From the Meihls Family to yours.....

Merry Christmas.

Thanksgiving was held at our home this year. The Mullins, Campbells, and Hartness's joined us, 18 in all (including kids). There was tons of food (almost literally) and lots of leftovers were taken home. Games were played and drinks were made.

On November 28th, we celebrated Travis's 18th Birthday. Wow, we now have an 18 year old. I

guess those gray hairs in my head for there for a reason. We couldn't ask for a nicer 18 year old. He also celebrated his 2nd year anniversary at REI, still fixing bikes, tuning and waxing ski's and snowboards.

We wish everyone a very Merry Christmas this year. December has been a very hectic holiday season between kids activities, parties, and out of town guests. Our old neighbor Gregg Wilson from Crystal Lake, IL came out last weekend for a short visit after moving his daughter to Colorado, then just this past weekend the Kethcart's also from Crystal Lake, IL came out to do some skiing at Solitude, Deer Valley, Park City Mountain Resort and Snowbird all in a short time frame. Fun was had by all, Sue got to finally ski Deer Valley and loved it, maybe I'll have to get a job over there too :)

We hope you have a very Merry Christmas and Santa brings you everything you've asked for.

Merry Christmas.

The Meihls Family,

Sue, Dan, Travis, Ali and Justin

To my beautiful wife of 19 years

Happy Anniversary

Love you

Dan

Fall Colors and a hike

Decided to take a picture of the fall colors and enter on the blog.

:)

Sue and I woke up Sunday and joined Mark and Lucinda to hike to Stewart Falls down by Sundance Resort in Utah County. The hike was a 3.4 mile hike with only about 400 feet of climbing. It sure felt like more since it's been a while since all of us hiked. Beautiful falls, they'd be a lot nicer in the spring. Can't wait to head back in Spring and compare the 2 pics.

Enjoy Fall and the pic of the deer in our back yard.

Dan

Some miscellaneous items

Well, it's October 11th and just cleaning a few pics from the camera for the past 2 days.

One is a picture of Travis and his decorated car for the State Golf Tournament. The team ended up taking 9th in State out of the 15 teams. Not bad, but not what the coach really wanted. Travis played good, we're proud of him and where his golf game has come from. Not bad for only playing for the past 2 years. This past Friday, he had his Wisdom teeth taken out so he's feeling nice and groggy about now.

Took off up to Snowbird today for the Hiring Fair. Going to change it up a bit this year and move over to Ski Check with the occasional duty in Parking when they're short. Looking forward to the move, not only does it mean tip $$$ but someone around me that I can actually talk to in the customers, now maybe they just won't all yell in how I treat their ski's :)

Sue just had to take a photo of me in the snow today. the Bird is supposed to get upwards of 16" of snow, don't look for it to last too long, back up to the 70's later this week so it will probably melt off, but at least it's a start. Knowing Alta all too well, they'll probably already say they have a 24" base of snow. Liars!!!

That's it for now.

Dan

Can you believe it..............

Can you believe it. I can't. They played so well all year and when it comes time to the playoffs, they just didn't have the heart and soul to play. So disappointing. It's the same old adage, 'wait till next year' If it wasn't for Sue's Volleyball team winning both of their games and Justin's lacrosse team splitting a double header, it would have been a total loss for the weekend, at least the kids play with heart.

Oh, by the way, it was supposed to snow in the mountains. Don't know how much, but the moutains were white capped this afternoon, once the clouds moved away. Let it begin.

Ski season is just around the corner. Can't wait to take my lessons up at snowbird this year, I promise to take them and hit the slopes. Hold me to it.

Just in case she's reading, Debbie Kaszniak, HAPPY BIRTHDAY !!!

Sue and Dan

It's Golf Time again, not me......

I have yet to golf this year :(

However, Travis has made it back to State for the Juan Diego Golf Team. He's seeded 4th on his team, quite an accomplishment for a kid that just took up golf a little less than 2 years ago.

