Yea for Camping

This was us before the big ride up Snow Basin, dressed to impress. 

We left just after school and work on Friday to leave our worries behind or at least my worries of school and pharm behind to go to the far corners of Utah near snow basin. It was pretty extreme but luckily no wild raccoons eat our food. We eat the Lovell tradition of tin foil dinners, which turned our amazing thanks to Ashley. In the morning we woke up to fried eggs and bagels w/out bacon nor a spatula to flip the eggs so needless to say we had a little extra oil and carcinogens from the melted plastic fork flipper. As always when you camp it was the best food ever!! As Ashley said I would never had eaten this at home but at the moment this is the best @#!% fried egg bagel I've ever had. (This may not be her exact words, but I am sure she said something similar) All and all it turned out great and we can not wait to do it again. The only disappointment was when Ashley and I learned that not every park ranger is the most helpful person; our prior experiences have told us other wise. He was nice though. 

This was our camp site just before we put everything in the car. Take a close look at Lindsey.

Wasatch Back

 Waddoups and Wannabees. Great job everyone!

First, let me just say that my post might be slightly more interesting if I didn't spend most of my time trying to figure out how to get my pictures in the place (left/center/right), order, size, etc. that I wanted rather than how they usually just end up with writing at the first and then a long list of pictures.  It seems simple enough, but apparently not. Therefore you will get a brief summary of the Wasatch Back because I'm tired of sitting at the computer.

We had a great time, much better than last year. This is because we didn't feel so sick all through the night and in to the morning. Rather than sitting in the Honey Buckets we actually cheered on our team.  The weather was hotter this year, especially on the second day and that made it more difficult.  They added slightly more miles, but we still finished faster.  They added 1/3 more teams, which made it nearly impossible to reach some exchanges in time to switch runners...which was really frustrating.  We brought sponges to drench our runners in which was heaven.  The route was gorgeous. The hills are killers but so rewarding.  The company was great, go team...Lindsey & Jace, Kris (Lindsey's co-worker), Chad, Mark & Lorene, Joce, Greta, Neil (all belonging to the Waddoups somehow), and Mike (Brent's friend).  Brent and I may have waken up to a bird bouncing on our head in Heber. True- I promise.  And maybe best of all was when Brent and I went to bed at 6 pm and didn't wake up again until 8 am the next day. Love it.

Looking so fresh.

 Mike - Thanks for joining us, thanks for training, and thanks for the snowball.

Neil. Please ignore the Laker's headband. It was embarrassing but we couldn't give him a hard time because we wanted him to run well.  

Greta and Joce 

 Me running up Snowbasin road.  It is hard to tell if my feet were actually coming off the ground or just shuffling, but at least I was running rather than walking like my roadkill in the background. 

Trying to get sleep after our first legs but it was kind of difficult at 6 pm with a full sun.

 

 Waiting for Greta in the middle of the night. Station 19 was awesome.  The volunteers did a great job having some decor and the announcer of the runners had endless energy and great music (Hard Day's Night really got us pumped up).

 Our shadows in this picture were amazing. We had no heads and an extra shady appendage between our legs. 

 Brent was getting so excited for the night run. I used the second picture so you could enjoy our glow sticks.

I looked really gross having just finished my second run, but I like this photo. 

 Despite the heat and the dust Brent hustled up the Ragnar leg up Guardsman Pass. Not easy.

 Mike coming down Deer Valley.  He is so happy because he just threw a snowball into the car. It was awesome.

Hello Seattle

We made our annual trip to Seattle this year for Sean's wedding. Sean is one of Brent's best friends from Yakima.  It was a great time.  Salt Lake and Seattle exchanged weather so we had sunny 80 degree weather days while it was pouring and cold in SLC.  Blake and Sheena were generous enough to let us stay at their house in Bothell. I'd like to say that you guys have done a great job with your house and especially your yard. It was fun spending some time with them. I also visited Juliann and her boys for a bit on Satuday morning while the boys were busy being groomsmen.  

The wedding was at a golf club in Bellingham and it was beautiful.  During the ceremony the sun lit up Mt. Baker perfectly, and the whole view from the balcony was amazing. To explain some of the pictures, for some unknown reason the groomsmen had fake mustaches (luckily, not during the ceremony). Blake looked creepy in his, although it looks totally real in the picture below. However, Sheena and I looked great in the mustaches.  The wedding was fun and Sean and Jenny looked great and put on a great party. Congratulations guys. It was also fun to see some of Brent's friends again and meet some of his other friends I had never met before.  

On Sunday we went on a stroll through the Bothell countryside. You should know that we found a piece of property we will be buying soon. It is 4.7 acres and has tons of natural grass and flowers, backs up to the forest, and has a haunted mansion on it.  I would like to buy it...if only I had $430,000.

We had a great time. I guess that since I called it our annual trip, we'll have to go again next year. 

    

   

Lightening Storms Are My Favorite

I am pretty proud of this picture!

This thunder Storm was amazing, and I am currently still enjoying it as I sit on my front porch and watch the lighting bolt across the sky. I hope if you are in Utah you enjoyed this storm as well or are currently enjoying it. NATURE IS AWESOME!! Get out and enjoy it!

The Greenbelt

One of the very best things in Boise is the Greenbelt.  It runs along the Boise River through a bunch of parks from Lucky Peak out to Eagle.  Some of my best memories from my childhood are family bike trips on the Greenbelt.  This Memorial Day we kept those memories alive.  Not even the rain could stop us.  It took some work to round up enough bikes. I had the privilege of riding Lee's bike he got when he was 10. The fit wasn't so bad, but the broken seat that was crooked and tilted up was priceless.  Here are some photos.   

