More Snowshoeing

This last weekend we were invited to spend the weekend at a friend's cabin near Kamas. We were only able to stay one night but we had a great time. We arrived there just after dark and after a great dinner we went for a night time stroll with our snowshoes. There was barely a moon that night and the stars were amazing. Living in a big city has made me almost forget how many stars there are in the sky. It was beautiful. On our way back to the cabin Brian and I decided to race down a hill. Half way down I tripped and went flying onto my stomach disappearing into a magical poof of snow. Brian won the race of course. :)

The next day we went on another hike. It was surprisingly warm, a definite warning that a storm was brewing. We had to keep peeling off layers as to not overheat. But it was a beautiful hike. This is a picture of Brian, Arne and Brannon in front of the cabin before our hike.

And me with my awesome snowshoes!

We were definitely amongst good company and we were glad we were able to spend the weekend with good friends.

Now to back track a little bit, the week after Christmas our good friends Mandy and Andy came out and spent an evening with us. We went to dinner and then took Trax down to Temple Square to see the lights. It was the night that we had a huge snow storm so were glad we didn't have to drive to Temple Square and find somewhere to park.

It was definitely cold that night but the lights were beautiful. And, of course, more good times with friends. We can't get enough of that.

New Year's Eve

Well the New Year is here whether we were ready for it or not! I can't believe that it is already 2011. Our New Year was not very eventful this year, which we are grateful for. Last year was eventful enough. We spent New Year's Eve and New Year's day with family which was a lot of fun and relaxing at the same time.

We did take advantage of the little time off we had from work and school. Last summer Brian went to one of Sport's Authority's huge sales and he purchased snowshoes for super cheap. So in the morning on the 31st we decided to finally try them out and go snowshoeing. The fun thing about that is that the first time we went snowshoeing together was on New Year's Eve 3 years ago. Nifty, eh?

We went up Big Cottonwood Canyon and found a trail near The Spruces. It was about 9 degrees that morning so we bundled up the best we could. Let's just say that hand warmers are amazing!

It was beautiful up there.

The trail we went on ended up leading to a bunch of cabins.

So we did some exploring and found a deck. You can see what that lead to.

We had a lot of fun running down hills, pushing each other down and as you saw, jumping off of a deck. And of course making fun of each other because we often looked ridiculous trying to get up out of the deep snow. Here, you can see for yourself.

Look how cute he is.

Brian had pretty awesome hair when we got back to the car. I had to take a picture.

I stayed bundled till about the time we got home.

If anyone wants to go snowshoeing with us sometime just let us know.

Thanksgiving

To start off Thanksgiving this year we signed up for a 5k race with Brian's mom in Cottonwood Heights. It was somewhere around 10 degrees that morning. We didn't want to get discouraged by the temperature so we bundled up the best we could. Here we are after the race. As you can see we all survived the freezing temperatures.

I don't think any of us had experienced running in that cold of weather before but we had a good time and in the end we were glad we braved the weather. It was a great experience. There were over 1,000 runners. Brian, of course, placed somewhere around 125th. I, on the other hand, placed somewhere around 825th and Brian's mom was not far behind me. All in all it was fun and we are glad that we did it!! The best part was feeling more justified in having seconds and thirds on that yummy turkey dinner later on!! :)

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Halloween

Well Halloween has come and gone yet again. Our costumes this year weren't super exciting but they were fun. My work decided to dress up on the Friday before Halloween. I was desperate for a costume and my sister came through and saved the day. She let me borrow the costume she made with a bunch of coworkers last year. Yes I was a can of Crush for Halloween. I loved how simple the costume was and how easy it was to take off if I needed to.

Brian's nursing program put on a "Run Miles for Smiles 5K" on the 30th to raise money for their program and for Operation Smile. He decided to dress up as a patient for the race. I wore my Nudist on Strike shirt because it was simple and would be easy to run in.

I don't know how he actually convinced me to run the race. I haven't been running since June and I knew my body wouldn't enjoy running 3.1 miles with no recent training. Needless to say I have been hobbling around the last two days in pain. Here we are at the finish line.

They actually gave out prizes for the best costumes. Brian won 4th place and was given a 15 dollar gift card to ITunes. Pretty good for a borrowed gown from the hospital.

Here are all of the others that wore costumes.

Vermont

For as long as I can remember I have always wanted to visit Vermont. I'm not sure why exactly, but the state has always been on my list of places to visit. Well 2 weeks ago we got the chance to go out there. Brian's sister Missy and her family live out there so for Brian's fall break we decided to go visit them. We loved being able to spend a week with their family while enjoying the beautiful state of Vermont.

