Christmas in Utah

We missed seeing our families, but enjoyed the time at home.

Christmas eve was filled with several rounds of bowling, last minute gift wrapping, and a delicious tapas feast at home with RJ. On Christmas day, we enjoyed a sunny day of fresh snow and lovely scenery at Snowbasin (Becky and Kim tried the Nordic trails; Steve and Nick raced the Alpine runs). After our day of outdoor activity, we were all hungry for a traditional turkey dinner at the Zimmer's.

A wintery trip to the midwest

I met my mom in Chicago for a weekend holiday getaway ... we stayed downtown, managed not to spend too much shopping, enjoyed some delicious foods, and brainstormed lots of baby names (how about Charlie, Sam, Lila, and of course Carolyn is still in the running for a girl). The highlight of the trip was an evening at the theater. We saw Jersey Boys with the Lohbeck girls

After mom left, I headed over to Wrigleyville for a few days at Kristin Kuehn's house. More great food, lots of lounging, and plenty of work during the days. Thank you to Kristin for the help with my 2007 holiday cards. I was going to skip sending them this year, but now you will all receive one right after the first of the year.

Before returning home, I went to Madison Wisconsin to give a seminar. I got great feedback on my research and enjoyed seeing some friends who now live there.

As always, so happy to be home.

Meet the Little Bean

Ultrasound Picture from November 26: To help navigate, find the bean-shaped thing in the middle of the picture, surrounded by black fluid (the amniotic fluid). You are looking at a side profile of the entire baby on its back. The head is on the left and the butt is on the right. The legs and arms are so thin, they are hard to see in the picture but you could easily see him kicking them around when the tech pressed the dopler on my belly. The bean is approximately 10 weeks old in the picture. His heartrate was 160 bpm. I called him a "him" after seeing him that day, but still have no feeling whatsoever about whether it is a girl or boy.

Home for the Holidays

Steve and I spent our thanksgiving in Dayton. What a great holiday, filled with family, fun, games, and a special announcement -- in case you have not heard, Becky is pregnant!

A Weekend Trip To San Francisco

Becky went to a conference (the Gerontological Society meetings) in San Francisco in mid-November. The picture below shows her and her collaborators presenting some of their research on widowhood. Since our friends Jen and Pierce just moved to the city, Steve decided to tag along on the trip. As always, it was great to see the Coles. We just wish they would unpack some of their boxes.

The National Parks Tour ...Bryce & Zion

We drove to Bryce Canyon on Thursday night. We stayed at one of the original 1920s cabins right in the middle of the park. We almost came home before our trip even got started because we got a call from RJ saying Leo was sick. He is congested. Elizabeth, the dog walker, went over and assured us that he would be in good hands with her and to enjoy the weekend. Thank god Leo has so many human friends who were willing to baby him for the weekend. On Friday morning, after deciding to stay and not rush home to a sick dog, we splurged and went on a helicopter ride. We saw the black & red canyons. The black canyon is inaccessible by foot, so it was a special treat to see. Pictures could never capture what we saw.

After the helicopter ride, we drove through the various viewpoints in Bryce Canyon. We did a few short hikes, followed by a 4-mile hike through the Bryce Amphitheater. We walked down the Navajo Trail, through a slot canyon called "wall street" and then through the Queen's Garden, back up the canyon wall through the hoodoos. An easy, but interesting hike. You do not realize how big the hoodoos are until you are walking amongst them.

As we were driving from Bryce to Zion, we found a great restaurant called "Buffalo Bistro" -- Steve and I shared a platter of ribs (Elk, Wild Boar, Buffalo), which also included a generous helping of Rocky Mountain Oysters. Are they really cow balls? Great food, great atmosphere, and friendly dogs walking around the dining room. What more could you ask for? We made it to the town of Springdale, just outside of Zion National Park, around 8pm. Our room at the Inn was spectacular. It was the entire second floor of the house.

On Saturday morning, we met our friends Nikki and Joshua for a tour of Zion National Park. Zion is quite possibly one of the prettiest places in the world. The major hike we did was an 8-mile hike to Observation Point. The pictures below hardly capture the beauty of this place.

On Sunday, Steve and I drove up through the park to the East Rim to see the scenery from a different perspective before driving back home. Leo was happy to see us. He still has that cold, though.

Dad comes to Salt Lake

My dad came to Salt Lake City, on a whim. He called me on a Wednesday night, asking if I could pick him up from the airport the following Tuesday night. He found a good deal on Priceline. We did not do too much, but it was nice to have him out here. He helped us think through some plans for new projects.

Shh.... It's a Secret!

Becky is pregnant. The due date for Baby Altman is the second week of June. If everything is still OK by thanksgiving, we will tell our families then. Or perhaps we will wait until Christmas time, just to make sure all is well.

Steve goes to Michigan

Steve went to Michigan for Joerg and Ann's wedding reception. While in Ann Arbor, he enjoyed a night out at Connor O'neils and Fleetwood Diner. As you can see from the photo, Steve shared the smoking jackets from our wedding with Joerg. Before flying back home, Steve made a side trip to Cleveland to play golf with his dad and brother. I stayed at home and missed all the fun because I could not get away from work. I was in charge of a major conference, that featured the former surgeon general.

