The Taylor Family

O-R-E-O

2010-04-23T16:25:00.001-06:00

Megan decided Oreo cookies are yummy! (I agree) And she tells us they are great for your complexion too. (Not so sure about that)

So how do we get her cleaned up after her Oreo cookie feast? Simple, just run her through the dishwasher. (Well, not really. Of course we would never do that.)

Megan loves to help load and unload the dishwasher. Actually she just like to pull things out of it whenever she gets the chance. But this time while I was emptying it I turned around and found her sitting on top of the opened door…

Fun In The Sand

2010-04-19T21:00:00.000-06:00

The kids have practically lived in the sand box since the warm weather finally arrived. Who knew they would have so much fun in it. Too bad Greg didn’t get sand in it until this year. But it didn’t take him too long. He built the play house with the sand box underneath back in 2003. So it has only been about six years…

Bye Bye Tree

2010-04-16T17:00:00.000-06:00

We planted what we were told was a “dwarf” blue spruce near our house and over the years it has grown way to large for its location. And tons of birds built nests in it; which means tons of birds chirping early every morning outside Riley’s window. Well it finally came time to get rid of it. Greg and Cody lopped all the branches off going up as high as they could reach without a ladder, and for a moment they thought they’d leave it that way. No one else in the neighborhood would have an ornamental tree like that, right? Then after getting a ladder they left it with what looked like a small mohawk up top. It’s a good thing they borrowed a chain saw and cut the trunk down the next day and didn’t decide a totem pole was in order! Now to dig out the stump and decide what to plant in its place…

Meagan Loves Her Spoon

2010-04-14T17:00:00.000-06:00

We’re really excited that Megan has started eating better. We’ve had her in a feeding class for about a year. She just hasn’t had much interest in food and has only wanted her bottle. She would taste foods but not really eat very many different things. But she has been eating a little more lately and has found it really fun to feed herself. The only draw back is the mess she makes…

Rain Gutter Regatta

2010-04-06T17:00:00.000-06:00

Zach’s first Cub Scout competition was a rain gutter regatta. He and Greg had a lot of fun building his boat together and Zach did really well at the race. He was excited to bring home a trophy.

The Living Planet Aquarium

2010-04-05T17:00:00.000-06:00

We had fun at the local aquarium. Megan really liked the Penguins and the boys didn’t want to leave the sting-ray petting area.

Easter Fun

2010-04-04T17:00:00.000-06:00

Easter Egg Hunt at Grandpa John’s and Grandma Susie’s

Easter morning at home

Daddy’s Girl

2010-03-19T17:00:00.000-06:00

Too Cute!

Talking To Tupperware

2010-03-15T17:00:00.000-06:00

I had to grab the camera and record Megan as she seemed to be having such a serious conversation with the Tupperware…

Megan’s Birthday

2010-03-13T16:00:00.000-07:00

I can’t believe she is two year old already! We had family over for cake and ice cream to celebrate.

Fun At Cabela’s

2010-02-15T16:00:00.000-07:00

Where else can you go to see and do so much cool stuff for free? If you’ve never been to Cablela’s before, it’s time to make the trip! Luckily we have one close by…

Ready, Aim, Fire!

2010-01-31T16:00:00.000-07:00

A bunch of photos taken on various trips to the west desert and local shooting ranges over the past few months.

I always get a kick out of others in the shooting range that watch Zach and often comment on how impressed they are with his ability to handle a firearm, and his attention to safety. They always ask how old he is. I tell them he is 8 years old, and then say something like “that’s so cool”.

Megan

2010-01-31T04:00:00.000-07:00

A few photos of Meagan that were taken between October 2009 and January 2010.

Christmas

2009-12-25T16:00:00.000-07:00

Christmas Eve at Grandpa Bob’s and Grandma Pat’s…

Christmas morning at home…

(We’re already wondering if the Nerf swords were a good idea!)

