April/May Double Date - Moab Adventure - April 29-May 1, 2011

Tiffany and Brian (aren't they cute!?) came adventuring with us.  Once they got to NSL, we all packed into the Outlaw and hit the road.

In true Utah style, it was raining / snowing in April and a huge accident on Hwy 6 added a couple hours to our drive.  Luckily, we had a cabin reserved at a campground in Moab and even in the middle of the night we were able to get into our weekend digs.  Tiny little cabin with two full-size beds (bring your own bedding).  One tiny little wooden tv tray style table, tiny garbage can and an electric heater.  Bathrooms/showers down the road a little bit.  A bit crowded inside the cabin once James' mountain bike joined us in the room.  It had to defrost from the layer of ice and grime from the snowy drive.

Saturday April 30 - Mountain Biking / Hiking

First thing, pick up Brian's rental mountain bike from Poison Spider.  Load up the bikes and head out to the chosen trail head.

Brian and James at Gemini Bridges trail head

Brian and Tiffany photo op!

The Jessi James Gang

While the guys were mountain biking.  Tiffany and I went exploring.  A quick drive through downtown Moab for gas and a wander into Arches National Park.  We planned to do a hike out to an arch that I'd never hiked to before, but we only had half an hour or so before we needed to pick up our men.
Tiffany and Jessi at Tower Arch Trail

Meanwhile, the guys were exploring the Gemini Bridges trail.
James - mountain bike trail guide

The Slayer

The view on Gemini Bridges Mountain Bike Trail

The view from Eagle's Perch near the Gemini Bridges mountain bike trail

Somewhere near this overlook, Brian's rental bike broke.  The part of the bike that connects the pedals and the "go".  So no matter how Brian pedalled, the bike would not be propelled forward.  He could go downhill just fine, but had to push the bike across the flats and any uphills.  Tiffany and I ended up driving up the bottom of the Gemini Bridges jeep trail until we connected with Brian and James.  Then loading up the bikes to get back to Poison Spider.  We were over an hour late turning the bike back in, but because of the broken bike there wasn't any penalty for that.  In fact, Poison Spider refunded Brian's rental fee.  Great customer service there!
Sunday May 1 - we chose to do a little hiking in Arches National Park before the long drive back to NSL and on to Idaho Falls (for B&T)

We chose Delicate Arch - not a terribly long hike, but the arch is on everything - license plates and billboards.  Plus, Tiffany had never been.  And I really like the very, very short side trail over to some Indian petroglyphs.

Tiffany and Brian at Delicate Arch

Brian and James at Delicate Arch

Brian jumping over a rock cairn (I think Tiffany made him jump those rocks a dozen times before getting the perfect picture).

Jessi and James - Delicate Arch trail.  I need to watch my feet while hiking, because I tend to trip on things if I'm checking out the scenery.  For a little while, I decided to follow James' footsteps down the trail.  Of course he noticed his pink shadow and began hiking in small loops and jumping over rocks and small cracks for me to follow him.  We both had a good laugh when he walked backwards for a few steps and I tried to copy.

It was a very fun hike, a very fun trip.  Always glad when family can join us for adventures.

Sadly the weekend was over.  Thankfully we all had an uneventful drive back to our respective homes.  Let's do it again!  This has to count for our April and May dates because James is leaving for Alaska and summer work in just a few short days.

Anatomy Ultrasound - April 29, 2011

20 weeks pregnant, 20 weeks to go?  Today we had the anatomy ultrasound.  I had to drink a ton of water and not use the facilities until after the appointment.  The ultrasound tech checked my cervix first, then let me go to the restroom before continuing with the baby. (SO grateful for that!) 

The next thing she checked was if we wanted to know gender.  YES!  So she took a picture.  It's a BOY! 

We knew it!  We've been referring to "him" for a couple of months, so nice to know that we can continue to do so.

And then we got to see other body parts - like the brain and kidneys and lungs and I just had to take the tech's word for it!  I did recognize the heart though - tough to miss when it is beating away!  She was able to pull up a graph of the heartbeat and then turned on a speaker so we could hear it again.  She said 144 bpm.

And then the parts I could recognize!

