Ekstrom Family

March Recap

2011-11-19T23:33:00.000-07:00

So March will be pretty easy to recap! I just went through our pictures and we only took two that month. But Lesa did write a pretty good entry in the Bradley Family newsletter so I can post some of that here.

We purchased a second sleeping bag so Danial has one. Of course Bradley claimed the newest one but Daniel didn't seem to notice. They are now asking when I will take them camping to try them out.

The snow is melting pretty well. Here is Bradley and Daniel at a park. It was one of the warmer days so we felt it was time to give the park a try.

Here are some parts from the family letter about March:

I know we missed contributing to the family letter last month, but sadly there really isn't a lot to say. We have stayed busy with this and that, but none of it is too interesting.

Brian has been really busy with work lately. He is working on a bunch of different project, and keeps getting more each day. At one point he even had a competitor send a customer to him. Other than work, Brian has stayed busy with scouts and school. He realized as he was looking to register for his next semester that he could be done in three semesters. He does need to meet with a counselor to make sure, and figure out what to do about one class, but he is excited to see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Lesa has stayed busy with watching kids, Relief Society, and running. As the second counselor in Relief Society, I am in charge of the other activities. With March, that meant the R.S. Birthday party. My faithful committee member was called to Primary about a month before the party, so the bulk of the planning and organizing landed on my committee head and I. Everything turned out nicely, and we received a lot of nice compliments, but it did make it kind of a stressful thing to pull off. I was very grateful when it was over.

Bradley keeps us busy answering questions. He is so curious about everything, and loves to talk. His latest interest has been the body. He asks us how his heart, lungs, and stomach work. He wants to know what his bones and muscles are doing, and he likes to tell anyone who will listen what he has learned.

Daniel is as big and busy as ever. He thinks he can do anything Bradley can do, and tries most of the time. He and Bradley play pretty well together, though Daniel is learning to exert a bit more of his independence. He also likes to talk, and is getting pretty clear. I can almost always understand him, but whether we understand him or not, he keeps us all pretty well entertained.

I guess that's it from us. We are anticipating more than one day of spring at a time, and anxious to be able to spend more time outside, but for now we are enjoying the days we do get, and hoping when it does warm up we don't float away.

Love,
Brian, Lesa, Bradley, and Daniel

February Recap

2011-10-28T23:49:00.002-06:00

Daniel was convinced the helmets should be worn backwards.

Daniel... not sure what this picture was about but I thought his expression was funny. Not sure if he was frustrated or just really tired?

This is how we found the boys at about 10:30 PM one night. They got out of bed, crawled under Daniel's bed to pull out the train tracks tupperware and built this track. They were quite proud of it as you can see.

Daniel was good at falling asleep in the funniest places and Lesa got a picture of a couple of them. Here he was most likely watching cars drive by on Harrison.

Here he is in the hallway.

I can't think of much that happened in February other than freezing.

Poor Blogging Performance

2011-10-15T23:25:00.005-06:00

So we have been REALLY bad at blogging this year. As my boy scouts would say, "An Epic Fail".

Last year for Christmas I gave Lesa a book of our blog as a kind of family scrapbook. I got it made at blog2print.com I was thinking that I would like to do that again this year but it would be a pretty short book as our blog stands right now. So... here is a summary of our year:

JANUARY

Nap time comes fast when you play hard!

New game of pop goes the weasel or good hide and seek spots?

We didn't have a video camera available but I thought it was pretty funny how they would hold hands and then throw themselves down together.

My Contour hit 111,111 miles and I happened to notice it while pulling out of a gas station on my way to work!

For the boy scout's January camping trip we went to North Fork Park in Liberty, UT. We brought some sleds to pull our camping gear in. We lucked out and found a Bowery where we were able to setup camp.

It was nice to have the tables to use but quite cold that night. It snowed a little that night but not too much once the temperature really dropped.

That was most of the pictures and since January was long enough ago that I can't remember what happened, here is what Lesa wrote in the Bradley family newsletter:

We don't really have a lot to say this month. The Christmas holidays were nice, and very

fun to have Mom, Dad, and Kyle around. Bradley and Daniel still ask if they will see
them at Grandma Hyer's house. But when it comes to January, there really isn't much to
say. We have had long, cold weeks, but not a lot of snow. Other than getting back into
our regular routine, we didn't really do anything.

Both of the boys continue to grow. Daniel is speaking more and more clearly every day.
Bradley is getting more and more imaginative. And Brian and I are always entertained
by one or both of them.

Well I guess that sums up January. I'll start working on February now but we can finish with one last picture of Daniel showing us proper move watching positioning.

Riding the Train Just Because

2011-08-25T20:36:00.001-06:00

We were bored this evening and so decided to ride Front Runner to Farmington. We walked over to Harmons for some ice-cream and are now on our way home. You can see it made Bradley and Daniel very happy!

Smiling Mount Ben Lomond

2011-02-06T20:52:00.010-07:00

Can you see the smiling face that appears on Mount Ben Lomond when it snows?

Lets zoom in a little bit... Now do you see it?

OK, how about now :)

Lunch at Snowbasin

2011-01-30T22:23:00.001-07:00

Lesa and I went to Snowbasin for lunch on Saturday. We went to the lodge and bought a foot traffic ticket to be able to ride the gondola up to the Needles Lodge.

Here we are gaining 2,300 feet in a gondola to the Needles Lodge at 8,700 feet.

It felt warm up in the sun. It was nice to get out of the smog down below.

This is the view at the top of the gondola line.

Inside is was warm and crowded. You get your food cafeteria style and it was over priced, but that is to be expected. We both went for the cheese burger and found the only empty table. After a few minutes a table by one of the windows became clear so we moved over to that one.

It was quite crowded as you can see from this picture just outside of the doors at the top of the ski slope.

Here is the view from the outdoor eating area at the lodge.

We were amazed at how many really young children we saw skiing by us. There were a couple Bradley's size.

Time to head back down.

On the way back down the mountain.

Lesa wasn't happy about it but I got a picture of us while going down!

It was a fun new place to go. We ended by stopping at Vintage Cupcakes on 24th street before heading home.

December Recap

2011-01-06T23:29:00.000-07:00

We spent the day at the Discovery Gateway and Bradley tried out his skills at flying. After a quick flight around the Salt Valley he touched back down like a pro and we continued our explorations.

I had to go up to Alta for work and they have received a ton of snow as you can see from the car in this parking lot!

We went to the Christmas Carol at the Terrace Plaza Playhouse. Bradley got a chance to meet Santa after and was sure to let him know that he wanted Mater and Mcqueen for Christmas. He talked with Santa but wouldn't look at him directly.

OK, so this one wasn't taken in December but I think it is too cute to leave out. Our usual battle with the leaves was interrupted by the two little guys who kept crawling on the pile.

Daniel rocking out in his room.

Another picture from Bradley's birthday party.

For some reason Bradley keeps wanting to fall asleep on the floor instead of his bed. It took us a while but we figured out that he didn't like the sheets we put on his bed.

Lesa decided to re-paint the kitchen.

Here you can see the old blue colors with the new brown/gray as Lesa did the edges first.

Here is Bradley and Daniel exploring a cave on Christmas Eve. I used the flash so it looks pretty bright but the only light is Bradley's head lamp. Don't worry he was hooked into the rope with a carabiner locked onto his belt loop.

Here are the boys checking out what Santa brought them Christmas morning. Dave, Kim and Kyle came over and it was fun to have them around Christmas morning.

2010 went so fast we can hardly believe it is over. It is true that time goes faster each and every year. If we blink to slowly 2011 will be over next!

Um, Yes Please!

2010-12-07T15:56:00.008-07:00

While perusing one of my friend's blog, I came across this offer from Shutterfly. Um, yes, please! I would love to order some Christmas cards! I've sent Christmas cards since we had Bradley and had something to talk about, but this makes it so easy, and they have some really great designs.

They have folded cards like this,

Or this,
(I must have a thing for the black and colorful font. Rest assured, there are other designs too!)

But if you don't want a folded card, they also have flat stationery cards with Oh So Many great designs. I happen to love these Christmas tree ones.

Oh the possibilities. I'm not sure what I'm going to choose, but get excited. One might be coming your way! But don't stop there.

If you are not in the market for Christmas cards, never fear, Shutterfly is here. (I know that sounds cheesy, but Wonder Dog's catch phrase is so . . . catchy, and it fits, right?) They also have other great gift ideas if you are looking for just the right personalized gift this year.

You could go for a handy mug. I would cover mine with pictures of my cute kids, but that is just me.
Or, a personalized calendar?
How about this ornament? It's so simple and sweet. I'd almost just stick with the cute sleeping baby picture in the sample.

There really are a ton of ideas. You should just head on over to Shutterfly and check it out. Just make sure you have a little bit of time to peruse everything!

Lately

2010-12-06T16:01:00.004-07:00

Here are a couple of pictures of our recent happenings.

First, Daniel got glasses. He is growing up fast anyway, but these specs age him at least three years if you ask me.

Next, we celebrated Bradley's birthday on Saturday. Here he is blowing out his candles.

You do not need to adjust the color on your screen. Yes, that is PINK frosting. I tried to steer Bradley toward the chocolate, but he would have none of it. He wanted Pink. He's 4 and opinionated. What can I say.

Antelope Island

2010-11-13T22:19:00.002-07:00

For the past few years I have camped at Antelope Island in the Fall. It truly is an ideal time to camp there as the bugs can be overwhelming in the warmer months. If you have any doubts just ask me about the time I got over 500 mosquito bites. Yes, I am serious about the count!

Click here to view map

There are two spots to camp at. The first is Bridger Bay Campground and is great if you are camping with an RV or with a small group. If you are coming with a group the White Rock Bay group areas are better and will cost you less. You can reserve most of the camping spots before going out. Be sure you make it on the causeway before the gates close or you will be locked out. For more information click here.

The sunsets can be spectacular from Antelope Island. I usually have a good camera with me on my camping trips but didn't bring it this time and I am kicking myself for that. As you will see below we had some amazing photo opportunities. Luckily I at least had my phone with me!

We were few in number but it was still a successful campout. When we reached the edge of the Great Salt Lake there were mosquitoes everywhere. We were a little nervous that they were going to eat us alive but were pleasantly surprised that once out on the Island there weren't any in sight.

As we approached our camping area we saw some bison hanging around. I tried to get a picture with my phone.

It was a little cold but we quickly built a wind break using some tarps, poles and one of the picnic tables.

Soon the campsite was filled with the smell some great hamburgers. They were filled with cheese and I think bacon. I can't remember for sure but they tasted good.

While we were hanging around we noticed the sunset was starting and the view was amazing. I was sad I had decided to leave my nice camera at home and only had my phone to take pictures with. Oh, well below are some of the better shots.

