Snow and Volleyball Videos

A random shot from the 20" of snow we got last week, and poor Winston nearly buried by it. It has all melted and been replaced by the 2" we got this week. I'm ready for SPRING!

Here are some videos of Katie playing Volleyball that I took a couple of weeks ago in Salt Lake City. Believe it or not, outdoor soccer season begins tomorrow with a game in Provo. Oh well... our plight in life (and joy)... to chase our kids around the state for sports.



Maybe I'm biased, but at 14, and her first year, she's doing well. I'm proud of her.

Keeping the rally alive and scoring the point.

Spring Break in Moab

With Spring Break upon us and a few days off, we headed to Moab to enjoy some sun and trail. The weather was only in the mid 60s, but it beat the 20s and 30s we were used to, and in fact turned out to be near perfect for Jeeping.

The Jeeps are loaded, but the true test is still ahead... will the Mountaineer pull this load up over Soldier Summit? I was pleasantly surprised at how well it did. The only thing that slowed us down was when Brady and Chelsey ran out of gas on the way home.

The first morning... Jeeps unloaded... tops off... Trevan supervising the preparations, dressed in appropriate attire.

Driving Dad's Jeep for the first time.

I'm having trouble posting some pictures. They were all taken exactly the same - horizontally - but are somehow rotating when I upload them. There is no way to rotate them once they're uploaded, and if I rotate them prior to loading, they don't rotate on upload. I'll try to figure it out and get it fixed.

Our first stop on the trail... the overlook by Hell's Gate. The crawler in the background had no trouble with it. They did, however, lose something on the Escalator...

Further down... near Escalator.

Deb trying to justify her claim that "Jeeps are for girls too!"

There was lots of sunshine, but it wasn't too hot. It was perfect for Jeeping.

"Get up uncle Chris... let's go Jeeping."

"Does this horn work?"

Even Lexie got in on the driving, but she'd better focus on the climb instead of on the camera next time.

Lunch along the way.

Chelsey looking over the cliff at the switchbacks coming up Poison Spider.

Stretching our legs...

It doesn't look that steep... how did you get the front end off the ground like that?

"Man... I wish this were my Jeep."

Chris near the top of a pretty steep climb.

Chris showing off his "skills" in Brady's Jeep. But then, the smooth obstacles are easy.

A little fun on the trail... It looks like Trevan has the Jeep fever and wants only to get back in and keep going.

Our newest converts... virgins to the Moab scene. Now... Chris wants a Jeep.

It was our last day to enjoy the sun and rocks, so we took the obligatory group photo on our last trail (Fins and Things). No one looks tired or ready to go home - we definitely wanted to stay a few more days, but reality calls.

Some videos... Grandma, proving Grandpa's claim that it's all in how you drive it.

Deb keeps claiming that "Jeeps are for girls too" but she needs to back up that claim by making the easy obstacles on the first try.

Brady showing how it should be done...

Watching Dad climb the rock - first try (as it should be).

Driving Dad's Jeep...

A Visit to Work and The Final Tour

I was sitting at work the other day, and over the top of the cubicle wall appeared this little face that exclaimed... "Pa Pa." Chelsey had come up for the day to let Trevan and Damian play and had dropped by to say hello. What a nice surprise. Of course, I put Trevan to work immediately, then stuffed his pockets full of candy and sent him off with his mother.
We decided to do lunch with Drew, Brynn, Damian, Chelsey, Trevan, Grandma (Na Na) and I. A little patty cake was at hand, and this is Trevan "throwing it in the oven."

Damian waiting patiently for lunch to be served, trusty blanket in hand.

Hamming it up... like mother, like child.

As Chris has started the paperwork for his mission, he has also started his haircuts. We present here... "Haircuts, the final tour."

Not sure how long he'll keep this mullet... we're all hoping secretly he can't stand the jokes and laughs very long, but it was VERY funny when we were cutting it.

Unfortunately, the moustache didn't make the final cut...

Aggies Thump Hawaii

I finally picked up a point and shoot to carry with me wherever I go... much easier than the D200 and all the paraphenalia that accompanies it... so I grabbed some shots last night and post them here. I know... I know... it's been forever since I posted anything - about time!

A big game for the Aggies last night. With a win, they secured their title as conference champions in the WAC (Back-to-Back). Now, they just need to win the conference tournament to make it into the NCAA tournament.

It was also a big night for Ashlee as she winds down her Aggiette career. They did introductions at half-time and Skylar was able to get us some tickets. Deb and I both agree that they are going to miss her next year. She's clearly the best, and prettiest dancer, and the squad leader, so they have big shoes to fill when she leaves.


We got there early enough to watch the warmups and Taylor was SO into the idea of me taking her picture - I practically had to threaten her with violence to get this pose.

A not so great shot of Ash in action...

We stole Damian for the first half of the ball game. He wasn't too sure about it at first - he's been pretty attached to his mom and dad lately, but with the trusty old blanket, he came along.

He warmed up quickly and we had a lot of fun with him, especially when..

He came to realize that Grandma and Grandpa don't care how many pretzels he wants to stuff in his mouth at a time.

The court filled with excited fans in celebration of the victory, so we went down to hug Ashlee and take a picture. It was a fun game with the usual raucous crowd.

Halloween... Never Too Late

These are pictures from our recent (okay... a couple of weeks ago) 1st annual Harvey Family Halloween Party. Costumes were strongly encouraged, though not required, and fun was had by all. We carved pumpkins -- first ones for the grandbabies -- had a delicious soup for dinner, and laughed lots.

Experimenting

Okay... I decided to create my own background/layout. It's always a work in progress, but for now... I like this. Thoughts? Comments?

FHE

Made the trip to Kaysville last night for the monthly Family Home Evening - thanks Butch and Kristin!

Had a good time and caught up on some of the news that I wasn't aware of. Thanks to a GOOGLE search for the Leyba's blog, I was able to find a lot of the rest of you, and have now added your blog links here.

I keep thinking I want to keep this blog up to date more, but we'll see what happens, since "the road to hell is paved with good intentions."

Thanks for the jokes (Wayne), the goodies (Kristin), the lesson (Bells), the noise (uh... pretty much everyone contributed there), and the sauna (Deb controlled the heat on the way home).

Send Chelsey a note (jbstowers@yahoo.com) to get her to invite you as a viewer of her blog.

I'll try to post some pictures of our recent halloween party later.

Single Parenting

I'm a single parent this week with Deb at the NRPA (National Recreation and Parks) conference in Baltimore. She did send these pictures though from her phone...

With the recent playoff loss by our little league football team last Saturday (the first time in 5 years that we've exited the playoffs early), I now have the time on my hands to manage this... and maybe get the rest of that yard work done that is screaming at me as the weather turns cold and wet.

I've gotta add that we're loving the blogs and the grandkids. They get more and more fun each time we see them.