Windi and Eric

2011 November, Las Vegas

2012-01-13T20:20:00.000-07:00

Girls trip!! The weekend before Thanksgiving Mom, Mindi and I headed to Las Vegas to catch a couple of shows and have some fun. We stopped in Mesquite on our way down to visit with Rich and Bonnie and have a some lunch. They drove into Las Vegas that evening to see Jersey Boys with us.

Mindi and I trying to take a snap of ourselves before we headed out to see the Jersey Boys. The next night we went and saw Mystere. Both shows were fantastic we had such a great time.

Mom really wanted to see Shark Reef at the Mandalay. It was fun.

We went to see Eric's parents new condo and we caught the frogs starring out the window at the trains.

Donna made a wonderful spread for lunch. We had such a nice visit with them and the new condo is so beautiful.

Hello fishy, fishy

Eric's parent took us to a wonderful lunch at the M casino then they dropped us off at the Ballagio to see the terrarium and the water show.

Look at those three hot chicks!

I love what they do with flowers.

Great glass leaves hanging from the ceiling

This was my favorite. The tree talked and moved his eyes.

He's is cute.

It was such a fun day.

Mom, Mindi, and Mr. Tree

We had to check out the chocolate fountain

The shops at the Aria I think it's called crystals?

Cute high heel in the Metropolitian

Got a photo op with the Blue M&M after he had a big dance number.

Just hanging out out with Green

Mom and Red giving us the thumbs up for a good trip.

Germany

2011-11-30T12:59:00.000-07:00

We just wanted to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving! We are both so thankful for our health our families and our wonderful friends

We had such a fabulous time in Germany so I put together a few pictures just to give you a taste of the fantastic time we had. Our trip started in Berlin where we spent three days.

Eric standing by Check point Charlie

Here is a section of the Berlin wall that is still standing. They leave it as a reminder of how far they have come.

They were getting ready for the big unification celebration at the Brandon berg gate

There capitol building the dome on top is glass and you can walk up a spiral walkway to the top. The building is heavily secured.

This is part of the Sony building it is one of the coolest building. the center of the building was put up by alpinists and it's meant to look like Mt Fuji. It's all open air in the center. Apparently they do a lot of the major movie premiers there.

We took a boat ride on the river Spree to see the city and there where wonderful restaurants along the river

After Berlin we flew into Munich. We checked into our hotel and headed straight for Oktoberfest.

It was the last weekend of Oktoberfest and they said a half a million people where there.

We went to the Hofbrau "tent" it holds 10,000 people and I think there were more than that in there.

We saw a chance and made our way in.

The vibe inside was fantastic.

It was wall to wall people on the street

The Spaten "tent". We visited it that evening.

I don't know but a merry go round and a lot of beer don't seem like such a good idea to me.

So many tents to choose from so little time and such a small liver

Good Bye (I think if you can still read it your doing good)

Man down! Rookie mistake!

The next day we went to the Hofbrauhaus for lunch

Look at the locals! We dressed up like everyone else and

If you drink enough you will buy a Fidora

Enjoying the Spaten house

Eric and his Mom

Yummy!!

Cheers!!

Everyone know's it's Windi

The caption above the walk way say "Thirst is worse than homesickness"

My new friend from Poland "Prost"

Wild Bill and I enjoying a small glass of beer

some more new friends from Poland

Just a few people enjoying a good music, food, and beer

Our cute hotel in Munich

It was such a cool hotel

The lobby of the hotel

After we left Munich we headed to Salzburg Austria we had lunch at our cute hotel the Golden Ente

We stayed in old town Salzburg

Our cute little hotel

I think this picture speaks for itself. It was so funny I had to take a picture

The church from sound of music

The house where Mozart grew up

They have turned it into a museum.

A cute little flower shop I bought Edelweiss seeds at.

The fountain from sound of music

We were then off to Vienna. What a big and beautiful city we went the Schonbrunn Castle (It was the Home of Emporer Franz Joseph and Queen Maria Theresa)

She only won one battle during her rein and the monument in the far end of the picture was built in celebration of that victory. She gained all of her hold through her many children that she strategically married off.

This cafe is famous for it's Sacher cake (it's a chocolate cake) so we had to stop in and give it a try.

I was so impressed on this trip by all of the beautiful flower shops.

St Stephen's cathedral. I is gorgeous inside and Eric and I climbed up the tower it's like 300 and something circular stairs. I get a little vertigo when I climb circular stairs.

We went to the Albertina museum it was amazing. Then we had dinner at there little cafe

This is the view from the Albertina at night.

We went to the Kaiser appartments and Sisi Museum

We took a boat cruise on the Danube. It was very lovely and it's the first time Eric or I have ever gone through a lock.

I think Bill might be getting sea sick!!

Driving from Vienna to Innsbruck we passed a large lake call Chiemsee and decided it would be a good place to stop for lunch. The first place we stopped was closed for some reason but he told us about this cute place.

It was a magical little town we were so glad we stopped.

At one point during the trip a Cow jumped on my head this is a picture of me trying to fight it off. I finally won.

Very beautiful they said the box was built so they could sit out and watch the people in the square.

This is the Goldenes Dachl in Innsbruck built in 1420 to honor Maximillian's second marriage to Bianca Sforza of Milan The roof is made of 2657 gold plated tiles

Innsbruck was a lovely town and the alps are beautiful

This is a bronze carving in a church in Innsbruck I just thought the detail was amazing.

Leaving Innsbruck we are on our way to Schloss Neuschwanstein (which is the castle that Disney created his fairytale castle out of) As you can see we headed up into the alps over Fern pass and we were welcomed with our first snow of the year so we stopped for a photo.