Zach’s Baptism

2009-12-05T20:00:00.001-07:00

What an awesome day! Zach turned 8 years old two weeks ago and was baptized on Saturday by his Dad. Grandma Pat and Grandma Susie gave talks, Grandpa Bob and Grandpa John were the witnesses, and Mom and Cody offered the opening and closing prayers. Brother Lefevor (a counselor in our Bishopric) conducted. He was inspired to call upon Cody to share his testimony prior to offering the closing prayer. Cody’s testimony and expression of love for Zach touched us all deeply. It was an unplanned and unexpected part of the baptism that helped to really make the day special. Afterwards we all went back to our house, had some great food,and had fun spending time with each other.
Zach deep in thought prior to being baptized… He was probably contemplating whether Greg was teasing when he said he was going to hold him under the water for five minutes. ;-)

Nah, Zach wasn’t worried, he knows his Dad is always clowning around and teasing.

Yep, rarely serious…

Riley will be next, though he will have to wait almost 5 years. (And of course he insisted on wearing his pink tie like Cody.)

We caught this guy stealing our Christmas lights!

2009-12-04T20:00:00.000-07:00

We have the worst luck with Christmas lights... Last year some guy slipped and was dangling from the roof upside down tangled in the lights, and this year the Grinch was caught pulling the lights off our roof! I wonder what next year will bring?

Cody drew the Grinch (he loves to draw and is getting really good at it), Greg enlarged it and cut it out of plywood, and they both worked on getting it painted. And though it’s fun for everyone that drives by and sees it, Greg and Cody had the most fun working on it together.

Who knew Tupperware could be so much fun...

2009-11-15T20:00:00.000-07:00

Megan had a blast when she found we forgot to shut the cabinet door with all the Tupperware in it. It only took a few minutes for her to to climb right in and toss all of it all over the kitchen floor.

What were we thinking?

2009-11-13T20:00:00.000-07:00

So when we built our home we vaulted the entire house and we thought it would be nice create plant shelves above the bedroom closets by not extending the closet walls all the way to the ceiling. What a great idea, right? Well we thought it was until it came time to paint again. The smiles in the photos may be misleading. What a pain it was to try and mask off and paint back in the corner above the shelves. We literally had to climb up there and lay on our backs to do it. It’s a good thing we don’t change paint colors very often.

I just couldn’t tell him

2009-11-10T20:00:00.001-07:00

Riley came upstairs from the playroom with a nerf gun and some spy kid glasses on. He looked so cute I couldn’t tell him he had the glasses on upside down.

But Zach should have known pants go on his legs and not on his head. It’s no wonder Riley puts things on upside down…

Spooky Fun

2009-10-31T21:00:00.000-06:00

Just a few photos from Halloween. Riley and Zach carving pumpkins and the kids in their costumes…

Megan wasn’t to sure about Zach’s mask. And what’s with buying costumes for the kids and then they only want to wear the mask? Cody did that a year or two ago and now Zach.

A Really Fun Get Together

2009-10-19T21:00:00.000-06:00

Thanks to blogging and Facebook, we’ve gotten to know so many wonderful families nearby with kids that have Down syndrome.

Emily invited us Moms to get together at her home so the kids could play while we swapped stories. It was really fun and great to actually meet a few people that I have only talked with online.

Some of the Moms and kids that were able to make it were Emily (and Justin), Kristi (and Carter), Teresa (and Emery), Holly (and Mia), Jodi (and Israel). Kenzee (and Gage), Natalie (and Bode), and Kristin (and Max) came late so I didn’t get to meet them.

I only have a few photos but there are some more on the other Mom’s blogs too. I can’t wait to do it again. Next time I’ll take more photos of the cute kids and hopefully get to meet some of those who couldn’t make it.

Kristi, Teresa, Carter, Emily, Justin

Megan

Gage and Emery

Israel

Carter and Israel

Mia

Gage

Justin

Israel and Carter

Holly and Mia

World’s Strictest Parents

2009-09-21T07:16:00.000-06:00

So I was flipping channels last week and came across a show on CMT called World’s Strictest Parents. I’m not really a big reality TV fan but I happened to have this channel on for a few seconds just as something interesting was said, so I watched for a little while longer and eventually ended up seeing the last twenty minutes of the episode. I liked it enough that I scheduled the episode to be recorded the next time it aired and then Corinne and I watched it together. We both really liked it and plan to watch a few more episodes to see if they are as good. This particular episode is number five in the first season and it is about two unruly teens that go to live with the Cork family in Georgia for a week, who just happen to be LDS (Mormon). You can look for the episode to air again on CMT or watch it online at http://www.sling.com/video/show/167202/11/Cork-Family. It really makes you realize how important family and good values/morals are to our kids; and what kind of impact those those things can have on them, even teens who seem like that are too far down the wrong road to change.