Becky Gets a New Tooth

Isn't it lovely? You may have never known this about me, but I had a chipped front tooth for as long as I can remember. It was patched and repatched and repatched again with ordinary filling material. The result was a really ugly, bumpy tooth that was a different color than my other teeth. When the bonding material fell off last month, the dentist talked me into crowning the whole tooth. I was hesitant at first, but am pleased with the outcome. It matches perfectly!

A Spontaneous Camping Trip

At 5:00 on Saturday, Steve called Heather & Rudy to see if they wanted to join us for an impromptu dinner. Instead, they turned the tables on us and asked us if we wanted to join them on a camping trip. By 5:30, we had the car packed, Steve had run to the grocery store, and were on the road heading toward the Uintahs. We quickly set up camp before the sun went down, cooked some hot dogs and beans over the fire, and enjoyed some conversation and beers before going to bed. The stars were awesome, but allergies (to who knows what) were terrible. The overnight temperature was so cold that Leo burrowed all the way to the bottom of a sleeping bag. The cold weather is a sign that winter will soon make its appearance in the mountains -- and you know what that means, ski season!

Altmans Visit - Steve Turns 41

Altmans came to SLC, September 4-11. We enjoyed dinners on our deck, thanks to our plentiful garden. We went for a sunset cruise on the Great Salt Lake with Steve's co-workers. We took a one-night vacation to celebrate Steve's 41st birthday and Harry & Carol's 51st wedding anniversary: The boys started the day with a round of golf. Carol and I met up with them in the afternoon for a round of cards on the patio. Zak & Tess, Kim & Nick, Rudy, and Nikki joined us for dinner at Snake Creek Grill, followed by plumcake and champagne at the Blue Boar Inn. The night at the Inn was a special treat. The five-course brunch in the morning was spectacular.

It was nice to see the Altmans, but also sad to see them go. Until next time ... November, when we come to Ohio for Thanksgiving.

Labor Day in Colorado

We just returned from a long weekend in Colorado. We went with the Zimmer's to the Jazz Aspen Snowmass music festival.

THURSDAY- Our intention was to get on the road early, but our inability to leave work ended up putting us right in the middle of rush hour traffic. We did not arrive to Grand Junction until 10pm. We stayed at a dumpy Holiday Inn, grabbed a beer from the minimart next door, played a round of scrabble in the Holidome, and enjoyed a good night sleep with no alarm clocks.

FRIDAY - After a mediocre breakfast at Pufferbelly's, we drove the last two hours to Aspen. We explored the town and shops there before checking into our condo. In the evening, we went to the opening night of the festival: Nickelcreek, followed by Ben Harper. Ben Harper was awesome, by far, my favorite performer of the festival.

SATURDAY - Another day without alarm clocks. We walked to a breakfast place in Snowmass Village, went grocery shopping for the evening's dinner (the groceries do not come cheap in Aspen), did a fairly easy hike in Maroon Bells, saw a bear walking down the street and through the grounds of the high school, and then enjoyed a dinner of steaks and scallops at home. Zak and Becky rocked in the scrabble tournament. Tess dominated in Boggle, as always. Steve and Zak traded money back and forth playing poker. The Zepp-tember radio show kept us entertained.

SUNDAY - A lazy morning. Around 3:00, we headed back to the festival: Leftover Salmon (a local Colorado band) started the day. Michael Franti and Spearhead followed with a high-energy set. The Allman Brothers ended the day with a guitar-heavy jam session. Crowded festival. Nice people. Good music. Good food.

MONDAY - Drove back home. We stopped at a terrible lunch place that served two cups of gravy on my plate. Yuck. All in all, Aspen is a pretty area, but the people are pretty pretentious. We had plenty of laughs throughout the whole weekend and learned that the Zimmer's are easy travel partners, despite their constant talk of their bathroom habits.

24 hours later... he is still on an airplane

Just received a message from steve saying, "Made it to Singapore. Off to Perth in a few hours." I dropped him off at the SLC airport on Thursday afternoon. It is now Friday afternoon, more than 24 hours later, and he still has another flight before he reaches his destination in Australia. Yuck. He is spending a few days in Perth at his company's headquarters, then a few days in Singapore for a sales team meeting. The whole trip is only 10 days. I guess I now realize why he was so grumpy about this trip -- becuase much of will be spent in a tiny tube thousands of feet above the ground.

A Work Trip to New York City

Just returned from a 4-day trip to New York City. I was there for the American Sociological Association conference, but I wont bore you with the work-related details (though, it was a fun and productive meeting for me).

HOTEL-- I stayed at the Dream Hotel. Highly recommended. Stylish and swanky. Decent location between central park and times square (55th and Broadway). I particularly liked the apples and weather forecast they provided each night when they turned down the bed. The personalized i-pod was a nice addition, as well. My favorite part of the hotel had to be the blue neon lights that were under the bed and built into the all-glass desk in my room. Such a cool effect.

