Rise of the Giant (Pumpkins)

September 24, 2014 By

Giant pumpkin boat races

Over the last 24 hours, five people have sent me links to a new documentary that is coming out about raging lunatics giant pumpkin growers. So, to put a kibosh on any additional emails about it, YES I KNOW “RISE OF THE GIANTS” IS COMING OUT!

Unfortunately we don’t live in Utah to see it but I have no doubt we’ll have the opportunity.

If you’re not in the know (and don’t have friends bombarding you with the trailer), “Rise of the Giants” follows the growth of the largest pumpkin in the world, which weighed 2,032 pounds, the Utah Giant Pumpkin Growing club, and even inmates who are growing at the Spanish Fork jail.

According to the website:

“Rise of the Giants” delves into a unique hobby that attracts salts-of-the-earth committed to making people smile.  Every year growers around the country raise Atlantic Giant pumpkins that can grow over to 50 pounds a day (that is not a typo) – so big that once the contest is over, growers hollow them out and hold a boat race at Sugar House Park, which is captured in the film.


Normally this is our favorite week of the year with our blow-out pumpkin party and and big weigh-off. But alas, after Jamie’s pumpkins’ death we’re in a state of mourning.

Maybe this year’s theme should be “Demise of the Giants.”

Filed Under: pumpkins

Kenosha Pass: Colorado’s best place for fall colors?

September 23, 2014 By

Shortly after we moved into our house 10 years ago, our neighbors Lisa and Mike had just returned from mountain biking Kenosha Pass a.k.a. what they deemed “the most beautiful place in Colorado to see fall colors.”

It has taken us a decade but on Sunday, we finally made it!

Kenosha Pass wasn’t an easy victory. Church had just ended at noon, Jamie wanted to watch the Broncos vs. Seahawks showdown at 2:30 p.m., the kids begged to chill out for a couple of hours and the sky was threatening.

I knew Jamie wanted to go least of all but to his credit, he knew how much it meant to me so he rounded up the troops for the hour-long drive on U.S. Route 285.

When we got out of the car, Bode was emotionless, Jamie was counting down the minutes to the game and Hadley whined she was cold. “Let’s just stay for a little bit and then leave,” she suggested to Jamie.

Until we really arrived at Kenosha Pass. (I just wish my iPhone pictures did it justice).

Located atop a large granite batholith that forms the spine of the Front Range along the eastern side of South Park, Kenosha Pass is a part of the Colorado Trail. Colorado’s premier long-distance trail extends 500+ miles from Denver to Durango (read my adventures where the trail starts in Waterton Canyon) and this particular portion of the route is a cut of autumn heaven with swaths of endless aspen groves that look like golden pipe cleaners and staggering views of the Rocky Mountains and South Park valley.

Within moments, the kids were racing, climbing, exploring and laughing. I was initially disappointed by the brooding sky but Jamie observed, “If anything, the contrast illuminates the color of the trees and they look neon.”

He would know. He wore a jacket that made him an instant winner in our Camouflage game.

Accidental shot of a butt scratch

This South Park valley shot atop the boulder was much better

In typical Hadley fashion, she was ignited the moment she started exploring, begging us to go to the summit.

Jamie: “Do you realize that whenever you don’t want to do something and we make you do it anyway that you end up loving it?”

Hadley (sheepishly): “Yes.”

We still didn’t let her climb to the top.

This was one of my favorite photos I took as we were wandering back to the car. This shot of Kenosha Pass should be an album cover. The title would be “they whined about going and we couldn’t drag them away.”

 

Filed Under: Bode, Colorado, Family travel, Hadley, hiking, Humor, Jamie, travel

It’s #BackToSki Week!

September 22, 2014 By

Dog sledding Breck!

Sure, I’m posting about fall this week but I’m dreaming about winter!

My friend Mara from Mother of All Trips asked me to participate in her Back to Ski Week at Pit Stops for Kids.  All this week, we’ll be sharing tips on packing and planning your family’s ski vacation, information about preseason deals, and chances to win great prizes.

She asked me to share my reasons why skiing Breckenridge is a perfect family vacation. Be sure to read about our awesome trip last winter–everything from dog sledding to skiing to shopping.

To learn more, like Back to Ski on Facebook, follow on Twitter, or visit www.backtoski.com and sign up for the email newsletter.

Oh, and don’t forget to#Backtoski – because it can’t snow soon enough!

