November is long gone

I know, December is nearly over too, but I wanted to get up some pictures and updates posted from November and early December before Christmas gets here!

I had a wonderful trip to Dallas to visit my friend Marcy in early November. It was a treat to spend the weekend with her, especially since I don't get to see her on my trips to Denver anymore!

We had a very nice Thanksgiving at my parents' house with lots of family and friends. Here is the group photo. My favorite meal of the year!

We also took a hike up the PC hill behind our house with my parents and sister over the Thanksgiving weekend.

Sara came to visit a couple weeks ago. We finally got some snow, so we had some adventures in the snow, some great meals, and just a wonderful time visiting. Joe and Sara are making sure the bird feeders are full for the cold temperatures ahead!

We are looking forward to some good medical news this week. Merry Christmas to all!

Lions vs. Bears at Soldier Field

Kelly and I joined Suzanne and John and Boog and Andy Dampeer (Boog's longtime 2-on-2 tackle football rival) in Chicago last week to take in the Lions-Bears Game at the new Soldier Field. It was an amazing experience, as John got us all tickets in the Emerson suite. 35 yard line, all-you-can-eat food, parking under the stadium--life was good! In fact, all was good, as the Lions led at halftime 23-13. The Lions scored 23 points in the 2nd quarter. Coming into the game, the Lions had scored 29 points in the 2nd quarter of all their games combined! Anyway, it did not take long for the Lions to get a dose of reality, as they were unable to score at all in the 2nd half, falling to the Bears 27-23. Ouch! This one hurt more than the others, as the Lions fell to 0-8 for the season! Other than the Lions losing, the weekend was fantastic! Hanging out with Clare and Kate was great fun. I went for a run on Saturday morning with John and Clare. No run is complete without stopping at not one, but two coffee shops--one of John's traditions. I made homemade Chicken Noodle soup not once, but twice (both Saturday and Sunday). I learned from Mom that anything worth doing is worth overdoing. Many people commented (after a little prompting), "That's the best soup I have ever tasted!" Thanks Suzanne and John for hosting a great weekend--one that I am certain to remember for a long time!

November in Park City!

Kelly and I woke up Wednesday morning to 6 inches of snow in the driveway, on the lawn, on the roof, and all over the place for that matter. I scratched my plans to workout at the gym and instead got my workout snow blowing the driveway! Snowbird Ski Resort opens tomorrow. Let it snow! Let it snow! Let it snow!

Visit from the Chicago Cronleys

We had a wonderful visit with Suzanne, John, Clare and Kate a couple weeks ago.  The fall colors were beautiful, and we took a great drive to see all the changing Aspens.  We had fun with Clare in the park, on the basketball court, on the soccer field, with a tennis racquet, or any other sporting activity.  As Grandma C noted -- we'll take Clare on our team anytime!  She is so coordinated and full of energy.  Kate liked the football as you can see from the picture.  You can see and hear in the video that Kate has fun communicating in all different sounds!  What a fun weekend and nice treat to have family in town -- thanks for making the trip.  We are looking forward to returning the favor in a few weeks when we head to Chicago for the Lions-Bears game!

Enjoy the pictures and video.  I have managed to link a few video clips together, but I haven't yet attempted adding titles, songs, transitions, etc.  One thing at a time!  I have also updated our Photo Collection Link with these pictures and the rest from our Montana trip.  I didn't sift through the pictures at all, so there are a lot! The Shutterfly collection page format has changed, and it looks pretty neat.  

All else is going well here.  Joe continues to feel well.  He has been working out regularly and has a great appetite.  We are grateful for so many good days, and we pray for more in the days and weeks ahead as we move forward with the treatment and toward healing!

Catching up on fun activities!

Despite the challenges we have encountered over the last couple months, we have still been able to fill our time with many fun activities! As you can tell, nothing has slowed us down.

On August 23rd I participated in a triathlon at the Jordanelle reservoir just outside of Park City. It was an Olympic distance...1500 meter swim, 26 mile bike, 5.6 mile run. My friend Jenny also participated, and it was fun to train with her for her first triathlon! What can I say...well, we finished! It was a lot harder and hotter than we expected, but we made it. Let's just say that my smiles in the photos are a good demonstration of "fake it 'till you make it." Next year Joe is planning to join us for the event.

Following the triathlon (and a quick shower!) we headed up to Pinedale, WY for a night of camping with the Sheridans. We loved spending time with the girls, and Eric and Shallary generously let us sleep in the big bed in the camper! Rebecca, our Goddaughter, has grown up a lot, and she is quite the mischievous little girl! The girls all had fun playing with Eric and Cousin Joe in the lake. What a fun family!

