We always go to the Uintas to camp, because it’s relatively close, and so very woodsy-mountainsy. But we like to explore new places too, so we treked on up near Powder Mountain to a place that looked pretty good on the map. The bummer part is that lots of other people had that same crazy […]

We spent the 4th here in Park City, and it was a jam packed weekend. Concert and fireworks at the Canyons on Friday, Parade, street party and fireworks on Saturday,

These pics are now a couple of weeks old, but we try and make it to the free concerts at Deer Valley each week. Evan, Piper, and Riley often show up too, so the evenings are most often a kid-corralling fest.

My sister Jenny and I’s (is that a word??) grandfather was put into a nursing home recently, and we decided to plan a trip to visit him while he’s still sharp witted. She flew in (from Oregon) a few days early to hang here with us and get to spend a little time with the […]

We thought we were lucky that Tory was such a good baby. So before Tegan arrived, I was nervous that the scales would level, and we’d have a little terror on our hands. HA! This little girl is the happiest, easiest baby – if all babies were this easy there would be a lot more […]

“Hoo-ray for Underpants!” – These words, uttered by Prairie Dawn in Sesame Street’s Elmo’s Potty Time, are perhaps more exiting to us than to Tory, but he seems pretty excited to wear them none-the-less. Especially since they’re styled with characters from Cars. (Speaking of which, I really should rent that one from Netflix. Tory hasn’t […]

Sophia and her parents Sam and Michelle come over to visit quite often, but this time I got a couple of pictures of the occasion. Tory and Soph played in the grass, and Soph spent a little time with Tegan. Click above for more images.

While we didn’t expect it to happen quite this soon, Tory got his first set of stitches last Wednesday, the result of him apparently falling and smacking his face on the side of his bed. I say ‘apparently’ because neither Kari nor I were there to see the initial impact. Later that day he pointed […]

The Park City Kids Fair, hosted by the Soaring Wings Montessori School, was held last week and we headed on down with Julie, Piper, and Riley, as well as Sam, Michelle and Soph for some timid horseback riding and bouncing around on blow up toys. It was a really nice day and I think the […]

We’d planned on heading down to Fruita for the weekend, but the forecast was dire. The prospect of spending the weekend ducking the rain with the kids was enough to keep us in closer range to home, so we headed up to the Mirror Lake area of the Uinta’s with Michelle, Sam and Sophia for […]

I’ve been giving Tory a gummy bear (organic of course) for sitting on the potty lately, and telling him he can have a pop if he poops. Well, I’m glad to say the boy got a pop today! I was going to take a picture of this historic event, but decided against it. Even if […]

Not 10 seconds before this image was taken, Tegan was on her back, arching and kicking, and then – boink! She rolled over. Keep up the good work girlie!

I’ve always heard that it’s best to keep your kids in a crib for as long as possible, until they can climb out on their own. This makes sense really, since once they’re in there, they can’t do much damage, except perhaps on your ear drums. So what would possess us to convert Tory’s crib […]

We considered flying back to Minnesota this year but opted for 2 days (each way) of torture in the car instead! We saved a bit of money this way, and also learned what high level, concentrated stress feels like. Actually it really wasn’t too terrible, we got a portable dvd player for Tory and Tegan […]

Ok, since I like tweaking this and other sites so much, I’ve gone ahead and made some changes to the site. First, since Michelle didn’t like the fact the ‘old’ gallery wouldn’t let you scroll through the picutres by using the arrow key, I’ve upgraded the the way the gallery works. While it looks nicer, […]

So I’ve heard through the grapevine that I don’t post enough pictures of Tegan. This is all very true, but that’s because she mostly just sits there, or is sleeping. I didn’t think anyone would really want to see another one of those. Apparently I was wrong. As before, click on that image up there […]

So I know there was a recent post about Tory skiing for the first time – and there’s no doubt that he was on a pair of skis that day, and gravity was doing its thing – but today the little man hit the big time and rode his first chair lift. As you can […]

Another powder day, another kiddie swap. I took a few pics of the kids on my shift, and I’m trying out a new gallery viewer. Let me know what you think. EDIT: So I broke this post by deleting the old gallery. This new gallery is much better.

