Ensign Peak

The Boys at the Peak

We had a ward activity last month to climb Ensign Peak.  I had always heard about it before but for one reason or another I have never gone.  I know that a lot of people have hiked to the top and that it is supposed to be pretty accessible.

The boys and I were restless so we decided to go.  Sadly, Lori was at home with baby Jack (only sad because they weren’t with us).  Anyway, we got there is pretty good shape.  Of course we were late, what else is new.  I had brought the stroller because I thought that it would be nice to push Sam if it were possible.  Well, it didn’t look like it was going to be possible so, I carried him on my shoulders along with a backpack to the top of Ensign Peak.  Surprisingly to me, I wasn’t too tired.  The other boys kept wanting to sit and rest, but I was ready to keep going.  Not to brag, I was as surprised as you are.

To make a long post shorter, the view was impressive.  You can really see the entire valley.  We had a good time at the top except for my anxiety about the boys falling off.  However unlikely, there were some pretty steep edges and I didn’t want to have anyone from my family to be the first to fall.  We were only there for about 30 minutes and then we left for the car.  The hike is pretty easy and the trail is well marked.  A good time was had by all.

http://picasaweb.google.com/brent.romney/EnsignPeak

Bear Lake

Caleb running along the beach

Close-up of Caleb

Me hiding from the sun.

Conner running along the beach

Close-up of Conner

We go to bear lake every year.  This year would have been easy to skip.  We just had a baby and we have a lot going on at our house.
Looking back at the pictures of last years trim and all the talking the boys do about bear lake, I could not in good conscience skip the trip this year.  I was going to have to buck up and to the right thing.
Lori made this decision a bit easier by offering to keep Sam at home with her.  I am torn… on the one hand, I would love to see the smile on Sam’s face while playing and having fun on the beach.  On the other hand, the added amount of work required to  bring a smaller child (still in diapers) seemed like a daunting task for a dad (no problems for a mom).  So it ended up just being Conner, Caleb and myself.
We went up after I got home from work on Friday.  Because of the current price for gas, we took my car.  That was not a bad idea.  The boys like to ride in my car, not because it is better than our other car, but because they rarely get a chance to.
We got to bear lake shortly after 9pm.  Lucky for us, my brother Phil had room (or at least made room) for us in his travel tent.  I was happy not to have to set up a tent.  We spent an hour or two around the camp fire and then finally went to bed.
The next morning, we had some cold cereal and changed our clothes for the beach.  I love big breakfasts (except for hauling the food, preparing the food, and cleaning up  a bunch of dishes while camping) so we opted for cold cereal and doughnuts.  Then we went to the beach.
We went to the same place we did last year.  Just outside of the campground.  You have to leave the road a bit and ride down to the lake but it is a pretty good setup there.  There is a littel island about 50 yards into the lake that is perfect for building sand castles and digging around.  Conner and Caleb did a lot of digging.  Plus, all arond for about 100 yards, all the kids can walk around in the water w/o it getting too deep.  No chance to accidentally get into trouble.  It is a nice place to relax and play around.
My brother Ben brought up his boat and was gracious enough to give everyone a ride that wanted one.  Everyone got a chance to ride in the tube or on the wake board etc.  The wind was pretty strong and offered up some pretty big waves.  It made for a fun ride on the tube.  Ben has a tube that holds two people.  Ben said that the nice thing about the tube is that no one had ever been bounced out of it (you know where this is going don’t you).
My first ride in the tube was with my brother Darrin.  Darrin is a  “fun lovin’” guy.  Ben took us on a great ride.  We got going pretty fast and were consistantly bouncing on the waves and catching a couple of feet of air.  We (here it comes) we finally hit the perfect storm and got that wave that launched Darrin and myself out of the tube.  It was pretty crazy.  We both got back in and went for another ride.  It was a lot of fun.
Later, Ben and I wen out for another ride.  This time Ben’s wife Nicole was driving.  She said she wasn’t going any faster than we were before (about 20 mph)… I don’t know if the waves were bigger or the driving was different but Ben and I seemed to be catching even bigger air than I had in the previous ride.  Ben actually bounced clear out of the tube and up into the air, but was able to get back down into the tube before wiping out.  Then again as these things happe, we hit the perfect storm.  We were being whipped around so fast that my vision was start to go (maybe my imagination was getting the better of me or maybe it just help with the story).  We finally were thrown from the tube.  This time we both hit really hard.  This time it hurt. Ben and I both just sat there in the water until the boat came to pick us up.  That was the end of our turn.  We gladly gave it up for someone else to have a turn.
Thanks to Ben and Nicole for sharing their boat with us.
After a long day of boating and playing on the beach.  Conner Caleb and I headed for home.  We decided to follow Mom, Renee and Darrin and stop in Logan for dinner (as is their tradition).  We have to stop at the Sizzler.  It was actually pretty good.  I had the Salmon and a salad bar and the boys both had the salad bar.  Caleb had fallen a sleep on the way and was very difficult to rouse enough to even eat his dinner.  Not to worry, just as we were getting ready to leave, he caught his second wind and came alive.  Now that we were all ready to leave, he decided that he wanted to finish his dinner and have some ice cream as well.  Thanks for your patience family while we finished up.
On the rest of the ride home, we listened to Brian Regan.  It was entertaining and the boys even liked it.  They understood enough to find it entertaining.
We made it home safely and had another successful bear lake trip.  I am glad that we did it.

