The original plan was to go to Sedona to bike and hike. My parents came from UT to watch the kids and we hit the road. Saturday morning we discovered what was causing the bumpy, rattling ride: the Finnish snow tires, designed for cold climates, had separated. When we left the hotel and headed to the van I noticed that the passenger-side rear tire was low. A nearby tire shop pulled the tire and showed us the giant hole that was forming. We had worn thru nearly all the layers in one 6-8 inch section of the tire. Since I had trouble finding the weird tire size in the past I figured we were spending the weekend in Bullhead City, AZ. Amazingly they had two of the tires we needed in stock, so with 5 guys working on the van we were out of there in 20 minutes. We drove I-40 thru Kingman and Flagstaff. Just before Flagstaff we ran into some pretty heavy snow. The snow continued was we drove down 89A to Sedona. By the time we got to Sedona it was raining, but VERY cold and low clouds were obscuring the view of the red rock hills. We decided to keep going south to Scottsdale and see what Hotwire could come up with for us. Got a $500/ night room in a 5-star luxury resort for $117/ night. It was a beautiful property: Intercontinental Montelucia. Pappadeaux, one of my top 5 restaurants in the world was booked Saturday night, so we went there for lunch on Sunday. Had filet mignon and it was amazing. Sunday night we watched the US vs Canada hockey game. First time that the US has beaten Canada since the 1960 olympics at Squaw Valley!! Awesome! We headed back home Monday.

Gavin and Grace had a band concert last night. Grace played the flute in the beginner band and Gavin played the trumpet in the advanced band. He practices once a week at the middle school with kids from other elementary schools and some middle school kids. The middle school concert band also played. All three bands sounded great and you could definitely hear the progression.

Shannon had all of her siblings and most of their kids in town this weekend, so it was a non-stop party. Thursday all the boys and Grace went to SpeedZone while Shannon and her sister went shopping. SpeedZone is awesome: mini Grand Prix track, real dragsters (on rails), kid go-carts and the crowd favorite: slick track go-carts. They throw baby powder on the track and all of a sudden it feels like you are driving on ice: four wheel drifts on the turns, bashing into sons and nephews at every opportunity. Friday we met Boatmans and the local Rennies at Universal Studios after school/ work then headed to our house to watch the Olympic opening ceremonies. All the Vancouver natives were bursting with pride (and deeply embarassed at times…prairie dance girl/boy?…malfunctioning flame holder). Saturday we went swimming at the Claremont Club during the day and had a big party for Ty that evening. More Olympics. Sunday we went to Griffith Park observatory. It was an amazingly clear day: could see the ocean and snow-capped peaks by San Bernardino. The Hollywood sign was covered with a protest sign that said “Save our Peak”. Some developers were trying to build houses by the Hollywood sign. A bunch of groups got together this week and bought the land for $12M. After that we drove thru Hollywood, Beverly Hills and stopped at the LA temple. Next stop was Santa Monica beach. On Monday the Boatmans headed home. I went dirt bike riding with Dave and Paul on a really cool trail that starts just off I-15 at the Palmdale exit and goes thru tunnels under the freeway, up and over the hill to Victorville. Shannon and the girls played, shopped and went to lunch. Good times!

Another gigantic rainstorm yesterday turned streets into rivers with class IV rapids. We’ve already had ~17 inches of rain this year!

It’s been an exciting week for nephews: Ty had his central line surgically removed on Tuesday. Less than a year ago he had innumerable tumors in his lungs. The last CT, after months and months of chemo, was clear! Christian, Shannon’s brother’s son, received his mission call. He is going to the Democratic Republic of Congo, French speaking.