the gardners

Dear Honey,

2011-08-12T17:51:00.004-06:00

Wow! I can't believe that it has been over a year since I updated this blog. So much has happened I don't know where to start. Greg and I bought some property that is 15 minutes outside of town. Right now it is raw land (18 acres). We plan on building but haven't decided what exactly we want to build. We do know that we want our home to be as efficient as we can get it. It is exciting because there is a ton of wild life but not neighbors.
SOOOO...
Since we have so much land I can indulge my hippie tree hugger self and start planning green houses, beehives livestock and the list goes on and on. Today I got a book about bee keeping in hopes that this land can produce honey.

Its exciting to have our own little piece of raw land. In a way I feel like I'm homesteading the wild wild west!

room to breathe

2010-06-17T07:56:00.002-06:00

Greg and I wold love to buy some property and build a home in this area. However prices here in the Fruita area are too expensive. We have some good friends that moved up to Glade Park which is on top of the monument. We casually look for property and drive to check it out often. This property really has us thinking.

No we aren't moving just wishing.

Help!!

2010-06-16T13:49:00.001-06:00

I need your help! I am taking a class that requires I collect data on library perceptions. There is a survey that asks some questions...I need YOU to take this short little survey. Really 3-4 minutes tops. The link is:

Click here to take survey

Can you help a girl out. I am summarizing the data on Friday so please within the next few days...i know pushy, pushy...

ode to the peony

2010-06-02T15:50:00.001-06:00

Growing up in the family i did its hard to not love plants. Although allergies tormented many members I was blessed with clear sinuses. While perusing the lovely choices at the nursery or home depot greg will ask "where are you going to plant that?" My answer is always the same "i'll find a spot" I love to watch each selection of plant grow. This year my favorite flower by far is the peony. I bought one 2 years ago and have loved it. This year when it came back after winter I was surprised to see how large the plant had gotten. So I bought a second plant.

the flowers remind me oddly enough of Jane Austen. I'm not quite old enough to have talked and befriended Jane... but through her novels and the time period history it brings a sense of strong yet dainty appearances. This describes a peony to me.

And the smell...intoxicating!

2010-05-09T17:28:00.006-06:00

Hip Hip Hooray... I'm going back to school to get my masters. I was accepted to the program to become a librarian. I know sounds BORING, but let me tell you it has its perks in schools these days. I start my first class this summer.

That part where you can come into play is through MONEY!! I am now accepting donations.

I know it would be nice if we all had a little extra hopefully with loans and grants i can make it out without too much debt.

so what do you get when you turn 32??

2010-03-15T17:06:00.002-06:00

A motorcycle!!!
i was getting jealous of greg always going on trips with his motorcycle and so we bought one for me. I actually am not bad at riding it. I haven't dropped it once and I did catch a little air on some whoops. I remember riding the 4 wheelers in mexico and the feeling of just pure control. Same feeling just a little slimmer.

work hard, play harder...

2010-01-17T08:26:00.003-07:00

what have we been doing?

if you look past the "el combino" you can see the blue motorcycle greg bought me for my birthday and Christmas...

In the mean time...

2009-11-20T20:07:00.009-07:00

Catherine has been pretty busy with school and the end result is that our blog has been neglected. Blogging really isn't my thing, but I suppose I'll add something to hold you over. It's nothing surprising, just what I know, work and play. Where do we start first... how about work?

We've had some bad luck on the 'ole Union Pacific railroad here in Colorado in the first week of October, 2 derailments and a rock slide. 1 of the derailments was massive and we ended up staying on-site for 2 days getting the track back in service. The conductor of the train didn't fully release a brake on one car they picked up and it started dragging until it derailed, right on a switch. A total of 15 cars piled up, carrying varying loads. Here's a teaser shot, for the rest of them you will need to look at the link to our photo album.
Link- Derailment Cleanup

And now some playing... after all that work, I needed a break. I ended up taking a big motorcycle ride spread out over 3 days. It was amazing, but I really missed having Catherine there to share the trip with me. Mabey in the future we can pick up a motorcycle for her, so she can come along. I posted the trip report on my forum, so click the link below to read more.
Link- Motorcycle Ride

$422.87

2009-10-10T08:24:00.002-06:00

So what would you do with that much money? I know i would pay a phone bill, cable bill and a car payment. Nothing exciting but all very necessary. Well last month someone decided that they needed the money more than I did and used my card number. How they got it? I don't know.

So for the last month I have been calling and filing out claim forms and faxing them and re-faxing them and mailing them and re-mailing them only to get provisional money back.

Provisional money like they think I stole my own money?

Anyway I painted my nails black to give off a sign of terror to anyone who crosses my path...of coarse the nail paint is provisional.

twilight is coming...

2009-10-07T17:05:00.001-06:00

Movie Trailers - Movies Blog

I'm still alive...

2009-09-23T17:53:00.004-06:00

The last 2 months...
tim and aleca came
i started my new school year
mom and dad came
greg got sick
i got sick
at least one of my students had swine flu
i have had 3 doctors apt
i helped with a baby shower
i have worked at 3 volleyball games
canned tomato sauce
canned pickles
canned beets
made raspberry jam
made blackberry jam
went on a trip over black bear pass and lived
graded countless papers

and my favorite...
snuggled with greg and daisy

squash???

2009-07-31T18:32:00.003-06:00

For the past couple of years I have grown vegetables and fruits...however I never really reaped a ton of fruit. This year I am planning to do a lot of canning and want my plants to be overwhelmed with fruit. I have a few squash that for the past few weeks have had a lot of blossoms on them but i still have not seen and fruit.
Am I doing something wrong?

buisness time...

2009-07-27T21:12:00.001-06:00

So this video may be a little inappropriate for some but it is HILLARIOUS!

one man's junk...

2009-07-25T17:37:00.002-06:00

so greg and i had a garage sale last weekend. All summer I have been pulling things out and making piles and saying "do i use this?" Once we got everything out on the driveway i was surprised at how much stuff we really didn't use...or want.
We made some good money considering that by 9am it was almost 500 degrees. I bagged and boxed up what didn't sell and took it to goodwill.
I took my audio books down to the used book store and they gave me almost 50 bucks in store credit!
With my money I bought some new dishes at target. I bought melamine plates and bowls that match not only each other but the house too. The best part is they wont chip.
Daisy sold her traveling kennel to help pay for Lulu's stuff that we also tried to sell.
I feels good to purge the old stuff that collects dust and then to buy new things with the rewards.
LONG LIVE GARAGE SALES!!

im a lazy blogger...i know

2009-07-02T10:23:00.003-06:00

So about 2 weeks ago my parents came out to visit and we had soo much fun with them. I really intended on blogging about it but now i don't know where the camera is. i'm sure that if i asked greg he would know...but then i would be admitting he knows more than i do.
so if you want to know what we did with my parents im directing you to my mom's blog...

while my parents were here we noticed a little squeaky visitor...who we caught with a trap and apparently he had invited his 2 friends who we also caught. We decided to get a cat to keep our castle private from all those nasty little creatures. We had been talking about it for a while and finally...we found LuLu...

I had been looking for a long hair cat because they are sooo much more fun to snuggle with. Sure, sure Daisy snuggles with greg but i usually get the butt end and the hind feet that like to kick to stretch out. I wanted a snugly kitten. i realize this picture is a little hard to see but i took it with my phone when i humble myself to ask greg where the camera is i'll post more pictures.
We found LuLu in the local want ads and she was free. Right now she is 7 weeks old and living in the bath tub. She loves to sit on my lap and purr. The name LuLu came from...Dukes of hazard i din't have the guts to name her cooter. Daisy loves her and acts like a mom/sister. We decided Daisy must be a cat person more than a dog person. She lets LuLu snuggle up to her chest but draws the line when LuLu starts sucking on her. So i think LuLu will stay.

the new commuter vehicle is...