In the morning it was cloudy and a little wet but we didn't really get much rain.

There was a little drizzle during the night but nothing too bad. It got down in the 30's that night but never below freezing. In the morning we hung out around the fire until we decided it was time to head out. Another year's tradition accomplished with camping at Antelope Island.

Family Pictures

2010-11-13T21:23:00.000-07:00

Lesa wanted to get some family pictures. We thought we would give it a try with the camera on a tripod and using the timer feature. We drove up 29th street, walked about 50 feet from the parking lot and found a bright yellow tree. We setup the tripod, camera, kids and started the timer. We told the boys to look at the camera and smile...click. What are the chances that the first try would work out so well?

Since we had a little extra time we tried to get a few more and here are some of the better ones:

Flashback Friday

2010-10-29T11:23:00.002-06:00

I wrote the following as a Halloween memory for my ward's writing group. I figured it's an applicable flashback for the Friday before Halloween. It's a bit long, but if you make it through, I hope you enjoy!

In an uncharacteristic moment of boldness, I once dressed up in my Halloween costume for school. I honestly don’t know what I was thinking. I must have been motivated by extra credit or succumbed to peer pressure, I’m not sure which. But, either way, I decided to dress up. . . I just didn’t know as what.

I was in seventh grade. The only year I was at school without a sibling. That may have been part of my motivation too. Seventh grade was the year for me to make a name for myself before I was once again known as, “Scott’s sister,” or “Layne’s sister.”

So, Halloween morning, after teaching early morning seminary, and in the midst of making breakfast and also getting my four brother’s ready for school, my mom helped me put my costume together.

I decided to be Pippi Longstocking, another decision I can’t account for. She wasn’t exactly in the mainstream of popular characters in 1992, but I guess for that reason I figured I could pull it off. I wore a red dress with small white polka-dots. It was an old choir dress that one of my aunts gave me for dress-up clothes. I had dressed-up in it for years, but finally grew into it a little bit. I paired the dress with a white pinafore apron from my mom’s youth as a dancer in a church youth dance group. Along with the dress, I borrowed a pair of my dad’s light brown argyle socks that I wore with one pulled up and the other pushed down around my ankle. I squeezed my feet into some old Ked’s tennis shoes, my white one, and my mom’s too-small for me red one. To finish off the costume, my mom used her eyeliner to dot freckles across my cheeks and nose. Then we moved onto my hair. It was long and blonde, which didn’t represent Pippi’s bright red locks very well, but we did our best. My mom cut off the hook part of an old wire hanger, straightened out the hanger, and expertly strung it through my hair so that it was well disguised on my head. She then proceeded to braid my hair along the outstretched ends of the hanger, securing it occasionally with a bow of red yarn. Somehow, with all of her finagling, she was able to arrange my hair so that the braids were sticking out on either side of my head. I’m convinced it was a moment of engineering genius.

Once I was all dressed up, I threw on my backpack and headed to the bus stop. Yes, as a matter of fact, I did ride the bus. Not only did I ride the bus, but I rode a bus in which I was assigned to the second to last seat at the back of the bus, with two other students. When the bus arrived, I had to turn sideways in order to get my hair through the door. I then had to continue walking sideways down the aisle, so I didn’t accidentally poke anyone. I made my way to my seat, which was already occupied by my two fellow bench mates. We decided that I would sit in the middle and lean forward, suspending my braids out in front of my classmates, but keeping them away from the window and the aisle. It was a bit of an uncomfortable ride.

At school, I turned a few heads and received a lot of comments. My teachers complimented or laughed at my costume, and my hair marveled many of my classmates. I required kind of a large berth, so I walked pretty freely through the hallways. I just ran into a problem at my locker. Those next to me either couldn’t reach their lockers while I was at mine, or they had to dive and maneuver around me. I remember having to apologize a lot that day. At one point during the day I was coaxed into having my picture taken for the costume contest. I reluctantly agreed, and found my likeness posted on the board with fellow dressed-up classmates, vying for the title of best costume.

I managed through the day in my ridiculous outfit, occasionally longing for my usual position as resident wall flower. Near the end of seventh period they announced the winners of the costume contest. I sat in my class and listened to the voice coming over the intercom until I heard, “for seventh grade, Lesa, dressed as Pippi Longstocking.” My classmates cheered and applauded, and I sat in wonder. The winners for each grade were instructed to report to the office to claim their award. I made my way down to the office, where I picked out one of those pens that has multiple inks housed in one big pen case; the kind where you choose your ink by sliding a button at the top of the pen that corresponds with the applicable color. I then had to pose for one more picture that ultimately made its way into the year book that year, thus memorializing my moment out of character.

After a long day and another long bus ride, I made it home completely intact, hair and all. I stayed in my costume and went trick-or-treating that night.

It was a fun day, but I never wore a Halloween costume to school again. IN fact, I don’t think I ever dressed up on Halloween again until college. I guess it just took me that long to get over the embarrassment of all the attention I drew to myself that day.

Fun At Home

2010-10-13T22:18:00.001-06:00

Just some laundry hampers?...

Until two little heads pop out!

Daniel getting a little reading in before nap time.

Bradley and Daniel sharing the tricycle.

Bradley is always talking about camping and so we gathered some sticks from outside and added some flickering LED tea light candles.

Turn out the lights and you have a flickering campfire in your bedroom!

Lesa added a fitted bed sheet to the top of Bradley's bed a few weeks ago and Bradley won't let us take it down. He loves it!

Conference Cabin Trip

2010-10-13T22:02:00.001-06:00

For conference weekend we went up to our Grandparent's cabin near Monte Cristo. We drove up Friday night and got there in the dark. We went inside the cabin and set up our beds and got the boys to sleep. Then Lesa and I went down stairs and hooked up some lights with a battery and an inverter. Not much long after we headed off to bed also.

In the morning we started a fire to warm up the cabin and looked out the windows. The aspen trees were a bright yellow and the air was chilly but the weather was clear. Soon I went down to the Ant Flat road to pick up my parents. We drove up and made it back in time to hear the morning conference session on the radio.

In the afternoon we went down and opened the gates for Lisa, Brayden and Jaycee. Bradley and Daniel were happy to have cousins to play with.

Bradley had fun with a toy camera Lisa brought up.

Jaycee

We stayed the night Saturday night also. Here is Daniel heading up the stairs with his blanket for bed.

It was a great weekend and we were able to listen to most of conference. It was nice to get away where you could listen better than sometimes happens when you are at home.

Halloween Practice

2010-10-11T22:02:00.000-06:00

Today we finally found a Halloween costume that Bradley liked. For the past month or so every time we would ask him what he wanted to be he would first say, monster, ghost and end with Curious George. Well we already have a Curious George costume but it wouldn't fit him anymore. Daniel was already allotted Bradley's old Superman costume, sorry Daniel but you aren't old enough to care yet so you get the hand me down.

Well we will be very safe walking around on Halloween due to the fact that we will have two super heroes:

Extra, Extra, Read All About It!

2010-09-18T16:02:00.003-06:00

This is the current state of my left hand.

For more perspective, here are both of my hands.

Isn't it lovely? . . . and HUGE? I seriously feel like my hand is encased in a brick. It's that heavy.

For those of my blog readers who don't know the story, here it is.

On August 1, we just returned home from the Tetons, and while getting the boys ready for their baths, I noticed a card game that had fallen onto the floor in their closet. I reached down to pick it up to put away, but hit the leg of their clothes hamper in my attempt. For a normal person, this would probably cause a jammed finger for a minute or two, but for me, I heard a "pop" and my hand instantly began to swell and throb. I made my way into the living room to ask Brian to finish baths. He asked me why, and why I was holding my left hand. I told him what happened, he told me he was sure it was broken, and that we needed to go to the Emergency Room.

So, he bathed Bradley, I finished our bed time routine with the boys. Brian's mom came over, and we went to the ER. We waited a lot, saw a nurse, waited some more, saw the doctor, were sent to get x-rays, waited a lot more, and then the doctor came in to splint my hand, tell me he was baffled, and refer me to a specialist. I should mention that we were not surprised at all by this development. I broke the same bone in another unlikely action 9 years ago, so we were aware of a problem.

The next day I called the specialist, but they couldn't get me in to see him for over a week. The Physician's Assistant was available the next day, though, so I made an appointment to see him. He looked at my x-rays, splinted my hand in a better brace, told me the fancy medical name of the tumor that was in my bone, and scheduled me to come back and see the surgeon three weeks later.

When I returned to see the surgeon, he talked to me as if we were in the middle of a conversation and just needed to iron out the details for surgery. Evidently I had a giant cell tumor in my bone (a diagnosis that is 1 in a million a year, I truly am unique) that had expanded and thinned the bone, making it easy to break. He explained that they needed to cut a window in my bone, scrape out the tumor, and then scoop out bone from my wrist to graft into my hand.

So, that brings me to yesterday. For the three weeks between first meeting with the surgeon and the actual day of surgery, I continued to wear the brace and treat my hand gently. Then yesterday, he performed the surgery, bandaged me up in my brick, and sent me home with a noodle of an arm, and some pain meds to take when feeling returned.

It was a long day, but don't ask me to remember it. I can't tell you much. They poked and prodded and drew on me. They numbed and knocked me out. The doctor told me I should wear their lovely blue caps more often, because it really made my eyes vibrant. And then in the whirlwind of instructions once I woke up, I heard a thump on the bars of my bed and felt like I dropped something, only to realize that my arm slipped. I thought it was funny to watch my arm twist and bend like Elastigirl from Incredibles, except I had no control over it. To leave the surgical center, I had to keep a firm grip on it with my other hand.

Now, however, that numbness is all gone, and I am writing this in the fog of pain medication. I hope it makes sense.

Lesa the runner

2010-09-13T23:07:00.000-06:00

OK since Lesa won't do a updated post about her running I will. She is turning into quite the runner and having a good time at it. It has been fun to see her getting faster, stronger and having so much fun in the process. She has run the Ogden 1/2 marathon, Ragnar Relay, Provo 1/2 marathon, Top of Utah 1/2 marathon and just recently a local 5K run where she placed 1st for women runners. The funny thing about that race was that it was at 8AM in the morning and she ran 6 miles earlier that morning with a friend. She still says she isn't a runner yet but I have to disagree I at one time considered myself a runner but she has far surpassed anything I ever did. So in my eyes she is a great runner and I am very proud of her.

FHE at the Maples

2010-09-13T22:32:00.002-06:00

For family home evening we went to the Maples Campground. It is near Snowbasin Ski Resort. It is the campground I took Bradley a few months ago with the scouts. We hiked in, started a fire and roasted hot dogs for dinner.

After dinner we had to get out of there before it got too dark. We made it out just as it got dark but Bradley had fun with the flashlight on our hike out. It was very nice weather just slightly cool with the first sign of leaves changing.

