Copper Mountain Ski Resort

We bought lift tickets from the scouts again this year.  Can't beat $25 lift tickets.  Anyway, this was my first time boarding in powder.  I NOW know what I've been missing and what others were talking about all these years. There was about 12 inches of fresh powder.  It almost went up to our knees as our boards stayed hidden beneath.  Very cool!

We went up with Eric and 4 of his kids (7-12 yrs).  The kids are awesome!  They did a great job. 

(Adam trying to impress the masses with his mad snowboarding skills)

Casey, showing me how it's done.  (Watch Eric's 8-year old Colin enter from the left and start to wipe out as he leaves the right side of the picture)

I got brave and tried to film Casey as I followed her down one hill.  The powder was awesome!!

Cheese!

Dr. Mack (cheese!)

Mallory and Colin (love the names on the helmets so dad knows who's who)

Cheese!

Casey, trying to stay warm on the lift.

Mallory

Adam on the lift (I actually had icicles in my hair)

Colin (Cheese!) and Mallory

McKenna (enjoying a movie), Colin and Mallory on the way home.

Bayley

Casey, all tuckered out.

Eric, the chauffeur.

Casey, waiting to get on the lift.

Snowboarding

We(Casey) have been waiting a few years to hit the slopes again. The scouts sold discounted lift tickets this year for only $25, which included lunch and breakfast too!
Eric and Josh went with us. We had a blast. I did pretty good after an eight year hiatus. Casey did awesome. We both snowboard. Eric and Josh were very patient with me as I'm the slow guy in the bunch. They ski. I'm not sure I'd be as patient as they were with me.
Also, it was about 5 degrees when left home, but it warmed up to about 26 while we were there.

35th Birthday

Casey and the kids decorated the house for my birthday and made me my own little Happy Birthday clown hat thingy-ma-bob. The kids loved it and laughed really hard when I put my hat on. It was very nice of them to surprise me. Thanks for a great birthday Casey!

Cooling Off

Good thing Grandma Karen has a pool at her home. We were prepared for the heat, but not the humidity when we moved back down here. We left 75 degree weather in Utah for 108 degree weather when we unpacked. Yuck! Grandma's pool sits in the shade for most of the day so the water is actually kinda cold, even on a hot day it feels chilly. Brynley says, "Don't worry mom, you'll get used to it", as she swims non-stop around the pool. We'd like to get Sadie in swim lessons, but we'll probably wait until next spring. She'll swim around if she's in the tube and Diesel likes to float around too. He's getting brave also, he'll climb up the steps and get and then head over to the side and jump to me. He loves it.

Busy, Busy

It's been a while since we've posted anything. I just finished up my last summer class Monday night. So I've been very busy and Casey Ann doesn't really get on here to post very much.
I am now studying for the DAT which I take in a couple of weeks. And then we're packing up and moving back to Arizona in 2 1/2 weeks. So we probably won't be posting very much until after we get back to AZ.
Please keep me (us) in your prayers as we take the DAT. The results will be a good indication if we get accepted into dental school next year. We're grateful for our family and friends and all your love and support as we change careers.
Hope everyone has had a great summer so far. We are definitely enjoying our last few weeks in the cooler weather up here.

The Macks

The Replacements

Well... here's some of the pictures Eric's sister-in-law took of us at our July 4th baseball tournament. The rules were similar to softball, you know starting 1-1 already at the plate. The pitchers could only throw fastballs up to 60 mph. There was a large radar gun/display behind the plate to monitor the speed. If the ball was thrown over 60 a horn sounded and that pitch was an automatic ball. If a pitcher threw 66 or higher, they were ejected. It was pretty hard for our two pitchers to keep it 60 and below. If they tried to throw any junk, those were called balls too and were subject to ejection after one warning. Very fun, and can't wait to play again sometime.

Upgrading to the 250cc.

I taught Brynley how to ride the 250cc quad last week. It doesn't have a clutch so it was fairly similar to doing the gas on the small one. I sat on back for a while as we rode around a dirt pit up the street where there are lots of trails at the base of Mapleton Mountain. The first thing she did was go up a little hill that she had just gone up on the little 90 quad. When we got to the top (about 5 feet), she was so used to the little quad and having to give it tons of gas to make it up, she kept her thumb on the gas and ended up riding a wheelie for about 10 ft with me on back. But... not for long, she ended up throwing me off the back and I landed in the dirt on my back. The quad stopped vertical on the grab bar and she was hanging on to the handlebars. I hurried and ran up to her and pushed the quad back down on all fours. She was a little scared and started to cry and didn't want to ride it anymore, but not wanting her to be afraid of it forever I told her I'd give her $5 if she'd ride around on the flat ground. It took some coaxing but she did, and loved it. Uncle Sean was laughing pretty hard. Then when we went home, she rode it around the house (while grandpa wasn't there). She got the hang of it and didn't run over any kids. She's a really good rider and listens to all of my instructions. She's very safe and always wears a helmet. Here's some pictures and a video.



Here's a couple of pictures of my elbow from when Brynley threw me off the quad. This was 4-5 days later and was starting to drain.

Rhode Island Bound

I helped drive my brother, Jared, to Rhode Island for basic training as he starts his service as a Dentist for the Navy. We drove 2600 miles and spent 35 hours in the car driving. We took a few pits stops along the way and here's some photos.

We went to Yankee Stadium and watched the Reds thrash the Yanks. I can't believe was a trashy place the stadium is. It's so old and broken down.



Here's the New Yankee Stadium which is right across the street. It'll be ready for the start of next season.



Jared is enjoying a "whiz with" at Geno's in Philly. Thanks to Ryan for giving us the directions. Philly was really cool and can't wait to go back with Casey Ann.



The subway in New York was crazy. Very dirty and gloomy. We had fun taking the train into Manhattan from Newark, New Jersey to see some of the sites.



We had seats in the outfield close to the back wall.



Here's ground zero, they're still working on the foundation.



Iowa 80, the largest truck-stop in the world. It has it's own full-time dentist and chiropractor, along with a movie theatre and anything Big-rig you could ever want.



Notre Dame stadium in South Bend, Indiana. It was only about 3 miles from the freeway. The College Football Hall of Fame was there also.



Geno's in Philly.



Madison Square Garden is where the New York Knicks play. I buried a Suns jersey below the foundation to curse Mike D'Antoni. :)

Taking our "little zoo" to The Zoo...

We took the kids to Hogle Zoo, which is near the University of Utah. The weather was great, a little overcast and a slight breeze. The kids loved the elephant and birds of prey shows. Brynley really wanted to see some monkeys, so thank goodness they had plenty for her to see. Take a gander.