2009-06-25T10:57:00.003-06:00

so many of you were correct with your assumptions however only one person waas truely correct...timmy! yes it is a bike but what kind? A tricycle!!!!
It is a shwinn tricycle meridian. Greg helped me assemble it and then he took it for a test drive. it is soooo nice.
Daisy loves to chase it and run in front of it and then stop. When you slam on your brakes to avoid hitting her she then proceeds to bite your toes. she may be a little bike retarded.
i needed the extra storage that a tricycle has with the basket on the back. My calling at church is the family preparedness person so this last month when we canned wheat and beans i delivered the cans to people and found that the bike was the perfect way to do it. I can fit 12 #1o cans in that basket. awesome.
so in summary...
bike: $250
gas: $0
exercise: priceless

too much commitment...

2009-06-03T07:54:00.004-06:00

So I have been teaching 8 years! To me that seems like a long time. I feel like I should just be getting out of college. Looking back at my teaching history and it seems that every 3-4 years i switch something around. Well I have been teaching up here at the same school for 3 years now...so i switched it up.
I requested a transfer to the middle school in the town i live in. It is exactly a mile away. There were 8 people that applied and 1 spot. All teachers had worked in the district. I got it!!!
You could say I'm going green because with the new job came a new commuter vehicle. I decided that I don't need to drive the 4runner everyday. its so nice out that I should take advantage of that.
Can YOU guess what the new commuter vehicle is?

2009-05-04T17:12:00.004-06:00

I have a new blog for buttons...
click for the button:

So check it out. If you would like a button then post a comment. Next i'm going to see if i can figure out how to create labels and backgrounds...but don't hold your breath...remember i'm a full time teacher!

2009-05-03T16:22:00.004-06:00

So I have been playing around with the html codes and buttons. I have created a button for Melissa and myself...go ahead and click on them to the right. Fun! i'm new at this but send me a comment if you want me to play around with a button for you as well. hopefully my design skills will become better with each button.

We ADOPTED!!!

2009-04-26T18:40:00.004-06:00

The Gardner family has grown! After some research and seeing how many families have been adopting, we decided to prepare ourselves for adoption. With some changes around the house, we made preparations for the new member of the Gardner family.

Today while shopping, we came across a couple selling a dog out in front of Sportmans Warehouse. Catherine has been talking about getting a German Shorthair for years and was quite interested in this one when we saw him. We talked to the couple with the dog for about 5 min and the whole time the dog was just snuggling with both Catherine and I. He isn't papered, but is a pure breed. We paid approximately the price of a large bag of dog food for him, which is a good deal for a pure breed.

The couple that owned him had rescued him from an abusive family. They've had him since last Fall, but due to money getting tight for them, they needed to let him go. He's very thin, so we need to fatten him up and get him healthy. He is shedding a lot, the previous owners say it's due to a recent diet change and feeding him cheap food. We're going to take him to the vet this week, get his shots updated and give him a good checkup.

He is soooo friendly, almost to the point of being annoying... he loves to cuddle, he'll just rest his head on you and hang out there. So far he and Daisy, are getting along great. He's very vocal too, talks often and we've yet to hear a bark. He's very mild-mannered, hopefully that will rub off on Daisy.

Catheine named him... Rosco, after Roscoe P. Coltrane! Daisy's full name is Daisy Mae Duke, so you can see what direction we're headed. So without further adieu, here's some pics of our newest family member. -

the infamous waterproof hiking shoes

2009-04-18T10:30:00.004-06:00

So about 5 years ago I bought a pair of hiking shoes the week before I met greg. I bought them having talked with greg on the phone and through email. I knew that he loved the outdoors and that i would soon be sharing this love of his. My mom went with me and i'm sure she thought i was crazy.
Throughout the years I have used these shoes almost weekly. Greg and i have always "discussed" how waterproof these shoes are. I try with all my might to convince him that they are in fact waterproof and he persistently denies such a claim. This last weekend we went camping with some friends and it rained every night. One morning i woke up to place these shoes on my feet and noticed that they had a little bit of water on them. Horrified that i might be wrong i quietly slipped them onto my feet without letting greg know how cold and damp they really were. When the morning fire was lit i sat next to it with one shoe on and trying to dry the other. Greg noticed and made a comment about how i was drying them out. I tried to convince him that i was merely trying to warm them up in the morning air. They were completely wet steaming against the fire.
Once again i succeed to greg. He is right. My shoes are not waterproof.
I thought about this and realized is this such a bad thing? No, I say not. Now i get to shop and buy another pair of shoes.
This time they will be waterproof.

hearts of our fathers

2009-03-29T13:49:00.003-06:00

Last week greg got an email from his dad explaining that one of their relatives was going to be honored with a sculpture. I think i got more excited about it than greg did. I always ask greg what some of his ancestors names are and he responds with something like i don't know all the genealogy is done though. So when i had a name to look at it just got so exciting for me. I quickly ran to the computer to google the name...

Robert Gardner Jr.
I found so much information and stories about him. I found a journal entry that he wrote that had a great deal of his life achievements in it. He immigrated with his family from Scotland to Canada. From Canada he converted to the gospel and crossed the plains with the first wagon train to enter the Salt Lake Valley. With his family he helped to settle the valley. He was later called on a mission to Canada and then to settle the St George area. The sculpture was placed in St George. Greg's dad and some of his uncles and aunts went down to see the unveiling. From the newspaper article it seems like there was quite the turn out.

What a great feeling knowing history about your family. Robert Gardner Jr would have been greg's great great grandfather. His son (from his second wife) is greg's great grandfather that was named Royal Joseph Gardner which is where the Royal name began ...i think. If i could say thank you to Mr Robert Gardner Jr i would. He must have been a strong man to not only cross the plains with his family but to join the church and give up so much for the testimony that he had of our Savior.

sitting in a booth

2009-03-19T20:42:00.004-06:00

One of my favorite qualities about Greg is his dedication to me and the respect that he shows me. i am often the one who has said or done something out of haste and he always shows his patience.

His adventurous personality never leaves a dull moment. He indulges my passion for delicious food. One of my favorites quotes of his has been... "I imagine this to be like heaven, sitting in a booth eating crab legs..." How can you not fall in love with someone like that.

This past week I have been thinking a lot about the family that I have and would like to grow into. I read a story about a young family (thanks Melissa) that was struck with an almost fatal tragedy. The love that each member showed was incredible and inspiring. This pushed me to realize that I have a great blessing in my life. I have noticed and truly felt more love for and from my husband. I cannot believe how truly blessed I am to have such a wonderful person in my life.

He is my best friend.

Today is our anniversary.

I love you Greg!

two miracles with one post!

2009-03-16T16:57:00.008-06:00

Well the first being that i have blogged 3 new posts in the last week...i know let the heavens open and translate me now.

The second miracle is that greg and i are heros. Last night just before i called dad for his birthday one of our friends came by to visit. His wife had to work and she was going to meet him at our house. When she got here she ran in the house and screamed "fire!"

We all got up and ran outside to see what she was talking about. our next door neighbors house was on fire! Greg ran in to get his fire extinguisher and i ran around to the back yard to get the hose. We called 911...

i realize the pictures are a little dark. Here is the street from the front of our house. 2 firetrucks, 1 ambulance, 1 news van and 2 cop cars all reported. Apparently they were grilling and dumped the embers which they thought had cooled off into the trash can. Well they began to spark with other pieces of trash and started to burn. The scary part is that this was right next to the gas meter. In fact the gas company had to come out and replace the meter because it had started to melt.

The fence burned up and flames were about 2-3 feet above the roof when we got out there. Behind the fence they had 2 full 5 gallon gas cans and a full propane tank that were right up against the fence. Scary but a few minutes later and they would have exploded and probably caught our house on fire too.

The fire started to travel up into the rafters and burn some of the insulation. The inside of the garage looks a little more destroyed. They pulled out the dry wall and ripped out insulation. Fire extinguisher was all over. This was exciting news and the most action our neighborhood has seen. The neighbors have only lived there for 7 months and we didn't know them all that well. This broke the ice!

The news station wanted to interview one of us so we nominated Christy to do the speaking. She is the one who called 911 after seeing the fire when she drove by. We made it to the news Sunday night and in the paper today. Here is the article.

i have found it, the new wonder drug...