This was a lovely drive and it proved to be our most adventurous day yet.

When you get to the town below the castle you have to buy tickets to go up to the castle. When we arrived at the parking lot it was snowing so Eric and I quickly bought an umbrella and headed down the street to the ticket office while his parent's waited in the car. We were completely drench by the time we arrived at the ticket window and starting to second guess whether we wanted to go up to the castle

Eric bought the tickets and some rain ponchos and we decided to do it. We took the horse carriage ride up but it doesn't take you all the way to the castle we still had a walk to get to the castle but luckily by this time it had stopped snowing, it was still cold but the sky was clearing up.

after the castle tour we walked out to the bridge to take some more photos of the castle.

This is looking down at Schloss Hohenschwangau. This is the castle King Ludwig II of Bavaria grew up in.

Apparently one big, beautiful castle is not enough so he build Neuschwanstein actually he build the castle to honor the works of Wagner (I think he was sweet on him)

It turned into a lovely day for a fairytale

Look at the cute princess and prince

Suzanne's bed and breakfast in Fussen very lovely

What a little delightful discovery these things are call Schneeballen (which means snowball) they are dough that it stuck together into a ball and rolled in chocolate or powdered sugar or cinnamon then baked. I glad we tried them at the end of the trip or my waistline would be in trouble, though all the apple strudel didn't help my waist line.

This is a church in Fussen it's so cute Eric ran up to make sure it was open and the lady turned the light on inside so we could go look at it.

This is what it looked like inside.

Our cute Bed and Breakfast in Fussen

Heading into the black forest

One of the churches in the black forest

The clock outside 1000 clocks. It is so cute

In the black forest we stopped at a town called Triburg which houses the world's largest coo coo clock (way cool)

We took a little more time than we thought to get through the black forrest that it was late when we got into Rudesheim. We had no idea that we would have to take a ferry across the Rhine to get there

We arrived at the Center ring hotel really late and the owner was so gracious he made us an incredible cheese and meat spread and wonderful wine. We went up to our room and it's was the coolest room ever. See the stairs next to eric they lead up to our loft bedroom

It was so much fun

Here is our cute bedroom in the loft.

The cute town of Rudesheim we did a boat cruise to see all of the castles and vineyards on the Rhine river

They said this was one of the oldest Gausthaus's in Germany

Just one of the many castles along the Rhine

Pretty church

We went by the Loreley rock where the Sirens would sing to the ships and they would hit the rock and sink

The Loreley statue of a Siren

One of the vineyards in Rudesheim

After we left Rudesheim we headed to the wall city of Rothenburg it was so wonderful

A poster for the smurf movie I just thought it was way cute!

It was a little windy and cold in Rothenburg so we didn't walk around too much but what we did see was lovely

Bill trying to pull that innocent man's finger

St. James church. This is the Holy blood alterpiece.

Our last stop on our way back into Munich was at Dachau it was a very sobering experience.

the writing on the gate says "work will set you free"

A sobering statue

My parting shot from Dachau

Jason learning to paddle/Tour of Utah

2011-10-26T18:15:00.000-06:00

I am really behind on my blogging so this is from August. My friends Jason and Rhonda came up so Jason could learn how to paddle board, (I took Rhonda while we were in Hawaii and she told him how fun it was) so we borrowed so extra boards from our friends and our other friends Targee and Melissa came along with their two dogs.

We put Jason on the biggest board we had and I still think he could have used a bigger board, but it worked. He was also embarrassed because he had to borrow my purple bandana so his bald head wouldn't burn.

It's like an advertisement for Doyle paddle boards.

Lookin' good Jas!

Targee chillin' with Brindley she really digs the paddle board

Jason picked up paddling really fast. He did great

Look at the cute couple

I think Jason was checking the prop? Maybe he fell off I don't remember.

Steady there big guy

Look at the wild creature swimming in the water

That is Sage doesn't she look just like Grace (they are related)

I think he likes it! So Jason and I have been friends since we were 5 years old!

I think Rhonda is laughing at him

It was such a beautiful day

Look at the Happy Williams Family

We decided to follow the North Fork inlet up as far as our boards could go. The water was so clear it was incredible.

It was a great day and Jason picked it up really fast. He did great and I think he really enjoyed it.

The first stage of the tour of Utah was in Ogden so we decide to ride from our house to the top of the divide to watch the first loop my friend Karen who is the Director of the tour got us passes to go watch the finish. Targee, Melissa, Eric, and I rode up and watch the first loop over the divide then we went out paddle boarding and then hurried down to ogden to catch the finish. It was amazing!!

Finish Line

Melissa still smiling after a long day of activities

Heading for the finish line!!!

Karen, Eric and Peter Happy after the first stage was successfully finished

KK and Pete

I got his water bottle

Peter watching the award ceremony

Targee and Melissa

All the stage winners

KK finally getting to relax her hard work is done for a moment.

August 2011

2011-09-14T07:36:00.000-06:00

Sorry I am a slacker and haven't blogged in a while but I am trying to get caught up. August was a busy month we did a sunset paddle with our friends Brad and Lauryn it was a lot of fun but the wind kicked up while we were out there and it became an adventure really fast.

Nice evening for a paddle (we thought)

It was so pretty

We brought provisions (wine)

Lauryn pepping up she sees the wine

Brad gets the job of corking

We hooked our boards together for our sunset board meeting

Cheers

Thats a happy girl!

Brad is enjoying himself. The only thing though as the sun went down there were some bats that were flying by us

Our friends Targee and Melissa recently bought paddle boards (we are creating a boarding gang, we are a pretty tough gang) Eric, Melissa, Targee, Lauryn and I went out for a quick paddle

Look at those pretty boards.

