weavers

Finger Painting

2012-01-11T14:37:00.002-07:00

I made some finger paint for Casin to play with. We had so much fun making a mess!

He's not quite sure what to think of it yet

but he knows it's causing trouble

Maybe it tastes good?

Mommy, you try some!

That's right i'm a stinker!

Then I gave him some paintbrushes to see if that could help him get

the hang of this painting thing

Such a mess!

His pictures that he kinda sorta painted! I'm proud!

Casins 1st Birthday

2012-01-11T12:52:00.001-07:00

We celebrated Casins first birthday, I can't believe he is already a year! It was so great to have family around with us. Devins mom and Sister, my parents, my grandparents and my aunts all came out to celebrate.

Winter Birthday Decorations. Complete with snowflakes,

hot chocolate, and snowman cupcakes.

I saw this idea on pinterest, I thought it turned out cute!

He didn't like the hat

He was ok with the hat after eating some cupcake

Looking at all his presents. He was seriously spoiled!

Our 2011 year

2011-12-15T14:39:00.000-07:00

This year has been a fun year for us with lots of fun changes! Casin was a newborn at the beginning of the year, then after constant growing (even though he's small for his age), 6 teeth, crawling, and almost walking he will be 1 year old on the 28th! I can't believe it has already been a year, time really does go by faster the older you get ;)

Casin is such a good baby! He is generally always happy, and has a very big social/flirtatious personality for a baby! Devin and I have obviously enjoyed the ups and the downs of parenthood.This year Devin was promoted to Director of Reporting at Orriant, where he started as an intern in January. That has allowed me to stay at home with the kiddo, yay! He loves his job and it has been a great job for him while he is finishing up school. He only has one more flippin' semester left, and we can't wait! In February he will be taking his 2nd actuarial exam.I am so proud of Devin he always works so hard. Even though he is very busy with a full time job, full time school, and studying for his actuarial exams on top of his school studies, he still finds some time every once in a while to spend with me and Casin.Devin has also had a couple of interviews, which we are still waiting to hear back from. One was in Kentucky, and one was in Chicago, there also might be one in California. We feel very blessed that he has been able to have the oppurtunity to have interviews and hopefully something will work out!Devin and I have also been trying to get our photography business up and running. Devin is a great photgrapher and very good with a camera. He started out doing landscape photography then we started doing portrait photography. Devin is very good with the camera and photoshop while I am just his assistant on the side with the creativity of "posing" people. We have had so much fun with it! Stay tuned for his website, we are working on it!

Life is good with us and we are excited for the 2012 year and can't wait for more exciting changes in our life!Merry Christmas!!

Casins Teeth

2011-10-07T11:41:00.004-06:00

Casin started getting his teeth in the first part of August. His teeth are so funny. His bottom teeth came in then the teeth on the side of the front ones instead of the front teeth. It makes me laugh, and a lot of people notice his teeth. I have tried to take some pictures of them, these are the best shots that I have of his "hippo" teeth!

Our Anniversary Trip

2011-10-07T11:03:00.011-06:00

The summer has gone by so fast. I can't believe it is already October! This past summer Devin and I celebrated our 5th Anniversary, I can't believe it has been 5 years. I am finding that as I get older the time just seems to go by faster and faster. Devin and I went down to St. George we stayed a night camping in Bryce Canyon so Devin could get some photos and play with his camera.

We then went on to St. George where Devin had surprised me with a night at the Worldmark and The Little Mermaid. As we pulled in to the Worldmark our battery decided to die. The guy at the worldmark was nice enough to jumpstart it and we were able to get to Checkers, where they told us the battery was completely dead, lucky us. Usually we call my dad or Daniel, but we had to figure out this one on our own. So, like a champ Devin got under the car, for pretty much the first time in his life (in the St. George heat), and changed our battery. I took these pictures cause it was actually pretty funny, it certainly could have been much worse so we will take a dead battery over any other car problems.

The Little Mermaid was an awesome show! I have always loved loved The Little Mermaid. My mom makes fun of me for constantly singing little mermaid as a little girl. I think it is still my favorite Disney movie!

After the show everyone gets to meat the cast and take pictures

The eel guys had really awesome costumes!

Trying to get a picture with Ariel and Prince Eric was not even possible the line was far to long, so this was the best picture we could get.

Scuttle!

Glacier Trip

2011-08-10T22:21:00.004-06:00

The last week of July we finally took our trip to Glacier National Park with our friend Jazon, and Scots family. We had a blast!

A collage of our fun..

Glacier was a spot Devin chose so he could get some awesome and of course he did cause he is amazing! Here is just a taste of some of his pics.. ENJOY!!

The Weaver family reunion July 2011.

2011-08-09T09:52:00.002-06:00

We spent some time going to tracy aviary, bear lake, touring welfare square, hanging out at the scot and mat weaver houses, each family also made a video (which was tons of fun), and camping.

6 months

2011-07-13T16:46:00.004-06:00

I have been behind on updating the blog things have been so busy. Casin hit 6 months on June 28th, and as always he is happy, healthy and alert! He has reached a lot of mile stones like: Laughing hysterically, rolling all the way over and even moving forward as if he is getting ready to crawl. He is responsive to people he knows and doesn't know which is fun to watch too! He also loves eating foods I recently gave him some graham crackers in his high chair and he LOVES it!

Congratulations Devin!!!

2011-05-29T13:23:00.002-06:00

Its official Devin passed his first actuarial exam, only 9 more to go! This week has had LOTS of ups and downs and has given us a testimony of going to the temple and fasting we are so thankful for all that Heavenly Father has blessed us with and so glad that Devin could pass that exam. I knew that he could do it but its always the unknown, the test has a 40% pass rate and is a very advanced math exam, I am so proud of him and the dedication he has! His hard work paid off (or at least we hope will).

