Trunk or Treating!

It was the big Washington Fields 9th Ward trunk or treating event last night. I spent the day making soup, decorating our truck bed and getting Brianna dressed. The night started off with a Chili Cook off followed by a mini Halloween carnival for the kids and finally the main event the trunk or treating parade. This was my first trunk or treating event and I have kind of been skeptical of these events but we had a great time and Brianna will get to dress up at least twice in her Halloween Costume. This year she is a cute little witch. She loves her dress and always wants to wear it if she notices it hanging in the closet. My favorite part of the night was seeing all the cute Halloween costumes the kids were wearing. My favorite was a 6month year old baby girl dressed up as a cowgirl with mini chaps, spurs and pink cowboy hat. I wish I would have gotten a picture because I could not stop giggling every time I saw her! We look forward to this Friday for another fun night of Halloween fun!

Our little witch all dressed and ready for trunk or treating!



Brianna waiting on the curb for her daddy to get home to go!



After waiting a whole minute she got tired of it and headed back into the house!



Our ward had a carnival for the kids before they went truck or treating. I was trying to show Anna how to do the bean bag toss and she wanted nothing to do with it.




Captain Mark Sparrow and Anna passing out treats! By the way you are looking at an award winning vehicle for one of the best decorated trunk or treaters!



At the end of the evening Brianna assessed her candy and one by one took each treat out and put it onto the kitchen floor!!



Finally resting her little feet after a hard night of trunk or treating!

Happy Birthday Mom!!

I just wanted to wish my Mom a Happy 74th Birthday! I could not have asked for a better Mom or a greater example in my life. She is a woman of great faith and tenacity and is one of my heroes. I hope that I can be half the Mother to Brianna that she has been to me!! I love you Mom and I hope you have a great day!!

Sad News!

I have some sad news to report. Sometime between 10:00 p.m. Sunday night and 8:30 a.m. Monday Morning our beloved beta fish Dorothy went to fish Heaven. Monday as I went to sprinkle her some fish food I found Dorothy belly up in her fish bowl. The cause of death is unknown but something tells me the murder suspect maybe a 2 year old female and the weapon of choice dawn liquid soap. Personally Dorothy was kind of pain to me because I hated to clean her fish bowl but when I saw her belly up I was surprised how sad I felt about losing a dumb little fish. I don't think I will get another one until Brianna is old enough to know that you don't put any foreign items, foods, soaps or instruments into a fish bowl. Dorothy is probably happy to be out of her misery because it seemed like every other day she was dealing with some kind of adversity in the Udy house hold. In lieu of flowers I am taking cash donations nothing under $100 dollar bills is being accepted at this time!(ha)

Angel's Landing or Bust!

I have been wanting to climb to Angel's Landing in Zion's National Park ever since I was a college student in Cedar City back in 1992 (I know I am getting old!) Well this past weekend my goal came to fruition! I arranged for a baby sitter and Mark and I headed for Zion's National Park Saturday morning. The trail head marker warns you that it is a strenuous hike with very steep switchbacks and drop offs and let me tell you they were not kidding!! I loved every minute of it! The only bad part of the day is when I realized half way into the hike that my hiking boots were starting to rub blisters on the heels of my feet. I mentioned it to Mark and we stopped to asses the damage. Mark decided to give me his thick wool hiking socks and he finished the rest of the hike with no socks. I told him that this was a sign of true love!!! Without his socks I would not have made it to the top. Despite the pain the hike was absolutely amazing and I would do it again in a heart beat. October and November are absolutely gorgeous months to be in Zion's National Park. We intend to go back in a couple of weeks to see the fall colors! Hiking to me is a lot like life the final destination is worth all the hardships but also you have to find joy in the journey along the way!!

We climbed over 1000 vertical feet and it took us 2 hours to do it but we made it to the top of Angel's Landing!!



This was taken from the peak of Angel's Landing. This picture gives you a perspective of just how high up we were!



Another picture from atop Angel's Landing!



The last 1/2 hour of the trail was literally bouldering up this steep rocky cliff. The forest service has installed a big link chain for you to hold onto so that you don't plummet to your death. If you look closely enough you can see people climbing up. We found out later that day that a rock climber fell 300 feet the day before and died in Zions.



A picture of me on Walter's Wiggles, it is a section of the trail that has several steep switch backs and it is named after a Man named Walter who helped build this part of the trail back in the 1920's. It is amazing to me that they were doing that kind of stuff in the 1920's



Here is a good shot of some of the wiggle switchbacks, it gives you a better perspective of just how steep they are.



Another picture of the awe inspiring scenery.





