August Rafting...A drop in the bucket.

I have always wanted to give this a try. I never had before. People come from around the world to raft this very river. Our backyard is so fun...I am in constant surprise and amazement at the things availble to the senses around here. Mike has spent his fair share of time guiding trips down the river in California. For me this was all new. As demonstrated by my stern face, I hated it. Just hated it. What a great day with Boxed wine, Dex and friends in boat. I cannot wait to do it again!

Canadian Turkey Eh.

It was a very important day. It was Canadian Thanksgiving! I was half joking when I told the people at the meeting we had to move it along so I could get home to turkey in the oven. Well...I must of had an energy boost because I ended up making all the recipes I had been toting around in my purse...turkey with yummy stuff on and in it, stuffing with prosciutto and onion, spaghetti squash with cinnamon and a tasty mushroom sauce for it all. Desert was wonton skins baked with appples inside. All was enjoyed under our starry new pergola! Yummo! I only wished we could have shared the evening with others!

July 2010...Santa Barbara! Old news...Delayed post.

Crazy L.A. fires. Not as crazy as the traffic...yikers.




Again we made the annual trek to San Diego. I for the AVID conference and Mike joined me apres for some fun in the sun. We decided to rent a car and drive through L.A. up to Santa Barbara. NEVER AGAIN. OH. MY. GERSH. How can people do it??? 3 Hours to go 30 miles. I kid you not. Santa Barabara was lovely though. Once we made it there!

Camper Adventures

We've been camping a few times lately...I love it. Mike is learning to love it! I mean I think he really does love it he just pretends he doesn't! We make a fire, eat, drink wine, have a coffee, sleep, hike, have coffee again. It's a pretty good way to spend 24 hours in my opinion. Dex seems to like it too.

Sundancing in Utah. July 2010.

We are so fortunate to be able to travel around and see so many awesome things. Every once and awhile you come to a place that takes your breath away...like you simply cannot be seing what you are seeing. Sundance Utah is a place like that. This is what Mr. Famous actor- Robert Redford spent his money on. He bought this mountain...but there is almost nothing there. If you look hard, you can see a giant waterfall next to the tree at the bottom middle of this picture. It gives the vastness some perspective. We hiked to these beautiful waterfalls. And this is what a great hike does to someone with a Dex! If you have one, you know how nice (and sometimes impossible) this is. Most days you would rather just throw the little fella out the window. O.K. SOME days not most.

We also went to the Ben Folds and Utah Symphony concert in Deer Valley. This video is so not good. So beware...I just wanted to be able to look at the concert over and over. It was that nice.


Oh...and I forgot to mention the reason we went...Mike earned his survey credentials in Utah!

10,000 Feet. 80,000 steps.

We packed the tent. The chairs. Wine. Snacks. We spent Saturday night under the stars. Safe and sound under a thunderstorm. We hiked All. Day. Saturday. It was totally awesome. I had my little diabetes pack and Dex to keep things in line. We made it to a river. I wanted to jump in. I didn't. Too gushing-like. Too high up. 10,00 feet. Too Fun.

The Wildflowers were well, pretty wild.

**caution..these videos are extremely lame. We must have been very tired already. We will try and do better next time.

And what about a Birthday Hike. A different dessert.

Instead of red, white and blue cake, we celebrated the Grand Weekend with a birthday hike. Way easier on the blood sugar. This is our desert. A place to beat the heat way up high. Cool in so many ways! This is our backyard. Right behind our house (well, a few miles up). Talk about a natural hanging Basket. The wildflowers were in full bloom! Oh yeah, and the rocks Rocked!