Hurricane Utah 2011

Last week, we were hit with a huge wind storm. It extended from North Salt Lake through Ogden. Wind gusts were clocked at 103 mph. We were super lucky at our house - the biggest damage was to our fence (chain link - go figure) and a bent dome on my patio heater!

Here are some pictures of some of the damage around us:

This is Joe and Claire's backyard. The wind took one of their big pines and ruined their deck.

The neighborhood:

Huge trees downed at the Bountiful Cemetary.

Trucks lined up to exit the freeway in Centerville. The freeway going northbound was closed for a while.

These trucks didn't fare too well:

This one thought he could bypass the freeway and ended up in the same situation along the frontage road.

We ended up being without power for 36 hours. That is an ETERNITY! Thank goodness we have our gas fireplace to keep us warm at night and Christmas Story Monopoly to entertain us by flashlight!

Clean up pictures to follow... Stay safe! It is supposed to blow hard again tonight! This time, with snow included!

Happy Veteran's Day!

Thanks to those who sacrifice to keep us safe!

My Dog Is Smarter Than Your Dog...

L was working on his homework last week. Molli decided she needed to give him a little moral support... Don't tell his teacher that she helped him!

Pump N Run

L is in full force basketball mode. He tried out for an AAU team in Salt Lake. We were so excited when his new coach called to tell him he had made the team. It has only been two weeks of practice, but L feels like he has learned so much!

Tonight was his first game. Great game with a great outcome! 46-31 victory for PNR. L didn't have any points, but was awesome on defense with two huge rejections!

Jr. High tryouts are on Monday and he is also playing on a Bountiful team so our life is pretty much all about basketball right now. Good thing we love it!

You've come a long way L!

Getting Ready for Race Day

L has signed up for his first race this Saturday. It is a criterium race, which, from what I've been reading, is one of the harder races (especially to start out with). We will be there to cheer him on and Molli wanted to be ready to go, too.

Here is her Team Trusty shirt that she will be sporting on Saturday...

Back to School

It couldn't be avoided. As much as Landon didn't want this day to come, school has started again!

Landon is in the eighth grade this year...

We even had eight-shaped pancakes for breakfast!

Watch out BJH...

Landon is back with a vengeance!

Tour de IHC

Jason, Katie, and Miss B came down a week or so ago to visit (sort of) and to watch the Tour of Utah (mostly). They took Landon along to watch and the little bug he had to buy a new road bike suddenly became an obsession. The next few days, Ron and I had off for a little "stay-cation" which included shopping around almost every bike shop in the valley looking at bikes. By the way...did you know there are a million bike shops around here??

After looking and looking, he settled on the first bike he had looked at. He has worked really hard this summer mowing lawns and this was a big investment for him. He bought the bike and had it fitted for him...

Once everything was adjusted and set, he put on his melon protector and headed for home.

Because the gears and brakes are different than he has had before, Ron and I followed him for a while to make sure he had the hang of it. Then, we headed for home to wait for him to ride up the hill.

After a while, Landon showed up, pushing his bike up the hill. Ron told him to "get on it and ride up the hill." Landon yelled back, "I crashed!" The closer he got, the more we could tell that it was more than just a little crash. There was road rash on his legs, arm and back. He started complaining about his arm. WHAT?? He had a basketball game later that day and so we decided to have it checked out before his game...

Yep...you guessed it. No game for Landon that night. He broke his left arm just above the wrist. He sported this lovely sling for a day and then we went for a more permanent model in green:

He will be showing this beauty off for four weeks and then hopefully, all will be better.

He has ridden his bike once since then, but doesn't really have the grip to squeeze the brake, so he won't be doing as much riding as he would like.

As for the bike, it has a new wrap in its bars, not green though, in blood red!

Happy Day After Pioneer Day!

Today the state celebrated Pioneer Day. Even though Wells Fargo was open today, I took the day off to spend with the family. McKell had to go to work to take care of her little patients. She only got proposed to twice today - by the same patient!

Ron, Landon, Molli and I took a little road trip to the Uintas with our destination being Mirror Lake. What a great ride! Because it has been so wet this year, it was really pretty and green all the way up!

Molli rides in the back of the car in a carrier, but we leave the top unzipped for more air to get to her. Whenever we start off, she pops her head up to make sure everyone is buckled up and ready to go. Then, once she checks everything out, she snuggles down and goes to sleep!

This was our view on the way up the canyon. Still a little snow on top.

We stopped on the way up at some falls. The water was running fast, but there was a little pool of water where people were soaking their feet and cooling off from a hot summer day!

Here is Landon, showing that he has now almost grown as tall as the trees!

We continued on our way to Mirror Lake. It was really crowded and the garbages and potties were suffering from over-use this weekend, but once you made your way through the flies, it was beautiful!

We walked around the trail that goes around the lake. There were lots of little families fishing and hiking and camping. This was the only wildlife we spotted, though.

It was so nice! The temperature on the car was 71 degrees when we got out of our car.

Compare that to the 95 degrees when we got back to the valley.

Molli enjoyed the day and even braved getting her little toes in the water.

We made our way down the canyon, but not without taking in a couple more pictures of the scenery.

We couldn't finish off the day without a stop at the Uinta Drive In - aka Dick's.

Evidently, they have the world's best EVERYTHING (according to their sign). I will back them up on their hamburger buns...it was the best part of the burger!

Of course, Landon had his standard two grilled cheese sandwiches, but by the time I could pull my camera out, this is all that was left.

Happy 24th/25th of July!

Grandma Nanny

This is my little Granny. Last week, she decided to get up in the middle of the night for a bio-break. On the way to the potty, she fell and was spread out on the floor for nine hours before Jim and Janet found her. They got her upright and, wouldn't you know it, nature called again! This time, she fell in the little bathroom with the door closed behind her. Jim couldn't get the door open to rescue her. With some wrestling with the door and Grandma trying to move herself out of the way, they were finally able to get her back up.

After a trip in the ambulance and a few days in the hospital, Grandma Nanny is in a rehab center to work her muscles and regain some strength so that she can go back home. For those of you who know Grandma, you know how headstrong she is. She isn't happy to be in the care center and not in her own house. She will be there a couple of weeks, but tells everyone she will be home in a few days.

We took a couple of trips to see her last week. She looked so much happier the second time we visited her. She even let me take a few pictures to show off the shiner on her head.

We love you Grandma Nanny!

Girls' Craft Night

Tonight we finally got around to our crafty project that we have been wanting to do every since Miss B came to stay.

We went to Old Navy and grabbed some $2.50 flip flops:

We used a tutorial we found here, and came out with these:

We each still have another pair to finish, but we got a late start on it tonight and will have to finish up another day.

Happy Father's Day!

It's Been a While!

I can't believe that it has been about six months since our last blog update. So much has happened and it just seems like last week that I took my Christmas tree down (but, if you know me, you know it has been down since December 26th - an inherited trait).

A lot has happened: a soccer trip to Las Vegas, Grandpa's first surgery (this time around), the end of a soccer tradition (yep, L is out of the soccer game), a basketball tournament with his Jr. High buddies, M training for a marathon, the addition of a new fury family member (Molli), an unplanned bathroom remodel and so much more! Here is my commitment (ha ha) to be a better blogger for the rest of the year!

And...just to make sure there is a picture included...here is Molli Mae!