Kayaking the Provo

So Katie bought "tickets" for myself and her dad for us to float the Provo river for fathers day. We were finally able to use them this last weekend. The "tickets" counted toward either a large party raft or individual kayaks and we could either go guided or unguided. We opted for kayaks and to be guided, because we weren't familiar with the river, and guides can be cool and informative and give you the behind-the-scenes goodies. We had a blast even when the wind was strong enough to push us up river at times.




Above us Jarom, our guide, myself and Von, my father-in-law. Yeah I know I have a terrible farmers tan :-(

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Running on Vacation

So this weekend, we have our annual family trip to Cedar City for the Shakespearean Festival.  Its going to be a whirlwind trip with 6 plays in 3 days, but that's what you do when your strapped for vacation time and you have a small kid (who we adore!)  Any way, I'm training for a running race in September, and I need to run while I'm down there.  I tried to map out a course in Google maps, and this is what I got.

View Larger Map
And that's when I realized that I'll be running around about 1/4 of the city.  I know that its a small town, but it just seams so much bigger when your driving around it.  Especially when you head North along Main Street. so wish me luck.  Hopefully I don't die in the heat!

Learning to garden: green thumb 101

So this I've written about our garden before, but tonight we have a first. Our very first vegetables of our labor, as it may be. I came home and noticed that one of the zucchinis was ready to pick.


This was what I saw when I started to look around and move the leaves.
This was our first pick from our garden.



But it's not the only growth we are having. If you look carefully, you can see some yellow squash in the massive over growth that is the summer squash bush. The leaves are the size of toilet seats!



We have a few tomatoes forming, but not as much as I'd like. We also have some peppers popping out. One head of lettuce is almost ready and our apricot tree is spewing fruit left and right, even though we've lost like 1/3 of the tree. We need to break out the canning hardware.

So I'll let you know how out learning process continues and hopefully I don't screw it up too much.

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The Symphony, Disney & Discovery

So this last weekend was full of family fun. Friday we went to Deer Valley and got to see the Utah Symphony perform Disney songs from classics such as Mary Poppins, Beauty & the Beast, It's a Small World, and many more. We had a blast.





Then, on Saturday afternoon, Zar was nice enough to share some tickets to the Discovery Gateway with us. Carrie loved it and had so much fun, but man what a madhouse. There were kids everywhere, and she had a few moments of poor sharing, and screams when we had to let someone else have a turn, or even just moving on to the next place. She's still a little young for a lot of the stuff, but we had fun anyway.





Carrie loved the farm section and really liked the horse, but freaked out when we let go of her.


I think the water feature made the biggest splash (see what I did there)!
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I'm an idiot!

So after a year-and-a-half of my photo blog being created, and 8-9 months of it not being updated, I just realized that I had misspelled the tittle, and the address!  I had it as "Lense" instead of Lens.  And since Seen Through The Lens has already been taken, I had to change it to Seen Through the Lenses.  If you follow it, first thanks, I'm trying to update it and post some more pictures there.  Second, please update your reader or link it to the new address of www.seenthroughthelenses.blogspot.com

Take a poll, please

So with Bloggers new design features, I've also been playing around with some of the "gadgets" and among those, I've added a few polls to the side of the blog.
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Please take a moment and share your answers to help me understand more of my audience and how you all interact with my blog. It'll help me create a more inviting and useful blog.

PS. Thanks for following our antics!

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Dawn

Took this snapshot while out on an early morning run this morning. I'm training for a 5 man marathon relay in September. And since it's so hot in the evenings, vie had to start to exercise in the mornings, which for me is like 5:45.




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Dancing in the Fountain

This last weekend, Caroline and I went for a play date with Chrysi and Clair down to the fountain at the Gateway. Caroline enjoyed it, and had fun, even though she was a little hesitant about getting wet and the water jets. But she really had a blast once the fountains special show happened. Music played, water sprayed, and the litle girl danced her heart out!

Bloggers new templates and designs

I like that blogger has made the templates and design of blogs easier, cleaner, and more interesting. I look forward to trying out a few new designs. So expect a few posts with nothing but an announcement of a new blog layout.

Back to work, that is all!


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Location:Belt Route,Salt Lake City,United States

The bouncy house

Eat all your veggies!

The garden is done being "constructed"! We've got the drip system compleated and connected to the timer so now it's worry free watering.



I've got all of our starts in the ground. They include tomatos, tomatillos, cucumbers, beets, lettuce, corn, asparigus, squash, zuchini, chilli peppers, and bell peppers.



