Antelope Island

Today is actually a snowy day in our town and I'm longing for some warmer weather. As I was looking through some photos I came across these pictures from a family outing last summer. The pictures brought back great memories of that day. We decided as a family to bike, walk or run across the causeway to Antelope Island and back. The distance is 7 miles one way. older K. decided she would run with K coming from behind on a bicycle as her support. B and Clint emerged as the front runners (bikers) and sped forward and away from the group. Fred, Char and Natalie were not far behind. Eventually Fred and Nat were in their own world talking and biking away. JC was working at Les Schwab. The wind was not terrible and the smell not so bad either. If you haven't been to the Island you have no idea what I'm talking about. For about the first two miles you are subjected to what the locals call "that stinkin smell from the island, yuck!" We completed the run, walk and ride outing with smiles still on our faces and bugs in our teeth. Nature has a way of providing one with needed nutrition when you least expect it. Not very tasty or satisfying.

Rednecks

The following is some excerpts from an email that I received. Pretty funny.

Forget Rednecks; This is what Jeff Foxworthy had to say about Utahns.

If your local Dairy Queen is closed from September to May, you live in Utah.

If someone in a Home Depot store offers you assistance and they don't work there, you live in Utah.

If you've worn shorts and a parka at the same time, you live in Utah.

If you've had a lengthy telephone conversation with someone who dialed the wrong number you live in Utah.

If "vacation" means going anywhere south of Salt Lake City for the weekend you live in Utah.

If you measure distance in hours, you live in Utah.

If you know several people who have hit a deer more than once, you live in Utah.

If you have switched from 'heat' to 'A/C' and back again in the same day, you live in Utah.

If you install security lights on your house and garage but leave both unlocked, you live in Utah.

If you can drive 75 mph through 2 feet of snow during a raging blizzard without flinching, you live in Utah.

If you design your kid's Halloween costume to fit over a snowsuit, you live in Utah.

If the speed limit on the highway is 75 mph and you're going 80, and everyone is still passing you, you live in Utah.

If driving is better in the winter because the potholes are filled with snow, you live in Utah.

If you know all 4 seasons; almost winter, winter, still winter, and road construction, you live in Utah.

If you find 10 degrees 'a little chilly' you live in Utah.

If you actually understand these jokes and share them with others, you live in Utah.

The pictures are B and Duncan goofing off and trying on Little K's hair extensions. She was not very happy. The rest of us had a good laugh.

Enjoy!!

Never a dull moment with Clint

Happy Birthday to Clint!! Lucky to have you as part of the family. (He is married to Natalie) As you can see Clint is a man with alot of personality. He is loads of fun and very entertaining. He is spontaneous and everything that goes along with fun.

Fred, Kendal and Dick

what fun these brothers have when they can get together! Always lots of memories and laughter. Fred and Kendal are 17 months apart and Dick is looking as young as ever. Just wanted to share a blast from the past.

Mr. AFROTC

This is Mr. B. B/ loves to read, play XBOX live, shoot guns, and get awards. I know parents shouldn't brag about their kids but this is one moment that I want to share. Last fall B. entered a contest through the Freedom Foundation at Valley Forge. He entered the Youth Military Essay category. He titled his essay, "The Continual Fight for Freedom." In his own words Blake described the beginnings of his life that took place in an orphanage in the Republic of Moldova. He talked about survival and hope for a better way of life and his subsequent adoption and becoming an American Citizen. He also expressed the importance to continue to fight for our precious freedom in our wonderful country. His story captured the attention of the judges and B was awarded the George Washington Medal of Honor in the Youth Military category. This honor was the highest award in the Nation. Way to go Mr. B !! In this picture he is meeting with the President of the Utah Chapter of Freedom Foundation and the Lieutenant Governor for the State of Utah, Gary Herbert.

(Will someone please tell me how to rotate this picture?)

Now about Shooting. Senior Airman B participates on the AFROTC Marksmanship team. They took the All JR. AFROTC National Award last year. This year they have won state, took the Regional and National Award again. He will be going to Georgia to participate in the all armed forces competition. All I can say is: Animals beware!! B is one sharp shooter. Tempted to ask who is the best shooter or archer at our home? Don't......the subject when brought up evokes much emotion in the male residents that currently reside in our household.

It's a beautiful day in our town. I hope your day is the same.

The Dance

Yes, you can be 4'11, eligible for handicap parking, 16 and still go to dances. Little K is a sophomore at School. She is very much into texting and having guy friends because girls are just too much drama. For the dance it was a girl's choice so Little K asked her friend to go with her. For the day activity they has a early breakfast at a friends home afterwards the girls challenged the boys in lazer tag and were defeated badly! The entire afternoon was spent getting "beautified" for the evening's festivities. Little K has a very talented older sister (Older K who provided her with much makeup and hairstyling. After putting up with mom and picture taking, Dinner was served at Olive Garden. The dance was a hit, even the boys danced, and to top it off they even held hands (of course just to dance). Can't believe Little K is not a baby anymore.. .