Casins First Time Swimming

2011-05-16T17:31:00.010-06:00

We took Casin swimming for the first time this past weekend and he had so much fun!

splashing grandma!

splashing himself in the face

family picture

big smiles

he wasn't sure what to think of being on his back

Face!

look at his gut lol

Just to blog

2011-05-03T18:22:00.003-06:00

My goal (and I guess its cause I have a kid) is to blog more often, especially about Casin cause the 2 people who read this blog want to hear about him. Today I am deciding to send out an update on the husband and I.
Things have been super busy with us. I just started going back to work at Solase, and not just Saturdays, I am now on shifts :( bummer that I have to work, but I am very thankful to be working and also thankful that I can work a PT hours, and that I have a job that I love it makes it so much easier to work even though I hate leaving the little booger at home with Devin!
As for Devin he finished up his semester at UVU with flying colors of course, he is so smart and he passed his high level Math courses with A's and B's. He doesn't think its that amazing, but I sure do! He officially has 2 more semesters left until he is officially all grown up (some would say) with a bachelors degree and I seriously can't wait!
As for this summer he is working a couple of different jobs, still for UVU and for those who don't know he was offered a job with the internship he was at (also because he is amazing!). He is studying for his 1/7 Actuarial exams, it is an exam that is all on probability, yeah, probability, shoot me now! Anyway, he will be taking that at the end of May and he has to study 300 hours for it, so if anybody wants to throw us in their prayers for a quick second that he passes that would be fantastic!!
This weekend we should be taking some pictures of Casin and promise to put up more of him!!

4 months

2011-04-28T11:26:00.003-06:00

Today Casin is 4 months old. He had a Dr. checkup today and he is healthy, which is always good to hear! He has always had a problem with opening up one of his eyes and the Dr. is keeping a watch on it, but no worries as of yet about it. He weighed a whopping 12 pounds 8 ounces (9th percentile in weight) and was 23 inches long (2nd percentile). He is a tiny little guy, sorry Casin that you are short, it is kinda my fault. Developmentally Casin is doing fantastic as well, he is laughing and smiling and alert like he should be. I couldn't be happier that he is doing so well!!

Casins First Easter

2011-04-25T16:27:00.003-06:00

This was Casins first Easter and we had so much fun with him. He got mostly swimming stuff. Grandma and Grandpa got him a swimming suit, a hat, and an alien that he loves (its easy to grab and put in his mouth). Mom and Dad got him a sun hat for the pool and a floatie to sit in while hes chil-laxin at the pool. Later that day we went to my Aunt Tanya's house and hung out with all of my moms side of the family, had lunch, and played a Dance game on the wii we had a lot of fun and Casin loved getting all the attention from everyone!!

Giggle

2011-04-09T22:09:00.000-06:00

He's not quite laughing yet, but this is his first little giggle I was super excited about it! He is so cute!

Stepping Stone

2011-04-05T22:10:00.000-06:00

I have been working with Casin on grabbing. It started with me making him hold stuff and then he started grabbing at stuff on his own. He has this little floor toy that he usually just stares at, but he has started grabbing and holding it on his very own. So cute!!

10 Reasons Casin is awesome

2011-03-28T13:30:00.014-06:00

My baby is 3 months old today so I thought I would put some pictures of him up and write down why I love Casin....

10. His toes and feet. I love his feet they are so cute, he has a little birthmark that is on his foot that is so cute I can't stand it, I just love little imperfections like that! I am also thankful that he has all 10 toes, no more and no less!

9. I can't get enough of that hair! He has so much and it is going to be quite curly one day I think. I love when he sleeps and his hair gets messy, its the best!

8. He is such a good a sleeper! I am not a morning person in any kind of way so the fact that he sleeps so well at night is the best thing a new mom could hope for!

7. I love seeing him hang out with his daddy! It is one of my favorite things seeing my husband love our baby!

6. When he learns, he gets this little face when he is playing and I call it his learning face, I just love watching him explore the world around him.

5. I love how stinkin' cute he is. Anywhere I go people adore him and oodle over him, this proud mommy just loves it!
4. The happiness and spirit he brings into our home. He is so sweet and so precious it always reminds me of how I need to better myself and my relationships with my family, husband, him, and my heavenly father!
3. How happy of a baby he is. He has his fussy moments, but for the most part he is just such a happy and content little man and I love it!
2. I love when I look at him and say hi, how excited he gets and smiles back at me, its great that he knows I am his mommy and that he loves me too!

1. And the number one thing I love about my new baby is how much he relies on me to take care of him. I love that he needs me and I love to help him out with whatever is wrong and make it all better!

1 month

2011-01-29T11:07:00.007-07:00

Yesterday Casin turned 1 month old. He is getting a little bigger and has started cooing and smiling a little bit. I love talking to him and him responding to my voice and finding me with his eyes. We are having so much fun being new parents, he is the most amazing little thing!

Our new arrival!!!

2011-01-29T10:41:00.003-07:00

Casin Wayne Weaver
December 28, 2010
7 pounds 6 ounces
19 inches long

Snow!

2010-11-27T13:29:00.006-07:00

Me and Devin went up to Midway with some friends in their Rhino, it was so nice to get out and enjoy the mountains. There was fresh snow on the ground and it was such a perfect day to go up the mountain, I love love the snow!

Me with our friends Nick and Lauren, Devin is taking the picture.

Devins Photography

2010-11-18T12:40:00.006-07:00

Devin has loved taking nature pictures, and does a really good job! He has recently decided to start his hand at taking portraits. He is very passionate about photography and it has become a hobby of his, he doesn't usually let me put up his pictures of nature, but I wanted to share some of his portrait work. If you ever want pictures done give us a call and let us know, he loves to do it, and does it for a pretty low price.

