Click HERE for directions to Etna/Greys River Road.

Once you get to Greys River Road, turn right at the Supermarket and head up the canyon. Go the speed limit, there are a lot of police patrolling this road. Our camp is about 4 miles up the canyon.

At the entrance to the canyon, you will go over one bridge which crosses the river and there will be a campground on your right. Pass this campground and continue up the canyon. On your right (a few miles beyond the first bridge) you will see another bridge which crosses the river again on your right. Turn right off the main road, cross this bridge, take your first left which is another dirt road so drive slowly. Our compound is at the end of this road. We will try to put plates up or something... See you there!

The Ortons are some of our family's best friends and one of the original river-running families to join us on the Snake. This is the following conversation I had with Tracy Orton today:

Tracy: I just talked to one of my friends who just got back from running the Snake last week.

Matt: And? How was it?

Tracy: He said it was HUGE. When they got there, there were loads of people walking with their life jackets up the road next to the river. We couldn't figure out why they were doing this until the next day when we ran it. We went barreling through Lunch Counter, grand-slammed (this is a rafting term where the boat stands straight up due to a huge hit and flips), and we lost our boat. Next thing we know, we are walking the road with our life jackets.



Get ready people...

When I was young, we would go over to my Grandparents house for Sunday dinner every week. My grandma was famous for her Roast Beef and Mashed Potatoes. We wouldn't ever have anything different, nothing new, just that delicious meal that only my grandma could duplicate. Other Sunday traditions included going for drives all over creation, hitting buckets of baseballs with my dad, and watching the Sunday night, made for TV movie with my mom.

Today, I am not sure if we have any traditions. Maybe a couple. Jenny makes a delicious meal that is always something special and she always includes her homemade rolls which are straight from heaven. We get in the pool. Play some Rock Band. Read some Harry Potter. But for the most part we just enjoy being together and being lazy!

So what will my kids remember?

One thing happened today that I will NEVER forget.

Those of you who aren't family don't realize how HUGE of a accomplishment this is! Yes, due to constant prodding, begging, and pleading from the grandkids, grandma got into the swimming pool today. Siblings, this is picture proof that it really did happen!

So maybe my kids won't remember that one thing that we did every Sunday, but they will remember that Sundays were definitely special days, which is exactly what they should be!

Alex always intrigues me. He is becoming a looking glass into what the 'popular' is. He likes to test the waters with his surroundings. Regardless of how much we try to shelter him from the outside world, it always seems to sneak in through the cracks.

Alex is going to be 9 this summer (holy cow). I watch him as he watches the world and as he tries to decide what is the good, bad, and the ugly. Most of the time, he chooses wisely, but sometimes he, like all kids, enjoys frittering around with the bad and ugly. Fortunately for us, most of the time he chooses the good.

Yesterday, I had a shoot and in between the ceremony and reception, I met the family at a local burger joint. While hanging with everyone, I glanced over at Alex and he caught me by surprise. He had turned his BYU hat sideways on his head and he had his arms diagonally folded like a rapper would do. Lately, every time he sees me, he greets me with a "yo, dad." I looked at him peculiarly, and he sheepishly turned his hat back to normal. I didn't mean to squelch his new identity, but I'll admit I wasn't thrilled about it.

I guess if he is going to be a rapper, he should get rid of the BYU hat first. Doesn't quite fit.

Get your attention with that title? Good. This is dang funny.

As many of you know, our kids get one hour of TV time a day and during that hour, Jenny edits. Well, the boys agreed on half of a Star Wars movie and everything was going fine, until we heard a blood curdling scream! Alex burst through the door yelling Isaac is bleeding everywhere. Jenny ran to Isaac and found his nose gushing blood and Isaac hysterical. After many minutes, Dr. Jenny finally got the bleeding to stop.

So this is what happened.

During a particular scene in Star Wars, Annakin and Padme are laying in a grassy field beginning to fall in love. Anakin puts the moves on Padme and goes in for a kiss. Well, my boys HATE kissing (BOYS RULE) and so Isaac, in order to avoid the awful display of affection, dove under his pillow, but instead of making it under the pillow, he plowed nose first into his own knee!

Needless to say, he missed the kiss, bled a lot, but according to him, the bleeding was worth it!

So, when we run the Snake, the water levels range between 3500 and 5000 CFS (cubic feet per second). I checked the .gov waterflow website today, and it was a roaring 20,700 CFS! It is going to be a wild ride next week! We can't wait!
These are pics from a local photo company (www.snakeriverphotos.com) of rafters who were running the river today just to give you a sense of the fun we are going to have! There are about 50-60 coming this year so we are really excited! See you there!

I finished cleaning up breakfast this morning and went to look for my boys. This is what I found:













Aaaaaah..... summer. Does it get any better than this?

That's it.

We have had enough.

We are MAKING it Summer, whether nature agrees or not. We are tired of the cold. Tired of the rain. If we believe that it is warm, it will become so.

On that leap of faith, we put up the pool!

The kids, whether rain or shine, get in everyday. Even grandpa braved the 60 degree pool temperature today!

We can't wait until we can actually get into the pool without it hurting and we can truly enjoy it. We will keep you posted...

We recently added a microphone stand to our Rock Band experience which has been great fun because now we can play and sing all at the same time. This addition has added a new dimension to Rock Band and we are loving playing the game again.

Alex is a seasoned veteran of the game, rarely making mistakes. Isaac, however, is the new kid on the block and is just now starting to get the hang of it. Isaac is also immensely enjoying the mic stand. He can sing "Enter Sandman" without flaw.

Which leads me to the real reason for this post.

During the last few days, Isaac has been carrying around a vacuum attachment pretending that it is a portable microphone. We listen to a lot of Rock and Roll in our house, so throughout the day I hear him singing into the vacuum anything from STYX to Bon Jovi. Well, yesterday I heard him sing this:

"Whoa, we're halfway way the---re, Who-oh living on a Prai--rie."

It has been brought to my attention that the majority of my posts are on food. Well, ok. Here is one on dessert!

Depending on what mood I'm in, I like a variety of desserts. My favorite? I love cake with butter cream frosting. In fact, I used to ask Santa every year for a wedding cake at Christmas. I never got one until I married, and the cake was the ONLY THING about which I showed any interest regarding wedding day planning. We had an Albertsons cake, just the way I like it... loaded with frosting with a raspberry center... mmm.

Today, besides cake, I like other desserts as well. Sometimes I like Evil (thanks Tori), other times cookies and other pastries, and on and on. Jenny is an amazing cook and can make anything. But never the same dessert twice.

Enter Isaac.

We made a startling discovery today. Jenny, in our attempt to not have large children, only allows the boys one unhealthy snack a day. The boys know this, and they choose their snacks wisely. Alex, like me, likes different snacks on different days. For Isaac, only one thing can tame his insatiable dessert appetite: chocolate ice cream. He never wants nor does he like any other dessert.

Well, we have an outdoor freezer where the chocolate ice cream is housed. Today, he asked for his unhealthy snack and we said go grab the ice cream. He delivered the ice cream with a guilty expression on his face. He had left his spoon in the ice cream and it had frozen into the chocolate not to be removed. Apparently, he had been sneaking bites during the days and just leaving his spoon in the box for easy and quick access.


The true irony is rather than realize the spoon was stuck and pretend he knew nothing about it to avoid trouble, he brought it to us knowing he would be busted, but his longing for chocolate overrode his fear for punishment.