Ying's First Ski at a Race

By WanYing

On Saturday I cross country skied and we were racing. Me and my sister are on the same team and it is the Sundance team. I practice. We have practice and sometimes we have new people coming and we just ski up a little hill and then down. I like practice because sometimes we get to go around the loop. It's fun because we get to cross country ski more than just cross country skiing up and then down again.

The race was great. The race was like you went around a teeny little loop. It was not very hard. I skied fast.

We started at the same time. The start went by ages.

I was just starting the race

My sister's finishing the race

And that's me finishing the race

We winned medals because we went so fast!

My sister's wearing my mom's glasses because it's too bright for her.

We were excited that we got medals and my sister was in place number two. And I was in the place number three.

Sometime I want to do all the races! I like racing.

Picky Pizza Posters - Papa Johns

The ultimate quest for the worst pizza experience in Utah Valley

 

Papa Johns at Ben's 11th birthday party

Ah, Papa Johns Pizza. Mere blocks from our house, more palatable than Little Caesars, but still reasonably priced, Papa Johns has been the staple of many a Morningstar birthday party and last-minute meal. Gourmet fare it is not, but when you need a quick meal in 15 minutes, it fits the bill.

Love for Papa Johns runs so deep in Morningstar history that we even "enjoyed" it in China when the kids needed a break from the local cuisine. So you might say that we are worldwide Papa Johns Pizza connoisseurs. Or you might say we have exceedingly unrefined palates. Or maybe those aren't exclusive options.

In our continued attempt to catalog all mediocre-to-terrible pizza in Utah Valley, a few weeks ago we ordered ourselves some Papa Johns and Sasha grabbed the keyboard and started recording our responses. Here are the adorable results.

Picky Pizza Posters - Papa Johns Pizza

By Sasha

sam: siad sase at the tips

wanying said litle spese

dad said slitle swet

mom: puffy crust buble crust to

mom: but you cant bet the locashon

sasha: verry good

ben: verry cesy

pric for a larg ces pizza 

12 dolers

wanying: the dezrts pizza is verry good

saha: the pizza is verry chcolatey

mom askt sam if he wants a nother slise of pizza and he said no 4 is anof

Rating

By default, Papa Johns gets a 3 slice rating - Cheap enough and edible enough for my kid’s birthday party.

And, yes, Sam still believes this is the second best pizza in the world, right after Dad's homemade pizza.

Best of 2014

New Year's is a bittersweet time for us - a time of new beginnings and also a time when we say goodbye again and mourn our losses, especially the passing of Steve's mom on New Year's Eve 2011. We tend to get a little wistful around New Year's.

2014 was a great year for us. A year of further rebuilding our family and really enjoying our time together. A year with a lot of camping, a lot of cycling, and a lot of skiing (our three favorite activities!). A year of transitions with WanYing starting kindergarten, Ben starting middle school, and me starting work at Qualtrics. It was a blessed year.

To celebrate the new year, we each chose our favorite picture of ourselves from 2014. Here they are!

Steve: Dinner at Sundance at the Bearclaw Supper Club.

Amazing food. Amazing hike up. Amazing views. Amazing company (if I do say so myself).

Jamie: Riding in the MS 150.

I had a great early cycling season and this ride was a highlight. There were 20+ of us riding for Team C4C and it was a time of great camaraderie and strong riding.

A few weeks after this picture tore the membrane between my tib and fib mountain biking and spent most of the summer trying to repair. It was a super lame injury and even now 6 months later it still swells up and hurts after an active day. Groan. It's a good reminder to be grateful for healthy riding days!

Sam: Skiing on Christmas Day

Nothing says Merry Christmas like 7" of powder on Christmas Day!

Ben: Drinking Icing

Our Picky Pizza Posters pizza reviews have been a simultaneous highlight and lowlight of 2014. Hungry Howie's was not on the highlight side of that spectrum. I can only imagine Ben chose this picture to punish the rest of us for allowing him to dine with us.

Sasha: Yurttastic

We celebrated Sasha's 5th Gotcha Day by camping for 2 nights in a yurt in the wilds of Utah. It was a fantastic family adventure.

WanYing: Bouncing at Snowbird

This summer we enjoyed a mini staycation at Snowbird, volunteering for the Tour of Utah and playing endlessly on the bouncy, spinny, roller-coastery toys. WanYing was thrilled by how high she was able to bounce and flip and spin on the trampolines and chose this as her favorite picture of 2014.

We had a fast and fun 2014 and hope that 2015 finds you happy and well and just the right amount of busy doing all of your favorite things with your very favorite people. Happy New Year!