The Davenport Report

Christmas in Spokane

2011-12-30T10:50:00.000-08:00

This year we decided to go to Spokane for Christmas. We haven't been up there for years and we may not get many more opportunities to go since my parents are going on a mission next year. So this was most likely our last Spokane Christmas. We had lots of fun. We took Eva, from Guatemala, with us since she couldn't go back home. We weren't planning on any snow, but it snowed up there a couple of times, just enough to go sledding. The kids made a snowman, built a toboggan, and went sledding in their swimsuits while they hot tubed. There are pictures to prove it. DaNae, Dori, and Drew's families were there for Christmas as well. It was fun to be around cousins that we don't see very often. Eva thought that Christmas in America was crazy, so many presents and no fireworks. We took went swimming and ice skating with the family as well. Fun times!

Behind the Cameras KUTV Tour

2011-12-14T09:38:00.001-08:00

Last night we took a tour of the KUTV Studios. Shauna Lake gave most of the tour until it was time for her to go on the news. It was cool to see and the girls had fun. We were shocked that they let the kids sit at the anchor desk and stand right behind the cameras while they filmed. They even let them behind the cameras while Sterling did the weather. Shauna and Mark signed photos for the girls, Sterling gave us an umbrella, and KUTV producer Steve gave us passes to go ice skating at the Gallivan Center. It was a fun night. Thanks KUTV!!! After we finished the tour, we grabbed something to eat, visited Temple Square, then headed back to the Gallivan Center. We had to make our way through the Occupy Salt Lake movement which consisted of 8 tents (powerful movement), then we went skating.

Behind the cameras as they did the 5pm news.

This is the news room right behind the cameras. No offices, just cubicles and pods. Really open setup.

Shauna and Mark

Sterling let the girls come into the green room while he filmed the weather. They had to sit behind the camera.

Ice Skating at the Gallivan Center.

Ashley's 11th Birthday

2011-12-13T06:53:00.000-08:00

We can't believe Ashley is eleven years old. Next year she will be in the young women program at church and seriously, not too many more until she gets her drivers permit. Scary!!! She had two birthdays this year, one family, and one friend. She had an American Girl Mystery Party, kind of like How to Host a Murder Party, but no death involved. Happy Birthday Ashley!!!

Miller Thanksgiving

2011-12-13T06:42:00.001-08:00

Thanksgiving day was fun. We had dinner with most of the family at Grandma and Grandpa Miller's house. We also went as a family to watch the movie, "A Dolphin's Tale." Later that night, we went over to Di and Gordon's house to have desert and visit with them, and Dori and Brent, who came down from Spokane. Fun day and NEARLY drama free at the Millers, but not quite.

Introduction by Britney

2011-11-26T15:33:00.001-08:00

Here is our little Britney as MC!!!

Pre-Thanksgiving Dinner on the News

2011-11-22T22:24:00.001-08:00

Last week, KUTV Ch. 2 Utah came over to our house for 2.5 hours to film our pre-Thanksgiving dinner and they brought some health inspectors to see how we prepare our food. They edited it down to about a 4 minute clip. It was fun to have Shauna Lake in our house and do the segment with us. The girls really enjoyed it. Thanks for coming over KUTV!!! Shauna was great. The girls really liked her lip gloss so she went out to her car to get her lip gloss and put it on all of the girls. We took a few picks between filming, but most the time they had us doing different things in front of the camera. For more details on that, give us a call. We had fun and it's something the kids will all remember. Shauna invited us to go to the studio to take a tour and watch her do the new at 5pm. We will try to do that over the next couple of weeks. Thanks again Channel 2.

This is a low-quality version of the segment that aired since I recorded with a camera filming my television. I felt like the guy in the back of a movie theater that is pirating movies like the one the Smiths buy.

Our Little Reader

2011-11-13T07:12:00.001-08:00

Britney can't really read, but she thinks she can because she memorized the book, plus, instead of words, it has pictures. Check out the video:

False Alarm

2011-11-12T07:36:00.001-08:00

This week Kaitlyn was supposed to get her cast off. She did, but because as the doctor said, "she's less than graceful," she should put a wrist to elbow cast on for another 4 weeks. It may be just another way for the doctor to get paid for another procedure, kind of like dentists making you come back on separate visits to fill multiple cavities. More procedures, more cash. Anyway, a few more weeks and she will be ready to break it again!

Halloween 2011

2011-11-09T21:08:00.001-08:00

Preparing for Winter

2011-11-06T14:12:00.000-08:00

Well, we had our first snow fall this week in Utah so the girls are itching for their winter activities. They dug around the garage for Kam's harness to pull them in the snow but it melted before they got the chance. That still didn't stop them.

Last Disney World Post I Promise

2011-11-06T13:55:00.001-08:00

Our last two days of the trip were a repeat visit to EPCOT (we had a vote and that's where the girls wanted to go again), and Sea World. We had great weather during the five days at Disney World. Our last day, at Sea World, it was cloudy and rained a bit. I asked Tara if the park is open when it rains and she said, "Why wouldn't it be? All of the animals live in the water." Very true! We did buy some ponchos those in case it rained hard. We went to a few shows, fed the dolphins and we also fed the sting rays which was kind of weird. Megan was really brave feeding the animals. Ashley was nervous and Kaitlyn wanted to feed them, she just didn't want to touch he dead fish. For dinner one night, we went to Camp Wilderness, the part of Disney World where you can camp, and we ate at the Hoop De Doo Revue. That was funny and only cost us an arm and a leg (luckily we paid in advance).

Feeding the sting rays.

Feeding the dolphins.

Hoop De Doo Revue

Magic Kingdom (Disneyland's Equivalent)

2011-11-03T19:23:00.000-07:00

Our fourth day of Disney adventure consisted of the Magic Kingdom which is essentially a copy of of Disneyland, although not exactly. It was a day filled with meeting all of the princesses. Britney wasn't sure about meeting the princesses even though most of them were very attractive for cartoon characters. We rode most of the rides and Britney made it on all of them as well. No Space Mountain this time because they freaked out when they rode it in Disneyland last year.

A highlight of the day was eating at Cinderella's castle. In the Magic Kingdom, the castle is bigger than the one in Disneyland and there is a restaurant inside (which you must make a reservation exactly six months in advance if you would like to eat there). A handful of princesses are there and they treat the kids like royalty (which they should because you need to pay royalty prices).

It took a while to get out of the park because the monorail was down and we had to take the ferry (mono meaning one, rail meaning rail). It was toasty, mid 80's at Magic Kingdom that day.

The girls coloring while waiting for Rapunzel, even though they call her Tangled.

Kaitlyn with Tangled, and that's actually her real hair.

Disney Hollywood Studios (Formerly MGM)

2011-11-02T21:23:00.000-07:00

The third Disney park that we visited was Disney Hollywood Studios. I remember it as MGM Studios, but there must have been a falling away with MGM. Lots of fun things to do at this park. We took a 30 minute class with one of the Disney cartoonists and she showed us how to draw Tigger. That was fun for the kids. There is a backlot tour where they show how they do special effects and we looked at a lot of movie props. We also went to a stunt show that did chase scenes with cars, motorcycles, and a jet ski.

There were a few rides that were fun too. This park is where Tower of Terror is located. Ashley and Megan would even consider going on that ride, even when we called it the Tower of Fun. Kaitlyn went on it twice, and Britney somehow snuck onto the ride once, and she did it without crying. Ashley and Megan did go on the Rock n Roller coaster which is fast with loops, but the little girls were too short. Britney still wanted to go on it though and said, "I will be tall Dad." We thought that was pretty funny. There was also a ride we had never been on before. It was the Midway games with all of the Toy Story characters. You were 3D glasses on the ride and shoot cans and target in a video game style play. It was fun and is actually the most popular ride in all of Disney World.

We saw a few characters in the park including Mike Wyzowski of Monsters Inc. We left the park before dinner because we had reservations at Medieval Times. The girls enjoyed that and Britney and Ashley caught roses from our knight.

Grandma and Megan on the backlot tour.

I still can't believe Kaitlyn and Britney went on the Tower of Terror, shown in the background.

