Fall is here!!!

Fall is here! Well, kinda. Not so much here as it is in Utah. But we went to Utah and got to experience breathtaking scenes of vibrant colors sweeping the mountains. We flew in on a Saturday and it was raining pretty hard. Sunday afternoon we thought it would be fun to drive up the canyon and check out the foliage. Wow! Was it beautiful! Like I said it had rained the day before, but snowed higher up in the mountains where it was really cold. The bright fall leaves against the snow looked so cool. We drove up to Alta Ski Resort and then decided to drive up further on the dirt road since we had a four-wheel drive. The roads were muddy and the boys thought it was so fun! We pulled over and let the kids get out to have a snowball fight. They thought it was hilarious pelting the car with snow.

Afterwards, we drove back to the main road, parked on the side (with a hundred other people looking at the leaves and taking pictures) and listened to some of conference. It was very peaceful. My dad and aunt soon drove up and we got out and walked around and the boys and Pops had a good snowball fight. It was a fun afternoon!

There are a lot of pictures; but it was just too hard to narrow it down. :)

The boys getting ready to hit my dad with snowballs!

Grandpa T.

My Grandpa T. passed away unexpectedly and so the five of us flew (we found an awesome deal on flights) up to Salt Lake for the funeral and to be with family. It was a really nice funeral and it was so nice to hear and share all the memories of my grandpa. We're really glad we went. I thought I'd share part of the obituary my dad wrote for my grandpa. I really like it. He was my mom's dad.


Wallace L. Thomas
“Mr. Lucky”

Wally will always be remembered for his easy going personality, his zest for life and his ability to make friends everywhere he went.

The saying may be trite but it’s true, someone we love can be here today and gone tomorrow and now there’s a void. He often remarked after being asked how he was doing, “If I was any better I’d have to be you.” Wally lived with more pain in one day than most of us will probably experience in a life time but he never complained. He was always an inspiration to all that came in contact with him. He didn’t expect anything in return but friendly conversation. Wally was encouraging, with an optimistic attitude, a telling grin, sometimes a wacky joke, lots of Thomas attitude and an extra large chocolate bar. He always figured bigger was better, who were we to argue.

In honor of dad’s military service and in lieu of flowers, send donations to George E. Wahlen/VAMC, c/o volunteer services, 500 Foothill Dr.,SLC, UT 84148 to be used in prosthetics in the name of Wally Thomas


Here is a picture of me and my grandpa. It is from a long time ago, but I really like it.

Tanner going for a ride with Grandpa in his cool wheelchair.

My mom and grandpa T.

My Grandpa T. was nominated to be a torch-bearer for the 2002 Olympics in Salt Lake. Here's a picture of him carrying the torch!

View from a 5 year old

Lately Colby has liked taking pictures with my camera. I always get a kick out of seeing the pictures after he's done and seeing what things interest him. It's so fun seeing things from his point-of-view (both physically and intellectually).

He took a picture of himself.

I like this one that he took of his feet dangling in the air. He was sitting on a chair on our porch.

I think this one is his "scary hand" pose that a "bad guy" would do.

24 Hours of Adrenaline!!

At the end of September Ryan competed in the 24 Hours of Adrenaline race again. The races are all over the country, but Ryan likes to compete in the ones in Hurkey Creek every Spring and Fall. It's a mountain bike race that goes from Saturday at noon until noon on Sunday. It's a 9 mile trail that starts in the campground and loops back to end in the same place. Teams, or people competing solo, ride the course over and over the entire time. Ryan has competed on the 5 man teams before and has had a great time doing it. He's also done the solo 8 hour race the last couple times and did that one again. It begins at noon (same time as the main race) but ends at 8pm. It is killer to ride that hard for 8 hours straight, but he succeeded and made it into the top 10!! Yahoo! We brought our trailer and the kids and I were Ryan's support team and had his gross cardboard tasting drinks and foil gel packs ready for him every time he came around for another lap. It's fun being his crew and the boys like it too. This is the starting/finishing line with the time clock counting up the 24 hours.

Ryan catching some air on the trail.

Colby and Tanner competed in the 24 Mintues of Adrenaline race. It's a bike race for the kids. The kids all get number plates too to stick on the front of their bikes. The boys look forward to their race every year too. At the end of the kid race, everyone gets a prize!

Tanner relaxing after his fast ride.

Sadee wanted to get in on the action too.

USS Midway

We went to the USS Midway last month in San Diego. It's an aircraft carrier that served in WWII, all the way up to Desert Storm. Now people can take tours of it. It was awesome! We spent a good portion of the day there and still didn't see everything. Ryan, the boys, and I love this kind of stuff. If you get a chance to go here, do it!
This is a picture of the boat from the parking lot.

Colby LOVES guns and missles and bombs and all that kind of stuff. So he insisted I take a picture of him next to this helicopter's guns.

After all these years, Tanner still loves jet engines. It's so HUGE up close!

The boys were able to sit at the controls and monitor any incoming ships, submarines, etc. It was actually working and showed all the boats driving around the bay. It was cool and the boys stayed at this spot for awhile. Colby got very into it and took it serious. The museum guy was joking with the boys and telling them to look out for enemy ships and which symbol meant an enemy ship. So Colby thought the guy really needed help and was excited to do his part!

Tanner enjoyed the radio room.

Our two future marines.

Taking a break for a snack and to rest our feet.

Sadee really liked playing with the airplane controls.