Fort Buenaventura

2010-09-13T22:20:00.000-06:00

This weekend my brother and I took our kids camping. We decided to go to Fort Buenaventura since it is close to home.

Warming hands by the fire:

Reading books before bedtime:

Running around in the trees:

Yummy dinner:

You can see the tepees and the fort in the background:

Playing around in the tepees:

Eating lunch and playing UNO Moo:

The kids had a lot of fun even with the train noises during the night! It was fun to let the kids all play together and have a good time.

Labor Day Spiral Jetty

2010-09-12T22:06:00.005-06:00

For Labor Day we decided to head out to the Golden Spike Historic Site. We realized that we were close (OK 16 miles) from the Spiral Jetty. I have wanted to see that so we headed out there. Here is a picture and paragraph from the official website about it:

Robert Smithson's monumental earthwork Spiral Jetty (1970) is located on the Great Salt Lake in Utah. Using black basalt rocks and earth from the site, the artist created a coil 1,500 feet long and 15 feet wide that stretches out counter-clockwise into the translucent red water. Spiral Jetty was acquired by Dia Art Foundation as a gift from the Estate of the artist in 1999. http://www.diaart.org/sites/page/59/1380

Here are a few pictures we took while exploring this area:

It was amazing how much salt there really is out there. We were walking on an area that used to be covered under water.

It is a very inhospitable place but beautiful in its own way.

Ben Lomond Peak

2010-09-12T21:22:00.002-06:00

In a post below about Chilly Peak I mentioned my desire to make it all the way to Ben Lomond Peak. Well on Saturday September 4th my brother, Mike and I went for it. We met at my house at 5:00 AM and were at the parking lot trail (See the Chilly Peak post for trail head information) at 5:30 AM. After an hour of hiking we made it up to the top of the switchbacks. We had a beautiful view of the sunrise:

After a short break we continued on with our hike. The weather was perfect. It was a little cool but as long as we kept moving it felt perfect. We had a couple of motorcycles pass us and one really crazy runner. Here we are 3 1/2 hours later after covering just over 8 miles and gaining over 3,600 feet:

You can see the Great Salt Lake in the distance. It was a little hazy which was too bad for taking pictures but even with that we could still see pretty far out being at 9,712 feet according to my map.

It was very windy up on top.

This picture is looking North West towards Willard Peak. It is about 50 feet higher and the highest peak in this area. You can actually drive up fairly close to Willard Peak.

We also saw some mountain goats below us. I tried to get some pictures of them but none of them turned out very well.

We went back down below the peak and once you got about 20 feet below the peak the wind stopped completely. We took some more time to eat an early lunch and take some more pictures. Below is a small campground just below the peak. it would be cool to camp here. Since it is just below the ridge but close to the mountainside there wasn't any wind but great views. You can see Pineview Dam in the distance.

Here is a picture at this small camping spot looking North.

We headed back down and this is a picture looking South near the trail split that can take you to North Fork Park or where we camp from, the North Ogden Divide Trail head.

Click Here for a map:

You can see where the Blue and Yellow colored trails meet there is a designation on the map for a spring. We spent about 10 minutes looking for it. I never found it exactly but did find a little water:

It was pretty nasty looking. I get the feeling that if you were to take some more time and head down the trail a little farther you would be able to find some better looking water.

7 1/2 hours and 8.2 miles later we made it back to the car. That is a great hike I am sure I will do again soon. I would highly recommend it to anyone. Even though you gain quite a bit of altitude it is fairly easy due to the long length of the trail. It is mostly uphill the whole way but gradual enough that it isn't too bad.

Labor Day 2010

2010-09-06T22:30:00.002-06:00

For Labor Day we decided it would be fun to go out to the Golden Spike Historic Site. They do reenactments of the driving of the spike on Saturdays and holidays.

They had a lot of volunteers who were dressed up in historical clothing and reenacted the ceremony and driving of the golden spike. The weather was great just slightly cool with a breeze.

After the ceremony we ate lunch and decided to head out to the spiral jetty. It was 16 miles on a very bumpy road. When we got near the end there were a bunch of cars parked and we thought the road had ended. We looked out towards the Great Salt Lake and couldn't see the spiral jetty but there was a long rock road heading out towards the lake. We thought that if the road ended it must be out there so we headed out and out and out and out...

Lesa exploring ahead for us.

Salt every were

There was a lot of junk that once upon a time was under water.

After wandering around and exploring the edge of the Great Salt Lake, throwing rocks into the water and having a good time we decided to head back to the cars. When we got back to the car we saw that the road didn't end but it continued on. Before there were a bunch of cars parked on the road blocking it off and making it look like the road ended. We drove down the road a little more and what do you know? There was the spiral jetty! We found it and it was right by the road! We took some pictures and then headed back home.

The Picture Says It All

2010-09-06T21:16:00.001-06:00

Adams Canyon

2010-08-20T22:25:00.002-06:00

Lesa and I decided to go out to dinner and go on a hike. I have been wanting to try out Adams Canyon. We decided to go for it and it was a lot of fun. It took us an hour to get to the waterfall. The trail was pretty steep at times. We gained about 1,200 feet on the way up it was a pretty popular trail and we passed a lot of people.

This picture was also taken at the waterfall but looking back down the trial.

Here we are back on our way down the trail.

Here is a map of the trail:

To get to the trail head you have to get on the frontage road that runs parallel and just east of Hwy 89 in Layton, Utah. You park on the frontage road just East of the Layton Surf and Swim water tower. We got on the frontage road from Hwy 89 just North of the water tower.

We noticed two different possible campsites. Both where right next to the trial which isn't really ideal but they were the only two options we saw. Both sites are quite small but could fit about 3 small tents. I show both sites on a map below. I will also post a couple of pictures of each site. The first I will show is at about 700 feet up from the trail head and the next is just after the bridge that you cross over the water at about 800 feet up.

Lower Site was the bigger of the two:

The Higher Site is just after you cross this bridge:

Cecret Lake

2010-08-11T22:27:00.001-06:00

Monday night for Family Home Evening we decided to head up Cottonwood Canyon to do the Cecret Lake hike. I had heard from some guys who work at the Alta Ski Resort that the wild flowers are everywhere. We left home and drove about an hour and a half to get there. We started the hike around 8:00 PM.
You can see the flowers all around us, it was very pretty.

The trail is very easy. You start buy walking through a campground area and most of the trail is a road. There are signs around keeping you on the right path. You have to cross a few streams on the way up.

We saw a couple of moose. You can barely see one in this picture. I will upload another picture next that you can see them better in.

The trail is slightly up hill the whole way and there are three steeper switch backs right at the top but it was really an easy hike. The elevation gain was just under 500 feet and about 3/4ths of a mile one way.

Here is Bradley trying to go off on his own hike.

We stopped on the way up to get a family picture. You can see it is starting to get dark now.

Yeah we made it! We could only stay a few minutes because before we knew it the sun was completely gone. We had to use flash lights to get back.

What a fun and easy hike. The wild flowers were very beautiful and I would recommend this hike to anyone. It is family friendly and well worth the drive.

Basic Directions

From Downtown Salt Lake City, head south on I-15 about 8 miles to the I-215 Belt Route. Take I-215 East about 5 miles to 6200 South (Exit 6). Bear to the right off the exit ramp onto 6200 South and head east. (It'll turn south after a bit and merge with Wasatch Boulevard, but just stay on the main road.) After about 2 miles is a light at Big Cottonwood Canyon Road. (On the southwest corner of the intersection is a 7-Eleven gas station and mini-mart.) Continue straight through this intersection heading south for another 2-3 miles. The road will bear to the left and take you up into Little Cottonwood Canyon. The trail head is 11 miles past the canyon entrance on the left side of the road. (Note: Along the trip from downtown you'll see large signs to the Alta and Snowbird ski resorts. These resorts are at the top of Little Cottonwood Canyon, so if you follow those signs, you'll get to Little Cottonwood Canyon just fine.) Once you are passing Alta Ski you will go past a small information shack. Keep driving, you eventually get to a parking lot for the Catherine's Pass trail head. Keep going a little further to the next parking lot by the campground. This is where you will want to park. There are signs from here.

Past Adventures Summary

2010-08-08T22:33:00.002-06:00

Below is a few pictures of fun places we have visited in the past. This summary post is just a way of showing you a few glimpses of where we have been. I thought it would be fun to post some of our pictures. I was organizing my picture files and had fun reminiscing in the past. I thought it would be fun to share them.

Chilly Peak

2010-08-08T22:28:00.002-06:00

I have been wanting to get up to Ben Lomond Peak but never have made it. To the right is a picture of it last year with a little snow on top.

I decided that it would be nice to give it a try on Saturday evening. My plan was to leave home at 5:30 PM and arrive at the North Ogden Divide trail head around 6:00 PM. I didn't want to hike too much in the dark so rather than going for Ben Lomond Peak I set a smaller goal of Chilly Peak. This would leave me about 2 1/2 miles short of Ben Lomond Peak but seemed like a better first step. It would still be a hike of over 10 miles with an altitude gain of about 2,800 feet and my goal was to be up and back to the car in four hours.

Here is a picture I didn't take but it shows where I went back at a distance. It was pulled from the website www.utahhikes.net. I really like this website as it has given me a lot of ideas as to were I should go exploring:

One of the interesting facts about this particular trail is it is part of the Great Western Trail. This is a trail that goes from Canada to Mexico. It isn't at National trail like the Appalachian Trail, Pacific Crest Trail, or Continental Divide Trail but it may be some day.

The trail head is located at the top of the North Ogden Divide. This road connects North Ogden, Utah with Liberty, Utah. there is a parking lot and various trails branch out from here. The parking lot is located at (Coordinates: 41°19'12"N 111°53'56"W). You can see the trail heading off in the top of the picture by crossing the road from the entrance and heading North.

Weather wasn't looking very good Saturday but I was hopeful it might all pass by before I would start my hike. I headed out from the house at 5:45 PM and made it to the trail head at 6:10 PM. After hiking for about 20 minutes the last of the clouds passed by and it was nice and sunny. I passed three hikers coming down within the first 30 minutes and two motorcycle riders a few minutes later. The elevation gain is steady but not too steep.

When I first entered the trees on the trail it was quite dense with a fern type plant growing all around the trees. The trail is wide sweeping switch backs for the first hour of travel.

This is another picture taken from www.utahhikes.net. It shows the beginning of the trail very well.

Some times you are in the shade of trees but mostly exposed on the side of the mountain. This provided spectacular views but also opened you up to the heat of the sun. Luckily it wasn't too hot and travel was pretty easy.

The first pictures I took were at what looked like a good camping spot. It is the first green camping tent symbol I placed on the map. It was only about an hour hiking time so it should be an easy one to get to.

Here are a few pictures I took at this spot.

