Best Father's Day ever!

Last week Taylor and Parker (who are only here because coronavirus brought them home for a short respite from their missions in Mexico) surprised me with a canyoneering trip for Father's Day. They had wanted to do all the planning and packing and then just spring it on me, but they quickly realized that in the planning phases they were a little over their heads. So we planned it together. And Christi came too! Perfect getaway before they headed back out to finish their missions.

We did Dragonfly and Moonflower in Moab. Great canyons with some really big drops, some fun and easy potholes and a short slot section. Thank you guys!

On Father's Day itself, Christi made me my favorite dessert: Key Lime Cake (thank you for the recipe Erin and Denise Christiansen!!!). It takes a few hours to make, so she only does it once a year:). I feel so spoiled. And Sophi and Lexi got me a fantastic pair of Bose Headphones. All in all I came out pretty good!

At least I had an amazing view as I hitchhiked back to the car!

Staring down a 200 footer!

Parker does a Spider-man! (Intentionally locks off and hangs upside down 😮:

Another 200 foot drop

Thank you sweetie! So delicious:)

Canyoneering Heroes!

The last week of May, a group of seven of us took on Granary Canyon in Moab. 13 rappels, 13 hours, 6 miles all culminating in a 330-foot rappel overlooking the Colorado River. AMAZING trip! So fun. So much fun to spend the day with Christi, Taylor, Parker, Christi's brothers Matthew and Danny and Danny's [now] fiancé Krystal. Great trip with a great group. Enjoy some pics and video:)

The last video of Christ doing the entire big rappel is a bit long, but it gives a good perspective on what it's like.

-Jer

This may be my favorite pic. Love the teamwork!

Are you kidding me?!?

Parker volunteered to go first on the big drop. What a man!

Taylor's view as he drops down.

Notice the tiny speck of a person against the skyline at the top of the cliff.

We made it!!!

Sophi Shines On!

Four years ago, Barcroft Media made a beautiful video about our sweet Sophi. Barcroft has rebranded themselves as "truly." In April, they reached out to us about doing an update video. Since it was during quarantine, they asked Taylor to do all of the camera work. Great job Taylor! Here is the new video and below that is the original video from 2016.

Brutal Honesty

I have struggled to stay at a healthy, comfortable weight most of my adult life. For the most part, I have stayed in a range that has allowed me to do many of the activities I enjoy: hiking, camping, canyoneering, lots of outdoor stuff. But my weight has definitely inhibited my ability to do some of these things as well or as comfortably as I would like to. I stopped playing pick up basketball and skiing largely because of my weight. Over the years, being overweight has also made buying clothes a chore rather than something fun. It can be challenging to find clothing I feel good wearing. Because of this, I have never been fond of gifts of clothing from others. Christi has learned this the hard way, as I have not shown much gratitude (translation: I've been very grouchy!) when she buys shirts for me. So she doesn't buy them very often.

Recently I have lost enough weight that it is noticeable. Thinking that now I would love it if she bought me clothes (insert eye roll here), Christi came home with a shirt for me the other day. I tried it on and didn't really like the way it fit. She insisted it looked great on me, but I wasn't sold. So she gave it to Taylor. Yesterday Taylor was wearing the shirt. As he walked in our room, Christi said to me, "I can't believe you don't like that shirt!" I replied, "I don't like it on ME. It looks great on Taylor." Taylor who is about 10% body fat. Taylor who has been working a landscaping job for the last month and a half and has developed more muscles than he's ever had before. But she wanted me to try it on again, so I did. I looked in the mirror and pointed out the ways it didn't look good on me. "It just looks so much better on Taylor!" I said. At this point Tay chimed in: "Well dad, to be brutally honest, pretty much all of your shirts would look better on me." We all cracked up. He continued: "And to be fair, pretty much all of my shirts would look better on Chris Hemsworth."

Point well taken, son. I should probably be a little less picky about how I look in a given shirt, especially if my sweet wife took the time to pick it out and she likes it on me.

-Jeremy

Bittersweet Moments

I now have new motivation to blog regularly!  We have a son who has left the house.  All his life we've wanted to Taylor to someday attend college and become independent.  But when that day came (last Wednesday) it was so bittersweet.  We are so proud of him.  He is a freshman at BYU.  He earned enough scholarship money to pay for his first year's tuition.  He's a great person with great goals.  He's fun to be around.  He makes good choices.  And all of those things make it so hard to see him go.  Fortunately he's only a 45-minute drive away (he already came home for Labor Day!).  But we also know it will never be the same.  I miss my two-year old Taylor and my seven-year old Taylor and my 15-year-old Taylor and everything in between.  I hear that eventually grandkids make everything worth it, but I still have awhile before that happens.  In the meantime, we will eagerly await phone calls, texts and emails from our firstborn.  Hopefully he will enjoy blog posts about all of us at home.  We love you, Taylor!  And as uncle Tyler said, "What would Jeremy do during his first year of college?  Don't do that!"

Jeremy

Finally on campus!

So hard to say goodbye :(

Taylor is somewhere in that Y made up of the freshman class of 2018

Valentines Crooners

Taylor and Parker are fundraising for a humanitarian trip to Ghana this summer.  They will be building an orphanage, which, of course, is something that is really dear to their hearts.  As they were brainstorming with Christi, trying to come up ways to raise money, someone had the brilliant idea of singing telegrams for Valentines Day.  So glad they ran with it!!! 😂

Silver Lake

Last summer Taylor and Parker decided they wanted to go backpacking with a couple of their friends.  I took their group up to a favorite hike of mine --  Silver Lake in American Fork canyon.  We had a great time, and the boys decided to do it again this year.  So in July, just three short days after we returned from our Alaska Basin trip, we set off again into the wilderness.  (As I was driving home from the Tetons, I was seriously worried about the ability of my legs to recover in time.  Teenagers have no such issues, but as you can see from the videos of me in the water up in Alaska Basin and also on this trip, I am not built like my teenagers!)

Taylor and his friends Cohlton and Brody, Parker and his buddy Austin, had a blast.  The first portion of the hike, up to Silver Lake, isn't too steep.  The payoff is magnificent when you arrive at one of the most beautiful alpine lakes you'll ever come across.  Once at this point we had to jump in:).  

(As I watch this video, a slightly modified Sesame Street song comes to mind "Five of these guys belong together, five of these guys are kind of the same...") 

After Silver Lake, the trail gets super steep for about three fourths of a mile up to Silver Glance Lake, which is where we camped.  The camp spot up there is perfect!

To help get a feel for the steeples of this terrain, look closely for Parker and Austin in the middle of this picture...

Last year this rock was easily accessible.  This year they had to create a bridge with a dead tree to get out there...

I got a new bug net for my hammock:)

Flashlight light sabers!

The next morning we hike up another 1200 feet to the top of Red Baldy, an 11,150 foot peak.  Unbelievable panoramic views!

Taylor found this perfect zen spot last year and made sure to replicate the experience this year.

Mid-July and plenty of snow to sled down:

On the way back down, Taylor wanted to enjoy one last dip in the lake...

I am a lucky dad to have kids who enjoy the outdoors so much.  Great trip!  Love my family and love where we live:)