DIRTY DASH

Warning- This may get a little dirty!!!
As with some of our adventures we do, we do get some nay Sayers. This was the case with THIS adventure. The Dirty Dash is a 5k run in the mud with obstacles to conquer. They hold the event at the Olympic venue Soldier Hollow, in Heber. We joined in the madness and headed to the starting line. The gun fired and we were off, up the first muddy hill while irrigation sprinlers dowsed us with the cold water. Soon we embraced the whole getting muddy thing and started trying to get as muddy as we could.

After mile 1 the nay sayers admitted they were wrong and in fact it was a lot of fun. (refreshing to hear i must say) Along the way there were hay bails to climb over, pipes to crawl through, wood walls to climb over, tires to run through and a giant blow up slide to go down. At the end before reaching the finish line you had to run, crawl or wade through the "pig pen". A big pool of water and mud. Alas we crossed the finish line. 

Now for the clean up, not so much fun. You get to spray off with the ice cold mountain water and freeze!! You can leave your muddy shoes there and they clean and give them to people in need in Africa, of course Madelyn was all over that. So much fun was had that we started planning our family's attire to wear for the next years Dirty Dash.

End of School

The end of the school year brought many fun concerts to see, Jessica's graduation from 6th grade and Danielle's graduation from High School.

To celebrate the end of the school the kids had a little bon fire to burn their paper work. I guess it was a sort of cleansing. They had fun doing it and eating smores.

BIRTHDAY'S

Isaac turned 19 so i had a few of his friends over to help me celebrate it with him. I think they just came because i was feeding them an of course they are hungry teenagers.

SADIE-
Is now a teenager!!! My little girl is growing up.

Did Brad "SURVIVE" his Birthday?

The reality show Survivor was filmed in Nicuagra this past season and we had just been there and the finale was on his Birthday so I thought it would be perfect to have a "Survivor" Birthday party. We ate like typical survivors by having rice except we had shish kabobs to go along with it. We had challenges to compete in and even redemption island!! Some of the challenges were doing puzzles, bouncing balls into cups, target shooting, ping pong and a ball toss. After a challenge we held a vote to see who got kicked off. The winner of the challenge couldn't be voted off.  If you were chosen, you got sent to redemption island and could have the chance to re-enter the game at some point. In the end our two finalist were Hannah and Reagan. At the final challenge Hannah had about a 4 min lead on Reagan but his perseverance to not give up prevailed in the end.

Brad and I did get to go up to the Montage at Deer Valley to stay over and have a nice dinner to celebrate his big day. I think he did survive all the fun!!


Jessica- Turned a big 12 years old this year.

HAPPENINGS

MOTHER'S DAY
I'm a lucky mamma. My sweet kiddies brought me my FAVORITE breakfast in bed!! (That was meant seriously) it was even complete with some flowers picked from the yard. We continued the festivities in Logan with the rest of the family. It was a great day.

derek, Derek, DEREK!!
Aye yai yai. I ask, does he always have to be getting injured? The answer apparently is YES!! His lacrosse season got cut short due to a broken collar bone in the Logan High game. Bountiful was behind by 4 points up until the last quarter when they came from behind to win! Near the end of the game Derek took a good hit to his shoulder. He ran off and immediately fell to the ground but no one noticed since the game was so intense. He managed to get his equipment off and determine it was broken. It was broke in two places with a bone fragment hanging on for dear life. No fun for him. In the last six months he has had a broken ankle, a broken hand, H1N1, and now a broken collar bone. Maybe he should be bubble wrapped! Isaac also suffered a concusion skateboarding  shortly after Derek's incident. I think the division of child welfare will be contacting me soon!

Dancing Queens

SADIE - MADDY - DANIELLE

Sadie and Maddy were both on competition dance teams this year. They had several competitions and did very well in them. One was even in Logan.

Sorry for the not great videoing!!

DANIELLE - got on her dancing shoes for the Sr. Prom her date was Adam Huellete. His dad actually works at Maverik.

Let the fun begin

We have FINALLY started our yard project!! And a PROJECT it has become. Plans had to be submitted before a City council meeting. Crazy I say, this is just a back yard, any who getting all the licenses and approvals has caused quite the delay. So we wait and hope this project will be finished by August. I'll keep you updated as time goes on.
It all began with moving dirt and bringing in truck loads of HUGE boulders!! Paul our "rockscaper" was incredible. How he could manage these heavy boulders into steps, fountains, retaining walls and a slide was amazing.

Framing up the pool and pool houses was next on the docket. The pool frame is all done in re bar. 

