McQueen Dudes

Fisher is 4 and Rocko is 9 weeks old.

2010-05-21T14:52:00.000-07:00

2010-03-28T08:39:00.001-07:00

Our amazing friend Kristi Flower came over to take some photos for us. Check out her website at Kendallsmedia.com and go to the Love Letters link to see the collages that are attached here that Kristi created for us. Contact her for your next photo shoot by going to the website contact link. You will be impressed. Rocky is 2 weeks old in these shots, Fisher is 4. This week is the 5th Anniversary of River's graduation from this life! I especially appreciate Kristi's love for all our kids, she keeps Rivy alive in our family just like we do. The photo with the photos of Riv in the background was a total surprise to me. I love it. Kristi made the 3 larger photos or Rivy for us. Thank you Kristi. We love our kids!! They all amaze us everyday.

Ash is amazingly strong and fit. She is already back working out between milking sessions. Fish LOVES being a big brother! I am trying not to work too much.

Rocky is 15 hrs old!

2010-03-13T10:19:00.000-08:00

Welcome Rocky Blue McQueen to the world!!!!

2010-03-12T20:47:00.000-08:00

Summer

2009-10-04T20:10:00.000-07:00

We had a fun summer! The photos above are some of our favorite photos from our various adventures, in reverse chronological order.

Disneyland, Seaworld, beach time with Fisher's cousins, Bee's baseball games, Fisher got multiple autographs from Bumble the mascot, boating with Mimi and Papa Rog, Albion basin, Jackson Lake trip, Desolation Canyon trip with the Young's and Fisher's first day of Preschool.

Family and friends make life sweet!! We love to spend time with all of you...you know who you are. Thanks for making this summer so great. We will miss Grandpa Jim and Grandma Ardes. We know they would want us all to keep on enjoying this beautiful life and to grow as we experience all that this great world has to offer.

Some of Fisher's best quotes:

"Not by my hairy chin, chin" (him responding to Ashly telling him that she was going to sleep in his bed)

"Now go close your beady little eyes" (him telling Ashly and I to get out of his bedroom so he could go to sleep)

"There's the chicken" (pointing to an American Indian man presenting the crow dance at the Moab Art Festival, after Stryder and Fisher had been telling "why did the chicken cross the road" jokes to each other earlier that day)

"Yeah, so the skunks don't lick us" (after I had told him that we were going to sleep in a tent for 5 nights on our river trip)

We couldn't ask for a cooler, funnier, smarter kid...Fisher is amazing!!!

We love Spring!!

2009-05-31T14:30:00.000-07:00

We got to go down to Moab over Memorial day and take Fisher on his first river trip with his friends Stryder and Jade Young. Wendy and Brody Young, our friends from the river guiding days, are living the dream in Moab and we got to go share a little bit of that dream with them. We had a great time with them and loved being on the river in their pirate ship! Fisher thought it was awesome to float past his towers, the Fisher towers, one of our favorite sites in Castle Valley.

We also got to celebrate Ashly's 29th birthday with our other friends from the river guiding days, Max and Katie Stirling. Max and Katie have been in Iowa for the past year while Max has been attending PA school. They are back during summer break and we were lucky enough to spend the whole day with them on Saturday, the 30th. We gave Ashly her birthday present that she has been asking for for a few years, a trampoline! One of the things I love about Ash is how excited she gets when it is close to her birthday, she never let's me surprise her with anything unless I totally lie to her. She always seems to open her presents before her actual birthday too. It is fun to be married to someone that likes to be treated like a 4 year old princess on her birthday;) I love you Ash, you know I do. Max and Kate just had their 3rd boy and it was fun to get to meet little Emmett and to see how much Jonah and Wyatt have grown up. We are still planning on someday buying up adjacent properties on some river or lake somewhere and watching our families grow up together. Keepin' the dream alive....

Thanks Brian!! River Kai lives on forever in our hearts.

2009-04-02T17:23:00.000-07:00

Fisher Skating

2009-03-26T10:19:00.000-07:00

Fisher really likes his helmet and knee pads..he is so fun!!

Fisher - future pro bowler or dancer?

2009-03-23T08:52:00.000-07:00

I have had this video since Fisher's birthday on the 6th of March, but I didn't realize how awesome it is until I watched it again this morning. Our son is awesome...he makes me laugh every single day. Parenting is cool...especially to my kids!!

2009-03-08T08:44:00.000-07:00

We took Fisher up to Solitude for his first time on a chair lift the day after his 3rd birthday.

My work

2009-02-06T05:44:00.000-08:00

A little bridge over the American Fork River. This is a rebar cage that is going to be completely underground. 10' diameter 100' deep. This is for a bridge at approx. 9800 south where our commuter rail will go up and over the union pacific track. This is the largest bridge on the commuter rail south project. Total span 640'. Six of these columns will make up the substructure of the bridge.

We get to work right over and around live Union Pacific railroads. This is how they lift the 100' rebar cage that weighs about 130,000 lbs.

Not bad for an office view. Sunrise over the Wasatch makes me wish I was up skinning up some ridge line.

2009-01-20T21:23:00.000-08:00

These pics are from when Ash, Fish and I went to visit Uncle Brad at his work. Fisher loves to talk about Brad's planes. Every time a small plane flies over us he looks up and says "Hi Brad" and once when 3 small planes were in the sky above us he said to me, "hey dad...3 Brads!" We had a good time seeing planes take off and land and sitting in the Piper. We tried the flight simulator and couldn't make it off the runway. It is harder than you may think, especially with a 2 year old holding the controls.

Fish and Maren Hunter on a ice skating date. Fisher's favorite part was making ice angels.

Oie being a good buddy, Fisher loves to wrestle her.

Grandma Ardes tried to talk us into taking her snowmobiling, but we were too worried she would show us up.

Fisher going to Grammy Zoo's house for a sleep over.

Oie and me in the work truck.

Family Pictures in October 2007. Fisher would not let Rufus (the stuffed dog) out of his sight. He was so funny about the camera, he did not want to smile, but what do you expect when you get a professional photographer.

We are all loving every minute of it. Living it up in Utah and hoping for more snow. Fisher is learning how to ski, we took him to the Powder Mountain rope tow on Saturday and he learned the sweet snow plow from his Mom. Yeah, any of you that know Ashly may be surprised, she is a great ski instructor and makes it super fun! Fisher has an awesome mom! He loves her like crazy.

Diamond P Cattle Drive

2008-09-25T22:06:00.000-07:00

This is what we did for my 32nd birthday! It was a blast. Our friends have a ranch just outside West Yellowstone called the Diamond P. If you want to go horse back riding in some beautiful country, look up the Diamond P ranch on the north side of Hwy 20 as you are coming into West Yellowstone from the west.

I am the one in the tan coat. "I shoulda been a cowboy"

My Hawaiian beauties

2008-09-25T20:44:00.000-07:00

Madi and Tyler made these lei's for Ash and Fish when they got to Maui. Aren't they beautiful?