His game will be played next Wednesday and if the team makes it to the finals, it'll be on Thursday.

Just in case anyone wants to send him well wishes, his email is soccerkid2810 at aol . com you know the drill with the @ sign an all. I think he really does need to change his email address now that he hasn't played soccer in over 2 years, give him grief on that too.

That's it for now.

Sue and Dan

well what a nice weekend

Sue and I had a very relaxing weekend.

Kids all went to the Juan Diego vs Judge Football game this past Friday, JD won, woo hooo. We sat around the house till late when Marketta came over with a bottle of Champagne to celebrate.

Saturday was the REI garage sale, got a few "steals" there, some trekking poles, new shoes for 9.83 and a new shirt for under 5.00, after that Sue and I took off for the Real Salt Lake game, the final game at Rice Eccles Stadium. We took Trax down, had dinner at Z'tejas and then over to the rainy game. We miss the kids playing soccer :( RSL lost on a weird play where the goalie and his own player collided and the other team took the ball and scored. Anyway, good to get away for the night.

Sunday was a nice lazy day, grocery shopping, clothes shopping, etc. etc.

We need to get back to hiking and camping. Hopefully the snow comes quick and we'll be up skiing in no time. Make your reservations now to come out to the "greatest snow on earth"

till next time.

Dan

where have we been........

We've basically been missing in action the past 2 weeks, sorry for not updating the blog.

Lots of things going on. We've gone to Larry and Denna's Margaritaville 3 weekends ago, that was a good time, needless to say, we heard thru the policevine that Leo called the cops on that party too. What a party pooper. Leo, if you're reading. Please, let it go. You're not making it very neighborly around here. Soooo, the party ended and we all went home.

Then last weekend, we were camping up in the Unita Mountains over Labor Day, same camp spot as last time and same turnout in people with the addition of Brandon and girls, minus Kristi who was stuck in LA with the hurricane coming thru. Glad to hear she got home safely. Same camp spot, same problem - RAIN, although we lucked out with the snow, it snowed at approx 9,000 feet, we were at 7800, so we were close. I put a thermometer in the tent, when Sue and I went to bed, it was 55 in the tent, when we woke up it was 45. We weren't cold though, that's the testament to our gear from REI. Can't wait to go camping later this fall, hopefully where the snow is falling.

This past weekend Maria O'brien had a party. More of a party because the economy sucks. Lots of appetizers and drinks. Lots of Real estate people complaining about the economy, me included.

What else has happened???? Well, this house is now full of teenagers............Justin turned 13 on Saturday the 6th, for those of you that called, thanks, Justin appreciated it. Justin is 13, Ali, still 13 till the 24th of this month and Travis turns 18 on November 28th, so all of our kids are now teenagers. You can tell when you see me, lots more gray hair. oh well, they're great kids and we're lucky to have them.

That's about it for now.

Pictures later, when i figure out which ones I need to put on.

Carry on.

Add'l Pics

Corner Canyon Fire

Today, it's all about the kids

Wow

Can you believe that Sue and I now have a Senior in High School. Seems like just yesterday that we sent him off to Kindergarten and now look at him. Kind of brings tears to our eyes.

Anyway...................

Travis is now a Senior at Juan Diego, he plays on the golf team and still works p/t at REI, he's been at REI now since he was 16 so we sure hope that looks good on his College Application when he starts applying soon. As best we can tell, it's looking like the University of Utah for him, since Sue still works for the University, it's hard to pass up the 50% discount that he'll get for Sue's hard work there. Golf season is underway and Travis has played in one tournament so far. He continues to do well in golf and we hope he continues to improve thru out the season and make it to state once again.

Ali is now in 8th grade at St. John the Baptist Middle School. Typical teenager Ali has turned out to be. She plays Volleyball and Basketball. Sue is the coach for Ali's team, Sue never played Volleyball yet she's an excellent coach. Ali has kept busy all summer babysitting for the mothers in the area.

