The Subway

Guest post by Mom:

In all my 33 years of being Gordon Larsen's daughter, I had never had the privilege of doing the Subway with him. I have an amazing friend name Cera, who is just like me in many ways, who really wanted to do the Subway and had a chance this summer that was kind of taken away due thunderstorms. The stars aligned and calendars cleared and we were allowed to complete the Subway on a random Monday. 

We got kind of a late start because both Cera and I had clients, but we were pretty confident in our ability to hike quickly.

The hike in is really not that bad. You're kind of excited, it's a little easy to get side tracked, but really I think I could get myself into the canyon. My dad was so great and was educating us and trying to really show us how to get there on our own.

It was actually pretty exciting to drop down into the canyon and suit up. Now we did go in October so the hike was a little cold because of the wind, but we really had to prepare ourselves for cold water. We each had wet suits which are always so fun to get on especially in conjunction with harnesses. (If you ever wanted to feel like a beached whale I highly recommend it!)

And oh boy was the water cold. It took your breath away immediately. But it was pretty clean which was appreciated.

It was really amazing to finally see some of these iconic sites in person. It was even better because of the company.

I could hardly feel my hands at the start of this rappel because they were just that cold. Next time I do this in October I'm bringing neoprene gloves!!

The canyon itself was just AWESOME. I would do it over and over. The hike OUT however is where rubber hits the road. I already mention our late start time so we kind of had to hustle. Cera is a true marathoner with like an 8 min mile average so I knew she would do fine. I just had to keep up. Ha! It felt nice to kind of out hike my dad for once!

The funniest part of the day came when we attempted to retrieve Cera's wallet from a waterproof keg. It had gotten itself lodged against the lid and we had to literally destroy the keg to retrieve it. The wallet still works!

This day would have been absolutely perfect except for the fact that I received a rejection email from the University of Utah's PA program. Sucker punch right at the end. (I'm finally typing this up six months later and I can say now that I know why I got my rejection. I hardly put together a good enough application. I've been working on that!!! I'll be trying again!!)

The Grand Canyon

This year I am a fourth grader which means I get a National Parks Pass for free! My parents decided on the first Sunday in October to visit the Grand Canyon. They originally meant to listen to General Conference for our church as we drove, but they hadn't thought through the remoteness of the area and lack of radio signal or LTE signal. They also failed to remember how much higher in elevation the North Rim of the Grand Canyon is!!! It was a bit chilly when we disembarked our vehicle.

We were totally delighted with the trails though and the awesomeness of nature.

We made sure to get a picture of me and my pass with the sign and, of course, Iva could not be left out.

It was really beautiful and we are thinking of camping there as a family during the summer!

Siena turns TEN!!!!!

Guest post by Mom:

I'm horrified...Siena is actually 10 and a half as of yesterday by the time I have gotten around to typing this. Let's not talk about it...

For some reason, as I am looking at the photos from her birthday....this is all I've got. We obviously made her a rainbow cake and I'm kind of drawing a blank as to why it seems so anti-climatic. Wait. It will come....We intended to celebrate her birthday in our upcoming trip to Disneyland.

Siena at 10 is glorious. She is a great student and loves to be part of fourth grade. She signs up for everything and has become quite the baby sitter for me. She doesn't always do this willingly however.

Just before her 10th birthday, Siena auditioned for A Christmas Story the Musical at the St. George Musical Theater. We were DELIGHTED when she was offered the part of Mary Beth. We had actually assumed she hadn't gotten a part because the phone call came two days later than we thought it would. She attended her first read through on the day of our Kokopelli triathlon which made for a busy day for her!

I think that really sums up my Siena. She's a performer who loves to participate...in WHATEVER. She thinks Studio C and Youtube are the best things ever (mostly thanks to her cousin, Romney, who I think Siena idolizes!) She jumps on trampolines and likes to color pictures. She has gotten lots braver when it comes to climbing and hiking and just being a great kid. If only I had taken the time to write down more specific things back in September!!! Oh well. I think I was probably better at being in the moment and maybe that's better anyway!

We are Growing Up

In September, Target ran the special of turning in your old carseat and get a discount on a new one again. Mom decided it was time to upgrade Iva to a booster seat. Iva was VERY specific about what she wanted. A purple and dark pink booster. Mom took me to Target with her and UNBELIEVABLY there was ONE hidden amongst the others (and reasonably priced) that was indeed purple and dark pink. Iva loves it. She can now unbuckle herself. Which is the opposite of what she could do before. 

Mom has some major guilt. She has not been documenting Sam growing up nearly as well as the other kids. If we are fully honest, she's trying to help me type up this post in January. It's almost impossible to remember what exactly Sam was doing or acting like. He loves being outside and that has never changed. He prefers to snuggle with Mom to sleep. It took him forever to get more than just six little teeth.

He's been really different than us girls, but we just LOVE having him around our house. He's gotten lots noisier and became obsessed with watching youtube videos on our phones. Mom hopes to be better about writing down the silly things and big boy things he does.