoor show one year. Cranky looking isn't he!

This is some of Grandma Opal Hancock's work. She painted ceramics and china and taught classes on painting.

I love metal art!

Well, I have a few ceramics that I have given a try at. It is fun! And I enjoy painting, as long as I have a picture in front of me to follow. I do change the colors some, but that is about as far as my creative mind will let me venture off the well traveled path.

I have other art decorations around the house. These are just a few!

2011-01-17T10:34:00.021-07:00

Tiff, Rob and Cadence came to Utah for Christmas. Rob was able to stay for one week and then had to go back home. While they were here, we had Christmas, New Years, Rob's Grandma Giffen passed away so they had a funeral. And Rob bought a truck. Now how do you get a truck home? It doesn't fit in your suitcase very well.

So Rob flew home after a week visiting, and Tiffany and Cadence got to stay an additional week.

Which we treasured every moment. Kevin came home from work early every day just in time for Cadence to need a nap....While he wanted to hold Cadence and play, Cadence wanted to nap.

Cadence and Tiffany like to run. So we decided to go for a walk while they were here. But it was very cold!!!! We made it to the subdivision behind us and turned around and went back home.

On Mon, the 10th, Tiffany, Cadence and I drove the new truck back to Owasso. Listening to Huckleberry Finn made the drive go by quickly and gave us a few laughs. We stopped in a little truck stop just east of Denver for some dinner and out of the seat time for Cadence. She was done sitting and needed to wiggle. The truckers coming in were talking about the snowpacked awful roads through Kansas. We went another hour or so and got a hotel room in Limon, CO. At 9:00 p.m it was 15 below zero. COLD! VERY COLD! I went to the indoor swimming pool to stretch my legs and there was 3 inches of ice on the inside of the windows.

Tues, back on the road and through Kansas. The truckers were not kidding. Kansas roads were snowpacked. It was so cold that the snow wasn't melting. Thank goodness there wasn't a lot of traffic and we were able to drive right through. After a few stops, we made it to Owasso. Rob was very glad to have his family home safe and sound.

I was able to stay and visit for the rest of the week, where we went running in 60 degree weather. What a change from Utah, Colorado and Kansas. Ran errands, tried Owasso cuisine in the form of Thai and Mexican food. And just enjoyed each others company. Then I jumped on an airplane and flew home back to the normal daily routine.

Owasso is an old city. Built at the end of a railroad track for ranchers to load cattle and send back east. Some of the old buildings are built out of this beautiful rock. There is a lot of Indian heritage here also. It is rolling countryside. Not flat like Nebraska. And some of our favorite people live here!

2011-01-01T15:28:00.000-07:00

New Years Resolutions/Goals/Bucket List/To Do's:

With the help of Cadence, I thought that I would share some goals for the year.

Find Wonder!

Continue to Educate in many areas of Life!

Don't be afraid to ask Why? What is this? and Why? again.

Find Enjoyment in the moment. Leave yesterday, the last hour, the last minute behind!

Be Happy!

People love to be around you when you are positive and find the good in all you see!

Please play well with others!

We all want to be loved, listened to, and not forgotten.

Best friends will see your humor when no one else will.

Good Luck in 2011

Goodbye 2010

2010-12-31T11:45:00.001-07:00

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

2010-12-24T10:26:00.002-07:00

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

2010-12-04T10:13:00.002-07:00

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.

2010-11-20T13:37:00.000-07:00

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!!!!

2010-10-30T13:14:00.000-06:00

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.

2010-10-14T18:43:00.002-06:00

Coming Soon

2010-10-14T18:43:00.000-06:00

Coming Soon

2010-10-14T18:42:00.000-06:00

Coming Soon

2010-10-14T18:41:00.001-06:00

Coming Soon

2010-10-14T18:40:00.000-06:00

Coming Soon

VW

2010-10-14T18:39:00.001-06:00

Coming Soon

2010-10-14T18:38:00.000-06:00

Coming soon!

2010-10-01T13:07:00.000-06:00

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!

2010-09-29T12:50:00.002-06:00

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

2010-09-25T12:03:00.001-06:00

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!

2010-09-12T21:50:00.001-06:00

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.

2010-09-11T20:44:00.001-06:00

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

2010-08-30T16:39:00.012-06:00

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

2010-07-30T22:57:00.000-06:00

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.

2010-07-24T14:24:00.003-06:00

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!

2010-07-15T12:14:00.000-06:00

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.

2010-07-12T22:57:00.001-06:00

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!

2010-07-01T13:03:00.000-06:00

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!