We also had a great visit from both Brigid and Holly & Jeremy for Labor Day weekend. We had fun visiting, hiking, going to a concert at Deer Valley, and attending (and Joe working at) the Miner's Day parade in the cold and rain! Holly's new kitten Oliver got to meet Maggie the dog...check out this link to a video of the encounter.

Last weekend we took a great trip to Montana. On Friday night we visited some friends who used to live in Park City and now live in Thompson Falls. It was great to see Katrina, Theo and Solveig, but unfortunately Eric was out of town. On Saturday afternoon we headed to visit Glacier National Park to spend a long weekend with my friends from college. It was absolutely beautiful, and it was wonderful to spend time with Jenn, Andy, and Theo (yes, another Theo!). We did the drive over "Going to the Sun Road," took a few great hikes, had beautiful picnics, and Joe even got in some fly fishing. Theo had a great time throwing rocks...his favorite hiking pastime! As you can see from the pictures, Theo also enjoyed helping Joe fish and build a fire. We stayed in a rustic cabin on a beautiful meadow, which was very peaceful and relaxing. It was a great time of year to be there, as the summer crowds were gone and the temperatures were perfect! We also stopped in Whitefish, MT before flying out of Kalispell on Tuesday. It was great to get away, and we look forward to more adventures in Glacier in the future!

I am still working on my slide show-making skills. The pictures in the slide show don't show up with very good quality, but they'll have to do for now. I just added some plain photos soon so you can actually see them in good quality. Hopefully it will become a faster process as I get better at linking the photos, and I'm hoping to add titles and captions as well. For now, this is good enough!

Galapagos!

Kelly and I left on August 2nd to head to the Galapagos Islands!!! We flew from SLC to Atlanta then on to Quito (Keeto), Ecuador. On Day 1, we toured the city - Quito is the Capitol City with an elevation of 9000 feet! We walked through the city, viewed many churches, and even got to check out the Presidential Palace. We had a delicious lunch on the top of a mountain overlooking the city on one side and a caldera (inactive volcano crater) on the other. The avocado potato soup was very memorable to me (Kelly you need to get that recipe!). After lunch we went to the Equator Memorial. Come to find out, the advent of GPS unveiled the fact that the memorial was built 147 meters off the Equator (oops!). Gotta love Garmin. For dinner, we enjoyed a group dinner at the city theatre. There, we were serenaded by an outstanding Ecuardorian singer. He had some serious pipes! Here is a slideshow from our day in Quito (the first day of the trip mixed with the last day of the trip).

Day 2 started early, as we left our hotel to check our flight to the incredible Galapagos Islands! We arrived on the island of San Cristobal around Noon! Upon our arrival, we immediately headed to our cruise boat, The Expedition. After a quick lunch and a safety briefing, the ship arrived at our second island, Espanola, the oldest of the Galapagos Islands. Within five minutes of stepping foot on Espanola, we observed marine iguanas, blue-footed boobies, sally light-foot crabs, a female sea lion that had given birth to a pup sometime to the past 20 minutes and a frigate bird. Simply amazing!!!! The frigate bird was swooping down into the water and eating the placenta from the recent birth. Amazing! We spent about 2 hours on this visit to Espanola and we saw it all!!! The Waved Albatross stole the show! They walked rather awkwardly on the ground, but they glided ever so gracefully through the air! Wow! Blue-footed boobies were plentiful as well. No, they are not what you think. Blue-footed boobies are beautiful birds that have blue feet. Look for yourself! What an incredible way to start an amazing trip! Here is one favorite video with a Momma sea lion trying to get her pup out of the water from the rising tide --

I won’t bore you with all the fascinating, once-in-a-lifetime details of the next 5 days of the trip, but I will mention a few of the other highlights! One day we saw a whale breaching while we were sitting in the hot tub on the ship. That afternoon, on the way to an island excursion, the drivers spotted the whales again, and we spent over an hour following a family of three humpback whales who were putting on a show. The zodiac boats we were in (12 in each boat) were easily one third the size of the big whale! We felt like we could be in a cartoon where we may get launched up on the blow hole! Check out this video --

Most days after our excursions on land we had the opportunity to snorkel in the water along the shore. Some days that included snorkeling with sea lions, sea turtles, penguins, flightless cormorants, and exotic fish. On our final day on the islands, we visited the Charles Darwin Research Station where they are breeding tortoises from each island to reintroduce them into the wild. We were lucky to have seen one in the wild, as most live further inland where we did not travel. At this research center, we were able to walk around amongst the tortoises. Enjoy the slideshow of the animal pictures!

