College Football Palooza

On Saturday we went to the CU-Wyoming football game in Boulder.  Neither team is particularly good but it was fun--the atmosphere at college games is always fun.  Plus, CU won!!  It may, sadly, be their only win of the season.  It wasn't pretty, but it was a W.  

CU has what they claim (I don't know if it is true) the number one college mascot in the country, Ralphie the Buffalo. 

They bring him (actually her) out to lead the team onto the field at the beginning of the game and again at half time.  I'm glad I'm not one of the ones holding onto the rope, and she is a SMALL buffalo!  After the CU game we came home and watched, or rather endured, the BYU game.  Is it me or does this happen all the time?  BYU starts the season well and then totally falls apart at the critical moment.  All I can say is at least Utah lost too and now we MUST WIN the BYU-Utah game in order to be OK with the season.  By the way, does anyone get CBS College Sports?  Apparently that is the only channel that will be broadcasting the BYU-Utah game in November and no one we know gets this channel!!  Tragedy!  We will have to come up with an alternate plan.  Overall, the football weekend wasn't too bad.  CU and the Broncos won (and actually looked pretty good!) and my fantasy team is 30 points ahead of my opponent.  We just won't talk about the Cougars.

Colorado Autumn

This past week Reagan and I were able to take some time off work and visit my parents in Colorado.  There really is nothing better than Colorado in the fall.  

Reagan's parents were going to come with us as they have never been to the front range, but Connie was unlucky enough to contract bronchitis and a middle ear infection and so we are hoping for next year--get better soon Connie!  We missed having you guys here.  

On Friday, Mom, Dad, Reagan and I spent some quality time up in the mountains.  "The boys" climbed Chapin peak and Mom and I made it almost all the way up before we had to turn around due to inclement weather.

Here is Reagan at the top, checking the GPS for the elevation (12,438 feet)

This time of year is known as the Elk Rut . . . when all the elk are gathering and the bulls are defending their harems.  This is one big boy bugling.  We got a pretty good show as you can see:

This is only video short enough to post--the younger bull had snuck (is this a word?) in to the group while the head bull was keeping an eye on another, larger competitor.  Needless to say he wasn't around for long.

This was one of the views up on Trail Ridge road, the highest paved, continuous road in the United States at 12,183 feet.  The clouds were incredible!

Summer FUN!

OK, not all of our summer has been home improvement.  We have also had some really great times on our own and with family.We started with a hike up towards Red Pine Lake in Little Cottonwood canyon.  We didn't make it all the way to the lake because of the SNOW that we ran into . . . I was wearing my Chaco's and was not prepared.  I obviously was never a boy scout.  

We did get almost all the way and had a nice picnic with a couple of marmots.

Fourth of July found us in Grand Teton National Park with my family.  Jackson is one of my family's favorite places and it had been years since we had all been there together.  We had a great time, and it is gorgeous.

Mt. Moran with reflection in Leigh lake

Reagan and myself (complete with cheesy smile) at Jackson Lake

Skipping rocks at Jackson Lake.

What is affectionately called the "original recipe" group

 from left to right . . .

Zane, Dad, Mom, Luke, Kirsten, and Reece

(thanks to Reece and Haley for the picture)

On the 4th of July, we went into town for a concert as part of the "Music in the Hole" festival, followed that night by the "Fire in the Hole" fireworks show.

Kayaking on Jenny Lake

A parting shot of Mt. Moran

We were in Beaver for the 24th of July (for those of you not in on Utah culture, the 24th of July is a state holiday to celebrate when the pioneers entered the Salt Lake valley).  True to form, we didn't take our camera for this trip, but we had a great time running the annual Beaver River Run 5k and camping up on the mountain with Reagan's family.

The first annual Hanzon/Fails girls night out was a blast.  My mom came over and "the girls" went to dinner and then to see Hello Dolly at Hale Center Theatre.  A good time was had by all.

Our August fun was a backpacking trip with my brother, Luke.  He came out for a week to help with our yard project (he is a sprinkler genius having spent several summers working for city irrigation and golf course people) and then we all trekked down to Cedar City to do some work at my grandparent's house.  Our reward for our hard work was a 3-day backpacking trip in the Tushars, which are the mountains by Beaver.  Again, we didn't take our camera but fortunately Luke is not quite so photographically challenged as we are and shared his pics with us.  Here are some highlights . . .

Reagan, me and Luke at the trailhead ready to head out.

Camp the first night, Mountain House Food is the BEST--we were excited for dinner!

It was COLD at night, but the campfire kept us cozy and warm.

The Tushar's are beautiful, and the nice thing is that no one goes in the back country so you have it pretty much to yourself.

Overall, it has been a busy, fun summer and we are sad to see it go, but now we get to anticipate fall and all the beautiful weather and football that comes with it!

The Joys of Home Improvement

Well, summer is just about over . . . time to catch up on what we have been up to since we moved.  No surprise but a lot of our time has been spent working on the house, well actually the yard.  One of the reasons we were able to get a good deal on our house was that the basement had flooded and there was some work to be done.  We originally thought we would have to go all out and put in a drain system and sump pump to take care of this in addition to fixing the drainage in the back yard (the previous owners had put in a driveway/basketball slab that drained right into one of the basement window wells).  As luck would have it, however, just fixing the drainage seems to have taken care of the problem.  After talking to the neighbors and several professionals, we decided that the problem was the drainage and so far we have been proved right.  The drainage project lasted about a month, and we did it all ourselves!  I actually had better sat that Reagan did the lion's share of the work and I was the errand runner and general cheerleader but I did shovel rocks and dirt as well as pull weeds--they are amazingly resilient . . .  

We had to: pull out the rocks around the house, cut out part of the concrete slab (this is one of our only pictures of the project), re-grade the ground around the house, dig a drainage ditch, replace the rock and then create a "dry river bed" look for the drainage.  It was quite a project!  But it is done and we have tested it--seems to work just fine--we've had a couple of rain storms as well as a leaking sprinkler that we didn't know about and not a drop of water in the basement!!  Now we get to refinish the basement . . . it never ends, or that is what we hear.