This picture is looking West towards North Ogden.

This one I am looking towards Pine View Dam in Huntsville near Liberty.

I kept heading upwards and the trail left the switch backs of the first section and I headed along the East side of the mountain. It was covered in pine trees and was nice and cool in the shade of the trees. The trees came out of the mountain side at an angle an then curved up towards the sky. I really should have stopped and taken some pictures but I had just re-packed my camera and didn't want to get behind schedule. I'll get a picture next time.

After another hour of hiking I made it to Chilly Peak. I went about 100 yards farther on the trail to get the sun behind Ben Lomond Peak to aid in my picture taking and found another campsite. This time I saw a fire ring and took the majority of my pictures. Here are a few for you to enjoy.

This is looking West toward Ben Lomond Peak:

This is looking North:

Looking back down the trail (South). The trees up on this ridge must have a rough life. They were completely mangled.

Looking South - The farthest peak you can see in the distance is Mount Ogden Peak. I live below it in Ogden. The one that is a little closer is Lewis Peak.

Looking West again at Ben Lomond Peak.

Looking East you can see the fire ring and camping spot I mentioned. Just be sure your shelter can take a lot of wind! You could always retreat down into the tree line if you had to but would find it harder to get a flat spot.

After spending about 30 minutes taking pictures I decided I better get going. This is a picture looking North from Chilly Peak.

Old tree at Chilly Peak.

On my way back home about to pass by the right side of Chilly Peak!

Just below Chilly Peak.

Passed Chilly Peak and on my way home and I decided that since I carried up a small tripod I had better use it at least once. Here I am getting wind blown as the sun is about to set.

A few more pictures looking South towards the distant Mount Ogden and Lewis Peaks.

The rest of the hike wasn't very eventful. I tried to jog a little to make up for my extended time taking pictures but my calf muscles kept cramping up on me when I tried to run. So I had to keep it slow and steady. I ran out of daylight while passing through the thick trees on the East side of the mountain. I had to break out my light and use it for the last hour of hiking.

I made it back to the car at 10:20 PM. I was a little sore but very happy that I took the time to make this hike. One of the main reasons I have been hiking so much is in an effort to lose weight. I weighed 220 lbs about 7 months ago and am now at 190 lbs. Mostly I can attribute this to just making a consistent effort to eat less, eat healthier foods, and be more physically active. Well it is working and hiking is my exercise of choice so I thought I would create this blog to share some of my experiences. If you live around Ogden Utah hopefully this will inspire you to head out on the trail.

High Uintas

2010-07-17T21:59:00.026-06:00

Bradley and I have been talking about going back
packing in the Uintas all summer long. I decided that it was a little slow at work and the weather was nice so I took Thursday and Friday off so we could do it.

I needed to find a lake to go to that wasn't too far from the road in case Bradley wasn't in a hiking mood and I had to carry him and all of our gear. I asked around at work where a lot of people frequent the Uintas and was told by two guys that Ruth Lake is an easy hike and would be good for our first back packing adventure together.

It was a perfect pick. It was only 3/4ths of a mile to the lake and the amount of up hill wasn't very hard. It also helped that Bradley was in a hiking mood. He stole my trekking poles and took off. He made a lot of stops and slight detours but it was fun to follow him along.

Here is Bradley showing me the best route to take up the trail. He was very watchful and if I didn't follow him exactly he would send me back down the trail to come up, "the right way". It was really fun to see him using the trekking poles.

Here he is telling me that he is a, "strong hiker, the strongest in the mountains". He was quite funny. After a while he noticed me looking at my watch to (it is a compass watch) orient our map. He decided that he would come up with a pretend watch and every 10 steps or so he would make us both stop while he consulted his wrist. He would then inform me which way his watch told him we had to go to properly negotiate the trail. He was very serious about this.

At one point on the trail he told me that his watch told him we needed to go a certain way to find the letters. I was really surprised, as I think he was, when we went around a corner of rocks and there was a trail marker sign saying the Ruth Lake was straight ahead (letters!) Bradley started cheering saying his watch told him right! It was pretty funny.

Here is Bradley having a break. We were nearly at the end but he said he needed to rest and just sat down right on the trail. After a few minutes of resting he stood up and continued to lead me on.

Nearly there but we had to stop at this small lake to throw rocks in.

Yeah! 1 hour and 16 minutes later we finally made it the 3/4 of a mile to Ruth Lake. Bradley was very proud and started cheering. I decided to let him pick our campsite. We looked at about 5 different spots and he picked the best one all by himself.

Bradley happy at camp.

Here is Bradley checking out the campsite he chose and letting me know that it was time to make a fire to, "die the bugs." Yes there were a lot of mosquitoes around.

Here is our 1 1/2 pound tarptent. It was cozy inside but worth it considering it's weight. It is actually only a single person shelter but with Bradley as skinny as he is it worked out fine for both of us.

Here we are looking for a stream coming into the lake to get some water from. We were camped in the trees behind us to the right of the picture.

Bradley jumping over a small stream Friday morning.

With Bradley cars are a necessity of life even when back packing. He did carry all his toys as well as his blankets in his own backpack so I can't complain.

Here we are right before heading back down the trail to the car.

This is my favorite picture of the whole trip. It was right as we were leaving and it was our last look at Ruth Lake. Bradley stood there awhile saying, "goodbye Ruth mountain lake".

When me made it to the car this was his state about 3 minutes after buckling him in. It was a lot of fun and Bradley was a great back packing companion. I am sure we will make this a yearly tradition as long as he stays interested it camping.

Christmas in July

2010-07-17T21:46:00.009-06:00

We had an Ekstrom family reunion at my grandparent's cabin. It was fun to see my cousins, aunts, uncles and grandparents. In looking back on my pictures I think next year I will make everyone sit for a group picture since there were quite of few I missed getting pictures of. The weather was really nice and we had a real fun weekend.

Here is Daniel peeking out of our tent. He was supposed to be sleeping right now.

Bradley spent most of the time playing in the sand box. We will have to get him some sand to play in. He sure seems to enjoy it.

Here we are all decorating the "Christmas Tree". It was fun and all the children had a lot of fun helping with the decorations.

The sign is hard to read in this small picture but it says, "Bradley's Brown Bear Hollow".

Daniel spent most of the time clinging to Lesa. This was a time when she was able to let him sleep and for her to get in some reading time.

Daniel really needs to stop trying to eat dirt, rocks, sticks, leaves basically the entire mountain! I hope we can get him over it before we go up to the Tetons in a couple of weeks or we will be spending the entire time digging mud out of his mouth!

4th of July Parade

2010-07-17T21:38:00.004-06:00

Our Stake does an annual 4th of July program and children's parade. We thought Bradley would have fun riding his tricycle in it and he sure did. We had a lot of kids from the neighborhood come out and we rode around two blocks. We ended at the church where we had a flag ceremony performed by some cub scouts and a retired military man gave a talk about his service.

They then had some musical numbers and after the program was over we drank milk and had cinnamon rolls.

Running Much?

2010-07-06T21:22:00.004-06:00

Why yes, yes I have. I started running with some friends in November in an attempt to get back into shape, and train for a half marathon. Well, that training for the half marathon quickly turned into training for a half and the Wasatch Back Ragnar relay.

Now, here we are, 8 months, 400 miles, and two races later, and I'm addicted. I've been an on again, off again, fair weather runner for a long time, but I never ventured into many races. But now my eyes have been opened. The races make the running and training fun and meaningful. And besides that, they are full of energy and rewarding.

So, enough of the sentimentality, on to the race recap. My first race was the Ogden Half Marathon on May 15. It started in Eden, up Ogden canyon, went around the north and east sides of Pineview Dam, then through Ogden Canyon, and into downtown Ogden. It was a beautiful run. The scenery was gorgeous, the weather was perfect, and it was an all around great time. My friends really pushed me, and I was able to hold about an 8 minute mile pace for just over half of the run. Then I ran out of steam and sent my friends on their way, running the last part primarily by myself. That made it harder, but I was still able to finish at a pretty descent time. 13.1 miles from the start, I crossed the finish line in 1 hour 53 minutes, and 32 seconds. I'm told that's really great for a first half. My goal was to finish under 2 hours, so I was pretty pleased. Here is a picture of me and the two ladies that pushed me in training and on the course, after the race. They are two of the best runners and greatest friends. I am so spoiled to have them to run with, they are such a blessing in my life. (The pink shirts were completely accidental. They were not planned, we're just cool like that)

My second race is the very definition of insanity. It was the Wasatch Back Ragnar Relay. It is a 188 mile relay race from Logan to Park City on the back side of the Wasatch mountains. Each regular team is made up of 12 runners who each run 3 times in a 36 hour period. The team is split into 2 vans with 6 runners in each. My first run was 7.4 miles up the Avon pass at 4:00 in the afternoon. It was HOT and hard, but I managed to keep a descent pace considering, and finished the run in an hour and 20 minutes. My second run was 4.2 miles out of Morgan, and through Richville (don't worry, I'd never heard of that town either). I ran that leg in 38 minutes at 1:40 in the morning. My last run was another afternoon run. At 2:45 in the afternoon, I ran 3 miles in 29 minutes and completed my portion of the race by running into Heber. My team started the race at 11:30am on Friday, June 18, and we all crossed the finish line at 9:45pm on Saturday, June 19. We weren't the fastest team, but we were the greatest team (at least in my opinion).

It was the craziest 34 hours of my life, and some of the most tiring. I'm not sure I really slept at all in that time, but I did close my eyes for about 2 hours. When it was all over, I felt physically great, but it took me a few days, and some extra naps to catch up my sleep and really feel normal again. It was crazy, but so much fun, and I am looking forward to next year. Here is a picture of my team at the end of the race, and me holding my medal. I have pictures of me running, but I don't like how I look when I run, so you're not going to get any of those.

There you go. I'm sorry for the long and rambling post, but now you know what I've been up to lately. I still have a bit of a love / hate relationship with running, and I'm not sure I consider myself a runner yet, but I'm loving it now. (I'm already signed up for another half in August this year.)

Bradley Backpacking Trip

2010-06-26T20:54:00.016-06:00

I had a camp out scheduled with the scouts this weekend but due to another activity conflicting with it I was only going to have two scouts come. So the other leader and I decided to bring our 3 year -olds. It wasn't very far from the cars to the camp spot so we thought they would enjoy it. For the most part they really did. Bradley had a lot of fun. Here are a few pictures of our adventure.

Bradley, contemplating life at three...

Trying out the trekking poles

When I found him like this I figured it was a hint that it was about time for bed.

Sleeping soundly

What a beautiful morning. It was a little windy during the night but didn't rain. It also stayed pretty warm. The low for the night was only 50 F.

Waking up slowly and warming up in front of the fire.

Our view from camp.

Bradley checking that he had all of his toy cars before heading out for a hike.