Assessing my blisters on the trail, at this point we were not even half way to the top! Yikes!



I know this picture may be graphic for some but here is proof of my quarter size blisters on my heels. No pain no gain!!

I got Tagged!

I was told to go to my picture file of my computer and pick the 4th folder and then the 4th picture and tell about it!



This is a picture of Mark on the Tom Sawyer Steam Boat in Saint Louis, Missouri. We stayed the night in Saint Louis on our way to Nauvoo, Illinois in the spring of 2004. Mark and I took this dinner cruise on the Tom Sawyer steam boat and went up in the Famous Saint Louis Gateway Arch. I am a litte claustrophobic and I about hyperventilated on the ride up to the top of the arch because you are placed in these 1950's pod trams with no windows that take you to the top of the arch. The view was spectacular but I was so happy to get out of that arch and into the fresh air!

Fall Fever!!

Anna and I once again ventured up North this weekend. Mckell organized a fun outing to celebrate my Mom's birthday at Gardner Village in South Salt Lake. Corinne was in the state of Utah for the weekend also so we were lucky to visit with her for a while also. If you have never been to Gardner Village it is such a fun experience especially during the fall. It definelty puts you in the Halloween spirit! We had a delightful lunch at Archilbald's Restaurant and had fun seeing all the stuffed witches and touring the quaint little shops. I have to admit my favorite part was nibling on homemade fudge samples and eating a carmel apple from the village candy shop. Later that weekend we went to my brother's corn maze and haunted river trail in Paradise, Utah just north of Logan. We had a great time and what a fun experience for the family! Anyone who is in the area should try and go! Here is the website that lists the prices and directions. http://www.the-bottoms.com/
Mckell and I joined the corn maze staff on Saturday Night and had a fun time stalking and haunting visitors to the corn maze. Despite tripping and aquiring a bruise on my leg the size of a watermelon I had a great time!! Sunday I met Mark in Idaho and visited with all the Udy Family!

The whole crew hanging out in front of the Pumpkin House!



The 3 cute cousins posing for a picture at Archibald's Restaurant




Anna stepping up for a better look at the dancing witches!



Mckell and Corinne stopping for a photo moment with Brianna!



The 3 musketeers posing for a picture. We had a hard time getting all 3 of them to face forward because they were nervous to turn their backs on this old witch!!



Keaton pointing out a witch to Karlee and Brianna!



Anna posing with her "Kell"



On Sunday we got to go up to Idaho and visit Grandpa and Grandma Udy. It was fun to sit and visit with all the Udys. It snowed in Idaho at their house over a foot of snow!!

Saint George Marathon 2008!

So this will be Mark's 2nd marathon that he has ran in the past 3 weeks. Mark has been training all summer for this one and was excited to beat his record and hopefully record his personal best. The weather conditions this year were awful! It was cold and rainy the entire day. The newspaper said it had not rained on the Saint George Marathon in 25 years! Needless to say Mark went on to get his personal best with a time of 3 hours and 50 minutes!! We are so proud of him and look forward to many more years of running marathons if his feet and knees don't give out. I may try to train and run it myself next year if I can find the time! We were also excited to have Mark's brother Clint and his wife Amy and their family come for the marathon and stay with us a few days. Clint also ran the marathon with Mark and had his personal best time also! The weather cleared up the next day and was a beautiful day! We were able to watch conference at Luke and Jill's and be fed by the spirit and the words of our beloved prophet Thomas S. Monson. I thought there were a lot of exceptional talks this year.

Mark and Clint happily posing with their Saint George Marathon Medals around their necks!



flexing a little muscle!!



The Day before the Marathon we loaded up the kids and went for some swimming and picnicking at the town center park in Saint George. After the picnic we walked over to Judd's Store for an ice cream cone. It is an old Pioneer store that is still in business and they sell ice cream, old fashion drinks and really yummy bread sticks!



Everyone ordering their ice cream cones



Brianna hanging out at Judd's waiting for her ice cream cone.



The cousins sitting on the truck bed after a picnic and swim at the town center park!



As you can tell they are a little hyper!! One of the highlights of the day was when Brianna stripped off all her clothes and diaper and ran around naked for all to see. Many parents were staring and laughing as they watched me try and retrieve my daughter from the water!




Brianna, Macy and Abby having a bowl of Captain Crunch at the bar.



Brianna insisted on sitting at the bar with her cousins but she could barely be seen over her cereal bowl.



Brianna and Preston have been having a lot of fun playing together but have been getting into a lot of mischief lately. On this particular day they had dumped out a whole can of comet on my kitchen rug mixed with a half a bottle of liquid dish soap!