Photo of the Day

While we were home alone today I snapped a quick shot of the kids at play. Alex is in his own world, Dylan misses Tara, and Kennedy is posing for the camera. Classic!

Geocaching with the Boys

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It's official - I have become one of the nerdiest people I know. I just got back from a two day trip, a trip where all we did was geocache. I can already hear the snickers and see the finger pointing. Still, it was the only way I could accomplish a couple of goals: finish finding a cache in every county in Utah, and work on finding a cache in all 50 states (Colorado and New Mexico). Go ahead, laugh already.

Now that we've gotten that out the way here's what happened. Ross, Mitchell, and I started planning this trip around March. We knew there was going to be a lot of time in the car and we needed to keep the trip as short as possible. Try explaining to your wife and kids that you're going on a two-day geocaching trip. We used Google Maps to plan out every twist and turn along the way and our route was ready (BTW - if you're not using Google Maps, you should be). Rather than give you every detail here are some of the highlights based upon the states we visited.

Wyoming: We stopped outside of the little town called Urie where we encountered a couple of interesting folks. The first was a farmer from Green River who was selling watermelons on the side of the road. He immediately stopped and followed us around to see why three guys were looking around a Tuff Shed. Later, an older woman came out from a nearby retirement center to see why were looking at her tree. Sometimes, it's easier to make something up than tell the truth. We ended up giving them the geocaching run down and then we were off. Caches in Wyoming - 6...

Colorado: This was my first time caching in Colorado. Truthfully, it looked a lot like Eastern Utah. Until we got to Ouray that is. I've never been through Ouray before, but I would certainly like to go back. We all loved the Million Dollar Highway (well, Ross liked it a bit less since he drove around the tight curves and past the sheer drop offs) and the mountain scenery was awesome. It was the prettiest part of our drive and the only time the temperature dropped to my kinda level. We left the state with food from the Durango Taco Bell and 10 caches to our credit.

New Mexico: We didn't really have a destination while in the Land of Enchantment. As we poured over the map Farmington, New Mexico was the largest city in the NW corner of the state (that and the fact that there was a Holiday Inn Express didn't hurt - free breakfast). I had to laugh when the front clerk at the hotel asked where we were going and we said "Here." He asked, "Why?" I guess that sums up Farmington, NM. We woke up early and got back out on the road. I think my favorite cache of the trip was off the highway outside of Shiprock. We found a pretty cool petroglyph. Whether it's real or not - you decide!

Utah: Our two day odyssey led us back into the Beehive State around 2 in the afternoon. In order to finish off our Cache Across Utah we drove North through San Juan, Grand, Emery, and Carbon counties. As the afternoon wore on you could certainly tell we were back out of the hills. I think it was over 100 degrees in Moab. Our final cache led us up the canyon just out of Helper. We originally thought we'd drive all the way to Roosevelt, but as soon as we saw a sign for Duchesne county we pulled off the road and found a cache in our final county of Utah.

After 1100 miles and the better part of two days we arrived home with 39 cache finds, two additional states, and the final five counties of Utah. I'm really glad we made our marathon trip and even happier to be out of the rental car. Thanks to Ross and Mitchell for a good time and a well named road trip.

Signed, Sealed, Delievered - I'm Yours

After a full week of running around, we ended our big adventures on a major high note. Most kids get one or two big days a year, Dylan had his third big day in two weeks. After adopting and blessing Dylan the last, and most important, event happened this week. We took Dylan down to the Manti Temple for our sealing.

We had a little smaller group this time, but we were grateful to everyone who was able to come. We wish that we didn't ask so much of our friends and family, driving to San Pete County for the third time in five years. Still, it is a big deal to Tara and me that all of our kids have the same beginning in our family. Since we were married in Manti, it only seemed right that each of our kids was made part of our Eternal family in the same location.

