Flight

I don't have an official "Bucket List." Maybe I should, who knows. Yet, a few weeks back I was thinking about what would be on my list if I had one. Hawaii - defiantly. Ireland - most likely. Learn to Salsa Dance, run a 5K (start slow) and a 10K, ride in a hot air balloon, Learn how to blow glass, Ride the highest roller coaster, see Mount Rushmore, see Statue of Liberty, win big in Vegas (or at least have fun trying)... This list could go on and on and it's been kind of fun thinking about it.
Anyhow... while I was thinking about my list, I mentioned to Erek that one thing I would like to do one day is to ride in a small plane. I guess what got me thinking about it was that Erek's mountain biking friend Mike has his pilot's license. It would be a cool experience to fly in a small plane and not something everyone gets to do. So Erek just happened to mention it to Mike. Mike is a great guy that said he would totally take me up in a plane one day.
Two weeks ago, on Sunday afternoon, Mike called me up. It didn't seem real but the more we talked about it the more nervous I actually got. I knew I couldn't let this opportunity pass me by. We left the kids with my parents, Erek came along but he didn't want to go up in the plane (he doesn't like heights) but he came for moral support. We met up with Mike and headed to the airport.
After a Pre-flight check we were off. It was surreal. It was amazing, such an amazing view. We had to fly over to I-15 and then follow it down to south of the valley, mostly over the Sandy area. It was so cool. My first thought was it looked like my kids toy cars all driving down on the road. It just seems like I was dreaming. After a few minutes up in the air Mike had me take the yoke and had me fly the plane. I was really freaking out on the inside of course. He had me just try to keep the plane level and at an altitude of 6000 ft (above sea level) which was about 1800 feet above the valley, I think that is what he said. It seemed so crazy, I keep trying to look out the front window and it was bothering me that I couldn't see what was in front of me due to to large dashboard panel. What was I looking for anyways, other traffic?!? Eventually, I just tried to follow the gauges and hope that I kept us up enough. I circled around the valley for about 15 minutes, before he took back over and we headed back to the airport. We did a few touch and go's (where you land but then go right back up) just for the practice. It wasn't until the very end when I started to feel a little uneasy in my stomach. Yet, once we landed I felt fine.
What an amazing experience it was, I kept telling Erek all day "I can't believe I was in a plane today, and I flew it!" He just had to laugh at me. He has now told Mike that he will go up next time, I guess he doesn't want to be called a chicken.
Thank you so much Mike for letting me come with you. It was an amazing experience, one that I will never forget. So now back to my list, what else can I cross off?

Mike - the Master pilot

I think this is looking down at Little Cottonwood Canyon, It had such beautiful fall colors on all the trees. An Amazing view!

The view of Downtown Salt Lake City.

Mike and Me as I am trying to concentrate on flying the plane.

Alpine Slide

This is Erek and Bella riding down the alpine slide at the Park City Mountain Resort. This was Bella's first time on the ride and she loved it. At first Erek thought that she was scared but then he realized that she was just screaming like he was. She cried every time she saw the chair lift because she wanted to go on it again and again.

Break

This last week was fall break and yes we needed a break. We rented a condo in park city for the week. I was able to take the week off work and we pulled the boys out of school. Erek had the whole week off from school but he was scheduled to take the GRE on Tuesday. He spent the first couple days preparing for the test. He did really good on the test and was able to relax the rest of the time up there. For me it was just a really relaxing vacation. We didn't rush around to do to much. We spent lots of time just chilling. We went swimming, biking, and on the Alpine Slide. I was pretty bummed when I got up the mountain I realized that my camera didn't want to work. Luckily Erek just got a new action camera and he had brought it to video the ride down (I will put it in another post). It was so pretty up there the leaves were changing colors and the weather was just prefect. We had a fabulous time and didn't want to come back to our busy lives, but at least we had the chance to get away.

At the Pool

Back in the Condo

This is how we would find the kids pretty much every night. They are crazy sleepers.

Now doesn't Bella have the coolest hair ever! It is usually pretty wild in the mornings!

The Oreo Queen - She loves Oreo's!

Our bike ride
We went on a bike ride on the park way just out of town. It was so pretty it went up through the trees.

Dinner at Redrock Brewery
Our last night there we went out to eat. We had a great time and yummy food.

Pictures

This past week while we were up in Park City, I convinced the family to go out and get some family photos done. We would not ever claim to be photographers. We were just hoping to get a few good shots of the kids and of the family as a whole. We tried to just make it fun and enjoy out time together. We walked up main street and found some cool back grounds. We actually got a few really good pictures.

Fall

I LOVE FALL!!
We have had such a wonderful fall season so far this year, nice warm weather. The first weekend in October the Zoo had a Fall Festival for the members and so I thought it would be fun to take the kids. It was a beautiful day and we are still wearing shorts! There was so many people there, and the lines were crazy long. By the time we made it through just 2 of the lines we were done standing in line. We still had fun just being outside and we saw just a few of our favorite animals. That is the great thing about having a pass, we can go for just as long as we want and are not rushed to make sure we see everything.