The gang is mounting their rides

Melissa and Lauryn looking good on their boards

Just chillin' out on the water

Targee contemplating life. (should I shave the mustache)

Just doing a quick check of the prop

Another nice day on Pineview

Ladies Pamperfest Challenge July 9 2011

2011-07-14T21:54:00.000-06:00

Melissa, Debbie, Heather, and I were rockstars at the Pamperfest!! It was 169miles/4 chicks/3 support dudes/10hours and 55minutes of fun and excitement.

This was are first training ride. we rode the hell out of the carousel and no one pulled any muscles.

See the smile on her face.....she has no idea of the hill climb thats in store for her.

The smile on her face says she is ready to climb trappers loop.

It was a tough training ride but we made it through and we are ready for this race.

Morning of the race. Two of our athletic supporters Targee and Mike huggin on Shawn

Final preparation before the race begins we were putting on our best tattoos

Princess waiting to start out the race for team "same cycle"

Team Same Cycle: Debbie Durkee, Melissa Williams, Windi Jones, and Heather Slater

Rockin' our new tattoos ready to ride!

Our friend Tiffany Netz (black pearl izumi jersey) and her team Hot Mamas

Last minute prep getting my bike shoes on (trying not to have nervous stomach for the 4th time)

First lap from the start. We had to do two laps before we could leave the resort.

Enjoying the first lap getting ready to ride my ass off

Second lap getting ready to start riding. The adrenaline is going wild and I am ready to ride hard.

Feeling really good halfway through my ride.

Coming into the first exchange passing off the baton to Melissa who now has to climb up trappers loop.

I don't know how she is smiling now knowing what ahead of her. (she is always smiling)

Off she goes!!!

checking my time and feeling really great at this point the adrenaline was pumping I felt so good.

Melissa behind the girl in the white jersey rocking it up trappers loop.

We stopped at the top of Trapper's loop to cheer for Melissa for making it up that long climb.

Deb cute yellow car. We nicknamed it Livestong1

Look at Pinkie up there she did great!!

The triumphet arm thrust by Melissa she rocked that hill climb (Don't even try to pass her)

Nothing but down hill from here.

Nice view of Snowbasin from Trapper's loop road.

Tiffany (she too is always smiling) Though after that climb I too would be smiling knowing there was all that great downhill.

After the handoff in Morgan Deb took over and rode from Morgan to Henefer she is a champ. She got stuck with the steepest climbs of the relay and she rocked them!

This is the spillway at East Canyon resevior, it's so beautiful.

The Slater's showing off there stuff. (Heather has way better legs than Mike)

Targee rooting for team Simply Mac!!

Look at that motley crue. Hanging out on the side of the road.

Exchange 3 in Henefer. Targee posing for the camera. It is super hot outside by this point in the race.

Exchange 4 they were giving mini facials. Melissa and Deb getting a little pampering.

Waiting for Heather to come in so I can start leg 5. It was getting very hot by this point and so ready to get my second leg over with, little did I know I was about to enjoy some serious head winds

Heather rocked leg 4.

This is one happy girl to be done with her leg. It was a painful headwind but I made it in not so record time.

Targee and Mike are very special, but they were great support

Deb getting ready for her second big ride. Hands down she had the two hardest legs of our race and she rocked them both. We all thank you Deb for your strong riding

Apparently Heather has some gang ties we didn't know about and I can't tell whats going on with Targee

Melissa and I made shirts for the husbands who did the support for our ride "Mudd Flap" is Mike's nickname (don't ask)

Tiffany getting ready for her last big climb.

Mike doing his support duties getting Deb a fresh water bottle before her long climb up to Jordanelle

A little red in the Face Deb kicked some serious butt on her leg she finished in Midway leaving only one leg left

Heather mounting up for her final leg and the final leg of the race.

We hurried down to the finish line so we meet up with Heather to ride into the finish with her. She rocked that last leg.

Look at those Hot Chicks coming across the finish line it must be team Same Cycle

Getting lined up for our podium pictures

Four absolutely ecstatic ladies whom finished in 10:55. It one of the funnest things I have ever done.

We were all on cloud nine what a fantastic day. We couldn't have asked for a more fabulous day. Next year we may actually train for it!!!!!

They had a raffle after the race and I won this cute jersey and the great part about it it matches my cute pink bike and Melissa won a T shirt you can see it to my left.

I was so excited I had to show Melissa my new jersey

Windi, Melissa, and Heather enjoying some shade on the side of the road waiting for our team mate to pass by so we can yell, scream and cheer her on. (this one is out of order but I thought I was a cute finishing picture)

MS 150 June 25-26

2011-07-10T09:46:00.000-06:00

It was another wonderful weekend for the MS 150 up in Logan it's a must for us to do. It's such a great course and it's for such a good cause. Most of our team didn't make it this year but we hooked up with old friends (it's amazing who you run into on these rides) and we made some new friends. Saturday was the first 75 miles and it's the day most people do.

Eric and I were the only two representing the UofU orthopedic team notice our nice skeleton jerseys. This is one of my take a picture behind you while riding photos (no too bad). Notice Hal waving in the background. Hal is a friend of ours and a coworker of Eric's he was riding Medical support for the ride.

Also along the way we ran into one of Eric's old coworker's Hutch and his wife.

As you can see Hal is very tall

There is one happy rider. Hal is glad to be back in the saddle he had a terrible road bike accident last year and is just getting back in the saddle (I commend him for that) and he said things are going pretty good so far.

Hutch and his wife enjoying a fantastic day in Logan. We didn't know they were doing this ride and he just happen to be passing us and was checking out my cool jersey (I think he was checking out my butt) when we recognized him, so we rode with him and his team mates for a while.

