Good Times

I've been itchy to fish lately. Too itchy. So I called my boss, asked permission to go on a Wednesday and he said yes. Then he said, "Can I go too?" I obliged. Together, with Tim Berry we ran up to the Weber and fished a solid, warmer than normal March afternoon. I managed this handsome lake-run Bow at about 20" and another 18" brown shown below. Not a bad day at all. I just wish all Wednesdays could be fly fishing Wednesdays.

At last a compromise has been reached.

Video Courtesy of KSL.com

Groups that have been fighting each other for years in one of Utah's most bitter energy battles may be ready to kiss and make up.

The battle is over natural gas drilling in and around eastern Utah's Nine Mile Canyon. The canyon is famous for its ancient Native American archaeology and has been labeled "The World's Longest Art Gallery."

On Tuesday, the state division of history announced what it calls a "historic" agreement, hammered out in many hours of monthly meetings over the last year. Those meetings included the energy company, government officials, environmentalists, as well as history and archaeology buffs.

The division said the deal will "allow energy development to go forward while protecting archaeology."

A signing ceremony is scheduled for Jan. 5.

Those of us have driven down and enjoyed this canyon, just a few miles from our property, are glad to see an agreement that seems to protect both parties interests. We hope to visit these historic landmarks for years to come.

Kevin

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas everyone! Good thing I finally have some time off and I can now move on from the Halloween post. Good grief! I have really been slacking on the blog. We had a nice Christmas, low-key. It was so good to have my mom here the week before Christmas. We miss seeing my side of the family at Christmastime since we don't make it to California during this time of the year. Just too hard for Kevin to get away since the week between Christmas and New Year is the the busiest time of the year for the ski industry.

Henry was so impressed the Santa left him olives in his stocking. Santa knew this was one of his favorite foods.
Henry and Dad take a break from opening presents to pull a goofy face for the camera.

The mother of all gifts for Henry. The Super Power Guitar he has been talking about for the last month. He has the power stance down.

We are grateful to all of you...friends and family this Holiday season. Thank you for making our lives so rich.

A Halloweenie weekend

It was a Happy Halloween at our house. On Thursday night we carved pumpkins and as you can see below, Henry was concentrating hard on making his pumpkin (above) turn out just right. There was a just a little help from mom there.

Dad decided against a knife and chose a Sawzall as his tool of choice to carve his pumpkin. His pumpkin was pretty cool and involved a circulating pump, some green water and looked like it was spewing through it's mouth.

Henry was a Denver Broncos football player for Halloween. He was excited about the costume when we got it a month ago. But a couple of days ago he told me he didn't want to be a Bronco anymore, he wanted to be a butterfly. Hmmm...you can imagine how much his dad liked that prospect. My friend Kim suggested that we paste some wings on him and call him a horsefly. He eventually got over the butterfly idea and made a great Bronco.

Here are all of the Rogers cousins on Halloween. Back row left to right, Henry (Bronco), Gavin (vampire), Caitlyn (cat), Maisie (Tinkerbell), Front row, Danyn (clown), Thatcher (pumpkin), Spencer (vampire). The kids looked really dang cute.

On Saturday we enjoyed being outside and the kids had a ball playing in the leaves. We have enjoyed an Indian Summer, now bring on the snow!

Ray LaMontagne

Music is important to us and while we have definitely transitioned into middle agers, we still enjoy a good concert here are there. We have a list of musicians that we will always pay to see when they come and Ray LaMontagne was on the list. He hasn't been on the music scene that long but has quickly become one of our favorite artists. We were thrilled to find out he was stopping in Salt Lake and we saw him last night at Saltair. Here is a little bit of a Ray's bio:

With a voice that recalls a huskier, sandpaper version of Van Morrison and Tim Buckley,
Ray LaMontagne joins such artists as Iron & Wine in creating folk songs that are alternately lush and intimately earthy. The songwriter was born in Nashua, New Hampshire in 1973; his parents split up shortly after his birth, and his mother began a pattern of moving her six children to any locale that could offer her employment and housing. As a result, LaMontagne grew up as the perennial new kid in school (when and if he went to school at all). He did graduate high school, however, and found himself working in a shoe factory in Maine when he heard Stephen Stills' "Tree Top Flyer" on the radio. The song amounted to an epiphany for LaMontagne, who made up his mind on the spot to become a singer and musician.

