Zion and Bryce Canyon

We finished our tour of Southern Utah with Zion and Bryce Canyon National Parks yesterday. Didn't do too much hiking since we had Reese but we got to see a lot of beautiful scenery. Check it out:CK and Reese hiking in Zion
Driving up to Bryce Canyon, this is where the landscape completely changes. As you can see there's an actual dividing line in the mountain.
The natural bridge (which is actually an arch, not a bridge).
Some great shots of the hoo doos in Bryce
Here are some more pictures from last weekend in Phoenix:Reese and Great Nana
We tried to interest Reese in Isabel, the turtle, but she didn't really care...

Pat's Run (PHX)

We're just now returning "home" to Provo from our 10-day trip to Southern Utah, Phoenix and Las Vegas. Last Saturday, Mom (who was also visiting from back East) and I walked 4.2 miles with Reese in Pat's Run (a benefit race for the Pat Tilghman foundation) in Phoenix. My Uncle Tom, Aunt Jane and cousins all ran the race. Here are the pre and post-race pictures.
Those last few miles really tuckered her out!At the finish line: all smiles :)

Utah Rocks

I took Thursday and Friday off of work this week for a mini family vacation. Reese, CK and I woke up to this in Provo (keep in mind that it was 65 degrees two days before):

We then headed south to Arches National Park in Moab and did some hiking among the natural rock formations there. Pretty incredible sights (and much warmer weather!)

Friday we met Tom and Jane in Show Low, Arizona to check out their cabin property for the first time. It's a beautiful piece of land (but of course we didn't take any pictures!) We are currently headed to Phoenix where we'll be all weekend before I head to Las Vegas on Tuesday for a conference. Next weekend we hope to hit 2 more National Parks on the way back to Provo. A few more recent pictures of Reese from before our trip:

The best toy ever

What fun you can have in a Jumperoo 

Rice is the yummiest

Reese's first meal - 6+ months

Our Water Baby

Here is a video of Reese in Lake Havasu City, AZ

Weekend in Lake Havasu

CK, Reese and I headed down to Lake Havasu, Arizona this weekend to visit the Matthews family (Craig's sister and her family). Sue and Larry just bought a house in Havasu and are now officially snowbirds. They'll be returning to Malta this week so we figured we'd better get down there and see them before they left for the summer. Their three kids were also visiting for the weekend and to celebrate Lyndon's 21st birthday. So we took off mid-day Thursday and drove through Las Vegas and the Hoover Dam (see below) on our way to Arizona. Reese got to meet two of her second cousins, J.J. (4) and Ava (14 months). Ava referred to Reese as "bay-bay" the whole weekend. I'm sure she can't wait until Reese can run around so the two can get into all kinds of trouble together :)
Here was our Friday night poker game which CK managed to win but only afte he lost out and started playing for Laura. Does that really count? From L to R: CK, Sue, Lyndon, LD, Josh (holding Ava) and J.J. in the foreground.

We enjoyed the 70-80 degree temperatures (a nice change from Provo) and took Reese swimming for the first time. As you can see, she loved it.

Laura and Ava with Lyndon in the background hydrating while trying to recover from his 21st birthday the night before :)

CK and Reese with Sue and Ava

And Reese with her new favorite toy. Not it's not some fancy, expensive educational one. It's Daddy's shoelaces!

Best Birthday Present Ever

Our beautiful, healthy, happy little girl.

The Family Claw

Apparently carrying around a 20+ lb. little girl can be hazardous to your health. After being bothered by wrist pain for a few weeks I decided to go have it checked out and it turns out I have tendonitis in my left wrist. Likely from using my thumb and hand to carry something heavy in a repetitive way. Hmmm...wonder what that could be? So CK and I both now have matching braces (or "claws" as we like to call them). We have them on opposite hands, though, so if we put his left hand and my right hand together we can actually accomplish something. Fun times. And yes, we know this makes us no better than our formerly gimpy brother and soon-to-be sister in law.

We finally got batteries for the camera (yes that is my excuse for not posting any pictures recently) so here are some cute ones of the person you all come to this blog to see (I know, CK thinks it's him, but we all know the truth).