"Pack-Pack" checked and in hiking position.

Heading out for the hike.

The trail we were going on wasn't matching the map we had so rather than getting lost we decided to turn back.

Blogging Rut

2010-06-22T00:33:00.006-06:00

Both Lesa and I have wanted to blog, well maybe that isn't true. We kept saying to each other that we should blog but just didn't feel like it. So I thought maybe one way to break out of our rut is to just go ahead and post some pictures. So here are some recent pictures we have taken, enjoy:

Thursday before the start of the Memorial Day weekend we decided to go camping. We drove up Highway 39 and stopped in most of the campgrounds. We kept going farther up the canyon trying to find one that we liked. We finally stayed an the Upper Meadows Campground. We liked it most because it wasn't near the road and the river was also quite a walk from where we stayed. It was a lot of fun even though we got some rain.

I just can't get enough of these three!

I have been going on a lot of night hikes lately. I really need to get in shape but just can't seem to catch the running bug Lesa has. I do enjoy hiking but due to work and wanting to play with the kids after work I don't usually get to leave until just before sunset. This first picture was taken about 1,000 feet above Ogden at 10 PM.

I went on another hike tonight. I got home about an hour ago which explains why I am still up. This was taken near the same spot as the one above but looking up the canyon this time around 11 PM.

This is a stairway in one of the twin Boston Buildings downtown Salt Lake. I am getting to design the lighting on a couple of the floors and just thought this stairway was amazing. This is from the bottom looking up.

I have been helping a lot of the cities in Utah to change out their old street lights to LED fixtures. Here is an example of what they look like at night. The main thing that is obviously different is the color temperature of the light. The most amazing thing about it though is that the older (yellow) light behind the LED fixture uses 450 Watts while this LED one uses only 55 Watts. The biggest difference I see is how badly the older lights shine light into the windows of the houses while the LED doesn't waste all that light. I could go on about these all day but don't want to kill anyone by boring you to death so I will stop...

This was just a test picture while I was trying to get the camera setup before heading out later that night to take the street lighting picture above. It turned out so well with Daniel smiling I had to keep it.

Daniel likes to grab my glasses and so I decided to let him wear them for a few minutes. He thought it was pretty fun.

That's it! I am falling asleep now so goodnight.

Fun Outside

2010-03-22T16:01:00.003-06:00

Since it is raining right now, I thought I would do a quick post with some pictures of Bradley and Daniel having fun OUTSIDE! We are so happy for nicer weather, with the exception of right now that is. Bradley asks everyday to play outside. Here are the boys actually playing together last Thursday.

The Story

2010-03-18T07:20:00.003-06:00

On Friday last week, the boys and I played in their room in the morning. Bradley was practicing sitting on his potty, and I was encouraging and entertaining. Because he was not exactly fully dressed, we had the space heater in their room running. At lunch time, we left the room and I noticed that the house felt kind of chilly. I thought it was because I was so warm from the space heater or was getting a cold, so I ignored it and went on with the day.

Then Saturday rolled around. After my morning run, I sat down at the table to eat breakfast and again felt chilly. This is not unusual, I often feel chilly in the time between my run and showering, but this time it seemed exaggerated. I glanced at the thermostat on the wall near our table and noticed that our house was 61 degrees. I asked Brian if he had played with the schedule of our thermostat, but he had not. We had another problem. Our furnace was out. Brian called his dad and they tried to diagnose and fix the problem. Unfortunately, it was not what they were hoping. So, Brian pulled out his volt meter and tried to trace the electricity, but that proved to be more of a puzzle than anything.

Now that brings us to this picture.

The little heater hiding behind the chairs was our main source of heat for the weekend. We looked into calling a heating company, but weekends are considered emergency trips, making them more expensive. That little gas stove, with our space heater, sweaters, and blankets kept us warm-ish this weekend. We were just fortunate that it's March and not terribly cold. Our house hovered right around 60 degrees all weekend, which I found uncomfortably chilly.

The chairs in the picture? Well, that was Brian's solution for keeping the boys from getting too close to the heater and getting burnt. It wasn't pretty, but it worked.

So, there you have it. Brian's MacGyver tendency was to keep the boys away from the heater. Not because of too many toys going into it, but because it was working hard and very hot.

A Quiz

2010-03-15T22:29:00.005-06:00

This weekend Brian channeled his inner MacGyver. Can you guess what problem prompted this solution?

Oh, and thanks to my brother Kyle for the lashings tutorial last summer. I'll post the story in a day or two, but in the meantime, guess!

(P.S. I have no idea why our camera decided to change Bradley into a ghost. He's a pale kid, but not that radiant.)

Today I'm Grateful for . . .

2010-02-13T15:00:00.002-07:00

. . . fine motor skills!

While Brian was making snow caves with the scouts, I cut and punched, then tied and tied and tied and tied and tied and tied and tied and tied and strung up the hearts on the ceiling. Then blew and tied, blew and tied, blew and tied, got a little light headed and took a break, then blew and tied, blew and tied, blew - marveled at how the balloons made my hands smell like tuna fish - and tied, blew and tied, and blew and tied balloons. And Ta Da!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Flashback Friday

2010-02-05T13:53:00.002-07:00

I don't remember which year, I don't know who was there, and I'm not sure what else we may have done, but this is what I do remember from one of my first birthday parties.

It was a baking party.
We lived in American Fork.
My mom made aprons for me and my friends.
The aprons had pockets in them, including a skinny one for the spatula.
We were all given kid size utensils, a rubber spatula, a wooden spoon, measuring cups and spoons, etc.
We all made our own individual cake (I think. I'm pretty sure it was cake, it may have been sugar cookies, but I'm almost positive it was cake. It was a birthday party. Cake would make sense.) and baked and decorated them at the party.
It was a lot of fun, and I felt so special to have such a unique party. - Thanks, Mom!

HI??!

2010-01-30T15:23:00.003-07:00

This is Daniel playing yesterday while Bradley was taking a nap. It's about the only time he is free to roam and play. It's fun to watch him and listen to his latest baby talk. Right now his latest noises sound like he's saying "hi!" Listen and see if you agree.

Flashback Friday (or Saturday again)

2010-01-30T08:11:00.006-07:00

Daniel will be 9 months on Monday, so I thought that for this week's Flashback Friday I would compare pictures of both of my boys at 9 months.

First up, here's Bradley in September 2007. A novice crawler, and skinny boy weighing in at almost 16 pounds.

Daniel on the other hand is an expert crawler. Instead of just learning, he's been on the move for three months now. He's also got Bradley beat in the weight division, coming in at 19 pounds.

They look like brothers, but they are certainly different, even at 9 months old.

I think Daniel needs a hair cut

2010-01-24T00:09:00.001-07:00

Flashback Friday ... Saturday Edition

2010-01-23T07:43:00.003-07:00

I started running with a couple of ladies from my book club in November. As we run, we talk, and we're getting to know each other better. This morning it was just one of my running partners and myself and we started talking about what sports we played in High School. Since we're running, I asked her if she ran Cross Country. She said, "No, I played soccer and swam for one season." Then she asked me if I did any sports. The answer, "I played soccer and swam for one season."

So my flashback for this week. . . . (drum roll, please) Swimming!! Not just any swimming, but High School swim team practice in January. That's right, our swim season was in the dead of winter. The team was made up of all of five people, and we practiced with another school's team at the Huey P. Long out door swimming pool (yes, you read that correctly, we swam OUTSIDE in JANUARY) on the LSU campus.

Those were some fun days. My friend and I would usually get a ride from school to the Institute (where my dad worked) to change and pass some time until practice. Then he would drop us off at the pool (riding in his plum colored Ford Taurus with the fuzzy doors, at least my friend though the doors were fuzzy), we'd swim and swim and swim, spending as much time in the pool as possible because though it was outside, the pool was heated. When we finally got out of the pool, our hair would freeze. My friend's mom would usually pick us up after practice and was always prepared. She would have a bottle of Snapple and some kind of home made rice krispy treat or granola bar waiting for us.

I only remember competing in one or two meets, and I have no idea how well I did, but it was a great way to stay active and develop a fun friendship. She talked me into swimming, and I convinced her to play soccer.

Flashback Friday Introduced

2010-01-15T10:25:00.008-07:00

I haven't been very good at blogging lately because I haven't really had a direction or topic to talk about. My sister-in-law, and a few other blogs that I visit have themed days, like Flashback Friday, so I've decided to give it a try. Welcome to my first Flashback Friday. Now that the explanation is over, let's get to the post.

Right now we're watching this.

We've been watching it daily for the past two weeks. That is not my flashback though. My flashback is to the first time I saw it. It was the summer of 2006. We were in Georgia for my brother's wedding. After all of the wedding festivities, we decided to go to a movie. Brian and I, my parents, my aunt, and at least one of my brothers all went. It was fantastic. We had such a great time, but the best part for us was this.

Most of the people in the theater were laughing, but our row was REALLY laughing. Then we all almost lost it with this.

It's the farmer in us. We've all experienced riding on or driving tractors and combines at my Grandparent's wheat farm. The set-up in the movie was just so clever. I will always remember how funny that was to us, and how much our laughter rung out over anyone else in the theater.

Daniel loves Bradley

2010-01-03T22:15:00.002-07:00

Silent Monks sing Hallelujah

2009-12-23T18:49:00.002-07:00

I'm stealing this from my friend's blog, but I thought it was too good not to share. Enjoy!

Brian is going green!

2009-12-19T21:41:00.011-07:00

So, I keep hearing in the media that I should buy some screw in fluorescent “energy efficient” lamps for my house. I happened to be in a lighting store the other day (O.K. I guess that isn't too hard to believe since I work in one) and saw some of these on the shelf. Sure enough they did say, “screw in fluorescent”, and “energy saving”. So I decided I would do my part for the environment and bought a couple to try out…

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Here they are after screwing them in my front room fixture.

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I’m not sure they will save me much energy but I do feel closer to nature now that the sun is inside my front room!

For reference to understand the pictures below here are some figures:

Light is commonly measured in foot candles (fc). Some common light levels are:

An overcast day will produce an intensity of around 1,000 fc

An operating table will be around 1,000 fc

General, Open offices 50 fc or 30 fc for offices where a lot of computer work is performed

Warehouse 10-30 fc

Pro Basketball court 125 - 300 fc

Hotel Front Desk 50 fc

Hotel lobby 10 fc.

My meter can't read over 1,000 fc so I had to be a few feet away to get a reading under 1,000.

Light level on the couch.

Bradley taking a reading near the floor. It would have been higher if he would have held it level.

Just a post

2009-12-16T16:20:00.002-07:00

I figure that I should probably post something so we're not stuck on Halloween pictures forever. The only problem is, I don't really have anything particular to post. So, you're going to get a quick update.

