Airplane travel as a way of life . . .

Above: Hana is ready to fly! Hana is definitely a seasoned flyer. It is hilarious as she walks down the halls of the airports wheeling her little bag behind her. She walks like a little woman with a purpose. Scott says she looks like a little business woman.

Hana has been flying since she was about 1 month old. I remember the first time we flew to St George with her. She was tiny and we surprised my parents and fam with a little trip to St. G. I had called Brad, or maybe it was Becky, to come pick us up at the airport in St. G. We walked into my family's house. My dad was sitting on the couch - just in view of the front door - and he saw us walk in. His face lit up and he haulered to my mom in the kitchen, "We got a baby here!" Everyone was so surprised and excited. Good memory!


Above: Scott and Hana, as we get off of the small 30 passenger EMB 120 prop airplane we fly on to St. G. - Look at her :), all about business. :) It was a little rainy and cold that day we arrived back into SLC from sunny St. G. We didn't have jackets, and were wearing tanks and shorts.

Below: We put on our jackets as soon as we got our bags. Burrr. Here are the kids riding on the bus back to our truck, to go home. Conrad is getting pretty good at knowing what to do in an airport as well. Their favorite is putting their own belongings in the bin to be scanned when going through the security check point. Especially Conrad. He thinks he is so big. He has to take off his own shoes and put them in the bin by himself. :) Funny kid. They also love it if they have the puffers on the metal detectors. Funny. I just love 'em.

For those of you who don't know - Scott has worked with SkyWest Airlines since before we got married. He has been a Ramp Supervisor for the last 5 years, or so. It is pretty much a way of life now, for us to travel by airplane. It is very convenient for me that SkyWest is based out of St. G. so there are several flights a day that go there. Scott sees my uncle Harv every once in a while as he flies through. He also works with Jodee Hazon (spelling?). She is an aunt on the other side of the fam of some of my fun Glauser cousins, Steve's family (Tam's sister). Jodee keeps us informed sometimes with some of the Glauser happenings and updates, since we are so out of it most of the time. Funny. Oh well, we'll get on the ball soon.

Anyway, it is an awesome benefit to fly for free. Although, we have traveled quite a bit lately and are taking a little break - for a couple weeks anyway. ;) I am excited to fly once again to St. G. in a couple weeks to stay with my family for the weekend. Oct 20th. All the boys are going on a hunting trip, so all us girls and the kids get to hang out. Everyone is welcome to join us. It will be fun!!! It is beautiful weather in St. G. in October! Anyway, we will be there. ;)

ALOHA Maui!!! A little dream come true!!! Sept. 17th - 20th

Wow! MAUI!!! What a cool place!! This is a huge lava field in Makena, near Kihei, Maui -where we stayed!

This is Hana and I at the Makena lava beach. The little drive there was a skinny road surrounded on both sides with an enormous lava field - amazing - with the old volcano in the back ground (the above top picture).

Well - we finally did it!!! We went to Maui!!! What a beautiful, fun, relaxing, little dream of a vacation!! About a 1 1/2 weeks before we left, Scott found a condo, thru his buddy's timeshare. Scott had time off anyway for this week and we were trying to find somewhere to fly. So what better place than Maui!! We were so excited when it all worked out!!!

Conrad and I over looking the pier, with all the whaling and some tourist boats! Near the Maui Ocean Center. Cute kid!

We arrived on Monday night. Then stayed until Thursday night. On Thursday we went to the Maui Ocean Center! The most amazing, extremely large aquarium we have ever seen. It was a very fun place for the kids. We learned a lot about all the animals in the ocean. In their huge Open Ocean section of the aquarium we saw five different types of sharks, two kinds of sting rays, and tons of huge and colorful fish, all swimming together. The kids loved it - Scott and I loved it! Then there was a tunnel where all those sea animals would swim over us! It was amazing!

We took the great advice of my uncle Brian Neff and went to the Cheeseburger in Paradise restaurant, in Lahaina, on Wednesday night. It was a very cool place. Good burgers! Great atmosphere! We all loved the great live music. We also sat upstairs next to the balcony as you can see and it was additional, perfect entertainment for the kids to look over and see all the people, cars, and bikes. As Brian said - Lahaina definitely is like the Park City of Maui. We did a little souvenir shopping. It had a great time! But the restaurant was the highlight that night!

