The Family That Mountain Bikes Together...

Stays together!  We live in one of the best mountain bike places in the country.  Tons of places right here in Midway, and then the amazing Park City trails only 30 minutes away.  I have dreams of going on family mountain bike rides.  How do I plan on making that happen?  By starting them young.  If I get them to start things while they're young then when they're older they'll just keep right on doing them.  That's my secret plan anyway.  By the way, I fully realize that if my plan really works I will be the worst mountain biker in the family.  I'll have to take one for the team:)

Anyhow, Jake does this cool mountain bike race series, and yesterday they had a kids race.  It was awesome.  Zack was amazing and so was Kate (even though she was on her super lame bike).  The best part about it?  They loved it.  (My plan is working).  Sage even wanted to race so we let her ride the trail a bit on her boot scoot bike.  She thought she was so cool.  

Funny story about Sage and her bike (another one).  Kate lost her helmet so she had to wear Sage's.  Thus, Sage was without helmet.  We were riding to the start of the race on a little paved trail.  There was a bit of a downhill, but I thought Sage could handle it.  I think she could have, but she got behind Kate and didn't know how to turn.  So what happened?  She wiped out and totally smacked her head on the pavement.  The one time she's not wearing a helmet.  Ahhh!  Not to worry, she was fine.  But that's why she looks a little worse for the wear in her picture.

Notice how many kids are totally excited to mountain bike in these pictures.  Another reason you should all be jealous that we live here.  Did I mention that we have a house for sale right now?  You too could experience the bliss of living in the Heber Valley:)

Ready to race!

Sage and her boot scoot.

Our mountain biking family!

Kate and her cute friends.

Zack on the right.

Kate needed a little push

She did it!

Zack, the cool mountain biker dude.

The Camping Trip That Never Was

Still in the truck

See?  They're smiling.

Sage chillin' at the campfire

Our pretend camping trip

We decided to go camping Wednesday night because I had to work Friday.  We were hoping to leave at 1:30, instead left at 5:30.  Oh well.  That's how we roll.  We were determined to get out of here.  We got to the campground that was supposedly in the trees by Strawberry Reservoir.  Not so.  No trees in sight.  And the campground was basically concrete and cement.  Not fun.  So we decided to venture up a dirt road and see what we could find.  We found a few places we could camp.  Looking back I'm not sure why we didn't stop there.  Mostly I think because fires are restricted to fire rings and our kids love a good campfire.  So we continued on towards Hobblecreek, which we didn't think was too far away.  Finally rolled in to  a campground at around 8:00pm.  This campground had trees and was by a river.  Yes!  Or not.  I forgot my purse.  No big deal, who needs a purse camping, right?  Except my purse has the checkbook and Jake only had $4 in cash.  Well, camping costs more than $4 a night.  I went to talk to the little old camp host and plead our case.  Nice guy, not really I guess.  He insisted there was nothing he could do to help us.  If we couldn't pay we couldn't stay.  Are you kidding me??!!  So we got back in the truck, continued down through the lovely town of Springville, stopped at a Wendy's for dinner, and got home at 10:00pm.  Best camping trip ever.

This would not have been quite as bad had it not been for a similar incident that occurred a couple of weeks ago.  This time it was a Friday night, we left way too late, and every camp site in the world was taken.  Again, we got home at 10:00pm, no camping accomplished.  Is this becoming a new family tradition?  Let's hope not.  I think I might throw myself off one of the cliffs we drive past if it happens again.  Miraculously, the kids seem to handle these mishaps better than Jake and I.  They just enjoy the ride and don't seem to think it odd that they end up sleeping at home and not in a tent.  Perhaps Jake and I should learn from them...

Moral of this story:  Don't go camping.  Just kidding.  Go camping, but leave before 5:00pm and have a destination in mind.  Reservations if possible.  Exploring is only allowed if you leave before 2:00pm.  And if at all possible try to go for two nights instead of one.  One night camping trips are sure a lot of work, especially if you don't do any camping:)

Oh yes, in case you're feeling extra bad for our kids (I don't blame you for this) we did take them up for a picnic and campfire/s'more making party last night.  This means we are once again good parents, or something like that.

Boise Part 3: The Reunion

Kate with the baby bird

All the cousins.  Had to do two of these because they're so cute!

Grandpa reading a bedtime story

Grandpa and the kids

The Family.  Don't look too closely.  This was at the end of the day.

The last part of our trip was the first ever Mark Spjute Family Reunion!  Hooray!  We all straggled in on Weds, Thurs, and Friday.  We had great fun and ate way too much great food.  The kids had so much fun playing together.  It brought back fond memories of playing with my cousins when I was little.  Too bad they all don't live closer.

We went to parks and more parks.  We rolled down hills, myself included.  I owe Landon a big treat for rolling over the top of him.  Sorry!  The kids swam, and swam, and swam.  They made their own marshmallow guns and shot marshmallows at each other.  Grandma's lawn will never be the same.  Kate and Bean found a baby bird on the ground.  They loved the poor bird to death.  We had a big BBQ with all of the Spjute family.  We had a shower for Alicia where she got lots of cute things and we ate more good food.  We went ice blocking on Simplot Hill.  Good fun.  Zack was a pro.  Dan said he used to think ice blocking was boring.  Not extreme death ice blocking.  Go big or go home!  (This should be our motto).  The adults managed to get away from the kids for a quick bite to eat.  We played fun games involving drawing.  Very hilarious since those with drawing skills are no longer with us.  All in all, a very fun trip.  It was good to relax and chat the day away.  Nothing better than spending time with family.

