A Smile for Winter

I know winter has been too long when I start photographing all the food we make.  However I couldn’t resist sharing this one.  Our chicken pot pie was smiling back!

Merry Christmas!

Wishing everyone a VERY merry Christmas!!!!

Blue Angels

Well I am running out of time, but the summer wouldn't have been complete without mentioning the Blue Angels. There you go, I mentioned them.

Bike Racing

This summer was full of cycling.  However one of my favorite moments was watching the kids in an Idaho Falls race downtown.  Cale, Carter and Chase were all young enough to participate in the kid’s fun race.
Cale race was first.  The race consisted of one entire block.  Most kids had four wheels (including the training wheels).  Cale was deep in his own world, anticipating what was to come and how he was going to get to the finish line first. (ok blogger, why do you keep turning my pictures)

But there were a lot of people cheering him on and he decided just to enjoy the attention

Carter was next

He was so focused he didn’t see the accident occurring right behind him.

He did one full lap around the downtown loop and was thrilled with his medal.

Chase’s group was a little more competitive, with two full laps of downtown.  He was pushing some big gears the entire time.  Maybe we should have explained how to use the gear shifters first.

But he did understand the number one rule of cycling.  Make sure that in the photo you look like you are in the lead.

There is nothing that beats the sense of accomplishment after a long, hard ride.

The finishers!  Don’t ask why Carter is holding his shoe.  Or why the ribbon is no longer on his medal.  Some things even parents will never understand.

Yellowstone June 2010

In late June we took a scenic drive through Yellowstone.  For a section of about 5 miles, it was bumper-to-bumper traffic because a herd of buffalo were migrating down to the geyser area.  Apparently the road is the most convenient way to travel even for a buffalo because even with the rangers attempting to shoo them off, they were determined to stay on the road.  For 1-2 hours we followed them down the road.

The most entertaining part of the trip was watching the chipmunk eat a chip that may or may not have been thrown there by my kids.  In Chase’s own words, “they were so cute”.

Cale was proud of the fact that he was taller than a tree.  I guess it makes him feel grown up.

And I love to look at the scenery…especially when Melissa is in it.

We saw lots of steam.  Some steam was enjoyable like a warm steam bath.  Other steam smelled like rotten eggs.

Lots of steam and spraying water.

Carter insisted that I get pictures of all the colors.  There was orange, yellow, blue, white and every combination in between.

There was lots of waiting…waiting for geysers (this one never erupted)

…or waiting for “Dad” to take another picture.

And there was plenty of photo opportunites.

And to round of a perfect day was eating ice cream in the lodge while waiting for “Old Faithful”

Did I mention I love the scenery at Yellowstone?

Father-Son Campout 2010

This past weekend was the Father and Son campout. I took Colton, Chase, Carter, and Cale. We went to Reunion Flats campground. It is up in the mountains, just down from Grand Targhee ski resort. It had a spectacular view of the Grand Tetons.

We got there around 3pm. Immediately Colton, knowing the drill, got the tents out and started setting them up. The other 3 boys helped for a minute until they realized it was more of a chore. After camp was set up, we walked down to the creek. We got the fishing poles out, but barefoot in the icy cold creek made the fishing difficult. We decided on a hike instead… we made it a few hundred feet before we realized we were hungry. We marched back to camp.


Tin foil dinners… YUM. They are so simple and yet so good when you are in the outdoors. Each of the kids got to put their own together by selecting the items that they wanted from Potatoes, hamburger, onion, carrots (which we forgot), bacon, season salt, pepper, cheese, and some donated peas and canned tomatoes. And for dessert we had raspberry cobbler in a dutch oven. I put too much liquid or berries in so the cobbler really ended up being raspberry soup. It was edible as long as you put enough whip cream on it. The rest of the whip cream in the can ended up getting sprayed into Carter's mouth.


That evening, we had stories around the campfire. The stories were funny as anything, told the way only Todd Erikson can. Even Cale was laughing his head off. He thinks it is funny that other people laugh, not necessarily because the stories were funny. In fact, he smiled about the entire campout.

And speaking of funny, what do you get when you cross a boy, a firestick, and a hearty tin foil dinner with ketchup??? Give up… You get this…

For breakfast, the Elders Quorum supplied Muffins, Doughnuts, Fruit, Yogurt and Juice. We were a little surprised not to be having burnt bacon and blacked raw pancakes. There weren't as many people camping as was expected so there was LOTS of food to go around. My kids thought it was a good idea to see how many doughnuts they could eat.


After cleaning up camp, Colton headed out on a hike with some friends. He came back with an antler. What are we supposed to do with that to make it sanitary?


The rest of us drove down to Victor to fish at the kids fishing pond. The pond was great for spin rods, but not great for kids who were learning to fly fish. I would have brought the spin rods, but I can't figure out how to keep them from falling apart when the kids touch them. Chase tried hard and he got better as time went on, but eventually the difficult fly fishing conditions got the best of us and we decided to call it a day.

But first, I made a deal with Cale that if I could take a picture of him with the camera, that he could take a picture of me.

