Fresh Veggies

It's always fun to be able to pick fresh veggies from your garden. Tonight, we picked a 5 gallon bucket full of tomatoes (see orange bucket next to Syd), 14 onions, and peppers for Salsa.

We even picked a few carrots. I like the 6+ foot tomatoes behind me. Now our neighbors can see our tomato plants from the other side of their fence.

Heading to Genola

Who wakes up at 6:30am on a Saturday on purpose?  I do. I needed to get my long bike ride in for the week, however Deni had something at 9:00am, so I woke up early in an attempt to get back before she left.

I left just after 7am and rode out of Spanish Fork heading towards West Mountain (that's the mountain just south and west of Utah Lake ).  Once I got to the base of West Mountain, I turned South and heading through West Payson, Genola and then finally turning east and heading into Santaquin. I then headed North going through Payson, Salem and the back home to Spanish Fork.

All in all, I did 40.78 miles in 2 hours and 12 minutes.  Amazingly, I felt quite good on the ride and averaged about 18.5 miles per hour.
 

And the Best use of $64.05 dollars goes to

Me. A few weeks ago we were at Wal-Mart and ran on to some clearance outdoor wooden rocking chairs. I've been wanting some chairs for our front porch for a while but they're expensive and there always seems to be something else we need. However, the $85 chairs (each) were marked down to $30. I went back and forth, should I get it or not and decided not to. Well at least until the next morning, when I drove back to Wal-mart and purchased 2 rocking chairs.

I've been teased a few times by neighbors that they are Grandma or Grandpa chairs, but it has become a gathering place for our family. Sometimes it's just me and Deni, others it's me and Ryan or Deni and Ryan, etc.



There's nothing more I like to do than to spend time with my family and these chairs have been a great way to just that.



Just about each night since I've purchased these chairs, some sort of family gathering has happened. Deni and I have also enjoyed getting the kids to bed and then sitting on the porch and talking.

Alpine Loop, Salsa, and 50.6mph

Ryan and I survived the campout. We even slept in a little. We got up, took down our tent, ate breakfast and headed home.

Here's a self portrait after we woke up.




Today was the 3rd stage of the Tour of Utah. Today's stage starts in Park City and goes to Snowbird (via Heber, Provo Canyon, Alpine Loop). After stopping at my parents to borrow a camera lens, we headed up towards Sundance Ski resort and up the Alpine Loop to find a spot for the bike race. We found a spot about 2 miles from the summit of the climb and waited for about an hour before they came by.



As we were waiting for the racers, sponsers came by and threw things out. We got a "Tour of Utah" cowbell to ring, Vitiame water, plus the kids each got a Yellow Livestrong wrist band.

As the racers got to us, there was an 8 man break away that was a few minutes ahead of the main peleton.




Regardless if you like bike racing or not, if you've ever driven the Alpine loop, seeing these guys (50 miles into a 100 mile ride) climb the Alpine is impressive.

8 man break away, a little closer.


After a few minutes, this larger group came through.



After all the racers went by, we continued up the Alpine Loop and over down into Alpine. We stopped and caught this quick picture on the way down.



When we got home it was Salsa time. We had a 5 gallon bucket full of tomatoes waiting for us. We sent Sydney out to the garden to pick a few more onions for the Salsa too. 90% of the ingredients came from our garden.



We started the Salsa and got it all done around 7pm, but then Deni and I took a bike ride. (about 15 miles). On the way down Woodland Hills Road, I was going 41mph without peddling, so I thought, I wonder how fast I could get going if I peddled. The answer 50.6mph. I was 10 mph over the speed limit.

After the ride, Deni finished bottling the Salsa, while I ran to the church to set up chairs. A very busy Saturday.

Dinner and a campout

At lunch I took about a 12.5 mile bike ride with a co-worker. My training schedule states that I needed to get in 34 miles today, so to get my miles, I also planned on riding home after work, however even that wouldn't add up to my 34 miles. My riding partner recommended that as I left work I ride 5 miles north into Provo, then turn around and follow my route back to Novell (10 miles) and then on to home (11 miles), giving me my total 34 miles. So around 4pm, I did just that.

