Oh how I love the GRAND CANYON!!!! May 2009

So as you can see from the first picture, 40 miles in one day in the Grand Canyon can make you CRAZY!!! However, if you do 19 like my wife did, you come out of the Canyon looking as pretty and cute as ever! I need to learn a lesson.

Yep, I attempted Rim to Rim to Rim again. For those of you who don't know about this wild and crazy trek, let me explain. You start at about 2AM and take off hiking. Down into the canyon from the south side and back up the north side 24 miles later. Then, sit for an hour, eat lunch, and take back off from the north and head back to the south. Another 24 miles. This all needs to take place within 24 hours to make it count. That at least, is the rule that my friend Tim Raymond gave me and the others that attempted. He has done it a number of times, but this was my 2nd attempt and I missed it again..... BY just 8 stinkin miles!!!! DANG!!!! Even when I think about it now, it makes me angry that I didn't push just a bit harder. I listened to my body and it said enough is enough. This attempt was with Tim and Amy Raymond and John Brown(Amy's brother). John was the only one to make it all 48 miles. He is my hero! Jaime hiked in the canyon herself (9 miles to the bottom) and waited for me at Phantom Ranch. She too, is my hero. There at Phantom she waited 3 or 4 hours for me and then we hiked out the last 9 miles together. The fun part about hiking out together was talking about how no other person in mine or Jaime's families have ever seen the canyon from within. We send out that challenge!!! Especially to all my Brothers!

Anyway, what a great trip!! I am just glad I finally got to tell the story. If you want another great story, just ask Tim and Amy how they got back out of the canyon from the North rim to the South..... That is a classic!!!

Great Times!!!!!!!!!
PS, I just looked at that first picture again and I look HORRIBLE!! Just remember that was 40 miles of hiking in about 20 hours or so in the Biggest hole in the world. Thanks :)

Belated Birthday cont.

Kaden had his birthday this month and turned 9!!!! Now that is just as crazy as seeing a dog with 3 legs! :) So where do I start with my boy..... Kaden Everest, what a great son you are and oh how I wish I had 5 more just like you! I could then live on a ranch and have my boys and girls around me working side by side. What a great life that would be. Kaden has brought so much happiness and joy into all of his family members lives. He too makes us laugh all the time and feel just happy to be around him. He is extremely polite to all those other folks around him and he does his best to make the little kids around him feel loved and special. He has a gift for many things and he uses his talents to bless others. He is a great example to his sisters even if he does tease them all the time!! They usually get him back by tag teaming and wrestling him to the ground! What a great family night that is!!

Belated Birthday blog!

So Gracyn had a birthday within the last few months and I didn't post anything about her. I'm not the best father in the world, but it's never too late to change!!

Gracyn turned 4 this month. What a fantastic little girl we have in our family. She might be the caboose for now, but with that title she brings all the stubbornness, feistyness(sp?), and excitement that I can handle! On the other hand, she is the sweetness, most musical little singer on the planet. She has a song for everything. Whether it's about a dog named Duke and a cat named Diamond who like to play together and go on hikes with Gracyn, or maybe a princess that saves a goat just so she can ride him in a parade! She can go non stop. I don't know how she does it, but I do know that I love every minute of it! She brings so much light to my life and happiness to our family. She makes us laugh all the time and we love her for it. Gracyn, you are the most wonderful little girl and you are sooooooo loved!

Brother Jed gets Eagle Award during our trip to Utah

What a great day!! Jed, the final of the 6 boys, receives his Eagle award while we are visiting Utah to see family. What a fun night it was to have all of us boys, except Troy(who was in Hawaii), to sit in the Eagle's nest and welcome Jed in. My Dad was very proud to now have all 6 complete. It was fantastic, my parents had a real Bald Eagle there to be shown and the Handler gave a great talk about life and the flight of the Eagle.

CONGRATULATIONS JED!!!! Well done!

Our two little baseball stars! Kaden is playing Rookie and it is kid pitch and machine pitch combined. Emma is playing T-ball and loving being the only girl on the team and one of the only girls in the League. We love to watch them on the field. They do such a great job and Kaden is already making great plays and getting outs as well as hitting like a champ! Emma is learning that the ball comes at you pretty fast and that it is fun to chase the ball no matter where it goes on the field. :) I just love being the assistant coach for Kaden and a crazy fan for Emma!! The best part is just having fun and watching them have such a great time.

Need I say more!! What a kid!!

So this is my sweet Gracyn!! She is the light of our family and brings such joy and happiness to our little world. She can be the most fun and exciting kid ever to be around...
THEN...
You get this side of her and you can't help but laugh and smile. She knows exactly when you have annoyed her too much and she lets you know how she feels. PRICELESS!!

Arizona Winters make for the best Summers!!

We love the lake!!!!! Puts a smile on my face every time I see these four!!

Wow! I thought that I was so up to date with my blog and as I read and look at other blogs, I wonder if my life will ever be as exciting...

It seems like people go ALL out to make sure that their blog is so fantastic, that they lose track of real life. I know that in our family, we have lots of great times, but we have a lot of not so fun times too. Some of the best times of life come after the trials.

Anyway, life is good. I found out today that my little Emma has Pneumonia. What a tough trial. She has struggled with the idea that her body is that sick and the reactions to the medication aren't that fun. I feel for her sweet soul and know that in a week or so, she will be lighting up our home with her funny jokes and big smile.

Luckily, Kaden and Gracyn have yet to get any of it and we hope they won't. They are both doing great and Gracyn takes the cake right now for the funny things she says and the funny things she does. She really is on fire with making up songs about whatever she is doing. For example, a song about putting on her clothes. A song about eating dinner or picking up her toys. A song about playing in the dirt while at Kaden's baseball game. She can go on and on and it is so fantastic!! I could listen to it all day long and Jaime just laughs because she does listen to it all day long and wishes sometimes it would stop. :)

Jaime seems to take it all in stride. She is a great Mom and does such a fabulous job at keeping the house up, the kids in school, homework done, scouts and dance attended, and a million other great things to make life easy and fun for all of us. She even still manages to beat the kids at GO FISH every once in a while too!! Way to go Jaime!! You are the BEST!!!