Vote on your favorite family disk cover art

Let me know which pictures you like best to put on the family DVD covers. Steve

New Pictures from Elder Dog

As you can see Austin looks happy and healthy. Here's a few pictures from his mission that he just sent us.

Ana, Jose, Elder Hernandez and Austin

Same group with Bishop Neilson

Anna and Jose's wedding

Hangin with the Homies

You know........missionary food

An interesting sign on the bathroom mirror at their church

Elder Picket and Austin

He not only still wears girls pants but he throws like a girl also. He better stick to biking and snow boarding.

Mt. Hood from Portland

Missed you at the last family reunion

We missed you at the reunion. Dr Hal may be able to determine where these photos were taken. Can you? Call me if you have a guess. Steve

Guess Who???

Marge Simpson? See if you can figure out who this is.

Fun Summer with the Family

What a summer we had. Sending Austin off on his mission, playing with the grandkids on the 4th of July, fishing in Idaho, and watching baseball.

It doesn't get much better.

Lake Mead 09

We just got home from the lake. Like always it was wonderful. Davis and Blair made it even more fun for everyone. They are big enough now that they love to ride the tube with their dad, play on the beach with their sand toys, and feed the ducks and fish.

Davis loves to drive the boat at all times. Blair loves to play in the water.

At nights we'd take the boat out and give the babies a shower and put them in their pajamas and get ready for bed. It was a wonderful time with us all together.

Morgan and Spencer worked on their back flips. Morgan can land them on a regular basis. Of course not all of them have smooth landings.

Punk worked on the air chair and Spencer surfed the knee board. Jan and I had a wonderful time watching big kids ski hard and little kids play hard. Perfect!

We love to watch Sharks in Grandpa's bed.

Blair was checking out the Halloween costumers that Brittney bought them. Then she took the Micky and Mini into our bed to watch Shark Tails with them. Davis and Blair love to sit in our bed and watch "Sharks". Just after this picture was taken Blair had an accident and peed in our bed. Oops! Luckily it was on Grandma's side. Grandma insisted on washing the bedding. Go figure.

Finally!

Nine and a half months after I fell of a roof and broke my leg/ankle I was able to get back on my mountain bike. What a great day that was!

Spencer, Morgan, and I went up Mill Creek Canyon in Salt Lake and rode the Pipeline Trail. It's seven and a half miles of pure fun. It's mostly downhill and with spectacular views of Salt Lake and the canyon hundreds of feet below you it's hard not to just enjoy every second.

Morgan got his first taste of mountain biking while Spencer and I got to finally break the bikes out for the first time this year.

I'm on the mend!!!! Watch out next year.

Books that you must read!

Outliers: The Story of Success by Malcolm Gladwell

If you want to know the universal components of success in life

read this book. What do Bill Gates and Michael Jordan have in common? Thought provoking. Spencer and I have both read this

and loved it!

Talent Is Overrated: What Really Separates World-Class Performers from Everybody Elseby Geoff Colvin

Dr. Hal really needs to read this book to feel much better about his scripture mastery. This is so hard to put down. Mozart a child prodigy? Nope. Read it and see. Tiger Woods a child prodigy? Nope. If you really want to be an expert in something this will tell you exactly what is needed. Read this now. One of the most interesting books that I've ever read.

What is it about our house?????

It seems that every time Davis and Blair come to our house they get sick and puke. I can't understand why they love us so much. It was Davis this time. We just cuddled up with a barf bowl and watched Shark Tales. What can I say, we make people sick!

The Zoo with Grandpa

We had a great week last week when Blair and Davis came to spend the week with us. It was play, play, read, read, jump on the tramp and swing on the swing set. Nothing wrong with that.

We had fun at the zoo. They had a new baby elephant that the kids had fun talking to. They loved the monkeys are they were wondering where "Monkey George" was. (Curious George)

Blair wasn't so sure about the train ride but everything else went great.

Don't try this at home kids!

Morgan took the boat with some friends the other day and decided to show them some manly air chair tricks.

This one just ended up with Morgan so sore that he couldn't hardly move the next day.

It snowed yesterday so these kinds of days are about over. We'll head down to Lake Mead the middle of the month and then put the boat in storage for the winter. Bummer!

Fishing with the Boys

Is there anything better than fishing with your boys? I doubt it. Morgan, Spencer and I went up to the South Fork for three days of floating, fishing, and camping. It was awesome.

Good fishing, tin foil dinners, and fresh trout in the fire made for fun times and fat fishermen.

Spencer and Morgan are both easy going and fun to be with. They are the perfect fishing partners.

I loved oaring the boat and watching them pound them up.

Alaska Fishing

My friend Rob Gray invited me to go with him and some of his friends fishing in Seward Alaska.

He is part owner in a ocean type fishing boat that he keeps up there.

The first day we loaded the boat and headed out to some of the most beautiful sights that I'd ever seen. That would be our last view of the surroundings.

After that it was wet and choppy but we had a fun time catching lots of Silver Salmon, Sea Bass, and a few Halibut.

One of the big thrills of the week for me was seeing multiple whale sightings. Up close and personal. It was absolutely breathtaking. I've always wanted to see that and I could hardly believe that I was there seeing them so close up and for such a long time.

After a few very wet and cold days I wised up and bought rain boots and extra gloves. I've always had trouble getting sick on rough water but my new Relief Band seasickness band worked like a champ. Six to eight foot seas were no match for it's power. I was relieved to not be hanging over the side of the boat chumming the fish in.

