2010

There are certain things I’ve just accepted as gone in my life since getting married, and topping that list is Sugar Cookies. Being married to a holistic nutritionist has it’s benefits, along with the occasional “I will NEVER bake you sugar cookies.” Well, apparently hell hath frozen over, as Kari decided to crank up our […]

Instead of spending X for a cut Christmas tree this year, we decided to spend a little more, like about 3X and get a live, though dormant, potted tree. As with anything there’s pluses and minuses that go along with it all. The biggest bummer is that you can’t leave it inside for very long, […]

Tory and his preschool pals got to spend an afternoon on a dogsledding adventure. Kari was there too as a chaperone and picture taker. The kids all loaded up into two sleds and went for ride down East Canyon Creek – which is a road, but I’m sure they still had fun and enjoyed it. […]

Perhaps we’re jumping the gun here, but Tegan is getting out of the crib and into a big girl bed. We switched out of a crib a bit early with Tory too, and it worked out fine. Last night was her first night and it went great. She slept through the night and I didn’t […]

A couple weekends ago we made it down to Zion NP for a full-on, real canyoneering trip. Zion is a little too big to really get the kids out into it, so Kari and I took turns. Kari spent part of a day with the kids with a plan to get a few good shots. […]

Fall means Canyoneering in Utah, at least in our house, and while we’re still very limited in what we can do with the kids, it’s still important to get them down there and exposed. Babi and Brad, Tai and Aspen came down for a couple of days as well, and all the kids had a […]

While we’ve done a lot of car camping this year, there’s always something a little different about packing it in. We did it once last year, and while it didn’t turn out to be the greatest of trips, we thought we’d try it again. The kids are another year older, and another year independent-er. This […]

Grandpa and Grandma Hoffman came to town! They drove out for about a week and blended in nicely with our daily lives. Even though there were more of us, the house seemed to stay much cleaner that week. Strange. Grandpa also unleashed his handy-man tinkering skills. Lots of little projects that were on my list […]

Tegan’s vocabulary isn’t that extensive yet – she’s got Mommy, Daddy, Tory, and even Tegan down among others. But when ever we wrestle these days she says – Got You – whether she really does or not. I’ve posted it so I remember. You may have to turn up the volume a little- it’s kinda […]

Here’s a video of the kids riding their bikes.

Tory’s been into making different dishes out of his sandbox kitchen – and today’s fare was Rice Soup. Is it my fault for telling him to take a bite, or his for actually doing it? At least he was smiling about it.

While the rest of the world celebrates Labor Day, here in Park City we celebrate Miners Day. Even though most laborers in this town no longer mine.

Here’s a few images of Tegan wrestling with a popsicle. In the end she won, but that popsicle put up one heck of a fight.

Nothing special to read here, just a normal morning at the breakfast table. Some days it’s oats, some days it’s eggs. And on special days it’s Cheerios and milk. Today it’s just toast.

My mom used to take a picture of us kids on the front steps of our house on the first day of school each year – so it’s only right that we get one of Tory on his first day of preschool. He’s been so excited to go, it’s fun to see the day finally […]

We should have done this at the beginning of the summer, but Tory finally has a big boys bike. Bought it brand new after failing to find a used one. You’d really think there would be more of these around. He’s been riding it every day since. He falls off quite often but gets right […]

Right after Grandma Pat and Grandpa Gary left Tracy and Marcus showed up. Literally. Same day. Again, not a whole lot of pictures were taken, but I did get a few of the day we spend hiking Bald Mountain in the Uintas. It was really fun having so much family around for a few weeks, […]

When Kari and I were living in Maine those many years ago we learned to whitewater kayak and have done it off and on since. In the last few years it’s been more off than on, so we’ve been very excited to meet some people recently who also love to paddle. They also have kids […]

We make it up to the Uintas quite a bit every summer, this year a little later than usual due to our extended winter/lack of spring. We spent just one night and then hiked the next day. These hikes are still short, but I’m guessing in the next few years they’ll stretch out longer with […]

It’s finally summer here and that means the Mountain Town Music concerts are in fill swing. We’re pretty lucky here in Park City – there’s free concerts 3 or 4 days a week during the summer. This band was from South Carolina and were dang good! Shoulda bought a cd.