Waiting in line at the Midway games ride.

Waiting for everyone else to ride the Rock n Roller Coaster, some of us are too short.

This is the girls Medieval knight pose.

Kaitlyn's Disney World Birthday

2011-10-31T07:08:00.000-07:00

Kaitlyn had her birthday party the night after we went to the Animal Kingdom. At the park they gave her a button that said, "It's My Birthday!" All of the park employees and a few guests said happy birthday to her whenever they passed by. Kaitlyn took it off after a couple of hours because she got tired of everyone saying happy birthday. After we got home from the park, we had birthday cake with Kaitlyn and opened her presents. She said that it was her favorite day. Happy Birthday Kaitlyn!!!

Disney's Animal Kingdom

2011-10-31T06:35:00.001-07:00

Disney's Animal Kingdom was our 2nd day at Disney World. It was also Kaitlyn's birthday, so we had a party afterwards. The Animal Kingdom was fun. It is how Disney does the zoo. They have an African safari ride that the girls did twice, lions, elephants, giraffes, etc. You actually ride in a safari truck and drive around the park. We saw lots of characters this day too, Pocohontas, Winnie the Pooh, Tigger, and a few others. Kaitlyn, like everyday on the trip, was the bravest roller coaster rider. She went on Everest four times. Everest is similar to Disney Lands Matterhorn, but faster and better. Ashley went once after a few tears, and Megan didn't even consider it. Britney wanted to go, but was too short. None of them wanted to go on the river raft ride and possibly get soaked. There are tons of shows at this park including A Bug's Life which is the most popular. Fun day for all of us.

Larry and Dave eating some roasted turkey legs.

Grandma Nancy and Megan enjoying the safari ride.

Tigger and the girls.

The parade at the Animal Kingdom.

Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow (EPCOT)

2011-10-30T18:23:00.000-07:00

The first day of our Walt Disney World adventure began with a trip to EPCOT. We were nervous about the time change and we didn't want the kids to be tired and ornery all day so we started later than we should have. We got to EPCOT about an hour after the gates opened. Right of the bat, we saw two Disney characters, Stitch and Daisy, so we went over to them so the kids could get their autographs and pictures. Ashley and Megan were nervous about the rides in the park. Those two, all thought they are the oldest, are timid at best when it comes to the rides. They did go on Test Track, Adventure Space, Energy, Finding Nemo, and Soaring. Soaring was by far their favorite. Kaitlyn wasn't afraid about any ride we went on. Britney measures at just 40 inches which was required, but she didn't stand up tall when the ride attendants checked her, so she missed out on most of the rides.

We ate lunch and dinner in the World Showcase of EPCOT where Disney highlights different countries from around the world. We ate at Mexico for lunch (Montezuma's Revenge-free food) and we ate in Japan for dinner at a Benihana-type restaurant. EPCOT was especially crowded the day we went because they were having a Food and Wine festival in the World Showcase, so there were additional countries being highlighted that are not generally included in the World Showcase, like Ireland, Tahiti, Australia, and Korea to name a few.

During the week we went to all of the main Disney parks. On the 5th day of our trip we let the girls decide which park to revisit and they chose EPCOT again. The second time around, Britney was a pro at standing up straight and she was able to ride all of the rides she missed the first day.

Here we are riding Imagination with the character Figment.

We had the chance to see Captain EO in 3D that was big in the 1980s. Michael Jackson was Captain EO. The girls kept asking if MJ was a girl, I said, "Probably." I remember watching that show as a kid. EPCOT brought it back after that pedophile died, may he rest in peace!

Megan playing in the water fountain that shot streams and balls of water.

I had to help Britney at the fountains so she wouldn't fall in.

Daisy and the girls.

Stitch and the ladies.

Disney World Surprise!!!

2011-10-30T08:40:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday we surprised our kids with a trip to the most magical place on Earth, no not David Hasselhoff's Baywatch Hall of Fame, Disney World!!! We had been planning the trip for over a year and kept it a secret from the kids until the morning we left to fly to Orlando. We took Tara's parents with us, which was great; 1:1 adult to kid ratio. It was perfect.

We had a pipe leak in our house a couple of weeks ago and we needed to get the wood floors redone. It was perfect timing because we needed to leave the house for a few days anyways because of the floors. Grandma Nancy and Grandpa Larry stayed the night with us Friday night and we surprised the girls the next morning. They didn't believe us at first and had to look in our suburban to see that the bags were packed. Here's the video:

North Star Carnival

2011-10-12T16:11:00.001-07:00

As a 5th grade Senator for her school, Ashley helped plan the North Star carnival for the elementary aged kids. One of her responsibilities was to sit in the dunk tank above chilly water. She was dunked multiple times. She sure looks responsible in the other pics.

Taylor Swift with the Ladies

2011-10-01T08:37:00.000-07:00

Well, we purchased the best seats available for the concert and they were still pretty much nose bleed seats, but we all had fun. Luckily, we bought the tickets months ago so I forgot how freaking spendy the tickets were. The girls enjoyed their first concert to see Taylor Swift. The next day, Kaitlyn kept saying, "I can't believe I met Taylor Swift." We had to tell her that she didn't meet her, just saw her. We left Britney with the babysitter. Kaitlyn was probably too little as well, but she was the most excited to go. In January, I'm taking the girls to the Anthrax and Megadeath concert; that should be a little change of pace from the Taylor Swift show.

The Davenport's First Visit to the ER

2011-09-24T13:52:00.001-07:00

Kaitlyn was playing at the school behind our house and fell onto the well padded playground floor. That was enough to give her a clean break in her ulna and bowed and fractured her radius. Four other Kindergartners at her school have broken their arms at the playground. Luckily, this was at a different school. She had to wear a sling for five days, let the swelling go down, and then she picked a pink, waterproof cast. Doesn't come of until November sometime.

Refueling F-15s in a KC-135 with the Young Men

2011-09-24T13:44:00.001-07:00

Well the title says it all. We took a refueling flight on a KC-135 with the young men, which were only two. The other guys missed out. This was a once in a lifetime opportunity where if there's a conflict of schedule, you drop everything else. It was that cool. A high school friend of mine, Lt Col Jeremy Morrison, flew the plane. We headed up from Salt Lake International and went to Twin Falls, ID and refueled F-15s at night (no pics of that since it was dark and we couldn't use flashes). It was cool. They let us go to the back and watch the boom operator work with the fighter pilot to refuel. They also had us sit in the cockpit. Our two young men sat up in the jump seats for landing, after a touch-and-go the first try. Good times.

New Mascot for the Soccer Team

2011-09-24T13:42:00.001-07:00

We told Ashley to get ready for her soccer team and to leash up the dog to take with us. This is the result of our instructions. Ashley talked the rest of the team into being called the "Huskies". So it's only fitting that Kam wears a soccer jersey.

Bear World

2011-09-24T13:37:00.000-07:00

I was going to include this clip in our Yellowstone post, but the video wasn't ready yet. So here it is. Tara's sister and brother-in-law had this experience at Bear World after we had already gone through. Here's a short clip of their upclose encounter.

2011-08-19T13:46:00.000-07:00

The first day of school for the 2011-2012 year at North Star Academy. They were all a little nervous, as usual, for the first day of school. Ashley and Megan were sad that summer was over, but right when they walked into the door at North Star, kids came up and gave them hugs. Kaitlyn was super excited. She woke up a 3:00am, came in to our bedroom and asked if she got to go to school that morning. It was like trying to sleep on Christmas Eve for Kaitlyn. She is ready to be in Kindergarten. Ashley will be a 5th grade senator, a student body officer position. Good luck in school girls!

