Kentucky and so forth and so on.

The long national nightmare is over. We post again. Maybe that means the long national nightmare is just beginning.
In June we went to Louisville to visit aunts and uncles and cousins and had a lot of fun (though we were sad we didn't get down to Bham). They have a really fun place and it was very pretty. Though it was difficult to get the boys to realize that in between Wii sessions.
I'm on a plane, Dad.

At the races. We didn't bet anything, but we sure felt like it when everyone else was cheering.

Poor Barbaro.

Visiting stadiums is a traditio of ithe in-laws, so it's kind of ours now too.

The Utes play Louisville this year. I wanted to talk trash the whole time we were there.

You should see their place. It's a lot of fun. Lots of rope swings too.

I love these girls.

Good company at the swimming pool

At the entrance to Mammoth Caves. It's pretty cool. Literally. The temperature drops 15 or 20 degrees in about 50 steps down.

Birds that are comfortable with humans are a little bit scary, in my opinion.

Watch out!

Fun day at the Cincinnati zoo. Poor girl was sick all day.

Louisville temple.

June 20th I went with my sister and some friends to compete in the Huntington triathlon. It was rewarding, especially the walking out of the lake part and the finish line part.
Just thought I'd give you all a taste of the good stuff.

Bike to run transition

M at the finish line. She's even smiling.

Unbelievably cute, and good supporters too.

Finally painting to get ready to sell the house. What great help.

Our painting princess.

Up the canyon with the aunties.

She'll just wrap herself right around your finger

4th of July partying

Like I said...

So if you know anyone looking for a cute house in Price, send them our way. We really have put it up for sale - not going to Atlanta though, basically just around the corner.

Grand Canyon rim to rim - sort of

Our varsity and venture scouts left on Memorial Day to backpack through the Grand Canyon. They started on the North rim and planned on exiting the South on Friday morning. They needed someone to shuttle cars and I volunteered for a couple of reasons. I'm not in the YM anymore, but I still had some priests on the trip, and ever since I had some friends do this in high school, I've wanted to. So on Thursday I left with a neighbor and drove to the north rim, picked up two cars and drove to the south to leave the cars. He couldn't hike, so he stayed and waited for them to come up the next day. I had a pair of shoes to deliver to a friend who had busted through his, so I went down 5 miles and met them at Indian Garden campground for their last night. I got in about 7:30 and was supremely confident that I would be able to keep up my 3 mile an hour pace for the remaining 19 miles, so I predicted I would be done in about 7 more hours of hiking. Shows you how dumb I am. I failed to respect the fact that in the last 6 miles of the hike, you gain 6200 feet. Because I was packing light, I only took a solar blanket to sleep in that night. It was so loud I kept up the other leader next to me all night. I really am dumb. It rained for a couple of hours as well, so by about 3:00 I was ready to abandon my plans to leave around 5:00, so I just took off about 3:30 - alone (you people that abandoned me - you know who you are). It was actually a magnificent experience, and whoever came up with the especially creative name 'Grand Canyon' was really on to something. The climb up the North rim was brutal and seemed to go on forever, but I made it out safe and sound at 12:30 - thinking that I'd never do that again. But actually - if anybody wants to - just let me know. A few things: 1- Mule urine really really stinks 2-I met a hermit with no teeth that lives at ribbon falls for weeks at a time, hiding from the rangers 3-I met the funniest German couple with twin 5 year old boys 4-I met an even funnier English chap 5-I met a couple from Price that I had never met before - in the bottom of the Grand Canyon 6-Mule urine really stinks. Thanks to M for letting me take off for a few days to do this.

All fat and happy Thursday evening on the South rim.

Rim to rim to rim runners leave at like 2 in the morning and run down this. I would break my leg four times in the first mile.

Black long sleeve shirt, black vest. Stay classy.Colorado river.

I cannot take artsy photos.

Coming down

Warning - do not do what you are about to do.

Going up.Ribbon falls
The post-mortem

Grandfathers and fathers and sons

Last weekend was all about the boys going into the desert for Aaronic Priesthood commemoration while the girls stayed home and did pricess-y activities. I'll give them a little face time here at the beginning.

Here she is looking all growed up.
So the sun has finally warmed things up down here, and she couldn't be happier about it. She is addicted to her vitamin D.

N has been climbing up the walls like this for a while, so this was a major rite of passage for B to figure out that he could do it too.

Wondering what to do about this new environment.