2010-06-28T16:38:00.000-06:00

I have a dream to be a helicopter pilot!
Our nephew Nathan has accomplished this dream with a lot of hard work and dedication! Congratulations Nate!

And then, he shares his dream with us!
A helicopter ride! Wahoo!
Nate, you are a great pilot! Thank you for being so generous and sharing your talents!
Riding in this helicopter was a blast!

Shauna and Jaiden -woot woot -Kevin

2010-06-28T15:34:00.000-06:00

Some choose to walk up the street,
Some choose to walk up the mountain!
Daddy Daughter hike 6.25.10
3 miles, 2506 feet in elevation gain

Some see the sunset and moon from their porch,
Some see the sunset and moon from a mountain top!
5 hours of uphill!

Some play under the tree in the yard,
Some hike around the tree and lake.
Destination: South Willow Lake, Deseret Peak Wilderness Area!

Some smell flowers along the sidewalk,

Some see flowers peeking out of rocks.

For the brave and daring Riverton 20th Ward Young Women and Fathers!

Some sleep on comfy mattress's in a house,

Some sleep on comfy ground in a mountain meadow.

Annual hike. Thankyou for letting me hike again this year!

Some things are just hard, but amazing!

2010-06-15T00:31:00.000-06:00

In the beginning, there was a dream!

Rockwell Relay race!

Moab to St. George. 515.5 miles, 4 riders.

Jamie, Kellie, Christie and John!

And 3 support people/drivers!

Me (Shauna), Gerald, and Jack (not pictured)!

The weather started out sunny with some wind, but Christie did an excellent job getting started!

We just have to spot her!

The exchanges went smoothly. Each rider rode between 30-50 something miles a leg, then the next rider would go. Each rider had 3 legs, totally about 150 miles each.

What a beautiful place to ride. Southern Utah is spectacular!

They rode in Sun, wind, rain, hail and snow! Riding in the dark was thrilling. It was so dark when I turned the lights off on my truck. I couldn't see 4 feet in front of me. The clouds blocked all light from the sky and the mountain roads were very quiet. Thank goodness for head lights and flashers!

They climbed and descended, over mountains, and over the top of Lake Powell

We cheered them on, took lots of pictures and enjoyed the scenery. Also lost a lot of sleep!

We had two flat tire incidents, but with the bad weather, that's ok. The support, me, was afraid of crashes on the wet roads! But the riders have great bike handling skills and they rocked.

They finished in 34 hours and 50ish minutes. You guys are awesome! Thank you for letting me be one of your support crews.

And Keep dreaming!

2010-06-15T00:20:00.000-06:00

6.8.10 Early morning Horse Ride in Yellow Fork!

What a beautiful day for a horse ride! What can I say....that says it all!

Morgan and I spent some quality time on our ponies! You can see Utah Lake in the back!

2010-06-14T23:47:00.001-06:00

May 29th, Moving Day!
We first flew into Chicago on May 18th. The plan was to induce Tiffany and have a baby on May 21st. So I helped Tiffany shop and pack until Friday. Then she went into the hospital and was induced. The problem was that she was only dilated to a 2 and even though she was given pit to start her labor. Baby Cadence and Tiffany were not ready! So after 2 days, she went home to wait it out! Kevin and I flew home on Sunday only to turn around with the truck and trailer and drive to Chicago on Wednesday the 26th so we could load all these boxes and furniture and take it to Tulsa, with or without Tiffany, Rob and baby Cadence.

But early Wednesday morning we received a call that Cadence had arrived! We were so excited that Kevin and I drove straight to Chicago. We left at 3:30 p.m. on Wednesday and arrived in Chicago at 5:00p.m. on Thursday.

Our only stops were bathroom, food, fix the lights on the trailer (they shorted out when we were being rained on in Nebraska) and a 2 hour nap on the side of the road.

And we arrived in Chicago, just in time for the New Mom and Dad to come home from the hospital! Then Rob graduated and now it is moving day!

With the help of some ward members, the entire house was loaded into the trailer by noon on Saturday. Jamie and Adam flew into Chicago on Saturday to help with the move. I picked them up from the airport and we went to downtown Chicago for a few hours! You can not go Chicago without getting a picture under the bean. We also drove by Wrigley Field. People were paying $50.00 to park their cars close to the field. Ouch!