Old School

2011-08-17T16:07:00.001-07:00

USILA National Champs 1997 - Lacrosse

(Nothing more needs to be said)

Miller Family Reunion '11 in Yellowstone

2011-08-14T18:31:00.001-07:00

Old West Photo, don't mess with this family (click to enlarge)

***

What a trip! We just got back from the Miller Family Reunion in Yellowstone. I haven't been there since I was 11 years old. It's a beautiful place and I already can't wait to get back and see all the stuff we missed, plus, I'll bring a fishing pole next time. We stayed in West Yellowstone just a half mile from the West entrance to the park. Yellowstone is the first national park and the largest park in the lower 48 states (I think Denali in Alaska is the biggest). I won't list everything we did, but we had a great time that included seeing wildlife, geysers, stinky sulfur pots, hikes, swimming, and fun. We went to Bear World in Idaho and we went to the Grizzly and Wolf Discovery Center in West Yellowstone.

The Old Faithful Lodge

Bear World

Some bison off the side of the road in Yellowstone

Norris Geysers -- Kaitlyn thought that they were extra stinky.

Hiking the 350 steps down Uncle Joe's trail to the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone and the Lower Falls.

Kaitlyn getting hatchet throwing instructions from Grizzly Adams.

Megan learning to throw the hatchet at the mountain man rendevouz.

Megan's Baptism

2011-08-14T18:08:00.001-07:00

Megan chose to be baptized last week and we are so proud of her. She has been waiting for this day for a long time, ever since she saw her big sister Ashley get baptized several years back. We had a lot of family in town for the baptism, Tara's entire family, plus we had Grandma and Grandpa Davenport, Dori and Kids, DaNae and kids, Di and Gordon and family, Eva from Guatemala, plus Grandma Shirley and Aunt Carol. There were also a lot of friends and neighbors too. It was a packed room, so luckily it was only Megan getting baptized that day from our ward. We had a little reception for her after the baptism and she received some presents too.

New Scriptures and case from Grandma and Grandpa Davenport

A new book on baptism and the sacrament.

Davenport Family Reunion '11

2011-08-14T16:59:00.001-07:00

The Davenport Family Reunion this year was held in Bear Lake this July. Most of us had never been up there before. The lake was high from unusually large snow fall this year. Hence, there were no beach areas so the lake was really rocked on the shoreline. We had a great time. We stayed in a home that had like 18 bedrooms. Every family had their own bedroom, plus, a lot of the cousins had their own rooms as well. Here's what we did:

- Every morning we had a devotional and a theme "What a wonderful . . . life, world, family, etc.

- Every evening we had a family activity . . . international night, talent show, minute to win it games, family history, etc.

- If the kids were good, they could earn "Grandpa Dollars" and then during the week, every couple of days, the kids could buy toys and treats from "Grandma's store".

- We took out the wave runners and boat, swam in the lake, and played on the rocky beach.

- We visited Minnatonka Cave and some of us went to a nearby ice cave as well.

- Family fun run.

Fun trip.

Meg and Kam's Birthdays

2011-07-22T15:24:00.001-07:00

Megan and Kamchatka had their birthdays on Wednesday. Meg turned 8 years old and Kam turned one. We went to Tepanyaki restaurant with the family on Tuesday night because I was out of town late and on Wednesday, Megan had some friends and cousins over for slippin' slide, hot tub, water balloon fights, and squirt guns. Happy birthday Megan and Kam!!!

Megan wanted some glasses like her big sister, though neither of them need it.

Tara made a "new" cake per Megan's request. She wanted a cake with pudding, then frosting on top. It tasted really good, but didn't look the best. We called it, "When Kam was a Puppy Cake." You need to figure out why. The hint: stool.

Kam is getting his chocolate flavored, dipped doggy bone from Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory.

Needless to say, I drained the hot tub after seeing this many kids in it. Urine content was 30% higher than normal.

Golfing with my Girls

2011-07-21T08:47:00.000-07:00

I took all my girls out golfing last Saturday. That was the first time as an entire family hitting the links. We went to Mulligan's where there is a little Par 3 course for the girls to play. We took golf carts as well which may have been there favorite part. We lost several balls in the water, two of them were from Tara's hits. We also didn't have any stitches from swinging clubs or flying golf balls (that's a plus).

Mutton Bustin' and Cash Cowing at the Draper Rodeo

2011-07-19T20:08:00.000-07:00

Last week Tara and I took the girls to the Draper Rodeo with Di, Gordon, and kids. The main reason we went was to see Dillion and Sammy do some Mutton Bustin'. If you've never heard of mutton bustin, it's when little kids ride full grown sheep (like they were bull riding) and see how far they can go. Dillion lasted two seconds and I'm not sure Sammy even made it a second, but it was fun to watch. There is a video of Sammy's quick ride out of the chute. Later in the evening, Megan and Ashley, and Dillion and Parker ran after the cash cow out in the arena. The rodeo sticks a bunch of money on a calf and 300 kids run after the cow trying to get some cash of it. There is also a video of that below. Rodeos are definitely more fun when your own family is involved!!!

Back to D.C. and Obama Sucks!!!

2011-07-16T08:14:00.001-07:00

Tara and I made it back to Washington D.C. this past month. I have been there 4 times over the last several months because my company headquarters are there. I had meetings there and the company paid for spouses to come (or as they say, "conjugal visits"). Anyway, we had a fun time for a handful of days and Tara got to relax a bit, and meet most of the people who work for my company. We stayed in National Harbor just across the Potomac River from the mall.

Our hotel, Gaylord National (seriously, that's the name).

There was a Peeps store which we had never seen before anywhere, so we had to take pics.

By the pier there was some art in the sand of a dude drowning or something. It reminded me of Planet of the Apes (the old school version).

Washington Monument

Ford Theater (where Lincoln was shot).

One night by the pier, we had a Maryland style seafood dinner, crabs and lobster (Tara wasn't a big fan).

On the mall by Washington Monument.

July Birthdays

2011-07-15T22:19:00.000-07:00

We celebrate several birthday in July in this household. First we have Tara's birthday on July 1st, also Canada's birthday. We celebrate July 4th, hopefully you all recognize that date. On July 7th is Britney's birthday. We have two birthdays on July 20th, Megan's and Kam's. This post is dedicated to Tara and Britney, we'll give Megan and Kam their own post later. Tara and I were in Washington D.C. just before her birthday this year. I had a business meeting there and the company let spouses come along and picked up the tab. We thought that was cool. Britney had a good birthday too. She turned three years old and finally grasped the concept of a birthday party and presents. We love that girl!!!

Tara standing near a million buck in ten dollar bills at the Printing and Engraving Plant in DC.

Pennsylvania Avenue with the Capitol in the background.

Britney's coveted Mickey Cash Register. She has to fight off her older sister just to play with it.

Joseph and the Technicolor Dreamcoat

2011-06-11T08:26:00.001-07:00

Ashley and Megan are in Draper City's production of Joseph and the Technicolor Dreamcoat. They don't have specific roles, but have been cast in the children's choir. This is Ashley's second play and Megan's first. Last night was opening night and the cast did great.

In this short clip, Ashley is to the right of Joseph on her knees in the video and Megan is to the far right. This is Tara's favorite song that they sing with Jospeh.

Ashley the Newest 5th Grade Senator

2011-06-10T09:36:00.000-07:00

Ashley ran for student body officer this year for the first time. Since her school is K - 9, she can only run for 5th grade senator. Fifteen 5th graders ran, 6 were selected in the primary election, and then 3 were chosen as senators. Ashley ended up winning the election and is now one of three senators for the 5th grade. She was really excited to be elected. Her mom, by the way, was the first female student body president at her elementary (with some controversy due to hanging chads). Here is Ashley's speech video that we practiced at home:

Training in D.C.

2011-05-16T10:44:00.001-07:00

Dave started his new job a couple of months ago and has had to travel back and forth to Washington D.C. a couple of times for training. Lung Rx headquarters, where Dave works, is in Silver Spring, Maryland just outside of D.C. Dave had a chance to see some of the sights during his training and even went to a Nationals baseball game.

White House, too far away to throw eggs at it.

Spirit of St. Louis in the Smithsonian

Washington Monument

Nationals vs. Mets

WWII Monument

Korean War Monument

Lincoln Monument

Easter Time

2011-05-15T08:05:00.000-07:00

We had a great Easter this year. The girls found Easter eggs in more challenging hiding spots. Eva stayed with us for Easter. She had a hard time making the connection between the Easter Bunny that lays colored eggs filled with candies and prizes, and the real Easter. I can't say that I understand the connection either. The girls got some cute outfits and they all got some sunglasses that will be broken before they ever leave the house. Tara got all the girls some Tangled posters for their rooms. Like every year previous, Megan picked the egg with the reward inside of "a swift kick in the britches." Every year she picks that egg.

