Land Hungry

This is Indianola. It may not look like much, but honestly the picture doesn't do it justice.

More specifically, it is three acres of Indianola and it is for sale. The view is great, the neighbors (or lack thereof) are great, the price is great. 

My favorite feature was the way my kids jumped out of the car and began exploring it. Hours of yelling at my kids to stay in the yard, yelling at my kids to get out of the neighbors yard, and yelling at my kids to stay out of the road began to fade as I watched them explore rabbit holes. We scared a couple of huge rabbits(? hares maybe, something with black tipped ears) off and watched them bound through the sagebrush.

 And I want it.

Oh I know I can't buy it. It is too far away from our lifelines (like jobs). I knew that before I came out, I just wanted to pretend for a while.

Why do we do that? Why do we see something and want to own it?

Climbing Bridal Veil Falls

On Saturday evening I went up to Bridal Veil Falls and found it an icy wonderland. I wasn't the only one there. I also found a small group climbing one of the side falls. Kind of wish I was one of the ones climbing. :)
—Mark

Can you find Waldo

What an incredible wall of  ice

Last Light of 2014

I decided to take a photo walk on the last day of 2014 up Rock Canyon, It's a great place for rock climbing, even in the winter for the hard core. It was a little below 20 degrees F, but I still met lots of people coming and going. These four shots are among my favorites of the evening.

—Mark

Rock Canyon Moonrise

Rock Canyon #2

Last Sunset of 2014

Last Light of 2014-right before it slips from the top of the mountains

Crickets!

It's finally here! It's our game, Crickets, and it's finally on the shelf at Seagull Books! It has a little bit of history, a little bit of fun, and even a potty joke to lure in the six year old boys. It took us a few years of inviting people over for dessert and games to get it right, but here it is!

Geocaching

 

I have discovered geocaching. 

Didn't have time for a hike and Mark just got his first smart phone so we found an app and went geocaching, The thing was lit up with caches. They literally dot the landscape - at least where I am they do. It was way more fun than I thought it would be. Except I'm not very good at it. I'm the kind of person that can't find stuff in plain sight, so, needless to say, we found some and we missed some.

Heber City after the Rain

Cattle Dog Trials

Heber City is one of those places where something is always going on. Last week was Cowboy Poetry week with a side of cow-dog contest thrown in for flair.

I know they just look like tubs of lard, but once you throw in the dogs, things can really get exciting.

 

The dogs are expected to chase, bark at, and even occasionally nip the heel of these 800 pound bovines in an effort to get them through a series of chutes they want nothing to do with.

I love watching working dogs, it's pretty amazing to watch. We're still working on heel at my house. Have any of you trained your dog(s) to do something amazing?

Last of the Nice Weather

Is anybody else feeling this sense of urgency I am?

The nice days are running out - this might be the last weekend it gets in the 60's - get out while you can!

Go biking or running or hiking, anything you can think of, just get out of your house before you are stuck there!

 You can bike from Bridal Veil Falls in Provo Canyon to Utah Lake in just over an hour. Go on, it's a really fun trail!

You can hike the Grotto Trail up Payson Canyon in less time than that. You can rent kayaks and paddle around Deer Creek Reservoir, you can go shooting up Hobble Creek Canyon, you can hike the Wind Caves in Logan Canyon, Snow Canyon is really nice in October, though they are supposed to be getting rain later today so hurry! You won't regret it if you do and you might regret it if you don't.

Road Trip - Oklahoma

Utah, Meet Oklahoma!

My mom pointed this out to me while passing through Shidler, OK. Apparently the star of the act is related. I'm pretty sure half of north-eastern Oklahoma is related to me.

This is the part I love, rolling hills covered in prairie and tree-lined creeks.

Some of the only original Tallgrass Prairie left in the United States.

Road Trip - The Rest of the Story

Utah, Meet Kansas!

I have this vague ambition of getting to the tallest point of all 50 states. I climbed King's Peak several years ago, which is Utah's highest point, so I thought I'd knock off another one this trip and get to the top of Kansas. It's not hard. Just north of Weskan, Kansas, east of the Colorado border, and west of no-where is Mount Sunflower.

We arrived in the pouring rain, splashed around in the mud a little, then climbed back in our car on the way to Augusta, Kansas.

Where my cousin owns the coolest barbecue place in Kansas.

Road Trip

It's road trip time!

Utah, Meet Colorado

Planes, Trains, and Automobiles

The hooligans were getting a little crazy a few weekends ago, so we took them to the Planes, Trains, and Automobiles show at the Spanish Fork airport.

There are a huge variety of planes (and even a few helicopters) at this little municipal airport. 

The WWII bomber was the coolest.

I have no idea what this is.

There was an air show, and vendors, and even free airplane rides for kids over 8 (ours were all too scared to do it alone).

The emergency response people made a showing.

We hurried through the cars repeating "don't touch that, or that, or that either," so I didn't see much of the cars.

I was wondering where the trains part of the show was, but on our way out, we happened to pass an open hangar with tables full of these set up. Loved it. Seriously, this was the coolest part. 

A New Experience - Utah Cyclocross

Hello Utah, we've been a little busy getting this

 Up and Running

But we haven't been doing nothing.

Just last weekend, we went to a cyclocross race. Mark thinks it might be his new obsession. I am not a bicyclist, but I have to admit, it looks pretty cool.

It's a little like a cross between mountain biking and road racing with a little bit of steeplechase thrown in.

They love throwing obstacles around the course, see how many people they can get to endo (I've done this before).

Check out that flying remount!

What was really fun was watching all the kids race. You could tell they were having a blast. If my kids ever want to try that, I will totally support them - that was so much funner than watching a soccer game.