We are all doing well and staying healthy despite the mounds of snow and arctic temperatures. Brian and Bradley recently celebrated their birthdays. We kept the celebrations pretty low key this year, but enjoyed the events anyway. Bradley was particularly excited about opening presents and was more than glad to help Brian on his birthday. It was also nice to have my mom in town for Bradley's special day. Her trip wasn't meant for his birthday, but it was a nice coincidence that she was here anyway.

Daniel is a handful. He is such a happy baby, and brings so much joy into our home, but he keeps me busy. He is growing so fast, you can hardly call him a baby anymore. He has been army crawling since the end of October, got his first two teeth and perfected sitting in November, and is now faster and stronger and all over the place.

As for me, I'm learning what it feels like to wake up really early again. I've started running with a couple of people that I met through my book club, but the best time for us to meet is 5:30 in the morning. It is so nice to get out and run again, but it is especially nice to have people to run with. They keep me motivated and have talked me into some crazy races in the spring.

I guess that's enough of an update for now. It may be a month before I get around to blogging again, so in the mean time, enjoy your holidays. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!!

Why we dressed up

2009-11-15T17:13:00.007-07:00

I realize it's the middle of November, but I'm finally getting around to blogging about our Halloween. This year we all dressed up. Originally, Bradley didn't have any interest in dressing up, but then we found this costume.

Obviously Bradley needed a counterpart, so we dressed Brian up too.

Daniel was always going to be this.

So, I got in on the action and dressed up as well.

And there you have it, Curious George and the Man in the Yellow Hat, and the less specific Dragon and his Princess. Not exactly a cohesive unit, but a couple of great pairs for a fun night of trick-or-treating.

Similarities Anybody?

2009-10-19T10:34:00.006-06:00

If you've followed this blog since the beginning, you might remember this video.

Now look at this.

What is it about the jumper that brings out the boisterousness of my children? Bradley is about 3 1/2 months older than Daniel (though they're about the same size)in his video,so his jumping skills are a little more advanced, but something about that jumper makes my boys sing.

Painting

2009-10-09T11:25:00.005-06:00

Yesterday I had to get some paints from the craft store to paint my paper-mache mask that I made as an example for my Cub Scouts. While at the craft store Bradley wanted to get a little bit of everything he saw. We settled on some watercolors so he could paint too. Here is Bradley in action. He wanted Daniel to watch him, so he is in the high chair wondering what's going on.

This is Bradley's very first watercolor picture.

And, here is my mask. It looks like a bear, which is what I was hoping for.

Pictures

2009-10-06T11:08:00.008-06:00

This post is mostly for my mom. In talking with her yesterday, she mentioned that I needed to post some pictures of my growing boys. Daniel is getting so big. He is full of smiles, he's started to roll over, and he loves to watch his big brother. Bradley is tall and skinny, still loves to play with his cars, and is getting to be very chatty. If you'll lend an ear, he'll talk it right off. So, for my mom, and anyone else who wants to see, here are some pictures of my boys from May to today.

MAY

JUNE

JULY

AUGUST

SEPTEMBER

OCTOBER

Oh Dear!

2009-09-11T17:45:00.002-06:00

This post requires a quick disclaimer. Here it is. **I am not a politician. I am not a political activist. I can’t even say that I like politics. But, I am greatly concerned with the direction our government is headed, and the last straw has been dropped. I can’t do much, but I absolutely can’t do nothing. **

Yesterday in the shadow of the Healthcare debate, the Senate voted for the confirmation of Cass Sunstein to lead the Office of Management and Budget’s Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA); this position is being called “The Regulatory Czar.” Mr. Sunstein was confirmed by a vote of 57 to 40. Included in the 57 “yeas” were both of the Utah REPUBLICAN Senators, Orrin Hatch and Bob Bennett. I know this may sound like a little thing, but as “The Regulatory Czar,” he will have the ability to tweak regulations, making things harder than necessary. Again, this may not sound like a very big deal, but let me introduce you to some of his beliefs. In his own words, Cass Sunstein has said. . . .

"We ought to ban hunting" - Cass Sunstein, in a 2007 speech at Harvard University

"[A]lmost all gun control legislation is constitutionally fine. And if the Court is right, then fundamentalism does not justify the view that the Second Amendment protects an individual right to bear arms.“ - Cass Sunstein, writing in his book, "Radicals in Robes"

"Animals should be permitted to bring suit, with human beings as their representatives …" - 2004 book Animal Rights: Current Debates and New Directions

"[T]here should be extensive regulation of the use of animals in entertainment, in scientific experiments, and in agriculture." - Cass Sunstein, “The Rights of Animals: A Very Short Primer,” August 2002.

"A system of limitless individual choices, with respect to communications, is not necessarily in the interest of citizenship and self-government." -Cass Sunstein, arguing for a Fairness Doctrine for the Internet in his book, Republic.com 2.0 (page 137).

"In what sense in the money in our pockets and bank accounts fully ‘ours’? Did we earn it by our own autonomous efforts? Could we have inherited it without the assistance of probate courts? Do we save it without the support of bank regulators? Could we spend it if there were no public officials to coordinate the efforts and pool the resources of the community in which we live? . . . Without taxes there would be no liberty. Without taxes there would be no property. Without taxes, few of us would have any assets worth defending. [It is] a dim fiction that some people enjoy and exercise their rights without placing any burden whatsoever on the public fisc. . . . There is no liberty without dependency. That is why we should celebrate tax day . . .” -Cass Sunstein, “Why We Should Celebrate Paying Taxes,” The Chicago Tribune, April 14, 1999

I don’t know about you, but these beliefs don’t generally fall in line with Conservative Republican beliefs, and they do not represent my beliefs. Now, given the new found ability to tweak regulations, Mr. Sunstein has the opportunity to make small changes without oversight, that will affect these issues (gun control, animal rights, free speech, taxes) and so many more.

So now the question is what can I do? I admit, it is too late to stop the confirmation, and I was lulled into a false sense of security. Both of my Senators have been voting as I would have them on other issues, so I didn’t think I needed to contact them on this issue. However, it is obvious that I was wrong. I am now going to contact both Senator Bennett and Senator Hatch, and let them know that I disagree with their vote, that I’m concerned with this man’s opinions and his ability to influence my freedoms, and that I will now be voting against them in the next election. I will also be encouraging all of my friends, family members, and neighbors to do the same. These men have been in Washington for too long and are blinded by the wishes of the people they are suppose to represent. If you agree with me, I would encourage you to write them as well. You can find Senator Bennett’s contact information on his website, http://bennett.senate.gov, and Senator Hatch’s information on his site, http://hatch.senate.gov. If you are not one of my Utah readers, and you would like to know how your Senators voted on this confirmation, you can find out at http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=111&session=1&vote=00274. If you agree with me, I would hope that you would contact your Senator’s too. I think it is a good indication of what kind of a person President Obama is by the people he surrounds himself by, and so far, I am scared. He is friendly with too many socialists, communists, terrorists, and radicals, and they are all making their way into our government. Please be mindful of what is happening, and don’t do nothing. Even if it’s not much, make a stand and do something.

Mobile Madness

2009-08-15T21:34:00.003-06:00

Bradley and I decided that Daniel needed a mobile. We used three hangers, some string and six baby toys. It only took a few minutes to make and Daniel seems to love it!

Bradley's Tools

2009-07-17T16:38:00.009-06:00

Today Bradley was playing, no, "working" with his tools. As he would pick up one of his tools, he would tell me what he was working with. Let me introduce you to his tools.

First, we have the hammer. Yes, you and I would agree this is a hammer.

Next is the screwdriver.

Or is this the screwdriver?

According to Bradley, they both are.

Then, there is the apple"saw"ce, of course.

And, last, is the bubbles.

Yes, that's right, it's called bubbles, because this end looks like a bubbles wand.

Don't ask me how he puts some of these things together, but it's awfully cute. And, here is one more cute thing. My two boys sitting together on the rocking chair. Bradley is only slightly offended by having his brother within touching distance.

Bradley Baby Pusher

2009-06-11T22:22:00.005-06:00

Bradley decided that if Mom could push a baby in a stroller then he could do it too!

More Trains!

2009-05-08T19:43:00.009-06:00

There was an old steam engine coming through Ogden for the annual reenactment of the Golden Spike Ceremony on Sunday.

We took Bradley and Daniel to see it. Well, we didn't expect Daniel to even wake up and he didn't disappoint us in that.

"Bradley was absolutely fascinated with the size of them in real life!"

Bradley loved it and we spent quite a bit of time looking at all the other trains the Union Station has on display. Bradley kept saying, "more trains, more trains".

Introducing...

2009-05-03T22:02:00.013-06:00

Daniel James Ekstrom

7lbs 15oz
20"

Bradley on the way to meet his new brother

Bradley wasn't sure about this new addition at first.

Jump Drawing

2009-03-28T22:31:00.002-06:00

Brian uses large prints at works with electrical drawings on them. We thought Bradley might like them to draw on. He has not done much drawing with his markers, that is until he discovered he can "Jump Draw".

Hiking

2009-03-21T21:03:00.012-06:00

With the good weather we have been having lately we decided to go on a hike. We let Bradley lead the way. It was a pretty long hike and Bradley walked most of it.

Bradley stopped to check out our progress, looking back toward Ogden below.

Bradley kept wanting to go higher and higher. He enjoys the up hill climb but doesn't like going down.

Choices, which way will he choose?

I guess we go left.

On our way down.

Happy?

2009-03-05T18:07:00.002-07:00

Happy? As in, are you happy? Now, just imagine being asked this question by a two-year-old at the exact moment you're not really sure you're happy with that two-year-old. What do you say to that? It's classic and makes you melt, of course you can't say anything but, Yes, I'm happy, how are you?

Yep, that's Bradley these days. Definitely a two-year-old, sometimes absolutely irrational, but always there when you least expect it to say, "Happy?"

Catching Up

2009-02-16T11:25:00.002-07:00

I intended to just make a post about Valentine's day, but when I went to pull the pictures off of the camera, I realized I had a lot of catch up to do. Keep scrolling down to catch up on our recent adventures.

Before you do too much scrolling though, check out my stubborn boy. I'm not sure what he's thinking, except that he's tired of being stuck inside and really wants to spend more time outside, but here he is hanging out just outside our screen door. He has started to do this every time we come home from any errand or outing. He's really stubborn about coming in too. Most of the time I have to pick him up and bring him in and then listen to him throw a tantrum. Oh my two-year-old, trying so hard to be able to make all the decisions for himself.

Heavy Reader

2009-02-16T11:21:00.002-07:00

Bradley likes to climb onto and play on our bed. He usually ends up grabbing the books on my side of the bed. This day he decided to sit back and read a little. It's no easy reading for my boy, he went right for the hard stuff. Here he is reading "Jesus The Christ".