I can not take credit for this beautiful shot to the left. Chase's sister Marci took this picture just before we left Joseph Smith's birth place. I think that it is absolutely beautiful.


While we were there Missy and Chase blessed their new baby girl Contessa. We are so glad that we were able to be there for her blessing. Chase's parents and his sister Marci and her family were also able to fly out for the blessing. Here is a picture of the whole clan that was there.

Funnest kid ever!! Really! Enoch is a blast to be around. His energy can be exhausting at times.

Beautiful Tessa


After the blessing and some delicious lunch we drove to Sharon, Vermont where a monument stands for Joseph Smith's birth place. It was a really pretty place.


The next day we had breakfast at the Shelburne Inn located on Shelburne Farms. This place was beautiful. Here is a shot with Lake Champlain in the background.

Here is the Inn with everyone posing... I mean relaxing in front of it.

Here are some pictures of the gardens they had outside the Inn.

Here is Brian. I think he is trying to connect or reconnect with nature. :)

Another gorgeous view. I really can not get over how beautiful with place was.

The next day we drove to Stowe, Vermont where the Ben & Jerry's factory is.

They had a graveyard for flavors of ice cream they no longer use.

While in Stowe we also went to a cider mill where we got to sample cidar. It was yummy of course.

The next day we decided to take a trip up to Montreal. It was definitely an adventure we weren't prepared for but we had a good time together. :) Here are some photos of our trip.

Montreal was a neat city. Busy and crowded, but neat. I'm glad we got the chance to drive up there and see a little bit of the city.

The next day we flew home on the 6am flight and got back to SLC just after Noon. It was nice getting back that early but we were exhausted. After we picked up Stu from Grandma's house and ran some errands we went home to take a nap. We layed down at 4pm with full intentions of getting up at 6pm. When we woke up at 10pm we realized we had over shot our goal of 6pm by quite a bit. Oh the joys of traveling!!

Stu

So I just realized that we mention in our profile that we have a cockatiel named Stu but we have never introduced him officially on the blog. I think that he is feeling a little left out.

So here is Stu!

He is quite an adorable bird. Let me tell you a few things about him. He loves whistling/singing in the mirror. He loves it when we rub his head. He makes us smile everyday. He is completely driven by his desire for food (it gets annoying every once in a while) and he is determined to get what he wants. He waddles around our apartment like he owns the place. He likes to take naps and snuggle with Brian.

He puts himself to bed around 10:30 pm and is very grumpy if you try to play with him after that time. He loves flying around the house. And one of his favorite toys is one of Brian's flossing Plackers as you can see in this picture.

He is a very social bird and I'm afraid he annoys our neighbors because he loves to chirp so much. Well there you go. That is Stu. We purchased him from Bird World last December and he had his first birthday in August. So he is still a baby but he is definitely a delight in our home. I hope you enjoyed meeting him. :)

The Dirty Dash

Is it not every boy's dream to play in the mud? The problem is as boys become men it's not socially acceptable or mature for boys to fulfill their desire to be dirty. Well Brian finally got a chance to fulfill his inner boyish desires. On Sept 25th Brian and some friends ran a 10K race called the Dirty Dash. It is the first "mud run" type race put together in Utah and I think they said they had over 4,000 participants for their first year. Brian, of course, hasn't been running since April because he hurt his knee in the spring, but you couldn't tell he hadn't trained because he ran the race like a champ.

The race was held at Soldier Hollow where the Olympic Cross Country race took place. You could run the race as an individual or as a team of 5. Here is a picture of Brian's team before they got all muddy. I think their team name was Riot.

This is where the race started. They had several heats of runners that went every 20 minutes. Team Riot was in the 3rd heat which is nice because we didn't have to wait around too long for them to start the race. I was amazed at how many people were there. That place was packed. This picture doesn't really show how many people were actually there.

This is another angle of the start. I went up a little ways so I could get a picture of them running towards me.

And they're off!!

I admit that I was afraid there for a moment that I was going to get trampled, but everything turned out alright. :)

The neat thing about this race is that they had random obstacles placed around the course. They had hay bails, tunnels, walls, tires, swamps, etc. I wasn't able to get a picture of all of the obstacles but I got some of the good ones. Here is Brian climbing over one of three sets of walls.

Here is the longest Slippin' Slide in the world (or so they say) made specifically for this race.

And here is the huge mud pit they were supposed to crawl on their hands and knees through. As you can see some of the other teams were cheating.

And finally the victorious shot at the end!

They made pretty good time considering all of the mud and obstacles they encountered. I was glad that I was able to go up and support even though we had to be in Midway by 7:15 am. Other than that it was a beautiful day for a race and I'm pretty sure Brian enjoyed himself!