Baby Jack

Cute Baby Jack

Today was not the day I had planned in my mind for the birth of our baby.  July 1st was a much better day for my obsessive compulsive mind.  June 27, is such an odd day… not a nice small compact number.

Babies, have no sense of time and rarely comply with my obsessive compulsive nature.
Earlier on the 27th, Lori went to the doctor for her weekly visit.  While there, the doctor checked her out and decided that it would be better for her to check into the hospital today, rather than risk having the baby in a less ideal location (like the car, or the store, or at home etc.)  As much as we were not ready for this day, he had a good point.  Having the baby in the hospital where the best care in the world could be given was a more important goal than number on calendar that was created by man and meaningless in the grand scheme of things.
For me, I had just barely (by barely, I mean just sat down in my chair after entering the building, laptop still in backpack) arrived in the office.  I got a call from Lori and she said that it was time for me to turn around and head home.
It took me over an hour to to return home using public transit but I was glad too, because I got to see the last swim class (where parents are invited) for Caleb.  I was too late for Conner, but he is already a pretty good swimmer.  I like to think it was good for Caleb to have me there as well.
After swimming lessons, we gave the boys to Lori’s mother and Lori and I went to the hospital.  Along the way, we stopped at Wal-Mart to see if we could find a stroller/baby carrier since that was one of the things we needed to accomplish before the baby arrived.  Of course, we didn’t.  Wal-Mart did not have anything that we were interested in.  In addition, the ones that we were even slightly interested in, they didn’t have in stock.  This seems to be a common theme for Wal-Mart in my opinion.
Anyway, we made it to the hospital.  Things there were normal as far as delivering a baby go.  I am the last one to be qualified to give an accurate opinion on how things went (I’m just the dad, my job in the hospital is pretty much to just sit around) but, in my opinion, this was one was the smoothest by far.
Baby Boy was born about 5:30pm.  He was a healthy 8lbs 3oz.  Everything was fine.  Both mom and baby were doing well.
Being caught by surprise, Lori and I didn’t really have a lot of time to discuss a name for the baby.  On top of the busy busy of having the baby, three boys at home etc, I still had to prepare a sundayschool lesson.  I was told that I could postpone it if necessary but I would have put the Bishop in a bind and I was overprepared with material, just not put down into a logical flow at that point.
Usually, we are slow to pick out a baby name, but we are usually able to accomplish it before we leave the hospital.  With all that was going on, we (rather I) were not able to finalize that decision before we left.  We were comforted in that we had 10 days from his birthday to figure it out.
Sunday afternoon came and we were able to leave the hospital.  It was nice to have everyone in the same location and start to live our lives as a family of 6.  (Side note:  WOW!  I can hardly believe I just wrote that last sentence.  I am married to a wonderful woman and together we have 4 beautiful kids…  I can hardly believe it.)
We got a call from the hospital and they asked us if we had a name yet for the little boy.  We told them that we didn’t.  They said that it was ok, they were off the next day but would call us back the day after that.  Well, that was a relief for us because we still didn’t agree on a name.  That week was the fourth of July and they must have been off for a couple of days because we didn’t get a call again until the following Tuesday the ??.  Luckily, by that point, we had decided to call him Jack (Everyone had decided this a long time ago, It just took me that long to agree with everyone else.)
We are glad to have baby Jack in our family.  He is a beautiful little boy.  So far, he reminds me of our other boys when they were born. (That is a good thing, because all our boys are cute)  I guess that Jack is also destined for good looks and a great personality… just like the other boys.

