Boys Ice Fishing Trip

We headed up to Strawberry on Satuday night for a quick overnighter. It looked like we got there just as the tail end of the storm passed. As we were setting up our QuickFish 6 tents, the full moon was shining through the light snow that was gently falling from the sky. All and all it had the makings of a great night. Little did we know that Mother Nature does this to lure us out into the wild. We settled into the fishing tent and began fishing. While we were sitting there talking about the good-ol-times, it happened. There was a loud "POP" and before we could say holy smokes, we were sitting in a blizzard. Our sleeping tent flew into our fishing tent and with a "POP" the fishing tent lifted off like a rocket and the two tents began racing across the snow covered ice. We took off after the tents and about 200 yards later we caught up to our tents and we were wondering what the crap just happened. We drug the tents back and over an hour later we were finished getting camp back together. The only thing we lost was the snowmobile, but my buddy said he thinks that he saw a green lady with a big nose and a tall black hat flying around in the sky on it.
Anyway, my brother had a 21 inch cut on his line for who knows how long and reeled it in. I think he caught it off of a green 3 inch tube and chub. Our other buddy made it through the storm and joined us for a good clean game of Hold-em. We only got three hours of sleep that night at began fishing at 8:00 a.m. The action was hot on the chub bait, but it is a new way of fishing for us and it was extremely difficult to set the hook.
I had one fish take my lure at the hole while I was trying to land it. Later I caught a 22 inch cut and when I looked in his belly to see what he had for breakfast, I found my lure from earlier. Talk about lucky, I wish I had that same luck during our game of Hold-em. Anyway, 15 feet of water and hot action on the tube jig with chub bait. It was good time. Only landed 2 cuts and 1 crawfish. We saw some nice bull elk near Heber on that North side of the canyon on the way home. P.S. this was written by Terry for a fishing forum and I stole it for my journal. I love the way he tells this story

What do I do?

So I get alot of people asking me what I do with all my spare time since my kids are all in school now. So I teach preschool on Tues and Thurs which takes all but about 5 minutes before the kids come home... Then on Mondays I recover my home from the weekend of madness and playtime. I also do most of my errands on Monday, at least I try. Wednesdays I try to spend a couple hours scrap booking or organizing family videos then I usually have a list waiting for me like I did today... This was the list I wanted accomplished before the kids came home.
Do my moms hair
Exercise
Pick up med at Target
Return pants at Old Navy
Make Flaming Gorge Reservations
Make Yellowstone Reservations
5 Loads of Laundry
Dishes
Clean Carpets
Clean Terrys Car
Fill up Car Gas
Costco for groceries
Make covers for ice fishing sleds
Spring Clean bedroom and bathrooms
Put in for deer hunts
Update Blogs
Prepare new month preschool
Sweep and mop kitchen floor
(I had all but about 2 of those items done before the kids came home.)
Fridays are the days I do what I want weather I go out to eat with friends. Go walk around some store. Or end up finishing that to do list I was working on. So I guess I am just trying to say life has a way of keeping me busy. Very rarely I have a moment where I wonder what can I be doing. But I wouldn't have it any other way I enjoy being busy and I go crazy when I feel like I have accomplished nothing. This is not something I admire about myself. I truly wish I could sit still and just enjoy watching what is happening around me. And sometimes I do... Those times are when we are ice fishing, camping, snowboarding, boating... You get my drift but when I am at home I am busy... There are moments where I will take a time out and play WebKinz.. Yes this is my latest craze which is fading but I love the pizza game and Atlantiles they just help me to slow down. Crazy how life just happens.

Valentine's Day 2011

I love Valentine's day every year, it is the same every year but the whole day is just special to me. It goes like this I wake up to new flowers from Terry with some kind of sweet surprise. Then I decorate the table and make pink heart shaped pancakes, wake up the kids with a sweet kiss and hug and happy Valentines day.

Then send them off to school dressed in red or pink with their Valentines in hand. Tia usually has some kind of a heart shaped into her hair one way or another. Then I stay home and bake cookies and package them up for later door bell ditching which the kids just LOVE.
Then I go and help out at one of the kids classroom parties. This year it just happened to be Bowdee's year. He wanted me to have them play the heart stacking game, but since they are getting older I made them do it using straws. It was just fun to be there watching them interact with each other.

After school was homework, piano lessons for Bowdee, Gymnastics for Treg and Tia, then swimming with friends for Bowdee and lessons for Treg and Tia. Door bell ditching on our way home to our heart shaped pizza from $5 Buck Pizza (although I can't recommend because this year it was GROSS).

Then we opened some small gifts and Valentines from each other. Then headed in to stay up late (which mom doesn't allow very often on school nights 9:30 that was pushing it) to watch Guardian of Ga'hoole. Which the kids just loved. So it was the perfect Valentines day one filled with love all the way around. Happy Valentines Day to all of you!