I rode North into Provo, then back along the same route, past Novell and onto my ride home. It was record breaking hot. 101 at the time I was riding. A few miles south of Novell, I felt like I was getting too hot and didn't have enough water to keep me cool, so I decided that it wasn't worth it to continue on and called Deni. I continued to ride towards home, until Deni caught me in North Spanish Fork. All in all, I had ridden just over 30 miles for the day. 4 miles short of my 34 miles, but acceptable. Deni was smarter than I was and rode in the morning before it got hot. She road from Spanish Fork to Santaquin, up Santaquin Canyon a few miles and then back home. She got her 34 miles in, I didn't.

Tonight was the ward's Father and Son's campout. Ryan has been looking forward to this campout for a while. Instead of getting all our cooking stuff together, I decided that we'd just go out to eat then head up the Canyon. The ward was taking care of breakfast, so it was much easier for us to just eat before we went.

Ryan choose Barry's Drive in. It's a local hamburger joint. Deni took Ryan there a while back and Ryan has wanted to take me there since.

After eating, we headed up Spanish Fork Canyon to Sheep Creek (pronounced "sheep crick") by the locals. We set up our tents (and I realized we forgot a nice pad to sleep on.)



We were only about 30 miles from our house, but it's amazing how well you can see the stars when there are no lights around. I sat around a campfire for most of the night and stared up into the sky while Ryan ran around with his friends. You could easily see the Milky Way and Venus the brightest star in the sky. I also saw a few shooting stars.

Tour of Utah

I worked from home today as I had a dentist appointment at 11:30am. This was my first visit to the dentist, although Deni and the kids have been going to him for a while. Good news, no new cavities.

Also today, the Tour of Utah came though Utah County. (Thanksgiving Point to Mt Nebo - 77 mile stage with a mountain top finish) I had planned on going to see the riders ride up Payson Canyon but I had forgotten about the dentist appointment until I got the reminder call a few days ago.

So as soon as I got out of my dentist appointment, I called Deni and decided that we'd head up the canyon to see if we could catch the about 130 riders. I thought Payson Canyon would be closed due to the race, so we headed to Santaquin canyon, which would bring us back onto Nebo loop about 10 miles from the finish. The estimated time of finish was 2pm. We got to the summit at 1:40pm, however the riders were fast and all 130 of them had already crossed the finish line.

We went ahead to the finish line.



We decided to walk around a bit and they were just about to award the jersey's for the day. So we got a few pictures. I was standing in between 2 riders and they happened to be the winners. One of them (Francisco Mancebo) has ridden the Tour de France and finished in 4th and 5th places 2 different years.

The atmosphere was very casual and laid back. I had my little lens, so I was quite close to snap these photos. Completely different than what I saw at the Tour to France. I walked right in and around the riders today, where in France everything was barricaded with a heavy police presence.

Darren Lill - King of the Mountain.


Jeff Louder (3rd), Darren Lill (1st), and Francisco Mancebo (2nd)




I already have plans to take the day off next year and watch at least one day of the race, assuming they come through Utah County again. A lot of spectators rode their bikes up the Canyon before and after the race, that is something I'd like to do next year as well.

A Century

Yesterday a co-worker came by and invited me to ride a Century (100 mile) bike ride in St George in two months. (Tour of St. George)

After talking to Deni, we decided we were both going to start training for it. The kids are out of school at the end of that week and on Monday, I had taken the days off, as we were going to go camping at Zion's National Park, although St. George is just about 45 miles away, so we might do both. The details will fill in, but for now, we're going to train to get ready.

To be ready for the race, I have to get alot of riding in, within the next 2 months.

I set up a spreadsheet to track my progress.