Hal doing some stretching (nice butt) you don't want your legs or back to be tight on the ride. Two of his fellow life flight coworkers laughing at him. All three of them were doing medical support for the ride.

Riding takes a lot out of you it looks like I need to eat.
What a cute couple in there little skeleton jerseys.

One happy little rider I think this was our halfway point.

My favorite rest stop on day one was put on by the UHP they had old cop cars as you will see above. people misting you as you rode in. It was very well done.

He was the honorary rest stop/UHP dog. He found his shade and wasn't going to budge.

MAN DOWN!

We made it through day one know we had another day of riding ahead. Now day two isn't like day one, day one you have this FLAT scenic ride around Cache valley and on day two you ride up Blacksmith Fork Canyon then you come down and go around the south end of Cache valley. We recruited our friend Brad Miller to join us for this beautiful ride.

Brad and Eric getting ready for the big ride up the canyon.

Eric and I looking all cute. Notice Eric's nice MS jersey he got that because his beautiful wife raised over $600 dollars for the MS ride (Thanks again to all the wonderful people who donated to my ride)

Brad looking happy heading up the canyon. We had a nice overcast day so it wasn't too hot.

Look at how high the river is running and quite checking out Brad's butt

Following the boys up the hill.

Brad took over with the camera and snapped a little photo of us riding. That canyon was so beautiful and the river was flowing really high.

I may look happy in this photo but I had to pee so bad I was close to pulling over and watering some weeds.

Eric my little happy rider.

The festivities at the top of the canyon. Bad ass coffee company always does a nice rest stop at the top of the Blacksmith for canyon. We even got tattooes

Pinkie taking a little rest after her nice climb. She was a little exhausted but she was ready to finish out the day.

This is Brad we are out in the middle of now where and we are hungry for lunch.

I might be smiling but I am really hungry and want it to be over by this point. I think we about mile 60 something during this photo.

Brad and I in our cute matching jerseys

ARE WE THERE YET!

Brad has some of the most impressive helmet hair I have ever seen.

Little Red Riding Hood/Paddle Boarding

2011-06-12T14:26:00.000-06:00

Carol got a sweet new ride for the little red this year! She did 100 miles without breaking a sweat.

The night before the ride they had booths and different fundraisers so all got glitter tattoos to show our support

Melissa is the wild one she got two tattoos

We've made it a whole 27 miles (I think) at this point and we are still smiling.

Check us out doing the self portrait. We know we rock!

Still smiling (I think it's the chamois butter)

Mile 60 something and still looking good. And so ready to be done but little did we know there was a head wind coming up.

Good to be back in Utah. We were a few miles into our head wind and at mile 80 something at this point.

Taking a picture with the welcome to Utah sign is a great excuse to rest the butt, though we were on the home stretch at that point.

Two very tired riders. Lets give a shout out the Melissa this was her first Century and she just got a road bike about a month ago!!!

It's great to be back out on the paddle boards we had two great days last week. This is Brad out exploring a water way coming into Pineview.

This is one of the two Osprey nests on the North side of the lake.

Brad and Lauren. Brad just rode his first rapid on his paddle board and got sucked under.

Look at the cute sticker I bought for my husband while I was in Hawaii

The first "Board Meeting" of the year!

Lauren loves to Paddle Board.

Just chillin' on the water (Brad was literally chillin' since he fell in)

To another great day!

Brighton and Doug

2011-05-30T15:03:00.000-06:00

I hope everyone had a nice Memorial Weekend and told a Veteran Thank you for all they have done for our Country. I have been working on this blog posting for a while I had to scan a lot of these pictures in since they are pre digital photography.

This blog is Dedicated to my friend Doug who was taken away from us way too soon. He will have been gone 9 years this year and I still miss him like it was just yesterday. Here are pictures of a few of our adventures together and a few pictures I took recently while I was working up at the Brighton Clinic it was so much fun reconnecting with old friends.

Road trip to see Jimmy Buffett in Las Vegas 2002

Jolene and Rich in the Brighton Clinic 2011

Bon Bon looking cute in her ski outfit.

Dr. Jackson always looks busy

Bonnie and Zac planning out there ski run

I am lovin' on Farmer

It's always great to see Dave


Randy, Bonnie, Kurt and I. It's like the good old days

2002 trip to see Jimmy in Las Vegas

Look at this group of parrotheads

Doug and I enjoying our trip in my mom's RV. We decided we were finally grown up driving an RV to Las Vegas

Doug working it with the ladies.

He was always happy and smiling

He was hoping I would kiss it but I didn't

The infamous "shot ski"

All the ladies loved Doug

Noticing a theme here. I am in the background in the purple dress (I forgot how long my hair was)

Doug and his buddy Craig decided to shave their heads for the dummy downhill. This was mid way through he thought he would enjoy a Mo hawk for a little bit. Thats his straight edge pose.

Looking good.

He was always such a goof ball

Always smiling

He loved that stupid short bus tee shirt I won't tell you what it said on the back

This was my tribute to Dr. Jackson for the dummy downhill. Notice the martini in hand, cigar in mouth, and the viagra clock

Myself, dummy, and Dave Okubo

Farmer and dummy Rich

Our fearless head of the ski patrol Patrick posing with the Doc.

Notice our dummy was given a tequila IV for good measure. Doug was proud of my creation

Just putting some finishing touches on Rich before we send him of the jump (I didn't win)

While Doug was shooting pool I thought It would be funny if I poured beer down the back of his pants to see how long it would take him to notice it. (he didn't)

Buck and his avalanche dog. 2011

Oahu Hawaii

2011-03-03T12:12:00.003-07:00

This is a morea eel peeking out of his hole they are so scary looking.