Then Sunday morning, we cleaned out the refrigerator at the apartment and started driving. We arrived at the new apartment in Tulsa at 5:00 a.m. With a new baby, the schedule depends on Cadence. We averaged 2 hours of driving and then 1 hour of feeding and diaper changes. (We didn't mind at all). We sacked out on the floor of the new apartment at 5:00 and had to get up at 8:00, the ward members in Tulsa had arrived to help unpack the trailer and truck. In one hour the trailer was empty and the angels from heaven, aka. ward members, went home. It was so nice to have all the help in Chicago and Tulsa. Thank you everyone! You are truly angels!

And now Tiff and Rob are officially relocated!
We left Tulsa about 11:00, Tues morning and arrived back in Salt Lake Wednesday morning at 7:00 a.m. Just in time to go back to bed. Total of 3401 miles and 276 gallons of gas.
Only wish we could have stayed a month.

Don't Jamie and Adam look like they are ready to be a Mom and Dad! :)

2010-06-14T23:40:00.000-06:00

ROB: I have a Dream to be an Orthopedic Surgeon one day!

And now you are!

After 4 years of classes, study, library, study, sack lunches, study, rotations, study, tests, study, gym, study, professors, study, Doctors, study, hospitals, study, trips home, study. Did I mention that Rob spent a lot of time studying. On May 28th, 2 days after their daughter Cadence was born. Rob graduated from Medical School!

CONGRATULATIONS! Two dreams in one week have come true!

2010-06-14T23:30:00.001-06:00

Sweet Baby Girl!
Welcome to the family Cadence Bella. Cadence joined the family on May 26. She was 7 lb 3 oz and 20 inches long. What a sweet thing you are! We only got to hug, kiss and love you for 4 days, but in those 4 days you touched our hearts. We are full of love and wonderment at this precious gift God has sent.

Congratulations Tiff and Rob! We are proud and overflowing with love with the addition to your family. Thank you for sharing 4 days with us. We look forward to another visit.

Love you guys!

2010-05-24T13:22:00.000-06:00

First of all....May 24, 2010 has to be a day in the history books for snow so late in May.

What the heck!

We just came back from Chicago to see our new grandbaby and here she is...

Sorry, we didn't get to see her either. She is staying in the womb for some extra beauty sleep. I know that when the time is right and she arrives, she is going to be beautiful! Maybe she is staying to grow extra freckles.

I flew into Chicago on Tuesday, then Tiff and I spent Wednesday shopping. What are girls suppose to do. We picked up some last minute items for the baby. Baby J is now ready for the pool - hat, skin top, swimming suit, high top keds. We couldn't find flip flops little enough.

Then Thurs we packed and took apart furniture to get ready for the relocation to Tulsa. Thursday was my birthday so Tiffany, Rob, Diana, Jason and myself went to Joy Lee for dinner. Delicious Korean food in Chicago. A great birthday treat, hang out with Tiff and Joy Lee's for dinner. We picked Kevin up at the airport Thursday night. Now we are ready for Friday. Friday was the day to be induced and we would have a baby to cuddle, kiss and adore.

Or so we thought!

Baby J had other ideas. They induced Tiffany about 10:00 a.m. and by 4:00 p.m she had not dilated any more and the contractions were small. She could talk through them. So the pitosin was stopped. Meanwhile, during the day, Kevin and I did not want to irritate the Mother and Father by counting the seconds, so we took a road trip to Wisconsin to the Harley Davidson musuem. This was cool!

Tiffany and Rob stayed the night in the hospital to try again in the morning. Saturday, yes, this is it. At 5:00 a.m. they started the pitosin again, but by 1:00 p.m. there wasn't any change. So they turned it off and she was sent home. We spent a lovely day Sunday visiting with Tiffany and Rob then flew home. As of Monday morning, Tiff has been to see the Doctor and we have gone to plan B. Baby will be Born when the planets are in alignment. When this snow storm arrives in Chicago. When she is dang good and ready. Patience is a hard virtue!

2010-05-17T22:45:00.000-06:00

It is a Bee utiful spring!

We thought our hives were going to survive this year. The weather started to warm up and we had plenty of bee activity in the hives and then, poof, they all died. Bee keeping can be frustrating! Just when we think the girls are strong, or have enough food for the winter, or the spring time activity is on schedule and all is well. They die! The queen dies! The drones die. The hive looks good, but the bees didn't make it. We were too late to order new colonies so it looked like we were not going to have any hives this year.

But I made some phone calls and found a different bee "guy" who was bringing in new colonies the next day and he had some extra. But, now the story gets fun. One of the phone calls I made was to a gentleman who will come and get swarms from your yard. I asked him if he came across some swarms if we could get one or two from him.

