Bike Ride to the Pond

A couple of Saturday's ago I finally got my Single-Speed mountain bike working again. It really just needed a new tube but for some reason I just never made it to the bike shop. So after getting it all fixed I figured I should take it for a spin. I grabbed my camera and headed down to the Jordan River walk way then rode South to the ponds. I stopped and took a few pictures of the dragon flies at the first pond then it was off to the second pond. I hopped on the bike and short-cutted the corner across a patch of dried weeds then back onto the path. Immediately I noticed that I picked up some uninvited guests. I pulled out about 10 - 20 bull head stickers out of each tire. Several of the extractions were followed by a faint hissing sound. Great! Brand new tubes already punctured. I rode back home as quick as my fat, out-of-shape body could manage. Luckily I was able to cut through and came home the back way. The last hill was a killer though. Having only one gear (hence the Single-Speed) I was trying to stand up and grind my way up the hill. By this time the tires were getting quite soft and my front tire kept wanting to wash-out. Amazingly, I made it all the way back before both tires went completely flat! I still have not tackled the challenge of removing the remaining thorns and patching the tubes (if they are not too riddled with holes). Here are the rest of the pictures from the pond.

Swimming with the P's

Now that summer is quickly coming to an end, I thought I would finally post the pictures from swimming back in July. We went to Kendra's parent's house and had a great time playing in the pool with Parker, Payton and Porter. We ate some yummy pizza then, with reckless abandon, we jumped right into the pool! Here are the rest of the swimming pictures.

Camping in Ephraim Canyon

This last June we went on a camping trip to the mountains outside of Ephraim, UT. It was the first camping trip of the summer but apparently the last one to be blogged. That is partly because we didn't have the pictures and partly because I thought Jill was going to write the blog entry. So back to the pictures thing. We got to our campsite before I realized that I had forgotten to bring my camera! I'm not sure how that happened. Luckily Maya had her digital camera that I had given to her a couple of years ago. But then it took a while to get the pictures off the camera as we and Emily kept forgetting. Anyway, I finally got a copy, uploaded them, and now Jill has lost her window of opportunity. I celebrated my birthday on the trip which was fun. Jill and Maya decorated the bushes with streamers and a Happy Birthday sign. One of my gifts was a water purifier for the fridge but we put it to use filtering our camping water supply. Our water actually came from the same spring the supplies water to the city of Ephraim. A mud slide had damaged the spring and there were workers trying to stabilize the hillside but the water was still cold, clean and refreshing. I was hoping to cross over the top of the mountains over to Pete's Hole and Joe's Valley (two of my favorite camping areas) but the snow drifts were still four or five feet over the road. We opted to test out our new camel backs on a hike up the dirt road for a while and had our little picnic lunch next to a stream. On Saturday we descended from the mountains and drove the short distance to Jill's Aunt Judy's place in Manti. Judy let us get cleaned up before we headed to a wedding. Jill's friend, Renee from Baltimore, was getting married at the Manti temple and we attended the reception at an historical house/inn. Jill's Aunt Faith and her cousin Erin drove up from St. George so we able to visit with also. Maya enjoyed watching Aunt Judy feed the chickens. Later that night we attended the Manti Pageant on the grounds of the Manti temple. Aunt Judy is one of the directors so we were able to sit in the VIP section. Maya actually stayed awake through the whole performance which lasted until about midnight. The rest of us struggled a bit. Sunday morning we enjoyed a great breakfast then we all went our separate directions. Here are a few more pictures of our camping trip.

Backyard Camp Out

We try to have a family camping trip every summer with the whole clan. As the clan continues to get larger and larger it has become more difficult to find a schedule that works for everyone. This year we decided to try an alternative camping method in order to accommodate everyone's busy life and I think it worked quite well. My parent's backyard was converted into a campsite, outdoor movie theater, dutch oven kitchen, campfire ring and outdoor concert venue. We cooked up some yummy dutch oven food to feed about 30 of our family and a few special guests. Matt made some great BBQ chicken, Sharlie made delicious potatoes, I (Corey) made some awesome jambalaya and mixed berry cobbler and lots of other side dishes rounded out the feast. I guess I should mention that Mindy helped me with the jambalaya since we had to leave in the middle of cooking it to see Maya's performance at school. So technically she was the first one to make my new jambalaya recipe. I also did not take most of the pictures for the same reason although they are all from my camera. Jill already made reference to the backyard camp out as this was the night that Maya wore the "I'm a Big Sister" shirt. Breakfast was awesome too. Bacon, sausage, hash browns, and French toast. We had a lot of fun and it was nice that people could come and leave as needed. It is always nice to set aside family camping time, even if it is just in the backyard. Here are the rest of the Campout pictures

Zoo Day

Somehow we went most of the summer without going to the zoo. There have been several years where Maya and I went almost every month during the year. This was the first time Jill was able to see the Elephant Show and the Bird Show. The Bird Show is always a favorite of ours. Here are the rest of the Zoo Pictures.