Chaka! Scott and Hana hangin out, playin around in the ocean. On Tuesday we went to the beach right across the street from our condo. It was a great one for the kids. The waves were not too big and they loved the water and the sand. Fun fun day - light sunburns, but not too bad. It was pretty funny - there was a smaller wave that took Hana out. She tumbled as we watched with surprise, as all we saw was her little bum and legs do a summersault in the wave. She popped up and just stared at us - no tears :). All we could do was laugh and give her high fives for how awesome she handled the wave. She laughed and thought it was pretty funny. She was pretty proud of herself too. Feeewww! (wipe the brow) She handled it a lot better than we thought! (Although this was not the last time this happened -read further)

The kids with the "tootas" - sea turtles - at the Maui Ocean Center - they were so cool to see. The kids loved them.

We had a fabulous time! We realized that activities with the kids were limited, also because it was such a short trip - so we spent most of our time different beaches.

The story of Big Beach . . . This was a cool beach - maybe for older kids :) ! Tuesday afternoon we went to Big Beach - and upon arriving, we realized why it was called Big Beach! It was a pretty big beach, but also the waves, as they curled, were about 10 feet high and every once in a while there was one about 15 or so feet high. Wow! It was a little scary for the kids - so Scott and I did a little body surfing on and off while the kids played on the beach. Conrad came in with me for a few minutes - it took some persuasion to get Hana to come out with us. Finally she came in with Scott - holding on very tight. We were enjoying the large waves - out just past the point where they were breaking. Suddenly Scott looked at me and pointed out to the ocean and said "Um, Amy!" I looked out and saw a huge wave suddenly upon us with no way of avoiding it. I said "Wo! Okay, hold on!" I embraced Conrad with his head a little above my head (mean while Scott was just a couple feet more toward the shore- and he said all he was thinking was "Please don't break on us!") So the wave came and I did my best to keep our head above water. We made it - it splashed our faces quite a bit. But it did curl right on Hana and Scott. I turned and they were gone. A half second later Scott pops up without Hana. He looked at me and scrambled for only a few seconds to find her as the wave went back out. Suddenly Hana stands up on the sand, popping her head out of the water. With a very disoriented, surprised look on her face. I instantly grabbed her and was holding her and Conrad. Scott came up quick and grabbed her from me. By that time the waves had pushed us more onto the shore. Hana's hair was tossled - again no tears. We just went for the positive approach again. "Wo! Hana that was awesome! You did great! You just popped right up! You okay? (double checking) You did exactly what you were supposed to! Good job!" She again was shocked, but proud of herself. For the rest of the trip she talked about how awesome her tumble in the ocean was, and also added that she never wanted to do that again. :) We then continued to just look for seashells on the shore at that beach. ;)

We also rented snorkle gear and went to a very cool beach with great reefs right off the shore. Scott and I took turns all day, snorkeling. We also rented a boogie board with a window in it and took Conrad out on it. He was able to see a couple fish too. Unfortunately, do to the experience that day before, Hana did not join us in the ocean for the rest of the trip. But that is okay. We all had a great time though.

After an incredible vacation and great memories, it was time to go - took the red eye flight- last night (Thurs night). The kids slept the entire flight home! It was great! Yet Scott and I didn't sleep too well! So we are tired and now going to bed - so that is our great Maui vacation in a nut shell!! Love you all!

Football Season! What is the deal?

Okay so football season - Ute football season - has begun!!! As you can tell we are big fans in our house!!! Yet I am asking myself that same question again!!! What is the deal with men - or my husband - and football? And I am honestly curious! Okay, so besides the obvious male aggressiveness displayed amongst the fans of the game - as well as being a part of something big . . . a fan club? Well in any case, it is an "Event" that lasts for 5 months +.


Scott was extremely siked for Conrad's 2 year olds birthday (Sept. 14th) - yesterday! We decided to have a Utah theme. Scott said - "I love planning a kid's birthday when they're not old enough to care what the theme is!" It was fun. I made a Ute symbol cake and decorated the house with black and red steamers and white and red balloons. Conrad's favorite part was the "boons" - balloons. We were excited to have Scott's family join us for some "pidat" - pizza - and cake and ice cream.