Happy Valentine's Day

2009-02-16T11:11:00.005-07:00

We had a snowy day on Valentine's Day so we spent most of our time hanging out at home. Bradley opened some of his Valentines in the morning and was very excited about all of the candy. Here he is working on a sucker and drawing a picture with the stickers he got from Grandma Kim and Grandpa Dave.

And here is the picture. He put the stickers on the paper and then colored with his markers. Just as a side note, I am a huge fan of Crayola's washable markers.

In the afternoon we decided to make a snow man. This is the first snow man we've made with Bradley. He wasn't very excited to help make it, but he does like to look out his window to make sure it's still there. He also loved just playing out in the snow.

Snow Shoeing

2009-02-16T11:07:00.003-07:00

After being stuck in the house with colds and infections for most of January, we decided to get out of the house and above the inversion and try snow shoeing. The day turned out to be rainy, so we didn't spend as much time outside as we would have liked, but we still had a lot of fun. Here we are after our trek in the snow.

Big Boy Bed

2009-02-16T10:58:00.004-07:00

We decided to get Bradley a Big Boy Bed. He was really excited to get the bed and help us put it together, but he is not excited to sleep in it. Here are a couple of pictures of Bradley and his new bed.

LDS Preps Blog

2009-02-02T22:20:00.005-07:00

Hello to family and friends.

I have started a blog involving my efforts to get a grip on emergency preparations. I haven't been very good at heeding the Prophets warnings and feel it is time to get going. I am writing this blog as I go along in the hopes that it might be of use to someone else also. Check it out at http://ldspreps.blogspot.com I plan on doing at least one entry a week. Hopefully, I don't drive Lesa crazy with this new endeavor!

25 Things

2009-01-31T18:12:00.002-07:00

I'm copying Sarah and Emily. Mostly it's something to blog about since I've been so bad at blogging lately. It's pretty random and kind of long, but if you make it through, I hope you enjoy.

1. I am a closet artist. I did a lot of drawing in high school and a little in college. I was actually pretty good, but I don't do it very often anymore.

2. I worked as a sound and lighting technician at a local amphitheater for three summers after graduating from college. This was thanks to my husband. I was mostly a "do-person", but it was a nice break after a full day at work.

3. I often surprise my husband with my knowledge of show tunes, especially since he's worked sound and lighting at theaters on and off for 12 years.

4. I've been blessed with some natural athletic ability. My kids will probably learn how to play sports from mom rather than dad.

5. I write incredibly small, especially for a girl.

6. I have a terrible sweet tooth. It doesn't really even matter what the treat is, I love sweets.

7. With the exception of pregnancy I have weighed the exact same since I was a senior in high school. I can still wear my high school jeans, except the cut isn't in fashion and isn't very comfortable any more.

8. I have five brothers. I got along with most of them, but I married someone who is most like the brother I didn't get along with. Amazingly my husband and I have a great relationship.

9. I love quick-witted TV shows. My current favorites are Chuck and The Office, some of my all time favorites are Pushing Daisies and Ed.

10. I have a pretty eclectic taste in music.

11. I only eat one hot dog a year if I can help it. However, when I lived in Louisiana I would eat a hot dog over crawfish.

12. I like to listen to talk radio.

13. I'm a relatively creative person, but I am not a scrap booker. I don't like anything about scrap booking.

14. I love puzzles. I could do Sudoku for hours, but I can't stand crosswords.

15. If I have a choice, I'll shop at Target over Walmart.

16. I have a bachelor's degree in accounting, but I hate budgeting and doing taxes. I loved working in corporate accounting, I think I just loved the job of organizing numbers and making sense out of them.

17. I'm almost 27 weeks pregnant with my second child, but a lot of people I see regularly still don't know. I am showing, but I guess not much.

18. I live in a house that was built in 1924. We've done a lot of work to it, but it is still full of unfinished projects.

19. I love to watch This Old House on PBS.

20. I'm becoming quite the reader since I've become a stay-at-home mom. In the month of January I finished reading a memoir that I started in December, and read six novels.

21. I never spent more than three years at a school until college.

22. I've lived in Utah for 21 years of my life, but I've only been skiing once. And, that skiing trip was while I was technically a Georgia resident.

23. I love the outdoors, but I don't like the recreation vehicles so much. I would rather mountain bike than ride an ATV, wind surf than jet ski, and paddle a canoe than boat.

24. I'm an okay cook. I would probably do it more and try more exotic foods if it weren't for washing the dishes.

25. I am terrified of ever having a girl. I grew up with boys, most of my friends were boys, I'm just more comfortable with boys.

Birthday Cake

2008-12-12T17:37:00.004-07:00

I guess I didn't take as many birthday pictures as I thought. Here are just a couple photos of the birthday "cake". I couldn't decide what to do with his cake, so we had a cupcake cake with a Cars theme. We invited Brian's family, and the local Hyer clan, so I made a sheet cake as well. We had a fun time, though you wouldn't be able to tell by Bradley's expressions. He did enjoy all of his gifts once everyone left, though.

Happy Birthday

2008-12-12T15:55:00.003-07:00

Bradley turned two on Sunday and this week has finally settled down so that I could do a post about it. Unfortunately, most of my pictures are on Brian's computer that is with him at work. So, for now, enjoy this picture. Isn't this the most excited Birthday boy you have ever seen?

No, No, Bad

2008-11-21T16:23:00.002-07:00

They say toddlers repeat what they hear as they are starting to talk. Evidently with Bradley he has picked up, "No, No, Bad." I didn't realize that I use this phrase that often, but he has been saying it to the cars and stuffed animals he has been playing with lately. I have yet to figure out the context of the reprimand the toys are receiving, I don't see that they are doing anything wrong. But it is kind of funny to hear Bradley playing and then suddenly say, "No, No, Bad." I just wish he would have picked up on a more positive statement.

My growing boy

2008-11-07T15:41:00.002-07:00

We recently had our family pictures taken. It went pretty well, Bradley wasn't the most cooperative, but we did get a couple of really cute shots of him. This is my favorite. He is such a stud. I love how he put his hand in his pocket.

Cabin Family Reunion

2008-09-28T17:34:00.010-06:00

The Ekstrom's had our first family reunion with my immediate family.

We have decided to do it each September.

It was fun and the weather was excellent.

We were able to go on a hike with Bradley. Our map wasn't correct but we were able to find an ATV trail that we could follow making the hike easier.

Cabin

2008-09-07T22:07:00.004-06:00

Bradley, Grandma and Grandpa Ekstrom, and I (Brian) went up to the cabin for a few hours to do a few things for my Grandparents. Bradley had a lot of fun.

"Bradley's Brown Bear Hollow"

Climbing the stairs

The determined hiker.

Moose! Bradley kept Meowing at it!

Peek A Boo

2008-09-06T20:57:00.002-06:00

Bradley likes to play peek a boo in the curtains. I was lucky enough to have the camera take a picture when I wanted it so I thought I would share them.

Bowling

2008-09-06T20:47:00.003-06:00

Friday night we wanted to go bowling, but after calling around the prices seemed a little too much. So we decided to make our own bowling alley. Bradley seemed to have a really good time. He now says, "bowl" and likes to throw the ball.

He likes to cheer after he hits the "pins"!

Happy Birthday Brayden

2008-08-30T22:19:00.005-06:00

I went to Logan today for Brayden's birthday party.
By all the smiles it looks like it was a success!

Boy Scouts

2008-08-30T09:23:00.004-06:00

I received a new calling at church, scoutmaster. I am not an Eagle Scout. In fact I was never a Boy Scout, just cubs. So I don't know much about how things work but I do love being outdoors and camping.

We had our first camp out Friday night. Three scouts made it and we had a great time.

We didn't go very deep in the mountains. We were only a 10 minute walk from our car but it was a great spot. We were right by a trail so we had a little traffic but the best part was the spring right by. It is clean so you don't have to filter it. I slept in the hennesey hamock you can see in a couple of the pictures in the trees. It is quite comfortable and easy to setup.

Catch Up.

2008-08-15T13:16:00.002-06:00

I decided to sit down and catch up our blog today. I've made quite a few posts so keep scrolling. I'll apologize now for the number of slide shows, but they show a lot a pictures without taking up tons of space and waiting forever for them to upload. I hope you enjoy catching up on some of the fun things we've done these last few weeks.

Balloon Festival

2008-08-15T13:04:00.002-06:00

Brian was off today so we decided to go and watch the launch of some hot air balloons at the Ogden Valley Balloon Festival. It was really interesting to watch. It made for an early morning, but the day was beautiful so it all turned out.

Frank Lloyd Wright

2008-08-15T12:08:00.002-06:00

Did you know Frank Lloyd Wright designed a house in Bountiful, UT? Maybe I should back up, do you know who Frank Lloyd Wright is? He was a pretty famous (and revolutionary for the time) architect who lived from 1867 to 1959. A couple of his most famous buildings are the Guggenheim Museum in New York, and Falling Water, a home in Pennsylvania. If you want to know more you can look it up. But anyway, back to my original question, Did you know he designed a house in Bountiful? I didn't, but was really excited when I learned that he did and saw that it was going to be opened for tours.

The house was built in about 1953 and lived in for a few years until the original owner had to move out of state. It then fell into disrepair until about ten years ago when a pair of guys found it, realized what they had, and worked to restore it. The house is about 1,600 square feet (pretty small) and sits on 10 acres in the mountains in Bountiful. It's for sale for anybody interested, only $4.1 million (Yikes!).

Here are some pictures of the outside of the house. They're not the greatest, but since Frank Lloyd Wright liked to blend his homes into the landscape, it's hard to get any really good shots.

Tetons

2008-08-15T11:54:00.002-06:00

Over the first weekend in August we were in the Tetons for the annual Bradley family reunion. Here are a couple of slide shows of our time at camp. The fist is Bradley playing with Noah and Todd. The second is just a bunch of pictures in no particular order.

The Farm

2008-08-15T11:38:00.002-06:00

A couple weeks before our annual family reunion in the Tetons we decided to "practice" camping with Bradley. The farm turned out to be the best option so that's where we went. Bradley passed the test, he did pretty well sleeping in the tent. Here are a couple pictures of our time there.

As Promised (better Late than Never)

2008-07-29T11:33:00.007-06:00

As promised here are some pictures of our trip to Denver.

We first visited The Garden of the Gods in Colorado Springs. It was beautiful and fun and we would have stayed longer but Bradley and our friend's three kids were getting tired and anxious. This is us by a sign about the garden.

This is an example of some of the beautiful rock formations. This one is called Kissing Camels because it looks like two camels kissing, but you can't really tell that from the picture.

Bradley loved that we let him run around.

But he wasn't very excited when we put him on one of the rocks.

Next we visited Pike's Peak.

