How's that Fall

We really love the Fall in this household. It seems that everyone holds up at home or the shopping center and leaves the mountains to us - or the deer hunters. Last year we got stuck mountain biking in prime deer hunting areas without the 400 square inches of required hunter orange on body and head. But after seeing how most people hunt - we were turned off. This year we headed to Customer Appreciation Day at Snowbird for a free tram ride - with 6 cans of food. Snowbird recently had 4 inches of snow but it had melted by the time we got there. The kids loved the ride up especially when you go past a tower - and the whoosh and sway of the tram car. Jake didn't feel a thing but I think everyone else had some stomach churning going on. I usually ride the tram up, but going down was a different story - it seems like you are going twice as fast.

The photo of McKinley and Anders on the back deck was a random shot of those two just having fun. If you didn't know, Mac can go "cross-eyed". It really looks funny on a 5 year old. I could do it at that age. The parents told me it would hurt my eyes - but look, I'm one of the few Thygersons without glasses or contacts. I love watching Anders being intrigued by everything. Right now his favorite thing is his Thomas the train. He takes it everywhere including to bed. We played some soccer tonight and he lost Thomas in the grass - but luck was on our side and I nearly trypped over Thomas running after a ball.

Yes, we love Fall. Our Mountain is ablaze in fully glory. Even the Quercus gambelii (Gambel's oak) is looking sweet.

If Only Life Were a Cartoon...

Okay, I debated about whether or not to post this. We have talked about how we could do an entire post just on things that McKinley says. She says some pretty "incredible" things. So the lastest is titled "If Only Life Were a Cartoon."

We were headed down to the BYU football game. We were going to drop the kids off at the grandparents' house and head out for a rare day on our own.

From out of nowhere McKinley asked, "Mom, why did you marry that man?"

I wasn't sure where she was going with this and replied, "Why, should I have married someone else?"

Her startling reply was, "You should have married someone that was more handsome."

I was a little shocked and struggled for a response. Then, it dawned on me that everything is fairy tale prince and princess in her five year old girl world. So I asked, "You mean someone like Eric."

"Yes, someone like Ariel and Eric. You should have married someone more handsome." The train of thought continued.

"I prefer the real man, not the cartoon," was my comeback.

She was not to be swayed, and I was undaunted because I had Steve sitting next to me in the car. Steve finally called the conversation quits, and neither McKinley nor I had the final word. I was satisfied with my choice of a marriage partner, and McKinley was determined to find Prince Charming for her wedded bliss. While my fate is chosen, only time will tell what McKinley's fate will be.

McKinley, be forewarned this story will find its way to your wedding party. We will welcome Prince Charming with open arms. I just wonder if he will find it charming.

Overcoming Timp

We knew the weather was coming in, yet our goal was to make it to the top of Timpanogos before the snows hit. Our plan seemed to be working - we started at 5am with just a light drizzle that we attributed to being in a cloud. Hiking the trail at that time with headlamps was like being in a tunnel. We set a blistering pace to start but let up when we got to the first waterfall. That spot marked the fartherest Justin had been on that trail - and now we were taking him into the unknown. As the light of day started to show us the way, we noticed how wet we were and I could feel water going into my boots. Our original plan was to turn around if the rain doubled in intensity or if we hit snow. We hiked for about 2 hours before deciding to turn around - it was raining about 5 times as hard and almost snowing. In fact, we could see the snow line just a couple hundred yards ahead. This marked the turn around point. We put on warmer clothes only find out how hard it is to zip up when one's hands are numb. I think my thighs were past feeling as well. I felt a little discouraged that we had to turn around but I was colder than I had ever been in my life and knew we still had 2 hours back to the car - better not press out luck.

On the way down, we met some BYU students who were trying the same hike in the rain - they were in ponchos but also sandals - hmmmm??? About 1/4 later, 3 of the girls in that group came running down saying a big bull moose was coming down the trail. Great! now we had to tangle with a moose. The other 3 hikers then joined up saying the moose wouldn't let them pass and couldn't figure out how we got by it - truthfully, we never saw it.

After a nice leisurely hike back down, we really noticed how cold we were. My knees locked up riding down the canyon. I think it took a 20 minute shower to warm up - and the water just wasn't warm enough. Well, lesson learned - don't try to beat out the weather and keep an eye out for the old moose.

We enjoyed conference weekend at the parent's home in Provo. Adrianne and I enjoyed a movie late Saturday night and decided to crash there too. We then had a nice breakfast, another conference session and lunch then headed home for the afternoon session. I love conference weekend.