The Harts

The Nursery....

2011-08-19T20:14:00.004-06:00

Just a few pictures of Baby Will's Nursery. Almost done, all we need now is a baby!

4th of July...

2011-08-19T19:50:00.004-06:00

Being pregnant in the summer we decided that it would be a good idea to spend the 4th of July in one of the hottest places possible....Phoenix! We had to spend the entire time in the pool to say the least.

Baby Shower...

2011-08-05T19:58:00.000-06:00

Thanks to two of the most thoughtful and talented friends I have, I had an amazing baby shower. Thanks Shelby and Lauren, it turned out beautifully!

Shelby's Baby Shower

2011-07-16T19:34:00.000-06:00

We feel so lucky that our little boy is going to have some friends his age. One of them will be Shelby and Mike's little girl due just a few months before us. We had a great time throwing her a celebration dinner.

Its A Boy

2011-05-26T19:27:00.001-06:00

Just got back from the Dr's office, and looks like Its a BOY!! Due Nov 20, 2011

Brian can finally hear....

2010-12-12T19:33:00.005-07:00

So last night we were out with the Wynns and word spread that Brian is hard of hearing, the topic then turned to earwax candles. There these candles that you stick in your ear and light the other end. It burns and with a little magic it sucks all the wax into the candle. We decided that Brian's hearing couldn't get worse so we decided to try it out......well a couple candle later, a lot of smoke and there is tons less wax in all our ears.

Vegas....

2010-12-12T19:26:00.005-07:00

So last weekend we went to Vegas for Megan and Aaron's wedding. It was an awesome time! It was great to celebrate their great day with them, congrats guys! Also, while we were there Shelby and Mike were able to perform a miracle and score us tickets to see the Garth Brooks concert. It was a great time, and perfect way to get away for the weekend. Here's a few pics from the trip

A great weekend...

2010-11-28T19:05:00.004-07:00

This weekend was a blast! On Friday night we went with Brian's family to see the lights at Temple Square. We decided to ride trax down from the stadium to avoid having to park downtown. The train was arriving the same time we did so Brian talked everyone, including his Grandma, into not buying a ticket and just hopping on (they never check tickets he said)...well halfway down the track we look up and see a cop coming through writing people tickets for hopping the train. We hurried off the train at the next stop and bought a ticket before getting back on...close call. We made it down and had a great time.

Saturday was game day!! We went to the Utah vs byu game. It was freezing cold, but we stuck it out to the end, and were payed off with an awesome field goal block for Utah to win the game.

Brian, his Dad Garry, and Jenn at the game

We knew it!!

That night we topped off the night with some of Brian's family to see the Rockettes Christmas Show.

Thanksgiving .....

2010-11-28T18:43:00.006-07:00

This year we spent Thanksgiving with Brian's family. It was great because Heather and her kids were able to come down from Boise. We had a great time with the family.

Claire checking the turkey

Brian got to carve the bird since his Dad was recovering from surgery

A little post dinner dominos

Heather, Claire and Jenn

Rodeo and a Utes win, what more can you ask for....

2010-11-21T00:44:00.008-07:00

This weekend was pretty sweet. We started out following the world’s worst GPS all over Ogden trying to find the rodeo. This rodeo was especially special because it was Heather's first rodeo. When we finally found it we learned a couple things...1) there are 10 year olds who are way more hardcore than Brian is. 2) Without her friends to stop her Jenn could easily bring all the little kids dressed like cowboys home, (she would see them, immediately name them, and ask to keep them). and 3) Ogden is Awesome! Thanks Mike and Heather for going on the adventure with us.

Mike and Heather at her first rodeo (you can see the joy in her eye, and the smell of cow poop in her nose)

10 year old riding a bull.....Hard Core!

On Saturday night we were able to watch the Utes break their 2 game losing streak in one of the most exciting games in weeks....Go Utes!!

Yeah, it's been 8 months.....

2010-11-21T00:39:00.002-07:00

So, yeah we have been bad at blogging, but here's a rundown on the last 8 months.....

Well, we didnt go to Alaska this year so that Brian could do his internship at Planned Parenthood, we had a great summer hanging out with friends and family in Utah, but really missed Skagway!

We are both still finishing school and living in Salt Lake City......Basically we're just going to start from here.....enjoy

Spring Break in Phoenix....

2010-03-22T17:58:00.004-06:00

Well we decided that since it's freezing in SLC we would take off for Phoenix for spring break week. Jenn drove down last week with her parents and the nieces, and Brian flew down last Friday after a midterm. It was great, we were able to soak up some sun, also we were able to take Olivia, Hailey and Austin to their first major league baseball game to watch the Mariners play the D-backs at spring training. It was a great, well needed break in the middle of a killer semester. Right now we are sitting in the airport waiting for our flights back to the cold, and school.

Olivia and Hailey come for a visit.....

2010-03-14T20:52:00.004-06:00

Well it has been a long time since the last blog....but we're back! This last week has been a busy one. Jenn's sister's girls came up to stay with us for a week. We had a blast, first order of business was to take them up to the mountains. Since they have lived in Phoenix since they were really small they really haven't had a chance to play in the snow. So we took them up to Brian's family's cabin up near Park City. We even convinced Jenn's parents who were in town as well to brave the cold and come up as well. We had a great time riding snow mobiles, sledding, and playing in the snow. In all honesty I think the girls ate more snow than they played in. It seemed that every time we looked their way they were sitting in the snow, chowing down. We even took them sledding for the first time ever. We went to a small, but pretty steep hill. After a few runs of us riding with the girls we convinced Olivia to go alone. Brian promised that he would stop her before she hit the jump at the bottom...unfortunately he misjudged how fast she would go and instead of stopping her he just knocked her off her sled, check out the video below...

The next day we decided that we would take the girls to the local swimming pool. It's a pretty sweet indoor pool that has water slides, a lazy river, a whirlpool are, and tons of pipes that shoot out water. We had a great time swimming in perfect warm water while it was freezing outside.

During the rest of the week the girls were kept super busy by going to the children's museum, going to the movies, feeding the ducks, playing in the park, and eating their weight in candy. It was great to have them up here with us since we hardly get to see them.

From the beach to the books....

2010-01-17T12:25:00.002-07:00

Well, our trip finally came to an end, and we are back in Salt Lake. We decided that we didnt want to drive home in the middle of the night just to make the first day of school, so we ditched it and stayed the night in Vegas. Now we are back in school, spending more time studying that anything else. Our first week back was a busy one, if you remember we moved apts the day before we took off on vacation so we came back to a house full of boxes. We spent this week unpacking and decorating our new diggs. This weekend Brian's sister Heather flew into town to visit for the weekend, so we are having a great time hanging out with her.

Can you get a sunburn on top of a sunburn....?

2010-01-08T19:06:00.005-07:00

Why, yes you can!! All you have to do is take a look at Jenn today. So today we went back to the National Park to a different beach than we were at the other day. This one was almost totally deserted. It was awesome! We spent the morning swimming in perfectly clear water, and snorkeling around the reef. Also we spent a good deal of time fighting raccoons, at one point, there was one inches from Jenns unknowing hand ready to steal her granola bar, luckily Brian was there to warn her. (After it got really really close that is) After a few hours in what we thought was a spot mostly out of the sun we realized that were getting deeper sunburns, so we called it a day. On the way home we went to the street market for some good old fashion haggling. We got some pretty cool things to bring back and probably put in storage with all the other things we bring back from trips. Tonight we went back to the beach to watch the sun set. It was beautiful, and sad to know this is our last day at the coast. Tomorrow we leave for San Jose to catch a flight home on Sunday. We capped off our night with dinner at el Avian. Its a restaurant at the hotel that is build into an old CIA plane.Brian building "sand castles"

Jenn pretty much alone on the beach

At Sunset

The street market

Briand in front of the plane restaurant

Another Day at the beach....

2010-01-07T18:31:00.006-07:00

Well, today we started the morning by letting the sun wake us up....which is at 530 am in Costa Rica. We decided to eat breakfast in our hotel room so Brian used his new pineapple cutting skills to make a fresh fruit spread. Then it was off to the beach. We went to the public beach that is right alongside our hotel. We have been using the public buses here because they pick up and drop off right in front of the hotel. In fact we have seen that they will usually stop whenever there is someone on the side of the road and pick them up, and they will let you off wherever you want. And it only costs like 50 cents for all day, unfortunately there are only people on the bus, we thought there would be chickens and goats like every South American bus on TV. So we took the bus to the public beach, it was another perfect day, too perfect we ended up looking like a pair of lobsters at the end of the day. On the public beach there are about a hundred guys renting chairs and umbrellas for 6 bucks a day. We got some from a guy who was stoked to meet us because he has a son named Brian. He was so excited that later that day he brought his wife and "little Brian" over to meet us. After a hot hot day at the beach we got take out on the way home and hung out in the hotel room. Jenn was out like a light before 830, gotta love vacation.