2009-03-15T12:05:00.010-06:00

what is this wonder drug? first, let me explain all the benefits of this little pill. it cures headaches, backaches, leg aches and insomnia. it dissipates all anxiety and panic attacks in the morning. so little and white it creates a blissful mood that everyone enjoys. i'm pretty sure it even helps the common cold. No this isn't a new concoction that was just released by the FDA, it has been around for quite a long time. its midol!

Many of you have probably used this and know of its healing powers. every month when i am blessed with the "joys of womanhood" greg always offers to go buy me some midol.
I quickly reply with a "no that stuff is just like Tylenol"

Well a few months ago he actually took me to the store and made me purchase some. i took some when we got home just to please my caring husband. Twenty minutes later i was surprised and humbled. I admitted to greg that we was right once again.

I now use this wonder drug for everything. I pop these pills for the simplest things and my symptoms always disappear. it's wonderful.

Fruita is the greatest place in America!

2009-03-09T17:21:00.023-06:00

So when Greg and I moved to Colorado is was a spur of the moment type of move. He was not a big fan of the Californian way of life...meaning traffic and millions of people everywhere. He had been to Fruita, Co once in about 2000-ish. He suggested it and my first words were something to effect of, "Who would ever live in a town called Fruita?" My second request was that we move somewhere that was not in the desert... which Fruita is. Well 4 years later and I could not imagine living anywhere else. We live in the perfect spot to enjoy the outdoors no matter what time of the year it is. For the past couple of weekends we have gone on little trips in different directions.

The first trip we went on was snowshoeing (one of my favorite winter activites) Every winter I ask to go snowshoeing. This year I realized its because I can go slow and it doesn't hurt my knee...low impact. In the past we have gone up to the Grand Mesa but this year we decided to go to Red Mountain. Red Mountain is between Ouray and Silverton with lots of neat history with old mines and beautiful forests.

The next weekend we headed to Utah and Thompson Springs, then up to Sego Canyon. Greg had heard about it and was curious to see what was out there. We knew there was an old mining town but what we didn't know is that there was also some petroglyphs. It was a nice day and we saw only 2 other cars.

The next weekend we went out to Capital Reef National Park. We camped right outside of the park. It was so nice. We used our roof top tent. Greg got a heater to use in the tent to warm it up. It was a nice weekend. We hiked and took pictures. The weather was perfect and hardly anybody was there.

The best part about this weekend is that we took a family picture and Daisy would not stand still. Every year I tell myself that we are going to send out Christmas cards and when the time comes I can never find a picture or I don't have enough time to take one and still get them out. So this year we are taking tons of them so I have no excuse. This is my favorite so far. It was taken at Capital Reef National Park.

Greg has taken up Smoking!

2009-02-14T19:45:00.025-07:00

No, not the nasty tobacco habit, the yummy, smoke-flavored, can't-stop-eating habit! One of our Christmas presents was a electric smoker that Catherine got for me. I've been wanting to try smoking food for a long time, for the last few weeks I've been trying different foods.

The first thing I tried was Tuna steaks, Coho Salmon and Scallops. About 2.5 pounds of seafood total! I had an extra Alderwood plank, so I set most of the Salmon on it and used 3 pans of Alder chunks for the smoke. I loaded the smoker up, turned it on and set the tray of chips in there... it was pouring out smoke within 10 min!! The smoke cleared up as the chips burned out, but the smell was goooooood! I ended up smoking the seafood for about 6 hrs.

After pulling it out, I sampled the food. The Salmon was amazing... could have used some Lemon though. The Tuna wasn't bad either, a tad dry though. The scallops were the best though.... oh man! Moist and tender, they just fell apart in my mouth. Catherines favorite was also the scallops. I smoked one big Salmon fillet and had plenty of that, so I decided to make a spread. I threw a couple pieces of Salmon in the food processor with a bit of Miracle Whip, a bunch of Cream Cheese and hit the button. I quickly had an amazing, smokey Salmon spread and procedded devoured a package of crackers and Salmon spread. Yummmy!!

Next up was to make some beef jerky chunks. It was pretty simple, just got 3.5 pounds of chopped beef intended for stew. I made a marinade with soy sauce & some other ingredients and let the beef sit overnight, then I smoked it with 2 pans of Apple Wood for several hours. It ended up a bit salty, will have to keep that in mind next time I use that marinade recipe. Otherwise, it's great. It was pretty inexpensive compared to buying beef jerky outright. We still have much of it, but I'm already looking forward to the next batch of beef jerky.

This weekend I decided to pull out all the stops. It was time to make the Atomic Buffalo Turds! To make the ABT's you need Jalapenos, Lil' Smokies, Bacon, Cream Cheese and Cayenne pepper. You cut the tops of the Jalapenos, then slice them in half & remove the seeds & most of the membrane. After mixing some Cayenne pepper in with the Cream Cheese, the assembly begins.

After spreading the Cream Cheese & Cayenne mix into the pepper, you place a Lil' Smokey on top. Then wrap that combo with a slice of thick bacon and pin it all together with a toothpick.

I placed the ABT's in the smoker, loaded the pan with Apple Wood chips and let that magical smoker do it's thing. It took a few hours to cook the bacon, but it was well worth the wait. The Apple Wood chips in the smoker were the perfect combo for the bacon and Cream Cheese mix, the flavor is amazing! I pulled the ABT's out of the smoker and quickly gobbled 5 of them down.

Catherine tried one, but I think they're a bit too spicy for her to enjoy. Sorry Catherine! Me on the other hand... I love these things. I've already eaten way too many. So much for the diet! This smoker has been the best & worst thing for us in a long time. Great because the food is so good, but bad because I can see myself getting fatter. Time to hit the gym I guess. Thanks for the great Christmas present, the next thing I smoke is your choice!

So who's coming to visit and what kind of smoked food would you like to sample?

our Christmas in california

2009-01-03T14:54:00.010-07:00

we went to california this year to spend with my family. the day before we left it snowed all day. the roads were a little icy outside of fruita but good the rest of the way.

it was nice to see my sister melissa and her family. we had sooo much fun with them.

this was a good year for santa clause he definately did not skip over this home.

and lily...who spoils her the most? grandpa! he is very protective over this little girl. notice one of the only gifts he bought this year was for his little cupcake.

it was nice to just relax in nice weather. my parents are wonderful hosts. my mom and i made ciopino one day to satisfy the seafood urge of being so close to the ocean. it was a nice vacation. we came back on friday the 2nd and just barely missed the snow.

i have decided that snow is fun the first time it snows but then it just becomes a little nuisance.

a month of parties and birthdays!

2008-12-22T12:03:00.002-07:00

So this month greg and I both had a birthday. Greg turned 33 and i turned 31. It snowed for the first time this year on my birthday. We celebrated each birthday by going out to eat. With school it has been super busy and after school was out on Friday I had Chirstmas shopping to start.

I accidentally told the waiter it was Greg's birthday...

daisy's tooth

2008-11-12T18:25:00.002-07:00

daisy got her teeth brushed for the first time today. she had some build up and her breath was getting bad so greg and i got the extra tooth brush out and some minty fresh toothpaste. i don't think she minded it.

daisy the ballerina

2008-11-05T17:41:00.005-07:00

Halloween was fun, greg was home this year to help pass out candy. daisy got excited every time the doorbell would ring and wanted to see all the children in their costumes Daisy only lasted a little while because the tutu was scratchy...

My parents came up this past weekend so I had my mom help me make the tutu. It was purple because daisy looks the best in purple and it matched her collar (necklace). She also had little bows all over her hair to make her look pretty. We were going to put purple ribbons criss-crossed up her legs but after we got the bows on she was done dressing up.

After a long hard night this is what we looked like. It was like 9:00... i was off to bed.

Both greg and i had bought candy so now we have tons of it. maybe we will save for next year...does candy have an expiration date?

i lied

2008-10-21T14:16:00.002-06:00

This past Saturday I went to get my hair cut. As I was sitting in the chair that lady asked me what i was going to do the rest of the day. I replied with carve pumpkins. I had planned to carve them with greg and daisy who yes is my dog. she responded and said oh that sounds like fun how old is your child? in my head i'm thinking i can answer this 2 ways:

option 1- i have a 4 year old little girl named daisy. she is really smart for her age and is the cutest little thing you have ever seen. she is going to be a ballerina for halloween too.

option 2- i don't have any children i'm carving pumpkins with my dog. to which the lady will say "oh are you ever going to have any?" which is the standard question or response. Then you feel like you either have to lie and say "someday" or you tell the complete stranger that you have been trying to get pregnant for 2 years and have been doped up on fertility medicine for about half of that. that your fertility doctor who you have been seeing since march is hopeful that quadrupling the medication (no matter how crazy it makes you)will work and if it doesn't he knows a great doctor in denver for invitro.