Going the Extra Mile, but Skipping the First Mile

2011-04-24T06:26:00.001-07:00

Some of you may know this story, but I'll tell it again because the ending of the story keeps changing. Me and my missionary companion, Elder Van Uitert, were knocking on doors, looking for people to teach in Guatemala City. Both of us had about one year in the mission. Elder Van Uitert and myself were walking and discussing the topic of our homecoming talks in the coming year. We were a bit "trunky" or "baggy" as they say. Anyway, I asked my companion if he had ever had one of the big missionary moments, a story about how he overcame adversity, kept working, knocked on nearly every door on the street without success, but decided to keep going and knock on just one more door at the end of the street to find a "golden family" that wanted to hear the gospel. He said that he hadn't had one of those experiences and I told him that I hadn't either. I then told Elder Van Uitert that it would be really cool to have one of those experiences to use in our homecoming talks. He agreed, but said, "Let's have one of those experiences, but instead of knocking on all of the doors on the street, let's skip them all and go right to the last one!" So that's what we did. We skipped all of the doors and went to the last door on the street where we found a golden family, the Mendez family, that was baptized 6 weeks later. Hence, going the extra mile, while skipping the first mile. See, the Lord works in mysterious and often EFFICIENT ways.

* * *

Well, here's the update to this story. Eva Mendez, who is two years old in the picture above, wants to go to BYU to study. We have been corresponding by email for many months. I was concerned about her coming here to study because she wasn't fluent in English although she had studied it for six years. I was also concerned about the cost. It's very difficult to save enough money to go to school with the wages earned from Guatemala. She worked for the church in Guatemala in the contruction department. She saved about $3,500 with help from her friends and family, which is a ton for someone in her circumstances. She paid the $2,000 to BYU and was accepted into the English Learning Center program. She bought a one-way ticket to Salt Lake City, brought two bags with her, and left her country for the first time by herself . Eva arrived here this week. She is really brave. She is 19 years old now. Eva, Kaitlyn, and myself went to BYU this weekend and found her an apartment and checked in at the school, got her ID card, and found where her classes will be. It was good practice for when I do this 8 years from now with Ashley.

* * *

Eva told me it was sad to leave her family, and she still cries every day from what we can tell because she misses them so much. She said that a lot of people told her that she couldn't come to the United Stated to study, it was way too difficult for someone with her resources. But she believed that she could do it and now she's here. The story isn't over yet either. She will be fine while studying during the Spring and Summer terms, but she is not going to have a lot a money moving forward for her schooling. After she gets settled in, she's going to try to find a job to save for more schooling. If any of you reading this are thinking about donating to the church's Perpetual Education Fund, talk with me. You may be able to help someone directly. Eva can't use the Perpetual Education Fund because she is studying in the USA. It's only for those that are studying in other countries. If you would like to help, she could certainly use it. We hope for the best for Eva and wish her all of the blessings that the Lord can provide.

Eva and Kaitlyn at BYU for the first time (feels good to convert a family and then convert them even deeper into the gospel to be BYU fans. Go cougs!)

Visiting Temple Square for the first time

We also took Eva to this is This is the Place Park

It was baby animal day at This is the Place Park so the kids got to see baby chicks, bunnies, and lambs.

Pioneer school at the Park

Our First FULL Family Ski Day (with Britney)

2011-04-02T07:54:00.000-07:00

There we are, our first family ski day with the entire family. We broke one of our edgie-wedgies (elastic band that keeps the ski tips together) so Kaitlyn had to do without and let Britney use hers. Britney is going to be 3 years old in July so it may be a little too early to teach her to ski, but she had fun. It was 50 degrees when we started up on the slopes for night skiing at Snowbird.

Good times on the slopes! This was probably our last ski day of the year. We may try to get up to Brighton for one more night of skiing, but I'll probably take the ski racks of today. Excited for next year. Kaitlyn took off the edgie-wedgie for the first time and did great.

Some of the cousins came, Mindy and Steve and their kids. Grandpa Larry hit the slopes with us and also our neighbors across the street the Tatum's. The run is totally a bunny hill, but we let the kids ski on their own and go where they wanted. Ashley and Megan rode up the chairlift by themselves for the first time. Britney thought that the chairlift was the best ride ever. I was her personal sherpa for the evening walking her up on flat sections so she could get used to her balance. Check out the video, she did pretty good and it was without the edgie-wedgie (remember ladies, that's not underwear).

Cousins Trip to the Firehouse

2011-04-02T07:50:00.001-07:00

Lindsey and Lonnie set up a trip to the fire station with the young cousins that are not quite in school. They had a blast and were given some fire banners and fireman hats. It's cool that the firemen will take the time to do this.

Gymcat Gymnastics

2011-04-02T07:46:00.000-07:00

We have lot of pictures of the girls playing soccer and skiing, but here are some shots of the girls do some gymnastics. They have both progressed and are now in the same class, pre-team. This will be the hardest level to get through and learn all the skills required to be on the competition team.

Skiing Sundance with the Cousins

2011-03-27T07:48:00.000-07:00

We went skiing yesterday with Grandma and Grandpa Miller and the cousins at Big Rob's place (Robert Redford, he's an actor ladies, most notably "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid"). It was a nice day, not too much wind, and it warmed up nice during the middle of the day. We mostly skied groomed runs, but the girls went down some blue squares, a double blue square, and then decided to go down Quickdraw, a black diamond which they did twice. They all fell a couple of times. Ashley had a yard sale after one crash ( ladies, a yard sale is when you fall but your poles and skis come off and are strewn across the run resembling a yard sale). The ski season is winding down, but we are going night skiing next week and hopefully we will go one more time after that. The girls are getting good. We are taking Britney next week night skiing.

Megan

Tara and the girls

The Cousins

Still Dancing!!!

2011-03-23T21:22:00.000-07:00

Freaking, Leaking, and Stinking Home

2011-03-18T16:06:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday Tara noticed some small brown spots on the carpet in the corner of our office. I checked it out and thought it looked like mildew or something soaking up from underneath. We pulled the carpet back and the pad was soaked as was the wood flooring. It just recently rained a few days prior. So this sucks! We called Dave Smith and Jason Schouten first because those dudes have skills. They thought it was from the roof. We also called some restoration folks. The first dude was a tool. The second guy from National Restoration was great, but didn't think it was the roof. Anyway we removed some sheet rock from the corner of the office wall and it was really wet, wet as far as they could reach their arms up the wall. They had wall water sensing devices that worked partially. I had them check up in our master bedroom (Tara calls it the room of Passion) and the water device said it was dry. I told them to pop a chunk of wall up there and it was also wet. The Ivory guy came out today and was actually really great. He knew, like Dave Smith and Jason Schouten knew, that it was from the roof. Anyway, I think they will help us out. More to continue.

Office Floor

Office Wall

Master Bedroom (room of Passion) Wall

Close-up of Master bedroom (room of Passion) Wall

Someone Lost His Junk

2011-02-26T16:46:00.001-08:00

Yes, it's true. Kam became a eunich a couple of weeks ago. I didn't think it would be that be a deal, but Kam was messed up for several days. Plus, the cone prevented him from doing what dogs do best (because they can[old joke]). Tara says I'm next.

Britney's Rendition of "Child of God"

2011-02-10T14:45:00.000-08:00

World Cup Moguls

2011-02-06T07:34:00.001-08:00

Last night we took the girls and Denton up to the World Cup Moguls competition at Deer Valley. It was cold, but we've been colder. Tara's Mom and Dad, and brother Lance volunteer up there every year. They hooked us up with some press passes so we were able to go inside the VIP tent for food, drink and warmth. We were also able to go stand in front of the crowds right next to the run in the press area. It was pretty sweet. Ashley and Megan gave Hannah Kearney high fives. She was a gold medalist in Vancouver and a finalist in the World Cup. When security asked us which press agency we worked for Denton and I claimed that we worked for Al-Jazeera Radio. We told the girls to say "Sports Illustrated Kids."

