Bikes, Trams and Pumpkins....

How do I come up with these things. I dunno. They just come to me. Okay, so to start the blog off I refer back to my dad biking across America. They started in Kansas in the middle of September and were in Utah in early October. How often do you get the chance to bike with your old man across Utah? So, I headed down to join them in Torrey. I actually left the car in Torrey and met up with Becky who took me to where they had made it to that day, Hanksville. My older brother, Nate, had been riding with them for a couple of days and I was looking forward to biking with them all (Neil, Mel, and Nate) the next day through what I hoped would be great scenery. I was surprised at how my dad looked, skinny. He said he didn't loose too much weight, but he looked like he had. The day ahead of us was from Hanksville to Torrey, about 50 miles and a bunch of elevation. We woke up bright and early and headed out about 8am. It was nice having my Ma there to load all the Graybeards things. Nate had to scratch his itch of what it would really feel like packing all that, me not so much. It was a great morning as we headed out.

Three butts on the road.

The dudes at the famous middle of no where famous bakery.

White trash political signage.

Entering Capitol Reef.

Its hard to see but there are mountain sheep in this picture. I thought this was the end of the road for Neil.... he loves big horn sheep.

This is the craziest tree I have ever seen.

All in all it was a fun and meaningful trip for me to do with my dad. I was going to ride the next day up to Boulder and Escalante, but the weather turned nasty and the Graybeards decided to hold up for another day for things to clear out a little. It was Gen Conf so I didn't mind heading home early to be with the fam.

(kjerstine writing)I had a girls weekend with my crazy sisters and Clint had a sleep over with the boys in the living room. A was so excited that he packed up his back pack and headed for the living room. After I got back A kept asking me when I was going to have another trip so he could do it all agian.

The boys in their bags.

We headed up to Snowbird to ride the tram and see the views.

A on the tram

N was so funny when we went over the bumps, he would hug Clints head super tight.

Me with the boys on top on the mountain.

Looking over the bridge.

We got our pumpkins this year at our friendly neighborhood pumpkin patch. A had to find the perfect pumpkin, and found about ten. We carved them monday night. A wanted a really scary one, N was not feeling well and slept through the whole thing. T is going to be a fire fighter this year so he wanted to carve a fighter fighter fighter.

Getting ready to carve pumpkins.

I love carving pumpkins. (sarcasm implied.)

However Clint loves carving pumpkins... No sarcasm implied!!!

Poor N it was his turn to not feel good.

The boys and me with the finished products. Except for Clints masterpiece he was still working on.

A and the pumpkins, his is the scariest one.


Clint rocked the house with his masterpiece. (clints words)

Our first Parent/ Teacher Conference

It's still funny to both of us that the student(s) have now become the parent(s). I don't remember ever going to parent teacher conference, but I remember not wanting to be around when my mom got back from a couple. Speaking of my mom, she was great to come over and watch the kiddies whilest Teeny and I headed to the school. We weren't sure if A was supposed to come or not, but we kind of thought that his teacher could be a little more open about him if he weren't there. Besides, who wants to go to school when Grandma's around?

A's teacher is really nice. This is her first year teaching and her class is huge (30 kids I think). She played basketball at UVU is probably 6'2" or so. A seems to really like her too. She told us that A is doing great. He gets his work done, plays well with others, has never been unkind to anyone that she's seen, listens to her instructions, and is over-all a good kid. She may say that about most of the kids, but it was nice for us to hear it about A. You always hope that things are going as well as you really think they are. He has been such a fun/ funny kid and we think he's pretty darn smart. We've always been impressed by his memory ans how well he can recall things. He'll remind us of things that we can't even remember. Teeny has bee great in teaching him his letters and reading and he's done great with that too. One thing that we've noticed get a lot better since he's been in school is his coloring. He used to not be the greatest artist, but now he colors in the lines for the most part and colors the whole picture instead of just little blurbs here and there. As far as getting along with others, he's always been that way. He just wants to have a good time, doesn't matter who it's with. He comes home telling us about a new friend everyday. Teeny says that he'll roll his window down and yell 'Hello' to his friends on his way home from school too. We are proud of you A and know that great things await you! We love you kiddo! We hope that every parent teacher conference is as good as our first, that goes for you N and T.