Claire and Noni

Claire and Noni being sweet...grandmas are the best!

Itsy Bitsy Horsies

While in Cedar City, we were able to visit with some miniature Argentinian horses. The kids had a blast and enjoyed bending and kneeling to pet these little guys...

Baby Van, Collin and Claire in the field with the horses

Collin feeding the baby of the herd

Claire walking and singing with her favorite horse--the one with the pink accessories!

Noni and Baby Van being gentle with the littlest pony

Claire and Collin feeding carrots to the herd

Utterback Family Pictures

We finally took an updated Utterback family picture (its only been 7 years). Carrie set up the tripod and ordered a wireless remote for the camera. These are the untouched pictures from that experience this last week-end. Thanks in advance to Carrie for the hours she will dedicate to "touching up" our pictures so we can all look our best!

Papa and Noni (Mach) with all the grandkids

Papa and Collin

The kids: Garett (26), Stacy (36), Carrie (32) and Todd (24)

All of us in front of our parents' house in Cedar City...what a sharp looking group:)

Happy 4th of July!

True to our annual tradition, we spent the 4th of July week-end in the small town of Cedar City, Utah with the Utterback clan. We had a great time visiting and creating such fun hometown memories....

Our family at the "5th of July" parade in Cedar City (since the 4th was on a Sunday)

All of the Utterback cousins: Van (1), Mason (5), Tatum (8), Collin (7) and Claire (5)

Only in Cedar City would a city parade include the LDS missionaries...

I love it!

Claire happy as a clam chillin' with Aunt Jenny in the shade eating chocolate donuts and candy

Yankees Little League

Scoring a point for the Yankees!


Lovin' the catcher position


Collin's little league photo


Garrett in little league back in the day

Tonight was the last game of coach pitch little league. Collin played for the NY Yankees with his friends Easton, Jedidiah and Braden. The team really improved as the season progressed and all the boys had a great time. Coach Jim was amazingly patient with 13 hyper boys. Collin had some great plays and nice power hits. His favorite position was catcher (just like his dad).

The City by the Bay....

Garrett attended a conference in San Francisco last week and I was able to join him for a little r&r before the summer kicks off. I decided to take my camera and do a walking tour of the city I love so much...

residences near my favorite SF store Paper Source

the "sidewalk" on the way to Coit Tower on Telegraph Hill

a glance at Chinatown (always a favorite stop)

looking toward Chinatown, the Financial District and the Bay Bridge

an elementary school playground

The trip was quite enjoyable. It has been two years since my last visit and I had a wonderful time "footing" it around the beautifully unique City by the Bay. Having grown up on both sides of the Bay Area, I consider San Francisco to be my home away from home.

Our Painted Lady Butterflies

This past Christmas, Garrett's sister Carrie gave Claire one of the coolest gifts: a butterfly habitat complete with live caterpillars and food. We watched in amazement this spring as all 10 caterpillars ate and ate and ate and finally formed chrysalides. The metamorphosis to the beautiful painted lady butterflies was truly a sight. Today, Collin and Claire released our "pet" butterflies in our front yard so they could live in our trees. Here are just a few of the photos of that event. Just check out the sheer joy and amazement in their faces. I love it!

Thank you Auntie Carrie for the best Christmas present EVER!

Love, Claire and Collin xoxo

Diamondback Gymnastics Spring Meet

Claire competed in her first gymnastics meet this

week-end and did a great job. She is still a little shy and was quite nervous but did very well, especially considering it was four hours!

She placed 3rd overall in her skill bracket and 1st in beam. She has been taking gymnastics for less than a year and is doing very well. Here are a couple of photos and a video clip of her award-winning beam routine.

Claire's Beam Routine:

Collin's Orange Belt Exam

On April 24th, Collin passed his belt exam in karate and became an orange belt. It generally takes 3-4 months to advance to the next belt. Collin has been practicing a lot these last few months and did an exceptional job on his exam. Here are a few of the highlights:

At the office....

Recently, the kids got to go to the office with Garrett, an outing that does not happen very often. They love to write on the white board, sit at his desk, check out the data center, conference rooms, talk to the security guards and, basically, pretend they are "at the office". I remember doing the same thing with my dad on a Saturday morning and returning home with several photocopies of my hands, a paper clip creation and a skip in my step knowing I had just spent the morning with my dad "at the office".

Happy Valentine's Day !

This year the kids chose to make their valentines. We searched the web and came up with these ideas. Despite the fact that it cost 5x the amount of store-bought valentines and took mom alot longer to die-cut and fold, the kids loved them and they had a great time distributing them to friends and classmates. Happy Valentine's Day!

Chihuahua Dreams....

Claire loves all small dogs, especially her Auntie Em's chihuahua Star. She desparately wants us to get a small dog so she can carry it around the house, dress it up and feed it food out of her tea set. The only problem is, most small dogs don't like Claire. Despite her best efforts, she is a big dog girl at the moment and most of her running, grabbing and speaking is too fast, big and loud for such tiny animals. This picture is one of the rare moments Star allowed Claire to hold her without clawing her way out of her arms.

A picture is worth at least a hundred words, right?!

My children do not know the meaning of "company manners". They use the time spent in "company" to show off their latest karate moves, fake burps, knock-knock jokes, cartwheels and, of course, fighting. Whenever we travel to visit family or friends, the amount of time Collin and Claire spend teasing, tattle-telling, hitting and sticking their tongues out is, at the very least, tripled. This Christmas vacation was no exception. My niece Brittany captured this moment at the park in my in-laws neighborhood. Sure, it looks like they are being silly and enjoying each other. Give it ten more seconds and one of them will burst into tears while the other chants "I'm sorry, I'm sorry" to hopefully not get "busted"....

Ornament Traditions

A favorite tradition I have continued from my childhood is the addition of a new ornament every year for each of my children. When they are big and grown and creating traditions of their own, they will have a couple dozen ornaments from their youth to start them off. My mother borrowed the idea from her dear friend Sue Ford, though I am fairly confident Sue has never relinquished the ornaments to any of her children, having grown too fond of them over the years! Of all the adorable ornaments I have collected, my childrens' favorite ornaments are the two I let them pick: Barbie Princess and the Pauper and Luke Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi. I know their future spouses will thank me....

Christmas came and went....

So much hustle and bustle, wrapping and decorating, caroling and baking, shopping and shipping...it is the funnest and most exhausting time of year. This year I purchased a "grove" of trees and arranged them in place of one tall tree. I made a tunnel for our train through the trees and the kids had a blast creating their mountain city and GI Joe base. Garrett complained so much about this great idea that we will not be repeating it next year. So as I was downloading my photos, I thought I would include the Christmas arrangement that will, sadly, never be repeated.