Shanandy

Fortifications to the pillow fort. June 13, 2010

It’s been a long while since we posted. So long in fact that I’m embarassed.

To recap the past year would take too long. Lets trim down the time and just say we bought a house we started a garden and we’re trying to adopt.

Each one of those topics rightfully deserves its own posts but again we are notoriously bad at posting lately.

Our new house is in Ivins just south of Tuacahn. It’s 4700 sq feet and just barely big enough for the two of us. Home repairs and fixes literally command as much time and effort as our once loved hobby of mtn. biking. We patched shingles on the roof, replanted the grass in our backyard, fixed a swamp cooler and decorated our basement. Shan finally has a dining room table.

We planted a garden this year after Dean helped us setup an irrigation system and K. Condie donated a soaker hose. We planted all sorts of vegetables and due to a snap cold spell everything froze but one zucchini plant. We replanted again and now we have squash and tomatoes as well. Hopefully next year we’ll start off a little better.

The best for last, adoptions. Shans been dreaming for years of having a child, me not so much. Over the past few years though we’ve realized we are ready and the search is on. We are planning on adopting from China but its about a 2 year process at the best 4 years at the worst. We also started the process with LDS adoptions this week as well. If people would keep an eye out for us, we hear that sometimes its all about who you know. If you know someone looking to give a child up for adoption let us know.

We’ll update some more in the next few days, I’ve typed this out on my phone in sacrament meeting. Church doesn’t seem so boring now and we get something from giving right? Enjoy.

Where does the time go? November 10, 2008

We’ve been really bad about updating our blog lately so here is quick review of the past five weeks.

We have continued to ride our bikes all over.  As we have been riding the trails I realize how much of Southern Utah I haven’t seen.  I have also forgotten how beautiful it is around here.  Sharla and Jeremy have started joining us on the rides along with the regulars Ryan, Owen, and Joel.

I love family traditions.  One of our newest family traditions is the Witch’s Party that my Aunt Karma has been hosting for the past couple of years.  All of the girls in the Barton family dress up and have a great time hanging out and talking.  We missed those of you who live out of town or couldn’t make it.

Andy also enjoyed driving up to Jeremy’s house and seeing a new Lamborghini in the front.  Andy immediately wanted a picture with the car.

I heart Cedar Mountain September 28, 2008

This weekend we decided to ride Cedar Mountain again. We’ve always wanted to ride the western half of the Virgin River Rim trail. We rode the east half at the first of the summer, and it was brutal, but awesome. The western half, while seeming like it would go downhill literally felt like we were climbing 80% of the time.

15 miles of brutal climbing, so so scenery, and a dirt two track road at the end.  I wasn’t the weekend of my dreams but I’m glad I’ve done it once, and will most likely never do it again.

The so so on the scenery is because the aspens were in full color, and they were against the pink cliffs of Cedar Breaks. The air was pretty crisp and signs of autumn were everywhere.

I also forgot to post some great pictures from the first of this summer. Shan, Owen and I rode the Indian Hollow trail.

Indian Hollow was probably some of the best riding I’ve ever seen, and most of the worst. The trail starts off on a kind of alpine meadow and drops in to a slot like granite canyon with a stream in the bottom. Your riding on soft beds of pine needles and your literally swooping along the banks of the stream. A little later on though the trail is frankly just destroyed from ATV’s (which aren’t allowed on the trail). It’s steep, its full of rocks and the ground is just torn up. It’s not fit for hiking or mountain biking really. At the end of Indian Hollow your on a 10 mile double track road that’s cindered. While providing some awesome views, its frankly not that fun to ride.

You do end up in the town of Panguitch which has a lot of nice small restraunts to eat at. It’s also one of the cleanest friendliest small towns I’ve ever been too. If you’ve never been there, I promise you that you won’t regret the trip.