Moab trip 2010 - feat. HPT, VAT and da Lefgrens

We just got back yesterday from a little vacation with my sister's fam. We drove down and did some hikes in the Moab area over a few days. Here are some of the highlights: No jackets (mostly)! Gross hotel pool! Cool rock stuff! Funny kid antics! Pretty scenery!

Here are da Lefgrens. They are pretty cool. Lucy doesn't know how to pose for pictures yet (far left).
Girls in a "cave". Emma and Lucy had more fun searching for "caves" than actually hiking.
A cute picture of Lucy. She almost smiled!
Henry looking cute. That's Corona Arch in the background (Cool Rock Formation #1). It kinda blends in with the rock behind it, but if you look at the shadow you can tell it's legit.
CRF #2. It looks like a monster. It went along well with the story Henry told the kids about the whole area being a Zombie Reservation.
A good close-up of CRF#1, Corona Arch. Some crazies hiked up to the top. Luckily they did not fall to their death in front of the kiddies.
Henry being confused as to what this contraption is. A phone? That you pay to use? What?!?! Our children will probably have the same reaction (being raised in the cell phone age and all).
CRF #3. Another arch thingy. There was an extreme drop off just on the other side of the arch, so we're actually really REALLY brave just to be sitting there. Give us props.
CRV (Cool Rock View). JP and Noah fell off the edge, but no one really misses them much.

And last but not least.... the video that kinda sums up Lucy's attitude on the whole trip. She was extremely obstinate and wanted to be independent while hiking and climbing on rocks. I really am hoping to show this video to her future husband someday... hopefully to show how much she's changed:



We had a lot of good laughs over just how true to her personality this is and just how different she is than the rest of her siblings (they are all really good, obedient kids). We love her even though she is crazy.

Easter Weekend

Easter coincided with General Conference weekend this year, so we got to spend time with family all weekend long! It was great being entertained by children, especially for short increments of time.This is the pose our niece Lucy chose when I decided to take her picture. I guess no one has taught her how to smile nicely and look cute (like JP). Instead, she prefers to make her usual scowl and do jazz hands...
Dying eggs with Noah and Emma. This was my FIRST TIME EVER dying eggs (I guess it was just one of those traditions that never caught on in my family) and I had fun making decorations with duct tape (we didn't go too fancy).
That's my egg second up from the bottom on the right. It's pretty hot.
We also spent some time with Henry's sister Clare and her adorable daughters, Mesia and Anna. For some reason this is the only picture I have of them, which is a shame because they are INSANELY cute. We went to a nearby park and "hid" eggs for them (which actually consisted of us throwing them across the lawn while their backs were turned). They both had priceless reactions whenever they found an egg though, it was like a novel experience every time.


Only two more months in P-town. We're really going to miss having so much family close by. I mean, what would we do without all those free meals and laundry trips?

A very un-Provo encounter

Tonight I smelled weed while on the streets of Provo. That's right, drugs do exist in Happy Valley. It was the first time I can ever recall that happening in the four+ years I've lived here. This experience brought back many memories of walking home from the metro in DC last summer. Our neighbors on the end of the street would always be out enjoying themselves on the lawn... and I would come home with the sweet aroma infused in my hair and clothes, much to the surprise and confusion of Henry.

This reminds me of some other smell-related stories:

Once Henry came home smelling like BO (he never smells... seriously), but it wasn't the normal BO just in the armpits... it was all over his body. Then I found out that he had been to the Microsoft recruiting meeting that afternoon. Computer programmers had left their mark. Although I hope the ones that actually work for Microsoft may have slightly better personal hygiene.

So we usually hang our towels outside the bathroom to dry because we don't get good air circulation in there. In our studio apartment, this means hanging them on the kitchen chairs. It works pretty well most of the time, unless you make highly-aromatic garlic-infused Indian food only a few days after laundry day. Then you have the lovely surprise of rubbing garlicy goodness over your freshly scrubbed body. Yum.


P.S. That picture above is what the streets of Provo usually look like... ya know... llamas, cheering, parades, dorks wearing bird beaks and celebrating biology. It's actually me in the 2007 BYU Homecoming Parade as a duck, in case you couldn't tell.

Kreative Naymes!

Henry and I were brainstorming our favorite baby names (seriously for no reason...), and we came up with a list that we'd like to share with the world. PLEASE feel free to use any and/or all of these names if you have a child in the works (aka prego). Some of these can be bi-gender (like all good names, of course), but I'll list them by which gender we thought they fit best:

For Her:
Papilloma
Rubella (nickname Ruby or Ella)
Malady
Malaise
Gonorrhea
Laceration (nickname Lacey)

For Him:
Typhus
Marburg
Abrasion (nickname Abe)

We'll keep you updated as to the number of children who are born with these names in the next year. They'll definitely catch on sooner or later.