Most of the pictures he took were of my feet, my belt, or the ground. But he did get a couple of my head with my "Hire Me" shirt that Melissa bought me a couple weeks ago before I had found a new job.

Brian

Tour De Cure

Yesterday was the Tour de Cure ride to raise money for the American Diabetes Association. The event was down in Brigham City, Utah.


Melissa and Barbara planned to ride the 65 mile course and I planned on the 100 mile course. Katie came along as a supporter.


Because we had an early start the morning of the ride, we went down the night before and stayed at Heather's house which is only 20 minutes from the course. It was a windy, rainy drive down to Utah, and the forecast for the day of the ride looked grim. 50% chance of rain with a consistent wind of 20-30 mph. We stopped at Heather's store that she manages. We had a good talk with her. Somehow she managed to find some time to prepare us a pasta dinner, a cyclist's preferred "day-before" meal. By the time we made it to Heather's house we were exhausted and the 5:30 am wakeup call seemed WAY early.


Before we knew it, it was 5:30 and the alarms woke us up. But no one seemed too eager to get ready and we talked for a little while, trying to wake up.


We got to the course a little later than I wanted to. The 100 mile riders started at 7:30 am and the 65 mile riders left at 9:00 am. At the starting, it was overcast and windy, but not rainy. We wore our neon, lightweight rain jackets in case. I started at the front of the group. Since I didn't know anyone at the race, I just picked a group of people and stuck with them. For the first 20 miles it was fast in a large group that extended across the whole lane in the road for as far back as I could see. The front group and I zoomed past the first rest stop. I turned around shortly after to discover that most of the group was no longer behind us. They must have stopped at the rest stop. At the next rest stop, I stopped along with all but 10 of the lead riders.

The rest stops were stocked with food. There were all kinds of fruits, nuts, chips, candy, water, sports drinks, and PBJ. One time I slammed down a banana and some PB crackers. Another time I devoured the Oranges. When you plan to burn 4000-5000 calories you have to make sure you eat and drink well on the trip.

At one point in the trip we formed an echelon because of the wind. That is where a group of riders form a diagonal line to draft off each other. For everyone but the lead rider, it saves a lot of energy, especially when there is so much wind. However for some reason some of the riders thought it was ok to form the diagonal line across the oncoming lane of traffic (this was not a closed course). The diagonal line started at the white line of one lane of traffic and ended on the white line of the other lane. This is Very Illegal and dangerous. The cops came and got mad at some of the riders.


And then there was the hill. The map says a 7% grade down the hill. Now that I think about it, I don't mind how steep it is going down the hill. What I wish they had put on the map was how steep it was UP the hill. I didn't have a clue what to expect and when I did get to the hill I was stunned. I know it was at least a 13% grade. That is steeper than anything I have done before. I was pushing the peddles as hard as I could and still barely moving up the hill. The group in front of me made it up the hill faster than I could and I was left wondering if I was going to make it up. I thought about walking up the hill, but I just couldn't do it. Trust me, I wasn't the only one who had a hard time making it up that hill. Luckily there was a rest stop at the bottom of the hill and I was able to catch up to the group.

At the lunch spot, I quickly ate a few snacks and hurried to catch a group of about 7 others, including The Doctor, Fish-net, Skin, and Ashton. We rode into the wind at a quick pace.

Then the accident…


After 6 miles or so, Fish-net was getting a drink of water and somehow his front wheel crossed my rear tire. He didn't have his hands on the brakes so his tire rubbed mine for a while before he went down hard on the ground. I didn't know what was going on so I quickly unclipped my shoes and stopped. Fish-net was on the ground with a gashed up knee. A lady in a truck stopped and after a few minutes she took us around the corner to her house to fix his knee. Luckily The Doctor was riding with us. He carefully cleaned out Fish-net's knee and bandaged it up. At about that time I discovered that during the accident, my cleat had been ripped off my shoe. Without a cleat, I couldn't ride. So there I was…"toasted"… unable to complete the first 100 mile "century" ride. The lady in the truck dropped us back at the rest stop where I waited for a shuttle ride back to the finish line. At the time I stopped, I had completed 66 miles at a bit over 18 mph.

At the rest stop, I saw Melissa and Barbara. They were just about to head off for the last 25 miles of their ride. They were looking good and energetic. I told them I would cheer them on when I reached the finish line. And there I waited for the shuttle. At least an hour before I finally crossed the finish line with a big DNF (did not finish). There was no clapping or cheering for me as I crossed the finish line in the shuttle.

Katie was there at the finish line and her and I cheered Melissa on as she crossed the finish line having completed all 65 miles. Ten minutes later Barbara rolled in and we all gave her a big cheer as well. I was so proud of them! They had finished. And to top it off, the winds were INSANE, especially at the end. Also at the end, it started to rain. They beat the weather and made it in.

It was a great trip, and altogether the ride raised over $450,000 towards diabetes. So no matter what the outcome, we were all winners. Thanks again for all of you who donated to make this happen.


Brian