Read the Schedule

A couple of days ago I thought I would try a different bus. For the past couple of weeks I've seen a bus that was headed to East Millcreek, not too far from our house. Tuesday I figured I would make a go of it. Unfortunately, I wasn't very observant when I boarded the bus and I ended up on the Inbound instead of the Outbound. No big deal I thought. We'd simply go downtown and turn around for the return trip. We did go downtown, but before I knew it we were headed out of the city going - West!!!!

I watched in agony as we went further and further into Rose Park. Unknown to me the #14 East Millcreek turns into the #20 Rose Park when it goes downtown. After I watched everyone leave the bus I decided I might as well talk to the driver. Since we still had another half hour on the return trip to town, he and I had plenty of time to get to know one another. We made it back to the U about an hour after initially boarding the bus. Finally at 7pm, almost 1 1/2 hours into the trip I was at my stop. I can't believe my experiment actually ended up costing me my entire evening. I guess I'll stick with the old reliable #8 11th East bus. Sometimes there's a reason why it's the road less traveled.

Houtz Family Reunion

The Covili family spent Labor Day in the small town of Torrey, hanging out with my family and enjoying one last summer vacation.
Kennnedy had a blast playing with her cousins and all the toys. Alex did what he always does-sleep! Jared and I spent Saturday conquering the Cottonwood Wash. I know that Jared already talked about the Cottonwood Wash hike, but I have to talk a little about it. My brother Alan has a knack of finding great hikes in Utah and this was another one. We had so much fun. It was great to be with my family and work together to figure out how to conquer the bouldering and the crevices in the wash. We also had a couple of chilly swims in the wash. We didn't quite make it to the end of the hike since it was getting late and a few of us had kids that were being watched by family members. I would say that this was the highlight of the camping trip. Jared and I both enjoy this kind of technical hiking and I hope we get to do more of it in the future. We spent some fun time after the hike playing grass games and participating in the Houtz Olympics. I don't want to brag but I think I came in first place.

Sunday was spent going to church, relaxing and doing a little geocaching. We didn't find many caches, but we saw some beautiful terrain and tested out Alan's new truck on a pretty hairy 4 x 4 road. It passed with flying colors. On Monday, we took Kennedy swimming and had some last minute fun before we had to leave. We took the long way home through Emery and Price and spent some time geocaching. All in all, the Houtz family reunion was a success. We all had fun. The sad thing is that I think that our family is getting so big that we won't be able to get together like this much longer. We will enjoy it while it lasts.

Baby Alex

I guess it is time for me to blog a little. I think it's been a couple of months since I have posted. Jared reminds me quite often that he blogs a lot more than me. He also has a job where he is at a computer all day. I have a job of changing poopy diapers all day. Anyway, life has definitely changed at the Covili household. With the addition of little Alex, we are now a family of 4. Alex has been with us for 3 weeks now and I can't imagine life without him. He is part of our family and we love him so much. It is fun to see Kennedy kiss and share her toys and blankies with her baby brother. She has been really good with him. We hope and pray that he will be able to stay in our family.

Conquering Cottonwood Wash

One of my favorite parts of the Houtz Family Reunion is the annual all day hike. Last year I missed the Subway because of work and I've been kicking myself ever since. This year's reunion is in Torrey, UT., so we're right on the outskirts of Capitol Reef. Earlier today we went on a great hike to a place called Cottonwood Wash and everyone who went had an adventure.

The trip started out with a 20 mile drive to the turnoff for the canyon. I don't know how I drew the short straw, but I ended up riding in the back of a pickup with Willie, Phil, and Austin down some of the bumpiest roads I've felt in a while. Still, we finally made it to the start of the wash and in we went. The hike had two main parts: the descent into the canyon and the canyon itself. The first part was pretty boring, more or less a mile of hot desert sun over slick rock. Once we made the turn into the canyon things started to pick up.

I guess I should mention that this trip wasn't really a hike. Alan is into canyons where you'll need to go bouldering. It's pretty much what you'd guess: having to climb over boulders that block your path through the canyon. I love what the web says about Cottonwood Wash. "The only way to make it through the canyon is through teamwork and ingenuity." I think that says it all. There were several places where you couldn't make it over the rocks without help or creativity. Most people would claim that their favorite move on the trip was the "Covili Roll," where I had to pull my body up an enbankment with my legs actually going over my head at one point. I'm just glad that Alan had a tight grip!!



In addition to bouldering, you're also required to swim across channels to make it to the next section of the canyon. I thought it would simply be wading across some puddles of water, but I quickly realized that I'd need to swim, once the water went over my head. I can't even tell you how cold that water was, needless to say there was a good amount of "shrinkage" on the hike.

All in all, it was a great experience. I love that Tara's family is so willing to explore new places and try new things. I'm just glad that I get to tag along every once in a while. I'm also glad that there was plenty of Ben Gay back at the cabin.

Still Sleeping

As you can tell from most of the photos we've posted of Alex, the little guy likes to sleep. I would guess he sleeps about 15-18 hours a day since we got him. We've gone to parties at the zoo, out to restaurants, had Kennedy screaming at home - nothing seems to phase him. If I didn't know any better I would definitely say that this kid takes after Big Al (we all know he can sleep through anything!). Still, Alex is a peaceful little boy who likes to catch up on some zzz's.

That is until about 4 am. For some reason he likes the wee hours of the morning to say hello to everyone. It isn't every night, but there have been a few occasions where Alex has wanted to take a midnight stroll around the house. Tara will laugh that I'm the one posting this (since she's the one who's always awake with Alex), but it's hard for anyone to sleep when someone's awake. Of course it doesn't take much to get Alex to go back to sleep and then we wonder if he'll ever wake up!