Filed Under: Colorado, Family travel, travel

Colorado’s breath of fresh air at Alderfer/Three Sisters

September 20, 2014 By

Today was like a breath of fresh air. After our month-long road-trip to Canada in July, I needed a break from traveling and we have become relative homebodies as we’ve fallen into our back-to-school routine with Bode’s soccer, Hadley’s volleyball, me coaching another volleyball team, church activities and poor Jamie working all the time.

Even though we had a busy morning with games, the fall weather was 70-degree perfection and I bribed the kids that they could skip chores if they came to play with me in the mountains that afternoon.

This is also known as being a bigger kid than your kids.

So, while Jamie watched the BYU football game and worked, we headed to the hills. One of our favorite areas to explore is Alderfer/Three Sisters Park in Evergreen, Colo., which is a gorgeous 30-minute drive from our house. Fall colors are beginning to emerge and my gosh if our explorations didn’t make the three of us exuberantly happy. I don’t think we realized how much we needed that adventure until we started doing it.

Though we enjoy hiking the extensive network of trails, what we love most at Alderfer/Three Sisters is bouldering on the steep granite quartz blocks that are piled all around the park.  I’d be lying if it doesn’t make me a bit nervous for safety reasons but today, we achieved summit firsts on various formations and had a blast!! Hadley, as always, was our mountain goat while Bode was initially cautiously adventurous, weighing various drops as “Hmmm, it seems a bit risky.”

And me? I rested from climbing at one point and was just content to watch the kids explore. Until, that is, Hadley accused me of “needing to be more like J.D.’s Grandma.”

Now, normally when someone accuses you of being a grandma, they’re insulting you but she was goading me on to become like J.D.’s hardcore grandma who was a butt-kicker as we climbed the Great Sand Dunes National Parks’ highest peak.

I wanna be just like her in my 70s.

Hadley’s fuzzy picture of one of many mountain bluebirds

We discovered hidden pools in the rocks.  Bode bravely role-played he was on American Ninja Warrior’s Mount Midoriyama as he leaped over crevasses. Hadley squealed at the influx of mountain bluebirds on their namesake trail. We acted out Y-M-C-A as our shadows projected onto our craggy movie screen. The afternoon sky burned blue and gold leaves whispered in the wind as we climbed our granite islands amidst a sea of Ponderosa pine and meadows.

After a couple of hours, Hadley was just getting warmed up and could have explored all day but I tempted them with ice cream and she took the bait for the second time that day (no chores and ice cream?)

Evergreen was bustling with activity and prior to getting our ice cream, we opted to stop into Seasonally Yours Evergreen Taffy Co. and Fresh Fudge for the first time. We spent an hour exploring this colorful, funky and fun shop that had everything from toys to novelty items to candy to the most gorgeous decorations.

After Hadley and Bode devoured birthday cake fudge and pumpkin ice cream, we raced down the serpentine Bear Creek Canyon with windows down, music blasting and the kids’ feet out the window.

Dare I say it was the perfect afternoon?

As we drove into Denver, we passed one of the few places we have yet to explore in Green Mountain. Hadley queried, “Mom, why haven’t we hiked there?”

My heart sang a little more because of her love for the outdoors. It doesn’t matter where I am in the world, if I see a trail all I want to do is climb it.

And today we achieved some incredible summits.

 

Filed Under: Bode, Colorado, Family travel, Hadley, hiking, Humor, outdoors Tagged With: ,

On raising the class flirt

September 17, 2014 By

Last spring during Hadley’s class camping trip to the Sand Dunes, I learned a little somethin’: Hadley is that girl who likes to tease the boys.

I was never that girl. In fact if there was a boy I liked, I was so nervous around them that I’d usually resort to corporal punishment. As you can imagine, that made me realllly popular with the boys.

It’s no wonder I didn’t get married until my 30s.

But much to our mortification, Hadley has that teasing and flirting thing down in fifth grade.

The other day, I saw her swipe J.D.’s (the cutest boy in class) backpack and dump it on a pile of manure.

Her defense? “He did it to my skirt!”

Then, her new teacher actually had to issue a ban on her putting grasshoppers down the boys’ shirts. We had a good talking to about appropriate behavior and I thought we had gotten through to her.

But then came the kicker the other day. “Hadley was pinching my butt today,” tattled a boy in our carpool.

I couldn’t believe it but later that night, we had another chat.

“Is it true you’re pinching boys’ butts?”

