'Tis the Season to be Jolly!

Happy Holidays to everyone! Sorry that we haven't updated in awhile. Here are some fun things that have occured recently within our family.

We are having a blizzard! Brian told the family that it didn't really snow in Seattle - huh!!! Here are the latest pictures of our backyard. We have about 10 inches of snow. Our poor little bird feeder has snow and no more food.










Our street hasn't been plowed, so it is actually very beautiful! Here is what we see out our front door.
The kids had a blast sledding and using the little snowboard down our driveway. I wasn't concerned about how steep it was since "it doesn't snow in Seattle".

Michael and Morgan decided to taste the snow - to see if it tasted different than Utah snow....

At our ward Christmas Party, Morgan had the opportunity to see Santa. She told him she wanted Littlest Pet Shop toys.

Michael and Morgan also played games. The youth were helping to keep the younger kids entertained by playing games with them. However, I think Michael enjoyed the games more than some of the younger kids!

Michael had a Christmas band concert. He got to play his baritone sax.

The kids built a snowman the first night it snowed, but his head has been slowly sliding farther and farther over... but he is still alive, and now covered with more snow.

Outside it's very icy, our waterfall even started to freeze, so Michael and Brian had to go out and break the ice. Now it is almost covered in snow - but we dont' want the pipes to freeze, so we left it running...

Major Leg Work

Sorry about not getting this posted sooner.....

Our September campout was supposed to be a simple 20 mile bike ride down an abandoned railroad track. However, since we could not find a camp spot by where we were planning on starting we had to go a little further up the road...20 miles!! The whole trip ended up being 40 miles and began a 9:00 am and finished about 4:00 pm., but it was still fun. We were riding on the John Wayne Trail. This is a trail that used to be an old railroad line. When the tracks were moved, the state of Washington bought it and turned it into a state park. It goes for miles and miles. People hike it and bike it, there are even camp spots periodically on the trail for those going a long way and really want to get into nature. I have posted some of the pictures from the ride here. It was really a fun thing to do. Both Michael and I would do it again. Especially now that our back sides have fully recovered.
This is an idea of where we were. If you drive up here from Utah, you drive along the side of the lake pictured in the middle of the map.

This was our first stop after riding about 5 minutes. We had to make sure everything was working okay and no one needed to make any adjustements to our bikes before really starting.
We had not been on our bikes for another 15 minutes before we came to our first photo moment. We are looking down at the Yakima river.

The Yakima river we were looking at.

The first 20 miles were up hill. Man, that was a long 20 miles.....
Along the way there were camps that you could stay at if you wanted. They were all first come first serve. They were all very nice and clean and even had out houses as seen below.

About half way through the ride there is a railroad tunnel that we had to ride through.

Just before getting to the tunnel, we rode on the far side of the lake I mentioned earlier.

The tunnel is 2.7 miles and pitch dark. We all had to have head lamps on in order to see anything. While riding through the tunnel, Michael got a little mesmerized by the passing walls and veered into one, but never fell down. He did a great job staying upright. He said he was fine and just kept peddling on.

After getting through the tunnel we rested and ate some lunch and, come to find out, Michael had scrapped his hand on the wall and his finger was bloody, so we cleaned that up. No worries, all was well.

This is also when we discovered that were only a little over half of the way done with our days ride.

Along the way, we had to ride over the old railroad tressels. There was not much to these and most were very high.

This is a look over this side of one of them. I only dared get this close to the edge once. BTW...those trees are about 100 feet tall.....The rest of the time I just rode across them non-stop and was happy to be across.

A waterfall on the side of the trail.

These mountains are not so big....


A photo for Mountain Biking Magazine

Riding through the forest...This was a beautiful ride.....

Cedar Falls....Finally the end our ride, but not the trail. It continues clear down to the Columbia river and beyond.

Starting School

The kids all finally started school last week. Michael and Morgan started on the 2nd and Emilee started on the 3rd. They all are enjoying it and are making new friends. All of them have to take the bus in the morning, which is something Michael and Morgan are new to.

Morgan is going into 4th grade and is going to an elementary school nearby. She's made lots of new friends in her class, and has been playing with them lots. She recently found a turtle she named Speedy.

Michael started 7th grade this year. He is going to middle school this year. His favorite class so far is band, he is playing the saxophone and is gettting very good.

Emilee is a sophmore at high school this year. It's the first year of high school for her, but not for the other kids up here. She started seminary this past monday. She likes her new classes and getting to make more friends.

50 Miles

Right after returning from Utah, Michael set out on a real adventure. A 50 mile hike down the coast on the Olympic peninsula. Oh did I tell you that he was carrying a 32 pound pack the whole way? He had to pack anything he needed for the hike including food, shelter, cooking tools, and eating utensils. Oh ya, the means personal hygiene stuff too....deodorant, toothbrush and paste and tp.

This is a view from one of his campsites...

Michael became an expert on cooking freeze dried food. Noodles are gross, but spaghetti is awesome (so he says). He also has decided that the tides can be really annoying. They had to get up really early (2-4 am) some day to cross when it was low tide. One night the tide came in early and one of his leaders tent started washing out to sea. And one of the boys had his boots wash away. But he found them later....

This is Strawberry Point....the rocks out in the water are called Sea Stacks. It is strange how a tree can grow right out of the side of a rock...

Just some more sea stacks and some of the boys on the hike.

Not all of the hike was on the coast. Some of the time they had to go over land. Usually the forest was much more dense.

What an awesome self portrait. He looks really happy to be there.

They even saw some wildlife (living) like this deer. It came within 5 feet of them.

Before you squint too much in an effort to determine what this is, I will tell you. It is the rotting carcas of a beached whale. Michael could go into graphic detail about it, but I will spare you the details.

This reddish blob is a jellyfish. It looked better before the boys flipped it over.

All in all, they had a great trip. No serious injuries or lost boys (or leaders). Michael said that he would do it again (but not any time real soon).

Twilight Road Trip

Our first big adventure was a Twilight trip to Forks, La Push and Port Angeles. Michael was finishing his 50 mile hike down the olympic coast. Dianne, Meagan, and Emilee had to trace the areas of the Twilight novel series. We stopped in Forks and had to look at the High School...

Imagine that, we even found Bella's old Chevy truck.

Then we went on to La Push and 1st beach....Meagan was freezing....

Then we finished up at Bella Italia's for dinner....