Lori and Jack

I am thankful for the safe arrival of Jack.  I am greatful for my wonderful wife.  She is strong and caring.  She is smart and beautiful.  She is the best.

The Basement

In a heroic effort, our basement is finished. (Heroic – because my pregnant wife did most of the work and Lori did the finishing touches while being 8 months pregnant. Finished – being 99.9%.  It is livable with all the rooms except the bathroom and lab being completed  with carped etc.)
It is a wonderful relief.  It is a great addition to our home.  It is great to be able to go downstairs and have all the usable space available to us.
I love our home.   I love it even more now that we have doubled the livable space.
Lori really did some great work.  Luckily for me she is a perfectionist.  She works hard and makes things look good.  She will not settle for sloppy work.  I appreciate that about her.  She is also not afraid to get in there and get something done.
It has truly been a blessing.

Day 7 – June 10 (The unplanned long trip home)

Conner and I made it in great time to catch our flight and be home on time.  As fate would have it, that was not the way this day would end.

A much happier Conner at Burger King

Conner and I went to the Burger King and had a relaxing lunch.  After I got some food in Conner his mood improved and it was nice to relax a bit knowing that we just had to get on our planes and come home.
First of all, we didn’t have a direct flight home, our return was just the opposite of our arrival.  We had to layover in Chicago and then fly home.  I really don’t mind.  I fly so little that I considered it a bonus to spend more time in the airport and changing planes etc.  I checked our flight before dinner and everything was fine.  After dinner I checked the flight and it said it was delayed.  No big problem, more time just sitting around.  The only problem was the connecting flight.  I asked the agent working the counter if our connecting flight would be ok and she assured me that didn’t have a clue what was going on.  She said that all traffic in and out of Chicago was being delayed because of some strong weather and that I should go to Chicago because it was possible that my flight to SLC would be delayed as well.
So Conner and I went to Chicago and our flight to SLC was not delayed and we missed it.  There were other delays as well,  Upon trying to land in Chicago, there was another plan that had not cleared the runway and so just before we were about to touch down, the pilot gunned the engines and had to make a huge circle around the airport and prepare to land again.  Since we missed our first landing opportunity, we no longer had a gate to park our plane.  We spent a good 20 minutes sitting on the ground after landing waiting for a place to park.
Once we got off the plane, we found out that we had missed our connecting flight.  This is where I leaned several times that acting fast is the best thing you can do.  Everything happens on a first-come first-serve basis when you are placed in a situation like this.  I, trying to remain calm etc., did not hurry at all.  I tried to make sure that our flight had indeed already left, then I asked an attendant what I should do next and was told to go to the automatic kiosks and re-book my flight.  When I got the the automatic kiosk, after doing all the stuff there, the computer told me that it could not help me and to go to a customer care person.  So I did.  Well, everyone in the entire world was already on this step.  I got there and the line was very,very long and I could only imagine that I would be there for several hours considering how fast lines like these tend to move.  Luckily (or unluckily) I was wrong.  About 10-20 minutes after I had waited in line, the customer service department closed.  No matter that there were more than 150 people in line, no matter that people were trying to get to there final destination… It was 10:00 pm and that’s quiting time.  So now there was no line to wait in.  Someone from the airline was handing out vouchers.  I didn’t know what they were for but everyone was grabbing them and leaving very fast.  I calmly went up and realized that it was a coupon for discounted hotels for stranded passengers.  I took one and left.  I spend some time and found another agent and asked what I needed to do.  Do I need to find my luggage etc.and then work out my return trip etc.  They told me that I don’t get my luggage until I reached my final destination.  I also asked if the airline was going to take care of some accomidations for Conner an myself.  I was told that the reason for my delay was not because of anything that the airline had done wrong.  My flight departing Atlanta was delayed because of the Air Traffic Controllers so because it was not their fault the flight was late, they were not going to help with accommodations (except for the voucher that offered a discount to stranded passengers).
So, I called Lori to let her know what was going on and we discussed what we should do.  It was obvious that we were not going to be able to leave Chicago until tomorrow.  In my mind it just ment that the adventure continued.  I thought that it would be kind of fun to get a hotel room and relax some more and then continue again the next day.  So, I called the hotel service and was told “We no longer have any rooms with a free shuttle service. I could have a room but I would have to take a taxi”  This was dishearting because I figured that the taxi ride to the hotel and returning to the airport would double the price I would pay to spend the night.  I was also a bit nervous because, not seeing where the hotel was etc., I didn’t want to reserve a room w/o knowing what type of neighborhood I would be in and how safe I might feel with my son.  I decided that I would just tough it out in the airport until tomorrow.
Another mistake I made was I left the secure area of the airport.  Now, because I didn’t have a boarding pass, I could not get back in.  I felt that the secure area would be a better place to spend the night.  A nice TSA agend told me that they were about to shut down and that this place would turn into a ghost town and if I

