Scott and Jeana » Vacation 2008

Yellowstone National Park

Scott — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 03:15:44 +0000

I know, our vacation was over a month ago, but I still haven’t posted everything I wanted to. I don’t have much to say about all these pictures other than the trip up to Montana was completely worth it for me. My family always went to Yellowstone when I was growing up, which made this trip a little nostalgic. I found it crazy to realize we had driven from the south end of the country (Austin) to north end of the country (Montana).

Visiting Grandma Gussy

Scott — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 03:18:49 +0000

Scott and the girls with Grandma Gussy

We made a trip to Idaho for a couple reasons, one of which was to stop and see my grandma in Blackfoot. My aunt Marilyn was when we arrived and spent some time with us. She pulled out a photo album of my grandma’s family and I had fun looking at old pictures with my grandma and asking her about the pictures.

Lagoon

Scott — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 03:11:31 +0000

This is the first time I have been to Lagoon since we went on our Senior trip in High School. I spent a lot more time on the kids ride this time than I did when I was 18. We started the day with Wicked, which was awesome. The cork-screw twist has to be my favorite part when you flip up-side down.

Granddaughters

There were plenty of rides for Audrey and Kate to enjoy and they had plenty of cousins to hang out with on these rides.

Kate and Audrey on the Boat Ride

The bumper car experience deserves some mention here. Kate really had no idea what to do. Apparently the rider of the car was supposed to turn the wheel to get the car moving, but that was the last thing in Kate’s mind out there. The operator of the ride had to stop everyone multiple times to ask Kate to sit properly in her car and remind her to turn her wheel. Kate ended up trapping Peter at one point, or I should say that Peter’s car happened to get positioned next to Kate’s stationary car.

Kate in a Bumper Car

Audrey was excited to go on the Dinosaur Drop. This ride lifts you up in the air, rotates, then drops and leaves your stomach up in the air. Kate hated this ride! She wailed and wailed and made me look like the best parent in the world for making her go on the ride.

Scott and Kate Getting Ready to Drop

Jeana and Audrey Waiting for the Dinosaur Drop

I went on this roller coaster with Audrey and I’m pretty sure it wasn’t designed for anyone older than the age of 10. I wedged myself in on a tight angle and tried to get the bottom side of my legs as close to the seat as possible.

Wedging into the Roller Coaster with Audrey

Roller Coaster with Audrey

Audrey came on the Rattlesnake Rapids ride with us and Jeana told her that if she felt scared to just scream like her aunt Gina. We approached a dark corridor and Audrey started screaming with a shrill high pitched sound and her face looked horrified. I had the hardest time not laughing.

Embracing Rattlesnake Rapids

Canoeing at Jordanelle

Scott — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 03:58:41 +0000

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

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

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

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

Jeana in a kayak

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

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).

Moab

Scott — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 03:47:37 +0000

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

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

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

Kate dying of thirst in Arches

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.

State Lines 2008

Scott — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 02:54:29 +0000

Stopping at state lines is fun to me. Our friends, Scot and Becca, have taken pictures of their daughter Riley with a stuffed animal to show how she has grown over the last year. I think taking photos at state lines is my equivalent.

Each time we approached a state line this last trip, we debated whether we should stop or not because Kate was usually asleep at those times. Her sleeping schedule was all over the place during this vacation, and the last thing we wanted was Grumpy Grumperson in the back seat!

A Hint of New Mexico - 2008

We really need to plan something to do in Colorado because our route just clips the southwest corner of the state.

Audrey and Kate in Colorado - 2008

Jeana and the girls in Colorado - 2008

Idaho actually turned out to be a quick, unexpected trip. We decided we would go see my grandma in Blackfoot since we don’t get to see her very often.

Scott and the girls in Idaho - 2008

Another way we justified the trip to Idaho was to also make a trip up to Yellowstone National Park in Montana. Pictures will come later of course. We had talked up Old Faithful for weeks before our trip and I was excited to take the girls to a place I went so many times as a kid.

Scott and the girls in Montana - 2008

There’s no place like home. Driving back into Texas is such a good feeling because two-thirds of the drive is done!

Scott and the girls driving back into Texas

Sweethearts

Scott — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 06:28:58 +0000

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 #2

Guitar Hero

Scott — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 12:41:53 +0000

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

Scott — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 12:33:48 +0000

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.”

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.

Temple Square

Scott — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 12:16:53 +0000

Matt and Gina decided to take their family to Temple Square on Sunday morning before our reunion in Park City. We decided to do this instead of go to church with our old ward in Sandy (sorry Bangerters). The kids enjoyed walking around the grounds looking at the reflection pool and the other water around the buildings there. We walked through the south visitors’ center and saw that the displays have changed a lot since we were there last. I thought the life size models of prophets like Joseph Smith, Mormon, Moses, and others were cool for the kids to see.

Kate, Audrey, Maren, and Ashtin sitting at Temple Square.

Kate, Audrey (semi-hidden), Ashtin, Maren, Reagan, Braeton

Reflection of the Salt Lake temple in the reflection pool at Temple Square.