Windy

poor tree

Roller Derby

Oh yea! I have found a new obsession (ok obsession might be too strong a word) in Roller derby. This is where Pete and I went (with another couple) last Saturday night, and I am hooked. So I have always loved roller skating when I was younger, and after seeing the Movie Whip It last year, Pete bought me my own pair for Christmas. Turns out though, roller skating is really hard! It tires us out, our goal is just to skate for a 10 minute stretch before resting, its that hard. So with our love of roller skating newly refreshed, we bought tickets to the bout and went to find out what it is all about, and I am in love with it. As Pete put it, every aspect of this sport screams Laura, and he is fully behind me trying out for the team....it can't have anything to do with their short shorts.... All of the players have cool funky names and little outfits and shticks to go with it, and then the actual sport is awesome, just enough aggression, with no actual fighting on wheels no less. Loved it! The whole thing was just a lot of fun, and yes we have been brainstorming for the last few days what our roller derby names would be, and yes I am planning this years Halloween Costume right now.

Memorial Day Weekend - Boulder Utah

Always on the go - and looking for new spots to camp/ hike/ four wheel - we reserved a spot at the Boulder Mountain Guest Ranch for the Memorial Day weekend. I was turned on to the town by a couple of co-workers who worked there last summer. I was told that it was an awesome outdoor spot, with tons of four wheeling trails, and I was sold, also the fact that they had openings when I called in February didn't hurt either.

We had never been to Boulder Utah, nor had I heard of it, but it is in the southeastern part of Utah, near the Grand Staircase Escalante National Park. The Cabin that we stayed in, only had 9 rooms, which kept it very quaint and quiet, also the staff there was awesome, very laid back and friendly. Overall the weekend was a success, just entirely too short! We had so many more things we wanted to do, but ran out of time. (and energy)

We went on this awesome hike to a waterfall called Calf Creek, it was an amazing hike, visually, and not too tough terrain. It was only 80 degrees or so, but we felt like we were burning! A lot of the trail was red rock and sand, which can be hard to trek through, and yes we took our dog. Sushi was awesome for the first half (3 miles) she was jumping up the rocks and we were so impressed with our little trekking dog.

The kids had a lot of fun, there were a lot of rocks and caverns to explore, and of course lots of lizards and snakes!

This is Annie and Dan and little Gabe posing under a tree.

And then we turned a corner and there was the falls, and it was really visually stunning, made the whole trek worth while. Unfortunately the water was freezing!

But the kids had fun, playing in the sand. Then they devised an ingenious way to climb up the wet slick rock, by carrying the sand up and covering the rock to give them traction, so that they could climb up, and then slide down. Fun to be had by everyone.

This is Emilee Fike with little Sophie and Annie with Gabe. - Unfortunately the hike back was another 3 miles in the heat, and our dog was finished. Pete had to pick her up and carry her, and it was pretty embarrassing.

There was also plenty of four wheeling trails, some groomed just for ATVs which is always a nice bonus. We went out on all 5 of the ATVs up Hell's Backbone Road to find a bridge called - what else Hell's Backbone Bridge.

The actual ride was really cool, there are tons of drop offs and chasms, that gave my height anxiety a run for the money, but the scenery was amazing!

The bridge was not very long, which was good for me, (fear of heights and all). I thought it was going to be like half a mile long, but it wasn't, but my heart still stopped every time Cadence leaned over the edge to look at how far down it was.

This bridge was created to loggers along time ago, when they had no way to get from one mountain side to the other, so they felled giant trees and laid them down across the chasm, and then drove across on those two logs. Yikes! The original log bridge is still intact underneath the road bridge, and it took about 2 seconds for Dan to hop the railing and start climbing around underneath.

So of course all the men had to do, brave maybe, but I kept thinking about them scooting across on logs, and I held my breath until I saw Pete again.

Here is my brother Adam, leaning over the edge. - Overall the trip was very cool, and I can't wait to plan another trip back there for a longer length of time. I didn't get any pics of the guest ranch that we stayed at, but we thought it was great, and I fell in love with that area, and that part of Utah. We went out to eat at the Hell's Backbone Grill, (which has been on Oprah - snooty snoots) but it was delicious, and the scenery and fishing was really awesome as well. And who doesn't love a place that sets aside trails just for four wheeling and keeps them groomed and safe? Loved it.

Vegas - Savior of the World

I know that I am super behind in my blogging and I am trying to catch up as much as I can. I had a friend say "oh I read your blog and you are always so busy!" - Really? Apparently I need to start blogging about the days where I wear my work out clothes all day (for lack of a shower) and watch a mini series all day. - That would show how stimulating my life really is. hehe. Anyways, enough of the rant. Cadence was off track and we filled a good 4-5 days in Vegas. It was a good distraction for us, and also Kris (my sister) was in a musical called The Savior of the World. So all in all we had some good reasons to go for a road trip.

This is Cadence (above) with her Cousin, who is only 6 but the two got along really well. Not sure who that speaks more about. This little dress she has on is one I made her for her birthday, cute huh?

Our days were filled with leisure, and I loved it! The second day we were there it reached 90 - and we went swimming. This was Cadence's main goal for going - to swim. The other days I should mention, were blustery and windy and overcast, but the Cadence still swam, just without me.

I know Kris felt apologetic for being so busy while we were there, but we did not mind at all. We ate out at super yummy restaurants, went shopping, I read an entire book, and I might have even snuck in a little nap. I would never have been able to do those things at home, I would be too concerned with garden, house etc. It was a great relaxing time!

The main reason for our trip was to see Kris sing in the LDS musical Savior of the World. I was really proud of Kris for auditioning for something and taking a chance. The musical is focused on the people around Jesus, chronicling his arrival and his departure, it was very moving.

