One heck of a Labor Day weekend

Labor Day weekend is always the start of our wheeling year in Moab so it's always welcomed with much anticipation! This year was no different, in fact, we were even more eager than usual seeing as we hadn't been rock crawling since mid June AND have a new, improved Lemon Joy. Chris had spent most of his August nights working on the girl and finally, Friday morning dawned and it was time to put her on the trailer. After multiple errands, a visit to the Chiropractor, and random work stuff, we rolled into beautiful Moab about dinner time. We went straight to the Slickrock Campground to meet up with our friends, Jack and Kendra Bridges. They had dinner waiting for us which was awesome! Right as we were cleaning up, some friends from Salt Lake, Chad and Chelsea, pulled up with their Jeep in tow. As the sun was setting on the red rocks, we jetted out to Poison Spider Mesa for a night run. It was phenomenal!! We made it to the top of the Wedgie in no time and all hopped out to enjoy the evening. It was insanely warm and there were a million stars out that night. After hanging out for a bit enjoying each other's company, we began the trek back down to the trucks. About 3/4 of a mile from the trailer, there was an awkward "ka-chunk" sound from Lemon Joy's undercarriage. We thought the transfer case had just fallen out of gear. Well, we were wrong. Turns out that ka-chunking was the transfer case actually falling off. Thank goodness for skid-plates! To make a very long story short, we were broken before even checking into our hotel. Thankfully Jack's Toyota stepped up to the challenge of pulling LJ's big ole bahookie off the trail so we got back to the trailers and went to check in and unpack. Saturday was a beautiful day which Chris spent 12 hours of laying on our trailer in 95 degree weather dropping our transfer case, fixing a funky idler shaft and then putting the whole mess back together again. Whilst under there, it was discovered we had a bad heim joint as well so he had to replace that since it's integral to our suspension system. The day ended with Lemon Joy all back together and fully operational, I know, my husband is amazing! Chris was so filthy by this point, he actually washed his entire body and head with liquid Ajax that evening. That's just awkward right there.

Now, for those of you who are wondering if we realize how crazy we are, the answer is yes! I read once that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, but expecting a different result. Well, we're not totally insane as we expect the breakage, in fact, we even anticipate it so that means we're only mostly insane. And now comes the inevitable question: Why? So many people have asked me that and ironically enough, I don't have a pat answer for you. And I've come to embrace that maybe that's part of the addiction. What I do know is this; rock crawling is what reminds me that I'm alive and man, do I love it!

After the very stressful Saturday, it was decided that Sunday was my day. I was going to drive Coyote Canyon! Now, Coyote is only about a quarter mile long, but it's a nasty boulder filled ravine that thrives on breaking rigs. I'd decided some time ago that I would really love a chance with Coyote, but I was very intimidated by the difficulty of the trail. I made the "mistake" of telling a friend my aspirations and in not so many words, he called me a chicken shit and said just go do it. So I did!

Here we are at the entrance. I must admit to being a little freaked out here. What was amazing though, is once I started driving, I wasn't afraid anymore. And that felt AWESOME!!



Scorpion aka Jack

I love that sweet face! :)

Lemon Joy and Chad's Jeep

Look at that mad Toyota flex!!

I love when she gets all twisted up like that!

Chloe Belle, Alyssa Joy, and Sophie Divine

Believe it or not, Lemon Joy didn't even feel tippy there hence the reason I'm smiling! I absolutely adore our 4 link suspension. Seriously the best thing EVER!

Chad's Jeep is bad ass!!

The last obstacle of Coyote. Ironically enough, this is the first trail that I have ever driven in it's entirety. I still can't believe I did it, it was truly amazing! Now the only problem is, who gets to drive it next time??? Yes, Chris is worried....and well he should be! ;)

The rain moved in just as we came off of Coyote. After sitting for a bit and debating our options, we headed back into town to re-group. The Bridges went shopping at the Maverick, and we snuck off to Milt's with Chad and Chelsea for some celebratory Root Beer Whips and fries. So freakin' delicious!! By this point it was about 5:00 so we decided to finish our day with Hell's Revenge.

The girls at the top of Hell's Gate

I love this picture

Dropping into Mickey's Hot Tub.

Look at those cute boys!! And Miss Sophie

Monday came too quickly as it always does. Somehow I pinched a nerve in my back late in the day on Sunday. I was in quite a bit of pain on Monday and since everyone was heading home, we decided a nice jaunt up Bull Canyon was just the ticket. Alyssa Joy had been asking to drive so she drove all the way in up the wash. And then Brendon piloted Miss LJ back out.

Playing on the great sand hill

Miss Alyssa's parking job at our lunch spot

And that would be my crazy husband

My fearless companion

And there you have it: our zany, but wickedly fun Labor Day weekend!

Crazy Mr. B

Brendon Joshua loves soccer and this will be his 6th year playing in the rec league. Every summer, we have an MLS camp that comes to Pagosa and does a week long camp. Brendon loves it and always looks forward to it. There are always different games they play and one of the fun things they do is "Wacky Wednesday". On Wacky Wednesday you can dress up however you like and the wackiest costume wins. This year, Brendon had the crazy idea of dressing up like a girl! He came up with this all on his own and put his entire outfit together, including asking me to do his hair.

Here's the best part: He won!! :)

Another Lake Day!

Sunday was another beautiful day here and Brendon was feeling better. I had some diesel left in my truck so we figured it was a great time to fart off responsibility and go to the lake again. We picked up Mike and his boat and headed down for the day. We started off with Big Bertha the inner tube. I may have mentioned that I was once a bit of a tube queen and Mike figured he'd try out his own tube. .....

