July

Alisha says: It was oh so hard to return to the heat after our Park City vacation and as much as we immediately wanted to plan another trip I told Dave that we needed a few weeks of routine at home to really work on potty training with Skye. She is enrolled to start a little preschool two days a week mid August but it is a requirement that they are potty trained. We had a few rough days but she is finally starting to get it and I am beginning to think there is hope. The thing that finally started motivating her to do #2 on the potty was the reward of getting 2 oreos. So other than that we have been spending a lot of time in the pool where she continues to amaze me with her swimming skills. She can swim the length of our pool all by herself. She is good at holding her breath and looking around while under water. We have also tried a few other water related activities and took Skye paddle boarding and tubing on the Salt River.

Skye's vocabulary is growing every day. She knows a lot of words and is constantly asking "what's that" these days. It is fun to have more "conversations" with her and just to see what comes out of her mouth and what her little mind is thinking.

She has started saying the dinner prayer all by herself. It is adorable, mostly she just whispers a few sentences where we are not really sure what she is saying and then ends with a loud, clear, Amen!

First tiny top knot hairdo!

Early morning bike rides everyday!

 Paddleboarding

Tubing on the Salt River

Park City - Summer Vacay!!

Dave says: Our summer trip to Park City turned out to be an excellent adventure. We left in the early morning for Cedar City where we spent the first few days. On the way into town, Alisha dropped me off in the mountains with the ebike and I rode from trail to trail to trail until I finally ended up in town a few hours later. We did some smaller bike adventures with Brody and Elsie who really enjoyed riding down the paved trail and to the park. At the park, the kids all had a lot of fun getting in the water. We also made the usual trip to the swimming pool. However, this year Skye is a great swimmer and was much more excited to explore. There was also a family trip to the circus where we saw all the sorts of stuff you might expect.

After a couple days in Cedar City, we headed north to Park City where we had rented a condo just east of the city center from AirBnB. It turned out to be a great location close to all the things we wanted to do. The main purpose of the trip was to do a bunch of great biking and Park City did not disappoint. We were able to pull off some long rides by sending the kids to a half day camp. Skye had a great time at kids camp doing things like riding the gondola, hiking, and collecting rocks.

Sometimes I like to go to bike destinations with lots of technically challenging trails (Moab). One of the best parts of Park City is that the riding is incredible but has more flow than tech. Thus, Alisha and I could plan big rides that we both enjoyed. Some of our favorite options involved starting at Guardsman's Pass at the top of Wasatch Crest with Salt Lake off to the west side and Park City to the east and then riding various routes as a point to point until we ended up at the Canyons where kid camp was. The first time we did this ride we went the most direct way with few stops and finished way early. The next few times we added some good stuff along the way. Some favorite trails included Ambush, Pinecone, and Deer Crest. We also used Mid Mountain to string together lots of great rides. Masonic was memorable for being a tight thicket of a trail that tipped me into the bushes. Flagstaff had some of the most beautiful alpine meadows and views. Flying Dog was one of the prettiest downhills. We did many of these rides on our own but also met up with friends for many others. Some of our friends were ready to rip our legs off on the climbs to get good Strava times but fortunately we survived two weeks of long rides nearly every day.

We also got to see family during the trip. We met up with Amber and Devin and Richard and Britney at the Salt Lake Zoo and the kids all had a great time. Somehow we stayed there for nearly six hours and our little ones were getting a bit crazy by the end. Mandy and Shane came up and stayed with us in the condo for a few days. We did some fun adventures with them including some short hikes, riding the lift, going to the pool, and going on bike rides with the kids. Because we were located toward the top of town, it was easy to hop on the bike paths and ride for several miles that were mostly downhill to get to a park. There are lots of paved trails and so we mixed it up from day to day. I took the ebike with Skye on my back.

There was plenty to do to fill up two weeks. The Fourth of July featured a big parade down Main Street. The condo also had a hot tub which was an enjoyable way to finish many of our days. We also had an outdoor deck area overlooking the rode where we ate lots of meals. We got out on a couple dinner dates without the kids for some good Indian food and sushi. Alisha even took Skye on the big alpine slide.