Perspective

It is a sad night as Duke's horrific play this evening (nice of them to choose tonight to play their worst basketball of the year) earned them a quick trip back to Durham instead of a step closer to Detroit. Oh well. I must be getting older because something like this would normally have me depressed for a week but I am already over it and the game isn't even technically over yet. Is it sad that I am slightly relieved that they stopped showing the game on CBS and switched to the Mizzou-Memphis game instead so I wouldn't have to actually watch the misery? Maybe.

Anyway there are way more important things in life than basketball as we all know. Tonight I am thinking about Mike, Lorri, and Lacey as they help Mike recover from his surgery and await the biopsy results. We love you all!

Smashing bones and backboards

We finally got to test out Intermountain Healthcare's (that's my client) well, healthcare.  CK, Reese and I headed over to urgent care tonight after CK thought he broke his thumb when he hit his hand against the backboard while blocking a shot during basketball earlier tonight.  Turns out it's just dislocated but he gets to wear this pretty cast for a few weeks.  All in all, it was a pretty good experience.  We were in and out in less than 2 hours and CK got to dole out some advice to his doctor who is looking to move to Plentywood or Shelby, Montana.

Reese and I went for another run tonight (while CK was injuring himself at basketball) and when we were almost home we passed a woman on the trail who looked at Reese and said "Oh my gosh, she's so tiny!"  Well, as you might imagine, I haven't used the word tiny to describe my daughter in a long time and I admit that I looked behind me wondering if there was another baby there.  But no, everything's relative and I guess in her big jogging stroller, Reese really did look tiny to those not used to seeing her.  It certainly gave me a much needed laugh at the end of a tiring run.

We are all off to the airport tomorrow.  Me to Chicago for the rest of the week and CK and Reese to Helena.  I will join them there for the weekend and then we're all back here in Provo on Monday morning.  I am sad to leave them but admit I am looking forward to some LONG nights of sleep.  Happy early St. Patrick's Day to everyone (or not really that early to those of you on the East coast.)

2009 ACC Tourney Champions

What a day!  It's 60 degrees here in Provo and a beautiful day.  To celebrate Duke's ACC tournament championship win, Reese and I decided to go for a victory run to take advantage of the springlike weather.  As you can see, Reese was spent.  Too much cheering, perhaps?

Below are a few pictures from yesterday.  Appears like she's always sleeping, huh?  Notice that's because it's DAYTIME and we're awake.  

Of course I jinxed her great sleeping by bragging about it on here.  Last night was a tough one but hopefully she'll get back on track tonight.
Here's to hoping Duke makes it to the Final Four so we have an excuse to buy some last minute tickets to Detroit to see our Michigan friends.  Go Devils!

Religious Education

Reese is doing great and sleeping much better.  Consequently, so are Mom and Dad.  As you can see below, sometimes sleep comes in uncomfortable-looking positions but we don't judge.  Sleep is sleep and we'll take every last bit we can get.

In addition to sleeping better and eating more solid foods, Reese is also moving around and probably fairly close to crawling.  She's currently still scooting herself around, sometimes in circles, but sometimes she surprises us and ends up 2 feet away from where she started.  She even manages to use her "monkey toes" as we call them to pick things up (see below)
This week, Reese and  CK joined me and my project team for a tour of the Draper LDS Temple.  If you're not familiar with LDS (as I was not) their temples are very sacred and you are not allowed to enter them unless you are a member of the LDS church and you are living high moral standards (as judged by their leadership).  However, this temple in Draper that was recently built has not yet been blessed by the Church so they have been offerring free tours to the public prior to the offical blessing (which occurs this weekend I believe).  So we got the very unique opportunity to tour an LDS temple in it's entirety.  We learned a lot and the temple itself was beautiful.  CK told me not to get any ideas when we saw the cherry wood they imported from Africa, the crystal chandeliers, etc.

Tough day for a young fan

Reese did her best to support "our" team today but despite her efforts, Duke still lost a hard fought battle with the boys in baby blue down the road. Here's Reese taking in the game in her Duke gear.

Such a tough day, I had to take a nap...
Let's hope they fair better in the ACC tournament. Go Devils!