Boise Part 2: McCall

Playing on the beach

Picture taken by Kate

Off on a hike

Cutie Kate and Sagie Lou

Zack smiling in a picture!  Hallelujah!

On Monday we headed to McCall, Idaho for a few days of fun.  It was so beautiful.  Pine trees everywhere, a beautiful lake...  Loved it!  We stayed in a hotel with a pool, so the kids got plenty of swimming in.  I was able to do some trail running, Jake did some mountain biking, and we all did some hiking.  It was a perfect few days because we had plenty to do, but there was no rush so it was very relaxing.  I would definitely go back there some day.  I think Jake would love to go back in the fall when the salmon are running.  We'll see...

Boise Part 1: The Race

The kids patiently waiting for Jake

Food is so good after 4 hours of racing!

Mr Ironman!

We made it home from 10 days in Boise.  Now I'm trying to dig out and get back to 'real life'.  Yay.

We had a great time and definitely got to relax.  The mark of a good vacation I think.  The first part of the trip was all about the ironman.  And what an ironman it was.  I think the race happened to be on the day with the worst weather for the last month.  Poor Jake.  The morning of the race it was 40 degrees, raining, and windy.  There was no parking at the start so the athletes were shuttled up.  They had to spend two hours standing at the top of the reservoir in rain and wet suits.  We wanted to watch Jake swim, so we rode up in the shuttle.  I took one step outside and turned around and got back in the shuttle to ride back down.  There was no way the kids and I were going to stand out in that weather.  I was worried about Jake because it was so cold.  He made it through the swim, which I think is amazing.  They shortened the bike from 56 miles to 15 miles.  A big difference, but everyone thought they made the right decision with the weather.  The only pics I have are from the finish.  Bummer.  But he did finish!  He did a great job.  I'm proud of him for doing something that hard.  What a man!

Boise or Bust

We're headed to Boise today.  As soon as Jake gets home in fact (hopefully this is sooner than later).  The kids are so excited, and so am I really.  Jake's going the half-ironman on Saturday.  Craziness, I know.  He's going to swim 1 mile, bike 56 miles, and then run a half-marathon.  Does that sound fun to anyone?  Anyone?  Bueller?...  Hopefully he survives so that we can go to McCall on Monday.  I went there when I was little, but I don't remember.  Looks like a beautiful place for sure.

Then we come back from McCall just in time to have the first Mark Spjute Family Reunion!  Wahoo!  Why in Boise?  Well, we have lots of extended family there we get to visit.  But we're also so spread out we decided to pick some place so that Mel didn't have to drive quite so far.  We're meeting in the middle, kind of.

Anyhow, it should be good times.  I'm excited to get away and hang with the fam.  Now if Jake would just get home...

Graduation

Kate in her 'camping vest' and her first graduation cap!

The kids made it through school!  And with flying colors I might add.  Zack is headed to third grade.  This is pure craziness as I remember third grade quite well.  Now he's really going to remember all of the mistakes I make on him!  Kate is headed to first grade.  Hard to believe I'm going to have two kids in school all day.  I can't lie, I'm pretty excited to experience this new adventure.  Poor Sage is going to be so bored.  She will be in preschool a couple of days a week.  I have a huge list of things to do in the hours when I have no kids at home.  Probably Jake will turn this in to his time and I'll be doing things for him.

Anyway, Kate had a cute kindergarten graduation.  She was so excited to sing and dance for us.  We call her Cutie Kate for a reason!

Miss Independent

Sage trying to look innocent

She's off!!

Little Miss Sage (a.k.a. Miss Independent).  So cute, but so, so, so stubborn.  Its a good thing she's cute.  The poor thing thinks she's every bit as old as her siblings, thus she should be able to do what they do.  And believe me, she tries.  Let mom brush your teeth?  Yeah, right.  Do your own hair?  Why not.  She has a little stool she carries all around the house.  If something is too tall to reach, no problem, just get the stool.  She's crazy really.

Well, the other day she went a little too far - literally.  She always wants to go to school with Zack and Kate.  Its almost impossible to keep her from walking out the door with them.   On Thursday Kate and Zack headed off, Sage was right by me, so I knew she was good.  Shortly after they left she went out to ride her bike.  I should have known she had ulterior motives.  I was inside cleaning up breakfast.  I kept thinking I should check on Sage, but she knows she has to stay close to home.  I went outside to take the garbage out and there was no Sage...and her bike was gone.  This is bad.  I walked down the street a bit and couldn't see her anywhere on the whole street.  Also bad.  So I ran back home and hopped on my bike.  I finally found her cruising on her bike about a half-mile from our house.  She was almost to the dirt road that goes right to the school.  Are you kidding me?  She was so mad when I made her turn around.  She still doesn't understand what was wrong with riding her bike to school.  If Zack and Kate do it, why can't Sage?  This child might just be the death of me.

And let's not talk about what a good mom I am that she got that far before I noticed.  To my credit, she does go super fast on her bike...