Thursday we got a call from a gentleman in Holladay, behind the old Cottonwood Mall, he had a swarm on his house. He had knocked it off the pillar on his deck and they were on the roof. When we got there. The bees had found an opening into his house. They were going under the flashing and in between the floor of the deck and the ceiling of his garage. We swept as many as we could into a box and Kevin thinks he might have found a queen. We brought them home and they are doing good. We will give them another few days to see if the queen is laying eggs.

We decided to get some lunch before heading home and another call came in about a swarm in a tree in front of a house off 900 South and 740 East. Well lets go see if we can get this swarm. When we got there. The swarm had just moved from another tree to this one. Kevin was able to get the entire swarm into a box and yes, this one had a queen. Then Saturday, our Holladay friend called and he had another swarm in his pine tree about 4 feet off the ground in front of his house. So we tried again and we think that the queen is in this ball of bees also.

They are sooooo neat. A ball of bees is really pretty and the hum of all these bees is really cool. When you come close to them, "scout" bees will fly around you and if they think you are dangerous, they bump you, a warning to not get too close.

Sooooooo, if you are spraying your yard for weeds or bugs, please, please, please, spray in the evening, pesticide recommendations suggest late evening spraying, when the bees are coming back to the hive. Then you won't kill our girls or anyone else's girls and your fruit trees and gardens will get pollinated.

And have an unbee lievable day!

2010-05-17T14:27:00.001-06:00

Wedding pictures have arrived!

I know that this is way overdue, but you can't rush perfection! Or so I have been told, but anyway here are a few of the 500 plus or minus pictures.

A lovely morning at Oquirrh temple

Our family!!!

Reception center decorated with umbrellas and rainboots.

Morgan preparing to kill the cake. They cut the cake gently, and ate the cake nicely, there wasn't any chocolate splatters or strawberrie droplets on either the dress or the suit.

We started early in the morning and ended late in the evening. Food at the wedding breakfast, and reception was very good. Our guests came, gave their well wishes, stayed, enjoyed some company. It was a full house.

Thank you everyone for helping to make the day everything we could ask for. The little things that went wrong cannot even be remembered. There wasn't very many. The couple are in their apartment and settling into their new adventures.

Cheers!

2010-04-22T10:14:00.001-06:00

Look at my spring time visitors!
We have lived here for 20 years and our pine trees are big enough that the quail have decided that it is safe enough to visit. These young boy birdies were clucking to their girls. I had 4 pair that I could see. Spring time antics! If I were the girl......I would go for the one with the cute feather doodad! (Haha, all the boys have cute feather doodads)

2010-04-20T14:03:00.001-06:00

The Larsen last day of skiing family reunion at Alta!
We started out the day on Albion. Chase and Adam are snowboarders and not skiers. This was Adam's 3rd time on ski's and Chase's first time. So we began on Albion. With the help of a few pointers from Tom the two of them are skiing up a storm. They will need a little more practice before we haul their fannies onto black diamonds - but I see Freestyle skiers in the making.

In the Beginning there were 9....this is Chase's first lesson!

It really is a good idea to point your tips downhill! Chase caught on quickly and then he wanted us to follow him where???????

The sun was shining and everyone had a smile for the day! Chase, Morgan and Shauna riding the chairlift. Dad, Grandpa, Gary, Bullfrog, he goes by all 4, is 72 and his favorite run is to ski nonstop from top to bottom. Thigh burner runs.

After lunch the cry for Baldy Chutes was issued. We rode Sugarloaf chairlift to the top and headed west over the saddle then climbed to 11,068 feet in elevation to the top of Baldy Chutes. The 4 of us were the ones to answer the call. I will not lie. As soon as the call was issued, my knees started shaking and my heart rate went up. The climb is not the scariest part for me. It is the drop off the cornice (this time the cornice was pretty much gone and we just dropped off the ridge) into the chute and the first 5 turns that have my adrenaline going. But I have patient brothers and a Dad who encourage me. Not to mention the little voice in my head telling me to "just make the stink'in turn".

Thank you Tom for taking the pictures! I will work on my form next time.
We skied Baldy Chute and live to tell about it! :)
Online info tells me that there is 750 vertical feet in the chute with an elevation drop from 11,068 to 8,500 feet and pitch of 38-40 degrees.