Before

After

This is where we spent the day

The arrow is pointing to our hotel from the beach

Parque Nacional Manuel Antonio

2010-01-06T20:02:00.003-07:00

This is the beach we were at today

Today we spent our first full day in the tiny town of Manuel Antonio, and it was amazing! We are spending our last 5 days in the same hotel, we have a sweet view of the ocean from our balcony. We get to watch the sun set from there. Today we went to Manuel Antonio national park. It was perfect weather today so we hiked through the park to the beach. It was the most serene beach that we have been to in Costa Rica. White sand, calm waters, a coral reef to snorkel around....it was great. Also there was a family of racoons that were trying to get to everyone's food supplies. They must have been fed from coolers before because as soon as one hit the beach they were all over it. We literally spent the whole day laying in the sand and swimming in the ocean, a perfect day!

Jenn hangin on the beach

The racoon trying to steal food

Sunrise from our balcony

Tarzan....what?!?

2010-01-05T21:16:00.008-07:00

Being that Aranal is the highest point in Costa Rica, we decided that we should take advantage of the views. We woke up early this morning to go on a canopy tour. We hiked so far up the mountain side we were literally in the clouds. We successfully survived 15 zip lines and one Tarzan swing. The Tarzan swing is a repelling rope tied up to a tree. You free fall about 40 feet before the rope catches and the swing begins.YIKES! Today is our last day in La Fortuna, We are now headed to Manuel Antonio, on the Pacific Coast. The beaches there are suppose to be some of the most beautiful beaches in the WORLD!

Volcano, Waterfall, and Hot Springs.....

2010-01-05T20:51:00.005-07:00

Today we had a busy day in the Arenal Volcano area. We woke this morning and looked out our hotel window to see that the volcano was actually visible. Apparently over 70% of the time you arent able to see the volcano, so we got a real treat. Our hotel faced the inactive side of the volcano but we could still see smoke billowing out all day. After breakfast we took a hike to the La Fortuna waterfall, we hiked up and then went for a dip at the pool in the bottom. The water was amazing, it was nice and cool, a break from the usual water we have experienced. Later in the day we joined a tour group that took us on a hike through the rain forest at the base of the volcano. We spend a couple hours learning about the volcano, the plant life and the animals that live in the jungle. We also saw a bunch of monkeys again today. After that we drove around to the active side of the volcano to chance it and see if there was any lava flowing, luckily for us we got there just as some started coming down. After hanging out there for a while we went to Balhdi hot springs, its a resort that has pools that are natural hot springs feeding from around the volcano. They ranged from 94 to 152 degrees. We put our toes in the hottest one, but that was all we could manage. It was a great way to relax from a busy day halfway though our trip

Brian swimming in the waterfall pool

Arenal Volcano

La Fortuna waterfall from a distance

Jenn Hiking in the volcano rainforest

Lavaflow at volcano

Rain...in a rainforest.....who knew?

2010-01-02T17:13:00.004-07:00

After 5 days of humidity and lots of walking we decided that today we needed a break and rented a scooter for the day. It was pretty fun since neither of us had ever drove one before, evident halfway through the day when Brian drove us into a ditch.... No harm though, it was already pretty banged up, and we walked away without a scratch to continue our day around the area. We went really far south today to a beach near the border of Costa Rica and Panama, It being a holiday weekend it was packed ! But when we got there it was perfect clear blue, calm waters. Then, the rain hit. It started pouring on us. So we packed up the scooter and headed back to town, By the time we got back we were soaked! We spent the rest of the day exploring Puerto Viejo, where at one point Jenn had a pack of 6 dogs trying to get her ice cream cone, (don't worry...none of them were successful.) Tomorrow we leave the beach for the volcano regions.

The beach across from our new hotel

Downtown Puerto Viejo

Manzillo Beach (before the downpour)

Brian (after the downpour)

Day 5 in paradise

2010-01-02T16:47:00.005-07:00

Jenn in front of our Puerto Viejo hotel

Today we said goodbye to our first Caribbean town and headed 15 miles or so down the dirt road to another called Puerto Viejo. This morning we went on a tour with another couple we met at our hotel. We started out by driving down along the Panamanian border along all the banana plantations and ending up on the Bri Bri reservation. The Bri Bri are a native people who were here before the Spanish. There we went on a walk around a families home and got to see how they live, as well as a demonstration on the different plants they use for medicines. We also got to see a white-faced monkey that the family had found up in the mountains with a broken foot that they were nursing back to health. It was cool, the dad was feeding it with a baby bottle. After the visit we hiked down to a waterfall and went for a swim underneath it. Then we went to a native chocolate making demonstration. Finally the tour ended at an Iguana farm where a local family is single handedly keeping the iguana population from going extinct. After the tour was over we checked into our next hotel. This one is similar to the first in that it is a collection of little bungalows set in the jungle. The rest of the day was spent exploring the town and the beach.

This is the native's house... 16 people live in this one room house

Feeding the injured monkey

Hiking down to the waterfall

Brian under the falls

chocolate making demonstration

Re-populating the endangered iguana population

Feliz Año Nuevo!

2010-01-01T10:26:00.003-07:00

Today we made the 2 mile hike to Cahuita National park. On one side, just steps away from the trail was the Caribbean ocean. On the other side of us was the Jungle. We saw all sorts of wild life. Monkeys, sloths, Iguana, huge butterflies, blue crabs, and one dog whom followed us the entire way. Later that night we tired to blend in with the locals to celebrate the New Year ( and stuck out like sore thumbs). Happy New Year Everyone!!!

Entrance to the park

a baby sloth sleeping in a tree

a family of monkeys in the trees

Jenn pointing out the adult sloth in a tree

Brian in front of the beach on the park trail

Days 1 & 2 in Costa Rica

2009-12-31T08:13:00.002-07:00

Well we finally made it here to Costa Rica!! After a 7 hour drive to Vegas (which included 2 1/2 hours stuck in hoover dam traffic), and two flights we are here. It is amazing, better than we ever imagined. The people here are so friendly, and are very patient with our complete lack of Spanish. Well not complete lack, we can say: red, duck, cat, hello, thank you, chicken, and your welcome, but that's about it. We are getting by with a lot of smiling and nodding. In fact at dinner last night we ended up ordering the same thing even though we pointed to different things on the menu. We stayed the first night in the capital city of San Jose. It was a nice hotel which we will be staying at again on the last night of our trip. The airport was great here, when you get done with immigration and customs they have people waiting outside to help you either get a cab, rental car, or hotel shuttle. We told them our hotel and they pointed to a spot on the curb to stand and within 5 minutes the shuttle pulled up. The next morinig we grabbed a transfer and head to cahuita. It is a very small caribbean infused town right on the ocean. We are staying in a beautiful bungalow owend by a swiss family. This morning we awoke to the wild life, and the most amazing breakfast I have ever had. Here are a few pictures of our trip so far:

Oh and the best part of Costa Rica is......Jennifer can go almost the entire day without having to find here chapstick. (Everyone knows how amazing that is)!

Busy holiday season....

2009-12-27T14:58:00.005-07:00

Well it has been a busy busy time for us, which is why it has been over a month since we have had time to post. We finished with the fall semester, and in the middle of finals we also ended up moving apartments. We wanted more space in our cinder block student apt and put in to move to a 2 bedroom, well one came available but we had to move during finals week or they would give it to someone else. Needless to say it was a stressful week, but with some help from our friends we were able to knock the move out in one day. The day after finals we took off for our month-long vacation which started with an overnight at Brian's parents house for their family Christmas party. We had a good time hanging out with the family, it seems like we only see a lot of them at this annual party. Bright and early the next morning we started the drive to Arizona to spend Christmas with Jenn's family. It was a blast, we went to see the temple lights at the Mesa temple which is like the ones in SLC but not nearly as frigid. We were able to spend a lot of time with the whole family including the nieces and nephews who get bigger by the hour it seems. It was a great time especially since we only get to see the AZ family a couple times a year. For Christmas we decided that instead of presents for each other we would just go on a trip and relax between semesters so, tomorrow we take off to Vegas to catch our flight to Costa Rica!! We will be there for about 2 weeks chilling on the beach and getting engrossed with Central American culture. Stay tuned because we will have internet a couple times while we are there and will keep everyone updated. Hopefully you all had a Merry Christmas and have a Happy New Year!!Here are some pictures of our vacation so far.....

HaPPy ThanksGiving.....

2009-11-30T22:52:00.007-07:00

This year we were able to spend Thanksgiving with Brian's Family. His oldest sister Heather, and here family made it in from Idaho. We had a great time spending the entire weekend with the family. We played a little rock band, BLACK FRIDAY shopping, New moon, and the temple lights. We sure do have a lot to be grateful for this year!

