Shredding it at Mountain Dell

One of the things I like most about my calling in Young Men's is the fun times we get to have with the kids when we're all together. Once a month we pack up both the Young Men and Young Women for an evening of fun. This month we headed up to Mountain Dell for a little late night sledding.

My favorite part of the night was taking Kennedy with me. She loves hanging around the older kids and, fortunately for us, they like her too.

We had a total blast tonight. The hill was slick and sent us down at some pretty good speeds.
I'm not going to say I kept up with the teenagers, but Kennedy and I managed to hold our own. Even better, no one got hurt - always a plus when you're rocketing across ice on a piece of plastic.

Thanks for being my sled partner Dede!

Science Experiment

Winter time can be a pretty boring time for the kids.  With bad weather outside, there wasn't a lot going on for us yesterday.  One good thing about the weekend's storms was it finally cleared out the inversion and we had a "green burn" day.  So we fired up the stove and the kids performed a little science experiment.  Take a look:

Hiking Time

Yesterday we took advantage of our trip to Southern Utah and headed to the red rock.  My dad had mentioned a few short hikes that would be perfect for the kids.  So, we packed up the van and headed to Silver Reef to explore the country.

I knew Alex and Dylan were in for sure when we learned that the first hike we went on was to some dinosaur tracks, fossilized in the rock.  It was awesome.  I can't really remember the name of specific species, but the fossils looked like a large bird.

Since our first trail wasn't very long we continued our trek and headed up the next canyon.  I think our final destination was a waterfall, but we were really just happy to be outside.  The kids played on the rocks, jumped over the streams, and had a total blast. 

In the end we had to call our hike off a bit early due to darkness, but no one cared.  It was great to breathe some fresh air and get outside for a change.

Nana's New Knee

For years my mom has struggled with her knees.  She's known for a while that she would end up doing a total knee replacement at some point in her life.  For the past couple of years, stairs have killed her and it's tougher and tougher to get around.  So, when she told us she was ready for the surgery our family was excited for my mom.

We were fortunate that my work schedule had me teaching in St. George this week.  I could complete my trainings and still have time to be there for the surgery.  She went under the knife earlier this morning and after a couple of hours it was over.  She slept much of the afternoon and by evening - they had her strapped up to machine that would keep her knee moving.  It's unbelievable how quickly the hospital gets people moving.

Surgery is never easy, but my mom is committed to the process - especially the rehab that will follow.  I know she can do it.  She's a tough lady who can accomplish anything she put her mind to.  Good job Mom - we'll have a race in a couple of months!

Hanging at the Jazz Game

One of the perks with Alex being in the Jr. Jazz this year is the free tickets to a real Jazz game. I remember when I was a kid this was the highlight of the season. The chance to watch a real game was to good to be true. I was a bit surprised when I mentioned the tickets to Alex a couple weeks ago and he didn't seem that interested. His response - "Can I play with your phone if we go?"- wasn't really the same level of enthusiasm as I'd hoped.

I kept talking up the chance to go together to the game and, by the day it arrived, Alex was finally on board. It didn't hurt that we planned to ride TRAX with some friends from our neighborhood. Once we got to the arena, it was time for our climb. As you can imagine free tickets to the Jr. Jazz aren't close. I think we were a couple rows down from the top - still it didn't matter. We were together and that was enough for me.

Alex was fairly interested in the game for a while. The Jazz were winning and that kept things positive. I will say that Alex was a little more interested in the treats I promised him than he was on the court. In the end the free tickets cost me $5 for TRAX, $5 for an oversized pretzel, and $5 for some nachos. It didn't matter to me though. I was just happy to spend some time with my son. To me, the night was priceless....