The Expedition Group

 The mate was a crazy drinking man, the Lizzie brave and sure.  Three roadies set hikin' that day for a two hour tour.  A two hour tour.

Trail head

Curvy path up the hill

 The hikin' started getting rough, the little crew was crossed.  If not for the courage of the fearless crew, the trail would be lost.

 

What? You crazy!

Climbing the steppes

Almost to the top

Taylor

Recently Tay has been bugging me to take piano lessons.  Now, I think that is a great idea so this weekend we went looking at digital pianos to see if we could find one.  I, myself, would like to dust off the old music that I have and play a few tunes.  Now I'm no Bach but I can hold my own when I need to although it has been quite awhile since I played.  So we went to look at pianos and will sign her up for lessons shortly.  Now if I can convince Evan then I'm on a role.

While we were looking for a digital piano I almost made Tay late for her rodeo.  Yep, that's right.  She is taking riding lessons and working on her cowgirl look.  She doesn't have a cowboy hat yet but those boots and plaid shirt go a long way to make her fit in.  I'm sure I'll be the one embarrassing her sooner than later at the rodeo.  By the way, have you ever been to one?  I'm sorry to admit this but to me a rodeo is torture to me.  I can imagine it's like that Chinese torture where they strap you down, turn the facet on just a drip and then just leave you there for days.  Sure it's annoying at the start but at the end its the worst pain in the world!

   

Are you this flexible?

Leap Up

Anyways, the last rodeo she was in she did very well, 2 first places and a second place.  Her events were barrels, poles and keyhole.  Don't know what they are?  Yeah, nether did I.  If you want to know look it up or call me.  I'm not explaining it here.  This time she did not place in any of the events but she looked great!

Poles

Barrels

Keyhole

 Evan

Recently Evan has found a sport that he likes and I believe he will continue to pursue.  This year he started soccer with a city league and then was asked to play on a competition team.  Now granted, the team is a B team which means that he has to work his way up to an "A" team but as long as he is having a good time then I'm all for it.  At this point in his life I think it is more important to have fun than concentrate on winning all the time.  That will come along with the Dad that damages his kid because all he does iS PuSH AND PUSH AND PUSH!  Okay, probably not .

Saratoga Rage - Evan

 

EM golf course

 

 Of course, I won't forget the potential athlete that is awaiting in the wings.  The little one, Sara.

 

Sara

 

Recently I took a trip to Vegas and was able to meet up with someone who was my "first LOVE".  Now, I know that sounds cheesy but bare with me.

Can you remember the first girlfriend that you had or someone that made you feel that way?  Does it bring a smile to your mouth even now?

Can you remember the feelings that ran through you and the excitement which touched you when your eyes met?

The thrill of holding hands? The way their smile could cut through any troubles that you had?

I do.

Do you remember the love songs and the time spent together, feeling full of life and that it was enough?

Wishing you didn't have to run home before you got in trouble because you were out past curfew (or you had snuck out of the house, rushing home to sneak back in and hoping that you did not get caught?  Okay, that's a different story)?

I do.

Or rather I can remember the whispers of the thoughts and feelings that remain.  The story remains but it's faint.  It whispers and those whispers come back and remind me of past times that either haunt my heart or brings a smile to my lips.

There are many things that you learn from past loves and many times those lessons, while partly forgotten and partly replaced, leave the essence of themselves. At times they are triggered by a certain smell, glance of a fading image or a distant memory reliving itself in your mind and remind you of their existence. During that moment you can remember . . .

This is what I remember . . .

I remember what it was to fall in love for the first time

I remember a dream that I had of what love would be and how sweet it would taste

I, being a romantic at heart, remember wanting that and nothing else

Life has taught me . . .

Life has taught me that, while the first love shimmers and glows, that is not all love has to offer. Love is so much more. There is a bittersweet side of love. Yes, it is sweet beyond belief but in order to understand how sweet that side is you must taste the bitter. But the bitter is tempered by the sweet and in the joining of the two, love is embodied and the bitter and sweet combine into perfection.

Life has taught me that, while the dream of finding and holding onto love is not a dream to let go, there are dreams that can be put aside because there are other dreams to be had.  Dreams which are more beautiful and fulfilling.  Ones which will not only allow you to compliment the dream of love you thought you had lost but also help you find fullfilment and depth of a true vision where you thought there was only a dream.

The reason for this blog is so that someday, if it survives, maybe my kids will see some of the things we did together.  And they will know that they are the dreams that are more beautiful and fulfilling that bring vision to my life and not the haze which I sometimes wish to dwell in.  A haze that does not provide true purpose and true guidance.

So, to life I say, "Bring it". I have purpose and vision despite it all.

For that, I can't and won't fail.

Recently this friend found a new hobby and it involves hand guns. I've been shooting with him a few times and it happens that this past week we went shooting during lunch. Now, if I were a redneck and died and went to heaven then I think it would look like this

Of course I imagine there would be more girls . . . but since my family reads this I'll stop that train of thought

In case you were wondering that is a 50 caliber.  We asked how much it cost to shoot it and it was $8 a bullet.  Yeah, that's pretty expensive but I have to think that after one or maybe two shots and the kick on that thing you'd be done after that!

I won't show you any pictures of the targets that I shot.  I'd hate to see a grown man cry 'cause of jealously! 

So, now I'm thinking about getting a job somewhere that has an indoor firing range.  I hear that the post office has some openings and their range has actual moving targets . . .