Justin is now in 7th grade. Soon we'll have everyone in their teens, Justin turns 13 on September 6th, once again for those 18 days we get to remind Ali that her brother is the same age as her, she just hates that :) Justin plays Fall and Spring Lacrosse and in the winter he plays Basketball. His sport is truly Lacrosse as it has been since we moved her 2.5 years ago. His summer consisted of Xbox Live, what did we get ourselves into when that was purchased.

Our kids bring us joy each and every day, the normal frustrations are there, but in the big picture, they are great kids and we're sure lucky to have them.

Good luck in school for them this year, we love you.

Dan & Sue

Donut Falls

Last week home for the kids before they go back to school, wooo hoooo. There's a certain point where you can just tell that they need a break from each other and that time has come.

This weekend we headed down to the farmers market in Salt Lake, always a good time to pick up some fresh vege's. Last weekend's take from there was some tomatoes and jalapeno peppers, I made fresh salsa Friday afternoon, Sue loved it so I must have done something right. This weekend we bought some of the same plus some fresh squash and yellow banana peppers. The Mullins joined us this time, their first trip down to the Market, they enjoyed it as much as we did.

Saturday night we took off and went down to the SL Bees game, the AAA affiliate of the Angels, it's always a treat to head down there, good baseball for cheap prices.

Sunday our chosen hike was to Donut falls, I hadn't been there yet, however Sue and Justin had so they showed me the way, nice easy hike. The Dvorak's and Mullins joined us on this trek.

We started watching the Olympics, have you. I can't say if I like the Winter ones or the Summer ones better? Your choice?

Have a great week everyone.

Dan

Mill B North Hike

Hello all,

A relatively quiet weekend just passed. I took Travis to the airport on Friday to fly to Chicago to attend the Baptism of Sue's Brothers latest child, Morgan, Travis is her new Godfather!

Saturday morning Sue and I awoke to head down to the Salt Lake Farmers Market to get some fresh Vege's and fruit. If you haven't gone down there yet, try to make it down, well worth the trip, quite a variety of items to choose from. Saturday night we went over to Matt/Tori's to attend their BBQ for the season, lots of Neighbors were there, didn't last too long though.

Sunday morning we went to Church and got home afterwards and changed clothes to take off to hike up Mill B Fork North Trail. Justin went with us this time, what a time he had lol complaining that his legs hurt, etc. Our climb was only 1 mile long and only about 850 of elevation gain, gorgeous views from the lookout that we got to. It's a definite climb to do just for the views. We saw a few firepits along the way up so expect to find a blog listing saying that we camped up there :)

Travis comes home today (Monday), he's had quite the whirlwind trip from all the texts we've been exchanging.

Have a great week!

Dan & Sue

Uinta Mountain Camping

Our first camping trip up to the Uinta's. Took off Friday after work and drove up to meet with the Schmidt's and their friends. No true camp site was available so they found a few sites along the road. That's typical up in the Uinta's. The site they found was right next to a little stream, very cool to hear the water running throughout the trip.

Friday night was gorgeous with cool temps. Saturday we took off after a feast of a breakfast up to the Provo River Falls, the water falls were nice and cool, or should I say cold.

As you can see from the pics, we all had a good time.

Saturday afternoon was a little warm and muggy, around 3-4 p.m. the rain moved in and didn't necessarily drench us but was a consistent little shower. Dinner was not easy to prepare as the rain kept coming down. We gravitated to our tents around 8:30 or so and basically called it a night. Ali and Brooke and Justin sat around by the fire with the others, the rain slowed a bit so they could sit outside.

Sunday awoke with not a cloud in the sky and things had dried out, considering we do live in the desert, that's not hard to understand.

Can't wait to do this trip again, now that we realize you don't need reservations to just plop your tent along side of the road.

Travis worked most of the weekend so he was unable to join us. His Senior year is approaching fast. His senior pictures are today. wow, hard to believe it's coming so fast.

carry on.

Sue and Dan

Happy Pioneer Day

We celebrated the Utah Pioneer Day by getting out of the valley up to Alta Ski area to do some hiking.