                                     

The pool houses were getting put up in a timely manner, yay. We were deciding on colors and materials to be used inside. We decided to not match the house but to do something fun. We liked more of a "South American" feel and the bold colors they use. So on went the bold burnt orange/red, not sure the neighbors are a fan of it but oh well. The problem became the roofs and the material to roof it. Our original plan of metal roofing became way to expensive so we had to rethink it and came up with a tile. Meanwhile they gunnited the pool and we had to spray it down with water for a few days so it wouldn't dry to quickly. When it cured they started laying the tiles inside.

While the back yard was in full motion the front yard was being worked on as well. Pavers were being laid to make sidewalks, a new driveway was being poured and a water feature was taking shape!!

The next step for the pool was to put the finish coat on. We chose a beadcrete which is like tiny glass beads. Once they put this finish on they have to fill the pool within 2 days. If anyone is wondering it's past August, the time they said we could potentially be done and swimming! They are FINALLY filling the pool and we are hope full that we will be swimming soon. Well it took 8 days to fill!! Sadie couldn't wait for it to be heated so she braved the 60 degree water and got in.

We started to heat the pool and encountered a fiasco. Luckily some of the workers smelt gas and notified the gas company. The gas company showed up and said it would be handled in a few hours. So I ran a few errands and came home to a "caution" taped up house and warning to stay out. I'll put this in a nutshell. We had so much gas in our ground that we got kicked out of our house for two days and it took the gas company that long to pump out the gas with three of their BIG trucks. The scariest part of all is that I was lighting candles and the workers were cutting pavers with sparks flying everywhere. It really was  a miracle we didn't blow the house up. The pool finally got heated and we had it open for one week before we closed it all down for winter. So with that said this entry will be continued next year, since that is when it will be finished..

Chile

San Pedro-Atacama
Our arrival into Chile brought us to the Atacama desert which is in the northern part of Chile. We were with the adventure company Explora. They had a little debriefing explaining the nature of their set up and after hearing this Brad and I decided to pay a little visit to the gift shop. You see, as we set out for this trip not a lot of information was given to us as to what we would be doing exactly. (thanks DW I got some new clothes). Explora is an active exploration lodge that you sign up for daily activities and a guide takes you on them. So we signed up for a few hikes the next day and decided to get to bed early since we had been traveling for the last 24 hours.  Three of those hours were sitting on the Tarmac in Atlanta while a major lightening storm rolled by!!

As could only happen to Brad and I, we woke up late and had just 3 min to get to our meeting point. Brad called the front desk to see if they could make a little something for us to eat along the way, since we'd be hiking all morning. Once we got to our destination our guide gathered us for some instruction. He took one look at us and asks in puzzlement do you have a backpack? We didn't of course. So he politely offers to carry our water bottles. We only had those because they gave them to us when they picked us up. Did I mention we were very ill prepared!!

Looking out at this barren rocky dry land it was hard to believe we were in for anything that interesting because desert was all you could see for miles and miles. It reminded us a lot of southern Utah. Two little shacks at the beginning of our hike belonged to some shepherds.  The guide explained that they belonged to the last two shepherds in the area and they happen to be 80 year old women!! They hike in and out of this canyon and sleep on the hard earth. Once they die there will be no more native shepherds on the land. So off we go to hike what is known as the cactus canyon. We did discover a holding pen for their animals.

Sometimes it doesn't rain here for 10-15 years. This last year they had 5 hours of rain in one day which produced these beautiful flowers. Our guide had never seen these in all his years.

At the end of the adventure they set up a little picnic with juices, sodas, fruits and nuts for you to enjoy.

We took a quick jaunt into town and I, of course, found the cemetery and a really cool cactus door, the things i love finding while traveling!!

Later that afternoon we had another adventure out to the salt flats, similar to ours in Utah, to view the sunset and pelican refuge. Along our way we stopped at this little village that was founded by the Inca's. They still use a dam that was constructed by them centuries ago.

We concluded our night with a visit to the largest privately owned observatory in the world which had a great view of Saturn. Several miles away is the ALMA Project, the largest array of telescopes in the world.  That area was chosen because the telescopes are only obstructed by cloud cover for less then 30 days out of the year and no light pollution.


Our last adventure here in the Atacama was a hike to the Valley of Death. They are enormous sand dunes. We acted like kids and ran down the mountain of sand.