I was really impressed, the musical was well done, professional and featured a lot of great voices. And yes these photos were taken during the show with my flash photography, so bad, but I got a great shot of my sister, and of the ensemble cast in the final song.

What's in a name?

When I was younger, I overheard a conversation my father had with someone in our church. The man said to my dad, "Keith, I appreciate your job, because your title tells me everything." My dad is an architect. We all know the first and foremost small talk question is "What do you do?" And in this day and age, does the job title tell us anything? There are so many crazy job tittles out there that I can understand what a relief it is when you ask someone this and they tell you something like "a teacher" "a plumber" or "an architect". These days it seems that a plumber would no longer be called a plumber - maybe an intake and outtake fluid specialist. Sound better to me too.

So with the hubby's new job, came a new title. Frankly I am not sure what his last one was, it was something like Data Warehouse Architect - uh huh I have no idea either, and when he got promotions, they would add extra words on like manager or director, which some off you might now that he only managed himself, unless you count those people in India. I usually ended up telling people that my husband worked with computers, programming and what not. Well now he is not even programming so I think I have to stop saying that, especially since he is not in the IT department anymore. So enough stalling, what is his title? Junior BioInformatist! I am probably not even spelling it right - oh well. I told him this is what I am going to tell people right of the bat, because really how would you respond to this? "What does your husband do?" "Oh my husband? he is just a junior bioinformatists but we are crossing our fingers he becomes a senior!" Really so confusing these days. And no I do not really know what it means, but you can buy the BioInformatist for Dummies book.

Let see what Wikipedia has to say - "Bioinformatics is the application of statistics and computer science to the field of molecular biology." hmm sounds impressive though doesn't it? I think I need to start wearing fancy dresses to the grocery store, hosting Tupperware parties and drinking long island ice teas, or maybe that is the 50's housewife stereotype (don't know why I went there).

Sigh - My title you might ask (ok I know you didn't) - Senior Event Captain - So do I trump his Junior since I am a Senior?

MS Walk

This is the Team - Team Help Momma - the team that we walked with and fundraised for. Can you see Cadence? Or Me? Well me neither but we are there. This was for a girl in our Girl Scout Troop - whose Grandma is inflicted with this devastating disease. Cadence was a great fundraiser - she really threw herself into this and raised a little over 300 dollars! She donated $50 of her own. We were pretty proud of her. The walk started at the Gateway mall - and we were off with great spirits!

This is Cadence's back, and I will save you the suspense - the walk started to get pretty painful for everyone all around. Painful for the kids since 3.5 miles is pretty long, and it was pretty sunny and hot - and painful for the adults since we had to stop and take many breaks and there were more then a few whines and complaints. Long story short, this 5K walk took us 2 hours. yep. However, this was really rewarding and Cadence exclaimed after how proud she was of herself.

The girls were allowed the chance to volunteer some of there time, putting together the goodie bags with snacks and water, and also blowing up the helium balloons that people were given to release. The girls were great and really liked getting into the spirit of everything, and they were also working on their disability patch.

Even Sushi got into the mix and ended up walking for the cure!

Now I have been asked why we have decided to get behind this cause, and on this walk I really had some time to think about my motivation, partly because at the beginning they handed us note cards for us to fill out that prompted you to finish the statement "I walk because..." and I wanted to really think about what I would write. Like I said above this walk was rewarding and emotional, there were plenty of people that you could tell were obviously affected by this disease. There were many people using canes and walkers and leg braces, but they were still walking! I could see many families rallying around an individual, cheering them on and supporting them. I could see the pain in their faces, at the physical toll it was taking on their bodies, but they kept going, they wanted to walk because they still could. They were going to push their bodies for as long as they still could. At one point in front of us, one man was crossing a pretty big intersection, and his legs went out from underneath him and he went down hard. Many people rushed to help him, and he shooed them away claiming "he could do it". He got himself up and kept on going, obviously in pain. I really was so touched, and I knew that I would fill out my card, "I walk because I never want to take for granted the strength and ability that God has given me." I don't always take care of my body like I should, I drink way too much diet soda, and don't exercise regularly, and I love (love) food. This was a touching reminder of how much I do take for granted, that my legs are going to work when I get up in the morning, that I can run and dance, if I would just will it. I keep all this in mind, and all that I have been given, and I don't have to think very hard as to why I fundraise for MS.

Two Weeks Off Track

Super negligent I know! we have been so busy the last few weeks that I think I forgot to breath... anywho Cadence was off track for two weeks, always a source of aggravation for me, but we did some pretty fun things in that two weeks. First up we met up with the Dahls, our old neighbors from South Salt Lake, whom we miss dearly living next door to them. Cute Ezra is still in preschool and so he has more free time then most friends, so we took a tour of the Sweet Candy Factory together. We had to wear hair nets and stay in the yellow lines, but there were plenty of free samples! Yea why haven't I been here before?

On another day we went with our girl scout troop on a tour of the Hale theater. The Hale theater has been a tradition in my family since before I was born I think (it's called the Glendale Theater in LA, and then Hale family retired to Utah and opened another one!), so we were pretty excited for this field trip. Unfortunately my excitement outstripped the actual event, but it was still fairly interesting. The tour guide talked on (forever!) but she did have the girls do some fun improv activities which Cadence really got into, especially when she was singled out for her wonderful catwalk and got to demonstrate it for everyone. We also got to go down in the stage area, where they were practicing the stage (the Hale theater stage goes up and down and turns in circles) and then some actors came out and practiced their sword fighting for the play that was currently showing, which was none other then "The Three Musketeers"!

I still have pictures of Cadence's MS walk, going to Vegas and the Hollywood Connection Sleepover, but I think those all merit separate posts.