Rhonda and I had a great trip to Hawaii. We had such a fantastic time the weather was perfect, and the boat drinks were great and it was filled with fun activities.

Our first two days on the island we went Scuba diving with Capt. Bruce's dive company. We did four dives and they were fantastic. Our first day dive site where the Mahi Ship wreck and Makaha. We saw Spotted Eagle Rays, puffer fish, Turtles, and lots of other things.

Two happy divers ready to go. The second day we the dive sites where Twin Holes and Land of Oz.

Allen our dive master was so fantastic I highly recommend him.

Two happy divers and one crazy dive instructor (Chris) snaking into our picture. Our dive boat there behind us.

Rhonda and I super happy about our fantastic diving

Rhonda hanging out with senior frog.

picture from our second dive site.

the west side of the island is beautiful

We had dinner at senior frogs so we had to take some fun pics.

Look at those biceps

Our third day we did a little hike, kayak and snorkel on the North side of the island over looking Kualoa Ranch. This picture is looking at a 500 year old fishing pond.

Rhonda overlooking Kualoa Ranch

Here I am and that island in the background is called Chinaman's Hat and that is were we are going to kayak out to.

This is a view back onto oahu from China man's hat.

Rhonda ready to go snorkeling

Out snorkeling around the island

Rhonda and I having a good time

Rhonda and I getting ready to kayak back to this island.

self portrait of us kayaking

Day four Rhonda and I went surfing. We had a great time we each caught a few waves.

Rhonda riding a wave.

Rhonda surfing with an incredible back drop of Waikiki

It was so much fun

Rhonda on another wave

Sushi dinner and a fantastic sunset

I cant get over the incredible sunsets here

Day 5 we went to Kailua for a four hour paddle board trip

This was our guide and the island behind him Na Mokulua is the first placed we paddled out to.

On our way out to the islands we saw some sea turtles. (I was in a funny setting so some of the pictures are blue)

Out on Island Rhonda with her paddle board

We took a little hike around the island.

a little surf coming in behind us.

Little surf coming in. I tried to surf it but the waves just weren't big enough.

Self portrait of us on the island.

Trying to ride the baby waves

Another fantastic evening on Waikiki

I just love Waikiki

Rhonda and I enjoying a glass of wine on our lanai

We rented some paddle board son our last day and went out on Waikiki. Take a good look at my sunglasses because I lost them riding a wave on my paddleboard.

Looking back on Waikiki beach

Notice Rhonda is covered up today. Yesterday she thought it would be a good idea to not use sunscreen just to get a little more sun. She got all the sun she needed and a little bit more. Let just say Lobster.

We could believe how clear the water was out here. we say turtles and lots of fish.

Look how clear the water is.

What a perfect picture. I love the ocean

I took this picture half in the water and it turned out really cool. We just floated out here looking fish we found a great reef with lots of fish.

After we watched fish for a bit we or I mean I paddled over by some surf to catch some waves. I finally had a great ride (more than five paddles) I could have ridden the wave all the way into shore it ROCKED! I had three great rides that day.

Our last boat drinks on Waikiki. At Jimmy Buffett's at the beachcomber.

We made a friend diving this is Barbara from California she had an underwater camera and took some great photos. All of the underwater photos are thanks to her.

Rhonda really wanted to see turtles and we lucked out and saw a couple of them. This guy was having a little snack.

This is the top of Waikiki restaurant it rotates 360 degrees while you eat so you have a great view of waikiki

Romp to Stomp! and taking the dogs snowshoeing

2011-02-19T11:40:00.000-07:00

Our rubber duckie says it all.

Jen and Paul ready to snowshoe

Don't mess with Targee he is serious about this event

Our crazy team "Big or Small Save Them All"
from left; Eric, Targee, Melissa, Windi, Rosalie, Tonya, Jen, and Paul
We missed you this year Cathy

I think you can actually see teeth chattering

I am so damn cold right now my eye lids are frozen shut

Sweet Rosalie is ready to rock and roll. Tonya doing some last minute scarf adjustments

The day after the even we went on a nice snow shoe with Brad, Lauren and all the dogs

Moose

2011-02-19T11:28:00.000-07:00

Last weekend Eric was getting ready for work and found a Momma mouse lying under our quaking aspen right out our front window and her baby eating on our scrub oak. Well this morning I woke up to momma and baby in our front yard again eating on our trees. It is so much fun having moose in the yard. A couple of pictures are fuzzy we were taking them through out front window and it's dirty. They made their way around to our back yard and I was able to get a few shots from out back deck without bothering them.

Mom and baby eating on our neighbors tree

Mom sitting in our front yard. Pic is a little fuzzy we had to take it through our dirty window

Mom nibbling on the tree

Baby chewing on our cottonwood tree

January 2011

2011-02-16T19:42:00.000-07:00

January was such a fun month other than the arctic cold. look I got my finger stuck picking the moose's nose. JK. Really we love when we have guests in town and we finally got some people to come visit us. One an old friend (no pun intended with the old part) and a new friend from Seattle. Our friend Fred Beckey came down for the outdoor retailer show and we usually try to ski with him at least once, well he brought along his friend Megan Bond (yes like James Bond) and we spent a wonderful day at Snowbasin and had a great evening watching a 1966 movie of Fred doing a first ascent on Mt. Seattle in Alaska.

Megan loving up to the SnowBasin moose (He's a ladies man)

speaking of ladies man......Fred giving me a little smooch

getting ready to venture into the cold

Boot on we are ready to go.