After Friday night at Staker Springs (by the way - the San Rafael swell is the site of the Vulcan homeworld in the new Star Trek movie - see if you can spot Spock anywhere in these pictures), we went on a hike to see one of Butch Cassidy's hideouts. This one was famous because he could light a fire here and the smoke would rise out of the canyon half a mile away. Before I got there B had taken a sucker out of the Geo-cache bucket and started sucking on it. Wonder how long that was there.

Coming up out of the crevasse/ravine/canyon. We were lucky enough to have Grandpa with us to make it even more fun. He even got to remember his military days with some belly-crawling through some tough spots.

Butch Cassidy's table. It sounds good anyway.
A Blow snake we saw on the way out. It was very pretty. All the boys wanted were some lizards. I thought this was way better than lizards, but sadly, no.
We took the boys shooting afterward because they have been bugging me about it. Don't criticize the form, that's a heavy rifle.

All still alive. Thank goodness.

Wicked was incredible, by the way. Now we're getting ready for Louisville in June. Hooray!

Okay so we're not moving

I've been inundated with swine flu questions for the past 24 hours. I'd rather talk about these cute little piggies than infected yucky piggies. Here's a load o' photos.

We figured out with N (not true - he figured it out on his own) that he could learn to ride on a small bike a lot easier. Hence the pink.

Those are not cuddly blankets. Those are laser guns. Trust me.

Our Hollywood girl.

At the driving range with the boys. They were more consistent than me. The great thing about Price is that nobody was there, so we wandered onto the range and hit all the balls we wanted to.

Crazy weather day. This playing did not last long.

Uncle S after a folk dance performance. He was awesome. The kids did super. They were really into it.

Happy April Fools. They loved this joke. Kept them on all day.

Getting ready for a trip up the mountain with our neighbors.

As you can see, the boys were seriously under-helmeted. I sure am glad we didn't bonk any cabezas.

Oh, we support earth day in Price. M thought this was a missionary picture. No bikes in Paraguay, we were much too tough for that.

Getting ready to go swimming after the Draper temple open house.

Her smile will just melt you away. She's finally sitting up.

Celebrating anniversary 8 in style. We're going to see Wicked tomorrow for the real thing. I know, I'm awesome (doesn't matter if you don't think so, because she does.)

A good role model to grow up with.

Swimming.

It seems as if the kids are growing too fast. N has done great with soccer this year, extra cheers because we're further from baseball. A asked me the other day if I had ever broken my face. That's family support for you, eh? B keeps asking when we're going to have another baby. Don't ask B, don't ask.

We're moving!

This has been kind of secret. Really secret actually. But I applied for a job with the CDC, got it, and now we're moving to Atlanta. I start July 1. We're kind of freaking out right now because we only found out last week. We'll make it happen somehow.

The smell fire.

A found one of her toys the other day sitting in the top of a scented candle (of course we put it there on purpose). She was excited and ran in to tell everyone. Mom asked her where she found it and she said "I found it in the smell fire." We thought that was such a clever way of describing that. Yesterday B was in a bad mood all afternoon and after dinner he finally started cheering up. A said "Thanks for being so happy, B." What a delight. Some of the pictures I've posted make little B seem kind of somber. These are more like it.

Love the hair. Love it.

Our dynamite KNex windmill. I wanted to post the close up version to crop out the jammies, but Melody deserves credit, and we did go to a BYU basketball game the other day and it was pretty fun.

So this is not a flattering picture. But the thought is pretty cute. And I love A's mouth.

This is the boys' favorite activity nowadays. Anyone else remember sliding down the stairs in their sleeping bag? N made me go down and it about broke me and the stairs.

I'm not very good at this

I have quickly come to realize that I'm not very good at this. Oh well. It is what it is. We've had a sickness-filled January. First B, then A, then N, then little B, with a little parent whining in there as well. A has taken it the hardest and, by extension, us. She is normally the sweetest girl on the planet, but sickness changes her to Ms. Hyde. Maybe that's growing up as well. Sure hope not. N is really into basketball now and plays in even the coldest weather. B is Mr. Giggles. He has a great giggle, and when he decides to be the center of attention, it's a wonder. Little B is smiling all the time now, but laughing has her a bit concerned. She acts as if it'll all blow up if she laughs. She'll get there. Mom is nervous about hosting her first book club, and wants it to be memorable (she also wants the basement finished before then - ha!) I just started training for the June triathlon (I have to learn how to swim - someone should have told me ahead of time).
This is just to spite my lovely bride. That - and we own BYU right now.

I love her hair in pig-tails.

Blue lips - very exciting.

Hi. I look exactly like N did when he was this age (minus the extreme combover).

She does have blue eyes. Where in the world...?