We spent another day in Quito at the end of our trip and enjoyed walking throughout the city on their Independence Day!

What an amazing trip!!!

Where did June go?

Perhaps the better question is, "Where did Kelly and Joe go in June?" We have definitely been on the go!

We spent a weekend in Denver to celebrate the wedding of Lindsey & Tony - Lindsey is a close family friend of ours that we grew up with. It was an absolutely beautiful setting, and it was wonderful to catch up with so many family friends!

I then spent the week in Minneapolis for a work meeting, and I met Joe in San Francisco the following weekend. We spent Friday night with Liana and Adam, then headed up to Sonoma early Saturday morning. We met up with Ted and Jen for lots of wine tasting on Saturday, including a fantastic lunch at Auberge du Soleil! (As you may be able to tell, we had enough wine to turn our teeth purple!) We also joined them for a wonderful private dinner party that Ted was hosting for NASCAR, and it was quite a treat!

On Sunday we got to experience the insider's view of a NASCAR race. I have to admit, I was quite impressed. We toured the garages, saw the cars being inspected, saw many of the drivers, and we even took a lap around the course in a pace car! We watched the start of the race from right behind the pits and stayed there to watch a few pit stops. It was really fascinating (not to mention loud!) to be so close to the action! We had lunch and watched quite a bit of the race from the NASCAR suite. We then headed back to San Francisco and spent another evening with Liana, Adam, and Nathan. We have many more Sonoma and NASCAR pictures -- you can take a look on our photo collection link if you want to see more. We took many videos, too, but don't hold your breath for those...it may be a while! We had an early morning departure on Monday -- with Joe heading to SLC and me heading to Denver for a couple days of work. We packed every moment of the weekend full, and we had a great time!

The following Thursday, we headed over the the Homestead Resort (just about 30 minutes away, near Heber, UT) for Joe's EDJ regional meeting. We got to play golf, bike, run, and swim, and I got to sit by the pool while Joe sat in some meetings! We were home on Sunday to host a Notre Dame BBQ for the students visiting this summer for a service project. We had a good turnout, with about 25 alumni and students attending.

Needless to say, we very much enjoyed being home over the long 4th of July weekend! We played golf with my parents on the 4th and spent some time with the Navarres for dinner. On Saturday, we went on a great hike with the ND students and one UVA alumni friend of mine. We hiked from the base of Park City Mountain Resort to the top of Jupiter peak, as well as 3 other smaller peaks. It was a 16-mile adventure that lasted all day! Joe typically does this trail as a running race -- don't ask me how (or why!) one would run straight up mountains!! I'll take the beautiful hike! We were very sore afterward, but it was worth it!

Thanks for checking in!

May happenings

We had a busy May, and I thought I'd get some pictures posted to update you all on what has been happening around here.

To celebrate Mother's Day, we had a nice brunch with Mary and my parents, and then we played golf at the club my parents just joined. It was a great day!

Over Memorial Day weekend, we took Mary to the the Holy Trinity Abbey, a monastery in Hunstville, UT. We visited the church and gift shop, and then we headed into the town of Huntsville to the Shooting Star Saloon, the oldest bar in Utah! After enjoying their famous Star Burger and a cheap pitcher of beer (sitting under the stuffed/mounted St. Bernard!), we made a stop at Snowbasin ski resort before heading home.

Although the weather has still been fairly cold, we have been trying to keep up with our yard -- mowing, pulling weeds, trimming trees and bushes, fertilizing, etc. We have also stained our deck and washed screens and windows....ahhhh, the joys of owning a home! Joe recently got some new license plates for the 4Runner, now that he doesn't have the truck anymore. Along with house projects, we have made time to play golf with friends, run, mountain bike, and swim. I want to end this post with a picture of our tulips. I love tulips, but their season has been short this year. We are expecting a couple inches of snow tomorrow night, so there is no telling what our flowers will look like next weekend!

George W. visits Park City!

Park City has been swarming with the Secret Service since Saturday, preparing for the President's arrival here last night. He had a fundraiser for McCain at Mitt Romney's home in Deer Valley last night and stayed at the Stein Erikson. Joe and I decided that we'd prefer to spend $70,ooo on something other than a dinner for two! :)

The helicopters flew right over our house this morning and landed at the middle school behind us to pick up President Bush, and I got some videos (not the greatest videography work, but it's something!). I took this one from our driveway as they were arriving.