Tip: Easier Blog Posting

2009-09-20T13:34:00.000-06:00

After reading about some of the problems several of our fellow bloggers have been experiencing with Blogger's default post editor (with things like placing photos where you want them, etc) I figured they must not know about Windows Live Writer.
I found this great program a long time ago and have been using it ever since. It's free and very easy to use. It not only places your photos exactly where you want them, it also allows you to add special effects to your photos, etc. You can create your entire blog post offline and then publish it when you are ready (great for people with slow internet connections). And there are tons more things you can do with it too. Just watch the videos below or Google for Windows Live Writer and you'll find lots of great info.
*NOTE: When you download and run the installation it will also install several other applications. If you don't want them installed on your computer (I didn't want them) just uncheck everything except for Writer.
So give it a try and let me know how you like it.

Dew Tour

2009-09-17T14:12:00.001-06:00

The preliminary events for the Toyota Challenge Dew Tour in Salt Lake City start later today and the events run throughout the weekend. My office is right across the street from it all so I took a break earlier today to walk around and get a few shots of some of the BMX guys practicing.

Angel Moroni would have a great view from up there if he would just turn around and face the other way…

The brick building with the red roof behind the bleachers is where my office has been for the last fifteen years. But the LDS Church owns the building now and has decided to use it as part of the LDS Business College so we are moving to a brand new building in about a month.

The street in front of the Delta Center (Oops, pardon me, I mean the Energy Solutions Arena) is home to all kinds of fun venues during the Dew Tour. The part of the street covered in dirt will be where Yamaha will be set up for kids to learn how to ride dirt bikes. They supply the helmets and TTR dirt bikes and the parents supply the kids.

Not the best lighting/exposure in this shot, but I like that I got three riders in the air at the same time…

It seems like this Maverick monster truck is everywhere I look. I guess we go to too many events like this one.

These last two are of this really cool Nerf Dart Tag blow-up house. It is huge and looks like it would be tons of fun. Our kids would love to have it in our backyard.

Where’s Megan?

2009-09-11T15:21:00.001-06:00

Megan has a new game. She likes to crawl away and hide from us. She thinks it’s really funny when we find her. Here is a photo of her hiding between the couch and the wall in our living room, and another of her in a cabinet that was left open in the kitchen.

Utah State Fair

2009-09-11T11:00:00.000-06:00

We went to the fair last week but really didn’t take many photos. Cody had the camera and took a few of Zach and Riley at the “Little Hands On The Farm” activity. It’s an interactive experience to help kids gain a better understanding of the farm to grocery store process. The farm chores were fun but they preferred riding the bikes to take their produce to market. Most of the other photos Cody took were of the animals. We thought we’d get a few photos of the kids with the animals but Zach didn’t want to, Megan was sleeping during that time, and Riley was scared to death of the big animals, especially the cows, and he wouldn’t go anywhere near them. He liked the baby pigs though.

Zach put his hat on Meagan. She didn’t seem to mind…
The big yellow slide is always fun. Cody came in first, Zach second, and Greg and Riley finished last. Zach beat Cody the second time they raced.

Nine Nine Ninety-Nine

2009-09-09T05:52:00.001-06:00

It was ten years ago, on 9/9/99 that we were married. And it has been almost twelve years since we first met. We’ve been very blessed throughout the years with a great marriage together and wonderful kids. Nothing makes me happier than to know we will be together forever. Corrine, thanks so much for being such a great wife and mother. You are my best friend. I love you so much!

--Greg
xoxoxo

Wild West Playground

2009-09-03T12:08:00.001-06:00

We promised the kids if they were good while we were out running errands that we’d take them to do something fun when we were done. We ended up at the Wild West Playground…

What the heck?!