This is actually after skiing I don't know how I got it here. These are some pissed off dogs who didn't get to go skiing.

Fred cruisin down the mountain

We enjoyed a little lunch and some hot coco.

Just for those of you who don't know Fred Beckey is 88 years old and he still loves to ski and climb. Let this be a lesson to all to stay active your whole life. I LOVE THIS MAN!

DECEMBER 2010

2011-02-13T18:16:00.000-07:00

Okay I am a really big slacker and have not blogged in forever, so there will be a few posting coming up over the next few day so check back.

We went to Las Vegas for Christmas with Eric parents what a wonderful weekend we had and it was nice to get out of the cold for a few days.

Donna made us a wonderful meal (as always) she is an excellent cook I think Eric definitely takes after her.

We went for brunch at the Bellagio they have such great displays.

Donna, Bill and Eric

Donna, Bill, and Windi

Eric and I

The worst storm yet of the year. Thank god Eric was off to snow blow a couple of times.

Eric was trying to lick the candy but he found out quickly it wasn't real.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING

2010-11-26T16:29:00.000-07:00

We just wanted to wish all of Friends and Family a Happy Thanksgiving. We are so Thankful for everyone and everything we have in our lives, we are so fortunate and blessed.

Snowshoeing with the Girls!

Halloween Costumes

2010-10-23T10:45:00.000-06:00

The babies in there new halloween costumes

Madison was so exhausted from the excitement of her new costume she fell asleep on Eric's foot.

I found these cute doggie pajama in Hawaii if you look close inside the skeleton there are dog treats and halloween candy.

They are so damn cute.

You can tell they are completely loving it.

Does this look like a dog who is enjoying her new outfit.

It was so funny we couldn't stop laughing.

Big Island of Hawaii 10/1-10/8 2010

2010-10-23T10:24:00.001-06:00

Mom and I took a girls trip to the Big Island of Hawaii. We had such a great time this was our first day there and we saw this cute turtle taking a nap on the beach in Kona

He really was trying to nap and I was annoying him

We took a snorkeling trip out to Capt Cook's Monument

I hurried an got in the water because I get motion sick. It took some convincing to get my mother in the water.

Me going head first down the water slide. It was a blast

Mom out enjoying her first time snorkeling. It was hard getting into the water but we couldn't get her out of the water we had such a great time

This really nice couple from Arizona that we went to a Luau with. there pictures were about an hour before the heavens opened up and we got completely soaked.

We had such a nice time until the rains came.

The catamaran we took out on our snorkeling trip

Self portrait of me snorkeling

I took Eric waterproof camera and it did a great job taking underwater pics.

Mom and I took a drive down to the south end of the island to see Black sands beach. We were so excited to see these three turtles enjoying themselves on the beach.

Just taking a nap

Mom posing with turtles

A picture of our cute little condo

Mom posing with this hunk at the Botanical gardens just outside of Hilo

Mom and I posing by Akaka Falls

Nice waterfall at the botanical gardens.

I had such a fun time taking pictures of this Gecko. We found this great little breakfast place called the Coffee Shack. It has great views, incredible food and lots of little gecko's running arounds.

He was posing for his photo.

Our last day we went out to a SeaHorse aquarium we got there a little early and walked down to this beach.

Enjoying the last of our time on the Big Island.

Mom holding her first SeaHorse.

I got to hold my first seahorse as well. It was very neat.

We headed back into Kona to have dinner before we flew out. We went to Huggo's on the Rocks a fun little bar on the sand with good food. We met these two guys who have lived on the Island for about 10 years they were really nice.

Mom and I enjoying our last dinner in Hawaii

One last sunset to enjoy before our flight. We had such a great time

August /September 2010

2010-10-23T09:24:00.000-06:00

It's been a while since I have blogged so I am clumping a bunch of different pictures together for this.
They had an unofficial balloon festival in August and I think there were about 8-10 balloons up that day.

There are my adorable yard Mushrooms I just cant get over how cute they are.

All the balloon fly past our house. It is so much fun to watch.

Eric and I decided to try to make a water feature. We found a rock in our yard and Eric got a drill from a friend and work we drilled a hole in it. I ordered a solar water pump and the whole thing turned out way cool.

Another great day on the lake with the babies!! Madison is my copilot.

Just taking a break chillin on the water.

She loves her momma

Eric out taking a swim.

Helping them retrieve their ball.

Grace is ready to go

Eric and Brad out for a paddle.

Grace enjoying the beach time.

What a beautiful fall day on Pineview.

Carol and I decided to do this ride called the Wonder woman century. We opted for the 70 miles which turned out to be a good thing because they were slightly disorganized but the route was nice. It did get really hot though.

Carol enjoying the ride. (We hadn't missed lunch yet)

Having fun taking pictures along the way.

The male support along he way

John Prine Red Butte August

2010-09-22T19:47:00.000-06:00

Targhee and Melissa enjoying Red Butte

Don and Alice the happy couple

Jeff and Megan enjoying Alice's pork

Brad is he enjoying the show?

Lauren enjoying herself

John Prine

I am a dork

John Prine

Eric and Alice getting a picture with John

August 13, 2010: Pineview SUP

2010-08-31T21:52:00.001-06:00

August 13th 2010, Well this has been a great season of stand up paddleboarding and today we took it to the next level. Brad Miller and myself had been contemplating a circumnavigation of Pineview Resevoir throughout the season. This turned out to be the perfect day, we launched in total glassy water at 8:00am from windsurfer beach and headed east to the east bay then followed the shoreline for the entire lake. A total of 10.2 nautical miles and four and half hours later, we finished back at windsurfer beach. What a great paddle and a great day. The Doyle SUP's are fantastic and we will be paddling until the ice is on! Paddle to the People!