One of the nicer things about living in Park City is that there are so many people around who love to do the same things we do. And we’re doubly fortunate to have friends like this who also have kids. Pete and Kelley offered to spring for a condo at Powder Mountain last Monday night, […]

Kari and I recently took a class on the Love and Logic® parenting… uh, technique?? Method?? Whatever… its a way for us to be on the same page, and have a plan about how we raise our kids. Basically its a way to give kids choices and consequences on the way to becoming responsible people. […]

I’m sure everyone has a different idea of what sleeping through the night means, but for us, a 6 hour stretch means we’ve made it through the woods. It means only one feeding at night. It means getting up only ONCE at night. Last night Tegan did it. Six hours straight. Let the hallelujahs begin!

When I was in kindergarten, we got to perform the story of The Three Billy Goats Gruff. I don’t remember much of the story, except that there were three goats who crossed a bridge and troll who threatened to eat them, and then the goats ended up pummeling the troll. And I think the moral […]

Since Tegan was born over a month ago, we’ve been blessed with visits from family members from the east. I thought I’d just throw a couple of photos up as proof. First, Aunt Tracy was here: Then Grandpa Moe arrived: And then Grandma Pat was here after a week in Mexico: It was really nice […]

  On January 25 Tegan was baptized at Shepherd of the Mountains Lutheran Church in Park City. Kari’s folks were in town so we thought it would be a good time to do it.

  When ever Tory wears a dark pair of socks these days we get to spend a little too much time picking out the toe jam. Good concentration though.

After all the wrangling that goes into naming the child, once she’s here it becomes fun to start calling her other cute little names. Here’s mine thus far: Grunter – because of the predominant sound that emanates from her Squaker – for the tetradactyl like sounds she makes Baby – As in, ‘Hey Baby, why are you fussing… or […]

Tory gets on a pair of skis for the first time today and ‘rides’ a little powder. Looks like he’s enjoying himself to boot. Ok kid, it only gets better from here.

Here’s a few more images of Tegan. She’s still mostly just eating and sleeping and relieving herself. So I guess that means she’s right on track. Click the image to view more.

Happy birthday kid! This is a little late, but last week we celebrated Tory’s second birthday. Hard to believe. Especially with Tegan being here now, and so small and… infant like. It’s hard to believe that Tory was there once too. And now here he is, two years into his life, acting like a little […]

We’ve been meaning to cut the boy’s hair for over a month now. Today was the day. Click on one of the images to see slightly larger versions.

If you visited the site by going to torycedar.com, you should notice above that you were redirected to the new url, toryandtegan.com. I’ll be posting everything to this site now, but will keep Tory’s domain active and pointing here. I’m also thinking of making some incremental changes to the site… it’s still only 800 pixels […]

A happy birthday note from Aunt Jenny!

Here’s the initial public offering of Tegan… Avery! Hoffman. Pardon the pause and the exclamation point there, but it’s been up in the air for a while what her middle name was going to be. (Yes yes, daddy wins again). Mommy and baby are doing very well and the whole process went as perfectly as […]

It’s now officially less than two weeks until the new baby is (officially) due. All is well so far, and with all the little mini surges Kari has been having, it may happen sooner. Overall we are fairly well prepared. The new crib is set up and Tory’s old infant diapers are at the ready. […]

Merry Christmas everyone – I though I’d share this picture of Tory just hanging out, reading. While I know he doesn’t understand it, it’s still neat to see him calmly reading a book. Update: By the way, that’s the Baby Owner’s Manual he’s reading. Must be getting prepped to take care of his little sister.

While not quite as debonair as Puss in Boots, Tory wears his first pair of ski boots. It took a while to get to this point, as we’ve had the boots (and skis) around for a month or so with no sign of him wanting to put them on. But thankfully Auntie Mel has super […]

It should be less than a month now before we three become four, and so far, things are humming along nicely. We are planning on using the hypnobirthing method, which is sometimes thought of mainly as a pain management technique, but for us it also creates a calm and welcoming atmosphere to bring our baby into the […]

The second of our twice annual treks back to the homeland landed on Thanksgiving this year, which is a perfect time to be in Minnesota. Though repeatedly warned of the bitter temps, the weather was a balmy 30 degrees most of the time, and we got outside quite a bit. The airplane ride there was […]

I’m just wondering if the boy plays with trains because he was born to, or because I’ve bought them for him. Yes, it’s the old ‘nature vs. nurture’ question, and if science can’t seem to figure it out then who am I to try. Starting in a little over a month we’re getting a study […]