After thinking about it for a few seconds i answered with option 1.

the pumpkins were great...and daisy's pumpkin was done like a block of cheese.

One month of Adventures!

2008-09-30T17:38:00.010-06:00

You're getting a update on all of our adventures in the last month, all at once!

One weekend we took a drive to see the Fall colors. We drove up through Paonia to Aspen then to Leadville and back. All our pictures can be found here.

See if you can find Daisy... she's using her hunting skills.

While we were on the drive the VW Jetta turn over 200,000 miles. Yippy!

Beautiful...we were a little early for the reds and oranges but this was one of only open weekends to go.

We also bought a new car a couple of months ago for expeditions and camping. It's a Toyota Landcruiser. Here are some shots of some local trails.

We took a fun road from Colorado over into Utah and headed toward Moab.

This is the Dolores River which we got out and played in while looking for a crossing that wasn't too deep. Daisy loved it.

We also headed up into the base of the La Sals mountains, overlooking Moab.

Just recently we were in Utah for National Public Lands Day. We were with Greg's website, RockyMountainExtreme.com cleaning up recreational areas. it was a beautiful day. With the help of about 50 people from Gregs web site, in a couple hours we filled up the huge dumpster.

Then it was on to playing.

This is known as Waynes World it was so steep it was hard to walk up... let alone drive up! Our Jeep went right up without a problem.

This is the last big obstacle... it's called the Eagles Nest...but yes it is as scary as it looks. Everyone in our group has to winch up it.

And here's Greg, who takes me on all these fun adventures.

From Chile to Peru

2008-09-01T07:52:00.030-06:00

Before I say anything about Peru I will first comment of how unreliable the airports and airlines were.

With that being said when we finally made it to Peru it was so amazing the pictures and words just don't express how large or how fantastic all the Inca sites were. I was also surprised at the size of cusco i was thinking that it was about 30,000 - 40,000 people...Nope it is more like 370,000 people. Most of which are still living in adobe houses.

The first day we met with our tour company, Lamaita Travel, who deals primarily with missionaries and their families. They were fabulous. We went on a tour around Cusco and some of the Inca sites that were close by.

The second day we went to a llama farm and Sacsahuaman. Cusco mean navel because it was the center of the Inca empire. Sacsahuaman was thought to be the mouth of the head. These large rocks were formed to be the teeth. It was a fortress.

The llama farm had alpaca,llamas, vicuna (which are endangered and softer that alpaca)and guanaco (which is the most soft and most rare)we got to watch them spin and die the yarns.

We also went to a town called Ollantaytambo. This was one of my favorites. The town still looks that same as it did when the Inca lived there except the roofs are tile instead of thatched.

Here is a side of the mountain where they farmed and stored their grains can you see the face of an Andean man?

Then we traveled to the town of Aguas Calientes. The only way to get there is by train or by foot hiking on the original Inca trail/highway. The main street in this town is the rail from the train. No cars.

From this town you take a bus up to Macchu Picchu.
This site is so much larger than you think in real life. We took a tour once up there. The tour was about 2.5 hours and only covered maybe half of the site.

Some of the parts that stand out in my mind are:
1. the irrigation system that was all over all of the Inca sites. They knew how to make that water flow to where they needed it to go.

2. When they say Inca trail/highway what they really mean is stairs that go up and down the mountain.

3. Inca temples are made with such presicion that it would be hard today to replicate it. The Sun temple was the Inca king.

4. The word Macchu Picchu means "old mountain" this is the mountain that the site is sitting on.

5. The famous Mountain is called Hauyna Picchu which means "young mountain" you can actually take a hike that goes to the top where there is a house and some terraced gardens.

6. These people were inspired and hard working to build and live in this area.

One month of Excitement

2008-09-01T06:10:00.012-06:00

I haven't posted in the last month because I have been out of the country! My parents who have been serving an LDS mission in Chile were being released in August. I decided I would go and bring them home. What a vacation! The trip started out in Fruita were I left Daisy in a kennel and Greg picked her up on the weekends. I traveled down to California to visit my sister and her family for almost a week. I then journeyed down to San Diego to attend a conference fro school. A week later I flew to South America.

I spent about a week in Santiago, Chile with my parents. Chile was beautiful and while there I was jealous of Melissa who was able to serve a mission here also.

They lived a couple of blocke from the MTC, temple, mission home and area offices. I was not expecting to do as much walking as we did. Santiago is a big city with skyscrapers and smog. It is also nestled in by the Andes to make a beautiful backdrop.

We went out to the coast one day to San Antonio and Cartahegna. We got the visit the fish markets and watch the fisher men bring home their catches.

On another day we hiked to the top of a mountain to see a giant statue of the Virgin Mary. I kid you not we hiked a good 10 miles all uphill. The views at the top were amazing.

On the way down we took the ferrico which was kinda scary considering we were going straight down.

You may be thinking why hasn't she posted any pictures of the exotic food? The answer is simple...the food was gross! It was so bland and not very good.

I have so many more pictures. All of the pictures are on our smug mug account. The link is on the side under family album.

new calling

2008-07-13T21:44:00.002-06:00

Fruita has about 10,000 people and when we moved up here they had 3 wards. about a month ago they redivided the 3 wards and formed a 4th. we stayed in the 2nd ward but our numbers are much smaller. I have just been called as the food storage person in our ward. I have had this calling before and I was really excited about having it again. i thought about the latest ensign message about technology and thought i will start a blog about food storage and include tips and recipes. Check out the link on the side (prepared pantry)and feel free to give me ideas to post. i'm not really looking for gross food storage recipes i'm looking for recipes that have some ingredients that you might find or substitute with those in your extended pantry. hopefully i will have this calling for the rest of my life...which i hope is for a really really long time.

the 4th of july

2008-07-08T10:51:00.010-06:00

we spent the weekend in silverton and the mountains around it. we meet up with friends from pagosa springs and utah to camp and explore. the fireworks show was one of the best that I have been to. the town sits in a bowl with mountains all around so the booms echoed quite loudly.

there was a lot of snow this winter so flowers that we normally see this time of year had not quite bloomed. some of the roads had not been cleared yet either.

here is a columbine the colorado state flower. i wish they would grow in fruita but we don't have the altitude.

daisy saw a few marmots and wanted to chase them...she never really got the chance.

we spent the majority of our time exploring old mining camps. it rained a little and was really a great weekend.

1 Day, 2 Wheels, 400+ Miles, and 12,000+ ft.

2008-06-29T22:03:00.008-06:00

Gregs epic one-day motorcycle ride...

I woke up at 6:30 AM on Saturday, hoped in the shower and started thinking about where and what route I was going to ride today. I tossed on some gear and a light jacket, filled the Camelback with food, lots of ice and water and headed out the door. I was on the bike before 7:30 AM, topped off the tank and hit I-70 out of Fruita. After a short blast, I exited in Grand Junction and turned towards Delta/Montrose. It didn't take long to reach Ouray and the road above with it's steep switchbacks, then the dirt road turnoff for the Alpine Loop. It's obvious that there has been a massive amount of water coming down of the mountains, the road had seen lots of rock washed onto it from the melting winters snow.

After stopping to check out some of the mining sites, I eventually turned the bike towards the summit of Engineer Pass, at 12,800 feet. The snow on the side of the road got deeper and the temp. dropped quickly... I started to slow down, I'm not sure who was getting more beaten by the altitude, me or the bike. I made the summit of Engineer Pass around 11 AM, hung out for a bit and made small-talk with some older folks who were up there on 4Wheelers and UTV's. This was one of the mining mills, with my ugly mug blocking the neat view.