Woodbadge Beads

Last September, Deni and I attended Woodbadge, a week long Adult Boy Scout Leader Course. As we completed the week-long course, we were given the additional task to create 5  personal goals ( or ticket) for ourselves. This ticket needed to be completed within 18 months.  After woodbadge, Deni and I began "working our ticket".  About 9 months later, in June 09, we both completed our goals (or Ticket).

Alot of people go to Woodbadge, but not all of them complete their goals or ticket and therefore don't get their Woodbadge beads. To me, it's the equivalent of lots of Boys are in Scouting, but not all get their Eagle.   When someone completes their Ticket, a ceremony is held where Woodbadge Beads are awarded to the participant.

We were busy in July so we decided to have our Woodbadge ceremony at the next ward Court of Honor. The Court of Honor was on Aug 18th.


We had a great showing from our ward at the Court of Honor.  Although we know we aren't really ever finished with Scouting, it was very nice to be complete with our tickets and receive the Award.

A neighbor took some pictures of us as we got beads, but I haven't gotten the pictures from her yet.

9 years ago today

Ryan was born 9 years ago today. It's kinda crazy to think that Deni and I have a 9 year old.

Ryan has been so excited for his birthday.



He's been asking for bike gloves for months, so we got him some bike gloves.



With a $20 bill hidden inside them.



He actually wanted bike gloves and bike shorts, but being the end of the season, we figured he might want to wait until next spring.

Deni made Ryan a Stitch cake. Pretty impressive.




Deni also put special candles in Ryan's cake. Ryan would blow them out and a second later, they'd light up again. We have some fun video of him trying and trying and trying to get them out.

Now that Ryan's 9, he's ready for the 4th grade.

Galatians 6:7

It's time to reap what I sowed.

Sydney holding a carrot from the garden.



Potatoes, carrots and squash.

We tried potatoes on a larger scale than last year and did pretty good. I only picked about half of what I planted and we only used about half in the picture for dinner.



This is the fun time part of gardening.

Caps for kids

I brought a few gifts back from my trip to Paris (and the Tour de France). I got Deni and I a "Tour de France" shirt, however instead of getting the kids Tour de France shirts that they'd grow out of in a year, I decided to get them these cycling hats.

Ryan is wearing Team Liquigas (an Italian team) and Sydney is wearing Team Euskaltel-Euskadi (a Basque team).



I also brought some chocolate back from England, but it's mostly gone so I can't take a picture of it.

Hike the Y

An out of town friend (Chris) called and stated he was in Provo on business and he wanted to hike the Y after work today. Our kids have never hiked the Y and it's been about 11 years since Deni and I had hiked it together. So even though it was 98 degrees outside, we decided to give it a try.

Deni picked me up just before 5pm and we headed up to the Y. ( I drove.) I had forgotten the correct road to get up to the Y, so we made a few U turns, but eventually made it up to the parking lot.

We were a little pressed for time, as I had Scouts at 7pm, so I sent Deni and the kids up the trail, while I waited for Chris. Chris got there about 10 minutes after Deni and the kids left. We headed up the trail in a brisk walk to catch up to them. Little did I know that Deni and the kids wanted to beat me up to the top, so they had been pushing pretty hard.

Chris and I attempted to talk as we walked the 1000 ft gain. As I was walking, I looked down and saw the key to our car that I had handed to Deni as the left with the kids. This happened to be the only key we had with us. I picked it up and put it in my pocket (thinking I was going to have some fun with it, when she realized it was gone.)

We caught Deni and the kids a few minutes later, however they had made it quite a ways. Ryan looked like he was about to give out, so I put him on my back and carried him until the next switchback.

We made it to the top, but forgot to take pictures while up there. I think it was because I was in a hurry. On the way down, I realized I wasn't going to make it back in time for Scouts. I called the other leader and let him know I was going to be late.

We had Chris take this picture of the family after we realized we had forgotten to take a picture.



After getting back to the van, we had a little picnic out of the back of our van and then we dashed home.

It was good to see Chris and fun to hike the Y. Now my kids can say they hike to the top of the Y.