Photoshoot with my cousin Colton for his senior pics. He loves his truck so we got some fun pictures with him and his truck!

Family photoshoot for my in-laws.

The baby shower and pregnancy update

2010-11-18T12:34:00.004-07:00

Last Saturday my mom through me a baby shower, we had family and long time friends there we had so much fun just hanging out and catching up with people! It was so fun to see everyone!

Right now I am down to 6 weeks, I am so excited that i'm getting so close to being done. It has been fun being pregnant, but it will also be nice to be done, i am getting bigger and bigger lol. My mom jokes that this baby is going to come out with a fork and a knife his hand ready for food (that is the way she describes her first meeting of Devin). We all can't wait for Casin to get here!

The little man is coming!

2010-10-11T13:51:00.006-06:00

We are moving on down to 11 weeks. This pregnancy has gone by really fast, especially since I've known I was pregnant VERY early (3 weeks). We are busy getting ready for him to get here and neither of us can hardly wait, I haven't been to excited about having him born so close to Christmas, but lately I am realizing that time is going to fly by with the holidays and he will be here before we know it. We have made the huge decision of doing things differently for our birth and have embraced the idea of Hypnobirthing, I am very excited about the path that we have decided to take because it makes us work together as a couple and is supposed to make it a very positive experience for both of us, I am actually looking forward to giving birth and can't wait! He is due on December 30th, and hopefully he will come on time. So these are the updates of the pregnancy!

A couple days ago Devin took a picture of me in front of the temple, the bump is growing! :)

Lately

2010-04-20T11:11:00.003-06:00

The spring is finally here and its starting warm up!! Yay! We were able to get out around my birthday for a canyoneering trip to the Grand Canyon. We also took off a couple of weeks ago down to our favorite place, The Northwash. I have pictures up on facebook, hopefully I will get some up on here soon!

2009-12-17T18:56:00.007-07:00

David, Devin, Me, Lauren, Nick, Matney, and Rob

Nick going down a rap in Angel Cove

The Girls

The Guys

Cute group shot in Leprechaun

Devins Birthday in Moab 6/5 - 6/9

2009-06-18T20:47:00.039-06:00

We headed to Moab for Devins Birthday our first 2 canyons were Lomatium and Krill

on the way to lomatium we walked through the fiery furnace, pretty sure we could have spent days in there.

Devin on the first rap - 130 feet

another pretty view

Kurt, Corey, Devin, and David

The three girls on the trip... I don't often get to have other girls come along, I had a lot of fun!

The whole group

Me and Kurt in front of an arch

Me on the "blimpie rap" - 100 feet

The "toilet bowl" rap

Me and Devin sitting on an arch

That night we decided to take an evening hike in U-turn

everyone at the bottom - i'm at the top of the rappell

Saturday we started with Cluster with Dan and David Pettingill, David Mcnay, and Me and Devin

We all got in a lot of water that day.....

Dan showin' off his skillz

Me and David Pettingill peekin around the corner

The final rap

After Cluster we went and tried out a waterfall called pleides, we didn't end up doing it cause it was way to cold and to much water flow for my liking so me and Devin turned around... but here are a couple of cool pictures.

Sunday morning before leaving me, devin, and David Mcnay did Onion Creek, it was a very scenic canyon that ANYONE could go do.

Lately

2009-05-17T12:56:00.003-06:00

So, we have not been up to very much lately. Devin and I are both going back to school and as a result have not got around to doing much of anything. Devin is currently going to UVU and studying Math, his plan is to be graduated the spring of 2011, and then find a job teaching somewhere. He is really excited about his new plan! As for me I have 2 and a half months left of massage school and I hope to be at a spa and/or being a teacher aid at my school. We are gettin' by and are really excited about our path changes and "reinvention" we have really realized that sometimes things happen for a reason and we are truly blessed! So that is pretty much us in a nutshell at the moment, I hope to put up some more pictures up soon. :)

3-09 Canyons

2009-03-30T21:51:00.009-06:00

Our first canyon was Angel Slot. It is a recently beta'd canyon, it was a great canyon. Although the exit hike was very steep and about killed us all! We still had fun!

The group except Devin at the top of the canyon.

Me and Devin in the canyon.

The second Canyon was a short and sweet canyon called Morocco. It is one of our favorites!

Me on the first rapell.

Luke after getting past the tight fit at the top of the rapell.

Devin and Luke at the top of a rapell. This is a really cool rapell, it starts with a really tight fit and then goes on to free hanging.

Daniel hanging upside down on the free hanging part of the rapell.

Devin coming out of the tight part.

Moab 2/20/09-2/21/09

2009-03-01T19:43:00.018-07:00

We just recently went to Moab to check out some canyons a couple weekends ago with some fellow ACA members, Kurt and Steve. It was nice to finally get out and do what we love most!

We did a canyon called Granary first:

The first rap

The onion rap

Kurt getting me across the first pothole.

The Group Photo. Devin, Kurt, Me, and Steve. Don't I look tall??

The view from the top.

Devin at one of the rapells.

Our next canyon on the second day was Medieval Chambers:

Doing some downclimbing and getting across some water.

There was a cool arch about 90 feet that you could simul-rap, but we opted out.

Simul-rap off of Uranium arch:

We drove up 7 mile rim and did some practice for medieval chamber.

Lately

2009-02-08T15:02:00.017-07:00

I have neglected my blog, we have been busy with other things for quite some time now. Since there isn't much to do for canyoneering we have been doing some snowboarding.....

Me and Devin.