There weren't a ton of people up in the mountains, so I was surprised to find the town so packed. The train must have arrived. I went to Handlebars for lunch... seemed like everyone in town decided to eat there too! I grabbed a seat at the bar, ordered some Potato Skins and a Bacon Western Burger. It was damn good... I must have been hungry! After lunch I cruised around town for a bit, then heard one of the Durango-Silverton Narrow Gage engines blow it's whistle, so I headed over there to check it out. Now I don't get all geeked-out over trains, but working for the Union Pacific has sparked an interest in me for old, historical train operations. I think it's amazing how tracks were layed in some of the most formidable places. The old-school steam engines are pretty neat too. I was wandering around their yard, found some of their track maintainance equipment; motor cars, track panels, cranes, etc.

While I was scoping out their rolling stock, another train whistled as it came into the valley. I took a short video of the train, the quality sucks, but it's still neat.

It was about 2 PM, so I decided I'd better hit the trail again... I went back the way I came, over the Alpine Loop an back down into Ouray. I didn't want to head back home yet, so I turned the bike towards Telluride. The pavement from Ridgeway to Telluride is one of the neatest pieces of pavement I've been on, 2nd only to the road from Telluride thru Gateway. I was following some high-dollar SUV on it's way to Telluride, so we cooked thru the canyon at around 70-75 MPH, until we caught a group of Harleys. After that, it was a slow ride into town. Once in Telluride there were lots of people busily running around, buying stuff they probably don't need. For some reason it seemed to me like they were all just trying to stay busy, not thinking about their mundane existence... I was the one living the quality life... on the seat of my DR650. After battling the crowded streets of Telluride, I made my way above town to the base of the Black Bear Pass trail. I had heard the trail was still snowed in, due to the unusually high amount of snow that fell this winter. I had to see for myself. I took a bunch of shots on the way up the trail, waterfalls, the insane switchbacks and some shots of the busy town below.

I came back thru Telluride at 5 PM, then opted to take the long, yet scenic way home, by way of Nucla/Naturita/Gateway. It's about an hour longer than going back thru Montrose, but sooooo worth it. The canyons are amazing... Gateway is a fun area... and the roads... they're the type of roads you dream about riding. Deep redrock canyons, a big river, large green trees... long, sweeping curves. As I headed home my shadow lead the way.

Eventually the ride ended... I pulled into the garage after sundown, about 9:20 PM and had over 400 miles on the bike from the day. Not bad for riding thru redrock canyons, gnarly roads, 12,000+ ft elevation, etc. I managed to avoid the 98* heat that Fruita was seeing all day long, the air was nice and crisp riding in the morning, then I spent most of the day in the San Juan mountains, temps ranging from the low 50's to low 70's. By the time I rolled back into Grand Junction it was already cooling down, just warm. Perfect riding weather.

Here's the link to the photo album, if you'd like to see all the pics, check them out, they are so much better than my words.- http://greg-catherine.smugmug.com/ga...7_a89Hy#P-1-24

my BIG summer trip

2008-06-29T12:26:00.008-06:00

Can you guess what this is?

Why yes it is my trip itinerary to Chile and Peru! My parents come home from their mission in August and being childless and a teacher with summers off...I decided to pick them up.

On our way home from Chile we will be going to peru. I am so excited this is one trip that for years I have wanted to make. Machu Picchu is so fascinating to me.

I have been watching travel shows and food channels trying to become acquainted with some of the local food. I learned that ceviche is very common in peru...which is great because I love ceviche. I man in my ward travels down there quite a bit with tour groups and just went down 2 weeks ago. He however was in the more tropical areas of the amazon.I learned that in these areas they eat piranhas.

I cannot wait to go!

my little helper...

2008-06-19T20:05:00.004-06:00

Daisy has been helping me in the garden lately. Actually she digs the holes then I fill them in with plants. Sometimes the holes are not where I would like them however. Here she is with dirt on her nose.

I also made pasta this last week. Lemon pepper pasta. I thought I had a pasta roller and started to make it then realized that it was my moms pasta roller and it is in California. I will not be making pasta again if I have to roll it out by hand. I had blisters on my soft little lotioned fingers.

The pasta was really good and when I didn't finish my plate Daisy snuck by and slurped it up. She is such a "good little helper"

first 2 weeks of summer

2008-06-04T16:24:00.009-06:00

my last day of school was may 22. I have had 2 weeks off and have played and worked the whole time.
I planted my garden. Greg's dad gave us a book about square foot gardening and i decided that i am trying it this year after seeing the success he had last year. i haven't weeded around the boxes yet...

Greg got his jeep back from the shop and so we went down to moab one weekend. this is a nice jeep. anyone who wants a ride just needs to come for a visit.

We also went up to Utah to visit family and attend a jeep show. Greg's website had a booth that we displayed the jeep at. There are alos more pictures of the moab trip in our family album on the link list.

I have also been to 1 conference (2 days) and a meeting for school. sadly those do not have pictures because they were just plain BORING.

talent show

2008-05-15T16:54:00.004-06:00

I got a few teachers together to perform in our school's talent show. I had done this in college and thought the students would enjoy it. They loved it! I am the one in the middle with the green cap on. I also have green flower shorts. Sorry it is so blurry, the teacher taping it didn't know how to use the camera all that well.

arches

2008-05-15T16:07:00.009-06:00

A couple of weeks ago Jen and Mark and their children came out to Fruita and spent the weekend with us. One day we went to arches and handed the camera to Kylei and this is what she took. The first one is a family picture on them sitting in an arch. I think it is cool.

This is one of my favorite pictures that Kylei took. She knows what true art is.

Arches

Mark, ALexis and Kylei standing in front of a carin that was on the trial.

Jen Greg's sister caught on the fly.

Kylei and Jordan with Daisy. She loved them.

Pictures from the 7th grade camping trip

2008-05-15T15:50:00.009-06:00

Sorry it has been a while the computer went down and I had no idea how post and upload pictures from the camera. Really I was too busy/lazy to try and figure it out. Greg got the computer to boot back up so we are blogging again.

Two of the other teachers that went up on this trip. Formisano is the girl in the pink shirt and Beamon is the one with the hat on. Both are really fun teachers.

The first day we took them on a hike to the top of the mesa that was in the area. Here is where we stopped to eat lunch.

At the end of the hike was a little arch that they climbed down to. To get up they had to pull themselves up with the rope. Daisy wanted to go down and I didn't stop her in time. She couldn't get back up and we ended up tying the rope around her and pulling/dragging her up.

Here is one group cooking their own food. The students were responsible for cooking what they wanted to eat. Some of them had hot dogs for every meal.

This is the whole group on the last day. Notice Daisy in the front sprawled out on the ground. She was so exhausted.

7th grade camping trip

2008-05-03T14:17:00.002-06:00

It is a tradition fro the 7th graders at my school to go on a 3 day camping trip. As a teacher this means that we are in charge of the entire thing. We split the kids up into groups of 25 and then head up to the Colorado national monument. We do hikes, challenge activities, stream studies and an orienteering adventure. It really is a great activity. The students bring up all their food and camping gear. Its neat to see low income students who have never been camping succeed and have a blast.

I cannot stop thinking about my new addiction

2008-04-23T09:01:00.001-06:00

Here is one of the trailers for the movie. I have now read all 3 books in the series that are out and cannot wait until August when the 4th comes out. I would also like to become a vampire.

my favorite new teen series...

2008-04-12T10:44:00.005-06:00

Well as most of you know I am teaching reading and writing this year not pre-algebra. I have been collecting books right and left. I pay close attention to the genres that my students like and try to supply my classroom bookshelves with these types. This year there has been a great fascination with the twilight series by stephanie meyer.

http://www.stepheniemeyer.com/twilightseries.html

She graduated from BYU and lives in pheonix. I thought they can't be all that bad. I read the reviews on them and bought the 3 books in the series. I didn't even think about reading them because they deal with a love between a girl and a boy who happens to be a vampire. Not really my genre. However I see my struggling girl readers just suck them up and refuse to put them down. I dove into the first novel and haven't been able to do anything else. Great book!

