Day 5 Red Cliffs

The Witt's arrived!  Today brought the awesome Red Cliffs hike.  We had so much fun on this hike last year, that we knew we needed to take the Witt's out to enjoy it.  One of natures amazing natural playground. So many pictures, so hard to choose.

Witt and Kellogg cousins together at last!

I love this picture of Conor all by himself -immersed in beauty

Every member of our family managed to make it into this picture

 

Throwing rocks waiting for the big kids to come back

 After the hike we were all starving-time for some yummy lunch and then time for the pool

lunch time at Grandma and Grandpa's house

Jessica, Conor and Josie

High fives into the pool

 

Spring Break-Day 3 & 4

On Sunday we went to church, relaxed at Grandma and Grandpa's house and and  we wandered around the visitor center and St. George temple grounds.

-climbing the long stairs up to the temple doors

  
Day 4

Grandma and Grandpa offered to watch the kids for an extended amount of time this morning so we could go on a longer mountain bike ride. We got up before the sun even came up so we could take advantage of the kids sleeping and tackle the car travel time. The problem with no sun is freezing temps! Oh so so so cold, when we got out of the car at Goose Berry Mesa the temp was 29 degrees. My teeth were chattering. Kevin had done this trail before and was really excited about it. This was a difficult trail, ultra technical, brutal slick rock and some wicked terrain. I ended up walking my bike a lot-hate that. Kevin would go up and down some of these super steep ledges like a lizard on his bike and I would just shake my head, no regrets though, glad I got out there and tried it out.  This is a quote I stole from a Mountain biking site.  "Unlike Moab's Slickrock Trail, there are no brutal hill-climbs. Instead, the ride is a test of balance, burst strength, and reaction time: short ups, brief downs, and quick turns. You can rarely see where you're going to put the bike 20 feet later.  I couldn't agree more.  Here are some snap shots.  We only had our Gopro cameras on our bikes, so no stellar pictures.

-Gotta have a picture of me walking my bike.  I really like the rising sun in the back here.

-Included this one to show the Red EXTREMELY Difficult markings

-King of the trail

-So pretty-hard to stand on a sheer edge with unstable biking shoes. 

-That tiny black ribbon to the left and below Kevin is a highway

-Some of the calmer terrain

-The crowning jewel viewpoint.  Zion National Park is just to the east of the edge of this picture

After Gooseberry Mesa we headed back to the house so we could let the kids swim and wait for the arrival of the Witt family.

Spring Break 2013 - Day 1 and 2

Spring break at our house spells St. George! Time for us to hit the road and head south. Since the Witt family spring break was one week ahead of ours we decided to modify ours and pull the kids out a week early so we could meet them in St. George. Craig happened to purchase a beautiful, gigantic truck up here in Kellogg Idaho and needed it driven down to Boise. Since we were headed in that general direction we agreed to caravan to Boise. Our plan was to leave Thursday and head straight to Boise, Kevin drive the big truck and I drive the van. Good plan right? Unfortunately, we had to drive through an awful snow storm, I am talking slippery and so much flying snow you could hardly tell which way is up or down. I honestly don't remember the last time I had to drive in such awful weather. It was late, my windshield wipers sucked and I was trying to keep up with my crazy husband in this invincible truck. I was almost in tears. At one point we were talking on the phone and I kept falling behind him, I was complaining I couldn't see anything and begging to pull over-not a good option because of the semi trucks and location etc... Kevin's plan was for him to slow down, and me get as close to him as I could so I could see his tail lights and follow him, regardless of me being able to see clearly. So SCARY. I probably drove over 40 miles blindly following blurry red lights, not something I recommend. I was so tensed up, that the next day I had sore muscles. That was certainly not what I signed up for. We finally made it in to Boise, slept in a hotel for a few hours then headed to Jen and Chris's house to drop off the truck and meet their new baby Paisley! Meeting Paisley was a huge perk of the Boise detour, she was so adorable and sweet and I enjoyed holding her so much. Thank you Jen. After a short visit, it was back into the van to drive the rest of the way to St. George. We got there early evening, with enough time to let the kids run around the playground and get out some energy.