I still have to plant some onions, garlic, carrots, spinach, peas, green beans, melons, and some cilantro. But the tough (ie. expensive) stuff is done. Now it's just playing the waiting game, especially with the asparigus!

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Location:S Lanebrook Ln,Salt Lake City,United States

Boxes ready for plants!

Well, the boxes are finally done, and I'm just finishing up the drip system. I've got a few starts and seedligs going in the closest box, but the back three are waiting to be filled.


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Location:S Lanebrook Ln,Salt Lake City,United States

Family camping trip - base camp

So we've gone camping with some friends. Were staying in Green River, and goingto visit and hike in Goblin Valley State Park. We set up camp last nightin the dark. Caroline slept really well after some appreihention.


Breakfast of champions!


Cooking area of champions!


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Location:W South Temple,Salt Lake City,United States

Pre-race

Me before the race. Expect a post race shot of me laying in a pool of my own vomit!

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Location:W South Temple,Salt Lake City,United States

Race for the Cure

So I'm running the Susan G Komen Race for the Cure on Saturday, May 8th. I'm excited because I've been getting more fit and have set personal goals for myself. But there's a problem. I've set a goal of raising $200 in donations by race day. I figure if I can get $10 from 20 people by then, I'll be golden. There is nothing in it for me except the joy of helping out. So please help me an help those fighting everyday and those affected by those around them with cancer. Donate to a great cause and orginazation fighting to help make a difference.

Visit my personal Komen page to donate at www.komenslc.org/participant/AlexDrake to make a donation in my name and for all those that need the help. And remember to donate as much as you can. If we hit my $200 goal, that's great. But if we collect more, EVEN BETTER!

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Working for your meals

So I've had a pretty major project that I've been working on and have also put off since we bought our house in Sept. '08. The previous owners had a vegitable garden in the back yard. They worked it all right into the ground. I had hoped to keep it up and start my own above ground garden plots. But one thing after another, March turned to May, turned to July, turned to September. It wasn't gona happen in 09.

I wasn't going to let that happen again. This year, with the mild winter we got, I was able to get an early jump on the garden. In late February, early March, I cleared out te weeds and rented a tiller. I didn't want to have to work in what may or may not be good, workable soil. I also REALLY REALLY didn't want to have to deal with the weeds. That why I wanted the above ground boxes.


(before the tilling)


(after the tilling)


(my dad helping construct the boxes)

Once I was able to till and flaten the soil, we laid down some weed guard, spiked it all down, and placed the boxes in their appropriet spots.

Today I spent all afternoon working the mix for the boxes. They are finally ready for the plants. I have started a few plants from seeds and they are almost ready for transplanting. But I'm going to have to take a trip to the nursery to get other starts.




(ready for plants)

What am I planting you ask? Tomatos, tomatillos, zuchini, cucumber, melons, corn, asparigus, onions, garlic, carrots, letuce, spinach, and I think that's it. I'll post a picture of my planting layout so that you can get an idea of what it's going to look like.

Want to learn more? Check out Square Foot Gardening for more info. If we all grew some of our own vegitable, the world would be a better place and world hunger would start to decrease!

-- Post From My iPhone

Location:E Lanebrook Ln,Salt Lake City,United States

Old Spice Body Blocker Comercials

These are some of the best, funniest comercials ever. Why can't multi-million dollar super bowl comercials be more like these?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e7PD4f5uTOU&feature=youtube_gdata

-- Post From My iPhone

Location:S Lanebrook Ln,Salt Lake City,United States

Opening night at the Bees!

Good ties, great friends, and an all-American past time.




-- Post From My iPhone

Location:SW Temple,Salt Lake City,United States

I'm back and I'm packin' heat!

So I realize that it's been forever and a year since I've posted anything here. I hope to change that and resume sharing tidbits from our lives.

I can hear you now, "Well what can we expect?" you say.

Well, you ready? I've got a sweet new iPhone app that let's me do mobile posts. So it's super easy f or me to add a small post, a few pictures, or even a video or two. Then, Caroline is groing so fast, I'm sure you'll be seeing a bunch of her shinanigans. Next up, I'm starting a vegitable garden in the back yard. Expect to see my dablings of the green thumb.

So to get you all excited for what's coming up, here is a great picture.




-- Post From My iPhone

Test post

This is a test.


This is a test. :)

-- Post From My iPhone

Location:Wasatch Blvd,Salt Lake City,United States