Up to Date

Okay. This is not Erin. And I also have no idea what I'm doing. Or something. Occasionally Erin thinks about getting caught up on the blog, but then I see her eyes glaze over when she realizes how much time has passed. I figured I'd help her out. Just this once.

July

Erin and I both had birthdays. There was a party. People came down. Fireworks. Look! Pictures!

Behold Travis' shame at losing the pushup contest.

The always adorable Rowan.

Don's enviable camping chair.

We also went up for a Smith family reunion. See?

Erin wanted me to add the pretty one, but funny faces trump all.

August

Erin's sister Cindy came to visit. We were all invited to cruise down the river. It was the first time Erin and I had gotten on the river in the 3 years we've lived here.

Not actually us, but you get the idea.

Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha

Two cute ladies and a really ugly guy.

 There were also some hikes or something...

Notice the picture in the bottom left hand corner where Sean slips and falls into a giant pothole. What a loser!

My first experience with quicksand. And scorpions the size of my hand. I prefer quicksand.

September

Erin (who is really hot) got me climbing gear for my birthday, so we were able to go climbing several times throughout the summer. There is even photographic evidence!

That is definitely me. Not Forrest.

And then we went to Boston for [insert long, boring, unimportant story], but we were able to stop by the temple while we were there.

I like how the flash brings out my eyes...

October

Apparently nothing happened in October.

November

We were able to go down to west Texas (eww gross) and east Texas (oooh nice!) to visit family and friends. Good time was had by all. Except for the Turkey. Cause it was dead.

The Jay Gowen Family. We visited them. In Texas.

Jay and Shauna were fabulous hosts. And they make surprisingly good gumbo. We spent an entire day trying to find pig trotters. I'll leave the rest of that story up to your imagination.

December

Ya know...Christmas

January

Our super good friends, The Gales, came up to spend New Years Eve (it turned into New Years Week) with us. There was a slug* of appetizers. It's always a party with the Gales around. No picture evidence of this event, though.

We also decided to adopt a dog from the local Animal Shelter. His name is Jack (or Jak; we change the spelling at random (because it's funny)). Here is a picture of him and Erin falling asleep together on the floor. Aren't they adorable?

I don't know how they look so cute when they sleep. I look awful.

February

Erin got a job at a local credit union. Here's a random picture of someone working that I stole off the internet.

This could totally be copyrighted, so let's keep this between us, m'kay?

Wow, I really started running out of steam at the end there. That is the last 9ish months in a nutshell (Why do people say that, anyway?).

If you have any questions or complaints please direct them to my facbook account and I'll get back to you next time I get on The Facebook. Bwa ha ha!

*Slug: unit of mass in standard units. Approximately equal to 32 lbs. Stupid SI units.

Guatemala Day 6

Today was the day of our epic jungle hike. Our guides were Travis, Doggo, and Bailey the dog.

With the humidity, and the elevation change, we felt like we were conquering a mountain! Then we saw the grandma carrying wood on her back traveling at a steady pace, and the teenager coming home from school. We conquered nothing... some of those people take those trails every day....

The views were so beautiful! We could see the three volcanoes well. Some of the forest had been cut away for onions to grow.

When we got to the top, we stopped to get some more liquids. There were these dogs that were skin and bones. It was sad to see, and it was hard not to take them to where they would be better fed and cared for.

At the top, we also got a view of Solala. 

Yes, that is Sean putting his humidified-sweaty face on mine. Ewe.

Here's our trusty guide Bailey. She was the perfect hiking dog, and has a sparkling personality:

We all met up for dinner. While we were waiting for some food, a parade went by - one of the music schools was performing what they'd practiced.

After dinner, the group from the parade was still gathered. They were even setting large fireworks off in the street. As a bonus, a hand-held firework went AWOL and zoomed over to Sean, and shot up his pant leg. We were all startled, and Sean said, "I love Guatemala!"

Guatemala Day 2

We started out our second day with fruit filled crepes. The thing with crepes in Guatemala is they don't fill them with berries, they fill them with tropical fruit: mango, pineapple, watermelon, cantaloupe, papaya. Amazing! (Not pictured.)

We went to see Travis and Jessica's home before setting out on a hike:

On our way out of town, we decided to explore Pana a bit. Below is one of the local churches, and LDS building that is under construction for the branch that meets there, and a local soccer field:

 

Below is a school with the word PAIN in the sign, a cemetery - the coffins are put in cement boxes above ground, road construction with cement blocks directing traffic, and a view of Santa Catherine - which looks a little like a European city:

More of the views on our hike around Pana:

 

We had Family Home Evening that night even though it was a Thursday night. In Guatemala, we can meet as a family any night of the week!

 

Spring in Moab

This spring, we were able to fit in some fun activities. We got to go backpacking with the Sparks! It was the perfect weather, and super fun:

I got to hang out with the Woolfs! They were so fun to play with, and the California was lovely:

I was able to got to BYU's Women's Conference, and be an usher. I got to hang out with my two girls Heather and Karalee. They were in the mood to do a little shoot, and we had fun catching the end of the sunset:

We went exploring with the Greens:

We did some hiking for work at Fisher Tower (Forrest and Craig tagged along), Donkey Canyon, and Corona Arch:

I got to play with Carter at the park to celebrate him turning 2:

Sean went to work in Carlsbad, and the Gales were able to come up. We explored the massive Cavern:

We also had the Gowen's come for the weekend. We set up a tent for the boys to sleep in, and we went on some fun hikes with them:

First Half Marathon

Moab has a First Half Marathon and Other Half Marathon every spring and fall. Natalie was one of the participants, and brought Ian down for the trip.

After we dropped her off for the run, we checked out Wilson Arch:

We saw Natalie cross the finish line for the half marathon. She did amazing!! Plus, she looks fantastic. She kinda just finished a half marathon!

In the afternoon, we headed to Arches to see some of the sights. Spring was letting its presence known with a vengeance! We were thankful to have jackets and ear protection. We all came home a little gritty.

It was really fun having some more visitors. We enjoyed the time we got to spend with family and the chance to create more memories!

Friends in March

Heather and Karalee came down for a visit during their spring break! We got to explore a bit and had a lovely time together. 

Some issues with wardrobe and health changed our schedule a bit, but it was still really nice. They even got to experience a bit of the Moab wind that is a sure sign of spring!

 

We enjoyed some yummy food too!

 

 

It was some fun times with the girls. Thanks for coming down on your break!