2009-08-24T08:00:00.000-06:00

So I walk by the kids bathroom and happen to notice Zach is in there shaving! My first reaction was to think “what the heck? He’s only 7 years old!”. I didn’t know he had a toy spiderman shaving set… Anyway, I grabbed the camera and took a few photos. Notice he is also loosing his teeth. Sometimes I think he pulls them out just to get money from the tooth fairy.

Another Fun Day In The Desert

2009-08-22T20:00:00.000-06:00

We spent the morning and early afternoon out at Delle again. This time Cody’s friend Sutton came with us. Over the course of my life I have ridden and raced with a lot of friends; but as a Dad, nothing beats a day of riding with my kids! We all had a blast…

Taking a break earlier in the day to try and cool off a little. Notice how were all scrunched up toward the front of the trailer where the shade is.

Ryan and Stephanie’s Wedding

2009-08-08T20:00:00.000-06:00

Corinne’s brother Ryan and his fiancé Stephanie were married on August 8, 2009 by Ryan’s father John White in a backyard wedding ceremony at Stephanie's brother’s home. Cody took all of these photos with Corinne’s little purse camera (Canon Powershot SD780 IS). Good job Cody!

(Dave, this is so you!)

Good to see Carson picking on his older brother Connor. Payback!

Wind Storm

2009-08-05T20:00:00.000-06:00

Well, we just about lost another tree. The branches that look like they are being blown sideways, really are! They normally point up, not to the right. After loosing this big branch, the wind kicked up again later that night and we lost another big branch. Luckily Purple Robe Locust grow quickly so hopefully it will recover and grow big again.

Cody got in the photo to give a little size perspective…

Lake Canyon Campground

2009-07-25T20:00:00.000-06:00

Camping with Corinne’s family has become a yearly tradition. This year we went to the Lake Canyon Campground (some people refer to it as “Lake Canyon Rec Area and ATV Trail System”). We went July 23-25, the hottest time of year, and back down in the Salt Lake valley it was about 100 degrees, but up there where it is at about 10,000 foot elevation the weather was really comfortable. We got a little rain one day, just enough to keep the dust down. Here are a bunch of photos from the trip. I never did take any photos while out riding on the trails. I really wish I would have. The area is awesome and the views from the trails were spectacular.
This first group of photos are shots from around our campsite throughout the weekend…

Like father…

Like son…

We took the kids fishing at one of the nearby lakes. This was Riley’s first time fishing. He had fun but wishes he would have caught a fish.

“Dad, can you help me cast my line?”

“ok, now hurry and give it back!”

Unfortunately the only fish we saw was this one Cody found.

Eryn went with us while the other wives stayed back at camp to make lunch. She’s no dummy…

What’s wrong with this photo? Nothing, except someone needs to tell Zach the lake is the other way.

What’s really wrong with this photo? Nothing once you consider that Braden is from Parowan. Apparently it is normal to walk around in your underwear there.

The real reason Braden was in his underwear…

“The End” of our fishing excursion… (You never know what photos you’ll end up with when Cody gets a hold of the camera.)

Campfires are always one of my favorites at night.

There was a giant see-saw next to our camp made from some fallen trees and logs.

Another great thing about camping is the food. And there was plenty of it.

Thanks John and Susie for doing most of the cooking!

Dave at the kids table where he belongs.

We let the kids shoot BB guns until the friendly camp site volunteer came by and let us know we could not shoot within the campgrounds. I’m glad it wasn’t a ranger because we apparently would have been cited without warning, even though they were just BB guns. Oh well, fun while it lasted.

Everyone had fun riding on the ATV’s and bikes. This place has a ton of great trails that go all over the place, though they all loop back to where you started so you can’t get lost. Most of them are pretty easy to ride but we encountered a few that took some skill to get through. Ironically the beginner loop was the hardest because it had ruts several feet deep. We let the kids ride the little loop in our campsite just to be on the safe side. They probably would have been fine to ride some of the trails since the kiosks in the campground all have a large photos of a kid about 6 years old riding a small motorcycle with training wheels, even though Utah law says you have to be 8 or older to ride on public land…

Dave was out of breath running along side of Braden while he learned to ride Zach’s TTR50.

We did get to take the kids for rides on all the trails even though we didn’t let them go by themselves.