A Windy Day at Alta

2011-01-19T07:30:00.001-08:00

We took the kids up skiing at Alta on Monday for the holiday, Ashley, Megan, and Kaitlyn to be precise. We left Britney with Grandma Davenport. All three did really good. We put an "edgie wedgie" on Kaitlyn to help her keep her skies together. She did fine, but got tired in the afternoon. She took one good spill, of the yard sale variety (that's when you lose both skis and your equipment is strewn everywhere like a yard sale). She cried hard and was pretty much done after that. Even on the way home Kaitlyn said she hated skiing. We'll have to get her more hot chocolate as motivation.

It was really windy up there and there was hail every so often. It wasn't the best ski day we've every had, but it was nice to get the girls up there.

Some Oldie, Some Goodies

2011-01-07T21:24:00.001-08:00

Fun with Grandpa's glass eye

Dad and the boys on a cruise
Rafting in Canada with Derek, DaNae, Tara, and Dad

David and Drew at Christmas

Davenport Siblings (legitimate ones)

Our little family long ago

Cruise to Alaska with old people

The family on the border of Alaska and Canada

Drew and David before prom

David and Drew (I'm the cute one)

Vintage Mom and Dad

New Year's Eve

2011-01-05T06:47:00.000-08:00

We had most of Tara's family over for New Year's Eve, but only the Jaussi's stayed until the New Year. The kids enjoyed hot tubbing and snow angels in their swimsuits.

Getting Ready for the Iditarod

2010-12-29T18:04:00.000-08:00

We have officially renamed Kam to Balto. He was born to pull a sled. We put the pull harness we got for Kam for Christmas on him tonight for a trial run. He did pretty good. It will take some training and maybe a half dozen more dogs before we have full team. Enjoy the clip below.

Kam wearing his new pull harness he got for Christmas.

Davenport Christmas 2010

2010-12-28T19:15:00.000-08:00

The Davenport Christmas was awesome this year. We spent Christmas Eve with the Millers. We did the usual re-enactment of the nativity starting in Ezekiel and then we played a few games, and the kids opened their new pajamas. We went back home that night so Santa could come to our house. Christmas morning is always great! This year the girls slept in so we started after 7am, unlike the 5:30am in years past. Of note, Ashley got a sewing machine, Megan got a bike and AMG stuff, Kaitlyn got a bike and AMG stuff, and Britney got a Mickey Mouse set and a baby doll, and two husky stuffed animals (which she calls her boys). Tara got boots, clothes, Kindle, and two sausages. Dave got Call of Duty-Black Ops (he's excited to serve his country in the game) and an iPad which stopped the girls from playing with their toys and they lined up to play the iPad instantly. We also found out that Dave's Mom and Dad aren't going on a mission yet, and instead are sending us to a night at Outback Steakhouse. Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!

Ice Skating on Christmas Eve

2010-12-26T18:23:00.001-08:00

On Christmas Eve, we spend the afternoon with Tara's family ice skating in Provo at the Olympic rink down there. We were going to leave Britney with Grandma, but decided to put on her some tiny blades of glory. They had these old lady walkers for the ice. Britney could barely do it, but Kaitlyn flew around the rink like an insane senior citizen midget. We had a fun time and tons of bruises. I didn't fall (I've got some skills), but the kids ate ice all afternoon (no blood fortunately).

Poo Yoos

2010-12-19T11:51:00.001-08:00

Rosabelle Jo loves the Poo Yoos game on the Wii. So now Britney and Kaitlyn love it. It's crack for kids under 4 years old and it only costs five bucks. Here's a video:

Duet Piano Recital 2010

2010-12-07T13:33:00.000-08:00

Our AZ Thanksgiving

2010-12-07T12:53:00.000-08:00

We drove down to Phoenix this year for Thanksgiving. It was fun. I left the house twice. Drew's house is like a resort, big back yard, nice pool and hot tub, half a dozen huge palm trees, outdoor sound system, a gas firepit, and a desert tortoise. Really he has all that anyone could ever need in a home and yard. Mom and Dad met us there as well as Di and Gordon, and of course Denton and Krystee live there as well. We were nervous about the drive down, just after a storm, but it wasn't bad. Coming home on the other hand was BAD. Huge, icy storm slowed us down. We were going 3 miles an hour through Cedar City. Tara said as we drove through Cedar City and I quote, "At three miles an hour that will take us like 10 hours to get home!" At three miles an hour it would take ten hours to get to the next exit. We were being passed on the freeway by Mormom pioneers in handcarts. Needless to say it took a long time to get home.

* * *

Did I mention that we took Kam with us? Yes, Kam came with us and he did awesome. I would take 15 huskies in a car with me over the wife and kids. Way less complaining, less bathroom stops, less movie requests, he didn't make a peep. We had to leash him in Drew's yard so he would eat the tortoise or his furniture. Kam did eat a pair a Sam's socks which he pooped out the next day. It's Kam's way of flushing out his system. Most of the pics are of us swimming at Drew's house, which we did at a minimum of twice a day. We had fun. The first pic is of Britney falling asleep at Thanksgiving dinner. We have a short clip of her chewing and sleeping at the same time.

Ashley Reaches Double Digits

2010-12-07T06:42:00.000-08:00

Happy Birthday Ashley! Like all of our kids, Ashley had multiple birthday parties. Ashley celebrated her real birthday on the boring drive back from Phoenix after Thanksgiving. Ashley is 10 years old. She is a great student, sister, daughter, soccer player, piano player, and the list goes on. She doesn't need glasses, but wanted some for her birthday. Now Ashley and her American Girl doll match.

Before and After

2010-12-03T06:45:00.001-08:00

This is Bryan BEFORE.

This is Bryan AFTER I told him a few legitimate stats:

- Utah will never win a National Championship! (Maybe gymnastics)

- 64% of Ute fans shart themselves. 85% of the players do too.

- 42% of Ute fans smell like boiled cabbage.

- The other 58% of Ute fans are nearly as smart as cabbages.

- 92% of Ute fans consider themselves classy.

- 100% of Utah students that are part of the MUSS applied to BYU first!

Another Davenport FHE

2010-11-15T21:31:00.000-08:00

We require reverence at FHE for the lesson. As a reward for being reverent, we let them be somewhat irreverent. Enjoy!

Trying to Sleep While Tara is Away

2010-11-15T21:11:00.000-08:00

I let Ashley and Megan go to sleep in my bed while Tara was on her girls' trip. I intended to sleep in my bed with them, until I went upstairs and found no available space to lay. I think that those are all of Ashley and Megan's stuffed animals combined.

Kaitlyn Discovers Other Things That Suck About Dog Ownership

2010-11-11T13:32:00.000-08:00

The Miraculous Return of the Sock, Twice

2010-11-10T06:08:00.001-08:00

This week has been an interesting week for us as dog owners. We've tried to teach the girls that they shouldn't leave anything in the back yard that is not a chew toy. Kam chews and pretty much eats anything. Earlier in the week Tara saw something in Kam's mouth that looked like a white, tube sock. She went over to get it out of his mouth and he hurried and swallowed it. Two days ago, Megan was outside and picked up a similar tube sock that was no longer white, more of a chocolaty, earthy tone.

She held it up and said, "Look guys, I found a sock." I threw up in my mouth a little bit when I realized that Megan was holding the steaming sock that Kam just unloaded. Kam also saw the sock she was holding and ran up behind Megan, jumped and pulled the once digested sock from her hand. I tried to run and grab it, but Kam sucked that thing down like it was a meaty bratwurst. Maybe his digestion track would finally breakdown the sock this time.