Another perfect day of stand up paddleboarding

A glassy morning at windsurfer beach

My partner in crime, the legendary Brad Miller

Gorgeous glass water and no wind!

A beautiful view of Snowbasin from the east end of pineview

Brad making a wake, man he's fast, I cant keep with him

10.2 nautical miles, total circumnavigation of pineview, 4 and a half hours

Beautiful Geertsen Canyon

No Bad Days

A shameless plug, Thank you Doyle SUP

Lunch stop on the water on the east side

Middle inlet beach

Brad, rockin in the free world!

City of Rocks July 23-24

2010-08-27T21:28:00.000-06:00

We decided to go do a quick overnight up to city of rocks with our friends Jim and Tommy. We had a blast and the boys may have a place for their band to play.

Our cute camp ground at City of Rocks.

Tommy enjoying the shade

Tommy belaying Jim

Jim on a so called 5-8

Who's that lady?

Our own little amphitheater

Cowboy shirt night at the local watering hole. Best home made pie!

Tommy heading up the crack

What a blast

July 18th Paddle Boarding with the babies!

2010-08-27T21:18:00.000-06:00

Eric playing with the Lab Rats at the Oaks

Eric new pride and joy.

The girls chased a squirrel up the tree

The girls looking up and Mr. Squirrel waiting for him to make a move (and smashing my flowers in the process)

The first big grilling.....what a proud man.

Madison just kicking back enjoying the water

Eric and Gracie

Me and my Madison

Cooling her paws in the water

A beautiful day at the lake

My little love puppy

Eric and Gracie just chillin in the water

The sun out here is awfully bright

Relaxing

Daddy daughter time

Kicking back with Madison

Madison and I cooling our heels

One happy dog!

HAPPY 4th of July (or 3rd)

2010-07-08T20:47:00.000-06:00

We had fun 3rd of July we went mountain biking with friends up North fork and had a blast then had my Mom up for dinner and fire works. We had such a great day.

Melissa, Targhee, Brad, Eric and I

We had a great 4th weekend .

MS 150 June 26th 2010

2010-07-08T20:30:00.000-06:00

Our MS 150 ride what a great day the weather was perfect and it's such a great course we had such a good time and it was for such a great cause. Thanks again to every one who donated to our ride.

Just finished our ride and we are so happy to be done.

Total miles 100 what a good feeling.

Wow we did it.

Total time in the saddle.

Lunch stop I was sooo tired

Our fearless team.

Pink Licorice

2010-07-05T09:59:00.000-06:00

After I passed my vascular boards my cute husband congratulated me with a wonderful gift. He pinked up my mountain bike (licorice is her name). They may be pink but they are kick ass components.

Here is licorice before Brad began to work on her.

A White Fox fork

Brad working hard on Licorice. She is already looking good.

Chris King bottom bracket in PINK!

The pink looks so good with black.

Truvativ Noir carbon crank in PINK! (noticing a theme)

Brad working hard

My new wheels the Easton Haven (AKA the game changers)

Hope2 brakes in PINK. soooo cute

I think I love the brakes the most!!

This is one happy mountain bike owner!

I would like to Thank Brad for all his hard work on my Licorice and Eric for such a wonderful gift.

Telluride Bluegrass Festival June 2010

2010-07-04T17:07:00.016-06:00

We went to Telluride Colorado for the Bluegrass festival but we stayed over in Moab at our friend Kevin's place to get a little mountain biking and to break up the long drive to Telluride. The festival was fantastic we were with great friends and just had a blast.

Okay a pink prius in Moab.....I didn't get the option to get a pink prius? Maybe she sells Mary Kay I guess I'll never know.

The two Ellsworth's basking in the sun.... They really like Moab.

We were out on the Moab brand trail (across from Gemini bridges) and there was a hot air balloon out floating around. In this picture it had landed just over the hill from us and was just swaying in the breeze.

Eric snapping a photo of me climbing....the only reason is he is so much faster than me he has time to get off his bike find his camera and still has time to get the picture.

What a croud! This was such a fun festival and lots of fantastic people watching.

Cheers!

Telluride by night!

There is this cute path along the river that we took everyday from our condo to the venue.

Allison Krause she was absolutely amazing and very funny.

Me, Eric, Lyle Lovett and a few thousand of our closest friends.

Our first hike was up to Bear Creek falls. It was sooo cold sitting there.

This was such a gorgeous hike up to bridal veil falls in Telluride.

One hell of a week!!

2010-06-06T21:11:00.018-06:00

Well I haven't blogged for a while because I've been a little busy but it's all come to a close. I am proud to say on Tuesday I passed the second portion of my Vascular boards so I am now officially a RVT (Registered vascular technologist). Unfortunately that has given me no free time to train for the Little red riding hood century (100miles) so I had from Tuesday to Saturday to train (I was able to do one 20 mile ride on Thursday with my friend Carol), well I did it 100miles in 6hours and 41 minutes of saddle time!! I don't recommend it if you haven't trained, but it was absolutely awesome the course was great and the time flew by.
Today we had Rich and Bonnie up to celebrate Rich's Birthday and Father's day so we rode our bike's down to the lake and went stand up paddle boarding. It was a great end to a really long a stressful week. The Margarita made it all worth while.

Also this week I bought the dogs some beach wear so they could look really cool when we go out paddle boarding.

My cute little pinky after her long ride.

My total saddle time!! My backside definitely felt every moment of the last hour of that.

Well they boast it as a century but It was only 99.1 miles I guess I could have ridden around the block a few times to make it official.

Rich and Bonnie heading out on Pineview on the paddle boards.

