My spring "break"

My kids were away for most of Spring Break (Moab with the grandparents), so I had time on my hands.  Hayden and I have a different version of what a break looks like.  His includes taking naps and watching a movie he's been wanting to see. 

This is what mine included this week:
Rake garden
Stair climber workout
Rake yard
Mow yard
Fertilize lawn
Plant spring flowers
Till garden (until my tiller rebelled)
Plant three rows of spring seeds
Treadmill class
Twelve miler with Arica
Walk Provo trail with Lawrence
Bathroom cleaned
Three doctor appointments
Grocery shopping
Edge lawn
Email parents/students about homework
Email Brenden (while running)
Birthday cards for April
Einsteins with Becky
Plan two weeks for school
Dig out perennials from vacant lot
Make math quiz
Haydens meeting
Spray round up on entire empty garden spot
Plant perennials
Fixed broken pipes in yard
Buy garden seeds
Go to wades tennis match
Had TV guy come to fix broken receiver
Spent two days (5+ hours) in the yard
Got text from Brendens mission president
A million other little errands

I missed the kids, but glad I got stuff done.
Bad part... I am having trouble walking today. So sore.

Cheyenne Frontier Days... long TREK!

Just back from the gym, tending to Wade, Aspen and Hayden's Aunt Mary. We are headed to Park City today for a few days. Mary bought us a room up there for two nights, and we have plans to swim, ride the alpine slide, and perhaps ride the lifts and do some hiking. Morgan isn't with us, she is at her dads... long story. The short version is, she needs to rest and relax and be (somewhat) waited on. When I heard her dad was driving through town to bring Wade here after their trip to Lund, I sent Morgan with him. She needs some time to work out some of the wrinkles with him anyway.

She spun the wheel and won $25.  She bought a backpack for kindergarten

Aspen loved Frontier Days!

My view around town on my 5 miler

denver LOVES

Cheyenne

Cheyenne and Denver were SO SO SO much FUN! There was only one downside... the DRRRRRRIIIIIIIIIVVVVVVVVVEEEEEEEEEE!!!! We drove to Cheyenne on a Friday morning, and arrived in Cheyenne around 4pm. On the way home, however, we left Denver at 1:30 Sunday afternoon, and pulled into Lehi at midnight. Won't do that again. We stayed in a cool hotel that was similar to the style from the Titanic age, the Brown Palace Hotel. I ran a good five mile exploration route through town. This was my favorite part of the trip, actually. Cheyenne was good. Zac was amazing (as always)... however, the Marshall Tucker Band was the warm up band instead of Sonia Leigh. IT was NOT good! They were bad and I was really looking forward to Sonia. Zac has a new album out. It is (as always) great. We are glad to be home... at least until we leave this afternoon for Park City :)

Brenden got his shipping orders, and flies out to Canada next Tuesday, so his days for local care packages are numbered.

Mission Letters, Music and Torrey

YAY YAY YAY!

(and did I mention YAY?)

Tuesday is always the day I wait with anticipation for missionary email, and if I get really lucky, I get a short little email of my own... and then the MOTHER LODE comes the next day, the ACTUAL... "I get to hold it" letter!!! So Tuesday came and went, Wednesday I was gone, but by the time I got back on Thursday I just KNEW my letter would be waiting. 

No luck. Thursday afternoon mail... no letter. But today... YAY! YAY! YAY! 

I picked up Wade last night at the train... this time with no "suspicious characters" hunting him down after arriving.  Last time he had to make a connection and got approached by some of the local scaries... offering him "candy". He is currently asleep on the couch. 

City & Colour

Between last night and today, he is kinda worn out. We went to Avett Brothers last night, and... what can I say?.. I'm a fan. City & Colour opened for them, and they were a band I could totally see Brenden sitting in behind playing the drums for. Very much "Brenden style". 

Avett Brothers

After only 6 hours of sleep (and amazingly, for Wade, going to bed before midnight) we made it to 7 Peaks today, too. Because there are so many fires burning right now, the sky was horribly smoky.  There is a fire in Neola, Duchesne (close to a possible explosive situation), Delta, Fairview (2 fires), and one along I-15 south of Spanish Fork. Another was just announced about a half an hour ago with major evacuations from Herriman. The Colorado fire ended up wiping out neighborhoods and over 300 homes, so far, and is still burning. It's crazy. It is especially crazy when you consider that some are started by stupid people out shooting off fireworks, or target practicing in the horribly flammable conditions. Just dumb decisions. Hayden jokes about maybe pushing our house to the fire line and letting it "get devoured". It would be probably worth more burned than standing :)

The "cabin" with the swing

On Tuesday, Hayden was home and his worker guys were working on a floor, and we decided to take a drive. We headed south thinking we would stop in and say hello to Grandma and Grandpa Fraser, but about Provo, Hayden called Grandma and she had plans... so we just kept driving south. We stopped in Richfield and bought a couple changes of clothes, some bathroom supplies and a pair of shoes each, and just kept right on driving until we got to Torrey. We both love Capital Reef, and we both love the Lodge at Red River down there, so we checked in and decided to stay a couple days. We ate at Cafe Diablo... twice, drove to Boulder after a hike to explore and eat, and sat in the hot tub a couple times. Aspen found a dog at Cafe Diablo to play soccer with the first night, which she named Serena (seriously... everything gets names with crazy strange names... and they change all the time!). There was also a cat at the lodge, which received the name Pixie... or Sabela... depending on the day (and the minute).

This is Heaven... I'm sure of it

Morning Shadows

Writing Utensil = Happiness

We only did one hike while we were down there, but it was a big one. Hayden thought it wouldn't be that big of a deal to just do a two miler (to OVERLOOK POINT) a mile above Hickman Bridge... the same hike you and Wade did last October. Yeah... well, Aspen lasted about 1/2 mile, then she was whining, and begging for rests. Hayden and I took turns packing her on our shoulders, which is NO small incline. By the time I was done with one portion of my turn, I was sweating like crazy... and it was only 9am. We only had to hear "How much longer" 23,512,502 times... luckily. 

One of the 12,386 breaks she had to take

But the end result...

It was beautiful. 

It was worth it. 

It was TIRING! 

Barely Survived the Aspen Workout

We managed the full 4.6 miles in just over 3 hours... far from the lightning speed you guys did it in, but we survived. Even Aspen, who had a ride 80% of the time, and she thought SHE was going to die, but Hayden and I... survived. On the way down the stairs at the end she was riding on Hayden, and I kept calling her SELFISH. She finally asked what it meant and I said "It means you are being mean and making dad carry you the entire way... he is tired and needs a rest." This was met with silence for awhile, then she said, "No, he's great. He's doing just fine".

UEA: Capitol Reef (day 1)

Stayed in Thousand Lakes RV Park, in their cabins.  It was quite cold for October... but warmed up nicely during the day.  Wade and Aspen went down a day early with Grandma and Grandpa... and Brenden came down with Hayden and me.  

First day included a stop at the overlook, a walk down the wash for a couple miles and dinner at Cafe Diablo, which was to die for.  

Aspen loved using Grandma's hiking sticks... for walking and for stabbing her brothers.  

Brenden and Wade enjoyed ascending anything climbable.  

Hayden told Aspen that if she climbed rocks she could run into where snakes live, so for the rest of the trip Aspen would warn the boys as they were climbing and hiking:

"Hey Guys... SNAKES HIDE"

Brenden used his boy scout skills and dissected a cactus so we could sample it.

Wade climbed past the safety fence to sit on a ledge, which just about made his parents (and grandparents) have a nervous breakdown.

Great weather, great company, great day.