Summer time fun

Concerts started up again at Newpark. It might be my absolute favorite thing to do on a week day, and it looks like I'm not the only one enjoying myself :o)

Father's Day Weekend

Happy belated father's day to all the dads out there! We had a fantastic weekend here in PC. Alex celebrated fathers day with a round of golf, so of course the girls had to get some practing in so they can play with him some day.

C's getting it...

M not so much yet.

Some kind of crazy hockey/shuffleboard/curling stance/grip she's got going on here

Either way it was a beautiful day to be out on the range...

...and in by the pool once golf was done...

...and sound asleep before we got home :o)

All snazzed up

While m was definitely the best dressed this holiday

Turns out the rest of us do clean up reasonably well

Skiing

As mentioned yesterday, we had much fun outside. One of the highlights was skiing, of various forms.

We had another round of skate skiing with Olympians (which introduced me to the sport last year). This year Alex and c joined in, but I'm not sure either fell quite as in love with it as I still am... Anyway, the fastest guy on the team was super nice, pulled c most of the way up a hill she managed to ski down on her own, and even signed a card for her:

C also signed an autograph for him - that part was pretty awesome.


Anyway, after seeing the rest of us ski m was more than ready to give it a try. Luckily we had brought hers up with us:

Up and down the driveway worked brilliantly for m, but wasn't quite exciting enough for her sister

So Alex solved that problem

(Turns out it was actually way tamer than it looks. Also way tamer than I assumed when Alex told me the plan with a HUGE grin on his face)

Snow!

One of the greatest parts of being up at the Ranch over Christmas was the ability to get outside. We skied, snowshoed, sledded, and just played. It was awesome :)

Also from the phone archives - Golf!

So while sucked into looking at pictures from the summer, I found a round of shots from something I don't think I blogged about back in July... I went golfing! For the first time since before we bought our house in Madison, Alex and I played a round of golf together.

It was awesome. Norm and Jean were kind enough to take us out at Red Ledges, and the course and views were spectacular, if a bit intimidating.

Luckily I was able to get over the gitters and have some fun playing

 Most impressive though, is the fact that both Alex and I are still smiling after the round. I don't remember that happening much 5 years ago :o)

A long race

So yesterday I blogged about the barn party. Turns out earlier that same day Alex and I also had a bit of an adventure - running my first 10K! It was part of the Park City trails series (so the same series as the 5K I ran in June). We were nervous but exited prior to the race...

 ...and very tired after.

 All and all it well really well. It was a super hard and hilly course and actually closer to 7 miles than a true 10K, but also really fun to run. I was really please with how I ended up.

The only thing that could have been better would have been to avoid Alex's run in with a rock around mile four. I'm hoping by the time I get home from this work trip his poor toe will be a little less black and blue :o/

much belated anniversary post

yeah I've been bad about posting this month - sorry crew. But back in the beginning on the month Alex and I had our anniversary! Norm and Jean were kind enough to watch the kids so we could get out just the two of us. During the afternoon we decided to pack a bottle of bubbly and head off on a hike. At the crest of the trail there was a stone bench perfect for taking in the views...

...and popping open the wine.

 I'm not sure what my favorite part about it was, but watching the mountain bikers being SUPER jealous as the rode past was definitely a highlight. 7 years - crazy!

Deep breath reset

You ever have one of those Mondays? One of those Mondays where after spending WAY too much time over the weekend cleaning up both kid and dog puke you're subjected to a day full of useless meetings, including one where you learn your boss has made what you consider to be a boneheaded decision that's going to negatively impact your program?

Yeah I had one of those Mondays today. Luckily, Alex in a move worthy of a spouse of the year award kicked me and max out of the house before the girls bedtime and told me to take a hike. So max and I drove for about 2 miles and found this:

And it was a beautiful hike. Challenging enough to be interesting with out being obviously challenging. Every turn there were wildflowers peaking out from behind the sage brush, and aside from a couple of very friendly mountain bikers we had the place to ourselves. The perfect place to take a breath, reset, and realize things aren't so bad after all :o)

Arches

Last blog post from the Moab trip I promise :o) Today - the best of the arches.

Delicate Arch

Delicate Arch from within a nameless arch a bit up the trail

Landscape arch

Private arch

Double O arch

Pine Tree arch

And Double arch

Notice Alex trudging away from the camera - he was pretty done with me pausing to take pictures by this point :o)

The top of the pyramid

For today's gratitude I'm moving down the stack (as they say in the tech world).

After catching up on the news from this weekend I can't help but focus on just how lucky we are to be in a position where we can be grateful for ice cream treats after practicing a religion of choice. Going back to Maslow  (thank you wikipedia for the image)...

While I'm not sure I'll claim self-actualization, I'm grateful that I wake up ever morning with my physiological needs met, safe and sound in bed with my love who's a huge part of making that all possible.