Legs

Arm/Hand

Foot - made me laugh when the tech said he's got big feet.  Perhaps compared to other 20 week babies?  But really, those are some tiny little feet when the whole baby weighs about half a pound!

When she zoomed in on the face, we saw the mouth moving and even one hand zoom by.  Amazing how the ultrasound "looks" through me and through the baby to "see" specific body parts.

Then a quick Dr. Appt - took the fundal height for the first time - 21 cm, just perfect.  And got to hear the heartbeat again with Dr. K. 

Next appt: May 27th.

P.S. If the ultrasound tech was right, and we have a boy baby, his name is Lincoln. Lincoln James.  Lincoln James McCalvy.  LJM. Yay!

The Slayer - April 28, 2011

April 20, 2011 -  James' new bike! The Rocky Mountain Slayer. He researched for months and finally chose his bike. Then it came without pedals (!?)

April 24, 2011 - James bought some shoes and pedals off the guy who helped him put the bike together. And a bike stand - which is very handy when maintaining and cleaning the bike. Hooray for a new bike!  Now to pick just the right helmet and jersey and maybe some spandex bike shorts??

April 28, 2011 - James takes the new bike out for it's inaugural ride - in the area around North Salt Lake.  No photos of James, just a video of the guys he was riding with.  Mostly guys from Backcountry.  They'll do rides throughout the summer.  Last year James was able to 'check out' bikes from Backcountry and learned where to go for some great mountain biking. But this year, they sold all the bikes that James was 'testing'.  I don't think James is sad about that - did you see his shiny new red bike?

Biking - April 22, 2011

James is playing basketball with the guys from Backcountry, and I got off work a little early.  Finally a beautiful day (we've had a lot of rain this spring!).  So I decided to get the bike out and go for a ride on the Legacy Parkway Trail.  I've been from the Center Street Trailhead to the south toward work quite a bit, so today I decided to ride North and see what there is to see on the bike trail.
Important for next time: check the tires - after a long winter, they're underinflated and that makes riding the trail a bit difficult.  After about 3 minutes on the paved trail, I wanted to turn around and walk the bike back to the car.  But that would've been a waste of a pretty day.  I told myself I'd ride for 30 minutes and then turn around.  At about 30 minutes, I was close to Bountiful Lake.  And that was worth exploring.  So I kept going and rode the bike around the lake before heading back to the car.

10.9 miles total in an hour and 38 minutes.  Not a fast ride - I had to keep telling myself that riding the bike (underinflated tires or not) was faster than getting off and pushing the bike!  It is a beautiful day.

Wild Rose Trail - April 15, 2011

Now that ski season is over, I want to go hiking!  This is the trail that is closest to our apartment - The Wild Rose Trail.  Guess it isn't quite hiking season yet.  I still got in a little hike on a pretty day (James was playing basketball with some guys from Backcountry).

And this gathering of heavy equipment is very close to the trailhead.  There is a pipeline project that we've been seeing across the valley and even across the state a bit.  I'm thinking that the Wild Rose Trailhead might be involved in a bit of construction soon.

Happy Birthday Kristen!

Last ski day at Solitude - April 09, 2011

The last ski day of the season is always a little sad.  There is a TON of snow in Utah and Snowbird will be open for another couple of months - but that would cost more money.  Today we used our last tickets at Solitude and enjoyed skiing in another snow storm!

This is me at 18 weeks pregnant - the Dr. said I could ski up until about 20 weeks, so I guess I'll have to put the skis away for the season after all!

Brighton with the Prices! - March 31, 2011

We LOVE it when the Doug & Suzie Price's come to Utah!  They spent their Spring Break skiing/boarding every day and invited us to come up anytime we could make it.  Thursday March 31 (Happy Birthday Jed!) is the last day of the month, and this month I work the 'late' shift at Life Flight - until 9 p.m.  So I took most of the day off and we went skiing at Brighton with the Prices! 

James and Michael went exploring everywhere.  Jordan (who hurt his shoulder recently playing rugby) was trying to be mellow, so he and I mostly skied with Doug & Suzie.  Shelby was in snowboarding lessons for most of the day.  It was beautiful and sunny and we really, really had a good time.  So sad to leave and go to work for the rest of the night. 

Jordan, Michael, James, Jessi, Doug, Suzie and Shelby

Shelby!