It was really fun making the cake! I love decorating cakes - it is a little secret passion of mine, that I have been able to slowly develop - thanks to the early instruction from my mama, when I was a teenager. Someday I will take a course and decorate cakes as a side gig for weddings, birthdays, and such. (Just a little dream of mine).

Here is Conrad trying to blow out the cake! What a funny kid! He would do a small blow, without blowing the candle out, and then stand back with his arms folded with a face of confidence! Hilarious!

Soooo, back to the football season . . . I have decided that I must accept the fact that I lose a large part of my husband September through January, every year. What is the deal? I love my wonderful husband with all my heart - well it goes way beyond even that - and I do know that College Football, well I should say UofU Football has been a part of him since he was a kid. Yet, it still baffles me every year, the intense conversations that occur between Scott and other football lovers. Most of the conversations I see usually happen between Scott and his dad, or friendly banter with Uncle Jordan ;) a BYU lover. Sometimes I think Scott hates the Cougars more that he loves the Utes - or maybe its the BYU fans he dislikes. Yet, my hubby has a lot of emotion and passion for the Utes game and in the past has been viewed as possibly on the verge of, dare I say, unhealthy? He is getting better - a little less attached, you could say. It's actually sort of funny - all the hoop-la! Hee hee!

Yes, and now the kids are being brought up in this tradition :) - with mom's semi-failed attempts to delude the intensity of it. Scott has now taught our kids to "love the Utes and hate the Cougars." Aunt Marie did point out to me that "hate" is a very strong word for a 4 1/2 year old to use - which I completely agree, and have yet to discuss this with my wonderful hubby. Aside from that thought, the recent cheers and chants heard in my house lately (mostly on game day) go something like this:


Scott: "Who do we love!!?"


Hana: "The Utes!"


Scott: "Yeah! And who do we hate!!?"


Hana: "The Cougars!"


Scott: "Yeah!!!"


Followed by high-fives and more chants of "Go Utes! Go Utes!"

It is pretty funny to see dainty Hana get into it so much!


And can you just guess how much Scott loves that? He also loves it now that Conrad is saying "Oots!" (Utes). He points to the new Utes poster Scott put up and says "Oots!" Cutie!
Fun Fun!!! Football season - game days- the spirit of it all! It is pretty fun! Yet - I am sure, reading this, you can sense the conflict I have about it! It is really fun, the first couple months, and then there is a point in the season that it starts to get a little long! ;)


So I still ask - laughing and shaking my head with question - What is the deal?

HTC! Me Hulk! Me Running! Me had FUN!

Wooo! Hooo! Hood to Coast Relay! What a fun and intense race! It was quite an experience! The best part was bonding as a team! Look at these cool pics! We had a crazy blast together! That group pic is our whole team! Wooo - I love them! We were the Incredible Holt's (my mom's maiden name, it was most all my mom's side of the family on the the team). The Hulk was our mascot.

The 197 mile race started at Mount Hood (OR). Van 1 started us off at 8:00 am Friday, Aug. 24th. We had two vans - I was in Van 2 - we split the team in half as we all ran different sections of the race. We each ran three different times. I ran section #9, which was the longest distance out of all the sections. My first Leg was 6.8 miles, which I started at about 3:30 pm. It was on a paved trail the whole time which was nice. My second Leg was 5.0 miles, which I started at about 2:30 am. This was easy, yet annoying. The whole run was on a decline, so it made it very easy, but the entire run was on a gravel road and all the vans from the other teams were passing us runners, which made it very dusty. I had a paper painters mask, which helped, but also felt restricting. But it was the Leg that I ran the very fastest - 8.55 min mile. COOL! The third and final Leg for me, was 7.8 miles. I was pretty nervous leading up to it, because after running 11.8 miles and having my longest Leg last, I was not sure how my body would do. But, it turned out great! I kept a steady pace and ran the whole Leg, along the beautiful country of Oregon. I ran it in 8 minutes less than I anticipated. My leg muscles were pretty tight after, but not too much limping.

Then we all waited at the finish line while Marie - my aunt, and our awesome team cpt., ran the last Leg to finish our relay! We finished at about 5:30 pm Saturday. Then we all joined her for a run across the finish line! It was so damn fun! I hope I get to do it again some day soon. The race ended at Seaside Beach, where booths were set up and lots of free stuff. It was great to be with all the team at the end! Truly - such an emotional bonding experience!