The day went perfectly. We arrived at 9:30 and got right to the preparations. Fortunately, we remembered all of the paperwork this time so there was no last minute scrambling. Good thing too, now that I'm out of the Bishopric I don't have any connections I can call in. All the guests arrived and at 10:30 the sealing was underway.


It is a very simple ceremony, but what a beautiful moment for our family. Tara and I are always blown away as each of our children comes into the sealing room dressed in white from head to toe. It is a moment that I'll never forget and I hope that my kids can have some sense of the special experience we shared as a family.

We headed outside the temple for a few pictures and then it was off to Ephraim for some good pizza with family and friends. By 3 o'clock we were back at home and the whirlwind week was over. Now there aren't any more special days, we're a family - just like everyone else.

Dylan came into our lives in an instant and our family has loved him ever since. I can't tell you how blessed we feel to have such a wonderful little boy. We love Dylan with all our hearts and I can't imagine our world without him. Dylan, we are so glad you're part of our family. We love you!

Getting Back to Nature

We just got back from our annual camping trip up to the high Uintas. Usually we like to head up to the hills for a few days, but our schedule has been pretty packed and we only had two full days to enjoy the outdoors. I have to admit I was a bit gun shy on this trip since Alex's puking adventure last weekend, but I figured with Tara's help we could deal with anything that came up.

The trip was to the West Fork of Black's Fork, our usually spot. Everything was great. The weather was in the 70's each day, and stayed in the 40's at night. We had plenty of good food. Lot's of refreshing drink (including a trip up to the cool drink - a natural mountain spring). Plenty of time to sit around the fire at night. It's amazing how much different a camping trip is when there aren't any fire restrictions.

This wasn't meant to be a schedule heavy trip. Instead of an itinerary we mostly relaxed and took the days as they came. I think the only thing we actually planned to do was take the kids down the river in a raft. Everyone had a fantastic time in the water. They loved floating down the stream, even if it took a minute or so to get past their initial jitters. Even when they had to wait for their next turn in the raft the chance to throw rocks in the river was more than enough entertainment. I love how simple things can bring so much pleasure.

When we first started talking about the trip there was some debate about whether or not Dylan would make his first outing. We've had trouble with both Kennedy and Alex at night while they were infants and we weren't sure if we wanted to go through that again. The biggest culprit to a bad night in the mountains is the cold, but Tara made sure Dylan would stay warm as she packed about 5 blankets to battle the elements. Big D did great! He went to sleep about 9 and slept until 6 each morning. I think it's awesome to get kids used to being outdoors from an early age and I'm glad Dylan had fun.

My favorite part of the trip was an early morning hike with Alex. We both got up about 6:30 one morning so we decided to head out and look for some old cabins. I remember my dad always getting up early and going for a hike with one of us, so the chance to have the same experience with my son was priceless. Since Alex is only 3 the hike was a lot slower than normal, but he was a trooper. I had to pick him up and carry him a couple of times, but he went most of the hike on his own. It was a neat moment for us to share with one another and I'm really glad everything went well.

Camping is always a lot work, but there's nothing better than sitting around a fire with the people you care about. Time seems to stand still and you can take in what's truly good in this world. I'm glad we were able to go camping again this year and I can't wait for more outdoor adventures with the kids.

Dylan's Blessing

Now that Dylan is officially ours, we were able to bless him last Sunday. Jared gave Dylan a very nice blessing and we were all a little teary eyed after.


After the blessing, we all came to our house for some lunch. Everyone pitched in and helped and it turned out to be delicious. Our yard looked really nice and it was a lovely 75 degrees for the afternoon.

We had lots of family and friends attend the big event. It was especially nice that we had Maralee and Amber (Dylan and Alex's birthmother) come to the blessing. They also came to lunch after and it was good to have some time to talk and get to know Amber better. She was amazed at how big Dylan is and of course how cute he is!


We had a nice day and we are so glad that Dylan is officially our little boy. Now on to the temple to be sealed to our little guy!