Brighton Snowboarding

After spending all day Saturday at Basketball games and in the basement running wire through some itchy insulation. We decided it was time to get outside. So Sunday morning we woke up early and headed to Big Cottonwood Canyon. Everytime I even get near the mouth of the canyon I feel an overwhelming sense of calm and peace. It takes me back to the year Kami and I worked at Solitude (as you know a great time in my life). So needless to say we were all happy as can be. We got up there before 10 and had so much fun the rest of the day. Except at lunch time as we were sitting there drinking hot chocolate and eating whatever we had (since we forgot our lunches at home) we notice how pink we were all getting... OOPS mom forgot the sunscreen. So we went up for just a couple more runs then cut out 1/2 hour early because I didn't want to get into to much trouble for neglecting my children. I promise you one thing next time I will be more prepared. I think I was just so excited to get up there that I forgot all about reality. It was a great day and the kids did wonderful for their first time boarding this year. Matia is officially all on her own. We need to work on her toe edge a little more. Treg is doing fabulous all though all he wanted to do was go off the jumps and do tricks like he does on his X-box game SSX-Tricky. It didn't helpe that the lift went right over the half pipe and skate park. We just told him he has to keep practicing so he can get good enough to do those tricks without hurting himself. What is scarey is I see him having the guts to do those tricks and it won't be long! I will be closing my eyes and saying lots of prayers when the tricks start. If ya look really close this is Bowdee going off a jump getting some serious air. Ya like I said not to far away. It was so fun though to be enjoying one of my favorite things to do with ALL of my family! And seeing that they really enjoy it as well. Life is good today!

Boat Show 2011

Every year we look forward to going to the boat show... Not because we are interested in getting a new boat. I think it is more about dreaming together as a family and seeing the nice things we can get if we keep working hard. We really enjoy boating together and so it is fun to dream about it as well. We also like going and meeting Pro Wake boarders and yes my boys want to be just like them. But whenever we have met a pro boarder they have always been some of the nicest people I have ever met. They show interest in my kids and they talk to us like we are their friends. I have been so impressed with their personalities. I feel like a stocker when we go there asking the Marine Product workers who are the pro boarders that are there that day. Then going and asking them for their signatures, but it does something for Bowdee especially. I think it shows him that they are real people and that they went for their dreams and made it reality. This year we had the opportunity to meet Shaun Watson, Chad Sharpe, and Parks Bonifay. They are all GREAT guys that I am glad my kids got to meet them. We also saw Danny Harf but he skipped out before we shook his hand. So call me a stocker if you want but I think its a great privilege to meet these great guys! We also love watching them do all their tricks and it helps my kids to see even these guys sometimes biff it. Okay maybe that helps me feel better about my wipe outs then it helps them. Never the less we had a great night looking through boats, dreaming about the good times on the lake, meeting new friends, and watching the fish swim in the tank. We especially LOVED the UTES boat this year.

Ice Fishing w/ Kyes Fam

Sunday Kami called and asked if she could take Bowdee boarding to the Canyons with Izak. You just can't say no to an offer like that so we sent Bowdee on his way to have a great day with his bud. Thanks Kami for giving Bowdee such a great experience.
Then we headed up to Deer Creek to go ice fishing with Kyles family. Emilee had never done this before so she was nervous to get on the ice. But she was a real trooper and I think she really enjoyed it.
She caught one fish and I caught 3 I guess there was a little girl power going on because the boys didn't catch anything. Not that I am bragging or anything but we even baited our own hooks.
The kids had fun pulling each other around on the sleds and playing their little games. The girls would take turns fishing but as much as they wished it the fish just wouldn't bite their bait. :(
It was a good time! After fishing we went to see the ice castles in Midway again. However, we got there and they were gone. So we found them in the city center to find they were closed on Sunday and this year they are charging $5.00 an adult and $3.00 for children. Which was a bummer.

5th Grade Boarders

So when your child goes into 5th grade they are offered a skiing/boarding passport for just $25.00. With the passport they get 3 passes to each ski resort in utah and some others in different states as well. So on Friday I checked Izak and Bowdee out of school early and took them to Solitude. All it costed us was the gas to get there. I choose to save my money to board with the family so I sent these 2 boys up on the lift all by themselves.
I seriously got a tear in my eye just like when I sent them to Kindergarten. I could feel the thrill they got from the independance and it made me sick. Ya I am happy for them and I trust them but at the same time it made me realize in just a few years they will be going without me at all. They had a wonderful time they got on the first lift at about 12:00 and didn't stop until 4:30 when they closed the lifts.
Well they did stop to take a quick hot chocolate break with me. But I think that was more for me then them. I think they felt bad for me just sitting at the bottom of the hill reading my book and watching for them to come down and wave to them after each run. I tell you what the whole ride home they were as quiet as can be and yes they sleep so good that night.


I remember coming home from ski days with my family and all of us just crashing to watch a movie with my mom. All 6 of us were spralled all over her room where ever we landed. Ah the feeling of complete exhaustion after a great day on the slopes... There is nothing like it! I must say going back to Solitude made me homesick for the days Kami and I worked there. I have never had a job I liked better then being a Mountain Host... Ya I would ski around all day getting paid to look for people who were lost, hurt or lonely. It was a job of a lifetime.