Not really sure how Devin did this... lol

Us and Jared and Sam.

We also did some mining a while back with my family, we were fortunate enough to go with a guy from Devins mission who has some keys to some mines, it was a really cool experience. Here are some pictures and a short little video I put together of our experience...

The Whole famdamily

Me and Daniel on an old abandoned cart.

Me and my mom hard at work in the mine.

A short video of our "mining" experience.

Christmas

2008-12-26T21:07:00.009-07:00

Christmas Eve we had a good dinner with my family, and played games. We later went over to Devins moms house and spent the night there after it snowed to much.

Christmas morning we opened presents at Devins moms and ate some traditional breakfast casserole. We then drove out to my parents, the snow kept getting deeper and deeper as we were driving out there. After getting out of the truck the snow was up to my thigh, and the wind was blowing really hard. We ended up being stranded there for a while, and later that night went home. We had a really nice Christmas.

Here are some pictures of the snow.

We gave homemade presents this year. A while back we took a hike up Butterfield canyon with my family and took some really nice pictures. My mom really loved them, we even made her cry! She was happy to finally have a family picture.

Adam loves U of U so I had my mother in law help me make this blanket for him. Since it was the blackout year this year we put a black U on it.

One day Devin was taking some cool pictures of Daniel Skateboarding. We got a cool shot of him, and gave the picture some pretty sweet touch ups in photoshop. He loved it.

Weaver Christmas Party 12-13-08

2008-12-14T12:22:00.017-07:00

Friday Night we all piled into an Excursion stretched limo. We just drove around the city and went and looked at some lights.

Saturday morning Devin went and played basketball with his brothers and while playing went up for a layup and when he came down he rolled his ankle. He called me that morning and told me that he needed to go to the hospital, so knowing Devin it must be an emergency because he never wants to go to the doctor unless its real bad, it was swollen pretty good, but when I got there we decided not to go to the doctor he was mostly trying to get me to beat the snowstorm so I wouldn't have to drive in it.

Later that night we went uptown to go walk around temple square. Devin couldn't walk and luckily his mom had a wheelchair that we pushed him around in. It was quite entertaining.

Devin the wheelchair.

Pretty picture of the temple.

Thanksgiving Weekend - What we thought was a Good Idea wasn't!

2008-12-01T14:39:00.005-07:00

THE MORNING
After looking forward to our last canyoneering trip of the year, it finally arrived. The weather had been unseasonably warm all through November... until the 2 days immediately prior to our trip. However, the forecast called for sun on the days we would be out, and we had people coming in from out of state to go with us, so we went for it. It was... an adventure.

We stayed up till almost 3 am the night before, and woke up at about 545 to meet our group at Cabelas by 6:30. Our out of state friend Dan got a nice camper for the weekend so we didnt have to tent in the cold, and was bring his Tom Car we can use as a shuttle. When we pulled up to them in the Cabelas parking lot, I noticed that the camper was about twice the size of any I had ever been in before. At the time, I was excited because that meant I could actually stand up and move around in it. As I was leading the way in my little Mazda, I realized one of the downsides of such a large trailer. Instead of the time frame I had planned (based of driving my car down there), I would have to creep slowly along so Dan could keep up, and that would give us a later start time than I planned.

We headed down Hwy 6 and then got on UT 24. I kept Dan in my rear view mirror, and its a good thing, as I was just about to realize another downside of the huge camper. 9 Miles from Hanksville, Dan was out of gas. Oh well, just another 35 minutes as I run in to the gas station, buy and fill a gas can, and head back. That got them to the station, where he filled up and we were on our way.

We pulled off 95 and started driving in when I realized another downside to the size of or mobile Motel 6. The past 2 days of rain turned that road in to nothing better than goo. We found a spot on the side of the road about 2 miles in that would suit our needs and pulled off. Before long, both my Mazda and Dan in his camper were stuck. Dan started to pull the truck out from under the trailer when it promptly sunk about 5 inches, making it impossible to get the truck back underneath it. After a few minutes of brainstorming, we realized there isnt anything we could do about it now- so we ought to just head out and have some fun, and deal with the trailer in the morning when the ground is frozen.

THE APPROACH
By this time it was about 1:15, so I thought, alright- lets do Leprechaun. We did this canyon just a month ago, and it took us about 4, maybe 4.5 hours. That time around, it was just 3 experienced people, but we started from the bottom, doing the uphill approach that took maybe an hour and a half, plus it was the 4th canyon in 2 days. I thought- even though we have 7 people, we are all fresh, and wont have that long approach. 3, maybe 4 hours, and we should be just at the exit hike as it gets dark. So we went to set up our shuttles for Leprechaun.

I had been in the area twice in the last couple of months and done 6 canyons around here, but had never been on the road up behind the drainages. The route to the upper trailhead seemed simple, and with the help of a Topo. Just before 2pm, we set off across the desert. After wandering for what seemed like longer than we should have, Marissa yelled down from the top of a ridge to the rest of the group that she found a canyon.

I ran up there with her and I was immediately let down. I remembered exactly what to look for to make sure we were at Leprechaun, and this certainly was not it. I figured we may have navigated a little off track, and thought we were at the Middle Fork of Leprechaun. The Middle Fork has big red flags on every route description that it is very difficult, and perhaps impossible for anyone over 180 lbs or so. That ruled me out for sure. Everyone also warns about this area to not drop in to ANY drainage unless you are positive you know where you are. I could see the narrow slot from the rim we were on, and then noticed a few boulders slung for an anchor to reach the next ridge down. I headed across the rim from there and saw another anchor, and my first thought was- yep, we are for sure at the Middle Fork, and there is the second finger. It is 3:15 or so MAYBE we can make our way over the rim in decent time and still do the Right Fork of Leprechaun as planned. It will be a much later start than I wanted, but it is an awesome canyon and I really wanted our group to see it. We had headlamps, and the tempature wasnt bad at all.