5 Months

Alisha says: Jade actually turned 5 months while we were on our trip to Park City. She is finding her voice and often growls along with making lots of other cute baby noises. She has gotten worse at sleeping at will often only nap for 20 minutes during the day and is usually up 3-4 times a night.

June

Alisha says: June slipped by in a hurry. We went on a few over nigthers to Payson. One time our friends who have a little girl the same age as Skye joined us and they had a great time. Dave and I have loved having our summer babysitter come at 5:30 am two days a week so that we can get out on some rides together. We recently started riding a great ride out to Canyon Lake/Tortilla Flat that includes some fun climbing, new pavement and great scenery.

Skye sayings: "Daddy where are you?" "Follow Me"

4 Months

Alisha says: In this last month Jade has started doing a lot of new things. She started being able to wiggle herself around into different positions. I would lay her down in bed and when I would check on her she would be totally sideways. I also started to not swaddle her arms in when putting her to bed. She has never really liked being swaddled really tight and would always grunt and wiggle until she worked them out anyways so now I just leave them both out and she seems to like it. She rolled over for the first time on May 11th. She became quite good quickly rolling onto her stomach when I laid her down and then quickly becoming fussy because she was stuck on her stomach but she finally made it from her stomach to her back on her own again on May 28th. She has had great head control from when she was born and she continues to get stronger and stronger. Her legs are really strong and she can basically stand by herself if you just hold her hands to help her balance. She loves to be held and carried facing forward so that she can see what is going on. She still wakes up two times a night for a little snack but in general is a really sweet baby. She gives big smiles and is starting to laugh a little and even blows little spit bubbles.

4 Month Pediatrician Visit:
Weight: 12 pounds 15 ounces (25%)
Height: 25 1/2 inches (90%)
Head Circumference: 16 inches (60%)

May

Dave says: May marked the end of another successful academic year at ASU. I've been here for 3 years and it has been great. This spring I taught a doctoral seminar on research methods and my ethics class in the newly created online EMPA program.

At the end of the semester it was time to celebrate with two of my U of A friends with a week in Moab and Fruita. This year it felt like we really had our favorite rides dialed in and the trip did not disappoint. It was probably the best technical riding I've ever done clearing all obstacles on a bunch of trails that I previously walked including the Whole Enchilada, Mag-7/Portal, Rock Stacker, Ahab, and Jacksons. Of course, we were all still humbled in Fruita by some of the enormous alt lines on trails like Free Lunch. Like last year, pretty much all we did was ride our bikes, eat tons of good food, and then repeat. The one exception this year was renting a RZR one morning for some steep driving on Fins 'n Things and Hells Revenge where we were constantly amazed at how steep these things can climb. This type of desert slickrock riding is probably my very favorite type of mountain biking.

When the biking was over, I headed over to Cedar City where Alisha and the kids had been hanging out. Skye loves Brody and Elsie and had a great time at grandma's house. We did some hiking and outdoor adventures. The aquatic center is usually a hit as well. Fortunately, Alisha and I also managed to sneak out for a bike ride on Cedar's best new trail system that goes up Cedar Mountain and is very well built.

May was finally the month where we got the babysitting thing figured out a bit more. Skye plays with a friend two mornings a week. We also found a fantastic babysitter who will come over two days a week at 5:30 am so that we can ride together. We've been doing some mountain biking and I've even been out on my road bike trying to keep up with the JetSet crew. We even hit Sedona for a quick overnight trip and had babysitting for two mornings in a row so that we got to ride together.

Skye says "no problem" to anything she doesn't want to do. Example is: "Skye, do you need to use the potty?" and she would reply "no, no problem", which really just means no.
Skye is also communicating really well and using more and more sentences. She did another two weeks of swim lessons at the end of May and is becoming quite the little fish. She likes playing dress up in the princess dresses and her favorite shows and movies right now are Tumble Leaf, Ice Age, Frozen and Coco.

Babies make the funniest faces.

 Skye was given some dress up dresses from Christine and has loved playing in them. She currently loves to wear the Anna and Ariel dress.

 Jade is growing and getting bigger.

Jade and her cousin Ben who is one month younger than she is.

We did a mini trip to Sedona where we figured out some babysitting so that we got to do two nice rides together.