5 of my favorite people

I had a great time at snowbird playing with my niece, Greta, and my nephews, Adam, Matt, Evan and Gavin. We went swimming, played the Wii, hiked, went Temple Square, ate lots of sugar, broke the sound barrier on the Alpine Slide, rode the red and blue tram and had a great time.

Why walk when you have Holly and Owen to give you a ride. Now how did I end up with Adam, the heavier child?

Holly and Evan at Temple Square. We decided that we would both wear yellow that day.

"Holly, we have been on the Alpine Slide a hundred times, why are you so scared?"

Gavin on his first hike to Cecret Lake. Gavin is such a happy baby with the cutest smile.

Derek, Greta, and Holly walk back from the Snowbird Center for lunch.

I love this picture. I think it shows how much the cousins enjoyed each other. I love being Auntie Holly.

A Snowbird Tradition: Hiking Hidden Peak

As we do every year, a few of us hiked to the top of Hidden Peak. The beginning of the trail is at 8000ft and it is 4 miles to Hidden Peak which is at 11000 ft. My goal each year is to make it in under 2 hours. This year I hiked with my cousin Mark and his wife Stacia. We hiked in about an hour and 50 minutes. We were the only ones on the trail and the first ones on top of Hidden Peak that day (except for Snowbird employees). It was a great day to hike but windy up top. Alexis started about an hour after us and ran to the top. Then Derek rode the tram up with Evan and Greta to meet us.

Greta, Derek, Evan, Alexis, and Holly

This is part of the trail is in the Peruvian Gulch.

A shot of the SLC valley

Greta was so kind to carry my backpack for me.

Breaking the Sound Barrier on the Alpine Slide

"Oh yeah", "Holy Mamasitta", "Whoo-Hoo" are three phrases that could commonly be heard as Matt and I went speeding down the Alpine Slide. There were a couple times that Matt rode with Robert and I was by myself...It is was boring.

Evan the speed-demon and Uncle Owen come cruising down the slide while Matt chases after.

Greta feeling the need for speed with Uncle Owen.

Old man Owen making his way down the slide.

Leaving behind him traces of smoke, Adam set speed records on the slide. Since Adam is now 7 he no longer needs to ride with an adult and he did a great job on his own.

The Alpine Slide was definitely one of our favorite things to do at Snowbird. I lost count how many times we rode down. When Owen and Heidi told me it was time to go and make dinner I said okay. But two minutes later, I asked "Can I go down it just one more time."

Estes Park, CO

Grandma Ruth was visiting so we took her up to Estes Park for the weekend. It was a nice and relaxing weekend. We even got to ditch church.

When we first arrived, I was parking my car when I noticed what looked like an Elk. I thought it was a ceramic elk, a very large ceramic elk at the time share. I was looking at it when I noticed that its ears and then head thus realizing that it was not a ceramic elk. He was just relaxing before he check into his time share.

Another friendly creature. The butterfly just landed next to me.

Dad, Susan, and I enjoying the hot tub on a day that begins with S and is not Saturday. Derek and Alexis are rubbing off on us :)

Grandma Ruth, Susan, and Dad near a waterfall in Rocky National Park.

Can you guess whose sexy legs those are?

Rocky National Park

Prefontaine

Over the 4th of July, Derek, Alexis, and I went to the Prefontaine Classic in Eugene, Oregon. It was really cool to see professional runners compete and to feel the fans' energy. Although, I am not a runner, it was fun to observe this culture. Some of the pictures you may have to click on to see the image I was trying to capture; my zoom is pretty poor.

A long jumper taking flight.

Mariya Savinova winning the 800m. I remember watching her in the Olympics.

Women's Steeple Chase

Tirunesh Dibaba winning the 5000m in 14:34.07. Amazing, I am just finishing up my 1st mile in that time.

Men's 1500.

Another Long Jumper

Walter Dix just beating Tyson Gay in the 200m. He ran it in 19.72 seconds.