THE CANYON
After about 5 seconds, I started to get confused. I HAD been here before. That second anchor was unmistakable. I glanced down the route of the rappel and was even more positive I had seen this area and done that rappel. Studying farther down canyon from this angle, and looking to the head of the narrow slot below, I knew it. Somehow, we had wandered almost a full mile farther west than we wanted, missed not only the Right Fork of Leprechaun, but the Middle and Left Fork, as well as the Right Fork of Blarney, and ended up at the Left Fork of Blarney. We did that canyon less than 3 months ago. Both Marissa and I, as well as her little brother Daniel did that canyon, and both were with the group now, so I said to them 'you've got to be kidding me- this is BLARNEY'. Immediately both Marissa and Daniel surveyed the terrain and agreed with 100% certainty. I remembered helping their cousin on this rappel because it is a very mild rappel with an easy start- perfect to teach a beginner. Also, there was a little downclimb I took a picture of Marissa on, and it ended with about a 4 ft jump in to the soft sand. Everything matched up. There is no way another canyon could match so perfectly. This had to be Blarney, but I just couldnt imagine how we wandered THAT far off course...

In a way I was releaved. This canyon took us about 3.5 hours, and that was starting from the bottom. Although we had a bigger group- most of us were experienced, and we were already at the head of the slot. Knowing we would absolutely not have time to navigate our way back to Leprechaun, and possibly not even find our way back to the truck, we decided- lets just drop in and do this canyon. It is a fun one, and shorter, which is a big thing since we were running out of daylight. We all decided we wanted to have some fun to make the morning worth while, so we started to gear up and planned to drop in.

As the gear came out, we realized that one member of our group forgot his harness. Jeez. What else could happen. There were only a few rappels in the canyon, so, although not ideal, we thought about sending a harness back up after a rappel, but already pressed for time, that could be too much of a hassle. Luckily, Dan remembered how to make a Swiss Seat harness out of webbing. He worked on that as I set up the rappel.

Things were finally going ok. From what we had seen so far, everything was dry, so that is a good sign. We got to the second rappel set up and sent Marissa down. Half way down, she stops and says 'Oh no- there is a TON of water down here....... Just kidding'. Wow Marissa- real funny. Anyway, we were in a really cool section, and starting to have fun. The canyon had a slightly different feel than last time.

Of course, it didnt take too long until things got complicated again. We did start to run in to some water. We thought we should all stay dry, so we took extra time to stem over. After a few of these sections, they got more difficult to stem over, and were at the bottom of bigger downclimbs. At first, Nate, Dans brother in law, and me, volunteered to get wet and give shoulder rides to keep the rest of the group dry. It seemed that every downclimb ended with a pool, and there wasnt much in between one wade and the next. First shin deep, then knee deep, back to shin deep, up to waste deep... We saw more and more water as the sun, and the temperature, kept dropping. No one had wet suits or anything, although myself and a couple others had neoprene socks.

Eventually we got to the final rappel- which I remember was a tricky start for some, and took us a while even last time, in the middle of the day and only 4 people. Also, the first time through- this section was very deep and dark. And that was late summer, in the early afternoon, while the rest of the canyon had that beautiful orange glow from the sun. This time around, it was getting dark and already gloomy. I saw there was water at the bottom, so even though Nate was new to canyoneering, he got the hang of it quick, and we sent him down first to test the waters, since he was already wet. He said it was about the same as any other section we had been through, waist deep. We all got down this and it was getting darker faster. We all put our headlamps on, although we only had 5 between the 7 of us. And just after we put them on, Dans son dropped his in one of the pools. It wasnt too deep there, but the light died shortly after hitting the water and we couldnt find it. Oh well, lets move on and get out of this thing.

It was more of the same, but I could swear that somehow it was twice as long as the first time through. Downclimb, wade, wade, wade, wade, downclimb, wade, downclimb... it was DEFINITELY longer than the first time. After a ways, there was the longest downclimb of the canyon, with a rather big looking pool at the bottom. I was leading the way, and the downclimb was no problem, but as I got to the bottom, I kept easing my feet a little lower to reach the ground and start walking, but the ground was nowhere to be found. I was holding myself up by my elbows, dangling my feet, and was about waist deep already, but as I slowly inched a little deeper, I remembered - hey, I cant swim... I sure hope this isnt too much deeper... wait a second... that kinda freaks me out. I knew if worse come to worse, I COULD swim far enough. The pool was probably 20 feet across, which means at MOST maybe 15 feet before the ground started to reach toward the surface and I can walk again. However, getting all the way in the water, splashing around in my pathetic attempt to swim, COMPLETELY soaking myself, and likely swallowing a bunch of this nasty water was not the ideal solution. As I sat there holding myself up on my elbows, I yelled for Nate to get to the head of the group and help me. It is quite difficult to move ahead of someone else in this canyon because it is so narrow, so it took him a while to get to me. Just before Nate began the downclimb, I couldnt grip the walls anymore, and made the final slip. For a micro second my heart stopped, but then I felt the comfortable and familiar feel of solid (well, mushy) ground below my feet. This was already deeper than any other wade so far, reaching about 3 inched above my belly button, but it was likely to get deeper in the middle before it got better. Since I was already standing, I was able to spot Nate on this downclimb since it was rather difficult. Guess its a good thing too, because if I was still trying to hold my position, there is no way Nate could have passed me and got in front. We danced around each other as he took the lead to test the depth. One small step in front of the other, we made it through. For Nate and I, the depth reached just above armpit level for me. Good news- except for Nate and I are 6 foot plus, and half the group is under 5'4...
Quickly, Nate and I decided that I would forge ahead at full speed to scout out any other major difficulties, since he wouldnt know how to handle them, and he would stay and help the group across this deep pool, since it is too narrow for both of us to stay and help. By this time, the sky was pitch black, not that you could see to the sky anyway, since the canyon was so deep and narrow here. I went ahead for maybe 25 minutes, remembering from last time that all the major dificulties SHOULD be behind us. Soon enough I got to a large flat boulder laying across the cayon just like a table. I recognized this spot from before and thought this was near the end of the canyon. I sat there for a minute to think and rest.