Separate Vacations...

2009-11-19T20:48:00.008-07:00

Brian wanted to go to Las Vegas, and Jenn wanted to go to Phoenix what to do....? Separate Vacations.

Actually Brian's friend Blake is going to law school in Vegas, so he and his friend Eric decided to take the weekend to visit him. They had a good time, a little buffet, a little gambling, a little watching the Utes get their butts kicked, and a whole lotta wax museum. They drove down, which wasn't too bad if you don't count the cigarette lighter getting a penny stuck in it and blowing a fuse, the coolant temperature sensor going out, and having to replace two tires.

Jenn found some cheap last minute tickets to Phoenix to visit her family during the same weekend, well a weekend, plus the 3 days before the weekend and the 2 after. She had a great time playing with the nieces and nephews, shopping with her Mom and Sister, and helping her little bro train for the police academy.

We both had a good time, but even better was that we were both in nice weather while SLC was in a white-out!

HaPPy BirTHdAy......

2009-11-08T22:03:00.006-07:00

Happy Birthday Brian!!! Your lookin pretty good for 27!

HaPPy HaLLoWeeN.......

2009-11-01T20:00:00.004-07:00

This Year Halloween happened to fall on a football game day! Luckily it was the Utes Black out game so we got to dress in Halloween attire!

WE HEART NYC.........

2009-10-16T12:23:00.016-06:00

Thanks to a few of our good friends, we were able to spend the week in, Connecticut, and New York! The trip started with the red eye to JFK. Being that we were so excited to get there we did not sleep a wink. Once we landed the cramped filled trip began. I can honestly say that we must of seen everything in only five days! Here are alot of pictures from our trip.....get ready, there is ALOT!

Central Park

Rowing around the lake at the Boathouse in Central Park

The Statue of Liberty

The New York Public Library

The Metropolitan Museum

View from The Empire State Building

Ice skating at Rockefeller Center

View from the top of 30 Rockefeller

View of NYC from New Jersey

On the ferry to dinner in New Jersey

Also on the ferry

Waiting outside to sit FRONT ROW at The Letterman Show

The Mayan calender at the Natural History Museum

One of the many beautiful Churches in the city

Dinosaur at the Natural History Museum

The financial district

At Ellis Island

Construction at Ground Zero

Shopping in Chinatown

Times Square

After seeing The Lion King

The beach in Connecticut

The Boys

Thanks for a great trip!

Date? YES please!

2009-10-04T21:04:00.012-06:00

Life has been nothing but school, school, school. I fear it will never end! This last weekend Brian and I were able to get away from books and have a date night. Dinner and a movie was just what we needed.

Ready or Not....Fall is Here......

2009-09-30T21:40:00.007-06:00

This last weekend Brian and I tried to soak up as much sunshine as possible being that Fall is here! We BBQ with the family, went to the football game, good 'ol Lagoon, and the farmers market in Park City. While at the Market we were able to witness a silly street show where a man performs all sorts of nutty tricks. At one point he picked Brian out of the crowd to help him balance on not one...not two....not three, but a MILLION little barrels. (ok it was five). It was a great start to the fall season!

lAboR DaY iN thE sUn....

2009-09-10T18:44:00.005-06:00

This last weekend, Brian and I were able to spend the weekend with my family in Phoenix. We have not seen them sense March, before we left for Alaska. It was so great to see them. It is crazy to see how big the niece's and nephew have gotten, in fact we were able to celebrate Olivia's 7th Birthday.

Hailey

Austin

Krista and Ky

Oliva and her new B-day gift....Fluffy

Good Bye Skagway.......

2009-08-22T12:31:00.005-06:00

Well Brian and I are currently sitting in the Seattle airport waiting for our flight to Salt Lake. Our adventure began yesterday......We had our last day of work on Thursday, it ended with a party at our house. Being that we start school on Monday, we were the fist of our group to end the summer and go home. Skagway has become our second home, as well as our second family. It is always a bitter sweet thing to leave. We were suppose to fly out of skagway Friday morning, being that we fly out on one of those tintsy tiny planes; the flight was cancelled due to weather. We were able to jump on the 7 hour ferry to Juneau, it ended up being late due to rough water. We missed our flight to Seattle, so we spent the night in Juneau. If all goes as planed we should be home sometime before midnight tonight. We are excited to be home! Oh and.....for those of you who know how I travel, I would like it to be on record that I have be very pleasant and enjoyable!!!!

HERE ARE A FEW PICTURES OF OUR LAST DAY

A day on the river.....

2009-08-17T22:48:00.003-06:00

So this last Saturday we went with a bunch of people from work on a jetboat tour. It was a pretty sweet day, we took a 45 minutes catamaran ride across the canal to the town of Haines. The boat ride itself was pretty crazy. For the last few days we have had around 50 mph winds, which creates for some pretty huge waves. Once we got over to Haines we took a bus ride out to the Chilkat River. It's the shallowest navigatable river in North America, and because of the the only way to travel on it is to go in jet boats. They are boats that hold like 25 people and ride just barely if not just on top of the riverbed. We were able to go 15 miles up the river and see things like massive glaciers, eagles nests, and even a few bald eagles. Usually they see bear or moose, but we got totally skunked in that respect. After traveling up the river we stopped at a small lake for some fishing off the bank. After returning to the camp we had a weenie roast and hung out around the fire with the people we work with. It was fun to get away from town and get out into the wilderness. At the end of the day we took the catamaran back to Skagway, and this time the waves were even higher. The wind has been so bad that today 3 of the 5 cruise ships that were supposed to be in town today were unable to dock, so you know it's really bad. Well only a few more days and we'll be back in Utah.

Home in a week....

2009-08-14T22:07:00.003-06:00

Here are a few random pictures of our time here in Alaska, one week from today and we'll be back in Utah.

The bears are back....

2009-08-09T22:46:00.003-06:00

So one of the coolest things about living in Alaska is the wildlife that is around us all the time. Well, it's August again, which means the salmon are starting to spawn up the rivers, and when that happens the grizzly bears come down to feed. It's awesome because the bears are so set on getting as much salmon as possible, so much so that they don't even know that we are there watching them. Which means we can get up really close. We went out last week down to the rivers with a couple of our friends to watch them the other day. We only saw one, but it was sweet! The bear was running all through the river in a feeding frenzy. Sadly we are now only about a week and a half until we are done with our summer jobs. Our last day working is the 20th and we fly home the 21st. Luckily we were able to see the bears one last time before we leave.

The Hike to.....BLEEP!

2009-08-02T19:52:00.010-06:00

Last weekend, Brian and I went on the worlds WORST hike! I honestly thought Brian was trying to kill me. It was miles and miles......and miles of straight up rocky mountain side. At one point I sat on a rock and was wishing for a bear to come eat me so that I wouldn't have to hike anymore! I do have to say, thanks to Brian it was completely worth it! It was some of the most AMAZING scenery I have seen. At the top we had a view of Skagway, Glaciers, and a lake which was crystal clear. You could see the reflection of the mountain side. The pictures I am posting does not even give a glimmer of the spectacular views we had.

Busy Life in Alaska...

2009-07-19T11:09:00.008-06:00

So it's been a while since we have posted because it has been a crazy couple weeks for us up here. Let's recap really quick what's been going on 3000 miles away from home.... The whales are back in our waters, and Brian was able to get some pretty sweet pictures of a couple of them swimming pretty close to the docks.

Also, we were able to go eat dinner at the really fancy restaurant on one of the ships that Brian works with. It was amazing!! Now here in Skagway all our food comes to us on a barge that takes a week to get here from Seattle, so the food is not so fresh. But the food on the ship was amazing, Jenn had a perfect filet mignon, (weird...meat...oh well), and Brian had a 22 oz porterhouse. It was awesome. Then we went on a tour of the ship, including all the areas that the regular passengers don't usually get to go to. Unfortunately Brian forgot that the camera was in his pocket and this is the only picture that we got.

Also, last week we went on a camping trip up the the White Pass Summit. It's this amazing area that you can only get to by being dropped off by the train. So we took the train up and got left out in the tundra with no one around for miles and miles and miles. It was so quiet up there. We spent the day hiking around and exploring the area. We also hiked along the old Trail of '98. This is the trail that was carved out by the thousands of miners who were trying to get to the goldfields. It was really cool because since the late 1890's there haven't been very many people who have been on that trail. That night we pitched out tent in the only flat spot on the whole summit, miles away from civilization.

So yeah it's been a crazy couple of weeks, we could post for pages to talk about it all. We only have about 5 weeks left and then it's back to our winter lives of going to school in SLC. But first, some other cool quick things that happened in the last to weeks were:

We broke in and spent the night in an old caboose....

got a pool since it's been unusually hot this summer...

