Lone Peak 2015

In September of last year, Taylor, Parker and I made our annual trek up Lone Peak.  Such a fun tradition!  This time we took Molly with us.  She did great.  We even had a sleeping bag for her to cuddle into during the night.  It was a bit of an adventure trying to get her to fall sleep, but I think she eventually did.

As usual we packed all of our gear in.  We took in the beautiful views, cooked over an open fire and enjoyed the silence and serenity of nature.  On the way back down we stopped at the waterfall and took a very cold dip in the river.  (Forgive us for our less-than-manly squeals as we laid down in the frigid water!)  Here are some pictures as well as some video of the waterfall.

The "resting rock" in the meadow that is about the half-way point:

Beautiful sunset!

Parker brings up water from the river for cooking and drinking:

 Parker needed some pictures of nature for a biology class:

Sophi Getting Ready To Play On Her Bike

Dr. Seuss

Wednesday was Dr. Seuss' birthday.  When Christi happened to make scrambled eggs for dinner that night, Sophi suggested...Green Eggs and Ham!  Yummy:)

Dating in Utah

When I grew up in Oregon, if you wanted to go to a dance with a particular person, you asked them.  It was pretty simple (yet oh so painfully difficult at times!;).  Here in Utah things are different.  You don't just say, "Hey, would you like to go to the dance with me?"  Instead, you come up with some creative way to ask.  And the other person comes up with some creative way to respond.  The Sadie Hawkins dance is coming up, and Taylor came home to this on our front porch:

So cute!  What a fun way to do things.  After a conversation with Christi, he decided to bake some of his famous rolls (thanks, Grandma Rose, for the recipe!) to answer:

In case you can't read it, it says: "I know this is a crazy way to answer, but just 'Roll' with it.  -T   PS. Yes, I did make these myself."

Pretty cool, kid.  It's fun to watch our teenagers mature and experience such fun things.  Way to go, Tay!

-Dad

Ancestors

Over the years, Christi has helped all of our kids (except Elli) do a homework project on their ancestors.  A favorite subject of this project is Christoffer Larsen, our kids' great great grandfather on Christi's side.  Born in Norway in 1875, Christoffer picked berries to help earn money for his family to immigrate to America.  I find it really quite wonderful to watch our kids learn about their heritage.  I find it especially great that our adopted kids have both their biological heritage in China and an adoptive heritage from many countries in Europe.

Sophi did a great job presenting her project at school!  Here is our proud little girl:

This is Christoffer Larsen and his wife Lily:

Throwback Thursday

Taylor has loved basketball from a young age:)

Elli never was one for looking at the camera...

Best friends!

Parker and his sweet friend, Daisy

Superheroes

Marvel Universe Live came to Salt Lake City a couple of weeks ago and I won two tickets!  Xander and I went on an awesome daddy date:).  They were VIP tickets that included a meet and greet, snacks and a gift bag with some swag.  The two of us took TRAX into Salt Lake and had great evening.  Such fun memories with such a great kid!

 The guy playing Spider-man was absolutely awesome!!!

Caveat Emptor!

You have to assume that anytime you see a disclaimer it's because someone actually suffered the fate that said disclaimer warns you against.  When I saw this sign, I had to chuckle as I thought of the poor Mormon mother who came sobbing into the grocery store, distraught that 10-year-old Johnny was drunk...

Jer

Christmas Eve Sledding:)

I had Christmas Eve off this year.  I love long holiday weekends with the family.  We drove down to the local sledding hill and had some fun!  It was Conner's first time sledding:)