Me throwing Mike off of his tube.... :)

The kids fell in love with Big Bertha. They tried riding together and that was fine, but they really liked riding it by themselves.

Crazy Mr. B


That tube swallowed Alyssa!












Alyssa Joy loved Big Bertha. I swear we drug her all over that lake! She'd go and go and go then make the "cut" sign. I'd stop the boat, she'd shake her arms out and then yell "Hit it!" and keep going! A few times we'd drop the tube off so Mike could ski and as soon as he was back in the boat she would ask to go pick up Big Bertha! I'm afraid she's hooked!



Chris' first time up on waterskis!

My lake baby!



Chris loved wakeboarding!

Alyssa wanted to try wakeboarding. Unfortunately, all we had is an adult wakeboard with some crazy bindings. She wanted to try though!


She gave it a great shot, but the board was a little much for her.

Brendon trying the wakeboard. He was close to getting up, but was just too tired to try much. Next time!!

My truck makes that boat look good! I told Mike it looks better behind my Ford....he should give it to me. You can only imagine his response!! :)

Lake Day!!

I grew up on Navajo Lake and have always loved going to the lake. We've briefly discussed getting a boat from time to time, but the fact of the matter is Lemon Joy is our addiction and we can barely afford her. One morning this summer, Chris went to our yard to pick up the trencher and there was a beautiful ski boat parked there. Turns out the guy we work with, Mike, had bought it. This morning dawned warm and sunny and I needed to get out of the house. I called Mike and told him his boat and I were going to the lake and did he want to join us? Thankfully, he was more than happy to come along! I met him and his 16 year old daughter Jesse at the yard and we hooked MaKenzie up and spent a beautiful afternoon on the lake. We've worked with Mike for 6 years now and it was such a treat to do something completely unrelated to work. Chris stayed home with the kids since Brendon is sick and it was so a nice change to be completely irresponsible for a few hours! Can I just say that I had the most fabulous day?? The only thing that would've been better is an afternoon in our yellow love!

Mike and Jess

Mike trying out his new ski

The lake divas!

I love that girl!

The water felt WONDERFUL!

Summer fun

While trying to suck every bit of life out of our summer, we took a ride up Piedra and spent a sunny afternoon by the river.

Brendon on the "warming" rock



Sophie was freezing after her swim. I like how she kicked Ted out of Alyssa's hat!



Alyssa and Ted

Happy National Swiss Day!

Friday, August 1st was National Swiss Day which is basically Switzerland's July 4th. Now, I'm sure everyone is wondering why we have suddenly taken to celebrating Swiss holidays as we are NOT Swiss. :) Here's the story:

About 3 years ago I met a neat, but very quiet, woman named Barbara. She had relocated to Pagosa from Switzerland as her husband, Jody, is orginally from this area. At that point, they had a baby boy and we would push our strollers around the neighborhood together about once a week. I always enjoyed our walks, but wasn't quite sure how to get to know her since she was so quiet. After some contemplation, I figured I could talk enough for both of us and if I drove her crazy, well, she'd just stop calling for walk times! Thankfully, my theory paid off and she never stopped calling and eventually, I guess she got sick of hearing me yammer all the while and finally started adding her own two cents. Around the same time, Barbara decided to join a local fitness club and I volunteered to watch Dominic who was about a year at that time. I fell in love with their sweet boy and started watching him quite a bit. About a 18 months ago, they were blessed with a sweet little girl named Tamara and now I have partial custody of two adorable Swiss children! In the midst of all this, our husbands have gotten to know each other and have become very good friends as well. Jody is very outdoorsy and has gotten Chris quite interested in mountain biking. As a thank you, Chris got Jody hooked on rock crawling and they are now shopping for a big Bronco! It seems a bit unfair as mountain biking is a relatively cheap hobby and rock crawling is not cheap. :)

Anyhoo, back to National Swiss Day. Jody planned a surprise party for Barbara on Friday to celebrate her heritage. He ordered some Swiss brats and sausage and from there, Sherry and I took the party planning ball and ran with it. For those who don't know Sherry, she is my partner in crime. We do pretty much everything together and are known for being the party planners for the entire neighborhood. After a little time with Google to familarize ourselves with some traditions, we started by making the children paper lanterns to carry as we walked to the party. Unfortunately, Jody's not the best fibber in the world, so Barbara caught onto our plans and it wasn't a complete surprise, but she was thrilled none the less.

Noah, Tamara, Dominic, Caden, Brendon, and Alyssa

Sherry and Asia, myself, and Barbara

The guys: Chris, Brock, JD, and Jody

My other two children

Dinner began with a lovely tray of delicious Swiss sausages and cheeses. I'm not a huge cheese person, but those sausages were uber-yummy! Jody grilled the brats which were phenomenal as well. Swiss brats are made with veal and holy monkeys, was that a good time with some saurerkraut! Sherry made a beer bread and I tried my hand at "roesti". Roesti is basically shredded potatoes cooked like a pancake in butter. It was all wonderful and for dessert, Sherry made a kick ass tiramasu. I normally don't like coffee stuff, but as usual, she out-did herself and it was oh so yummy! After letting dinner settle a bit, we ended our evening at our house with a bonfire. During the battle for Switzerland's freedom, bonfires were used for signals. It was a really fun night and although I felt like the stereo-typical homeschool mom using any excuse for an educational moment, it was a great time for the kids to learn a little bit about another country's culture. It was really cute, when it came time for dessert, we put some birthday candles on the tiramasu and sang Happy Birthday to Switzerland per Dominic's request! It was a hoot and now it's another celebration to add to our summer plans every year. :)