Went river rafting...

and came to work to find a giant pile of Bear poo waiting for us at the front door.

Happy 4th of July....

2009-07-10T10:51:00.003-06:00

The 4th of July here in Skagway is one of the coolest times of the year. Imagine the smallest town celebration you can, and you have an idea. First we went to the parade, now since our town is so small to make the parade last longer than 20 minutes it goes down the main street, then turns the corner and comes back up the main street. The funniest ting in the parade is a lady from town who looks like Sarah Palan with a sign that says "I QUIT"!
After the parade we watched the little kid foot races, the dunk tank, the spike driving contest and participated in the egg toss. All the while eating "fair-style" food...such as corn dogs, nachos and Philly cheese's. One of the coolest things that we have on the 4th here is the fireworks! There are two towns up in our neck of the woods, there is us and 20 miles across the fjord there is Haines, but only one guy who does fireworks. Since we are way smaller than Haines we have to have our fireworks show on the 3rd. What happens is the whole town heads out to the waterfront and watches the show. this year they shot them off the end of one of the piers, as well as from the tug boat. What's cool about the fireworks is that since it is the middle of summer it never gets dark, so it starts at 11 and is barely dusk out. It was a good old time 4th of July, just the way we like it!

Happy 25th Birthday Jenn!!!

2009-06-28T12:52:00.010-06:00

So yes today is Jennifer's big 25th birthday, (or as she likes to call it "halfway to halfway dead). Unfortunately we both have to work today, so we had her big party last night. We had a Kabob bbq, and like half the town showed up to celebrate. It was a great time, we just sat around and hung out, played a little badmitten, and then BROKE THE PINATA!! Brian gets a pinata for Jenn's b-day every year, and this year it was a giant lipstick. It was hilarious breaking it open!! Here's a slideshow of the party we had.

Happy 25th Jenn, Love Brian

Alaska Zipline....

2009-06-28T12:35:00.003-06:00

So we got a new zipline tour in Skagway this year, so we went with the rest of the train guides to try it out. It's a pretty sweet tour, they take you up the Klondike Hwy and then there's a short hike to the lines. Once you get up there you are on the edge of the mountains and can see the whole Skagway valley below while you are zipping down. It was also a sunny day, so we could see forever! Here's a few pics of the trip:

Campout at a Glacier

2009-06-14T00:16:00.005-06:00

This weekend we went on a little camp out up to Laughton Glacier, its this sweet area 16 miles up the train tracks from us. We went up there with our two roommates Jacqui and Julie. We started out by having the train that we work for drop us off at the trail head. Then it was an easy 2 miles hike to the cabin where we stayed the night. The forest service maintains several cabins in the forest around us that you can reserve for the night. It's a pretty sweet place, there is sleeping for 6, an oil burning stove and a fire pit. After dropping off our packs we headed out for the hike up to the glacier. It was amazing!! We have been up there a few times in the last 4 years, and its crazy to see how quickly the glaciers are receding up the mountain. It looks drastically different now than it ever has. After spending some time at the base of the glacier, and even licking the ice, we went back to base. That night we hung out by the fire, roasted hot dogs, smores and had a good time. Brian decided to try out his new hammock and slept between two trees while the girls slept in the cabin. Today we woke up, hiked back to the tracks and caught the train back to town. It was a great to get away and get into nature!!

At the trailhead

Brian in his new hammock

At the base of Laughton Glacier

The forest service cabin

Some picturs of Alaska so far.....

2009-05-31T16:45:00.001-06:00

Washout, Rockslide, and a New Bike....

2009-05-29T23:09:00.004-06:00

Well, life has been pretty busy for us up here in Alaska! We have been working like crazy, herding thousands of cruise ship passengers on and off our little railroad. A railroad that has had a rough summer. First, about a week ago there was a track washout, which basically cancelled any trips into lake Bennett, as you can see from the picture below there is a track on the right basically where it should be (except with nothing under it) and then you can see the other side of the track way off to the left. It's going to take crews a while to get it back to normal.

Luckily 95% of our tours dont get as far as this spot, so Jenn still gets to give her awesome tour over and over and over and over. Speaking of Jenn's tour... there was a film crew in town from South Africa doing a story for the Travel Channel last week. They rode the train and wanted a young, cute train guide to ride with them if they had any questions, well, Jenn was chosen for the job. When she got there, she quickly realized that they wanted more than they asked for, because they filmed her the entire ride. This included making her walk in front of the train cars over and over, as well as walking up the stairs, and down, then up and down until they got the perfect shot. The hosts of the show also coached her on how to "act" because she was the focus of their whole ride, they could've cared less about the train or scenery. Needless to say,

it was

quite the experience, Jenn in on the cusp of being world famous!! We dont know when it's going to air, but keep an eye out, and let us know if you see it.

Another crazy thing that happened this week was on Wed, in the middle of the day between our morning and afternoon train trips there was a major rock slide about 16 miles up the track between two tunnels. Unfortunately we had no idea it had happened and sent 5 trains full of about 2400 passengers up the mountain. The engineer on the first train up saw the blockage and stopped, as well as calling out for the other 4 to stop. It was so massive that all 5 of them had to back all the way back down, and we were cancelled for about 36 hours. The largest rock that hit the tracks was 20 feet tall and about 10 feet wide, so the section crews had to blast their way through, then repair the rails. We have pictures of the slide, but not on computers yet, so as soon as we can find a scanner in this town we'll let ya see them.

Also this week we got a new bike!!! By new I mean a super old, rusted out, bent wheeled, Huffy. Which is basically perfect for what we need it for. If you've never been here we live in a town 21 blocks long by 4 blocks wide...and the blocks are tiny. So most of the time we are walking, but it is nice to get somewhere on the far side of town quickly. Luckily for us, our friend Wade had an extra bike lying around and let us have it. It runs right now, but it needs some work. This will give Brian something to do on his day off. Either way, check out how cool we look!!

Our first week in Skagway

2009-05-18T22:05:00.003-06:00

Well in case you are wondering if we made it up to Alaska or if we died....we made it! Also, unlike last year, it has been sunny and 60 degrees every day. Last year there were only 5 days of sunshine, and this year we're actually on the verge of getting a sunburn. We are back in the groove of working for the White Pass railroad, which boils down to 13 hour days, and thousands of tourists.

We were able to go hiking, and here's some pictures of our hike...

Here's the trail....notice May 15th and still snow.....

This is Jenn on the side of the mountain overlooking our town

Here's a mosquito on Jenn's leg....massive!!

Also we have the house with the BBQ and deck so we have tons of BBQs...here's picture of us and our housemates hangin out

Happy Anniversary.......

2009-05-12T11:54:00.012-06:00

“We loved with a love that was more than love.”
-Edgar Allen Poe

Happy 4th Anniversary! I love you so much! Thanks for being the BEST husband ever. These are just a few reason why I love you so much:

10. I LoVe that you know all the words to every country song ever made.

9. I LoVe that nothing ever worries you.

8. I LoVe how smart you are, and that you are excited to share that knowledge with anyone.

7. I LoVe that you always eat my red M & M’s for me.

6.I LoVe that you love everything I cook for you, and even go back for seconds, no matter how horrible I know It tastes.

5. I LoVe when you laugh so hard it takes your breathe away.

4. I LoVe the way you play with our nieces and nephews.

3. I LoVe that you are working hard through school to genuinely help OTHERS.

2. I LoVe the way you always find the positive in something or someone, even when the rest of us can not.

1. I LoVe the way you LOVE me!

North to Alaska....

2009-05-09T11:39:00.003-06:00

Yeah I know, it's the lamest post title there ever was, but there it is. We are officially in Alaska now. We got here last night at about 12:30am Alaska time (which is 2:30am Utah time). Needless to say, it was a long day of travel. We got to the Salt Lake airport at 7:30 am for a day that would include two plane rides, a taxi, and a boat to get to our summer home in Skagway. The plane rides went off without a hitch, all except on the flight from Seattle to Juneau the guy sleeping next to Brian was having night terrors or something because every five minutes or so he would JERK awake, smacking Brian in the face, shoulder, arm and chest. Other than that, the plane rides were great. In Juneau we loaded what was supposed to be a 7 hour boat ride to Skagway, but for some reason the Coast Guard wouldn't let us leave, so we sat there in the harbor for 2 hours. This delay turned out 7 hour ride, into a 9 1/2 hour ride. It wasn't as bad as it sounds though. The scenery from the boat is amazing, it's the same trip that people take cruise ships through. We finally got in to Skagway where Blake was waiting for us to give us a ride home. Once we got there we were so hopped up on caffeine from the boat ride that we ended up cleaning our house (which we're pretty sure hasn't been done since we left in August), and unpacking all our stuff. It was a long day, but we are finally here and ready to start our summer jobs.