Eric and I attempting to tandem paddle board it was really difficult but we had fun.

WOW she must work out!

I had my Cabana boy paddle me around on the lake.

Rich and Bonnie making it look easy.

Madison and her cool new beach wear.

Gracie looking very gangster.

OMG this is so humiliating.

I make this look good.

Are you looking at me?

Please make them take these off of us.

This is also a day of remembrance. June 6, 1944 is when our troops came upon the beaches of Normandy, France which was the turning point in the European theater of World War II

Eric and Bill standing in a crater that was created by a bomb on Utah beach

This is the entrance out to Omaha beach.

I was in awe the amount of head stones, it was a beautiful place for our soldiers to be laid to rest so far away from their homes and families.

Eric's Birthday!! April 25, 2010

2010-05-03T18:54:00.013-06:00

Eric's Birthday and he really wanted to go out for a road bike ride and try the new paddleboards. It was a nice day but not all that warm out and the water was COLD!! Just ask Brad he went for a swim. The evening ended with a nice BBQ with a couple of friends. I wonder if I can get mine on my prius? Trying to get our sea legs on. Brad and I trying to paddle into the wind. Eric and I posing with our new rides! Brad getting his sense of balance. The nose of Eric's board cruising on the water. We make this look good. Just kidding :) Brad sporting his new ride! Eric and I hold up our boards. There was a slight breeze and I thought the wind might blow mine over. Brad cheering a successful first trip out! It was so warm lying in the sand! I was freezing my can off by the time we came in to shore.

White Rim Trail April 9-12 2010

2010-04-17T20:15:00.017-06:00

What a great trip we could not have asked for better weather. Four wonderful days down in Canyonlands! It was great food and great group of friends.

We took a little side hike in this cool slot canyon.....I don't recommend this with biking shoes.

Coming into the finish!!! What a great feeling finally getting to the top!!

Happy Easter!

2010-04-04T17:15:00.003-06:00

Happy Easter everyone! I hope everyone had a lovely sunday. I am so excited to share my Easter present. My cute husband got me a stand up paddle board!!
We fell in love with it while we were in Hawaii and have been talking about it ever since. It won't be here for about a week so these are picutes off the internet.

March 25-29 Pittsburgh, PA

2010-04-04T08:35:00.018-06:00

Ellen and I were off to Pittsburgh we attended a conference to help us study for our physics/vascular boards. We had no idea how beautiful Pittsburgh would be. The weather was a little cold but we had a great time and some fantastic meals and the conference was so good.

These cool little train go up and down the side of the mountain so of course we had to go up one.

Heinz stadium where the Steelers play.

Megan and Kammie

Ellen and I

Ellen and Kammie

You can see our hotel by the river.

The incline we rode.

Saint Mary on the mount church.

Beautiful stain glass inside the church.

Beautiful cityscape of downtown Pittsburgh. And the three rivers.

Spring is in the Air!

2010-03-15T18:19:00.009-06:00

Wow what a beautiful day!! With daylight savings I came home and actually had time to go for a bike ride. The weather is fabulous we rode our bike to the liquor store and to the grocery store it was great.

My new shoes which I think are awesome. There called five fingers and they are soo comfortable. (a little goofy looking)

Look you can see our lawn!!

Getting ready to leave on our first cruiser ride of the year!

Enjoying the spring feeling in the air making a nice dinner and enjoying a glass of vino.

The girls really dig my shoes.

The head chef preparing to cook!

Hey lady where is our treat!

2010-03-06T16:16:00.002-07:00

A little snowshoeing down by thunder mountain with Kevin and Keith. I am very ready for spring at this point the weather has been getting warm and the snow seems to be melting fast. I am ready to get out on my bike and play in the yard.

SAVE THE BOOBIES THEN SAVE MY DOG

2010-02-07T16:26:00.015-07:00

Yesterday started out to be such a fun day "The Rack Pack" did our first snowshoe 5k for Tubbs ROMP TO STOMP for breast cancer. It was a great time Rosalie, Cathy, Melissa, Carol and I sporting our pink accessories and did our part for the fight against breast cancer. The weather turned out to be nice and warm and it was a fun little trail. We ended with a celebration lunch at the DODO .
I then headed home to have a nice afternoon with the doggies it was such a beautiful day and warm and the girls were ready to get out for a walk the moment I got home. We were having a nice walk but on our way back home a guys was walking his pit bull he claimed it broke it's leash and it attacked my Madison (OMG I have never been so freaked out in my life and neither has Madison she was so scared when she broke free of the pit bull she ran all the way home without me. The pit bull got her on the ear but the worst of it was a large laceration to the inside of her back leg. We spent saturday night in the dog ER getting my princess stitched up. We got her home put her to bed but she was up most of the night whimpering in pain. I am glad to report she is feeling a lot better today but she is really favoring that leg. And I am still emotionally shacken up myself but nothing a bottle of wine can't eventually cure

Hot chics!! Literally we were really warm!

Carol and Cathy having a good time!

Trying the arm slimming pose (I think it works)

Cathy, Carol and I showing our pink support!

Rosalie and Melissa showing their support!

Madison's leg laceration. It just makes me sick to my stomach I feel so bad for my little sweetheart.

It looked a lot worse this morning the top picture is from this afternoon and these bottom pictures are from this morning.

New Years Eve

2009-12-31T14:48:00.009-07:00

Just give me 5 more minutes.....I am sooo tired, I don't want to go play in the snow yet. Testing out my new snowshoes. We think it's alot of fun to burrow in the snow. We have him where we want him. That glove looks mighty tasty! Score, I got it! Now I am outta here One happy dog dad!!