The Yurt - January 8-9, 2010

We'd like to thank our friends Spencer, Amy, Kat, Haynie, Bill and Lucy for an awesome weekend at "The Yurt." Alec and I started the day last Friday with a nice hot chocolate and oatmeal from Starbuck's and then headed over to the Tingey's to pick everyone up. We drove about 2 or so hours into Wyoming and back into Utah and then cross-country skied 3 miles up the mountain until we reached "Da Yurt." For those of you who don't know what a Yurt is (because I had never heard of it until now) it is "a portable, felt-covered, wood latticed-framed dwelling structure traditionally used by the nomads in the steppes of Central Asia."

Thank you Wikipedia!

We had an awesome time skiing in, hanging out in the yurt, skiing to and across Lily Lake where we had a race (Bill won after he gave Lucy the forearm shiv), playing games and singing John Denver songs. We loved it!

Here are some more photos of our awesome trip... and a coyote head that we found.

Yikes

The Yurt - 2010

Muppet Christmas

Nobody says 'Merry Christmas' like The Muppets!

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

We have been super busy this Christmas season, but it's been fun. We decked out our house a couple of days after Thanksgiving and have been loving coming home to it ever since. We haven't really had a Christmas with just the two of us for awhile, so we're pretty excited to start up some traditions.

We capped the tree with our "R"

And then we trained Bode to stand in front of the tree. He hasn't move since Thanksgiving.

Megan's awesome mantle decoration.

Merry Christmas from The Ramptons!

Giving Thanks

Thanksgiving is definitely one of our favorite holidays of the year. Thanksgiving brings family together, provides a bunch of good food, kicks off the Christmas season, and gives us the chance to all reflect on all of the blessings we have. Here is our top 25 things that we are thankful for in no particular order.

1. An amazing family on both sides of the Simmons-Rampton household that cares for us and helps us realize how blessed we are

2. A house in which to live that President and Sister Simmons have trusted us to care for while the are in Australia

3. Food to eat, and food allergies that we are aware of so that we get the most out of what we eat

4. Health insurance and good health care professionals, who have literally saved our lives this year and many, many ways

5. Music to play and listen to

6. Crafts to create and further develop our creativity and love for our beautiful creations

7. Sunshine. There is nothing better than a sunny day ending with a beautiful sunset

8. The mountains and the beauty that they provide our home. We always look at them and realize that we would struggle to live without them

9. Skiing in those mountains

10. The Beach

11. Humor. We can't imagine a day without laughter

12. Good books

13. Bed

14. Athletics, exercise, and the outdoors. Activity in the fresh air is a sweet natural mood booster

15. Golf

16. Sleeping in

17. Cars that make travel much easier

18. Sufficient monetary means

19. Bode - the dog that makes us laugh

20. Freedoms, opportunities, and liberties that America provides

21. Those who fight to protect those freedoms

22. Friends that lift us up and inspire

23. Each other

24. The Gospel of Jesus Christ and all that it provides

25. Our Heavenly Father

Alec? Really?

After going through some past emails the other day, I came across quite a few that had made sure that we got this story from last July. All of those that sent us the story agreed that it spoke the truth. Who knew?

Start Spreadin' The News

World Champs

Yanks beat the Phillies

Took them down 4 games to 2

So, who's yer daddy?

I thought it would be appropriate to write a little Yankee Haiku to honor our Japanese slugger Hideki "Godzilla" Matsui who drove in six runs with a home run, a single and a double as he and the Yankees won their 27th World Series title tonight against the Phillies. "Matsu-eet" also won the World Series MVP.

It's been awhile since the Yanks have won the championship, so it feels awesome as a fan to see them win it again, especially against the defending champs. The last line in the Haiku is dedicated to Pedro Martinez who started the game pitching for the Phillies and has a rough history against the Yankees.

So hip-hip, Jorge, and much thanks to Pettitte, A.J., C.C., Joba, Cano, A-Rod, Teixeira, Damon, and of course Godzilla, Jeter, Mo and the rest of the Bronx Bombers for an awesome year. Ima sleep easy tonight.

GO YANKS!