This is the view off the back of the boat

Here's Jenn at the beginning of the ride

and here's her at the end.

HaPPy BiRthDaY tO Me?......

2009-05-07T10:44:00.009-06:00

My birthday is not until June, and the past four years I have spent it in Alaska. The girls were so sweet and decided that this year we were going to celebrate early so I could spend my "birthday" with them! They took me to dinner at the Garden Cafe, then back to Lauren's for birthday desert and presents! Thanks girls you are the BEST! lOvE Ya!

This is the amazing Cupcake-cake Lauren made for me!

YUMMY!!!!!

Mom's Graduation....

2009-05-02T22:13:00.010-06:00

So this weekend we went up to Logan for Brian's Mom's graduation from Utah State. She got her degree in special education. We are really proud of her, it has been a long time coming, and is something that she has been working on since before any of us were even a thought in the back of Mom and Dad's minds. She went to school until she had kids, then took time off to raise them, but know that all of us are grown, we are happy that she is now able to finish her degree and start her professional life. It was a great time, Heather, Dave and the kids came down as well as a lot of the rest of the family. Another awesome thing is that she got an amazing job the week before graduation that will force her and Dad to move up closer to us! Congrats Mom!!

Here's a picture of Mom with the sugar daddy who bankrolled her education.....Dad

Brian and the kids burning off some energy in the hotel room between graduation sessions.

Here's the video of Mom getting her diploma, she insisted that they pronounce her name right....took the lady about 4 times, but finally got it right, it's Laurie, pronounced "Law-Ree"....pretty simple right? Guess not.

Bowling Night....

2009-04-27T15:43:00.003-06:00

Last Saturday we went bowling with Brian's parents and brothers. Turns out that none of us are even close to league play ready, but it was a fun night anyways. As usual Brian's dad beat us all, (as he does at all sports). Also Jennifer and Riley made up an awesome dance to go along with great bowls.....(see below)

We've only got a week and a half before we take off again up to Alaska, so it was fun to get together with the family!

RIley's Farewell....

2009-04-19T22:06:00.002-06:00

Today was Brian's baby brother Riley's mission farewell. If you are not familiar with what that is, he is going on an church mission for two years, and today he gave the sermon as a farewell. He was really nervous but did an amazing job! He is going to West Virginia and will be gone for two years. If you still have no idea what I'm talking about just think white shirts and ties, black name tags, riding bikes....that should ring a bell of what he is doing. All of Brian's family came down for the event, even his sister Heather surprised us with her and Claire. We also had a great party at his parents house after the service to celebrate. We're going to miss him, but know that he is doing a great thing.

Our Little Bundle of Joy.....

2009-04-18T18:33:00.005-06:00

Nope, it's not a baby, this week we got a new toy, it's a netbook. If you're not familiar with what that is, it's a tiny tiny laptop. Mostly this is a new toy for Jenn to use for school. Lucky for her it's so small that it even fits into her purse, also it's bright red! Thanks to Ed and Linda for the great gift we love it! Here's a few pictures of how it stacks up to our other laptop so you can see how small it really is.

IT'S BRITNEY........

2009-04-15T21:44:00.012-06:00

That's right, despite what you all think.......we are NOT to old for britney! The girls and I decided to make our own I LOVE Britney t-shirts and rush into to the crowds of sixteen year olds and gay men! We were orginally going to dress up in all of the different phases of her life, but that came to a crashing holt when no one would shave their head and carry an umbrella! Oh well! Despite the rain and our letters peeling off our home-made t-shirts, we had a great time!!

Happy Easter.....

2009-04-13T14:10:00.008-06:00

This year we spent the Easter holiday in Payson with Brian's family. We ate a GREAT meal, decorated eggs, and spent most of the day reminicing....due to Brian finding a box full of all his old stuff his mother had saved from birth. This box contained EVERYTHING, pictures, report cards, scout stuff, and even an old medical bill. Thanks to this box I know feel like I have know Brian since the womb!

Graduation Day...

2009-04-01T18:18:00.002-06:00

Well it was graduation day for Brian's First Aid/CPR class he teaches to 3rd graders. It's been a great couple of weeks, full of amazing stories that we wont soon forget. So, if you get hurt out in Glendale, you are officially in good hands with this group of kids!

Gas Leaks, RockBand, Temples and so much more.....

2009-03-28T21:17:00.004-06:00

So this past week was pretty busy, in addition to school we had a lot of other things going on. On Tuesday Brian learned an important life lesson, that an anatomy lab test is more important than being blown up. To sum it up, there was a huge gas line break on the U campus which led to the total evacuation of the school....except for the anatomy lab. His teacher decided that since the lab was in the basement that they would be fine. When he walked out of the building his class was the only left on campus. Don't worry though, he didn't blow up. Wednesday was Jenny Q's birthday, so we met the Quacks and Barkers for dinner. Happy B-day Jenny, ya old lady!

Friday night, after a week of being burned out from schoolwork, it was time to burn off some steam with hours and hours of Rockband with the Kennedys and Fentons. Turns out that we are about two more nights of practice away from starting a real band to rival the likes of Pearl Jam and AC/DC.
Saturday we went to the Mt Timponogus temple where Brian's little brother Riley went for the first time. He's getting himself ready to take off for his mission in 6 weeks. Congrats Riley, and good luck with it all!

And last but not least....this has been bugging me (Brian) for months now. I usually ignore most political statements that come in sticker form....but here it goes. I get it, some people dont think that socialism of any kind is a good idea, but should those people be living in government subsidized housing? I dont think so. There is a car in our lot that has a sticker in the window that drives me mad (see below). Not only is it parked in a socialist parking lot, which you can see I'm not making up due to the parking pass below it, but it is across the street from our socialist fire station, which is next door to the socialist post office, around the corner from our socialist police station..and the list goes on and on and on. I know it's dumb, but still kind of annoys me. Unless this person is fighting their own crimes, putting out their own fires, putting their kids in private school, and owning their own home they should re-think their stickers.

SPRING BREAK IN 90 DEGREE WEATHER

2009-03-25T13:33:00.007-06:00

This last week was spring break from school, so Brian and I decided to take one last trip to Arizona to visit the family before the semester ends and we head back to Alaska. We decided to drive the 11hour trip. It was spent mostly singing at the top of our lungs, I would sing the girl parts while Brian sang the boy parts. Now if your not too familiar with some of Brian's many talents......singing is one of them and the best part was, if I didn't know the words to my part, he would simply say, "don't worry, I got this one for you". Once we arrived at our Parents house, we were formally introduced to the new addition to the famliy, Harley! Eric's new puppy! She is a pug and only 6 weeks old, and run's that house hold. I have never seen a puppy be treated more like a baby......we LOVE her! The neices and nephews are so big now! We had a great time going to the zoo, movies and eating as much junk food as possible. Brian's favortie part of the trip (besides swimming and laying out in the 90 degree weather) was the spring trainning games. We were able to see the Mariners and the Padres play. We had such a great time, especially because the Mariners (Brian's Team) Won at the last second! I guess this will be the last time we see the sun till August!

Our favorite hunchback comedian...

2009-03-07T09:57:00.003-07:00

Friday night our favorite local comedian was doing a show out at Wiseguys in West Valley. Not only is he a comedian, but he is also a hunchback!! He is hilarious!! Most people haven't seen or heard of this guy but he's been on HBO, so I guess he's pretty famous. Either way we think he's great. Here's a video of some of his jokes, it's kinda long, but totally worth it!! Enjoy....

Another week with my first aid class....

2009-03-06T18:59:00.005-07:00

Well, I had another amazing week with my third grade first aid class! If you read last weeks post you know what a riot it is. This week we talked about rescue breathing, which involved dummies to practice on. Now if you've ever taken a CPR class you've probably used one of these, you know "Annie" head, torso and that's it right....well with the child practice dummy, it's anatomically correct. And by anatomically correct I mean they have "little boy parts". I thought this wouldn't be a huge problem seeings how they are fully clothed, well I was not so lucky. As soon as those kids were alone with the dummies for one second they were all giggling because apparently the shorts had slipped down and the girls had seen the plastic ...ya know "boy parts". Which drives me to ask the question again, why is the adult dummy a head and torso, the baby dummy has it's limbs but no privates, but the six year old sized dummy has to be anatomicly correct. What pervert made those things?!? So our rescue breathing class turned into a quick lesson on boy parts/girl parts. Then the class could begin.

I was really impressed because the kids remembered all the things we talked about the last week. They could tell us exactly what to do if "someone burns your house down" or "if a cop shoots you for no reason". Smart bunch of 9 year olds. Also as it turns out our 9-1-1 lesson went a little too well and two of the kids went home and practiced calling. One little boy said he got a time out and it was all our fault for "making" him do it...