After a very brief rest, I realized how much colder I got as I sat still in the open, with my soaking wet clothes and the canyon being wide enough to allow even the slightest breeze. I decided I would leave the rope and my pack here so I could make good time getting back to the rest of the group, and help get them out. I thought it was time to forget keeping everyone dry, we needed to get out of this canyon because the temps were dropping quicker as the sun had been down for a while. Eventually I heard the muffled noise from our group around the next bend, and saw the reflections of some headlamps. From here, we all made decent time to the boulder I rested at. We re-grouped and made a plan. Dan and Nate would run ahead as fast as possible so they could pick up the Tom Car and we can get back to the truck.

THE EXIT
From here, there was nothing difficult. A couple more wades, nothing deep, a downclimb, and we were doing good. Just as we started to dry out a little, we hit one last wade that was waste deep for me. No way around it, everyone got wet again. Despite Dans plan to run ahead with Nate, they didnt make it too far, which was a good thing, because I just realized the shuttle vehicle was left at Leprechaun, and we were coming out of Blarney. The two drainages are not too far apart, and I was able to catch them and tell them to hang a left when they hit the highway, and the next drainage will be were the Tom Car is waiting. The only difficult thing left in the canyon was a normally simple downclimb. I got more stuck than I ever had been in a canyon before. I wasnt too worried, just rather annoyed. Marissa had to climb over and lift the 11 year old in our group out of the way. Still with her help it took a few minutes. I told her to just grab my pack strap and yank me back as hard as possible. I barely budged. I am sure glad I am not really claustraphobic, but not being able to move is a little unsettling. Eventually she pulled me back far enough I could slip one strap of my pack off over my shoulder with her help, then the other, and that was that. No more problems. We made our way out the drainage, with Dan and Nate no where in site. Before long we hit the highway.

Once at the highway, we talked a little bit about our plan. We never discussed it with Dan, so we thought- OK lets head North, towards the turn off where the truck is parked and away from the Tom Car at the bottom. We walked a little, but the breeze was too much with all of our wet clothes and gear. Deciding to stop, we just stood close to each other on the side of the highway. Soon David, Dans son, was certain it was their Tom Car. I thought way too much time had gone by and they should be on their way to the truck. Sure enough, it was them in the Tom Car. We all piled in, 7 of us in the open 4 seat vehicle. We headed up the road with the wind stinging through our wet clothes, all of us huddling together as close as possible as Dan quickly told us of the latest chapter of our difficulties. Apparently they had reached the Tom Car and started it with no problems at all. The windshield was covered in mud, so as Dan hit the windshield wipers to clean it off, a fuse blew and the Tom Car died. Right away Dan knew the problem because it had happened before, and he had recently bought a box of fuses, but was positive he left them in the truck. As they discussed any possible back up plans, Dans headlamp happen to catch a glare off... the box of fuses! Apparently he had forgot to put them in the truck. They replaced the fuse, it started up and they were on their way.

So here we were, heading up 95 smashed together in a 4 seater, all soaking wet. Oh, and the Tom Car was just about out of gas. We decided when we got to the turn off for the truck, Dan and I would drop the rest of the group and go to pick up the truck, since I was most familiar with the area. It was fun flying up the dirt road on the Tom Car, despite the chilling wind. Shortly we found the right turn and headed off. Couldnt be more than a half mile from here. Dan hopped in the truck, and I drove the Tom Car. We at least head to get to the main dirt road to have room to hitch the Tom Car to the truck. When we reached the road, I thought, lets just go- make as good as time as possible. I am having fun driving this thing anyway. 5 minutes in to the drive, I realized that no matter how much I tried, I could not even budge the frozen fingers of my right hand that were gripping the steering wheel. It puzzled me how calmly I thought to myself - if i lose a hand, I want to lose my left hand. Using my left fist as somewhat of a mallet, I hit my right wrist from the bottom enough to get it off the steering wheel and finish the drive. Obviously, the worry of losing my hand was no different than any of the others- just my mind planning for the worse case scenario. We quickly reached to junction of the dirt road and the highway and began hitch the Tom Car. At first Dan couldnt find the right pins for his hitch, but we found some other pins, and with the aid of a Zip Tie, hitched it all up and headed out.

Meanwhile, the rest of the group decided to leave the highway and the breeze running along it, and huddled down off the road next to a tree. They were getting colder and colder. Everyone was snuggling up. Daniel was freezing, and Marissa was really worried about him so she took off his wet shoes and socks, because luckily he managed to keep a spare pair of socks dry, so he put those on. They finally made use of the 3 dollar emergency space blankets we kept in the packs, and just as Marissa was entertaining the akward thought that perhaps, if we didnt get there soon, she would have to take her wet pants off, and her brothers wet pants off, and share the emergency blanket, she saw headlights approaching. She didnt know it was us, but didnt care, and ran up the little hill towards the highway, probably faster than she has ever run before. From our perspective in the truck, we saw some lights illuminating a dead looking tree off the road, and then a flashing and moving light heading towards us. This had to be them, so we slowed down and pulled over to the side of the road.