Mischievous Children

Today I was reading Icka Toads blog and laughed about Claire's escapade into Mom's scrapbooking stuff. Being a mother and fellow scrapbooker I could relate very well to such a sight. Let me share some similar moments that happened at our home. I cannot recall how many times I caught the girls into mom's makeup. Natalie really had quite the talent at such a small age to apply makeup. She was very careful and made sure that every color was used. I wondered how could you miss your eyes and mouth and get the makeup everywhere else? She could! Later she would become even more adept at covering every inch of her face!! That is caught on tape and worthy of America's home videos. On a different morning the girls had been playing and as is the case with mischievous children the area became quiet. I went searching for my little darlings and found them in the pantry looking like ghosts!! They had discovered the flour! It was so much fun throwing it at each other and covering everything around them in white. This too is recorded for posterity.

In Honor of St. Patrick's Day I must tell about JC . The older cousins may remember what a character JC was as a boy. ( reliable sources(s) tell me JC is a lot like his dad as a boy) JC's favorite color is green and he being who he is snooped into everything!
On one particular day he discovered green food coloring. What fun he had with that one. Maybe he was tired of having light skin and decided a new color would be more to his liking or he was tired of being a little boy and decided being a green leprechaun would be more fitting. Whatever the reason he was covered in it!! It took a bit of washing off and fading before he became normal again.
Mr. B. and JC used to be the same height. (Mr. B is almost 6'2" now) JC being the older brother did not like little brother to be in his room and they got into it. (BOYS!). The next thing mom knows is that there is a 2 1/2 to 3 foot hole in the wall from where Mr. B was pushed a little too hard. Fred was not happy about that and proceeded to let them know that they would be fixing it. I tried to decide later if having them fix the hole was worth it. Fred ended up sanding off a lot of "mud" to make the wall presentable again.

I have some other classics to share and will do so at a later time. Happy St. Patrick's day and may some luck come your way.
Thanks for reading

To the Rescue

It seems as parents that we always try and do the right thing for our kids and hopefully it isn't too painful or costly. Yesterday was one of those "what are you doing son?" moments. JC likes Fred's jeep (secretly the jeep belongs to Nat if you ask her)and he drives it everywhere. He and his friends decided that climbing in the snow would be an adventure and jeeps can go anywhere right? WRONG!!! I being the MOM and doing the MOM thing decided to call and check on the boys and see how the rabbit hunting excursion was going. I discovered during my conversation that they had made a huge detour via Mantua, UT and were up some canyon where luckily Josh still had phone coverage. Upon receiving my call, JC informs me that the Jeep is stuck in really deep snow and that they were hiking down the mountain hoping to run into snowmobilers or some resident who may come to their rescue. Don't worry MOM we'll find some help. They found nice people that could not assist them, the police said that they would call in a wrecker and pull them out. How would that work? The snow was solid when they went in and now it is soft and anything can sink out of sight. Sooooo DAD and MOM to the rescue. (this is approximately 3 hours later) When we got to Mantua we drove through town and up to the canyon area. After going as far as we could in the "Beefy" truck we then put on the warm snow gear and proceeded on foot for another mile and one-half to two miles. (MOSTLY UPHILL!!) FYI it takes out of shape women a tad bit longer to hike in Sorel Boots and snow pants. I did make it and felt like I had done another 50 miler on my bike. A little sweaty? NOT. Fred, being an expert in getting out of "sticky" situations proceeded to educate the boys on how a real man gets the work done. With his guidance, shoveling pushing, and shoveling and pushing, more shoveling and more pushing the Jeep was finally freed from it's snowy prison. What did anyone learn from this experience? Use chains next time and always keep a shovel handy.
Thankfully Nat was at our home and taking great care of everything. No worries there.

This blog will be a great outlet for MOM and DAD to either tease our children and tell on them or use this format to share with you the happenings of their lives.

Enjoy and thanks for reading.

Northslopegang

You may wonder where did the name "Northslopegang" come from? The north slope is located in the Uinta Mountains and is a favorite place for our family to be together. We have fond memories of hunting for moose, camping, 4-wheeling and fishing at the north slope. So now you know!

This is a great week for Fred and I. We are celebrating our 25th wedding anniversary on Saturday March 15. (Happy Anniversary to Shawn and Pam too!) We met on the slopes of Snowbird and later reacquainted ourselves during half time at the BYU-SMU game, known as the famous Miracle Bowl for you BYU fans. A little over a year and one half later on November 6, 19-- we became engaged in the Carlson kitchen. Our children joke with their Dad that it was not very romantic. We kept our engagement a secret for one week. Fred wanted to make sure we were doing the right thing. On November 12, 19--, we went to Sierra West Diamonds to pick out a ring. Fred wanted to think about it over lunch so we headed to our favorite restaurant, Brick Oven Pizza. During lunch he asked me if I was sure about getting married. He was so nervous about this new adventure that he nearly backed out of the whole engagement. Luckily I convinced him that I felt it was right and I wanted to get married. After that was settled we picked up our rings and headed to the mall to a photo booth. We took some pictures of ourselves and went back to his house and made up mock wedding announcements. We put the announcements on the porches of our homes, rang the doorbell and waited for our parents to find the envelope. We then went in to our respective homes to celebrate. At my home though I was greeted with tears from my father. He commented that he just got used to me being home again and now I was going to be gone. My dad is real sentimental and I blame my tears on his side of the family!

We have had a share of twists and turns and ups and downs. Through it all we have developed a deep love for one another. We are very much in love!! We look forward to the future.