Another funny thing that happened this week was we made them all practice rescue breathing on the dummies, this turned out to be hilarious! First I took out some alcohol pads to clean the mouths and a kid asked what I was doing, when I told him I was using alcohol wipes to clean them he said, "Sweet we get to get drunk today!" --remember 9 years old -- After they were cleaned I showed them how to perform rescue breaths. As soon as I put my mouth on it to give a breath a kid yelled out "Gay, he's kissing him". Well, jokes on him, cause he was next. After a little coaxing all the little terrors took turns learning and practicing, and actually got pretty good at it. I'm pretty confident now that if I get hurt in Glendale one of my 9 year olds can help me out!

Kids say the funniest things, especially in Glendale...

2009-02-27T11:23:00.002-07:00

So I (Brian) started a new volunteer project this week. What I do is go to elementary schools and teach 3rd and 4th graders basic first aid and CPR. Well for my first assignment I was assigned to Mt View Elementary, which is in Glendale. Now if you are not familiar with the part of SLC west of the freeway you need to know that this is what my Dad likes to call a "tough" neighborhood. That's nice Garry talk for "you could get shot, robbed, stabbed, etc there." So I get there, and I have 8 3rd graders that I'm going to be working with. And this is where the the story get hilarious!! First thing we talked about was emergencies and calling 9-1-1. So I went around the room and asked the kids what kinds of emergencies happen:

Luis: You could get stabbed ....
Nefi: Someone comes and burns your house down at night ...
Omar: A cop could come and shoot you for no reason ...

I was kinda looking for falling out of a tree house, or getting in a bike wreck, but I guess this works. So then I talked about calling 9-1-1, so I asked Omar if he would call 9-1-1 during his emergency, his response, "No way, then more cops would show up and shoot more people."

Another thing we did was we practiced what to do when you see someone get hurt. SO one of the kids was the "patient" and got to choose what happened to him..(again I was waiting for tree house, bike, you know.) Well he decided to be "hit by a train" Well, we went with it, so I asked his little friend, what are you going to do to help your friend who was hit by a train? He said "Nothing it was his own fault for playing by the tracks, I'm gonna let him bleed out" That's right the kids said "bleed out".

In the end we did get though all we needed to get done, but man I've never laughed so hard in my life!! Best part is, there are six lessons left, I cant wait.

So, I'm not the only one who thinks they're #1 ...

2009-02-22T00:19:00.002-07:00

Well last Thursday it became official, well kind of. According to nbc sports, the Utah Utes football was recognized as the college football national champions, and presented with the trophy. From collegefootballtalk.com that is, not the BCS. It was all cleared through the NCAA, so it's kinda legit. Either way I have to agree, GO UTES. To read story go to: http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/29281624/#storyContinued

Riley's going on a mission!

2009-02-08T20:13:00.003-07:00

Brian's littlest brother Riley got his mission call this week, and he is going to the Charlesten West Virginia Mission. He goes into the Missionary Training Center on May 13. Good luck dude, we're all really proud of you!

Funniest video I've seen in a long long time....

2009-02-06T12:46:00.002-07:00

So, I got this off my friend Brooke's blog, and it was so freakin funny that I had to post it as well. This is one of the funniest things that I have ever seen, so check it out...definitely worth it! It's a 7 year old who had some dental work done, and was put out by the gas.....this is what he's like when he woke up.

Carter's Baptism....

2009-02-01T15:23:00.003-07:00

This last weekend we headed up to Boise to watch Brian's nephew Carter get baptized. It's hard to believe that little guy is already eight, he growing up fast! It was a great time, all of Brian's grandparents and most of his family were able to make the trip. Brian's little brother Riley baptized Carter, and Brian's Dad did the confirmation. Congrats Cater!! Also, here's some pictures of the Idaho trip.

First week of school.....

2009-01-16T19:20:00.004-07:00

Well, the winter semester started this week....hooray....(not so much). Actually both of us are really enjoying it so far. We are taking a lot of science, health, and math this semester, which leaves little time for classes we might enjoy a little more, such as underwater basket weaving but guess that's the classes you have to take when you wanna work in the medical field. Also, we just got some great news, after fighting with the U for a couple months, Jenn in now officially classified as a resident. If you are not aware of the situation, she was declared as a non-resident for some reason, and we had to turn in pretty much every document from our lives to get it changed....but it's all good now, and we can go back to only being partially hosed when it comes to paying for school. Another good thing we just realized is how close we are to finishing degrees! Turns out being grown ups is closer than we thought. Well wish us luck, because with the schedules we have right now we probably wont see anyone for a while. Also GO UTES!

Hello 2009....

2009-01-08T10:32:00.003-07:00

Out with the old, and in with the new, it's now 2009....holy cow where did the year go? Well it's been another eventful year for us. We are still going to school in Salt Lake City, but spent another summer working in Skagway to pay for the obscene tuition bills. We moved into a new apt, we now live in the student housing at the U of U. It's cinder block walls, elementary school carpets, and the smallest kitchen ever....but we love it. Its perfect for us because it's close to school and not too expensive. Brian's parents exceptionally love it because they lived here like 25 years ago, and feel everyone needs the experience. Up in Alaska both of our parents finally came to visit us and see what we've been doing the last few summers. We had a great time with them up there! We became world record holders by participating in the worlds largest egg toss. Also, we got a new nephew this summer, Jenn's sister Krista had another baby, named Kyler. We dont get to see them a lot since they live in Arizona, so him and the rest of her kids look totally different every time we see them. We went on a road trip/camping/hiking trip with the Quackenbushes to Arches and Mesa Verde this fall, which was amazing! It's great to live in Utah and be close to all those awesome sites. Some other things that we are excited about, our favorite football team, the Utah Utes we undefeated this season, and whompped on Alabama in the Sugar Bowl. We loved going to the games this year, and are excited to finally get in on the family's season tickets, so we dont have to camp out in the freezing cold on 5th south for tickets anymore! (thanks Brian's mom and dad). Another big win this year is our new President. We both supported Obama, and are excited for the changes that are in the new administration! Well 2008 is long gone and it's time for another great year....bring it '09.

GO UTES..........

2009-01-03T21:32:00.003-07:00

So for those of you who did not watch the University of Utah dominated Alabama in the sugar bowl on Friday......you missed out! Unfortunately we were unable to make it to New Orleans so instead we threw our own sugar bowl party in Arizona with a few football players!

Happy New Year......

2009-01-03T21:10:00.003-07:00

This New Year we were able to spend it with Jennifer's family in Arizona! The night consisted of 70 degree weather, a fancy dinner of steak and lobster (on paper plates), and a never ending game of rock band. We almost missed the new year being so into this game -which is funny because Brian and I have NEVER been into video games! (we found our new addiction).

Happy Birthday Lauren.....

2008-12-28T20:04:00.005-07:00

Yesterday was Lauren's 25th birthday! The girls and their hubby's and baby cooper all got together to celebrate! The night was not same without Megs (feel better soon)!

Christmas 2008....

2008-12-28T19:31:00.003-07:00

This year, it was our year to stay in Utah for Christmas with Brian's family. We usually go up to their family's cabin, and this year was no different. This year it was us, Brian's mom and dad, and his brothers, Eric and Riley. His sisters live out of state and couldn't come in this year. We got up there to a couple feet of brand new snow, so much in fact that we had to shovel a path from the snow mobile trail to the cabin. On Christmas eve it started snowing around 8 o'clock and didn't stop until the morning after Christmas. On Christmas morning, Riley was so excited that he texted Jenn from the next room at exactly 7 am to see if she was up and wanted to open presents....she was! We got lots of great stuff this year, but more importantly we had a great time together for the holiday. Plus its always nice to get snow on Christmas. We got so much snow in fact that we had to dig our car out of the parking lot. Unfortunately once we dug it out, it was stuck and after 2 hours of getting more and more stuck a nice family and their snow cat pulled us out to the road. So now, Christmas is over, now we just have New Years and then back to school and our "real" lives.

Brooke is in town....

2008-12-23T17:29:00.002-07:00

Well it's Christmas time again, and with that it means that people come in for the Holidays...mainly one of Brian's best friends, Brooke. She is too cool for SLC now, so she's freezing out in Buffalo these days. Him, Her, Blake and Eric all got together for lunch to catch up on old times. Good to see ya Brooke come in more often!!

Family Pictures....

2008-12-01T22:06:00.004-07:00

So in addition to Thanksgiving, and hiking, and shopping, we also took family pictures while we were in Phoenix. It's been the first one since Jenn was in high school...before Alex, Brian, and the house full of kids. We got the pictures back the next day and quickly realized that the four little kids are way more photogenic than the adults. Here are some pictures of the event (don't worry Linda we wont put up the one's of the whole family so you can look).

Camelback Hike....

