Birthday Cakes - The Psycho Clown

We are anything but professional Cake Decorators, nevertheless out children still ask us to make cakes. Over the years we have produced many certain types; Barbies, Purses, Monsters, Towers, Chinese walls, Cars, Trucks, etc. Below are some examples.

The Motorcycle Hill climb for C.

This was actually for Scouts

Of all the years, this has been one of our favorites. He wanted an abominable snowman who was attacking the others snowmen and little Bears (In the Pretzel hands). It didn't quite work out. But S loved it! He proclaimed it instead, a psycho clown snowman!!!

He wanted it to look like it was on fire.

He always keeps life fun and interesting.

The last/First ride?

Every year, when the first snow falls, I try to do one last ride. This year, or I should say season, was a little different however. Because the temperatures were so mild and there was a lack of snow, we continued to ride through November and December. Last week I even was able to do two night rides, wearing only a long sleeve jersey and long pants, that is crazy!!

This year the first snowfall, that stopped biking (maybe, as it was so minimal) , didn't happen until January 7, 2012. So I rode from Timpanogos park up racecourse to the "altar" (the pile of rocks in the first picture), Down crank to Beginning of Dragon's back then dropped into Johnson's Hole and back down to the parkway trail and my car, about 9 miles overall. Not long, but long for January 6th.

This picture is looking down into "Johnson's Hole" as it is called. This is a newer trail we just recently found and is a fantastic addition to the trail network at the mouth of Provo canyon.

Utah is such a fabulous place to live. Within one hour of our home there lies, Payson canyon (black hawk, Bennie), Spanish fork canyon (Three fork loop, Monk, Strawberry ridge), American Fork Canyon (Ridge, Ant's knoll, Tibble fork) Corner canyon, Lambert...Etc. Within two hours there is Price, The San Rafael Swell and  Salt lake valley. Within 3-4 hourse lies the world famous Moab with all it has to offer and St. George/Hurricane with what some regard as the best trail in the United States, Gooseberry Mesa and it's twin, little Creek, among many other greats (Guacamole, Slickrock swamp, Grafton, Zen, etc).

People travel around the world to ride these trails. Trails which grace the cover of multiple magazines regularly. Bike tests are done there. Outerbike is held in Moab. MBA action devotes entire photo sections just to Moab because they receive so many pictures from there.

And we can ride it almost any time we want.

Yes Utah is quite a place for the Mountain Biker or Outdoor adventurer.

I am glad to call it home. 



New Years Eve's Kokopelli ride

It is rare to have good biking on New Year's Eve. Moab occasionally has lower level trails rideable, St. George may have a few of our non-favorites and other than that, locally, there just isn't much available.

We have been wanting to explore the Kokopelli trail system near Grand Junction Colorado for some time. So with the weather holding, Guthrie wanting to test his new Christmas bike  and the trails in decent condition we decided to head down Saturday morning at 4 A.M.

The trail system around Loma (near Grand Junction/Fruita) is quite expansive. We wanted to ride as much as possible so we hit Mary's Loop, Horsethief, Steve's Loop, Lion's Loop, Mack's Ridge and returned on Moore fun.

The views are gorgeous with the river, the red rocks and the light dusting of snow.

Testing out the suspension and seatpost that drops at the touch of a button.

Mack's Ridge, the trail follows the Rim. The climb up was a steep fire road, but the sweet singletrack on top and the descent to the bottom was worth it.

The look out off Moore Fun or Mack's Ridge, I forget. The day began windy but by afternoon we only had a long sleeve shirt and leg warmers. Actually a great day for riding.

This is a section of trail on Moore Fun, or as another rider put it; "ain't moore fun". It stood out in my mind because I was on a hard tail (no rear suspension) and it was a little rough, but still worth it. The ride/hike in the snow up moore fun was a little tedious as the trail is steep, rocky and had about 4 inches of snow on it. But the riding at the top and descent was worth it.

Grand Junction is worth trying out. With Tabegauche and these trails it could easily provide an enjoyable and long day of riding. Plus, any time you can ride 25 miles on New Years Eve in 30-40 degree weather it is worth it.

A



Christmas Eve 2011

Christmas Eve is probably my Kids Favorite part of the Christmas season. We have a candle light dinner complete with Christmas Crackers. (A tradition that we have continued from my Nana Gillings)

The Crackers or Poppers as we call them are filled with small trinkets, toys, candy and a crown which is to be worn during dinner. The name cracker or popper comes from the fact that inside is a noisemaker that pops when pulled apart.

After the carnage, complete with Crowns.

The popper is tied to a small present which is placed underneath each individual's chair. When they have finished their meal they can open the present. This year we all got bey blades.

After dinner we had a bey blade competition. Four rounds, four winners then the winners played each other. Mom won!! What did she get?

A small Real Salt Lake Semi-truck..definitely worth it.

The tree.

After dinner and the competition everyone gets new pajamas and they open gifts from one another. With the gift, each person explains why that person is important to them and why they love them.

Following this we read the Luke 2 and discuss the Savior's life.

This year we blocked off the hall and they had three rooms to hang out in Christmas eve night.