BROADWAY-- As you may know, I am a sucker for musicals, so I saw two of them. I did not have much "work" to do on Sunday, so I saw a double-header: Hairspray first and Spamalot second. Spamalot made me laugh out loud several times, but the singing and dancing in Hairspray was better. Hairspray featured Jerry Mathers and Lance Bass. Both were cheesy (what musical isn't?), but fantastic. I was in bliss the rest of the day.

EATING-- a group of friends from Michigan met for a lunch meeting at the Nougatine Room at Jean George in the Trump International Hotel. Excellent food, but beware of the prices (e.g., mimosas were $22 each). Another day for lunch, I took some students who have never been to NYC to the Tavern on the Green. Food is overrated and overpriced, and to tell you the truth, the atmosphere is pretty over-the-top, too. One evening, Sal and I and a few other people from Wisconsin ate one of the best meatloafs I have ever had, but I do not remember the name of the place (The Eating Establishment, perhaps). The lamb pozoles at a mexican restaurant somewhere on Restaurant Row were also pretty spectacular -- I ate there with Sapna and Mike. Serafina (at the Dream Hotel) made excellent pizzas and calamari. Other food was OK, but not spectacular, forgettable.

SIGHTSEEING-- on the final night of my trip, I opted to skip a dinner with friends to go to South Street Seaport to see the Bodies Exhibit. Everyone I talked to had all already seen it in other cities, so I went by myself. And I am so glad that I did. Awesome. This is an exhibit of human anatomy. It is of real human corpses, preserved and cut apart so you can see absolutely everything. Wow. To see the human body like that is absolutely awe-inspiring. The most striking part of the exhibit, for me, was how much smokers' lungs look like they are coated in tar, compared to the healthy lungs. Oh yeah, the displays of female anatomy followed by the fetuses at every stage of development make you realize how truly amazing and complex and resilient the human body is. The display of the blood vessels and arteries and veins was beautiful.

New York is expensive! But what a fun city to spend a few days in. I am not sure I would do well living there. Too much hustle and bustle. And I do not think Leo would ever learn how to pee and poop on the sidewalk. I am happy to be home in the mountains and to see my husband again.

You do not have to go far for a vacation

Steve and I just returned from a weekend vacation to Midway, Utah. Midway is in the Heber Valley, just over the ridge from Park City. It was a complete vacation with less than an hour of travel time. Now, that's the way to do it. No cancelled or delayed flights, no sitting in airports.

Friday -- we arrived early in the afternoon, walked around the grounds of the Zermatt hotel, watched a movie, and then enjoyed an awesome dinner at Blue Boar Inn. Steve ate the Bison Steak. I had rack of lamb. The crab, avocado, and tomato salad was perfect, as was the beat and chevre salad. The chocolate cake was good, but certainly not the highlight of the evening's meal. If we had planned further in advance, we should have stayed at Blue Boar, rather than Zermatt. Zermatt tried to put together a nice resort, but failed in some of the more important parts, like having the rooms face out to large concrete parking lots rather than the mountains and not creating a space to get an afternoon cocktail. They had a large bakery and gelateria, but no lounge other than three chairs sitting in a corner right by the kitchen in one of their restaurants. It was a mormon-designed resort, for sure.

Zermatt is on the left - Blue Boar Inn is on the right

Saturday -- We slept in , ate some yogurt and oatmeal, and then headed out for a day of activity. We started our tour with a 3-hour mountain bike ride through the trails of Soldier Hollow. Steve said the trails were kind of "boring" because they were a "grind," but he enjoyed the workout and it was the perfect way for me to get an introduction to mountain biking. Some climbs and descents on gravel trails, but nothing too technical or scary. I liked it. After biking, Theresa (our guide) took us to the Deer Creek Reservoire for lunch and kayaking. The out-bound portion of the kayak trip was against the wind and pretty difficult. However, the in-bound trip with the tail-wind did not seem much easier...probably because our arms were tired from rowing. After getting back to the hotel, we took a much needed nap and then enjoyed a tasty meal at Snake Creek Grill in Heber City. Steve had the halibut; I had the pork scallopini. We shared a cup of cauliflower garlic soup, some mushroom crostini, and the black-bottom banana cream pie. Excellent food, quirky location and decor, and good wait staff. I now know why you need a reservation for this restaurant. It was worth it.

Mountain Biking, followed by kayaking.

Sunday -- We woke up early, really early (5am) to meet the guys from Hot Air Balloon Adventures. Cool experience. Our balloon took off from the Heber Air Strip and landed in some field close to the Jordanelle Reservoire. After that, we gorged ourselves at a pretty nice Sunday buffet at Zermatt. We had reservations for the Timpanogas Cave Tour, but decided to postpone that adventure for another date. We wanted to go home and see Leo. We took Guarsdman Pass home, rather than the highway. Great scenery from the mountain road.

The Hot Air Balloon Ride

We are now back home. We have already unpacked and started the laundry. Steve is tending to the garden. I am getting ready to mow the lawn. Vacation is over.