2008-12-01T21:44:00.005-07:00

Now that the cold weather and snow has hit the mountains in Utah, Brian hasn't really been able to hike in a while so...The day after Thanksgiving Brian and Jenn's brother Eric decided to avoid the shopping festivities and go on a hike. They chose to hike Camelback Mountain, it's a 1 1/2 mile straight up hike on a mountain right in the middle of the city. They had awesome weather and were able to make it up to the top for miles and miles of picturesque Phoenix views. It was also a great opportunity for Brian to try out his new trail shoes he got for his birthday, (he had thought they would sit in the closet till spring), and they worked out amazingly! The trails were so steep at points that there were rails on the trail that you had to use to pull yourself up at times. They had such a great time that they are already planning hikes for the next time Brian is in town.

Thanksgiving in Phoenix

2008-12-01T21:32:00.003-07:00

Well it's that time of year again, the holidays. We've got a system where we trade off on holidays between the Harts and the Larsens, and this year it is Thanksgiving in Phoenix. With gas being so cheap we decided to load up the jeep and drive this time. Not only do Jenn's parents live there, but so does the rest of her family, so we get to see them also! And new to this year is Krista and Alex's new baby, Kyler, which Brian met for the first time. We had dinner at Krista and Alex's house. After stuffing us the way we can only imagine the Pilgrims and Indians did we spent the rest of the day watching football and playing with the kids.

BCS HERE WE COME!!!!

2008-11-22T20:40:00.004-07:00

Well today the day we've been waiting for has finally come. After having to listen to all the cocky BYU fans talk smack with nothing to back it up with we have clinched a spot in a BCS game. We camped out for two day in the freezing cold to get tickets, but it was totally worth it. With a sold out crowd in Rice-Eccles we watched our boys take us to a 48-24 win over the cougers.....That's right 48-24!! It was great with 7 mins left in the game almost every byu fan took the walk of shame out into the parking lot for the long, lonely drive back to Utah County. Needless to say, it was a sweet game! Most of Brian's family was there for the game, his uncle Larry flew in from Tennessee, and Riley and Dave drove down from Boise. Not to mention the regulars of Garry, Bob, Maysel and Eric. It's a good day to be a UTE!

Camping out at a ticket window, and not even for AC/DC...

2008-11-08T10:21:00.003-07:00

With the Ute's big win Thurday night over TCU, Utah is now 10-0 which means thier game against BYU on Nov 22 is going to be a big one. Because of this the tickets for students are a pretty hot item right now, (well by looking at stubhub any ticket is a hot item right now). Well we really wanted to go, so we ended up standing in line to get tickets. By standing in line we mean we set up a tent and camped out for 2 days in front of the stadium waiting in line to get tickets. It was cold, but it wasnt too bad. Brian's brother Eric was there too, so the three of us took shifts waiting in line. The line went from the ticket window, all the way around the stadium, up the road and around the parking lot by the roundabout....if you arent familiar with the campus that's way long. We got there early and were really close to the front of the line. It paid off, 23 hrs of sleeping on the cold cement, freezing our butts off, not getting any sleep (cause we were 10 feet from the main road), and we have seats!! Go Utes!!

Halloween...

2008-11-08T10:12:00.003-07:00

This year we went up to Boise to visit Brian's sister Heather's family for Halloween. It was also really cool beacause his other sister Heidi came in from Alabama, and it was the first time all the kids have been in the same place in about a year. We had a party at Heather's housem and everyone had pretty funny costumes. We went as Dog the Bounty Hunter and his wife Beth. If you dont know what that is check them out at: http://www.dogthebountyhunter.com/ , Heather and Dave went as an outlet and plug...also pretty funny. The kids looked great in their costumes also. It was a great trip, always good to see the family!

Brian's Birthday

2008-11-08T10:04:00.003-07:00

Well it's that time again....time for me (Brian) to get older. This year it's the big 26!! (don't worry I knows that's really old.) Once again Jenn gave me an amazing birthday, not only did she give me new hiking shoes, the new guitar hero game, grizzlies hockey tickets....she also made me an awesome dinner, and a weekend up in Park City, away from school, and studying. If that wasn't great enough I also got to go to the Utah vs TCU game, and got another present, this one from the football team, a last minute win to extend run to 10-0 this season and a little bit closer to a BCS game. It was a great birthday, even if I wish I wasn't so old.

Lagoon Day....

2008-10-26T20:06:00.005-06:00

Yesterday we decided to pack up the kids and head up to Lagoon. By kids we mean Blake and Jenny Quackenbush, yeah we're family. It was frightmares, which if you're not familiar means that it's regular lagoon with a lot of Jr. High kids in Halloween costumes and no adult supervision. It all started out with Brian finding a parking spot he thought was "pretty close" and Jennifer and Jenny pointing out all the closer spots as we walked to the park. After that ordeal we hit the roller coasters, and hit them hard. None of us had been there in years, and there's lots of new stuff, mainly a new coaster named Wicked, it was sweet, you go straight up and then straight down, then corkscrew the rest of the way down. After a couple rides it became very apparent that Jennifer was not feeling too well, but being the awesome chick she is, we kept on going for several more rides. We didn't make it into any of the haunted houses because the lines of 12 year olds wrapped all around the park. Even without it still was a pretty sweet night!

Libraries are for nerds....

2008-10-20T16:20:00.005-06:00

Well today I (Brian) got out of school and got an insane case of cabin fever. So, instead of heading to the library to study, I decided to head up the canyon and study up there. As it turns out even though it's 70 degrees at our house, it was only 40 degrees up where I went, but it was still a rad hike. The trees all are changing colors, and there's still not a whole lot of snow. It was a great time, and even though it took about an hour to hike up, I think I've found my new favorite corner of the world to study in. Here's some pictures of how little cottonwood canyon looks right now. Not a bad way to spend 5 hours if I do say so!

Arches & Mesa Verde...

2008-09-22T17:21:00.004-06:00

Well this last weekend us and Blake and Jenny Quackenbush decided to head out to Moab for the weekend and do some hiking and camping. We started out in Arches National Park hiking up through the park. It was pretty sweet because this is a place that is so close to us and we always take it for granted. The first arch we hiked up to was the most famous, Delicate Arch, it was a cool hike through slick rock up to the arch. It was amazing! Then we spent the rest of the day hiking around the park seeing hundred of other natural arches. That night we camped out in Moab. The next day we got up early and drove to Mesa Verde. If you don't know what that is, it's these 750 year old American Indian villages that are carved into the cliff face. To get to them we had to climb up and down the cliffs by ladders. It was cool to see these amazing structures that people used to live in. All in all it was a cool weekend getaway, and we're going to keep on taking advantage of the cool stuff that we have here in Utah. We took hundreds of pictures so we put a few on a slideshow for you all to check out.

Up The Canyon with The Quacks

2008-09-14T18:32:00.003-06:00

Keepin up with getting the most out of summer before it ends, we went with Blake and Jenny last night up Provo Canyon. It was a great time we cooked marshmellows, and banana boats around the fire, and even had time to fit in a little football before it got dark.

U of U Football Rules...

2008-09-14T18:21:00.003-06:00

Well yesterday we went down to Utah County for the day, and forgot that we had to go through Provo on BYU football gameday. To make matters worse we got stuck in traffic on the way down because of everyone trying to get to the game. To set the scene.... we were stuck in a flood of mini-vans and jacked up trucks covered in BYU stickers and waving BYU flags out the window. Well we didn't want anyone in traffic to think that we were part of the crowd, so Jenn quickly drew up a U of U Football Rules sign to hang on the window. It was pretty funny because everyone gave us the stink-eye the whole way while we laughed and laughed and laughed...Go UTES!! Here's some pictures of the sign.

To Donut Falls We Go......

2008-09-08T21:33:00.002-06:00

Well since the whole time we were in Alaska we only had maybe 5 sunny days we have been trying to make the most of the great weather that we have. This being the first time we've been back to Utah before October we are re-learning how great it is here in the hot weather. This all said we decided that we would go hiking last weekend up Big Cottonwood Canyon. We took a hike up to Donut Falls. It's a pretty cool hike, nice and easy and ... it ends with a cool waterfall. They call it Donut Falls because the water comes off the moutain through a hole and turns into a waterfall. After that we decided to take a drive up the rest of the canyon. We went up through the back way to Park City, then back to Salt Lake. It was a great day! The next night we went back up the canyon with a few of our friends to build a fire and cook out. We've probably have at least another month of really warm weather (which is anything over 65 degrees for us) and we're going to make the most of it.

I finally saw a real live Eskimo....

2008-09-03T22:29:00.000-06:00

This is a picture that Brian took up in Skagway, for three years we were in Alaska and never saw a "real Eskimo". But right before we left Brian saw this lady walking down the street. It was awesome, she was exactly as we would have pictured a Eskimo woman. She was really small too, notice that she's shorter than the numbers on the side of the train car... well those are chest high on Brian to give you a little perspective. The picture isn't the best because it was taken with a cell phone camera, and she didn't know he was taking it, and some one's face is totally in the picture....but it's still cool.