We're Having a Baby

We're excited to share the news with all those we love (and who read our blog) that we're pregnant. Which also quickly means that we have been tired, sick, emotional, fat, blah blah blah. But we are loving it and so excited for the upcoming addition to the family. I am 16 weeks with the baby due around Feb. 21st. I have contemplated the idea of keeping the sex a secret but don't think I could do it so we should be having the ultrasound the beginning of October. It has been an interesting few months as Corey and I were committed to keeping it a secret for awhile. After we saw the positive pregnancy test I had two weeks where I was tired but things were good. I even remember telling him "I don't think this is real because I don't feel anything different". Well, those words didn't last long. It then became difficult to hide as I was taking naps every afternoon, feeling nauseous and not being able to eat. Then I had a bad cold and couldn't take any medicine and slowly began to look FAT. But no one seemed to notice the changes. We had fun calling my family out east during the week of my mom's birthday as Chris, Holly and the boys were there visiting. I called up and mom said "the boys are coloring pictures and are asking me when Aunt Jill is going to have a baby". I laughed and said "well let them know the baby should be here in February". We talked for a few more minutes and mom just kept yelling "whoo hoo". I think she is a little excited. We are looking forward to flying to Texas for Christmas to see all of my family. We can't wait. Although flying for 3 hours at 31 weeks along doesn't thrill me. Next, we were excited to tell Maya. We have the routine of reading stories every night before bed. I decided it would be fun to pick up books from the library that were about babies. So, on the appointed night, Maya was in the bath and I layed out all the books on her bed. Both Corey and I joined her for story time. She sat down, started looking at the books and quickly noticed "why are all these books about babies?" She is so smart. I just said, well I thought it would be fun. So we read a few stories and then said "well, there is a reason we wanted to read about babies tonight." I pulled out a gift for her to open which was a t-shirt I made. I had ironed on the words "I'm a BIG SISTER Feb 09." Maya looked at the shirt and got the cutest confused look. She said "but I'm not a big sister". We said "but you are going to be in February" and she said "but how, you aren't even pregnant" and we said "but that's what we're telling you, we are pregnant", and she said "but you don't look pregnant" and I said "Thank You". Things finally sank in and she just smiled and laughed and smiled and laughed. It took a little while to calm her down (next time we will do it earlier in the evening) and then we were nicely awakened at 4 am with her saying "I can't sleep". We think she was still excited. Finally, we were excited to tell Corey's family. I feel kinda bad they are the last family and we live so close. We decided to tell everyone at the family backyard campout. The plan included Maya wearing her shirt, everyone noticing and then getting all excited. Well, the reality was Maya wore the shirt, it was dark outside, everyone was eating and playing and no one noticed the shirt for quite awhile. Poor Maya was losing her patience as she came to me "no one is looking at my shirt". Luckily not too much longer Grandma Burk looked at the shirt and said "what is this shirt? You aren't a big sister". Maya quickly shared, "but Jill is pregnant". Grandma was excited and the word quickly spread. Fun times. We feel very blessed at this time and grateful we have such wonderful family and friends to join us on this journey. Keep your fingers crossed that I begin to feel much better soon, baby continues to be healthy and that I don't get too fat too fast.

Curt's Hockey Game

My brother Curtis has been playing, coaching and refereeing hockey since High School. A couple of weeks ago he finished up his current round of adult league hockey. His team made it to the championship game. They fought a valiant fight but in the end the very fast yellow team took the trophy home. It was pretty tough trying to get some decent pictures at the Olympic Oval. I kept messing with different settings trying to find something that worked great. Reviewing all the pictures, it looks like everything I tried worked so, so. It was hard to get the pictures in focus with all the movement and the lighting. The netting around the rink was not helpful at all either. I guess I just need a lot more practice. Or a new shiny camera and lens that will take better pictures! Curtis is number 24 and Grayson (a family friend) is number 33. Here are the rest of the Hockey pictures.