Dinner at Chicago. Conner liked the way it was prepared and wanted a picture.

wanted a safer place to stay, I should go to the international terminal because it was open 24 hours.  So Conner and I go onto the airport train and went there.  It might be open, but it was still pretty much a ghost town.  We went to a food court where all but two stores were closed.  Conner wanted something to eat so i got him a hotdog and some other stuff.  I told Conner to take his time because it was going to be a long night.  Then we went and found a bench that we could call our own for the night.  I being the nervous person that I am just wanted Conner to have a good night and I figured that I could make it through until the next day w/o too much effort.  I made Conner lay down and I covered him up as best as I could.  It was pretty cool and he and I were both wearing shorts.  Conner put on his hoodies and I covered his legs with my arms.  We stayed like that until about 4:30 am and then we got back on the train and went to our terminal to work out our return flight.  The first flight home was leaving at about 9:30 and we got on the waiting list.  If we didn’t make that one, then the next possible flight was a connecting flight through Denver.  By now I was ready to end the adventure and I prayed that we would make the first flight.
Conner and I got to the gate about 4-5 hours early (He we were already there and we didn’t have anything else to do)  Conner laid down on the floor and had another 3 hour nap.  He did pretty good.  He was a bit nervous but we kept our cool and made it though the night.  I am glad Conner was able to sleep, I am sure that helped the time go by quicker for him.
One nice thing about the Chicago airport is their gate information screens.  They have big flat-panel televisions letting you know what flights are coming up, and who is on stand-by etc. for those flights.  After everything that had gone on, it was a relief to at least see our names on the standby list.

After a long night, we are ready for a flight home.

After a very long night in the airport our prayers were answered.  We made it onto the 9:30 flight home.  It was nice to be there and I was relieved to be home.  It was truly an adventure.

Day Six – June 9th (The Last Day*)

The look of fear.

Conner and I working together.