I loved seeing our other team mates from Van 1 and hugging them and cheering eachother on, at the Van exchanges. My greatest experience was on my runs, knowing that my team in my van would be waiting for me with water or what ever I needed along the run! I loved seeing them as I approached different points of the run. Each of the other people had their spouse their running on the team, and their to take care of them. Yet it was so touching for me to have almost everyone in my van each time, there waiting to cheer me on, and get water or gatorade or a towel to me. I want to thank each one of them for showing their love in such a perfect way. It was tough not having Scott there (not that he didn't want to be), but my team was there and it was perfect!

SO GREAT! I am so glad we did it! I love my team!

Lasting memories of camp! SO FUN!

This is a picture of Jeff crossing the monkey bridge he helped make up at Camp!
Jeff had a lot of fun at one of our staff party's the week he stayed with us at Camp!
This is our beautiful lake! We loved taking a row boat out together and fishing! (w/o Zephyr :) )
We loved our cabin! It was built in 1930, very rustic, little one room, with a tiny loft! No plumbing or water to it and no electricity. Its like sleeping in a big wooden tent. The way it looks on the outside, with the big logs, is exactly how it looks on the inside with a wood, deck-like, floor. It's very cool. We laid pieces of carpet down to make it more comfy.

AAHHHH!

Can my life get more insane? We are finally back from camp. . . But now I am off to see my family in St. George before Cami leaves for school and then off the run the Hood to Coast relay this next weekend. AHHH! Well, I will post more pics later. Love you all.

One more week! We've had a blast!

We have one more week to play at Camp Steiner! It has been quite an incredible, crazy summer! Scott and I have mixed feelings about it. It was very hard and busy a lot of the time. However, we absolutely loved being in the amazing beauty of those mountains. It has been so fun staying in our little one room, authentically-rustic cabin. Hana, Conrad, and Zephyr have their beds set up on the main floor and Scott and I have a little bed up in the small loft. Scott has only intensified his passion for fly fishing, as he has been able to go out in a row boat and fish 2-3 times a week. The kids and I love going out the in the boat with him every once in a while. When ever Scott catches a fish he lets the kids touch it, then he releases it. Then each time, Conrad spins around to me and says, "Mo! Mommy! Mo" as he also does the sign for "more" with his hands over and over again. He loves the fishy's. Hana has been Miss Independent. This is her 3rd summer up there and she knows her way around like it is our second home - which I guess it is. She lets me know where she will be and reminds me matter of fact "I have to follow the buddy system to be safe, Mom."

I decided to participate in the Polar Bear plunge this week. The Polar Bear plunge takes place at 7 am every morning. You have to jump into the freezing cold lake, and holding the scout sign, repeat one of the scouting promises, such as the Oath, Law, Motto, or Slogan. It is different each day. Then the Aquatics Director throws tennis balls out for us to swim out and retreive (yes, like a dog). Speaking of dog, Zephyr likes to do the plunge with me as well. Its fun. So each morning this week I did it and when I return next week I get a cool Steiner mug as the prize for doing it each day. Silly, but a fun memory.

Jeff, my bro, is here playing with the kids. He is spinning both kids around on our broken computer chair. Hana is saying "Hey mom look at us!" and Conrad is repeating "Us! Us! Us!" Man, they are such cuties!
Jeff joined us at camp this week. This was his first experience at a scout camp. It was really his first experience with the Boy Scout program. He absolutely loved it. He completed 6 merit badges and he will complete his 7th as soon as he completes his other wood carving project. He got to learn cool lashings and knots, shoot a bow and arrow, shoot rifles and clean them, and map and compass stuff. He also got to do lots of fishing. Also, a little black bear decided to hang out around our camp all week. Jeff saw it climbing on the boulders by the lake while he was fishing on Thursday. Scott was so jealous. Scott wanted to see the bear so bad, but seemed to always miss it by just a couple minutes. Anyway, it was a blast having Jeff up there with us. It was cool to see him accomplish and learn so many cool things. We are going to see if we can find a really good, exemplary(spelling?) troop in St. G to get him hooked up with.

So that is a quick up date. I will include some pictures as soon as I can.