This is about half way down the chute. Dad and Rodney are already at the bottom. The snow was fabulous, there was enough melt that there was some grab to the snow and no ice! The no ice-is my favorite part. It had been skied enough that there was small bumps formed in the chute. I loved it!
A few more runs to loosen up our legs and then we take our traditional last run of the day on High Rustler! The traverse to high rustler can be a little scary, some really fast skiers zoom by you, as you cross the top of sunspot, stonecrusher and lone pine. A lot of people gather on the rocks in the sunshine to throw snowballs at on coming skiers, fly kites and be happy, before they take their last run of the day. Mom (Froggy), Rocket, Tom and I made last run down High Rustler.

This is Froggy. I want to ski as good as my parents at 71 and 72 when I grow up! They rock!!!!
And Rodney on his tele skiis.

Then, we end the day in the parking lot having chips and dip, sloppy joes, salads, the biggest oreo cookies (Jamie made) and remembering the day! A few of Mom and Dad's friends stop by to grab a sloppy joe and say goodbye for the season.
Geri got to Alta about our 2nd run and Shelly brought up the sloppy joes. Our missing members were, Kevin who was home sick, Tiff and Rob are in Chicago, Josh is in Oregon and Arial was in St. George.

What a great day! Thanks everyone! Love the fam!

The End of another season!

2010-04-13T12:38:00.000-06:00

Let's start with before the wedding!
Jamie, Morgan, Lyndsey and I were training to run the Riverton City half marathon. I was doing really well until I broke a rib. Have you tried to run with a broken rib, it doesn't work out so well. This halted my training 5 weeks before the race. So the night before the race, which happened to be only 1 week before Morgan's wedding. We like to keep a lot of things on our plates. I decided that I was going to run anyway and see if I could at least run the first 5 mile loop and then drop. When I woke up the morning of the race. I thought, this is the stupidist thing to do, So Kevin and I were the support crew. Jamie, Morgan and Lyndsey ran and did great! They finished better than any of them thought. With their limited training.

Jamie and Morgan -------- Lyndsey crossing the finish line

At the finish line! Lyndsey said, "Don't ever ask me to do that again!" But now she is thinking of the next race. Way to go ladies! You did awesome and I am going to train to run one of these! I am glad that I sat this one out. But I am going to run!

Move ahead one week and we have the wedding!
Tiffany arrived Wednesday evening! Thursday morning at 10:00 a.m. we were at Grandma's baking the chocolatiest cake ever. It was chocolate cake with chocolate ganache in the middle and chocolate ganache frosting topped with a chocolate bowl and covered with chocolate strawberries. "Death by chocolate" It took all day Thursday to bake, dip strawberries, frost and dip more strawberries!

Ingredients for the cake------Tiff creating some magic!

Rob, dipping the perfect strawberry. We were very good and didn't eat a single strawberry until Friday, when we were eliminating the ugly ones.

We didn't get all the strawberries dipped by the time we had to leave to go to the temple for Morgan's endowment session. Then dinner and we sent some people home to bed, while Tiff and I finished dipping the berries. We had about 300 strawberries all covered in chocolate. Yum, Yum! I climbed in bed at 1:00 a.m.

4:00 a.m the alarm goes off and we start the day. I showered and got ready, because I knew there wouldn't be any time later. We had Morgan to Heather's for hair and makeup by 5:00. I managed a 1/2 hour nap here. Heather worked her magic and Morgan looked beautiful and ready for the day. Thanks Heather, your awesome!

Then married at the temple. I did not get my camera out much, why should I, we had a photographer there, so I just enjoyed the day. When we get the photo's back, I will post more!

Luncheon at a church nearby. Thankyou Birks, the luncheon was really good. I had the wrong coordinates on the invites and sent all of the Leake guests to a vacant lot. Sorry guys. They did all make it to the right place and were able to visit and have lunch.

3:00 we met at the reception center and hung umbrellas, put up pictures and put rainboots on the tables.
Jamie had lasagna for us at her place, which was around the corner. This saved us from being really grumpy. It is hard to smile, hug, shake hands and try to eat, so the before the wedding food was a fabulous idea.
Thankyou to everyone who shared this day with us. It was all we could ask for!

Now, a week after the wedding, I had the pleasure of going skiing with my friend that I grew up with on the slopes of Alta. Carrie currently lives in the upper panhandle of Idaho and is a ski patrol woman with a resort in ID. She brought some of her co-workers down to ski our slopes and I was invited to have one of the best days on the slopes, of the year. The skiing was good, but new friends and old friends make the day perfect.

I met Ilkka, from Finland, and he skiied with us all day. He was getting ready in the parking lot and introduced himself to the other car. They invited him to ski with us. What a pleasure!

Carrie, Jack (81 years old), Ilkka (from Finland)