Our new old car

2008-04-06T17:23:00.004-06:00

We bought a new old car. A 1990 toyota 4runner. It has been owned by the same lady and is in great shape. Greg found them on a 4 wheeling site. We drove up to denver to pick it up. You can imagine what I was thinking a $600, 19 year old car, that has a blown engine. I was sooo excited. We get up their and push and lift the thing on the trailer. We get it home and Greg says lets see if it does start. He hooks it up to jump it and it starts! Now it did have a loud sound coming from the engine but it started. We drove it around the neighborhood and it handles really well. This is when I realized that I am really becoming like my husband...I got excited to drive it.

April Fool's Day

2008-04-06T15:12:00.004-06:00

I haven't had internet for about 4 days so this is a little old from this past week. I play this joke on my students every year. It is great to see them look in disgust and then whine and complain. I get them every time.
I told all my students that if they turned in their homework... then on Tuesday I would give them brownees.(notice the spelling) They make sure that they all get it done and are truly concerned for those who do not. Then on Tuesday I have them close their eyes and go around placing their treat on their desks. On the count of 3 we all open our eyes together to see the brownee on their desk.

You can imagine the disappointment that they have. I remind them that it is April Fool's day and proceed to laugh at them. This is the one day of the year that I look forward to going to school.
Even Daisy was a little put out by the thought.

Happy Aniversary!

2008-03-19T16:31:00.004-06:00

Create a Free Slideshow

I love my husband! I could not have asked for a more caring, hard working or HOT person. I would marry you again and again and again. In fact I think we should get married again in the Swiss temple. I love you Greg!

Feliz Cumpleanos!

2008-03-15T20:47:00.007-06:00

Happy Birthday Mom and Dad! I hope you had a great day. I thought you would enjoy seeing your pictures on the blog. The next step is to have you start your own blog.
We love you!

California

2008-03-15T20:31:00.005-06:00

During spring break I went down to visit the Snows. It was soo much fun. I don't how much of a help I was but I had fun. I however did not take any pictures the whole time I was there. I got lots of snuggles from Phoenix and Poppy. I loved the whole week!

After I got home I decided it was time for a little change. I went down and had my hair permed again. She brushed it out! (who brushes out a perm?) This is what it looked like when it dried. AHHHH! It is suppose to loosen up a bit.

Riding the dirtbike at the White Wash Sand Dunes in Utah

2008-03-01T21:18:00.004-07:00

Today was too beautiful, I couldn't resist taking the DRZ out for a ride. It was one last ride before I sell it. I had to make sure it was running in tip-top shape for the new owner . I had never been to the White Wash Sand Dunes and have heard much about the area. I decided I'd head out there for the day, it's just over an hour from me. As I unloaded the bike the temp was mid 50's, perfect for riding!

I spend the first 30 min just exploring, playing in the dunes & checkout out the lay of the land. Eventually I found my way into a canyon, which I eventually climbed out of and ended up at the first dead-end of many through the day.

Here's a link to the photo album- http://greg-catherine.smugmug.com/gallery/4436074_eN5J6#260673395

After riding back down the slickrock hill I found my way into a little side canyon. I love exploring those little-ridden areas, this one turned out to go thru a very narrow canyon, then back out into the open of the other side. It was fairly technical. Dropping in was fun!

I found my way into a wash with lots of running water & started following the wash downhill. Eventually the wash opened up, allowing some high-speed fun! More exploring in another small canyon and another dead end. There was a lot of water & big ledge, not rideable in any way. I hiked up further, just to see. There was a large rockslide that would have blocked any further progress.

Eventually I found my way out of the canyons & headed South. I took a lunch break next to this rock that looks similar to the Mexican Hat rock. I saw a couple other riders coming up the wash I was looking over and some of the scenery from the area.

I rode up another wash that had a good deal of running water. At one point I ran across this little waterfall, probably about 3 feet tall. It had a weird approach, steep ledges & standing water at the bottom. The right side was undercut, the left had a good line, but there was some moss on those rocks. I took some pics, then decided to videotape what was sure to be an impending wreck!

Here's the videos, the first attempt failed but I was successful with the 2nd try!

Thanks Greg!

2008-02-26T18:40:00.005-07:00

Greg was in Las Vegas working for Valentines day so I didn't think I would get anything except a phone call. He sure did surprise me.

This delivery of flowers was much better than the one on my birthday last year.

Last year I took the day off and decided to lounge around the house. I took a shower about 9:30 and then turned on the tv without getting dressed. About 10:00 I hear someone knock on the door and think "oh no I am only in a towel and I can't get to my bedroom without going in front of the front door that has a window!" I decided to just wait. Meanwhile Daisy is going crazy because someone is outside and she wants me to open the door. The guy knocks again. Daisy continues to bark. After the third knock the front door (that is not locked) begins to open. I think someone is coming inside to rob me. I stand up and the old flower delivery man sees me and tries to ignore the fact that I am wearing a towel. He was just going to place the flowers inside because it was December. Daisy saw the open door and ran right out. A birthday that is hard to forget.
Needless to say I thought Greg would never send flowers again. Thank You!

A Special Valentines Dinner

2008-02-11T18:07:00.001-07:00

I love cooking and here is a special occasional recipe!

Chocolate Pasta
1 3/4 c Flour
1/4 c Cocoa powder
2 Egg
4 T Water
Mix let it sit for 30 minutes before rolling out.

Butternut Squash Filling
1 small to medium butternut squash
2 tablespoons dark molasses
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 teaspoons balsamic vinegar
1/4 cup mascarpone cheese
2 tablespoons freshly grated Parmesan
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
Flour, for dusting board

Cut squash in 1/2 and scrape out seeds. Cut squash into 1 inch cubes and Drizzle with 1 tablespoon molasses. Season with salt and pepper. Cook in the oven until very soft, about 1 hour. Puree squash until smooth, then spread on a baking sheet and return to the 375 degree oven to dry, about 10 minutes. The consistency will be like mashed potatoes. Scrape into a large mixing bowl.

Heat the unsalted butter in a saucepan over medium-low heat until it begins to brown. Immediately remove from heat and add remaining 1 tablespoon molasses and all the vinegar. Add to squash with mascarpone, Parmesan, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Season, to taste, with salt and pepper and mix well. The recipe can be made ahead to this point (makes 2 cups filling,) Cover well and refrigerate 4 hours or up to 2 days.

To fill the raviolis: Lay out a sheet of pasta dough on a lightly floured board. Cut into circles with a 3 1/2 inch pastry cutter. Put 1 tablespoon squash filling in the center of 1/2 the rounds. Leave a 1/2-inch border all around the filling. Moisten borders with water and top with remaining rounds of dough. Press all the air out and seal firmly by pressing all around with fingertips. Lay raviolis out to dry on a lightly floured board or baking sheet and lightly flour the tops. Repeat until you run out of dough and/or filling. To cook, boil in lightly salted water until tender, about 3 minutes.

Sage Brown Butter Sauce
4 tblsp of sweet butter
8 sage leaves
While raviolis are cooking, in a large saute pan, melt the butter with the sage and a pinch of salt until it foams and becomes light brown. Toss the cooked raviolis in the sage butter then transfer to a serving platter. Add 2 ounces of the cooking water to the pan and swirl with any residual butter. Spoon the butter sauce over the raviolis, then finish with a generous grating of Parmesan and bittersweet chocolate.

Snow Day!!

2008-02-04T18:10:00.000-07:00

I woke up today and turned on the news to see that school was canceled because of the snow we got last night. Now before I explain just know that so far we have gotten more snow this year than the valley has received for over 30 years. Usually we only get about an inch and it melts off by noon. Well this last week it has snowed everyday. Last night alone we got 5 inches in Fruita. I don't even think Fruita has a plow because when I woke up and went to the store there were tractors from the neighboring farm with buckets that were plowing the main road. Being raised in California this was my first snow day.

Some of the teachers that have been raised in the valley have said that they have never called off school because of the snow. I guess today was a first. I didn't mind because I have been sick and can't really talk all that well. I know you can't believe how much snow is on my truck. I nearly walked right past it and didn't realize it was there. I did have a wiper blade that broke from all the snow.