The guy is amazing to watch. He is a really shy guy and chooses to play left of center stage as though he is just another musician in his band. But when he plays, you lose yourself in his music. In a couple of his solo acoustic numbers, the venue was so quiet that you could hear a pin drop.

It was a show we will remember for a long time and we will definitely see Ray again if he comes back to Salt Lake. If you are looking for some new music, this guy comes highly recommended.

Enough is enough

Look at this cute, harmless creature. Before yesterday I used to think my mom was a real pansy when it came to mice. I heard her scream countless times when she would encounter a mouse in our storage room growing up. Then my dad would come to the rescue with his BB gun. (No, I am not kidding.)

Fortunately, I haven't had the pleasure of a rodent encounter in my home until yesterday. I came home and I was doing the ritual clearing off of the kitchen table. Mail, Henry's artwork, newspaper, all the stuff that seems to pile up there within a couple of hours. As I picked up one of the papers I saw a mouse scurry across the table. I screamed (a lot) and yelled at Kevin to come upstairs immediately to help me. I was honestly surprised at my reaction because I have a pretty good tolerance for spiders. Snakes are the only thing that I thought I had an irrational fear of. Kevin came upstairs laughing and I told him the mouse had to still be on the table somewhere because I would've seen it jump. Item by item, he continued clearing off the table until there was only one magazine left lying open. As he put his hand on the magazine to pick it up he felt the mouse underneath there. He hatched a quick plan that involved a bowl, but the mouse was too fast. He flew (literally) off the kitchen table and ran into the mess that is our front room. So that was yesterday. Kevin said we could get some traps, but the idea of me being home alone and hearing the thing go off made my skin crawl so I didn't take him up on it.

This morning I was cleaning up the kitchen and needed to get something out of my purse. As I was rummaging around the empty abyss that is my purse, the mouse runs up my arm, out of my bag, and takes a flying leap off of my shoulder. Poor Kevin has a cold and was trying to rest when I let out a blood curdling scream. The mouse high-tailed it into the safety of our front room. I have never before been so close to heart attack. Who expects a mouse to be waiting for them in their purse? I went downstairs to find Kevin in hysterics. Only now, about 6 hours later am I able to find humor in the story.

I immediately called Kevin's mom to see if she had some traps. I was ready for revenge. Lucikily she did and Kevin dragged his sick butt out of bed to set them for me. He still believes in chivalry. Once that mouse invaded my personal space (is there any space more personal for a woman than her purse?) my sympathies were done. I am happy to report that we have rid ourselves of one mouse, but Kevin thinks there is another. Until we find the other one, I am going to cautiously open cabinet doors and my heart rate will continue to rise every time I look in my purse.

Maybe rodents are intelligent enough to play Halloween pranks?

Bewitched!

The question of the hour is, how many blogs have you already read with this same entry about visiting the witches at Gardner Village last weekend?? I can say that because 1) we Utahns love to blog about what we do and 2) I do believe that every family in Utah visited Gardner Village last weekend. Buffy and I decided to take the boys last Friday because the boys were out of school for UEA weekend. We had no idea that it would bo so crowded that we would feel like we were at Disneyland. But, the boys didn't care and the place was so decked out for Halloween that it was worth it.

Here are the boys posing with their first witch (notice the fourth green face in the back.) We took the boys to get their faces painted and Henry was in no way going to let someone paint his face. He decided he would be okay with someone painting his hand though and he opted for the pumpkin. Colton went for the full-faced pirate and Dixon a pirate skull and crossbones on his cheek. (The Clark boys can always be counted on to choose something pirate themed.)

The picture of the three boys above is my favorite for two reasons. First, Henry looks as though he is trying to cover his privates, but what he is doing is showing off the pumpkin that was painted on his hand. Second, it's hard to tell from the picture, but they are standing in front of a witch reading the paper in an outhouse. It was pretty funny.

The last thing we did was to take a hayride with the witch you see in the picture above. She told a very bewitching story as we were pulled around a swamp on the hayride. It was so much fun. It ALMOST made me like Halloween as much as Christmas. I think we will go back next year, just not over UEA weekend.