There is really only one thing my kids want. Wait! What?! There is really only one thing my kids want! No…surely they want lots of things. My kids want a snack and then an hour later, dinner. My kids want a later bedtime, one more story read aloud, and the new Avenger Lego set. But…

The more miles our kids hike, the greater the need for good shoes. We’ve found the actual type of shoe depends largely on our kid’s preference. Our boy loves trail runners and doesn’t seem to notice if his feet get wet. But our daughter is more, shall we say timid? She likes her feet dry…

Second to asking for more trail bait (ie. candy) while on adventures, are the never ending requests to “take pictures” with my phone or camera. Most the time I oblige, but inwardly I cringe at the knowledge that when I get home I’ll have 500+ photos to delete. 🙂 To be fair, they DO get…

The sweat beads on my forehead and runs down into my eyes. The sun hits hard off my shoulders while grass and insects tease around my neck. This is an unwanted sweat, not a well-earned one on some grand adventure. This grass isn’t nodding its long neck to surrounding peaks, but rather shooting tumultuously out the…

This last weekend we embarked on a mission. To hike Mount Raymond with the kids. Our trusty adventure pals joined us, bringing the kid total to 5, all between the ages of 4 and 8 years old. For most the adults, this was not the first time to have summited Raymond. [ I had done…

If you live in the Salt Lake Valley near Corner Canyon, you’ve undoubtedly noticed all the work, additions, and improvements to the Draper Bike Park over the last year. What was once a sleepy neighborhood bike park, is bustling with energy… and people. Currently there is a large plan to continue development of the area…

I love dads. And I love dad-ing. You know what I mean by dad-ing right? This is dad-ing: When you are having a girls weekend and you receive a photo with eight kids and three dads all biking across town. You are tempted to freak out. But then you relax… all the kids have survived…

We have loved Deuter packs for many years now, using their ACT and Lite series for backpacking, the Comfort Air kid carrier and many of their kid’s backpacks for a variety of adventure. So when I was looking for a day pack that would work for Backcountry ski touring as well as day hikes in the…

This time of year is always a bit of an anomaly for me. Stuck somewhere between winter and summer we find so much beauty. Waterfalls, flowers, green mountainsides crowned still with snow. I find myself yearning to launch into our normal summer menu of backpacking and summitting mountains. And yet, it is still too rainy,…

The hot air shimmers off the pavement, blurring the orange and pink rocks off to the east of us as we travel south on I-15. I am overcome by the beauty of the landscape but also its inhabitable nature. It is summer and temperatures are in the mid-90s. But the lack of shade makes it…

It is only one week until the St. George Ironman 70.3, a race I enthusiastically signed up for 5 months ago, when it was snowing outside and the thought of actually training for it was hidden behind Christmas vacation and general holiday busyness. But we are headed down to Snow Canyon for a weekend of…

This last spring I had the honor of becoming one of Aventura Clothing’s new 2015 Ambassadors. I was majorly stoke… in fact I still am! It isn’t too often you get the chance to team up with a brand that you love and practically live in. I say “practically” because I also spend an embarrassingly…

  “You are never to old to set another goal or to dream a new dream. ” – C.S. Lewis I glance in the rear-view mirror, yes, my bike is still there. Is it wobbling more than normal? My paranoia runs rampant. Surely, just a few days before my first Ironman 70.3 some “game-ender” would…

I spend a lot of time wondering if I am ruining my kids. Anyone else?? When they were babies it was the battle of breast-feeding verses bottle feeding. Then it was balancing nap times with family adventures like camping and skiing. Surely I was denying them much needed rest? Now we are in the school…

I love it when our readers contacts us for more information! That is what we are about here! Sharing information, having conversation, making adventures possible simply by creating more ideas for HOW to make it happen! Recently my friend Amelia from Tales of a Mountain Mama and I got to field some questions regarding backpacking…

I love it when our readers contacts us for more information! That is what we are about here! Sharing information, having conversation, making adventures possible simply by creating more ideas for HOW to make it happen! Recently my friend Amelia from Tales of a Mountain Mama and I got to field some questions regarding backpacking…

For a few months now I’ve been working on a new bio for my Instagram account.  Talk about things that don’t matter… I mean, really! Truly, I agree with the general notion that this whole “social media” craze is a bit excessive, has serious downfalls, and might in the end be bad for humanity as…

As a jack-of-all-trades family, our collection of eyewear is impressive. Between the five of us, sunglasses, goggles, running sunglasses, work glasses, etc litter our house like my son’s lego collection. But our eye wear has become increasing important to us. And although I’d long given up on glasses or goggles with interchanging lenses (it simply…

Earlier we posted on our fun and low-key hike to Delicate Arch late last fall. Fall and early spring are amazing times to visit Arches National Park. The air temperatures are cool or pleasantly warm, and there are less crowds. Two days prior to our Delicate Arch hike, we took on the longer Black Angel…

The air was crisp and cool, requiring down vests and fleece jackets. But the sun was strong, promising warmth as we hiked into the day. For once, instead of refereeing an argument all the kids were geared up for our hike. We had one of those rare moments of bliss as parents where no one wants…