This morning Megan looked on the back porch and said, "Hey guys, there's that sock I found." The poop sock has once again magically appeared on the porch in the form of a large tootsie roll. We told Megan not to use her bare hand to pick it up this time. She's still trying to figure out how a dog poops out a sock in such a neatly rolled loaf. Tara is still trying to figure out if bleach and stain remover will save the sock. I told her to give the Kam the other sock to eat so at least the colors match. (Side Note: we now use the "poop sock" picture as our background on the computer. Mostly to remind us of the miraculous power of the intestinal tract.)

Another Halloween

2010-11-04T06:56:00.000-07:00

We had a lot of Halloween ("Dia de los Muertos" for you illegals that follow my blog) activities this year as usual. Multiple school Halloween parties, the Witches at Gardner Village, the Pumpkin Patch, YM activity, Halloween in the neighborhood, and the Miller Halloween party. We had a fun time.

The Pumpkin Patch

The Witches at Gardner Village

Grandma Shirley and the girls

Minnie Mouse, but she said Mickey Mouse most of the evening

Yoda was very popular at the Miller family party

Maize Maze

Fall Soccer

2010-10-29T06:30:00.001-07:00

The fall soccer season is over. No more practice or games until spring. Megan played on her first all girl soccer team this year. Her accomplishments: She almost scored a goal. She was also more agressive than she was last year, so she may be more motivated to get the ball. I was her coach this season which was fun.

Ashley played on her same team again. She scored a goal this year which she was excited about. She did much better than past years. Her goal is the spring is for a "hat trick."

Ashley steals the ball from opponent!

I've Got the Magic in Me

2010-10-28T15:50:00.000-07:00

Kaitlyn's Multiple B-Day Parties

2010-10-28T15:28:00.000-07:00

Kaitlyn turned five years old last week. She had a friend party and a family party. She had lots of fun and got some great gifts. Kaitlyn and Chrissa got matching pajamas (Chrissa is Kaitlyn AGD). No severe candle burns from the birthday cake this year; that was a plus.

Happy Birthday Kaitlyn

2010-10-24T11:29:00.001-07:00

We love this girl so much and it seems like everyone else does too. She is a little people magnet because she is so fun to be around. We love you Kaitlyn. Happy 5th birthday!

Some of our favorite movie clips of Kaitlyn:

Cabo San Luca

2010-10-19T06:42:00.001-07:00

This was our shortest port of call. We were in Cabo San Lucas from about 9am until 2pm. We took a water taxi and toured the famous arch in Cabo, Pelican beach, Lovers beach, and we saw the sea lion colony. The water taxi had a glass bottom so we fed the fish and watched them swim under the boat. We had the boat drop us off at a less crowed beach, but we had to get off the boat in the crashing surf. It seemed really dangerous (again, no safety legislation in Mexico), but that's how everyone was doing it.

The beach was really steep so the water stayed pretty low, but during the afternoon a giant swell came up and started sucking bags and people back into the ocean. Our beach toys got swept up by the wave and our bags. Tara ran and grabbed the bags while I held Kaitlyn and Britney. Megan saw the beach toys and ran after them. I didn't notice that until Ashley started screaming and point in Megan's direction. Megan was on her belly kicking while the wave sucked her into the ocean. Tara was oblivious to all of this while she saved the bags. I could let go off Brit and Kaitlyn because the water was still too high and they would have been swept up. Tara was too far away, so I had to wait a few second before letting go of the little ones. I man saw all this happen and ran down to get Megan. He got there first, but I reached her, grabbed her arm, and then the wave took us all out and churned us. I got some footing and pulled her up and we got out of there. It was pretty scary. Megan knows how to swim, but not in the surf or crashing waves. At the same time a lady got sucked in and tumbled. On lookers had to pull her limp body out of the waves. She looked dead, but was fine a few minutes later. Not too many people swam after the rouge wave took everyone out. Although this wasn't a tidal wave, I can see how the tsunami would have sucked hard. We survived Cabo San Lucas! Someone should be making those t-shirts with that slogan on them.

The family standing on the "beach of death"

The famous Cabo arch

The Sea Lion colony

Mazatlan

2010-10-18T16:59:00.001-07:00

Mazatlan was by far our favorite day of the cruise. We heard from several of our friends about Randi's Happy Horses in Mazatlan. So we surprised the girls with some horse back riding along the beach. Most places don't let kids under 8 ride horses, but not in Mexico (virtually no safety legislation in Mexico), they'll strap a baby seat to the horse if they need to. Kaitlyn actually got her own horse, four years old and she rode her own horse, no, not a pony, a horse. The Mexican guy told Kaitlyn, "Hold this rope. Pull it left, he go left. Pull it right, he go right." Kaitlyn's response was, "What's left mean?" So I felt pretty safe after that conversation. The Mexican guy said, "It's okay, the horses do what I say anyway." This was actually the case too.

We rode for several miles round trip along the beach. The kids loved it. It was great for me at first, but then the pain set in. I felt like I was Suzanne Somers whipping boy. The next day I felt like I had been through Thigh Master torture. No need for a vasectomy now, Randi's Happy Horses took care of that.

After we rode for a while, we stopped at a beach restaurant, had lunch, and played at the beach. The water was really warm and the waves were good. Lots of boogie boards and body surfers.

Megan

This is the ranch where we got the horses from. Very third world.

The video below was shot during a much needed crotch and inner thigh break.

Notice Kaitlyn got a seatbelt. Mexican safety standards.

Kaitlyn

Ashley

This started this video below right after Kaitlyn slapped the rump of her horse. It was funny though I'm not totally convinced a 4 year old should be in charge of a horse.

Me, Tara, and Britney

Britney didn't get her own horse, but they let her sit on it.

Here we are back on board the Splendor.

Puerto Vallarta

2010-10-18T16:29:00.000-07:00

Puerto Vallarta is the girls most favorite place in all the world. Second favorite place is Idaho, that's the truth go figure. It was more than toasty in PV, over a 100 degrees. I was sweating like a pig in a Mexican chorizo factory (that's sausage). Our day was cut short in PV due to the man-over-board incident early in the morning. We were supposed to get into PV at 9am and leave at 9:30pm, but we arrived at 2pm after the Mexican Coast Guard released the ship from its search and rescue duties.

We really only made two stop in PV. We visited the market downtown first. The girls bought coverups for the beach days and they got their hair braided (a must for Davenport girls in Mexico). We bought some bracelets and some abanicos (fans, also a must for Davenport girls in Mexico). We blew some serious cash, may be $15 bucks total, which is a lot in Mexico.

After looking through the market and walking across the bridge of death at the market 7 or 8 times, we jumped in a taxi and we went to the Westin Regina resort. We weren't guests obviously so we had to sneak in. The place was a ghost town, but the pools were warm. Interestingly, the ocean was even warmer. I bet it was 85 degrees, too warm, but the girls liked it. We swam a little, Ashley made a sand castle, and we watched the sunset. That was Puerto Vallarta.

Kaitlyn thought that she was one hot spanish chica swinging from the lamp post.

The girls loved their fans, most are already broken.

The Westin Regina Resort

Ashley and her sand castle adorned with shells.

The sunset in Puerto Vallarta

The lights of the ship as we boarded that night.

The Sweet Life on Deck with the Davenports

2010-10-18T15:24:00.000-07:00

Part 3 of the DFVE (please refer to earlier posts today) was the cruise on the Carnival ship the Splendor. We sailed from Long Beach and our ports of call were, Puerto Vallarta, Mazatlan, and Cabo San Lucas. We had three sea days where we veged on the ship while heading to our destinations. There were three pools on the ship and 5 hot tubs. The pools were nice and warm, but the pools were filled with salt water. It's a cruise thing because they can empty them and fill them right up with filtered sea water rather than hauling fresh water. There was also a big water slide on the ship that the kids loved. If the kids were still awake we would go to shows in the evenings (PG-13 shows due to costuming, ask Tara for more info). We saw lots of dolphins from the ship as well as schools of flying fish.

