Extreme Winter Sporting

Before the lovely winter break was over and we had to return to the hum-drum school life, we were able to get out in the great outdoors to enjoy some wild and crazy cross country skiing. We gathered up a whole crew of Badger Creek buddies to accompany us including J.P., Abby, Pam, and Megan & Jordan. We had to find somewhere free to go, so we ended up going down the Union Pacific Rail Trail in Park City. The scenery on the trail was amazing... considering we spent the majority of our time in the median of I-80.
It was my first time going, so it took a little getting used to. I was scared of tripping over myself and falling on my face, but luckily I avoided that embarrassment. Actually, by the end of our journey, I felt pretty comfortable and would recommend X-country skiing as a good cardiovascular exercise activity.

The Snow Angels... ahhhhh

We made it!

Chocolate Factory

One of my favorite Christmas traditions started with my Great-Grandma Ruby. When Grandma was younger, she used to work in a chocolate factory where she learned the great art of dipping chocolates. She has passed this skill onto her posterity. Being able to actually dip the chocolates became sort of a right-of-passage in our family. We pride ourselves in chocolates that not only taste good, but look good as well. This December, Will and I devoted two Saturdays to our chocolate-making expedition. We had to prepare the fondants, the caramels, and the cremes beforehand because dipping by itself takes a full day. This year was super-fancy because Char actually purchased a chocolate-dipping machine that supposedly keeps the chocolate at the correct temperature so you don't have to constantly scrape the marble slabs and re-melt the chocolate. Here's a gander at the final products. Our varieties include: cherries, raspberry creme, mint, lemon creme, bavarian creme, turtles, caramels, toffee, and chocolate covered nuts. This is the whole clan that participated in the chocolate-making festivities. Will is outnumbered by all the lady folk.

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Lehmitz Family in Boulder

If you've read our blog before, you already know all of the details about Boulder, and many of you have even been there with us. So I'll spare you all of the details and just create a quick photo montage of our latest trip with the Lehmitz family over Thanksgiving weekend.


Who is that bad-mother-shut-your-mouth?



I just had to include this picture (above) We found this little cave among some large fallen boulders. The entrance is a little small though, and this picture just reminded me of an oversized birth.
Hickman Bridge in Capitol Reef

The Family

Typical men.
Tiffani starring as Mogli

Calf Creek canyon in all its fall-colored glory


The Family at Calf Creek Falls. We had to trick Mom into going on the hike, but we were glad she made it there and back safely, even if we had to carry her the last mile back to the car.

Bell's Canyon

This is actually going to be a retroactive post. For some reason, we forgot to put up these pictures, even though we did this hike in early fall, some three months ago. But, I thought the pictures were encapsulating and just couldn't go by unnoticed by our loyal blog audience, so I decided to make a quick post to take you on a tour of Bells Canyon. If you're unfamiliar with it, its the canyon that makes up the northern side of Lone Peak, the largest and southernmost peak in Salt Lake county, Utah. It starts off as a pretty easy hike up to a small reservoir that's part of Sandy City's water shed. The leafs were all starting to change and the scenery was quite beautiful. But you can keep going up the canyon, that is, if you can find the trail.



Tiffani and I actually lost it a little bit, and ended up following the stream that flows into the reservoir until we found a bridge farther up the trail.


Then we followed what we thought was the trail, but soon we realized that there were forks in the trail which had other forks farther along. So, we just kept heading in the direction we knew were were supposed to be going, not really knowing where "our" trail was going to lead. Our ultimate goal was to find the waterfall that's up the canyon. But after hiking for a couple of hours, half of it through a new layer of snow, and getting pretty high up the mountain, we decided to turn around so we could get back before dark.


But we did take a picture at the summit of our adventure.
Eventually, almost through sheer dumb luck, we decided to take another small trail that led off of the main one, and lo and behold, we stumbled upon the elusive waterfall. It was actually very pretty, nestled back in a wooded ravine, engulfed with the colors of autumn.


But such adventures are part of an average day in the life of Tiffani, the goddess of the great outdoors.

Birthday Bash at the Cabin

For my birthday, I wanted a little weekend get-away to the cabin. Will happily aquiesced to my request. We invited our good friends, Jack and Sausha, to experience the joy of Boulder.
We went to all the best places. Hell's Backbone was our first stop. It's a rickety bridge that spans a deep canyon, used by travelers from Escalante to Boulder until Highway 12 was built. I am trying to coerce Will out of his fear of heights by making him climb on cliffs with me. Will is second-guessing why he came out onto the ledge with me. On the way up to the bridge, the washboard gravel did us in and we lost a hubcap on our car. So the ride down consisted of "Eye Spy" but we were all looking for the same object. Will spotted something to the side of the road, Jack, Will, and I piled out of the car and ran towards the shiny object. Unfortunately, it was a Pontiac's lost hubcap. The search was futile.

After Hell's Backbone, we went on a little stroll to Calf Creek Falls- another popular tourist destination. The view never gets old.
Jack and Sausha at our picnic spot near the falls.

At "The Crevice", Jack pretended to be Mogli on a dead tree. These are a couple of graceful pictures of him. Just a side note, he was about five feet off the ground. Other highlights from the trip included: Team Lehmitz beating Team Christensen at Scrabble, Sausha's hot chocolate, and watching Lars and the Real Girl. If you're in the mood for a black comedy, we highly recommend this sunsational should-have-been blockbuster hit. Hooray for friends and birthday weekends at the cabin.