“You told me to stop putting grasshoppers down people’s shirts. But you didn’t tell me to stop pinching their butts.”

Her teenage years might just do me in.

Filed Under: Hadley, Humor

When your daughter conspires with the enemy

September 15, 2014 By

I went through two horrendously awkward years. The unfortunate thing about it was I had no idea just how goofy I looked. In fact, I thought I was Queen Bee and gosh darn it if I wasn’t at the top of my class in academics and sports in fifth and sixth grade.

It’s just my appearance that was severely lacking.

Frizzy hair? Check.

Geek glasses? Check.

Tacky ’80s clothes? Check.

I have justifiably burned most pictures from those years but my brothers have held onto a few gems for blackmail purposes (my brother Jade posted the above picture on Facebook a couple of years ago).

During my courtship with Jamie, I lived in Salt Lake City while he was in Denver.  When we got engaged, Jade dug into his secret stash and sent one of said Horrendous Pictures to Jamie. And being the horrid person that he is, he enlarged one of them, attached a “Welcome Home” sign and taped it to the front door the first time I ever came to his condo.

Jamie claims he could hear my blood-gurgling scream from the hallway.

When I was in Calgary over the summer, I went through some old boxes containing church manuals and magazines. I was thrilled when I discovered this treasure that was given to my mom by her beloved mother.

I love the inscription; Grandma always had such beautiful handwriting.

“Dear Chris, I hope you enjoy the book for your family home evening lessons. Love, Mother.”

My family loves snuggling up and reading the scriptures every night so I asked my mom if I can could carry on this tradition. What I love about this book is it is beautifully illustrated but also contains real scriptural passages (versus being summarized/paraphrased). I think it’s so important for kids to learn to understand scriptural language vs. just the stories because there is power and a strong spirit behind it.

So, what does this have to do with Hadley? As we were settling down to read the scriptures, I discovered something inserted into the book lo-and-behold, it was my seventh grade class picture. I was at the tail end of the geek years–I’d chopped my hair and the following year I got contact lenses so I was almost quasi-cool.

I won’t mention the trauma of how my mom liked my asymmetrical cut so much she got the identical style.

Hadley squealed, grabbed the picture and said, “I MUST DO SOMETHING WITH THIS!”

Even my sweet Bode turned against me. “Did you really look like that?”

I only wish I was dressed up for Halloween, Dude.

All was forgotten until I returned to my bedroom and discovered Hadley’s creation.

Now I’m just waiting for Fat Kitty to turn against me.

Filed Under: Bode, Hadley, Humor, Jamie

The Death of a Giant Pumpkin

September 12, 2014 By

My life has been such a whirlwind. Returning from a month in Canada. Family in town. Starting school the next week. Getting sick. Crazy schedules. Seriously, last night we had the kids’ piano lessons, Hadley had Activity Days, Bode had Scouts, she had a volleyball game and a school disco dance that night while I had an event at the church.

How do families of more than two kids juggle it all?

I realized the other day that I neglected to give an update on Jamie’s pumpkin season. Sadly stated: it’s over.

On the day Bode got baptized in August, Jamie’s grower group did their annual patch tour where they caravan around the city looking at each other’s pumpkins. It’s a highly-anticipated event but this year brought some bad news Jamie had long suspected: his pumpkins “Bo” and “Lucille” had developed yellow vine disease. Though they both had a great start, they never really took off and then stopped growing altogether.

“Bo” in happier days. A gorgeous pumpkin!

Tissue tests came back stating that the plants had low nitrogen but then yellow leaves started popping up, which means doomsday for giant pumpkin growers.

So he pulled the plants and started soil prep for 2015.  There will be no pumpkin parties, though he is buoyed up by the fact that the kids’ pumpkins (which are grown in another area of the yard) remain unscathed.  We’ll call that Jamie’s silver lining.

Just don’t mention the color yellow.

Filed Under: Jamie, pumpkins

When you’re begging to be sent to timeout

September 10, 2014 By

We’ve had a roller-coaster history with timeout.

During Hadley’s obstinate stage (ages 18 months-4 years) it was her second home. What a lovely dwelling that corner by the laundry room has become since we added Fat Kitty’s kitty littler box to the mix four years ago.

Talk about the ultimate punishment.

Since Bode is Mr. “Do What Is Right,” he didn’t have any marathon sessions in timeout but on the rare occasion he landed in the Corner of Shame, he was so broken about disobeying us that he would just sob.  Have you ever tried to discipline a sensitive kid? Trust me, you come out feeling like you’re the bad guy.