THE HAPPY ENDING
We were all OK. I had to carry Daniel to the truck since he wasnt wearing shoes and his feet were freezing, but before long, with the whole group shoved in the truck and the heater pumping at full blast, we were OK. After all of this- it was only 8 pm, though the sun had disappeared about 3 hours ago. As the survival instinct wore off and we reviewed the day, we realized that no one had really eaten a thing all day. After we all changed in to dry clothes, except for Dan, we got back in the truck and headed in to Hanksville, with the thought of enjoying a meal at Stans Burger Shack in the Chevron. The 20 minute drive went by and we headed in to the gas station. It was now about 8:50 as I saw the sign displaying the Burger Shack hours of 10am to 8pm. However, it seems our luck had changed because the manager of the gas station asked us if we wanted some food, and after a round of enthuisastic YES'es, he opened the place back up to let us order. Maybe it was Dan, still in all his wet clothes AND his helmet with headlamp attached, or maybe he could just tell how exhausted we all were. As I stood at the counter ordering, the place was complete empty except for our group, and the two kids running the burger joint. All of a sudden, the old juke box in the corner turned on, and started blasting Justin Timberlake and flashing lights. I looked around to chastise my wife for wasting money in the juke box, but she was no where to be found. I was pretty confused by this, so the kid taking my order explained that the juke box will randomnly turn itself on and play a random song. Since this was one of Marissa's favorite songs, I couldnt stop laughing at how ridiculous this all seemed at the end of our day. After eating my absolutely delicious burger and cheese sticks, and everyone else had gotten some food, we finally were able to realize how much fun we had!

The Holy War and The Gun Show

2008-11-25T10:01:00.018-07:00

I haven't blogged in a log time! We have not been up to very much and are being boring the last few weeks. This weekend (although no pictures were taken) we went to the gun show with Jared and Samantha and we both bought 45s. The gun show was rather entertaining, there were a lot of rednecks, beer, and guns all in one room - like I said, interesting!

We drove up to Wellington and watched the Utah vs. BYU game. I was raised on the U and will always cheer for the Utes. This has been the second year that I have been in a room and I am one of the few cheering for Utah, my dad should be proud! I had a lot of fun being the only one really excited about the many picks that Utah kept getting off of Max Hall, the poor kid. I would like to thank Max Hall for a good game! After a while of pick after pick and block after block there were a couple other family members who I will leave nameless that decided to change clothes and put on a Utah shirt and start rooting for them.... we call them band wagon fans! Now Utah is number 6 and has an even better shot at the BCS. GO UTES!!!!

Halloween

2008-11-08T09:39:00.001-07:00

For Halloween I was a 1920's flapper, and Devin was a 1920's gangster. We had a lot of fun.

October Canyoneering

2008-10-21T15:50:00.059-06:00

We went and did 4 canyons this past weekend (10/17 - 10/19). Here are some pictures, and the canyons we did.

Slideanide

It can be a tight fit in the canyons. I had just downclimbed that. Devin is at the top of the climb taking a picture.

This was the final rapell out of Slideanide. I know its hard to see, but yes, we did come out of that crack.

This is what it means when a canyon is 'hard on clothes and gear'

Merry Piglet

This was the tiniest, cutest little frog that I found. If you look close you can see its tiny little foot. There was about 5 of these all hopping around together. I wanted to take one home!!

Morocco

There was a really cool arch IN the canyon. It was pretty incredible, you don't see that to often.

That's me doin' some rope work.

Right Leprachaun

This canyon had a ton of tight slots. It was one of our favorites though. Lots of downclimbing and lots of work to get through this canyon, but still a lot of fun!

Our Close to the Summer - Zions

2008-09-22T21:38:00.074-06:00

Our first trip on Thursday (9/18) was in Mystery Canyon. Here is a group picture (left to right) Dan and Heather Pettingill (California), Ron (Denver), Me, Devin, and Rudy (New York).

That is our Canyon 'Mystery'

Me Climbing down a log in Mystery.

Looking up a hill that I don't want to climb.

Stemming over some water.

Here is a video of the final rapell in Mystery. It was one of my favorite rapells.

There is Rudy going down the final rapell.

Me and Devin rapelling out of Mystery and into the Narrows.

Oure second trip (9/19) in Spry. Devin, Me, Frank (Vegas), Bill (SLC), Jim (Canyon Leader, SLC).

After walking up a bunch of hills and approaching the top to get into the canyon there was this wall with a bunch of petroglyphs on it. If I was an indian this place would have been perfect to have my spiritual moment....

We rapelled down here, but the view looking out was incredible, pictures never do it justice.

There is Devin at the top of one of the raps.

This is by far the coolest picture of anyone rapelling! This was the last rapell out of Spry. Oh, and yeah that's me. :)

Our last trip was in Birch Hollow, which comes out Orderville (lots of people do Orderville). We didn't get a group picture that day, but we went with: Dan and Heather Pettingill (California), Alan and Megan Pryke (Australia), Me and Devin, Jill and Mike (don't remember last names, from Denver), David McNay (SLC), and Ari Ewell (SLC).

Because of the large group, we set up the rope with what is called a stone knot so we could rapell 2 at a time and also took 2 ropes, it was rapell after rapell. That is me and Ari rapelling at the same time.

Devin doing some down climbing.

All of us piling in the truck to go get the other truck we left at the top.

Special Olympics

2008-09-13T11:55:00.011-06:00

I went with my company to help out with the Special Olympics tryouts (Sept. 12). I had a lot of fun! I was somewhat emotional throughout the day, it is just incredible to see people that have severe challanges in their life be so incredibly happy to just play some golf. When I go do things like this I realize how truly blessed I am in my life!