Ryan and Stephanie even took their dog Buddy for a ride.

Big guys on little bikes. Too much fun!

Tristan saw a “big bull elk” right next to camp. Too bad it turned out to be a deer.

A few photos of some of the views from our campsite…

It was a fun weekend. We can’t wait to go again next year!

Camping at Bear Lake

2009-07-11T20:00:00.000-06:00

We spent the weekend with our friends the Mays at Bear Lake KOA campground back in July. It was another one of those “real camping” experiences. You know, the kind where we really rough it... Not!   Even though I like getting out into the forest so it feels like real camping, I can’t complain about campgrounds like this one with so many fun things to do.   And who doesn’t like full hook ups so you can run the A/C as much as you want and take as many showers as you like.   The campground is right across from the lake and if you have ATV’s you can ride right from your campsite to all the trails around the area. Maybe we’ll bring ours next time we go. A boat or some jet skis would be fun too but as you can see from the photos, the kids has tons of fun just playing in the water…

Lyle and Annette are thinking “Quick, look away. Greg is taking our picture again… I just know it is going to end up on the internet.”

And of course Cody and Sutton preferred to play with the iPod rather than get in the water…

Riley was thrilled that they had free miniature golf. He would have played all day if we would have let him.   Everyone else had fun playing too.

I’m sure Corinne is going to tell me to take this photo off the blog…

Cody found a yellow jacket hive hanging in the hollow log.

Someone tell Zach it’s not a pool stick, it’s a golf club!

They also had a big jumping pillow that the kids had a ton of fun on. Cody and Sutton showed up with a ball and started playing “keep away” with Zach but eventually several other kids joined in and it didn't take long before Cody and Sutton were getting tackled by a bunch of little kids. I think the little kids won in the end.

The rental bikes were a big hit, especially the banana bikes.   You can take them out of the campground and ride around the lake but we had the kids stay where we could keep an eye on them.

Riley liked the play ground too.

They also have swimming pool, rec room with arcade games, ping pong, foosball, etc. Tennis, basket ball, and volley ball courts, horse shoe pits, etc. And all you have to do is check out the equipment and can use it for free.   There are a couple convenience stores on site and a snow cone shack. They give the kids free hay rides and train rides and have other activities at various times.   It’s a real fun family campground…
And here are a few other random shots at our campsite.

Of course Cody and Sutton had to play the PS3. They have a hard time going more than a few days without their video game fix. Though I can’t talk much since I used my laptop and free Wi-Fi to get on the internet while I was there.
Our next camping trip is up in the mountains so it will be a little more like real camping… ;-)

Riding at Delle

2009-07-03T20:00:00.000-06:00

We went riding for a few hours in the morning to kick off the holiday weekend festivities. Zach had a great time on the small track there but I only got photos of him riding around the area where we were parked.

Corinne and Megan stayed cool in the shade..

About a year ago riley loved going for rides. Then one day he changed his mind and decided there was no way he’d get on the four wheeler or a bike. But near the end of the day he decided he wanted to go for a ride. He had fun with Dad chasing Zach around.

We missed having Cody with us this time but he was visiting with his mom for the holiday. So we’ll go again soon and I’ll get more photos of everyone on the track.

Surgery for Megan and Cody

2009-06-25T20:00:00.000-06:00

Both Megan and Cody had surgery recently. Megan had tubes put in her ears to help equalize pressure at the ear drum so she can hear better. A few weeks later Cody had his tonsils and adenoids removed and the soft tissue in his nose reduced so he can breath better. These photos were taken prior to their surgeries.

Real Camping – Not!

2009-06-20T07:12:00.000-06:00

We like to go to Cherry Hill Campground at least once each year. It is only 30 minutes away, has full RV hookups, a water park, miniature golf and other fun activities. And Lagoon Amusement Park is only 5 minutes from there. So no, it’s not “real” camping but we sure have fun there. This year our friends (Lyle, Annette, Sutton, Ashlyn, and Sydney) joined us for 3 days and nights and we all had a great time. I took a ton of photos and posted a bunch of them here. Though Cody and Sutton aren’t in many of them. They were old enough to do their thing on their own at the water park and Lagoon while we watched/entertained the younger kids. One of their things included riding Wicked 15 times in a row. I guess they were going for some kind of a record, or at least bragging rights. I’m glad Cody had Sutton with him to go on those kinds of rides otherwise I would have gone with him and probably lost my lunch a few times.