I then started walking toward the middle school to get a little closer. People were coming out of their houses in their pajamas, with kids, with dogs, on bikes -- it was quite the neighborhood attraction! The schools all had a late start day to accomodate the road closures and helicopter landings.

A few people were gathered along the street to see him drive by in the motorcade. I acutally saw him waving through the window (unless it was a secret service decoy!). Some kids were "protesting" with their homemade signs, but other than that, people were very respectful and honored to have the chance to host the President in our city (regardless of political views and opinions, it's pretty cool to have the President of the United States practically land in your backyard!).

We couldn't get close enough to see him go from the car to the helicopter, but we could see the helicopters taking off. It was amazing how much security was here, and I can't imagine the logistics necessary when the President visits a big city! Joe even got stuck heading to work on his 1 mile commute!

Mountain Biking in Moab!

In April we snuck away from Park City for a weekend in Moab. It was great to find some warmth and get in some mountain biking with our friends, Jenny and Terry. It was great to ride some slick rock. The weather was great, but windy. We had a great time and plan to do it again soon. Enjoy the slideshow!

Joe is the big winner!

On Saturday, Joe and I were invited to attend a Casino Night fundraiser in Salt Lake City. Joe won one of the signature prizes from the "Holy Shots" raffle. You buy a numbered shot glass, take a drink, and then they drew a number corresponding to one of the shot glasses. Joe's favorite number, 31, came through for him, and he brought home this tub of liquor topped off with a chain saw! What more could a man want!

Joe's Trip to Mexico

I recently participated in a Rotary International Service Project in Mexico. I went down to Parral, Mexico with 8 other Rotarians and 8 students from Park City High School. The purpose of the project was to help the Tarahumara people of the area. It was work that was very worthwhile. Enjoy the video.

Costa Rica!

Kelly and I recently took a trip to Costa Rica for a week. We sailed up and down the West Coast on a sailboat with 150 of our closest friends. Actually most of our closest friends are reading this blog and none of you were on the trip, so we'll tell you what went on. The ship was amazing with all kinds of amenities, and the service was second to none. The ship was one of the ships in the Windstar fleet. We have nothing but great things to say about Windstar!

Day One we were at sea enjoying the beautiful weather of Central America in February! We were in transit from Puerto Caldera to Nicaragua. It was a great and relaxing day! We got acquainted with the boat's amenities and wound down from our day of travel. I found the most important amenity on the ship--the hammock. Kelly found the pool and poolside bar!



Day Two took us to the country of Nicaragua! We took a half day tour to the city of Rivas. The tour was titled, "Taste of Nicaragua" and a taste is exactly what we got. The highlight of the tour was a rickshaw bicycle tour of the town. Enjoy the video!

After the tour, Kelly and I ventured on our own, in search of some waves to surf. We did find some surfing, but the ride to and from the surfing beach was interesting to say the least.

Day Three we arrived at Playa Del Coco and did the quintessential Costa Rica tourist activity--the zip line! It was a fun activity, but Kelly and I both agree that we could live the rest of our lives quite happily and fully without doing another zip line (Bob Navarre was right.)

Day Four the ship pulled into Quepos--a coastal town with a lot of normal American creature comforts. From Quepos we took a tour van to Manuel Antonio National Park, where we participated in very enjoyable walking, site seeing tour. Our guide, Leo, made the tour. He was very knowledgeable, spoke good English, and was quite humorous. Leo allowed us to take pictures through his very expensive telescope, used to spot various animals throughout the park. We saw 2 and 3-toed Sloths (there's a difference), monkeys, raccoons, lizards, birds, spiders and various plants. It was a fantastic tour. In the afternoon, we hung out with our new friends Pat and Jeanne from Chicago, who, coincidently, happen to know the Navarre's as well. We hung out at the beach all afternoon and then ate dinner together at El Avion restaurant. It is a very unique restaurant built in and around a US C-123 military plane that was tied to the infamous Iran-Contras Scandal of the 1980s. No, we did not see Ollie North there.

Day Five took us on a tremendously successful snorkeling expedition. We left from the ship in Drake Bay and headed toward Cano Island. On the way, we spotted some dolphins and played with them for a while (from the boat). Enjoy the video!

Prior to arriving at Cano Island, we also ventured upon a Humpback whale and her baby. It was an amazing site to see!