Kellogg and Lohner families

The kids wanted to hit the swimming pool the moment we pulled in, but promises of first thing in the morning appeased them. So, we spent the majority of the morning at the pool, then it was time for the real fun, MOUNTAIN BIKING. We headed out to the bear claw poppy trail and decided to take the Green valley loop. It had a bit of traffic on it, but we had a great time. We were headed back and got bogged down behind some bikers going up a hill. They stopped suddenly and Kevin had been right on his rear tire, he went to put his foot down to stop and was so close to the edge that there was no where to put his foot so he went tumbling over this ledge. I watched the whole thing, it was almost in slow motion. He rolled 2 or 3 times holding on to his bike. It sounds worse then it was....the dirt was soft, but the angle was weird so he kept sliding. He jumped right up and climbed out, and he was not happy. The chain ring had taken a bite out of his leg. We rode out, then Kevin drove himself to the instacare for some stitches.

Who knew milk jugs were such great pool toys?

Right at the top of the 3 fingers of death

No swimming for Kevin-I think he was secretly glad

March happenings

I finally finished my blurb book for 2012!  I can now catch up on 2013 blogging.

Here are a few snap shots of what our March looked like. We were able to hit the slopes one last time, Conor had the pinewood derby, Josie tried her hand at rollerskating, and Kevin had his 36th birthday.

-This day was beautiful and the tree skiing was amazing-What a way to spend a Saturday

-Conor and Kevin created an arrow car...not the fastest, but cool to look at

-Josie and Lincoln watching the end of the track

-The digger in our neighborhood

-Roller derby here she comes

-Lemon bars and candles.  Kevin is laughing because Lincoln blew the candles out before he had a chance.  Not only did he blow out the candles he blew powdered sugar all over.  If there are candles you have to be quick around Lincoln.

Red 2 Red

Red 2 Red Cross Country Cycle Race. Can you say hard? This was a tough tough race. 24 miles at a grueling pace with no rest for the weary. I only have one picture because when Kevin crossed the finish line I was still almost an hour out wishing I was anywhere else. There was something like 500 participants, 90 percent male and what seemed like 50 percent pro. I felt a little out of my league, but I am proud to say I finished and I wasn't last. Kevin breezed through it being the invincible biker that he is. I had some wicked leg cramping going on--I have never had my quads literally lock up like this. I couldn't bend them a few times it was crazy. Next time, if there is one, I will change up my nutrition for sure. It was a fun day and the kids were lucky enough to spend time with Grandma Kellogg.

Baby Jasper

We have a new cousin!!!! Baby Jasper was born 1/3/13 at 1:54 am. He was 7 lbs 6 oz and 20.5 inches long. We are so happy for Uncle Darren and Aunt Stephanie. We finally got to meet him on his blessing day. Always so fun to get together with family.

 

Out of Hibernation

Since tomorrow is March 1st...I suppose it is time to come out of hibernation. Life at our house has been very low key and uneventful. Nothing out of the ordinary, so the camera has almost started collecting dust. I do have a few stray pictures of happenings in the last 2 months that I will post.

We were able to use a groupon and meet some friends at the local jump n bounce. This was Lincoln's first experience with this fun, and he was in heaven. All the kids were able to have some fun play dates. We had the "opportunity" to frost a cake for the blue and gold banquet. Do you love our pizza cake? He won the award for most creative use of ingredients. Last but not least we went to the annual diabetes Sky High Jump activity. So So So much fun. Again, Lincoln's first experience and I thought he might not be interested, silly me. He had a blast, as did Conor and Josie. Nothing like wearing the kids out on 50 trampolines, not to mention a good way to plummet the blood sugar.  By the way, Conor has officially taken over his own pod changes.  This is a big deal!  He is amazingly responsible when it comes to taking care of his diabetes.  Other things not so much, but if I am not around he really takes ownership and is very responsible. 

Every Saturday and holiday we have we have been spending on the slopes. We love 49 degrees north,  and have been blessed with some great snow and fun times. As for the time not spent in the snow? Kevin and I have been preparing for the upcoming mountain biking we have planned. Trainers, spin bikes, and for me, time in the pool. We have a race in Echo, Oregon, March 2nd. Yay! Time to get out the bikes and almost hang up the skis?

Jump N Bounce fun

Lincoln showing me his breath in the cold

Bree and Josie - Green fun dip = green lips

Lincoln and Hudson playing with the car track

Frosting cookies on Valentines day with Lyndsey

Conor's pizza cake-grated white chocolate for the cheese and fruit roll ups for the pepperoni and graham cracker bits for the crust

Sky High

I actually captured Conor flipping into the foam pit

One super fun ski day