Chris Farley LIVES!! (do you believe in reincarnation?)

This is where our family will be in a couple

of weeks (that's me jumping):



I'm excited because it will be the first time our entire family has gone camping (at least I think..) and we'll get to spend the time on a beautiful lake with boats and lot's of jumping off this rock. Maybe I'll gear up enough to go diving into the lake from here if I do it enough. Russ certainly did it, but that dude can do anything.

Our most recent camping trip

This past weekend we camped in the desert on one night, and at over 10k feet the next. Only in Utah.

We went down to the San Rafael Swell area on Friday and checked out the Hidden Splendor mine (we only went into the beginning of it because we didn't want to get cancer from all the radiation). We then drove up to the Head of Sinbad and camped there. It was a beautiful spot situated between two high cliffs, so it was much cooler in there. There were a few pictograph panels close by as well.

The next day we drove along the Buckhorn draw area and saw some more pictographs and the beautiful scenery of that area. We then headed up through Castle Dale and onto Joes Valley reservoir and spent the rest of the day there swimming and soaking in the sun. Naturally, we hit up our favorite rock jumping spot on the lake. We then drove up above the lake and made camp on top of the Mountain range between Ephraim and Castle Dale. It was extremely beautiful up there. There is an old forrest ranger station up there too. It reminds me of an area you see on TV where it's out in the middle of nowhere. Just by itself.

The only thing that sucked about it all was the sleeping that night. Something (like a deer) was in our campsite eating stuff. We could hear it for about an hour and I had to pee like crazy, so I gave Alene the 20" maglight and a kife, I carried the bear spray and we slowly opened the tent. Once it was opened, we booked it for our car. Whatever it was, it was gone. We then drove out into the open so we could both relieve ourselves with a clear view of what was around us. We then drove back to the campsite and slept in the car for a couple of hours, before moving back into the tent. With the recent bear attack in Utah, I was a little on edge.

The next morning we drove down into Ephraim and came home.

Here are some pictures from the trip:

June Camping

Here are some video clips from the trip:

June camping video clips

One thing Alene has brought to the marriage

(not the only thing, but one thing):




I used to never TOUCH bell peppers before I met Alene. However, since we've been married I've come to love them dearly (almost as much as I love her). My favorite is the red bell pepper.

Caiden made the All-Star team

I received a call on Sunday night from the league president. She said that Caiden had been selected to be on the All-Star team representing their league. I thought it was cool because he is on of two 7 year olds on a team consisting mostly of 8 and a few 9 year olds.

This is his first year of playing organized baseball, but he seems to be taking to it OK. If there was one thing that frustrated me, it would be that he's so passive and quiet and it seems he could be making more efforts on his catches and with his running. However, I am proud of him for trying in general.

I think he was selected because of his hitting. If he has a clear strike, he will make contact with the ball. What he needs to work on is not swinging at balls outside of the strike zone (i.e. too high or low).

He has practice every day for the next two weeks (except Sunday), then they play in a tournament. If they make it to the top 3 of the tournament, they will go onto a state tournament. It should be a lot of fun. I'm putting together a video of all his baseball highlights and I'll post it soon.

Had a good time doing a one-night camp at Maple Canyon

Alene and I knew we needed to get away for at least two of the 5 weekends this month of June (5 weekends??), so we had our sights set on somewhere in the Uintas (Clyde Lake trail), but we got a ton of rain in the valley last week, which meant two things: We found a leak in our new roof, and Clyde Lake will likely have a lot of snow and be cold.

We opted for Maple Canyon. We brought Caiden's cousin Brady, who is always funny and fun to be with. When we first got there, we pulled off the side of the road at the first Box canyon. The hike to the back was much shorter than I remember. In fact, it's funny how you do a hike the first time and it seems SOOO long, but the second time it seems much shorter. I think it's the same way with driving too.

Anyway, all the campsites were full, so we kept driving up the road until it turned into this really bumpy/rocky dirt road. The subaru did a great job driving up that thing. We went over the ridge to the back and then down into a beautiful, heavily forrested area. We found the perfect campsite (well, actually April and Bill found it a few weeks before us I guess). We did some hiking around the area later that day (after getting set up).

The next day we drove to the top of Maple Canyon and hiked down to a large Cave that you have to climb up a rope to get into it. I was proud of Caiden because he was able to get up there, despite being really scared (it's about a 15-20' wall you have to climb up). We hiked back up to the top, stopping off to climb some other rocks to get a good view of the canyon as well as the rest of San Pete Valley. It's really a pretty valley. Alene hiked down the rest of the trail (backside) and we drove down to meet her. We ended up doing a bit of some exploring (well, I did at least; Caiden and Brady started a caterpillar collection and they just played with them while I drove). I found some cool trails and a few AWESOME campsites back there. One campsite had enough room for a LARGE group of people if you wanted, very flat, but up really high on the mountain.

We got back down the mountain in about 40 minutes and found Alene already back down and had started hiking up the dirt road to meet us. She was amazing. She must have flown down the backside.