We flew back to Santiago and drove to Valparaiso, one area Brad served while on his mission. It was great seeing this with Brad. We had some neat experiences. One was finding his papito, the husband of the family he used to live with. On Sunday we drove to punchuncavi and had a fabulous day visiting with Brads' mamita and other people he associated with while on his mission. These people are truly happy with what little they have, even when the floors of their homes are dirt! Since i couldn't understand the conversations I spent my time wondering how they swept the floor under the table.

EASTER ISLAND
Another flight to get out to what is known as the most remote island in the world!! It is known as Rapa Nui by the islanders. The history of Easter Island is rich and controversial. Its inhabitants have endured famines, epidemics, civil war, slave raids, colonialism, and near deforestation; its population declined precipitously more than once. Again, we were with the Explora outfit.

So after arriving we decided to do the "Cliffs and Caves" hike. Because this is a volcanic island there are several tunnels and caves that were formed by gas bubbles when the eruption took place. The caves were used for shelter and to house sheep. This island was once covered with a gigantic palm trees that are no longer on the earth today. There are many theories of what might have happened to them but nothing is for sure.

The following are pictures of the early inhabitants way "housing". The bow shape is a foundation for their house. The walled circle was to hold the animals. Smaller stones were used for fire.

The island is also known for the more than 1,000 Moai that are there. These are massive statues that were carved out of volcanic ash that had transformed into rock. They were placed on top of a sacred platform were they faced their village. They are said to represent ancestors and when they would carve another one they would cut the existing one down and use it as the base for new ones. The eyes were  done last and were made out of coral and obsidian rock. (only one eye has ever been found). It's mind boggling to understand how they moved these heavy statues from the quarry to atop the platforms and even miles away. There are many speculations but no one really knows. One of the most interesting facts about the Moai's is that when a french expedition arrived in 1772 ALL of them had been toppled over. Again no one knows exactly why, but they speculate that tribes on the island fought each other and did it to represent victory. At the height of this culture there were 15-20 thousand people on the island and at one point got down to 100+. Today 4,500 hundred people live there and the horse population out numbers the people 5 to 1!! The history of this society is fascinating but leaves so many questions unanswered, partly because it comes  from many different oral traditions.

Most settlements were located on the coast and moai were erected along the coastline, watching over their descendants in the settlements before them, with their backs toward the spirit world in the sea.

The only moai with eyes!! They claim they had eyes because of white coral fragment found near the statues.

Petroglyph of a turtle and the most moais together - 15!!

A circular stone fence calls attention to the importance of this flawlessly round, magnetic rock that many locals still believe contains spiritual power (according to legend, the islanders’ first king, Hotu Matu’a, arrived with the stone). Its name – Te Pito O Te Henua – literally translates as “navel of the world,” perhaps indicating how the first settlers saw their land. When holding a compass on top of the rock it will not point to north but held a few inches above the rock it will point north, of course Brad pulled out his iphone to test this theory out and sure enough it was true.

Rano Ranaku, a dead volcano that served as the quarry where Rapa Nui built their moai. There are about three hundred unfinished moai in this quarry, the largest one would have stood 60 feet tall.  Though no one is sure how they were moved and throughout the whole island you can find Moais on their way to where ever their final alter was suppose to be.

The only kneeling moai and a view of "the 15" near the top of the quarry.

Another little hike takes you to the other side of the mountain, once at the top your surprised to find a lake. It is a beautiful place and of course there are more moai.

Bird Man Crater- we didn't actually get to see this because of the rain but drove by it. The legend is quite fascinating. The chief of a tribe picked his best competitor to participated in this competition if he won that chief would become king and the "prize" for the competitor was a virgin woman! To know if she was a virgin they would give her a little looksy then decide if she was. If they decided she wasn't they tossed her into the crater. For the competition they had to climb down a cliff, swim to "Bird Island", wait for this specific bird to hatch an egg, swim back with the egg then give it to the chief.
 It was time for our journey to end on Easter Island. What an awe inspiring trip that really caused you to think about this tiny island. We left with so many questions that we bought a book when we got home. We boarded the plane, yet again, for the flight back to Chile.


Santiago

Our last day in Chile we spent in Santiago. One of the most famous things about this area are the wine vineyards. We visited the Concha Y Toro wine vineyard. It has beautiful grounds and a funny legend about a devil living in the cellar.

We had a lovely lunch with another one of Brad's mamitas and her children. It's fun to see their excitement upon seeing him again. Some had traveled two hours for the brief lunch. They gave me a beautiful silver necklace as a gift. Our guide then took us on a tour of the city, seeing government buildings, the pre-Columbian museum and the Cathedral. The time had come that we started our journey back home. I loved seeing this part of the world and Brad back in his element.