I’ve had to start titling these posts with a year extension as we come around to doing the same events year after year, but what the hey… I could do some kind of clever title, but that’s not what this site is all about so again – what the hey. That aside, the Kids Fair […]

I wasn’t able to make this one, but Kari and the kids went down to Red Butte Garden in Salt Lake to celebrate Jarrett and Mel’s anniversary. Red Butte is, of course, where they were married and Mel’s parents, Jim and Olive were also there. Looks like they had a lot of fun, it’s really […]

On day two of our recent trip to the desert we decided to explore Little Wild Horse canyon just southwest of Goblin Valley. It’s a non technical slot canyon that has a little bit of everything, except the drops and swims. I’m tempted to call this Tory’s first real canyon as he hiked nearly all […]

Two previous trips were canceled by weather this spring, but we finally snuck out for a weekend in the desert. The Goblin Valley area is relatively close, and even though it’s quite busy these days it’s still a fun romp around the hoodoos. My very first southern Utah experience was here so it was great […]

The weather this spring has been rather crappy – snow and rain and cold – so getting a little sun and warmth for Mother’s Day was a real treat. It was a perfect day to get outside and build our first two raised bed gardens. The soil here isn’t as rich and black as I’m […]

Sorry Tegan. I’ve never really liked these shoes that I refer to as ‘The Classic Baby Shoe,’ but my goodness are they useful. They stay on her feet, she can’t take them off, and she seems to like them. They’re not as easy to get on as a shoe with velcro, but they’re white and […]

Willow Creek park is one of the bigger places for the kids to run and jump so we were happy to find that it had finally melted out from the long winters nap. At least for a day, anyway. The next day we woke to another 9″ on the ground.

Lately the kids have been making ‘pops’ from a Mickey mold that their friend Evan got for them at Disneyland. So yeah, it’s been pops every day. The best pops, by the way, are made with yogurt, fruit, apple juice and just a little sweet, like agave.

Every year The Canyons holds an Easter egg hunt on the mountain, and every year we miss it by just a few minutes. Luckily the kids are still too small to really care (I hope), so like I said last year: We’ll make it next year! The Epsteins did make it on time, and the […]

For most of Tegan’s short life she’s barely registered on Tory’s radar. The older she gets though, the more they play together and interact. Lately they’ve taken to eating together. Tegan is starting to use a spoon, but it’s often pretty awkward and ineffectual, so Tory’s been ‘helping’ her out. It usually ends up in […]

There’s not much snow left at our house, but there’s still plenty up on the mountain. This pink suit was our best option for keeping Tegan warm on family ski days. Next year we’ll have a better solution.

Oh yes, little friends, you are indeed in a bit of trouble.

I’ve been a little slack at keeping up with Tegan’s updates… perhaps it’s the second child syndrome? Anyway, Tegan has really come alive these last few months. She seemed to turn some corner right after her first birthday. She’s now walking and navigating stairs. And even though she hasn’t officially said her first word yet, […]

Our house butts up against the Glenwild open space area with hills and trails. This means it’s perfect for a day of sledding!

We started out by skiing with Tory between our legs, then graduated to using a harness with tethers, and now he’s moved beyond the tethers and is skiing solo. It’s been fun watching the progressions, and we can hardly wait until the day he can keep up with us. Ok, Tegan, you’re next!

Grandma Pat and her sister always had to share their birthday parties, and the advice is – even though there’s less than a week between Tory and Tegan’s birthdays – do separate parties. We’ll definitely take that advice, but for the next few years while they could really care less, we’ll do them together. And […]