Golden Onion Days....

2008-09-03T22:06:00.003-06:00

Well it's that time of year again....Onion Days!!! Now if you're not from Payson Utah than you probably aren't aware of the coolest small town celebration in the world, but every Labor day weekend everyone from Payson returns for the carnival, parade, crash up derby, greased pig wrestling, and so much more. In fact our first date was Brian taking Jenn to Onion Days, and since we've been in Alaska the last 3 years during Labor Day we haven't been able to attend. Till this year that is. Heather and her family also came down from Boise for all the fun too. We all went to Payson Lakes on Saturday to play in the lake. We took a kayak up so we could paddle around the lake, and as soon as we pulled it off the jeep all the nieces and nephews wanted rides too. So we put 5-7 people in our 2 person kayak and paddled all afternoon. That night we went to the carnival, funny how all the kids who either dropped out of high school, or got pregnant and quit high school can always been counted on to be at the carnival. We also found out that the ferris wheel ride collapses down to a trailer, this we found out as we were getting off and saw the tires under the ride.....real safe! On Monday there was the awesome parade. Everything was fine until 5 minutes into the parade and it started pouring rain. we stuck it out for a while, but eventually decided to pack it up and go. Probably a good idea since as you can see Brian was the only one without an umbrella and couldn't see anyways. All in all it was another great event in Brian's hometown.

Goodbye Skagway...Hello Utah....

2008-08-25T22:44:00.000-06:00

Well after another great summer working in Alaska, it's time for us to go back to Utah and back to school. We've had a lot of fun this year, we saw lots of bears, both sets of parents came up to visit, and we saw the sun 3 times! Anyways we're back in Salt Lake now, and school started today. We are now living in the student apartments, which aren't really that bad. In fact they are identical to when Brian's parents lived in them 26 years ago. But the price is right and it's close enough so Brian can ride his bike to school. So goodbye for another winter Skagway, hopefully we'll see ya again summer of '09

We're off to see the bears....

2008-08-17T16:14:00.000-06:00

So Jenn won a contest at work and the

prize was a trip away for the night. All the way across the ocean, 20 miles to Haines, AK. It was a pretty cool trip, we took a fast ferry over there, and checked into what we're pretty sure is the hotel that inspired the movie "The Shining". After settling in the room we ate dinner at a little local restaurant, and then took off for our twilight bear watching tour. It's right smack in the middle of the salmon runs right now, which means the bears are out in full force. Mainly the Brown bears are the ones that we see in the area. The guide we were with took us out to the Chilkoot River where we immediately saw a 4 year old brown bear hanging out in the deep grass. Throughout the night we also saw another 4 year old, as well as a sow with her two cubs. It was a great trip, but unfortunately we had to come back the next day to work. Well Brian had to go back to work, Jenn is done for the season and will be flying out tomorrow with Brian following this Thursday.

Heli-Camping...

2008-08-17T15:51:00.000-06:00

Well it's getting closer and closer to the end of our summer season up here in Skagway, Ak and like last summer Brian and the rest of the Dock Reps went out on a campout. This year they went Heli-Camping (where a helicopter drops you off at the top of the trail). They went up that way and then back by the train the next morning. It was a great time, after getting a quick ride in the chopper up to the Laughton Glacier trailhead they hiked up to the US Park Service cabin. Then it was off to the Laughton Glacier. It's a pretty sweet hike that almost immediatly has a visual of the massive sheet of ice. More than the chopper ride, or the hiking on the glacier, the best part was just to be away from town (and tourists) for one night.

Tourist For A Day.......

2008-08-03T11:55:00.000-06:00

Well, if you haven't hung out with us in a while then you might not know about our complete annoyance with tourists this year. Don't get us wrong, we realize that they are the one's paying our bills, but this year it seems they are more annoying than usual. All this said we decided that us and the Quackenbush's would be tourists yesterday. This does not mean that we stood in the middle of the road taking pictures, or asking over and over again how to get out free train charm, it means we finally took advantage of a couple tours offered here in Skagway. First we decided to go Glacier Country flight seeing. This is probably one of the coolest things you can do up here (besides the train of course...). The tour takes you over several of the large glaciers in the are, and finished off with the Mead Glacier which is part of the Juneau Ice Fields. It is easily some of the most amazing scenery that we've ever encountered. The pictures turned out cool, but don't really do it justice. After doing that we went across the fjord over the the city of Haines to float the Chilkat River. This river is pretty cool because it has the largest concentration of bald eagles in the world. Also, on the bus ride out to the river we had a pretty sweet encounter with one of the largest brown bears I've ever seen. It was fishing on the creek bed for salmon, while her two cubs watched. I've attached a quick video of the bear getting a fish and taking it into the woods for her cubs. It's a little shaky cause we were in a bus seeing it, also the sound is of everyone on the bus so i recommend turning it down. All in all it was nice to get away from work for a day and see some of the amazing things we have around us up here in Alaska.

The Larsen's Come To Town....

2008-07-30T12:44:00.001-06:00

Well this is turning out to be the summer of family. Again we have been trying to convince our families to come and visit us the last three years we've been living in Skagway, and this year they finally listened. Brian's Mom and Dad were hear last month, and last week Jenn's Mom, Dad and brother Eric came up to stay with us. It was a great time for all of us, after a long flight and ferry ride the Larsen's went from the 112 degree heat of Phoenix to the balmy 45 degree heat of Skagway. We were really excited for them to be able to see what we've been doing up here, and also to get the Alaskan experience. Like when Brian's parents were in town Ed, Linda, and Eric were able to do most of the tours we offer here in town. Also one day Brian, Eric, and Ed went sport fishing out in the fjord for salmon, they caught a bunch, Brian's being the smallest (mainly cause he let Ed bring in his big fish). The also saw the glaciers from the air and the water, had a trip though the brothel, and panned for gold. We even were able to see a couple bears on the side of the road. Needless to say by the time we put them back on the ferry out of town this morning we had totally wore them out! It was a great time.

Look out Skagway...Brian is a Fireman

2008-07-14T17:25:00.000-06:00

So Brian decided that it was finally time to give back to the great city of Skagway and become a volunteer firefighter. Mainly he is working on the EMS team, but when you join one you're automatically on the other. So far the main excitement has been meetings every tuesday, and competeing in the sport fishing tourniment...(he didn't catch anything). Brian wants to become a physicians assistant, so working with the ambulance is a great learning experiance. It's pretty exciting stuff working on the ambulance, mostly it is older people who get exausted walking through our 20 blocks in town, and people tripping on the boardwalks.

the hart's come to town

2008-07-13T12:44:00.000-06:00

Well it took three years of us coming to work up in Alaksa for our parents to finally decide to come and visit. Brian's Dad and Mom came up last week to visit, and Jenn's parents and brother will be here later this month. It was a great time for Brian's parents to come because the weather was pretty nice most of the time, although it did piss rain one day so they could see that too.

We were able to get them on lots of the shore trips that the cruise ship passengers take when they come here. They were able to go Kayaking, take a streetcar ride, go through a brothel, have a salmon cook-out at an old gold camp, take a flight over the glacier icefields, and then canoe out to one of the glaciers. Oh and of course they got to ride the train. In addition to seeing everything that there is to see here in Skagway they were here on the 4th of July and were able to take part in all the small town festivities.

Here's some pictures we've taken up in Alaska....

2008-07-07T17:14:00.000-06:00

Happy 4th of July

2008-07-07T16:03:00.000-06:00

Well, it's the 4th of July and Skagway has a pretty sweet celebration. It is the ultimate in small town parties!! First there was the fireworks show out over the fjord, thing is, it doesn't really ever get dark here so the fireworks go off at dusk (11:30pm). Also since the town across the bay has more people, and there's only one guy that does fireworks our show has to be on the 3rd. All that said it's still pretty cool.

On the actual holiday we have the small town parade, the town of Skagway is so small that the parade goes down the main road, turns and then comes back the same road. All of it takes about 35 minutes.

After the parade the town broke the Guiness World Record of largest egg toss. Pretty awesome right?

We've finally got our blog up and running...

2008-07-06T12:59:00.001-06:00

Well we decided to start a blog a while ago, but with our busy work/play schedules it never really got past naming it. So after 3 months of saying we need to get to it here we go! We are up in Skagway Alaska again for our third summer, this year we are working for the White Pass Railroad. It's a tourist railway, with cruise ship passengers being our main customers. It's a pretty sweet gig, we work in paradise for 4 months out of the year, and it basically pays for our school in the winter. This year has been pretty awesome! We've been able to see tons of stuff that most people will never see until they are old and take a cruise.