Each night we'd return to the dock and filet out our catch from that day. Then we took the filets to a processor that sealed them up and flash freezed them. We then hauled the frozen filets home in coolers.

We've smoked some Salmon and grilled others. We've also fried up some Sea Bass. All is super good.

Rob is without a doubt the most hard core fisherman that I've ever met. He really gets into the zone and doesn't even know if it's raining or not. It's fun to watch and like all trips with Rob it well organized and fun. Rob can keep five rods organized and all sorted out while we trolled around the bay. It's an impressive feat! Thanks for a fun trip!

Teton River Fishing

My friend Bob Richardson has always spoken of the great fishing that he used to have on the Teton River while he was attending Ricks College.

Finally we located a guide and booked a trip to relive this happy memory.

Bob has always told about having to slide the raft down a steep hill to get down to the water. He wasn't kidding. It was hard enough to just walk down the hill and wait for the guide and his helpers to slide the boat about a quarter of a mile down a steep hill. It was pretty impressive.

But at the bottom of the hill was one of the most beautiful rivers I've ever seen. Steep lava cliffs and trees rose steeply along both banks of the river.

Through the river gorge the water dropped through white water slots and calm slicks. Our guide, Eric, was pretty impressive on the oars. Several times he slipped through slots in the rocks that to boat barely fit through. Two times he had us walk around the white water while he oared the boat through.

Bob took good advantage of the walk around the rapids to stick this nice Rainbow in some pocket water.

For me it was a wonderful trip on a unknown river without any other people around us to affect the fishing.

For Bob it was a fun revisiting to a happy memory. One thing is for certain: If anyone wants to fish this river again, I'm in. Anytime!

Barf Babies

A couple of weeks ago Spencer, Morgan, and I were fishing in Idaho. When we called to Britt's house we found out that she was sick and throwing up and Jan was taking care of the babies.

We hurried home to get the babies away from Britt before they got sick. The next day Morgan and Steve took them to Cabellas to look at the fish.

On the way home Davis blew up all over the car. That was the start of a very interesting day. Babies blowing chunks all over our house.

We got them feeling better and back home to their Mom and Dad. Jan and I felt lucky to avoid the plague. But wait...........

The next day Jan and I along with our friends Rob and Lisa Gray went to the Salt Lake Bees game. Everything was great until the seventh inning break when I started sweating and getting sick.

We hammered it for home just in time to have me blow just like the babies. Jan, Rob, and Lisa never ended up getting sick. Only Steve is weak!

Trey, Grandpa is ready to ride!

Trey,

Grandpa's leg is getting better.  I can wear some of my shoes and today I got my bike out for the first time.

Grandma and I went for a ride after conference today.  It was cold but it got me so excited to be able to ride bikes with you again.

Austin and I will get your bike out and get it ready to ride when you visit Grandma and I next.

I love you.  I'm so excited to see you and ride our bikes together again.

Love, Grandpa Davis

Austin goes to the temple

Austin went to the temple last week in preparation  for serving a mission in Portland, Oregon.

He'll be learning Spanish on his mission so he should have a great experience.

The night at the temple with a bunch of our family was a dream day for Jan and I.  Our last child has been to the temple.

Grandpa and Grandma Davis were in town so we got to have them here also.  Spencer is working 18 hour days at tax time but he somehow found time to be here with his family.  It was such a great time.

Grandpa is making oatmeal

Steve got his cast off today and man is that leg sick.  After six weeks without a bath that thing was ripe!

After rubbing and rubbing the leg under water we got about half of the dead skin off.  The water looked like oatmeal before we were done.  Yum!

Physical therapy starts tomorrow which is exciting and I've got a boot to wear for the next six weeks before I can start putting weight on the foot at all.

Grandpa makes a good couch

Davis and Blair love to read books.  While I was laying on the couch they would bring books and then climb up on my belly for a story.

It's not a bad way to spend an afternoon.  Good thing there's room for two on Grandpa.

Ugly X rays

Here are the X rays from my ankle.  You can see the plate and 11 screws.  I look like the bionic man!  It's a little weird to see the screws.

I drew out a Grand Teton climbing permit for my birthday this summer.  Well that is out I guess.  The doc said that I won't be strong enough by then.  Oh well!

Steve's last healthy day skiing

Trey and I had the perfect day together.  We went skiing in the morning then hit McDonalds for lunch and then went to the zoo in the afternoon.

Trey is getting so big and is a natural skier.  I put a leash on him to keep him close to Grandpa and then we just have the best time.  Grandpa wears out quickly snow plowing around all morning!  So the zoo break was welcome for the old man.

I feel so blessed to be able to spend the whole day having fun with my little buddy!

Steve is feeling sporty!

I was feeling good enough Sunday that Jan and I actually went to Sacrament Meeting.  After a couple of hours out of bed I was exhausted and ready to hit the sack, but church was great.

Jan said that it's easier getting Davis dressed for church that it was me.  I'm a little offended.  I don't wear diapers or roll around when I'm getting dressed, but I do appreciate the help.

Abbey Road Missionaries

Here is Morgan and the boys recreating the classic Beatles' Abbey Road Album art.  Notice the elder with bare feet like Paul McCartney.  At least he isn't carrying a smoke in his right hand like Paul was.  (This was the album that started the rumor that Paul was dead.)

One lucky fat guy

I fell off a roof for the first time last Thursday.  I could have held off on this particular experience though.  I broke my leg in four places but after a couple of new plates and 10 screws I'm almost back to new.

Well it might be a few more months until I'm back to new but I'm healing well and things are moving right along.  Plus I'll have a pretty cool scar!