Cherry Hill has a kiddie water attraction with a big pirate ship they can explore….

This is the lazy river… Everyone seems to really like it.

Hamster Heaven at Cherry Hill.

Ashlyn on the rock wall at Cherry Hill.

Cherry Hill has one of the best miniature golf courses. It’s a little older but the obstacles are very unique and the course is used for official mini-golf tournaments.

(Cheese)

Zach asked Corinne to go on this ride at Lagoon with him. She agreed, not knowing that she would be pretty wet by the time they were done.

I think this was the ride the younger kids liked the most. They rode it several times.

Riley loved the bumper cars…

If you could see Riley’s face you’d notice that he got real scared on this ride.

Another of Riley’s favorite rides.

Time out for ice cream.

Back to having fun…

Lagoon also has a historic “Pioneer Village” with old building, gun museum, etc.

Even with all these photos, there are tons of things we didn't get photos of. Like Zach getting completely soaked on Rattle Snake Rapids at Lagoon. We had to buy him a new shirt to wear because it was later in the day and he wasn't drying out and started freezing. Nor did I get any photos at camp, where we also had a good time just hanging out. Oh well, there’s always next year!!!

Cody’s Next MX Bike

2009-06-05T20:00:00.000-06:00

My friend sold me a 2004 KX100 at a great price. It was only ridden occasionally by my friend’s wife so it was in excellent shape and it came with an FMF Fatty pipe, FMF Shorty silencer, Pro Taper bars, Steahly flywheel weight; and the stock pipe and silencer were included too. All this and only $900. I sold the stock silencer and bought a FMF Turbine Core 2 spark arrestor for off road riding (a lot quieter too) and got a closeout deal on some new graphics on eBay. I also bought heavier shock and fork springs on eBay because I decided it’s a blast to ride, but setup for a lot lighter rider than me. So in spite of all the teasing I’m likely to get from friends (going from a YZ250 to a KX100) I am going to ride it this season with the kids and then let Cody move up from his KX65 to the KX100 next season; assuming I get another bike for myself sometime before then ;-) So with some great deals on eBay we only spent a little over a $1,000 for a pretty awesome bike that will be a lot of fun for both Cody and me. And even more fun for Cody when I put the stock springs back on...

Zach’s New Graphics

2009-06-05T19:00:00.000-06:00

After posting photos of Cody’s next bike, Zach wanted photos of his TTR50 with his new GYTR Flames graphics to be posted on the blog. When Cody moves up to the KX100, Zack will likely move up to the KX65, though Zach bleeds blue (is a big Yamaha fan) so he has asked if we can get blue plastics and graphics for the KX65 when it becomes his. Geesh, I hope riley is happy with the TTR50 as is when it comes time for him to ride!

Riley’s 3rd Birthday

2009-05-17T20:00:00.000-06:00

Hera are a few photo from when we had family over for Riley’s 3rd birthday.

Blowing out candles…

Opening presents…

Hanging out, eating cake, and stuff..

Some of us don’t like to have our photos taken (Dave)…

Same for Greg…

(Daddy and his Princess)

Moving the Fence

2009-05-09T20:00:00.000-06:00

Zach was right there to help Greg when it came time to move the fence so the trailer would fit better on the side of the house. Thanks Zach!

Salt Lake City Supercross – April 25, 2009

2009-04-25T20:00:00.000-06:00

Well, the weather wasn’t the best, but we had a great time! We saw some of the best racing all season, if not of all time. It would have been awesome to see what would have happened if James Stewart’s teammate didn’t try to take Chad reed out in one of the turns in the main. After that Chad was fell off pace and Stewart checked out and took the win. We were really glad we went to meet the riders the night before because we hardly saw any of them in the pits before the races. Nick Wey was the only rider we took a photo with. So in the end Cody and Sutton were stoked that James won but Zach was disappointed since Chad is his favorite. We had great seats right in front of the finish line jump with a perfect view of the whole track. Here are some photos…

Greg, Zach, and Cody waiting for the races to start and for the rain to stop.