Conner and Aidan in the Boat

Conner and I on top of Stone Mountain

Stone Mountain from the Tram

So today is going to be a busy day.  It is the last Day for Conner and myself in Georgia.  We are going to try to go to stone mountain to experience that before we headed home.
It is a beautiful area, lots and lots of trees (as with the rest of Georgia that we saw.).  We got there and bought an “all access pass”  That way we didn’t have to keep paying for individual attractions.  My only complaint was that the armband was too small and didn’t feel like it was getting in the way at all.  I don’t know why it needed to be so gigantic.  Anyway a minor nit.
Stone mountain was a beautiful place and I would love to go back another day and experience all the things that I missed.
The first thing that we did was go on the “Tree Walk”.  It is a three level obstacle course that you navigate while tethered to a harness for your safety.  As with any attraction, the worst part was the lines.  These youngesters were obviously selected to operate this attraction because of there ability to remain calm and not show forth any attempt to hustle, or be timely or concern that you are having a good time at all.  If they can continue to keep their excitement level down they have a good possibility at a long career working at the post office.  Conner and I had a great time in the obstacle course.  Although conner has a look of terror on his face, the says that it was one of the most fun things he did while on vacation.  It is easy to look back at something that was difficult at the time and see your accomplishment.  I am proud of him because he didn’t want to continue but he did.
After the tree house, we went on a duck boat ride out in the lake.  It was a lot of fun and the driver had a good sense of humor. (the kind you can always find when there is a driver and a captive audience and the driver has the opportunity to rehearse his “routine” several times a day for the past bunch of years.
After the duck boats, we watched a little 4d movie (4d means that you watch a 3d movie and you can count on getting sprayed with water and experience wind of some kind)  I actually liked it.  I think they are fun.  1,000 times better than the stupid one at the Georgia Aquarium (we were on vacation so we had to see it.  I just wished I had saved the $3-4).
Now it was crunch time.  Conner and I were goiong to have to leave earlier than the others so that we could get to the airport.  Conner was hungry and wanted to eat but I would not let him.  I said that we only have a little bit of time and I am not going to waste it eating.  I wanted to go to the top of stone mountain.  So while everyone else went to lunch we took a gamble that we could get to the top and back down and to the airport in time for our flight.  Many urged us not to attempt it but I (uncharacteristically) took a chance that everything would be ok.  Conner Mark and I hurried over to the tram and we got there just as one was leaving.  We made it to the top and walked around long enough to look over the edge, take some pictures etc and then we got back on the tram and rode the same car back down.  It was a very efficient trip to the top of stone mountain.  Then we hustled back to the car.  All the time Conner wanting something to eat.  I promised Conner that once we got to the airport, we would get checked in and calm down and get something to eat.  Mark made it to the airport in record time.  We got there in pleanty of time to check in and catch our flight…  I’ll leave the rest of the trip home for anothe post.

Day 5 – June 8 (Aidan’s Special Day)

Aidan dressed for baptism

This was the special day.  The day that started the whole trip in the first place.  Today was Aidan’s baptism.  I am really glad that we were able to make it.  It was a fun, special, and spiritual day to accomplish something special in Aidan’s life.

First of all it was Sunday.  This was nice because it is a day of rest.  I love Sunday’s.  I love the gospel.  I love learning about the gospel and so it all works out for me.

The wonderful thing about church is that it is the same wherever you go.  So even though we were in Georgia, there was no difference between attending church in my own neighborhood… other than the distance away from my home to the building.

Church was good and so was the baptism.  Aidan was a bit bashful and I can understand.  Regardless of how important something is, I don’t like having all (or any) attention on me.  It makes me uncomfortable.  So I understand where she was coming from.  She and Mark did a great job.
Of course, afterwards (as in any good church function) there was a “get together” to “celebrate”.  We had one of my favorites… a meat and cheese sandwich buffet.  Needless to say, after it looks like everyone has had “firsts” then you really start to pig out and lose all consideration for anyone else and glom on to everything you like the most.  That would be turkey and swiss cheese.  So thanks to Mark and Daina for providing a great lunch.  The rest of the evening was awesome because we didn’t have anywhere else to go so we spent our time just talking.

Day 4 – June 7 (Romney Activity Day)

The impressive reef

Conner at the game (proof)

All of us at the game

Conner Straining with all his might to touch a shark.

Success! His face says it all.

The beautiful lake where the fun-run took place

Conner and Aidan before the start

Family of turtles

Conner and I after the race

Conner and I started the day off with a fun-run/fun-walk.  It was a beautiful park and we were able to keep mostly our of the heat.  We went with Mark, Daina, Aidan and Mairyn.  We were able to see a bunch of turtles, a snake, and some cranes.  Luckily for everyone there, it was just for fun.  Otherwise the competition from me would have been fierce.