The first day at sea was chilly, 75 degrees, but with the breeze coming from a moving ship it was colder than it seemed. The next day we were further South and the temperature was in the 90's. It was toasty after that. PV was 101 degrees and Mazatlan and Cabo were in the 90's. We had a sad incident on board during our second day at sea. That evening or rather morning, 2am, there was a ship-wide announcement, even in our rooms. The cruise director said and I quote, "Pardon the interruption this morning, but some of you may have noticed that the ship is no longer moving. The man-over-board alarm has sounded as someone witnessed a man jumping from the ship. We are now commencing a search and rescue effort and a lifeboat is in the water." That was freaking scary. It is pitch black on the ocean at night and we were 50 miles from land. The crew searched from 1:00am until 9:00am that morning and never found the man. It was actually a crew member who jumped, suicide most likely. Sad, but on a funnier note, we told the girls before the cruise that if they didn't behave nicely and politely that the captain would throw them off the ship. They were very well behaved after our 2nd sea day.

There was a mini golf course on board, just 9 holes. We played that a bunch. The girls got better each time they play, but of course I totally dominated. Surprisingly, no one hit a ball of the ship.

Here we are standing in front of the Grand Atrium in the middle of the ship, 10 stories high.

I took this picture from the top of the Grand Atrium with the zoom. Tara and the girls are down there somewhere.

The girls were very excited to go back to our staterooms in the evening to see the many varieties of towel animals. The hanging monkey was a favorite.

Nearly every night our waiting staff did something crazy, sang a song or danced. Here are the girls dancing with our waiter and busboy.

They made Kaitlyn Minnie Mouse ears every other night at her request.

This is Chris. He and his family sat with us for dinner ever night. His mom was really impressed with our family and wanted her older daughters to settle down and have kids. She almost cried on the last night of the cruise.

Up on deck as we came into Cabo San Lucas.

Here we are gathered for muster stations. If you haven't been on a cruise ever, before you depart you must gather at your muster stations. This is where you must go to board the lifeboats if you have to abandon ship. In the past they even made us wear the life preservers, but I guess they are required to anymore. They did give each of the girls a green wrist band to wear with the letter "G" on it. "G" was our muster station and if we were ever separated from the girls and there was an emergency, the crew could get them to the right boats. They wore those for the entire cruise.

It felt like we were eating all of the time. It was great. The food in the dinning room was nice, but the buffets were reminiscent of Chuck-O-Rama.

California and Disneyland

2010-10-18T10:04:00.001-07:00

We stayed with Danielle, Danny, RBJ, and Sonny in Los Angeles for a couple of days before heading on our Cruise. This was part two of the Davenport Family Vacation Extraordinaire or DFVE as we now call it. After the American Girl Doll store we headed over to the Dunlaps for the evening. We bought some pizza which was delicious, but was also $50. L.A. needs a Little Ceasars pizza, $5 bucks for a pepperoni or cheese pizza. What a deal! Little Ceasars pizza is also gross, but five bucks. Again, what a deal! Like they say about pizza and "other" things, "when it's good, it's great! When it's bad, it's still pretty good!"

We all woke up early the next day to head down to Disneyland. Rosabell Jo is awesome! She rode with us and that girl is smart. At two years old, that girl knows how to make deals. The movie in the car stopped playing so she said, "Let's put in another movie, deal?" I told her, "no deal," so she just started Toystory on her iPhone. Totally true story.

Disneyland was packed, the most I have ever seen, but it was a Saturday and it was also decorated for Halloween. This meant super long, suicidal lines. I stood in line at the Huanted Mansion for over an hour and 20 minutes for a ride that sucks. Afterwards I went over to Pirates of the Carribean and tried to fall on Captian Jacks sword, but it was made out of rubber.

The girls had fun with RBJ, and Dani and Danny, Sonny too. They met the princesses and we also saw some villians (since it was Halloween) like the witch in Snow White, Cruella Deville, and the Queen of Harts, Captain Hook, etc. Kaitlyn was sick most of the day with a fever. We either held her or had her in the stroller. She didn't vomit, but it was close after Splash Mountain where she got soaked. Megan and I were fully drenched. Megan was being sassy all day so as punishment she had to ride in the front. Overall, it was a good day.

The next day, just before boarding the ship in the afternoon, we went out for breakfast with the Dunlaps and to hang out at the beach in Santa Monica. Good times, sand, and wet clothes. We also hung out with the ultra conservative folks at the farmers market, great juice there.

American Girl Doll Store at the Grove

2010-10-18T07:58:00.001-07:00

Our visit to the American Girl Doll store in L.A. was the first part of the Davenport Family Vacation Extraordinaire. We drove from St. George that day and this was our first destination in California. I wisely counseled Danielle and Danny to keep Rosabelle away from this place. Once a girls gets a taste of the AGD store it's like crack; they just can't get enough. It's all they think about for birthdays,Christmas, Easter, and Yom Kippur. A word to the wise for Dads: Keep this store a secret from your girls as long as possible. Each doll cost like $100, clothes are like $35, shoes, yes, freaking shoes are like $12. These are all sales prices as well. If you want to get something when if first comes out, you'll pay a premium. The girls loved the store. Shocker! There was even a doll hospital (picture below) where you could drop off your AG doll if a sibling or dog got a hold of it. Total extortion! At least the girls liked it and it was interesting to see the similar behaviors of meth addicts and AGD fans.

What Kaitlyn Learned in Preschool This Week

2010-09-19T12:10:00.000-07:00

The Green Room at the Fair

2010-09-14T18:47:00.000-07:00

So we went to the fair tonight, Utah State Fair. The cow manure and white trash were plentiful. We rode down the big yellow slide and went the FFA kids area. The girls paid a buck each to see a 13ft alligator (last year it was the World's Smallest horse). We did something that we haven't done before though. There was a green room (green tent to be exact) at the fair. You know, like what weathermen use to show the 5 day forecast. I believe that Ron Burgundy also used one ("Stay classy San Diego!"). We had the girls do it. The sat on stools in front of a green screen and then put on green capes so the video camera wouldn't pick up their bodies, just their heads. There were several screens to watch from. The girls had a screen right in front of them that they watched. Kaitlyn didn't get it. She saw her body moving on screen and kept looking down to see why her arms and legs were moving while she was sitting still. Take a look at the video. I talked Tara into doing it as well.

Best Friends

2010-09-14T06:55:00.000-07:00

Britney and Kam love each other. Kam is always chasing Brits and biting her bum. Surprisingly, Britney still like to play with Kam. We're trying to get him to stop biting, but puppies like to play. Kaitlyn won't even go outside most days. Kam has been fun. He's sleeps good at night and whines less. He's getting bigger ever day though. Anyone know where to buy a dog sled?

Family Pics 2010

2010-09-08T06:51:00.000-07:00

Our New Member of the Family: Kam

2010-09-01T16:05:00.000-07:00

Tara and I finally gave in. A good family friend who has a Siberian Husky that had puppies sold us one. He is a cute little dude. The girls went over to their house a couple of times and begged for a puppy. We turned them down. This inspired them for any pet, a turtle, hamster, gerbil, even fish. So today we surprised them with "Kam." Kam is short for Kamchatka (all of you Risk players should be familiar with the location. Kamchatka is a peninsula of land in North Eastern Russia just across from Governor Palin's house. We figured that Kam is an original name and that it has some meaning attached. The girls were so excited to see him. Ashley started to cry. We shot a video of the surprise and I attached it below so check it out. Life is going to change at our house for a little bit. Welcome home Kam!!!

Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dumb

2010-08-28T15:33:00.001-07:00

Look at their foreheads. Seriously! Ashley thought it would be fun to get rug burns on their foreheads. Megan stepped it up a notch.

Poor Little JoJo

2010-08-25T22:13:00.001-07:00

Little Megan had some teeth pulled today. Five teeth in fact. It was going to be two, but there was a special deal at the dentist, "Pull 4 teeth and get the 5th one FREE!" It really seemed like a deal we couldn't pass up. Unfortunately for Megan, she was born with the Miller-side snaggletooth formation. Her baby teeth were taking too long to come out and her adult teeth were crowded up top. She did an awesome job though. She was sedated and I was hoping for some crazy remarks from her, but she held it together. If you want to see something funny, look up "is this real life kid" on youtube. You'll love it.