Expert, me?

Back to work. I've been away from the office for 1 full month. Too bad it wasn't all vacation time.

My trip to England had one purpose. For me to become the expert on a piece of software that Novell acquired in an acquisition a few months ago. For the last 9 years I've been working at Novell I have been dedicated to a handful of Novell products. Now I'm starting over and ground zero. I saw this quote today and felt it was appropriate.

My definition of an expert in any field is a person who knows enough about what's really going on to be scared. - P. J. Pla

uger

23 fish

I got the urge to go fishing, so I woke up got ready and took the kids to Spanish Oaks pond. Spanish Oaks is a little pond that is supposed to be for kids under 12, but I think it has been way overfished this year, as I didn't see many fish, nor catch anything.



After about an hour, we packed up and headed to Salem Pond. We used my fly rod and my home made "survival" fly rod that I made at Scout camp (Ryan thinks the home made rod was pretty cool, so we took it along). The fish were small but fun to catch.



We ended up catching a bunch of little perch about this size. Ryan was having so much fun, he didn't want to leave.



Each time I caught a fish, Ryan would say "Switch", where we would switch fishing rods. I'd switch with him and then catch a fish on the rod he had just given me, which he would then want to switch back again.

I finally stopped fishing so he could catch more. I ended up catching 11 fish and Ryan caught 12. 23 fish in all.

Sydney was with us too but just wanted to play on the swings and feed the ducks.

Escalante Peak

We didn't do much all day, just hung around the house and spent time together, however by dinner time, I decided it was time to take a family hike. In Spanish Fork, there is a huge cross up on the hill not too far from the house. It's not new, but we've never taken the time to hike it. Tonight was the night. The kids really didn't want to hike, a storm was rolling in, but I was determined to hike it.

We made it to the top but didn't stay too long because of the wind.



From this point, we also had a great view of the "new" windmills up the canyon.



At the end of the hike, we had hiked about 2 miles and had a great time.

Adjusting

After being away from my family for 15 days in England (plus 6 days of Scout summercamp before that, total of 21 days) I decided to take a few days off to adjust and spend time with Deni and hte kids.

Let Jag

Uh, I mean jet lag. I always thought Jet Lag was just an excuse to take a day off after a long business trip (flight).

It's amazing how fast I got used to the 7 hour time difference in England. Hopefully I can adapt back to good old Mountain Standard Time (MST).

Chasing the Sun

After 2 weeks of living in England I had adjusted to the time zone fairly good. When I would call home, Sydney always thought it was funny when I would tell her I was going to eat dinner (7pm - when it was only noon where she was.) Time Zones are a very interesting thing to think about. Quite confusing for small children.

Here's how my last Tuesday in England went:

7:00am GMT Wake Up (midnight Monday Utah time)
8:00am GMT Leave for Bristol Airport
10:30am GMT Flight leaves UK -8 hr flight to Newark.
5:30pm GMT Land in Newark, NJ (12:30pm EST)

4+ hour layover

10:15pm GMT Leave for SLC
3:00am GMT (Wed) Arrive in SLC. It's really 8:00pm MST.

I was chasing the sun all day. I saw 20+ hours of sunlight (kinda... as it was raining in Bristol when I left.)

I was very happy to see Deni, Ryan and Sydney happily awaiting my arrival in SLC. It's been a long 2 weeks away from my family. Not sure I'll ever leave them for so long again. I was tired, as I had been up for 20 hours with little sleep on the planes, but grateful to be home with my family.

Road Trip to Stonehenge

I've seen very few trucks here in England, however that doesn't stop these Brits from pulling a trailer. Oddly enough, I saw quite a few trailers being pulled by cars. The kids just got out of school last week, so lots of vacations being stated.

These pictures of the countryside don't do it justice. It's beautiful here. Today was a very rainy day.


Here I am at Stonehenge. Not a great picture, but that's what you get when you give you camera to some other tourist to take a picture of you.


Another Stonehenge picture.