We had planned on going to the Georgia Aquarium and to a Braves Game.  This is about the only coordinated event that the Romney’s did.  We decided that we would all go to the Georgia Aquairum in the morning and then to the Braves game in the evening.  With all the construction going on on the regular freeway routets, we were lucky to have mike with us to get us there in a timely manner.

The aquarium was awesome.  It would be easy to spend hours and hours at every exhibit.  For me at least, I can spend hours looking at a small salt-water aquarium.  These were gigantic.  There were so many facits and species to look at that you (I) could  literally spend all day looking at and studying every item in the exhibit.  My favorite had to be the coral reef.  Probably because they are so pretty and lively.  As well, this is what anyone can see on their own if you go snorkeling of the coast of Hawaii or some place like it.  The exhibit was a great emerson of that kind w/o needing to know how or even feel comfortable snorkeling.

Conner was able to touch all kinds of stuff starting off with a shark and a sting-ray.  He later touched some shrimp, a horseshoe crab, and a starfish.  There might have been more.

Also the big aquarium was neat with all the deep water species.  It was very interesting to watch but they don’t do much other than just swim in circles looking for food.  I guess that is what they do in real life anyway.

On to the game.  The game was fun because we were all together.  I don’t even try to follow baseball, I know who the braves are and that they have been good in seasons recently past, but I had no idea how they were doing this year (and I don’t care)  They played the Phillies (same goes for them).  However it was fun to watch the game.  The braves lost and since, for the day at least I was a hometown fan, I was dissapointed.  But being that I am not an avid fan, I got over it even before we left the stadium.

At the end of the day, we had a great time.

Day 3 – June 6 (I’m not a youngster anymore)

Today, I ditched Conner.  Mark Darrin and I went to Six Flags over Georgia.  I know that I start to feel uneasy once I ride amusement park rides, but this was a chance to go to a “real” amusement park with “real” roller coasters.
We left early in the morning (early for being on a vacation and not NEEDING to be in any particular place at any particular time) around 10:00.

We went on every big roller coaster that we could find.  We skipped some of the smaller coasters because we (Darrin and I) didn’t consider them to be “real” roller coasters in spite of Mark telling us that they were fun to ride.
Anyway there are some great coasters but as usual I wasn’t feeling very good.  It is funny how that slightly sick feeling in your stomach can make you not care about how much money you had

Goliath (A very big roller coaster)

spent on getting into the park or that you will probably never be

here again in your life time.  You end up just wanting to make it all stop.  Not to say that I didn’t have a good time.  I had a great time.

I loved all the roller coasters (except the whiplash old time roller coaster)  I just wish I had a better stomach

The guys on Goliath

for it.  Probably the most fun coaster was goliath.  It is not the most twisty-turny thing but it is big and you go fast.  Out of all the coasters, that is the only one we went on twice.  We made it the last coaster we went on as we were leaving.  We even waited to sit in the very front.  It was worth it.
After that, we went back to Mark and Daina’s house and had a great dinner and spent the rest of the evening in the pool.  I must say, another great day.

Day 2 – June 5 (What a great night sleep)

What a great night sleep.  As usual, I did not get much sleep the night before (or the week before for that matter).  With nothing to do the following day and no one to look after, I didn’t wake up until 11:00 am. (Not too bad when you consider my internal clock says it was 9:00 (that makes me feel like less of a lazy person)).  I had a wonderful room, it was cool and dark and I had no reason to get out of bed at all.

Today was one of the best days.  My sleeping in pretty much summed up the entire day.  Later we went to lunch and had a nice gourmet burrito. then we split up and went to get Darrin from the airport.  Talk about smooth.  We got to the curb the instant Darrin got to the curb.  We all stopped by Aidan’s swim meet.  MAN was it hot.  It was an uncomfortable heat that kept pounding you into the ground.  We watched her first meet and then Mark took Darrin, Conner and myself home.  We went to the pool to cool down and were meet later by Daina Aidan and Mairyn.  This was by far the most relaxing day of the vacation.  It was great, nothing planned, just nice to be on vacation.

Beautiful Evening at the pool