Why is it that when we have a weekend and we don't do anything adventurous we feel exhausted and weak? When the adventurous stuff we do should be exhausting, but it just makes us feel alive and rejuvenated. This weekend we had a few items of business we had to take care of which kept us from going boarding, or ice fishing or even sledding. So by the end of the weekend Terry and I were both going crazy because we didn't do anything to get our wiggles out.... I guess we both have a case of ADHD because we are always looking for a thrill and to keep us home on a weekend could kill us. Saturday we had Basketball games for Tia and Bowdee. Which was great don't get us wrong. But there was no sun involved or activity for us.

Then Sunday we went out to visit Terry's parents and wish them happy birthday. This was so nice to have dinner with them and just talk to them. We do love that, after we visited Terry's good friend from Grantsville and his family. Which we need to do more often. Then he took us over to his friends house that needed to get rid of some chickens. They were getting 2 dozen eggs a day and just couldn't go through that many. So we took home 4 new chickens to up our coop to 6. The kids were all thrilled to have 2 chickens each. Our chickens just started laying eggs this last week and they have LOVED going to check for eggs!

Then Monday Bowdee had a birthday party which he just had to go to. So we let the kids play with their friends while Terry and I got sad we didn't go out adventuring the whole weekend. It is crazy that we are both this way and I don't think it is a good thing. We definitely need to learn to stay home sometimes and just get stuff done around the house when we must. But we just have so much fun when we go play it is hard. Discipline is what we need to enforce upon ourselves.

Ice Fishin' Strawberry w/ Troys

So we headed up to Strawberry this morning to see if we could catch anything. So we set up the shack at about 21ft deep so we would be close to the hill to watch the kids sled yet deep enough to hopefully catch some fish. We set up at about 11:00 and tore down around 5:30 it was 1 degree when we started driving home.
It was cold but with the shack and heaters we kept pretty warm. The kids sled most of the day.










Of course Matia put in the most fishing hours. She watched that fish finder and was sure to tell us when and where the fish were.
Between Troys 6 poles and our 5 poles we only caught 1 fish the whole day. It was surely a keeper though a nice Cutthrout at 23" and about 3 lbs.
Terry and Troy had so much fun fighting this fish and getting it out of the hole. Then they just played with it like little boys until they gutted it.
These are some quality cousin moments I hope it helps build friendships that last FOREVER!
Treg and Terry getting ready to head back to the truck. We love the snowmobile. Check out Tregs red cheekies, yes it was cold.
Of course we all hit Wendy's for a nice cheap dinner. Man I love these moments, we had a great time. Thanks again Terry for getting us all up and out of here to have some fun.

Basketball here we come!

Matia and Bowdee are back at it in basketball again. Terry is Bowdee's coach again and they both seem to love it. They have a great team and all the boys seem to be excited about playing. This is the first year they will have an extra hour a week to practice together and then 1 hour game a week. They had their first practice game on today and it was amazing to see Bowdee go for a layup and actually make it! Wow it looked so GREAT! Good luck Bowdee & Terry.Matia has the same coach she had last year which she really enjoyed. She is a little defender, I love to watch her intensity. She also has most of the same players on the team so they are all excited about that as well. Matia I know you will only improve your skills the more you practice. Keep up the good work we are so proud of you. So here we go every Saturday we will have games for the next 8 weeks.

New Years Celebration 2011

This year to welcome in the new year we invited Troy and his girls and the Garricks to come and celebrate. Of course we invited Kye and Kamis families but unfortuantly they had other plans.
So we started the evening just chillin letting the kids play. Then we got out some games, we played poker, Mad Gab, and the shocker game. Then we set off some fireworks and gave away our first kisses of the year. Then at 2:30 we hit the sack hoping to be able to sleep in!
After sleeping in till about 11:00 we cleaned the house then headed to Tangled with the Covingtons for our traditional movie on the 1st. This year Grandpa paid for everyone and made reservations for seats at Thanksgiving Point. Man he is always going the extra mile to make things so nice for everyone. Thanks mom and dad we love you tons and tons. Happy New Year everyone we wish you the best this next year.

Ice Fishing Fighting the Blues

Here's the skinny we are getting ready to send Terry back to work. Yes he got a job only 9 miles away from home which is good news, however, it has crappy insurance is the bad news, its fun work good news, but less pay bad news. So since he has to go back with very few days off we headed to Strawberry to get out of the house and enjoy some outdoor fresh air.
Strawberry Bay Marina at 2 p.m. 25 degrees on Monday the 28th. Heavy snow at few spots on snowpacked road to the marina. More snow now than I saw most of the year last year. Looked like the whole lake was froze over.
Drove back to Mud Creek for the thicker one inch top ice with 8 inch slush and 4 inch bottom layer ice. Six other groups on the ice. Two poles with white tube jig and night crawler at 1' off bottom at 14'.
Two fish, one 14" rainbow at 2:45 p.m. and a 10 inch rainbow at 4:15 p.m. We were the last group off the ice at 5 p.m. and 10 degrees. Kids had fun sledding.