However, I have had these pics of a camping trip to moon lake that I have wanted to post for awhile and thought is was about time I did it.  The funny thing is I received a threat that I shouldn't post any pics that were "unacceptable".  But what's the fun in that?  And besides, I like digging a hole for myself and getting in trouble from time to time . . .

For those of you who have not been to Moon Lake it is a beautiful place in the Uintahs.

I am actually lucky to have such good friends that have kind of adopted me into their family and take me on their family camping trip. I wonder sometimes if I'm the crazy uncle who gets invited but no one really admits to inviting them. The conversation would be like . . . "Uh, did you invite Charles" and the reply would be "No way, I don't know how he finds out about these things. Oh, here he comes . . . just smile"

Just the same it is really fun to go out and visit them. When Friday finally came it came too quick and I hadn't even packed when I had to go to work. So, I ended up arriving at the campsite at about 11 pm. After making two circles around the campground I was finally waved down by Holly. It was great to be there after a couple hours of driving!

Since I was so late I threw up my tent quickly, tried not to wake anyone else up including kids and went to bed.

In the morning, I was the first one up probably because I did not have kids to worry about. I started a fire and had Caden join me and keep me company for a little while.

This time I didn't have any food assignments except for snack (I know, how lucky is that) so I got to lounge around while breakfast was cooked by Dustin and Taska. The breakfast was exceptional!

A little at a time everyone came out . . .

Oh, and don't let me forgot this one . . .

After breakfast we all went fishing. Some went in a rented boat, some stayed with the kids and Dustin and I thought we'd tackle an adventure and walk about a mile (it definitely felt like it) to the damn to see if we could catch any fish. He had some luck but unfortunately for me the closest I got to a real fish was this picture

It wasn't a total waste.  I was able to take a picture of this snake.  Yeah, I know your jealous

But it was a great time. I hear there is another camp out planned later this month. Yeah, I think I'll show up . . .

It seems that we have visited these lakes numerous times but the view is incredible and it is always fun

This time we went to visit with my parents, my sister and her kids and my kids and myself.  When we arrived it was packed which seemed strange to me as it was a Monday.  Don't these people have something else to do?  Luckily for us we were able to stay in the handicap campsite as no one was using it.

I thought that we'd do some camping and fishing but what it turned out to be was some camping and the kids did some fishing.  My Dad and I spent most of our time fixing rods and reels!  You would not believe the knots that the kids made with their fishing lines!  Let's just say that we went through a lot of fishing line.  However, the best thing about the place we were staying was that it's always a guarantee for the kids to catch fish and this time was not any different.  We had a great time catching the fish.

The good thing about camping, besides the smores, is at the end of the day the kids are tired and easily put to bed . . .

With all great journeys there are some casualties . . .

But we did take a fun hike with the kids . . .

And friendships were once again confirmed . . .

Perhaps some vision was even gained . . .

And without fail, the last thing we do is get ice cream before we leave!

Jack and Evan Baptism Video

I really can't take all the credit for the work behind the baptism.  It was really my sister that did all the work.  She did a great job setting it up and then creating a DVD of pictures of the two boys.  It was really a great time and great to see the Moyers again.

Here is a picture of my family

The Moyer Family

And just for fun, a crazy guy that showed up for cake and a cute kid (Owen, my nephew)

Last weekend it was SPRING BREAK! Wahoo! at least for the kids. I had one of those rare moments where I was actually able to take off work so I snuck away for a day and we decided to go to the aquarium. You see, Taylor had a visit from the people who had come from the aquarium and did a demonstration at their school. Since then she has been bugging me to go.

However, our first stop was at Chuckie Cheese. Yes, that's right. They received a double treat that day and I got my fill of screaming, ticket-starved kids. We made our stop there for lunch and to win some prizes so that we could wait for the Grandparents to come and join us.

In Salt Lake the aquarium here is called "The Living Planet Aquarium". They just opened a new rainforest exhibit of South America.  It's always fun to go to the aquarium.  I was a little nervous at first because we already tried to go by there once and the line was out the door.  I could just imagine that the line would be soooo much longer because of Spring Break and parents just wondering what to do with their kids for a week!

However, when we arrived we were pretty lucky in that the line was actually pretty small.  We got in right away.

We all had a really good time.  We were able to see a many different kinds of sea life, touch some stingrays, lick some poisonous frogs (just kidding) and touch some different coral/plant life.

We'll be sure to visit again!

For our next stop I thought we'd go see some Christmas Trees at the Festival of Trees.  It was pretty cool.  They had around 377 large trees and about 400 small trees all decorated.  There was a long table of probably a hundred or more gingerbread houses of all types.  But I believe the best thing my kids enjoyed was the kids craft corner.  There they were able to do a little fishing, painting ornaments and Sara even got her nails painted (Some of these pics are blurry so sorry about that and don't look to hard because you'll get a headache).

After the trip to see the trees we went to my parents house to have some dinner and celebrate Sara's Birthday!  She's growing up way to fast but I must say she's an awesome kid and way too cute.

After cake, ice cream and presents we went to see the finale with my parents.  Salt Lake City Temple Square lights here we come!  It was a quick drive.  It probably took longer to find a parking spot then to drive there.  We actually were able to find a parking spot right next to the new conference center and Temple Square was right across the street.  It goes without saying that the lights were beautiful.  The kids were definately impressed with the lights and when Sara saw the temple she shouted "Look a castle!".  I think she liked the temple.