Canoe Camping

The summer heat was cramping our style so Dad offered to take us up into the mountains for a cooler climate. The spot of choice was Causey Dam for some canoe camping. Lucky for us Brooke and Andy were available. So we loaded up our two favorite canoes, Tippy and Titanic, and off we went. We arrived late in the day and headed straight for camp to reserve our camp site. As luck would have it, Brooke and Andy made friends with a beaver who lead us all the way to our secret camping spot. The Wild life continued to be abundant at times to a fault. At our campsite a family of cute spiders decided to take up residency in our campfire ring. Brooke and Bri love being so close to nature...and by love I mean hated. They spent the first half of the night curled up in their camp chairs, making sure that no part of their bodies were touching the ground, cowering in fear. The next day however, nature redeemed itself, and Bri found a whole family of one of her favorite animals, BABY DUCKS.

And I would be remiss if I did not mention the food. Oh the food. The abundance and quality of which I have never seen on a camping trip. Brooke and Andy made some of the best tin foil dinners I have ever had. And for dessert, my famous dutch oven peach cobbler (the secret ingredient is love). For breakfast we called upon a San Fransisco favorite, Monte Cristo sandwiches dipped in Lindsay's home made strawberry jam.

A trip to Causey wouldn't be complete with out a jump off the surrounding cliffs! Notice the grace and agility of the divers.

What a fun weekend!

Adios Fuji...Hello Bianchi

About a year ago I was given a circa 1978 Fuji ten speed made of solid steel. It belonged to the Principle investigator at the lab where I worked at the Huntsman Cancer Institute. When the Doc moved to become a big shot dean at Duke University Medical School, he was looking to unload some stuff and gave me his old Fuji. It was the perfect bike to turn into a single speed. With a few purchases on E-bay and Nashbar, some deals from the Cycle Smith, and with an old wheelset I had, the beauty you see before you was created. But alas, a few weeks ago tragedy struck my baby and the frame cracked just above the bottom bracket. Grief stricken, and with no where else to turn, I went back to the Cycle Smith to see about a new frame...and as luck would have it a shipment of Bianchi's fresh off the boat from Italy had arrived that day. With a little (& by a little I mean a lot) of persuasion, Bri got me the best graduation gift of all time.
Behold the Bianchi Pista Concept!

Quilting Extravaganza

When I found out that Linds was going to have a baby, I thought that I would make her a puff quilt. Dawna, Linn, and Addi have made a lot of them, so I figured that I'd join the club and get one under my belt, especially since they're so cute for new babies. I had no idea the quilting extravaganza that would ensue! Thanks to Mom's generous fabric donations, I got a jump start on the quilt over spring break when I had some extra helpers (aka Addi and Linn) around. We watched all three seasons of The Office on DVD while we pinned and cut the quilt every night! Andy even helped! (But he is a very manly quilter). Then I put it off until I was done with finals, as I figured I should focus on school. After finals were done, I had no excuses left! Without Addi there to coach me along, I recruited Linn (again!) and Bobbie to come and help since there was no way that I'd get it done by myself! Bobbie did have some other enticement (Willow) to come up and hang out.

Linn and Dawna were good enough to rescue me when I thought that the quilt would never get finished! But it finally got done, and just in time for Lindsay's shower! It fits in the crib perfectly! A lot of work, but well worth it for my soon-to-be nephew fetus!

It smells like hot...sick in here!

Jeff and I set out on our second University of Utah road race a few weeks ago. Despite the fact that Jeff worked until well after the team caravan left, and the race was in the scenic, historical Laramie Wyoming 5 and 1/2 hours away, we set out in the dark of night to meet our density... I mean destiny at conference finals. Not many things in life are quite as inspiring as the drive from Salt Lake City to Laramie. The silent majesty of a winter's morn, the smell of the scout camp port-a-potty, and the singing of one Evan comes to mind. But I digress. We arrived at our quality team lodging at around 1:30 A.M. and stumbled from the car into a room filled with leg shaving, spandex wearing U of U cyclists. Those nice guys saved us the best spots...the floor and the roll-away bed. After about 5 hours of quality sleep we woke, rested and ready for the days race. When we woke we ran to the window and tore open the sash. When what to our wondering eyes should appear but 3 inches of snow in historical Laramie, Oh dear. Off to the continental buffet we went, to ponder all the wasted time traveling we spent. So back to the room to sleep we went in the nick, and upon entering all exclaimed "It smells like hot sick." But what is this hot sick you may want to know, the result of 6 stinky boys...but back to the snow. It piled on the streets and combined with 40 mile and hour gales, 8 degrees Fahrenheit so we set our sails. Back to the balmy weather in lovely Salt Lake, feeling sorry we had gone at all for goodness sake.

Graduation

The word is still out on if I passed my classes this semester but we still went to commencement this last Friday with high hopes. After a great lunch at The Olive Garden with the Bear family, we headed up to Kingsbury Hall for the big ceremony. Bri even wore her new skirt for the special occasion. A quick trip from the stadium to president's circle and we were there. The lawn and patio in front of the building was a sea of people in cap and gowns and off in the distance the sweet sound of the bagpipes were playing. We were running late so we had to run inside. After everyone was in their seats the fun finally began. The Governor was the special speaker and did a great job. Then the PhDs walked...and walked...and walked(much like pioneer children only no singing...just smiling). It took forever but they finally got to the Bachelors degrees. After all the Grads had walked we made our way up the the Huntsman Center for Jeff's graduation from the school of business, taking pictures the whole way (we were with Dad after all). By the time we reached the Huntsman Center my cheeks were twitching from all the photos.

After a few more pictures with the whole clan we made a break for it to the nearest Chili's for some awesome dinner. What a fun time. I am now officially unemployed!

It hurts so good!

We are so glad that our friends (and also relatives) Jeff and Bobbie moved back to old Bountiful. They are not only out friends but our partners in crime. Our latest adventure is the University of Utah Cycling team. Despite not being in peak physical condition we raced our first collegete race a few Saturdays ago. The Skull Valley Road Race was a flat 40 miler from I-80 out to Dugway and back. About 30 people raced in our category, the C category (the C stands for Crash).

The peleton kept a pretty good pace and finished in 1 hour and 40 minutes. Coming into the home stretch I was in third. Then with 600 meters left the break happened on either side of me. Unable to turn left or right to start sprinting I got shot out the back. I had to sprint to catch back up and ended up in 11th. Meanwhile Bri and Bobbie fell asleep in the car and missed the big finish...What a grand adventure.

Spring Break 2008

Well spring break finally arrived...unfortunately not on the same week for the Bergeson family. But luckily Addi, Jack and Max were in town during the week Bri had off. With those three around she hardly had any time to miss me. It was extra hard for me to go to class with all the fun these 4 were having.

Just because Bri had school, don't think she took it easy. No way! She worked very hard on her Nintendo Wii and guitar hero skills. You should see her dance with the stars. At the Wii tournament hosted by Aunt Geri she was one of the front runners. I thought I would be sure to win with her as a partner, but she soon ditched me for a more talented dancer...Tony. The two of them were unstoppable. Even Bruno was in awe at their dominance as they danced the cha cha. (Notice all those 10's)

Sadly, before we knew it the three party animals were back on their way to SF and Bri was back in school leaving me all by my lonesome. One is the loneliest number...But Dad bailed me out and on Friday we went camping at our secret upper courthouse location in Arches National Park. All in all I think we did pretty good for our spring breaks.