possibly the most beautiful spot on earth

I have been suckmaster 5000 at blogging this summer. but it has just been nuts. we bought a condo, we moved out, we moved in, we moved too many boxes, we’ve both been really really busy with work, we went to utah for a couple weeks (well, julie for a week, and me for two), we’ve had some wicked awesome visitors, we sweat a lot in our car with no ac, we finally got the guts to buy a new car (well not “new”, but definitely new to us when we’ve been in the 88 legend), we’ve just been busy. but a good kind of busy…life is really good right now. we are extremely lucky and blessed.

in the midst of all of it, we got to spend some time here at one of my favorite spots on earth.

 

bear lake, idaho. it was amazing to just have some open space, and see the stars, and spend time with some of the people we love most in the world. All 37 of us.

 

 

Noah’s boy Jacobson had his baby blessing which we all got to take part in. Pretty awesome to be there with all these amazing guys.

We went to Bloomington Lake and rope swung into the water that was so cold there were ice cubes in it. Missing…photo of rope swing, but it was awesome.

Got in some great skiing. I wish I could ski more out here. It is one of my favorite things in the world. Nonetheless, I got my fix.

We played a lot of tennis. I beat my Dad. Wahoo!! Improving my all time record to about 6-1849. Not a bad percentage. Not sure why Julie is smiling here, Noah and Kristi captured the trophy from us (we beat them last year in the championship) in the family doubles tournament. It was rigged. That is the only way I can see why they beat us. I think the balls weren’t regulation size or something.

We jumped.

We campfired and s’mored it up. This one included an awesome bday surprise from Julie.

These guys had an awesome bday party for me when we got back from our work conference. Julie was already back in DC, but it was so fun to be with all these guys.

Julie joined all the girls had the MFME outing in Park City for a few days. Including some seriously nice food and the alpine slide.

Perhaps the highlight was my bday present from Julie. An absolutely off the hook SLR camera. I have been coveting one for SO long and Julie totally surprised me with it by putting it in a bucket and giving it me at the big family BBQ – somehow she tricked me into thinking that it was some special dessert to cook over the campfire – instead it was the camera I have been googling about daily for the last 4 months. I am really excited. I’ve got a lot to learn/remember about SLRs but hopefully you’ll be seeing some of my work on here soon. The top two photos were compliments of the new camera. More to come soon.

Bear Lake provided some great recharging. It is great to be back in DC, but it was SO fun to be there with the entire family. I have an amazing family – on both sides. We get to see Julie’s parents this week and we are so excited about that as well. Stay tuned.

PS. I mentioned a new car. Well here it is… I just need to find a Flux Capacitor – they are really expensive on ebay though.

sniwdlab eht

Summer yields visitors here in DC and we are loving it. One of my very best friends and his wife came and visited for a few days and we had a blast. Here are a couple of the highlights. It has been so amazing over the past few years to see my best friends get married and see how perfectly their wives fit them. Angela is the perfect balance for all of Parley’s quirks/awesomeness. Of the stuff that we actually photographed (thanks Par),  we had a BBQ on the roof, went to a Nats game complete with Strasburg and fireworks and sweet hats, and wandered around Eastern Market and Georgetown on Saturday. Par and Ang got to experience the Legend in the summer here in DC (not fun as the AC doesn’t work) but they were good sports. Most of all it was just fun to catch up and talk about life.

These girls look way more hard core than us.

Memorial Day in NYC. a little late.

K I know this is crazy late. But this is the first night I have had in like the last month and half to go through these pictures. It has been such a fun summer so far. Starting with a good old time in NYC for Memorial Day with Noah and Kristi and their fam. Julie’s brother Bryan and his wife Lis joined us as well and we had a great time. Highlights included the USS Intrepid, the Shark (awesome speedboat that goes out in the harbor and jumps off the waves of the Staten Island Ferry), the Shake Shack, GoGo Curry (best reason to go to NYC), and good talks/walks through the greatest city on earth.

Kristi has serious hops. Below:Southstreet Seaport. McKay took this picture. Not bad eh?  

A lot of people wonder what ever happened to Kosmo Kramer. Well… I found him conveniently sitting right in front of his picture.

Amazing flowers in Madison Square park while we were waiting in line for Shake Shack.

This guy had this contraption to blow huge bubbles (like 5 feet long) by Bethesda Fountain in the park. McKay was loving it.  

I got to stay with Lyla and baby Jacobson while these guys went on the Shark. I had been on it before and they wouldn’t let kids below a certain height ride on it. So I got some good dad practice keeping a 2 year old occupied while they were gone.

View from below the Brooklyn Bridge from on the Shark (taken by Julie). You don’t see this view very often. 

The Concorde! At the USS Intrepid museum they have one that you can actually go inside of. So cool. Here’s something interesting… when you are going like Mach 1.5 or whatever, while you are in the cabin, you can’t hear the sound of the plane, because you are going faster than the speed of sound. Man, I want them to put those things back in service.

Stealth Bomber. This picture doesn’t do it justice. It was huge.

Pretty amazing to be on a huge Aircraft carrier looking over the Manhattan Skyline. Memorial Day weekend to remember.