We really haven’t used timeout as punishment in a really long while because, for the most part, both kids are pretty well-behaved and there are certainly more effective ways of disciplining them as they grow older.

The other day, Hadley did something mean to Bode and instinctively, I ordered her to timeout. You know, for old time’s sake.

Timeout?” she scoffed. “Aren’t I a little bit old for timeout?”

“You’re right, you just lost technology time.”

“I take it back. Timeout sounds just fine.”

Filed Under: Bode, Hadley, Humor

The bright side of being a slob

September 9, 2014 By

Blurry Bode trying to keep me from taking a picture of his messy room.

For the most part, we keep our house tidy.

However, encouraging the kids to keep their rooms clean is a losing battle with the exception of making their beds, which they’re pretty good at doing most of the time.

Their actual rooms are another matter. Bode is the messiest and isn’t allowed to have any technology time until his homework is done and room is clean. This works great in the summer when I’m more lax on our schedule but during the school year, I only let him play video games twice a week.

Which means his room is only clean for a very small window twice a week.

The other night as I was putting him to bed, I commented on his messy room.

He carefully looked around, shrugged his shoulders and said, “At least you have a pathway to my bed.”

Filed Under: Bode, Humor

Our New Tradition: Labor Day Pancake Contest Eating Party!

September 7, 2014 By

I love throwing parties. It really started years ago with our annual pumpkin party and has grown to dinner groups, 4th of July bashes and then a few weeks ago, Hadley and Bode convinced me to invite a bunch of their church friends over for a night of movies, pizza and ghosts in the graveyard.

For Labor Day, the kids and I thought it would be fun to get some people together to do a pancake-eating-contest-breakfast so sent an email to some families to see if they were in town. Most of them were and so our house was flooded with eight Mormon families. If you’ve seen ‘em you know they have a lot of kids, which translates into a lot of fun.

Pancake Par-tay

 

Some of the men-folk

The women-folk

Last fall, the kids participated in their first pie-eating contest. Though the experience was hilarious, eating an entire pie was over-the-top so we thought doing the same challenge with a few pancakes would be a lot more feasible.

Here’s my sordid history with pancake-eating. When I was a wee Canadian lassie, my two brothers and I were very competitive. Oh wait, nothing has changed. So, one Saturday we challenged each other to a contest to see who could the most pancakes. For once in my life, I dominated, even beating out my brother who was four years my senior. I don’t remember how many I ate.

But I do remember how many I threw up afterward and it was All. Of. Them.

No lie: I couldn’t eat pancakes for 10 years after that.

For our First Annual Labor Day Pancake Contest Eating Party, the ladies went first. Yes, you will note my daughter is the only one who chose not to cover up her clothes.

Apparently, her strategy worked because she won.

Though I’m not sure if she looked like a winner.#She’sGonnaBlow

I had high hopes for the boys. Bode has an awesome group of friends so imagine my shock/dismay when I learned several of them had already started eating and didn’t want to participate.

“I prefer to eat with a fork,” said his friend Noah. What 8-year-old boy even says that?

I practically had to drag the few remaining boys down there but they sure loved it once they dove in.

Though Bode put in a good effort, his friend Carson barely beat him and even had a smile on his face doing it.

We had an all-you can-eat category and my friend Eva’s teen Rory dominated by eating something like 17 pancakes. Sadly, I did not photograph the evidence, probably because he was passed out in a corner somewhere.

We have invited a new family in our ward to several of our recent fetes and the father Craig commented to me how cool it was that we regularly open up our home as a place for all these people to come together for fun and chaos. “The party people” he called us, which kind of took me aback because it’s what we’ve always done. Growing up, my parents made our home into the place where our friends would congregate and it’s funny because Jamie once received a similar blessing that our home would be a “happy place, where our children love to bring their friends.”

I responded to Craig that it was important for me to have my kids build relationships with their church friends and I wanted to provide many extracurricular opportunities for them to have good, clean fun. I had fabulous neighborhood friends growing up and I’m still close with all of them. But during the teenager years, like many teens, they experimented with a lot of wild things and being the designated driver grew tiresome. Of course, I want my kids to have friends in all walks of life but there’s nothing like having friends who share your same morals and values.

Like stuffing your face with pancakes.

 

Filed Under: holidays, LDS
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