Marcia, Erika, Daron, Jon (one of the finalists), my boss Carolyn, and Bridgette.

Some of the winners

Homer, and one of the volunteers.

This is Bryce, he was one of the sweetest guys, and was also one of the happiest.

Some more finalists.

Blarney and Shillelagh

2008-09-10T22:23:00.022-06:00

Devin and I took my cousin Matt, and my little brother Daniel down by Hanksville to 2 canyons, Blarney and Shillelagh (Sept 5th and 6th). It was Matt's first time, he did a really good job, lucky for him he is very tall and was a really good canyoneer.

Matt and Daniel at the start of Blarney.

Matt's very first rappel.

Here I am at the bottom of the rappel into Blarney.

Here we are in Shillelagh

The three boys showing off their muscles.

I have always wanted to hang upside down the rope and I finally dared to.

Gas to get to canyons = $100, Food for the Hike = $50, Matt's face at the end of a long day hiking = priceless!!!

Our Anniversary - Can't believe it's been 2 years already!!

2008-09-10T22:10:00.006-06:00

For our anniversary this year we headed down to St. George, it was a well deserved vacation!! We stayed at the Courtyard Marriott in St. George, went and saw Les Miserables at the Tuacahn theatre. We also went Canyoneering and caught up with my family that was down there as well (I don't have pics of that).

We got our pictures taken with the actors who played The Thenardier's, for those who don't know, they are most the obnoxious, and crude people in the play and cause all sorts of problems, they were our favorite!

It was actually quite a challenge to get our picture taken together, everyone was rushing out to go home, and it was hard to stop people. We finally saw this old guy and thought he could take a picture of us, it was really entertaining, he just couldn't figure out the camera, and kept pointing it at himself no matter how many times Devin kept showing him how to do it, we tried not to laugh to hard when the flash went off in his face, and took a picture of his chest. It was really funny! LOL! We finally found a young couple to snap a picture.

Yes, we actually swim through that water, it's pretty sick, but it makes canyoneering all the more fun!! ;)

Blue Johns - Here's to Aron Rolsten

2008-09-10T21:55:00.007-06:00

One of our trips was through the Main Fork of Blue Johns Canyon. We went with some friends who go every year around the time Aron Rolsten went, and hike the same trail he did. It was a very picturesque canyon! The first 4 or 5 miles was in the canyon, and the last 7 miles was in pure sand, that part was not very fun, but it was all worth it!For those who don't know, Aron Rolsten went into this canyon by himself and got his armed pinned to the canyon wall by a boulder. After being stuck there for six days, he cut his own arm off, finished the canyon, rappelled the 80 foot drop, and then hiked in the sand for 3 or 4 miles before being rescued!

North Fork of Robbers Roost

2008-09-10T21:44:00.010-06:00

Devin and I took my little brother Daniel on his first canyoneering adventure through the North Fork of Robbers Roost. There were 4 good rapells as well as some fun downclimbing. Daniel was so tuff, he had never done this with us before, and we all had such a blast!! We gave Daniel 10,000 cool points for this canyon!

There are two main exit routes out of the canyon- one easier and one difficult. We wanted to find the easy way, but ended up taking the hard way. There were a few times on the climb out that we wondered if we would make it back to the canyon rim, and after running out of water just as we got to the 1.5 mile trek across the baren desert, we were all asking each other why we put ourselves through that stuff... But, as always, after we found the truck just where it was suppose to be, got some very warm water out of the back of the truck and soaked up the AC for a few minutes, we were able realize just how much fun it actually was.

Here is a picture of Daniel showing off his bulging muscles, this kid is so strong!

Here is a picture of our anchor - this is where we start our rapell.

Benson Creek in Brian Head

2008-09-10T21:38:00.006-06:00

During one of our Technical Canyoneering Courses from the American Canyoneering Association (http://www.canyoneering.net/), we went through Benson Creek just west of Brian Head. It was definitely a favorite- easy and very pretty, with some fun rappels right down the course of a waterfall. If anyone wants to go- this is a good one to start with!

Here are some pictures of us going down the 100 foot water fall.

A Beautiful Sunday Afternoon

2008-09-10T21:15:00.011-06:00

While we were in Logan a few weeks ago, I decided I wanted some pictures of Devin and I in a setting besides canyons, so I asked my sister in law to take a few for us. Thanks Lisa!

The Proposal

2008-09-10T20:44:00.013-06:00

I had to add pictures of our hot air balloon ride. This is where Devin proposed to me. He woke me up at 5am on my birthday and took me to Park City, I had no idea how he was going to do it or when, but I sure knew it was coming. We were on the hot air balloon overlooking Park City when he popped the question. I couldn't say yes, I was so surprised and not expecting it at that moment because it was so early in the A.M., and the ring was so breathtaking! I took the ring hugged him and then said yes! We went to lunch and got massages later on, and then went to the Melting Pot for dinner. It was the best birthday ever!!

Here is Devin Standing by the Hot Air Balloon before we went up

Us overlooking Park City, that is our hot air balloon shadow

Wedding Day

2008-09-10T11:48:00.031-06:00

We were married on August, 17 2007 in the Salt Lake Temple, and had a beautiful reception at my parents house in Herriman.

Us walking out of the temple with our families behind us - I love this picture! At our Reception - I love 'almost kissing' pictures! My Family
Devins Family

Devin Bridals

Our Honeymoon

2008-09-10T11:33:00.017-06:00

Devin and I went to Vegas for our honeymoon and caught a couple of shows.

There we are before going to see Phantom of the opera

That is me in between TWO Elvis'. For anyone who knows me, knows that this is a dream come true!!