Here are some pictures from the trip: Maple Canyon June 2007

I can't wait for our next trip. So far Bill has suggested driving to Joes Valley and camping, then driving down through Castle Dale to see the wedge overlook. Then we're going to use my GPS to find the MK tunnels. They're a set of tunnels that the Military started to dig for NORAD, but then pulled out because they figured the Granite up in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado was much better than the sandstone down in the Swell of Utah. We'll then head back to Joes Valley and do some swimming and rock jumping. Should be a fun trip.

We're going to be pretty busy from then on out. I'm playing some paintball on the following saturday, then we'll be leaving for WA to visit Alene's brother and his family. Then we'll be doing my family camping trip to Joes Valley.

Taking some handlebars to the chest

I went mountain biking with my sister in-law's husband (what does that make him to me???) Bill at Sundance on Monday. All was going well, considering that I had the cheapest bike on the mountain. I hit this spot that I had hit before. It was a simple drop, no rocks in the way, just regular dirt. Then, in a flash, I was going one way, my bike the other and the end of the handle bars were in my chest somehow, then I was on the ground.

At first, I did a calculated check of all my body parts (much like NFL players do when they take a really hard hit). I had to make sure they were all still there. I realized the handlebars went to my chest and they went pretty dang hard. I had to make sure they did not make a hole in my chest. Good old ribs, they did not, however, they ripped a hole through my shirt and gave me a NICE BIG scratch right in the middle of it. I then noticed I had a gash in my knee, which scared me for a bit, but once I got it washed up, I realized it wasn't as bad.

Anyway, I had a great time at Sundance, but I think I'm going to invest in some knee/shin guards before I do something like that again.

Here are some pictures for your viewing pleasure.

Had a great time in Escalante last week

We went down with my sister Krystal and her husband Nate, by brother Jeff and his wife Mandi, my brother Russ and his wife Randa, and two of my nephews, Riley and Wes.

We had a great time. On Friday we hiked up a couple of slot canyons located off Hole in the Rock Road. They were called Peekaboo Gulch and Spooky Gulch. It was a blast. Later that day we went and visited the campsite that Alene stayed at when she spent 2 months down there on an Archaeology dig 6 years ago. It looked so barren and started to be over-grown, but it was awesome for me to think that Alene spent 2 months in that area. I loved it.

The next day we did a hike up to Calf Creek Falls and up the Escalante River. On our way home we took a scenic route up to Posey Lake, then over the Hells Backbone bridge onto Boulder, UT.

Here is a link to the pictures:

http://s22.photobucket.com/albums/b308/tyler_root/Escalante%20May07/

Here is a link to some Video clips:

http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=troot62

Some clips of Caiden's baseball games

Here are some clips of Caiden's baseball games. He is getting better and better and had some great hits and a couple of runs.









Here are some of his baseball pictures:

My Grandma just passed away

It's one of those things that seem surreal. First, I was never particularly close with my grandma (she's from my mother's side), however when I did talk to her, I really enjoyed hearing her voice. She was a very smart woman and very proper when it came to speaking clearly and using the correct words (I think she majored in journalism in college). Anyway, being that I can only count on my hands the times I've seen her in my life, I still felt the need to sit and reflect.

My mom is driving down for her gravesite memorial tomorrow morning, so I wrote this for my mom to bring. I don't know what she can do with it, but it's the first thing I thought of doing:


Dear Grandma Shirley,

I love you. Upon hearing of your passing in this life, my thoughts immediately turned to anything I could remember of you. I know the times we were able to see each other were short, but I still love and respect that you were my grandmother.

I remember you would always send us things from the ranger station you worked at. I used to love getting the smokey bear stuff. I remember the drawings you had your friend do of a lot of the children, including the one of you, which I really admired.

I remember as I got older, I shared some common loves for things in life. One was a love of history. My mom always told me you loved anything to do with King Tut or Abraham Lincoln. I respected you for being so focused on something you loved.

I loved getting a card from you on my birthday.

I loved writing you letters and letting you know how I was doing. I wanted you to be proud of me.

I regret though.

I regret not making an effort to be closer to you. I regret not making more opportunities to come down and visit with you. We make so many excuses and allow so many things get in the way and blame it all on “life”. I know I could have visited more. I never want to regret like this again. I’ll be sure to tell my family and friends I love them more and make more opportunities to visit and to not allow “life” to get in the way.

In the end, you have been fortunate to live a long life and see many wonderful things happen in this world. I know you’re moving onto a different state of your life. I believe that you are in a painless state and I do believe that your spirit is at peace and resting and waiting for the rest of your family to join you. Many think the idea of life after death as hog-wash or scientifically impossible. I don’t need science to know the feeling of God and his love for us. I know he loves you Grandma and he wants you in his presence.

I’ll live my life trying to learn more about you and the rest of my ancestors. I’ll tell my children everything I can about you and as your family continues to grow on earth, I know you’ll be proud.

Till we meet again. Rest peacefully Grandma.

Your Grandson,

Tyler Root