Category Archives: Utah

Canoeing at Jordanelle

Bryan had a great idea to go canoeing at Jordanelle state park as one of our reunion activities. He found a great deal on canoes from the University of Utah, but we had to come up with our own trailer to haul the boats. I pinged a friend in Utah and after a quick Google search, he found http://www.troop410.com which is a Scout troop in Salt Lake City with a number of canoes and kayaks available to rent WITH a trailer. Troop 410 rented their 9 boats to us for a day at an amazing price and our trip that day was probably one of the best activities of the week, in my opinion.

I took a picture of the trailer so I would know how to put all the boats back on in the correct place.

The Boats

The Boats

Kate sitting at the dock in a canoe waiting for Jeana and her cousin Holland.

Kate in the Canoe

Kate in the Canoe

Touching the buoy. Holland is a cousin, seated between Audrey and Kate in the picture.

Touching a buoy out on the water

Touching a buoy out on the water

Jeana demonstrating her kayaking prowess. She recently took lessons from someone in Austin.

Jeana in a kayak

Jeana in a kayak

Me trying to look like I know what I’m doing.

Scott in the kayak

Scott in the kayak

Taking the canoe back across the reservoir to load on the trailer. This canoe, “Old Town”, was very tipsy. I didn’t like it. I don’t think anyone took it out on the water (other than me getting it from the dock to where we were stationed).

Pushing off with the girls in \"Old Town\"

Moab

Last year we stopped at Four Corners on our trip to Utah. This year we skipped Four Corners because we didn’t have time to hike in Moab last year. When we got out of the car at Arches National Park the temperature was extremely hot, I think it was 103 degrees. I was hoping to find some respite from the Texas heat on this trip, but none was found in Southern Utah!

Audrey, Kate, and Jeana at Arches

Audrey, Kate, and Jeana at Arches

Kate hiking to see Delicate Arch

Kate hiking to see Delicate Arch

When we would stop to take a drink break, I would realize how steep the trail was we were hiking on. Imagine having “little girl” legs hiking up a steep trail!

Audrey and Kate with Delicate Arch

Audrey and Kate with Delicate Arch

It seemed like every Utah license plate we saw for the rest of the trip was acknowledged by Audrey yelling, “I see the arch!”

Audrey hiking after Delicate Arch

Audrey hiking after Delicate Arch

Kate dying of thirst in Arches

Kate dying of thirst in Arches

Balanced Rock

Balanced Rock

When I was about 8 years old my family went to Philmont Scout Ranch in New Mexico. We stopped at Arches National Park and the two things I remember from that stop were red gravel/dirt and Balanced Rock. The scenery in Arches is absolutely incredible, and none of the photos we took adequately express the beauty.

Sweethearts

A friend of mine told me recently that he and his wife were expecting their first child, a girl. He mentioned he is nervous about being a father. I told him that he should prepare to have his heart melt. One thing I learned quickly with Audrey was that she could melt my heart easily. Kate quickly added more to the melt factor once she was born. I am so glad to have Audrey and Kate as my daughters. They can be so sweet to each other, to me, or Jeana.

Audrey sat at the piano with me tonight singing. We sang “A Whole New World” from the movie “Aladdin” and when we finished I looked at Kate who was dancing and playing nearby. Kate and gone up to her room and come back with small little figurines of Aladdin and Jasmine so that she could play along with us.

Karen, our sister-in-law, took these pictures of Audrey and Kate while they were playing in a park in Park City while we were at the reunion.

Melt factor #1

Melt factor #1

Melt factor #2

Melt factor #2

Guitar Hero

Everyone spent way too much time playing Guitar Hero. I think the TV was constantly blaring with rock and roll because someone was playing. Somehow, Jeana convinced her dad to give it a try. I’m not sure we’ll ever see something like this again so I am glad someone got a picture.

In the past when we would get together we would play Halo or Nascar until early into the morning. This year we did it the first night. When Jeana’s dad made the wake up call for golfing the next morning before 6am we all realized video games were not worth the late nights since we wanted to golf.

We did get introduced to a fun new game called “What Were You Thinking.” Most of us played this game every night instead of video games.

Mountain Biking

Ok, this really wasn’t “mountain” biking, but rather us riding our mountain bikes on a fairly flat loop. We rode from the condo downhill for around 4 or 5 miles, and the whole time all I could think was “at some point we’ll have to turn around and climb this hill.”

Garrett, Bryan, Scott, Jeana, and Danielle

We like the movie “The Sound of Music” and especially the Do-re-mi song. Right about the time this picture was taken, Jeana rode up by me singing, “Sew, a needle pulling thread” like the scene when Maria is riding bikes with the Von Trapp kids.

We discovered a bike park with some large jumps. On our way back to the condo, Garrett, Bryan, and I stopped to ride at the park. I was extremely chicken due to a recent crash. Garrett got some really good air though. There is a video of us, but you really can’t see us (I mean Garrett) getting the air.