Sutton, Zach, and Cody with Nick Wey.

James Stewart

Josh Grant

Broc Hepler

Ryan Villopoto

Nick Wey

Kevin Windham

Ivan Tedesco

David Millsaps

Andrew Short

Jessie Caillas

A Hayabusa Powered Hill Climber

Ryan Villapoto

James Stewart

Ryan Dungey after winning the West Coast Lites Class Championship for 2009. Celebrating right in front of where we were seated.

The smoke rings were awesome. Too bad these photos don’t do them justice. When the were set off you could feel the heat from the flames from across the stadium and I’m sure they could be seen across the whole valley.

Chad walked away with the win for this heat race.

Chad adding some style at the finish

James Stewart

Chad leading James

Chad still leading James. James starting to scrub hard to catch up with Chad.

James from across the track

I would have shot a lot more photos except for two things… 1. The racing action was so good that I didn’t want to watch it through a viewfinder the whole time. 2. The photos weren’t turning out that great anyway with the camera I had to work with. Hmmmm… Maybe an excuse to talk Corinne into letting me buy a new camera! ;-)

Pre-Supercross Activities

2009-04-24T21:31:00.001-06:00

The supercross is tomorrow in Salt Lake City and some of the local dealerships are having supercross parties today. Greg took Cody and Zach, and Cody’s friend Sutton to get some autographs from the riders and a few photos, etc. They also got a bunch of freebies from the dealerships. Even though they met several of their favorite riders today, they are still anxious to get into the pits tomorrow before the races...

With Chad Reed

With James Stewart

With Ryan Villopoto

Maverick Monster Truck

I’m sure there will be more to come after tomorrow’s race…

Who doesn’t like chocolate?!

2009-04-20T20:00:00.000-06:00

Like most kids, Riley loves when Mom makes brownies, and he usually can’t wait until they are baked to start eating… Yum!

Megan’s First Birthday

2009-04-17T20:00:00.001-06:00

[March 13, 2009]
Wow time flies! It seems like Megan was just born a short time ago but she is already one year old… Here are some photos that were taken when we had family over to celebrate her birthday.

A Day At The Dinosaur Museum

2009-04-16T20:00:00.000-06:00

[January 19, 2009]
The kids had a day off from school so we took a trip to the Museum of Ancient Life at Thanksgiving Point in Lehi, Utah. We have been there a couple times before with Cody and Zach, but this was Riley and Megan’s first visit.

Riley would have been content to play in the sand and water all day if we would have let him…

(Nice expression Cody!)

Zach was a afraid of the shark the first time we took him here, so we were a little worried about Riley but he wasn’t scared.

Riley making sure Megan was having a good time too.

We thought the sand and water was hard to get Riley to leave; well digging for fossils was just as much fun for him and he didn’t want to leave that either.

Of course Riley had to hug Megan every chance he got. She gets a ton of love from everyone.

Cody's "Rube Goldberg" Project

2009-03-02T20:30:00.003-07:00

Cody had to build a Rube Goldberg machine for an 8th grade science class and record it on video. The project had to have several steps, incorporate three simple machines, and end with either popping a balloon, squishing a grape, rolling a pair of dice, or filling a cup with water. He decided to try for two of the objectives, popping a balloon and rolling the dice. He got it done and hopefully gets a good grade on it...

Here is take one:

And here is take two:

There’s a body in our trash can!

2009-01-16T10:56:00.001-07:00

After taking the Christmas lights and decorations down about a week ago, Greg stuffed the guy that was hanging from our roof into our trash can. We were anxious to see what the trash man did when he came to pick up our trash, possibly thinking it was a real body in there; but someone actually stole him right out of our trash after being in there for only about an hour or so. It’s amazing what people will take from your trash! A few of our neighbors saw it though and called to tell us how funny it was. At least it got a few laughs…

Sledding On New Years Day

2009-01-01T14:38:00.000-07:00

We took Cody, Zach and Riley sledding on small hill near our home. We thought Riley would like it better than a big hill since it was his first time, but he still got a little scared and preferred to play on the playground instead. In spite of a little wind and cold temperatures they all had lots of fun…

Here are a couple video clips of Cody and Zach…

It dumped on us

2008-12-27T21:43:00.000-07:00

We got a lot of Snow Christmas Day and the next day… We lost power for a while Christmas morning and they even had to close one of the roads near us. It seems like we were shoveling and snow blowing all day long.