Pictures from the Christmas Eve hike

2008-01-10T20:39:00.000-07:00

Like Catherine mentioned, I had most of the pictures from the hike on my camera. We started a new online photo album & placed the photos on there. We hiked up Little Wild Horse Canyon and down Bell Canyon. It's a 9 mile loop located in the San Rafael Swell, about 10 miles away from Goblin Valley. Check out the pictures!

http://greg-catherine.smugmug.com/gallery/4047174#235664285

Our Christmas Vacation...

2008-01-06T11:47:00.000-07:00

On Christmas eve we went on a 9 mile hike up some slot canyons in Goblin Valley. We had a wonderful time. It was a little chilly (32-35 degrees) Daisy loved it, although she had to be helped in a few spots. This was the one picture I took, Greg has the majority of the photos on his camera.

After we got home form the Gardners (greg's parents) we slouched around our house for a while. I came into the living room to see this...

I would also like to add that Daisy is in my spot, not to mention that she shouldn't even be on the couch. Really though how cute is that?

Snowshoeing on the Grand Mesa

2007-12-15T17:59:00.000-07:00

Well, winter is finally here! We've had 3 storms come thru Western Colorado in the last week, all leaving snow in Fruita. The last storm dumped nearly 6 inches, which is quite a bit for us. Normally Fruita doesn't get more than 2-3" and it melts off by noon. That is the perfect amount of snow in my opinion! With all the white stuff in the valley, we knew there would be a lot in the mountains, so we decided to break out the snow shoes today & head up on the Grand Mesa. The elevation up where we were playing was nearly 11,000 feet & the temps were in the single digits! Though it was a bit chilly, the sun was out and once we got moving we felt fine.

Daisy was having a blast, she loves being out in the snow. There were quite a few other people out either on showshoes or on cross country skis and it seemed like they all had dogs with them. Daisy had so much fun playing with the other dogs, running thru the powdery snow!

Catherine seemed to be having just as much fun as Daisy, she really gets a kick out of snowshoeing. Guess that's what happens when you grow up in Sunny SoCal! She also likes the 'workout benefit' of running around in the powder.

Me, running thru the snow. With deep powder, elevation of near 11k feet and me being out of shape I had a hard time running more than 50 yrds! Sad, huh?

Catherine seemed to think there was a pretty funny comparison going on here, the ice beard! What, it was cold!

Fall Family picture & a motorcycle ride

2007-12-15T17:08:00.000-07:00

Around mid-November Catherine, Daisy & I took a drive to the La Sal Mountains, which is in the range that sits above Moab, UT. I had been up in this area the week before on my motorcycle & thought that it was a simply amazing area & I wanted to show Catherine.

We took our family photo up there, it was pretty hard getting Daisy to sit still for 30 seconds, but after a few tries we got it.

When I was up there on my motorcycle the week before I saw a Lynx, which was a first or me. It was just larger than a house cat, had big, pointy ears, massive paws & a round bobbed tail. It was a pretty amazing sight. That ride was my first 'big' ride on my new KLR, I rode from our place in Fruita to the La Sals by the way of the Onion Creek trail. I quit counting the stream crossings after 15, I think there ended up being near 20, it was pretty fun crossing the stream that many times, I had to try not getting too wet. Riding up the canyon was amazing, there's some neat scenery up there. Eventually I crossed into the La Sal Natl. Forest. While riding thru the forest I thought to myself, 'I have to get back in this area, it's amazing!' Huge pine trees, amazing views, etc! I stopped the bike & walked around the area as the road started to loose elevation.

I saw some footprints from a massive wild turkey. I couldn't help but wonder where he would be around Thanksgiving, probably doing his best to hide. I rode into Moab for a early dinner, then rode back to Fruita. It ended up being nearly 250 miles round trip, with about 1/3 of it being offroad. I can't wait to do it again!

Halloween

2007-11-07T16:38:00.000-07:00

Daisy dressed up for Halloween and gave all the trick or treaters candy. She only made 3 little kids cry. You would think that with her large tongue hanging out of her mouth it wouldn't be that scary.

She tried to get the costume off at first then realized that people gave her more attention with it on.

What a good dog. She didn't get any candy though.

I like to take nose shots of her. I think they are soo cute. She is a well behaved dog and knows like any child that I love to take pictures of her.

New (to us) motorcycle

2007-10-14T19:49:00.000-06:00

Well, I found a deal I couldn't pass on... a 1998 Kawasaki KLR650. I have liked these bikes for a long time, they're kind of like riding a 2 wheeled Lay-Z-Boy... big, cushy & comfortable! The neat thing about it is the ability to carry Catherine comfortably, run at highway speeds all day long, travel over on dirt roads, get 300 miles out of the 6 gallon tank, etc. They are one of the ugliest bikes ever built, but they're also one of the most reliable. I wanted something I can take on multi-day adventures with the wife and this is the bike. It's ugly, the paint is faded & has the aerodynamics of a cinder block. I love it!

I need to do some work on it before it's ready for a big roadtrip, but it runs & drives great. We're thinking about taking our first big trip down to Telluride, CO. We'll have to do it soon, before it gets much colder. Of course Catherine is excited about getting to purchase riding boots, a riding jacket & a helmet.

Once it warms up again next year, I'd like to plan some great trips. We've been thinking abouot Yellowstone, Mesa Verde, Zions NP, etc.

The day after I bought the bike, I took it out for a 100 mile test ride. I went up thru the Colorado National Monument & kept going South. The paved road turned to dirt and eventually the dirt road turned into a small trail. I ended up in the high-country surrounded with Aspen and Pine trees, seeing the fall colors as they turned. Here's some pics from that trip.-

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my dog ate YOUR homework!

2007-10-06T20:13:00.000-06:00

Some of you may be asking what is that a picture of? It looks like shredded paper on the floor. Yes, in fact it is shredded paper. One word...DAISY!

My students keep notebooks that they write in everyday that are personal. I brought them home because periodically I check them to make sure that they are in fact writing in them. Some of my students have very personal journals in them that are not shared with anyone but me. So how do tell you students that YOUR dog ate THEIR homework?

Here is yet another angle of the notebooks Daisy nibbled on.

Daisy barfed!

2007-09-26T17:17:00.000-06:00

So yesterday Greg and Daisy went for a ride up to one of the local passes to see if the colors were nice. They got out and walked a couple places. Then today I get home from school and Greg proceeds to tell me that Daisy threw up this morning before she got outside. Gross you say? Well it is but it is kinda funny...She threw up a pine cone. Apparently dogs are not suppose to eat pine cones!

The new post

2007-09-24T18:33:00.000-06:00

Melissa and the kids came to visit. We had so much fun! I took a couple of days off to hang out with the little ones. Daisy loved having people her own size to play with. In fact when it was nap time and everyone got out their blankeys Daisy wanted one too. She kept trying to take pheonix's so we made her one real quick. Here they are with the blankeys before bedtime.

Willow and Poppy getting ready to hop on the merry-go-round.

Pheonix trying to convince melissa to carry him up the slide (2 minutes earlier he climbed right up them)

So it may a little hard to tell but the fish was born and lived most of its life completely orange. One day when pheonix was "playing with it" a serious accident occured. We found Daisy Duke's pet (she thought she would stay with the whole dukes of hazard theme, lulu) stuck in the filter. Now we aren't sure if it got sucked up or if someone put it in there. Anyway goldfish usually have three flowing parts to their tail, lulu now has one. She has also started turning black. So if anyone is a fish expert please enlighten us. I'm assuming that it is kinda like my hair turned gray after a tramatic event. anyway lulu is swimming fine and Daisy checks on her everyday.

my garden is enjoyed by some...

2007-08-12T20:45:00.000-06:00

This past month I have been noticing that my tomatoes were not getting ripe. I see the green little beginnings then nothing. Aleca's garden is flourishing with vegetables and mine was not. Then last week when I mowed the lawn I realized that someone, not going to name dogs, had been picking the green tomatoes the carrying them off to the corners of the lawn. the lawn mower found them and spit them all over the yard. Well i had a stern talk with her and have checked then lawn every day. I have not found green tomatoes instead I have found the fist sized orange tomatoes that are almost ripe. tonight I found the fourth victim this week.