Before

After (Say goodbye to apples for 6 months)

First Day of School 2010

2010-08-22T07:03:00.001-07:00

We had our first day of school last week. It was uneventful, but a little tough to get back into the swing of things. Britney and Kaitlyn sure missed their big sisters all day while they were at school.

King's Peak High (too high) Adventure

2010-08-19T06:21:00.000-07:00

The point in the center of the picture above is King's Peak, the highest peak in Utah at 13,528 feet. That was what we did for the High Adventure this year with the young men. I hadn't backpacked since I was a teen. Needless to say, I was trashed. Too big of a pack, too far of a hike, and I prefer hiking on trails rather than boulders and rocks. Seriously, even the best trail sucked rocks (literally). The boys had a good time, only a few puking incidents because of altitude (base camp was at 10,000 feet). On Thursday we drove a couple of hours to the trailhead and hiked 8 miles in. I got a few blisters that day that stayed with me for the duration of the trip. Awesome! It was really pretty where we camped. There was a spring where we purified water close by. We summitted the next day. I made it to the false summit, then headed back down. I had a tough decision to make, continue on to more suckiness or go somewhere slightly less sucky. I chose the later. After the summit, we took another sweet shortcut down a 1/2 mile chute of pure DEATH. Awesome! The chute was steeper than anything you could ski at Alta. Just rocks and boulders. It wouldn't have been so bad if we were able to take our time, but rocks were falling on the people below us and rocks were coming down on us from the people above us. I kept yelling, "Keep going or you're going to die! Seriously, you're going to DIE!" It was cool to be that close to death, but not when you're in charge of someone else's kids. We made it down without incident, except one kid puked 7 times and one leader serioulsy SHARTED himself (no wetwipes available for touchups). On Saturday (which sucked hard), after 16 miles of hiking, the group strapped on their backpacks again and headed 8 miles back to the cars. My pack didn't feel any lighter and my feet were toast with the blisters. Awesome!

I will enjoy the memories, the pain, the barf (not my own), the dehydrated chili mac (that looks the same the next day, if you know what I mean), the bounteous lunches of granola bars, pooping in the woods (do you dig the hole before or after?), freshening up with baby wipes (or for the boys, not freshening up), more people barfing, someone spraying 100% Deet directly in the eye, holding a barfed on sleeping bag over the fire to dry it out so the boy could sleep (ever smell barbequed barf? Awesome!), one of the leaders nicknamed "Flatch" short for flatulent, Dave's "sleeping sheet" (he froze the first night), the devotionals were awesome though (Jason and I gave those). I wouldn't call this trip fun as much as I would call it torture, but I have some great memories that I will never forget. Seriously, being waterboarded at GITMO may have been equally as fun.

Camp in the trees by Dollar Lake, 10,000ft.

Taking a break at Gunsight Pass, we scaled this face to save time. Totally sucked!

This is the trail to the summit. Do you see it? There wasn't one and this was the nice part with small boulders. Totally sucked!

Garrett going down the chute. Just boulders and rocks no trail. Totally sucked!

A better pictured of the chute. 1/2 a mile of steep and deadly rocks.

He we are after the chute, taking a break, and praying in thanks that no one died. Seriously!

Here's the group ready and anxious to head home.

Donut Falls

2010-08-18T14:29:00.001-07:00

We took a hike up to Donut Falls up Big Cottonwood Canyon last week. We went up with the Schoutens for Family Home Evening. It's a really small hike, 1/2 a mile if that. We saw a huge moose just a dozen feet off the trail. A little too close knowing that thing could destroy us all. The kids had fun.

Trouble Makers!

Just below Donut Falls.

One big freaking moose! Kaitlyn wanted to pet it.

Viva Jaialdi!!!

2010-08-07T08:21:00.001-07:00

Viva Jaialdi!!! Ongi etorri. We traveled up to Boise and met with a lot of Dave's family to go to the Jaialdi Basque festival. The festival occurs every 5 years and is the largest Basque festival outside of Spain. It was a lot bigger than we thought. It seemed like half of the people from our hotel were from Spain. The Basque people live in Northern Spain and Southern France in the Pyrenees mountains. We were there from Thursday through Sunday.

There were many Basque sport competitions. Denton is trying to lift a 450 lb cart and see how far he can walk with it.

The girls (and Gavin) enjoyed seeing the Basque sheep herder wagons.

Basque sheep herder wagon.

At the Basque Square in downtown Boise, the kids watched some cooks make a giant dish of Basque paella.

The girls visiting the Basque whaling museum. I didn't know that the Basque were walers. Maybe that's why I'm always hoping the Japanese sink the ships the Bob Barker and the Steve Irwin on Whale Wars.

We also visited the Boise Zoo.

On the way home we stopped in Northern Utah at the ATK missle display. ATK makes the shuttle boosters and various other rockets and missles.

Tara wasn't excited about the stop or extending the ride home, but we stopped in Golden Spike to see the historic spot where the transcontinental railway was connected.

Camping at the base of Mt. Timpanogos

2010-08-07T07:44:00.000-07:00

We went camping up with the Smiths in July. We stayed up there for 3 days which is a longer camping trip than we have ever done with the kids. There wasn't a lot of sleep, but it was fun. We were right at the base of Mt. Timpanogos at the start of the Timpanooke trailhead. We hiked up to Scout Falls that was about two miles up the trail. I carried Britney most of the time which gave me a workout. It was a great time.

Meg playing by the stream near camp.

Swimming at Tibble Fork reservoir.

We forgot we had a raft in the basement. We pulled it out for this trip, first time in 10 years.

Rope swing near camp.

Smith family and their 25 camp chairs.

Hiking to Scout Falls below Timp.

Taking a break from carry little Brit.

Megan's 7th Birthday

2010-07-21T09:09:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday Megan!!! JoJo had her 7th birthday yesterday. She had a friend party in the morning and a family party in the evening. Two parties in one day is great. Megs chose to eat at Tepanyaki for dinner, kind of like Beni Hana's for those outside of Utah. The night before the girls stayed up while Megan was asleep and they decorated her room and the house. It was a fun day for Megan.

Relay for Life

2010-07-20T09:55:00.001-07:00

We just had our annual, American Cancer Society's Relay for Life for the South Valley area. It was a great time. We had a lot bigger turn out this year than last. Overall, we raised about the same amount, but this year we raise nearly $6,000 just at the event. I lot of stress is behind me now. This was my last year running the thing (with contributions from Jeff), but I'm going to be off the committee this next year for sure. Tara and I will do a team again though. Anyway, it was a fun time.

Below is our Survivor ceremony. Jeff spoke with his son Jake that has luekemia. Ashley also read her article that she wrote to about 500 people. I posted her article that she wrote on the June 22nd post. Check it out.

The 4th of July (non-Mormon/Utahn celebration)

2010-07-04T19:30:00.000-07:00

Yes, to clarify for all you non-mormon, not from Utah people, in Utah, when the 4th of July falls on a Sunday, we celebrate it on Saturday the 3rd. It's a religious thing. Anyway, we went to church, took a nap, threw some pop-its, and went to Di and Gordon's for a BBQ. Kids go to bed early in Utah when the 4th falls on a Sunday. Happy Independence Day!!!

The 3rd of July (A Utah Celebration)

2010-07-04T19:18:00.001-07:00

Since the 4th of July is on a Sunday this year, we in Utah celebrate it on the 3rd. We went to see the hot air ballon race in Provo at the crack of 6am. Most of the balloons inflated, but it was too windy for them to take off. Total waste of good sleep time, but the girls thought it was cool. I took the girls home for a nap while Tara spent the day Twilighting and shopping. We went to the Riverton fair in the afternoon and later that night we went to Tiffany and Nate's house for food, games, and fireworks. Here's the pics of the festivities.

Sick Little Brit

2010-06-25T12:33:00.001-07:00

Out little baby girls has been sick for the last couple of days. She has had an upset stomach and threw-up a couple of times. Needless to say, she has been in our bed for the last three nights which means no sleep for us. We have a king bed with plenty of room, but Britney likes to cuddle up tight and she moves to Tara's side for part of the time, and then back to my side. I've been really tired lately and my golf game has sucked because of it.