Hannah vs. The Outbreak Monkey

Over the past month or so, everybody in the family has been battling one form of illness or another.  It all started with everyone suffering from bad stomach cramping.  It then evolved into a mutant virus that might be confused with the stomach flu.

Emma was the first to begin exhibiting flu-like symptoms.  She ended up missing two days of school and, even now, is still not functioning at 100%.  Holly also got hit by this bug causing her to miss three days of work.  I think that she is now finally over it after a week of suffering.  I’ve been experiencing some symptoms including stomach discomfort and a fever but, so far, I’ve managed to avoid too much downtime. Alex has been able to avoid the majority of the contagions very effectively.  Hannah, on the other hand, has not.

I Need To Do Better

UNOFFICIAL ANNOUNCEMENT!

For those who have not heard yet, my sister, Chelsea, is engaged.  Since it’s not my wedding, I’ve been spared from having to do too many things.  One thing that I did volunteer for though is making a DVD slideshow of Chelsea and her love interest, Nick.  I get to choose what pictures and music are used.  Can you say “bathtub pictures”?  It’s going to be fun.

On Sunday, I started going through stacks of old pictures deciding which ones I was going to use.  As I was looking through Chelsea’s scrapbook, I found pictures of my graduation, when I went on my mission, our mom at an Amway convention, and my first Christmas with Holly.  It was like taking a trip down memory lane.

The Great Outdoors

Over the weekend we took the kids and once again went camping.  This time, we decided to avoid Logan Canyon and headed up to the Uintah mountains.  We had a great campsite and enjoyed ourselves immensely.  We didn’t do much except sit around camp and eat marshmallows but it was nice to relax and enjoy nature.

Holly’s sister, Jen, and her family came with us.  it was nice to be able to spend some time with them.  Her brother, Lynn, also brought up his kids for dinner.  We were sad that they weren’t able to spend the night but it was nice that they could come up for a few hours.

While we were there, I managed to get in a little bit of fishing on the Duschene River.  The fish were jumping like crazy but I didn’t even get a bite.  We’re heading back up for a two-day trip in a few weeks.  I better check the fishing reports before we go so that I can have better luck.

Happy Fourth Of July!

As a kid, whenever anybody would ask me what my favorite holiday was, the answer was obviously Christmas.  After all, what kid doesn’t like Christmas?  Free toys, lots of candy stuffed into clothing designed for feet, and did I mention free toys?

Now that I’m a bit older, I still love Christmas (I think it’s the free toys thing), but I’ve developed a deep appreciation for other holidays.  Thanksgiving is awesome but the Fourth of July holds a special place in my heart.  There’s something about seeing an American flag flying as a wing of F-16s fly overhead that makes me extremely grateful to live in this wonderful country.  Add to the the fact that we’ve developed some really fun family traditions, and you have a day that we all look forward to each year.

The Zohner Super Family Funtime

This past week we had our stake Lagoon day.  Since we had free entrance tickets and the ability to go on a few rides, we decided to take the kids and go have some fun.

I love amusement parks.  It used to be that I could ride roller coasters all day long.  As I have aged, I’ve learned just how much fun traveling at high speeds in an open car along a steel track can be.  That being said, Lagoon just doesn’t excite me like it used to.  The kids, on the other hand, are thrilled at the prospect of going to Lagoon even if it’s only for a few hours.

More Camping

A lot has happened in the past week that I’ve wanted to blog about but work has kept me too busy.  I’ve been working long hours and then, when I get home, there’s so much to do that I don’t usually get a break until around 8:00.

This weekend, we decided to take a break from our busy lives and take the family camping with some of our friends.  Like last year, we headed up Logan Canyon with hopes of catching some big fish and, like last year, we came back empty handed.  I’m getting a bit ahead of myself though.  Let me start at the beginning.

Our Trip: A Retrospective Part III

When we last left our heroes, day two of the road trip had concluded. Everybody was in bed on a Friday night except for Jeremiah who was watching Battlestar Galactica.

And now, the conclusion of The Zohner Family Road Trip.

On Saturday morning, we headed back into Zions National Park. This time though, we didn’t stop to board any shuttles. Instead, we stayed in the van and drove through along the Zion-Mount Carmel Highway. The highlight of this road, besides the amazing views, is a 1.1 mile long tunnel that was built during the first half of the last century. Because it was built in a time when cars were smaller, it’s very narrow. This fact can make it scary to drive, especially because it’s so dark, but we had a charter bus being escorted in front of us so there was no oncoming traffic. The kids thought that the tunnel was amazing and kept asking if there would be anymore tunnels along our route.

We’re Leaving

We’ve decided to go on a little family road trip.  We’ll be heading to Zions National Park for a few days so there will be no updates to the site until sometime next week.  See you then!

Where The Antelope Play

With an area of 42 square miles, Antelope Island is the largest island in the Great Salt Lake.  The island houses the aptly named Antelope Island State Park.  With it’s natural beauty, and obviously close proximity to the lake, it is a place that a family can spend hours enjoying themselves.  That’s exactly what we did yesterday.

Holly was out almost all day running errands with Alex and Hannah.  She was almost home and discovered that the kids were both asleep in the van.  She knew that if she went home, they would both wake up so she decided to take a drive.  This drive consisted of picking Emma up from school, going to Subway, then driving across the causeway to Antelope Island.  The kids were awake at this point so they all enjoyed a few hours of seeing wildlife and learning about the island.  They saw a lot of bison and even saw some coyotes and antelopes.

Outbreak

Everybody in our family has been sick. I think that we either have Ebola or Encephalitis. Or maybe it’s just the crud that everybody else seems to have this time of year.

Hannah has been leaking from one of her eyes and coughing.  Alex has been coughing with a fever.  Emma had a fever.  Holly has had a fever combined with other indicators that she is sick.  I have had a fever with aches and pains. I think that the source of our illness is one of the guys that I work with or the monkey that’s been running around our back yard scratching the kids when they get too close.

Chelsea seems to be immune to what we all have.  Maybe she is the source.  Could it be that she is slowly poisoning us with some sort of toxin?  Probably not.  I’ll blame the monkey.