The snorkeling brought us very close to several white tipped reef sharks, a sea turtle, stingrays, octopus, and trumpet fish, among other aquatic life. This excursion was the highlight of our entire trip to Costa Rica.

On Day Six Kelly and I went scuba diving off of Tortuga Island. We did not see as many fish as we did snorkeling the day before, but we did go down to 82 feet below sea level and we did see a lobster, an octopus, several puffer fish and many schools of other fish. We spent the rest of the day on a remote beach, reading, sleeping and just hanging out.

Day Seven was a travel day from HELL! It took us 22 hours to make it back home from Costa Rica. I think it would have been a shorter trip had we swam home. Anyway, it was a fantastic trip and surely not to be our last to Costa Rica--the Rich Coast to the lay person. The locals were very welcoming and friendly, and the country was beautiful. We highly recommend it to all!

Let it snow!

While the early winter was dry, we have had record snowfalls this year in Park City! Last week it snowed 5 feet in 5 days, and they closed local schools for the first time in 9 years! I thought I was lucky to escape the snow on a work trip to Minneapolis, but I think I would have preferred the snow to the -38 degree windchill! Joe has been working hard to keep the driveway clear, often plowing in the morning as well as the afternoon. These videos hardly give much perspective, you can get a feel for our winter wonderland. These were taken on Tuesday, before the two additional storms this week.

Two weeks ago we had a wonderful visit from Marcy, including a beautiful, sunny powder day at Alta. We couldn't have asked for better weather and snow conditions! We also got to see two more Sundance movies with Marcy -- one was horrible, and one very good. You never know what you are going to get!

Last week we celebrated my mom's 60th birthday with a wonderful dinner at a friend's house. She was happy to get lots of golf-related gifts to go along with her partial retirement. Happy Birthday, Mom!

We were lucky to have a nice visit with Dick and Jill Cronley, as they were here for a dental class/conference. We skied in the powder with them Sunday afternoon and then had them over for Deer Valley Turkey Chili at our house while watching the Superbowl. What a fantastic day!

On Saturday we'll be leaving behind all of the snow for the sun and surf of Costa Rica! We look forward to posting some pictures and videos without any snow when we return!

POWDER Mountain---living up to its name!

Kelly and I drove to Powder Mountain to do some skiing outside of Park City on MLK Day!  Neither of us had ever been to Powder Mountain, and we had a great day skiing (Kelly) and riding (Joe).  The mountain was not crowded in the least bit, and we enjoyed the old school feeling of the quaint resort.  We'd highly recommend it, especially on powder days!  Enjoy the videos from our day!

Holiday Fun

I thought it was about time that we add some more photos from our wonderful holiday and all of the adventures we had.

Joe and I went on a great snowshoe hike with my family before Christmas. The aspen trees in the snow were beautiful!



On Christmas Eve, Tom, Tracey, Holly, Joe and I went skiing at Park City Mountain Resort.





We had a wonderful group dinner at my parents' house on Christmas Eve. It was fun to have the Cronleys, the Brewers, and the McCalleys represented!

We had a great time with Marin on Christmas morning. Although Marin wasn't quite sure what to make of the tree with all the gifts at first, it didn't take long for her to get used to the idea of opening presents! We particularly liked her gift-opening pose, although the rest of us preferred to sit rather than squat! At just 18 months, Marin already has an Elmo laptop and a cell phone! After spending most of the morning at our house, Joe and I then went to my parents' house for brunch and opened more gifts. We were definitely spoiled!


On the 26th we snowshoed up one of the ski runs at Deer Valley and had dinner at a restaurant in Silver Lake Lodge (which is where our wedding reception was). The hike was a great way to earn our dinner, and the fun part was using our new sleds, along with the old make-shift cookie sheet, to sled back down after dinner!


We ended 2007 with yet another snowshoe hike from my parents' house with several of their friends. When we get to the top of the hill, we watch the fireworks from the Canyons Resort. As Tracey mentioned, it is an interesting perspective to watch fireworks from above! This has become a very fun tradtion! After the hike and dinner, we had another couple over at our house to ring in the new year with champagne!

You can check out the rest of our pictures on our photo link. One of these days we will become more advanced and post some more videos on the blog! We had a wondeful time with all of our visitors, and we were all blessed to be with family for Christmas!

It has stayed very cold here, and we have lots of snow, so the skiing continues to be wonderful. Today is the start of the Sundance Film Festival, so the town it pretty chaotic. We are looking forward to seeing a couple movies and maybe a few movie stars (if I can recognize anyone!).