This is Bradley and I at the lookout. It was kind of a cloudy day so we didn't get to see very much from the top of the mountain (no Kansas), but we did get to see snow on our drive up.

We all crowded into our friend's Suburban. This is Bradley mesmerized by the Jimmy Neutron movie we watched on our way home.

On the Fourth of July we watched fireworks from the local Aurora golfing green. This is Bradley and I playing follow the leader.

Brian and Bradley. (Aren't my boys cute?)

Bradley was a little tired, but mostly stunned by the fireworks. Amazingly he didn't seem bothered by the bangs that accompanied the lights.

On our last day in Denver we visited the zoo. This is Bradley smiling at . . .

. . . this rhinoceros.

The rhino smile is the most reaction we got out of him all day. He was kind of tired so carried an expression like this.

On the last leg of our drive home Brian snapped this picture. Our happy traveler.

Moaping

2008-07-17T16:51:00.003-06:00

Bradley has been moaping since he got up from his nap this afternoon. I don't know what happened, but he has been quite whiny. I just thought I would share what I've been listening to for two hours so far. It's actually kind of funny, but it does get irritating after a while. So a word of caution, don't watch this video repetitively unless you really want to sympathize with me.

Oh What Fun ...

2008-07-16T15:32:00.002-06:00

We recently borrowed my aunt and uncle's truck to do some work around our house. In an attempt to keep Bradley occupied while we loaded the truck, we also borrowed a little van. Bradley has had so much fun playing with it. He loves getting in and out, opening and closing the doors, and loading and unloading his little soccer ball. We've had fun watching him play.

Home Again

2008-07-07T10:00:00.003-06:00

We just got home from spending the Independence Day holiday with some friends in Denver. I was going to post some pictures from our adventure, but Brian has already cleared them from our camera onto a different computer. I will have to let you know what we did later. But for now, here is a video.

Bradley did a really great job on our trip. He was an excellent traveler, and did pretty well sharing with our friend's kids. We knew he would be excited to get home and back to his stuff and routine, but we didn't quite expect this. Here is Bradley proclaiming his joy to be home. It was really quite funny, he did this for about ten minutes straight and occasionally throughout the rest of the day.

Seven Years

2008-06-30T22:43:00.003-06:00

Last week we celebrated our seventh anniversary. Brian took the day off and we did very romantic things like taking two trips to the dump and one trip to our local green waste. And, no, I'm not kidding. We really did go to the dump on our anniversary. I know it doesn't sound very fun, but we enjoyed our day. It was very relieving to clean some stuff out, and fun to work together. I wish I could say that we turned things around and went out for a nice dinner, but that didn't happen either. We had pizza and then I went to Pack Meeting. Okay, so it wasn't the most spectacular of anniversaries, but I guess that's what you get when you have two very practical people, and a trip planned for the following week.

Now, to redeem ourselves, in celebration of our anniversary, I'm going to copy my cousin and tell you a little bit about how we met. Actually, that's not very romantic either, but oh well.

So, Brian and I were in a single's ward together at Weber State University in Ogden, Utah. Brian was the Elder's Quorum President and I was the ward sport's person. We first met at an Ultimate Frisbee activity. Brian will tell you that he first noticed my eyes, and then was impressed that I rode my bike to the park. I was impressed with how much he could run around during the game, and I did notice him loitering as I was asked out by two other guys. He was waiting for his turn, but gave up when he realized he was in a line. He didn't give up for good, though. The truth is, as the Elder's Quorum President he had a colored picture list of all of the member's of the ward and used said list to make a list of the ten girls he wanted to ask out. I happened to be the first on his list, so he couldn't give up, he had check marks to make. In an effort to work his way through his dating list, Brian tried to strike up conversations with me at a couple of activities, but I was rude. I was not interested in dating anyone at the time, and I really didn't want to waste my time flirting, so I was rude and brushed him off. Finally, though, his persistence paid off, he called my home, but I was at work, so my Grandma gave him my work number. He called work, but I was out delivering prescriptions, so my coworkers gave him my cell number. He called the cell phone, and I answered. I was so caught off guard that I couldn't say no, so we had our first date planned.

On September 8, 2000, we met some friends, went to dinner then a corn maze, and then went back to my Grandparents house (where I was living at the time) for ice cream. When it was over I figured that I had fun, but it was a pretty normal, awkward first date. There was nothing too fantastic, but then Brian proved his interest by sitting by me at church and at a fireside the following Sunday, making an effort to find me at Family Home Evening on Monday, calling to set-up another date on Tuesday. Confirming the date on Thursday, and then going miniature golfing as our second date on Friday. From that point on, we were pretty inseparable. I guess you could be very cliche and say that we just clicked.

We continued to date through all of the holidays, got engaged on February 24, 2001, and then were married on June 26, 2001. It was a pretty fast courtship, and an even faster engagement. Now it has been seven years, and we couldn't be happier. It's actually kind of hard to believe it's been as long as it has. Here are a couple of pictures of then and now. We've grown in age, weight, and by one child, but otherwise we're pretty much the same.

Waterfal Canyon

2008-06-15T21:37:00.004-06:00

Saturday we decided to hike waterfall canyon. At the top we wanted to take a picture of us and the waterfall. The waterfall was too tall but by taking two pictures and stacking them on each other you can see how high the waterfall is. We went with some of my friends the Gracey's. We are sad they will be moving to Bear lake but are also happy they are close enough we can visit easily.

Of course Bradley was a trooper as usual. If fact he usually would spur us on whenever we stopped for a breather.

Just call me Linus

2008-06-05T08:56:00.004-06:00

While folding the laundry on Tuesday Bradley found one of his blankets. Since then it has been near him in some form or fashion. He has always had a bit of an affinity for his blankets, but it's really funny to watch him run through the house with it. I've taken to calling him Linus when he has it. It is just too cute. Here are a few pictures of Bradley and his blanket.

For the Georgian's - Go Dawgs!!

2008-05-31T19:21:00.004-06:00

For Christmas Bradley received a little Bulldog in a UGA jersey that sings the UGA fight song (from Grandma Kim and Grandpa Dave of course). Bradley and Brian pulled it out this morning. After hearing the song a few times, Bradley started to say Go Dawgs! It was such a fun thing to hear him say that we pulled out the video camera. Here is a video Brian put together of Bradley's chants. We tried a different program that arranges the clips into a montage so it is a little crazy, but it's fun to see Bradley's personality. I know we're a little biased, but I hope you enjoy this as much as we do.

A little catch up.

2008-05-31T18:35:00.020-06:00

Bradley getting pretty good at walking

We haven't been good at blogging lately so here is a post to catch us up!

Bradley loves to walk up and down the sidewalk. I liked this picture of him.

Indian Trail

We went on a hike of Indian Trail on May 5th. We didn't go all the way up because I (Brian) was dead but we made it pretty far.

Appleseed Project

I got to go to an Appleseed shoot in Cedar City a couple of weekends ago. It was so much fun! I went with my Dad and a friend from my ward. It is put on by the Revolutionary War Veteran's Association. www.rwva.org This is taken from their website,

"What the RWVA (Revolutionary War Veterans Association) is all about:
The Appleseed Program is designed to take you from being a simple rifle owner to being a true rifleman. All throughout American history, the rifleman has been defined as a marksman capable of hitting a man-sized target from 500 yards away — no ifs, ands or buts about it. This 500-yard range is traditionally known as "the rifleman's quarter-mile;" a rifleman can hit just about any target he can see. This skill was particulary evident in the birth of our country, and was the difference in winning the Revolutionary War."

It was fun because Fred, the guy who started the Appleseed project showed up to our shoot and spent a lot of time giving us a history lesson about the revolutionary war. He has me interested in the history now so I am reading a few books on that period of history.

This was the firing line and our home for two days.

Here is my Dad taking a break.

On the right is "Fred" and on the left is Seth from my ward.

Bradley's Chair

Bradley loves to find books, steps, CD's, whatever he can find to sit on as long as it is the right height. We decided it would be fun to find a chair his size. We had some wooden chair in mind but at the store he came across this blue soft chair and we couldn't get him to sit on anything else in the store. So... Bradley now has his own chair, isn't he spoiled?

Lewis Peak Hike

Today we decided to try a new hike. It starts at the top of the North Ogden Divide. We only went about 2 miles but it took us an hour because it is very steep. We climbed about 1500 feet in that hour.

Tagged!

2008-05-16T15:44:00.002-06:00

I guess my friend Shilo decided I needed something to blog about, so I've been tagged. Here are the rules: The rules of the game are posted at the beginning. Each player answers the questions about themselves. At the end of the post the player then tags 5 other people and posts their names.

And now the questions. . . .

1. What were you doing 10 years ago?

Graduating from high school, preparing to have my wisdom teeth taken out, and saying goodbye to friends and family. Less than a month after graduation I moved out to live with my aunt and uncle and work as a nanny for them.

2. List 5 things on your to do list.

* Make a menu and go grocery shopping.
* Buy a new tire for my running stroller.
* Clean my house. (this one is always on my to do list)
* Organize all of my miscellaneous recipes. (I have the recipes, I have the book, I just need to put them together).
* Yard work.

3. What snacks do you enjoy?

I have a terrible sweet tooth. I am not picky, but some of my favorites are cookies, brownies, and ice cream. Recently my vice has been my homemade concoction of almonds, craisins, and semi-sweet chocolate chips.

4. What would you do if you were suddenly a billionaire?

First of all I would pay my tithing. Then I would probably buy a house that is not on one of the busiest streets in Ogden, and a more reliable car for Brian. Then I would invest in gold and silver and some securities (I still a little nervous about the state of the economy and don't have a ton of trust in the stock market). I don't know what else. Probably take some to travel and give some away (anonymously of course, I don't want all of my phone calls and mail to be people begging for me to donate to this or that.)

5. List 3 bad habits.

* Procrastination first and foremost. I am terrible about putting things off.
* Independence, if that can be a bad habit. I hate asking people for help. And I'm so independent, it leans a little too close to anti-social.
* Watching too much TV.

6. List 5 places you've lived.

* Baton Rouge, Louisiana
* Athens, Georgia
* Kailua, Hawaii
* Gallup, New Mexico
* Ogden, Utah

7. List 5 jobs you've had.

* Lifeguard
* Nanny
* Cashier / Waitress
* Pharmacy Technician
* Accountant

8. List 5 things people don't know about you.

* I only eat one hot dog a year.
* I'm totally addicted to Sudoku and I love to do puzzles, but I hate crossword puzzles.
* My natural writing is incredibly small and anytime someone watches me write they comment on it.
* I shop at Target instead of Wal-Mart if given the choice.
* I love musicals and have a strangely large musical songbook catalog in my head for someone who does not have a dramatic bone in my body.

Now I tag Rachel, Elan, Elyse, Sarah, and Becky. If you don't want to, I won't be offended, though.