Thanksgiving in St. George 2012

We spent Thanksgiving in St. George this year with the Browers. It was awesome, like always. We played pickle-ball every night, we razored every day, the boys went biking and golfing, us girls went running, and there was a movie every night.  We always come home from St. George exhausted from all the activities. 

My favorite thing this trip was probably Ellie saying "Happy ThanksKevin" to us Thanksgiving morning.  She also says "Kevinly Father" in her prayers (and so does my other niece).  Who knew Kevin was such an interchangeable word?

Oh my long limbs.  They get me every time.

You can blame this blurry picture on Kevin.  He was done with taking pictures.

lake powell's best kept secret...

...is October. For those of you who haven't been to Lake Powell in October, shame on you!

It's the best time of year to go. 

 The crowds are gone.  

The heat is gone.

And the water is crystal clear. 

We loved being able to actually need blankets while sleeping.

The girls loved the water, despite it being a few degrees colder.  This especially didn't deter Kevin in his spear fishing this trip.  He loved actually needing his wet suit.  He fished all. day. long.  

Well, he did have some expectations to meet.  He needed to catch enough fish so we could all eat fish tacos one night.  So I guess the pressure was on.  

But he did not disappoint us.  He caught plenty of bass, and one catfish (which was surprisingly good).  We even had leftovers.  

He is too good, that fisher of mine.

Having that new paddle board of mine was a dream this trip.  The water was so amazingly clear that you could see 30 feet down in some places.  It was like Mexico down there people!

  

That paddle board was a great help in scouting out fishing areas for Kevin.  I found schools of fish.  I've never seen fish like carp or stripers in schools.  I might have deemed myself 'The Fish Whisperer' while on this trip.

My maiden voyage on my new board.

Hadley loved going out and watching Kev spear fish.  She would tell me to paddle out to "watch Kenin catch da fishies."

Oh, that shark in the background, don't worry, thats Kevin.

That was Kevin the entire trip.  Out fishing.  To be honest, I didn't see much of him during the day.  He was having way too much fun.
And also, look at that water!

Ah I hate those dang swimsuit wedgies!

Much better. A wedgie-free swimsuit.

My doo-rag dad.

Post mask-wearing Kevin.

Check out those yummy legs!

Chasing the ducks.
Any animal Afton sees, she makes a grunting-like sound.  So any time she saw a bird or a duck, the grunting commenced.  That meant there was a lot of grunting at the marina.

Mt. Hood, continued...

Five days of camping is a long time with no real shower. By day four, I had had enough of the stank and told the boys to go to the lake to wash their stank off. We decided on the beautiful Trillium Lake, which surprisingly, was not cold! You would think, being below a glacier, it would be freezing. We later found out that it was only 10 feet deep in the middle so we figured that to be the reason for the unusual warmth.

Kevin recently decided he needed a new hobby (sigh) and became a certified free diver. He can now successfully hold his breath for 3 min, and dive down 65 feet with just fins, goggles and a snorkel.  He wanted to try out all his new, necessary he says, free diving gear at Trillium.  To his disappointment, it was only 10 feet deep in the deepest section.  And there were no sunken ships or treasures.

Ok and his whole outfit?  Lets just say he is making my childhood nightmare into reality.  Not cool Kevin, not cool.  I don't like you as Scuba Steve.

If you are unaware of my childhood nightmare of Scuba Steve, here is the story:  When I was little I would have a continuous dream of a man dressed in an all black wet suit (with a hood, just like Kevins), black fins, black goggles, and a black snorkel.  This crazy man would walk to the doorway of my room, covered in seaweed and all wet, breathing like Darth Vader.  He would then just sit there and stare at me.  OHhh it was a great nightmare...    

Scuba Steve.

The next day we decided to try out the local Alpine Slide.  As you can tell, the boys were excited.  You never want to get stuck behind a slowie on this slide, so you have to plan your position well.  Well since I was too busy taking pictures, I got stuck behind a little fat kid.  Not good.  I waited for him for as long as the workers would let me up top.  This did nothing.  I quickly met up with him and, no kidding, yelled "FASTER, FASTER, FASTER!!"  This didn't work.  So my ride sucked.

The popular tourist destination Timberline Lodge.  This was a part of FDR's New Deal, so it was built by the government.  

Mt. Hood, part 3

Day three I thought a good long hike was in order. We all decided on a hike to Umbrella falls. It was definitely a good hike. It was probably five miles up and back. The boys were dying the entire time.  I was making them hike at a pretty brisk pace and they weren't too happy about it. They decided that even though online it said it was 'Easy', they decided it was 'Mal-Easy.' I guess it's a new definition which really means 'Difficult.'

The falls were definitely worth it.  It was a gorgeous water fall.  And you couldn't beat the weather.  It was 70 degrees, sunny and blue skies.  Combine that with walking through the Mt. Hood National Forest with my man and you can't find a happier Mal.

This is the view I get every time I go to pick the boys up from their morning of skiing.  Gangsta'.

"We need a rest Mal.  And snacks."

"Kev, take a picture of me with the falls."  And this is what I have to work with.  Goober.

"We need a kissy shot!"

Watching the falls.

Mt. Hood, part 2

On one day, after I had done my morning trail run to Mirror Lake (2 miles up, 2 miles down!), the boys wanted to come home early so we could go into Portland.  Mitchell wanted to check out the well known Burnside skate park.  I also needed to buy more books since the 2 books I brought I had devoured on the drive there.

When we arrived to Portland, we quickly realized trying to find parking in the middle of downtown was going to be impossible.  Well, free parking that is.  I made Kevin pull into a $7 pay to park lot.  This was really hard for him.  He was raised to be frugal!!  But we made Mitchell pay for it because he was the whole reason we were trying to find parking.

When we walked up to Burnside, we realized this was no normal skate park; it was a scare park.  Some  weirdos threw a rock at us when we walked up.  I just glared at them.  Yeah, It probably scared them.

You should have seen the people that were here.  One homeless looking guy was sitting in a car seat and yelling "BUUUURRNNNSSSIDE!" the entire time.  A group of skaters were passing a joint around.  An eight year old girl (or so) was drinking a beer and trying to make her dog drink it (who wouldn't).  Everyone looked haggard and life-less.  

They were all incredibly good skaters though.  All the boys were completely impressed.  When Kevin saw the park and saw the skaters, he put down his board and very seriously said "I am not skating that."  It made me laugh.  Mitchell skated it and did pretty good.  It was a humbling experience for him though, since he is normally the best skater in any park here.

We then found a Barnes & Noble nearby which was in a mall.  Yes, I got four boys to go into a mall with me.  It was a spectacular scene.  Such good sports. 

The view at Mirror Lake.

I found a mini-pinecone on my run.

On the Burnside Bridge.

This alone scared me.

There goes Mitchell!

The boys watching in awww.