We chose the Lake Catherine Pass route, started out at the Sunnyside Parking area and walked approx 1.5 miles up to the Pass, overlooking Lake Catherine. Lucinda and Cierra joined Sue, me and Justin. It was a fairly easy hike, only 800' elevation gain over 1.5 miles, a few places were more steep than others, but overall a fairly easy hike.

After Justin, Cierra and Lucinda headed down, Sue and I took off higher up to Sunset Peak, the sign said it was .3 miles up, but we truly don't know if we made it or not, our GPS showed we went .5 miles and we didn't see any signs.

On the way down, we ran into a group of young girls coming from Brighton Ski Resort, they were on their 4th peak of the day heading to hit the 7 peaks in the area. Looks like something we'll need to do one day. From what we could tell, you hit the peaks that surround some of Alta and Brighton basically circling you back to Brighton.

On to our next adventure today, camping up in the Uintah's with NO reservations or campsite chosen, we know about where we want to go but we may just end up along side the road throwing our tent down. More on that when we return.

Enjoy the weekend.

Sue and Dan

The weekend of parties

Well it all started out on Thursday. Larry and Denna had a little get together for Marketta's Birthday, that lasted a couple of hours, later Sue and I get home and sit out on the porch, Sue had had a glass or 3 of wine and was feeling "good" when Steve across the street invited us over to sit out on their deck. I truly don't know if Steve invited or Sue invited us over, oh well, well that lasted till around 1 a.m. pheww, time to get some sleep.

Friday night brought us to a little get together with the Mannix's, Justin's lacrosse coach. We didnt' make it that long there, sorry Dan and Karrie, they walked over to the Equestrian Center in Draper for the Draper Days Rodeo, when they walked over, we went home. A good time was had for such a short time too though.

Saturday took us to the Dvorak's down the street for Beckman's 1st Birthday, wow, to have kids that young again :) Always good to get together with the neighbors and their families, great party Eric and Tiffany!!

Sue's former Clinic 6 girls (University of Utah Clinic 6) :) Ashley/Lindsey, notice that it's University of Utah Clinic 6, no trademark :) had a party planned for Saturday night at Lindsey's house. Good time to see everyone that she used to work with, most of them have moved on to other departments so they always have a good time reminiscing......

After that party we went over to Ann's house to finish up the evening. Ann had a get together for Marketta's birthday too. We didn't last long as we were wiped out.

Sunday came and the Draper Pool was calling us again, lasted only about 2 hours as there was lightning and rain in the area, went home and got ready for Harriet's 2nd Birthday party at the Howarth's, always a good time to go over there and feast.

Sunday night, went to bed early :)

We're partied out for a while, well at least until Thursday when we head to the Hartness's for the Gumbo party for Pioneer Day. For those that arent' from around Utah, Pioneer day is a celebration here for the Mormon Pioneers that settled here in Utah. I guess this is the day, oh well, it's just a day off of work for MOST of Utah, don't worry about the separation of Church and State, that doesn't apply here.

:) Enjoy your week.

Wow, we're tired

So we got this great thought about heading up to Snowbird and taking the Tram or Peruvian Express up and hiking down. Well, our season passes aren't good for the stuff in the summer, so it was a quick change of plans, why don't we just hike up and take the lift down. No fee if you hike up and do that, we had some water and snacks, surrrrre let's do it.

About 3/4 the way up we ran into a Snowbird worker, he could tell that we were tired, he asked if we had water, we replied that we were down to our last bottle, he pointed to a spot that we had just passed and said that water is from a Spring, it's good to drink. Thank god Ali and Justin headed back down and filled up the water bottles we had, we wouldn't have made it up without those.

3 hours later we climbed on to the Peruvian Lift for the ride down. Can you say TIRED!!!

2415 Elevation feet gain, we went from 8100' to 10,515' . Can you also say out of breath most of the way, damn.

Anyway, I think we'll lay by the pool tomorrow and REST!!!!

Carry on.