Notice that the tomato still has some green on it. The teeth marks are what gave it away. I know I'm better at this detective stuff than Sherlock Holmes...it only took me a month to figure it out.

Her she is the tomato theif!!!

back to school

2007-08-06T15:25:00.000-06:00

Well the summer is over and I am going back to school. I get to go a week early because the literacy teachers all decided that they need to meet and discuss the pacing guide and test scores. FOR 3 DAYS!!! I was also selected by my principal to be on a committee that decides what the other teachers are teaching when I am teaching AVID. the nice thing is I get paid extra for going in those 3 days. I would take a picture of how happy I am but sadly the camera batteries are dead.

Greg is in Chicago working his usual 12+ hours and enjoying the famous deep dish pizza. the lovely Daisy is sleeping all day long.

mud volleyball

2007-07-31T17:37:00.000-06:00

We had an activity this week that the YW and YM loved. We were invited by another ward to join them in playing mud volleyball. It was quite the experience.

Here are the other YW leaders with me. We "tried" to make it out clean.

This is one of the young men's leaders...he got it the worst out of all the leaders. I don't know if you can see the twigs and brush that was on his face.

After the activity they had a big water truck there to hose down everyone. The water was freezing cold.

It was a good time. The mud however was everywhere. I still have yet to get my sneakers clean.

packages from Santa?

2007-07-20T12:32:00.001-06:00

Every week I am collecting packages that come for Greg. This week I have collected only part of them and already it feels like Christmas. This week I have received 4 new wheels for the jeep TJ and an air conditioning unit for the TJ as well. Notice how large the boxes are. Maybe one of these days there will be a box for me that has tons of my favorites.

Oh and I had to add a picture of Daisy sporting her new outfit the purple collar.

the new project

2007-07-19T17:18:00.001-06:00

This last winter greg got a great deal on this TJ and decided to modify it into a rockcrawler. He has slowly been collecting parts over the years to put on something like this. This summer he had been taking off parts and selling them if they were not needed. This is what it looked like before I left for San Diego 2 weeks ago.

Why yes that is correct those are huge tires try to guess the size.

The TJ looked like this when I came back from San Diego. Greg is building it using nice beefy parts to make it the official RME Rockcrawler.

Yep, that is correct there is nothing in the front of the jeep. Hopefully by september it will be running again. We are staying optimistic because it is a ton of work.

greg's 4runner

2007-07-18T15:27:00.001-06:00

While I was in California greg made a trip to Utah to see his sisters new babies and to sell his 4 runner. (I wish I could have gone to see the little ones.)

Greg sold his 4runner to make room and to focus on the TJ. It was a sad but exciting day. Notice that the picture is in front of our old house in Hemet, Ca.

ceviche recipe for Joe

2007-07-18T11:20:00.000-06:00

Here's the recipie:
Marinade in a glass bowl overnight:

raw fish and/or shrimp chopped finely (about a handful and a half)
lime juice
lemon juice
orange juice
dash of ground oregano
finely chopped red onion

Then when you are ready to eat/serve drain off the citrus juices (save a little in case you want it saucy) and add:

1-2 chopped roma tomatoes
cilantro chopped
1 squeeze ketchup
El tapatio sauce to taste

I usually eat it with chips like a salsa. You might want to salt and pepper it also. Enjoy!

shrimp ceviche!!!!

2007-07-04T14:22:00.001-06:00

I love cooking and this was one of my favorite dishes when growing up. I remember getting this at the las palmas restaurant in Cabo all the time. When melissa emailed the recipe I had to make it. YUM! it tasted exactly how I remembered.
I tried to find a large sea shell to put it in...but I don't have one. I had some avocado in the fridge so I cut it up and used it as an accent. Okay so secretly I wish I was the executive chef at a fancy restaurant here in fruita. Someday I'm totally going to a culinary arts school.

4th of July

2007-07-04T14:15:00.001-06:00

Daisy and her newest toy. I thought since she loves the fish so much I will get her one that she can play with and lick all she wants.
Daisy got this little fish named "Tuna" for the 4th of July. She loves it. I thought it was cute because of all the vibrant color it has. Daisy and I also went to the parade today. When the firetrucks came around the corner with the siren on she freaked out and tried to run away. She can be a baby sometimes. I'm just wishing that tonight she will not be scared too much by the fireworks.

Playing outside

2007-06-29T22:37:00.001-06:00

Hey kids, Greg here... I thought I'd post some fun pics of our outdoor adventures so far this year. We took a trip out to Goblin Valley NP early this spring & hiked around the amazing rock formations. Goblin Valley is quite erie when the sun's going down. Strange shadows appear & the formations play with your eyes. It's weird, you almost want to run around each rock looking for a troll or something. If you've never been, it's a place that you need to add to your 'must see' list.

We have been out on the mountain bikes a few times as well. Fruita has an incredible network of trails and is well known to be one of the mountain biking meccas. Here's a couple shots of Catherine looking oh-so-cute on her bike one of the times we rode Rustlers Loop. She has been doing quite well with the biking, some of the trails we have ridden are probably a bit difficult but she hangs in there like a champ.

We'll add more as the adventures come!

the newest truck

2007-06-28T07:30:00.000-06:00

After we bought the jetta we didn't need both my 4 runner and greg's truck. We decided that it would be cheaper to actually sell both and buy a newer 4 door truck. It is beautiful.

Now don't think that every 2 weeks we are going to buy a new car. These 2 are it. We have the economical commuter (greg's car), and now my truck which is big enough so that if we have visitors they fit in the back (or maybe a car seat if I could ever get pregnant) It can also tow.

Ohhhh Lalaaaa!

If you notice we also got a car hauler trailer that is tagging along behind it.

the roll over

2007-06-27T21:04:00.000-06:00

Daisy has yet another trick up her sleeves. She learned how to roll over. I love watching her little legs fly up into the air. She will do anything for a treat (ice cubes are her favorite).

New tricks for Daisy

2007-06-27T18:06:00.001-06:00

We have been working with Daisy on expanding her tricks for company. She was able to leave a treat on her paw until we gave her the okay to eat it...

Now she can do both paws and her nose for as long as we tell her to stay. Notice that she has a treat on both front paws and her nose. She is one smart puppy!

Our front yard

2007-06-20T21:14:00.000-06:00

This is the 1926 Ford model T we dug out of the mountain.

We plan on adding some yucca plants to the whole xeriscape theme.

Our "yard art" We were so excited to finally have something that looked cool in the yard.

It isn't complete without an engine block to go with the "T"

we had a first!

2007-06-18T15:39:00.000-06:00

Today is the fourth day that Daisy has stood in front of the fish tank and stared at the fish. I was tired of the crying that she did when she couldn't lick the water or try to get the fish out... so I closed the door to that room. Which made it even worse. After about 10 minutes it got quiet, which is bad news with Daisy. I went looking to find her and she had opened the door to get back to her fish. I know, I know my little girl is so smart. Daisy opened her first door and she isn't even 2 yet.

monday morning

2007-06-18T14:28:00.000-06:00

Daisy thinks she is a lap dog. She just likes to be cuddled. The worst is when she wants to sit on your lap and you are driving.

We planted some cactus in our front yard, I took a picture for you mom knowing that you would like to see them in bloom. We had 3 starts but only 2 of them bloomed.

A day with Daisy

2007-06-15T16:33:00.000-06:00

Hanging out with greg Daisy's favorite person.

Daisy loves the park. The slides are her favorite (she's afraid of heights) I think she likes going up them more than she likes to go down though.

Today I went to school to bring home the fish I had in my classroom. When I got them home Daisy was so fascinated with them. She would not stop watching them. She didn't try to eat them just wanted to cry and watch.

The new Jetta

2007-06-14T19:08:00.000-06:00

We bought a new car considering that greg drives over hundreds of miles each way to work. It is such a nice little thing. Drives great and gets over 50 miles per gallon. Not to mention that it feels like a sports car compared to my 4 runner.

joining in

2007-06-14T18:56:00.000-06:00

We are joining the blog trend. I figure that this is the easiest way for mom and dad to view pictures of things that greg and I are doing here in Colorado. Not to mention photos of their favorite puppy Daisy.