The two previous photos reminded me of this photo.

 We stopped to eat a delicious lunch mom had made. It stopped raining just long enough for us to play some sand volleyball. Jimmi is really into Volleyball lately.  We split up teams with spouses on opposite teams so we wouldn't create any marital discord.  There were some really great dives from my team but we still lost both games.  Jimmi got the air knocked out of him pretty bad in one dive. Volleyball can be a dangerous sport. Despite the heavy and wet sand, we had a great time.  

My Parentals

I think my parents are really really great.  They are always willing to do anything with us even if they know they aren't going to be the best or the fastest.  Plus, they look really great and dorky doing it.  I post this only out of love because I really do think you guys are the greatest.  For example....

Jimmi managed to turn a playground into a race course that included different sets of bars, rings, and monkey bars.  We didn't think my dad was going to contribute, but he made a pass at it.  It took double the time, but made the course and had no time penalties because he found ways not to hit the ground with his feet.  Way to go dad.

 Pure class.  I can't stop laughing right now.  This was part of our bike ride in the rain.  Not many people can style a rain jacket this well.  At least she didn't get rain on her glasses.

Back to McCall

Just over a year after our little honeymoon to McCall, we returned for part of Memorial Day weekend.  This time it was slightly less romantic because my whole family was there. It was still a great time as McCall always  is.  It was classic Memorial Day weekend with rain and colder temperature.  I guess we just got really lucky last year with our amazing weather.  We took the family on a hike to Goose Creek Falls. Kudos to Kaley because she carried Jack the whole way and Jimmi as well because he carried Madison for a while on the way uphill while she tried to lean over and reach every tree along the trail.  Here are some of the highlights of the trek.

I look stupid in this photo, but I also look very happy.  I love a good hike.

 Apparently we are at of practice with the jumping shots.  It also didn't help that we were about 30 yards away from the camera and had no idea when they were snapping the shot.  I have a great face.  If you want a great article, search on the New York Times for jumpology.  It explains why jumping photos are so great.  

 The falls.

 Everyone at the bottom of the falls.   Madison was saying cheese the whole time for her photo, but refused to look at the camera.

 Look at Madison go.  We are all old and tired and needing a break before heading back, but she just keeps on hiking.  A child after my own heart.  I told her we would take her backpacking this summer.  She can take her Barbie backpack and we'll help her out with the rest.

 I just really like this photo. We all look really good. My dad's girlfriend Pam came along too for the hike if you're wondering who is in the background.  Classy Lindsey and Jace.  I love Kaley posing for the camera like she is posing for a professional family photo. Nice.

 Brent's photography.

Catch Up

This blog is going to have a lot of pictures and not tons of writing. Brent and I haven't been very good at our blog lately. I think we only have 5 or 6 readers so I'm sure nobody is too disappointed. At least you can have some kind of an idea about what has been going on in our lives other than moving.  Here we go.  

Brent did some backcountry skiing with his buddy Mike.  Thanks for taking him Mike.  He'd be too bored going with me.  

 Madison is pretty cute, even with the haircut her cousin gave her.  We took her to POJO's in Boise. It is like a Boondocks/Arcade for those of you who don't know.  She was a little to young for the games, but really enjoyed the carousel, the snoopy flying machine, and choosing all the prizes from the tickets we won for her. 

 Kaley had another baby.  I  love him. Jack Danger Sparling.  This isn't his best picture but it's all I have and he still looks pretty darn cute.  

 Easter came and went, and I had the pleasure of working.  Still, we dyed some eggs and I introduced Brent to the shrinking plastic things that go around the eggs. 

 We did some skiing.  Mostly we just wanted to be biking.  I have truly converted Brent.  He even says he loves biking more than skiing.  Of course we still love skiing too.  This picture is pretty terrible but what other kind of face can you expect from a bluebird day when the sun is super bright on the snow and you get first tracks in Mineral?

 We had a Cinco de Mayo party with Molly/Tyler and Becca/Josh. We made tacos, Becca brought Salsa and a pinata, and Molly made tres leches. Mmmmm. It was so good. We finally found an occasion to use our Ragnar medals as something other than an alarm system on our front door.  The pinata was pretty awesome as you can see.

 Here are tons of pictures of our new house.  The flowers are awesome.  We keep waiting for a sunny warm day so we can get some good pictures of our flowers open and pretty, but it is cold/rainy/snowy in SLC.  So this is the best we have for now.  

 

 The house is all put together now. The pictures would have been better if I would have turned on the lights, but didn't think about it.

 Food storage.  So happy about this closet.

 The creepy cellar that I am a little afraid of and haven't even been down to yet. Becca has though. That is good enough for me.

 Tomatoes, onions, beans, green peppers, jalepeno, flowers that look better when it is sunny.

And finally, we had an anniversary.  1 year. Started out the day with a delicious breakfast.  Went to the Sugarhouse Criterium. Nothing too exciting.  We're saving that for our August trip again.  

Oh yes.  We also did a 1000 piece Seattle puzzle.  Lovely.  

Now you should know that I just got called into work at 4 pm. Lame. No time to improve this post or to add another post about Memorial Day, or to even review my spelling or grammer. Hopefully I made some laughable mistakes.  Enjoy!