We opened the front door to have snow fall in on us where it was up against the door. And this is under our covered porch…

Compare these photos with the others of our Christmas lights posted previously.

The snow on the table and deck gives you an idea of how deep it was. It was even deeper where it drifted and piled up.

The middle swing seat is completely under the snow.

Riley’s Gift Bag

2008-12-26T21:32:00.000-07:00

Corinne’s parents gave Riley a gift as big as he is. We took this photo of him inside the gift bag the next day…

Christmas

2008-12-25T08:00:00.000-07:00

We had a great Christmas this year. Though we missed Cody since he was visiting his grandparents in Idaho with his Mom this year. We decided to set up another smaller tree down stairs and open presents down there for a change. Zach was the first one up and had to wake everyone else right away. I’m sure Megan doesn’t understand the whole Christmas thing but she loved opening presents and tearing the paper. In fact, we could have saved a lot of money and just gave her a roll of gift wrap to play with. Next year is going to be a lot of fun since Cody will be with us and Megan will understand what’s going on.

Christmas Eve

2008-12-24T21:03:00.000-07:00

We celebrated Christmas with Greg’s parents at their home on Christmas Eve this year. It wasn’t hard to talk the kids into it since they got to open presents.

Visiting Santa #2

2008-12-20T20:46:00.000-07:00

We were looking for Riley when Santa showed up at our family Christmas party... We'll, I guess he decided he likes Santa because without us knowing, he ran up there on his own and climbed on Santa’s lap. We were shocked since that is not like Riley at all. Luckily we got a quick photo.

On the other hand, our niece Katelyn didn't feel the same way about Santa as Riley did…

This year’s Christmas lights (and a guy hanging from our roof)

2008-12-19T20:35:00.000-07:00

Since Greg was sick last year and didn’t hang any lights at all, he decided to put up a lot of lights this year. And the guy helping him fell off the roof and got tangled up in the lights on the way down. It’s too cold to go out and help him so we decided he’d have to just hang there for now.

Visiting Santa #1

2008-12-13T20:28:00.000-07:00

We wondered how Megan and Riley would react to this year’s visits with Santa. This first opportunity came at our Ward Christmas party. Riley didn’t want to sit in his lap at first, but surprisingly both he and Megan did very well. And we also worried what Zach was going to ask Santa for; we were glad it wasn’t something expensive like another new dirt bike…

Zach’s Birthday Party

2008-11-20T20:14:00.000-07:00

Zach celebrated his birthday with a bunch of his friends at Jumpin Jacks. Everyone had a great time!

Giant Snow Balls

2008-11-05T20:19:00.000-07:00

We got a little more snow on November 5 and Zach and his friends Ashlyn and Sydney had fun making giant snow balls in our back yard.

Halloween Fun

2008-10-31T20:24:00.000-06:00

Zach was a motocross racer (again), Riley was a pirate, Megan was a princess, and we don’t know what Cody was. He made a last minute decision to go trick-or-treating and didn’t have a costume so this is what he came up with…

Evolution of Dance

2008-10-22T18:46:00.002-06:00

Melony posted this "Stupid but strangely amusing..." video of a storm trooper dancing in the streets of Tokyo to "Let's Groove Tonight" on her blog and then I remembered this funny dance video on youtube. The sad thing is that you'll watch this video and think to yourself "Did I really dance like that at one time?"

First Snow

2008-10-12T07:52:00.008-06:00

I'm not sure what happened to all the snow that was supposed to be dumped on us overnight... All we got was a few flurries yesterday morning; and here are a few shots from our deck after the BIG snow fall last night.

There's not much snow in these photos, but they do make me realize how much work I have to do next spring cleaning and staining the deck.

Our Little Megan

2008-10-06T19:55:00.000-06:00

Just a few photos of Megan at 6 1/2 months old…

And a couple at 5 1/2 months old…