The OGDENS

Cass playing VBall

2010-11-08T22:04:00.001-08:00

Couple of VBall plays by my girl:
Serving up a few points...

Passing and hitting...

Halloween

2010-11-02T17:29:00.001-07:00

Probably our last one. In fact, Cassidy just hung out at home this year and watched Poltergeist. She said it was her favorite ever.

Cassidy is a zombie, and Max is Slash, by the way.

Monarch Crest

2010-09-30T09:44:00.000-07:00

Probably the crowning achievement of my short biking career. This trail goes from the 11,300 ft Monarch Pass, and rides as high as 12,000 st along the continental divide. Total climbing is about 4000 ft and descent is about 7000 ft over 37 miles... which took about 6 hrs with stops. We (about 11 of us) couldn't have picked a better day to go. No wind, t-shirt weather, and fall colors. Amazing day!

Mount of the Holy Cross

2010-09-11T21:27:00.001-07:00

This was the goal... MT of the Holy Cross. The kids' 14er for 2010, and 2nd one overall. Teri and I are up to about 13.

Incidentally, this 14er routinely results in more dispatched search and rescue missions than any other in Colorado. Not really technically difficult... but people seem to get lost in this huge wilderness all the time. We were very careful to study our maps and routes before taking this one on.

It was LONG... we had to take a few rests in the endless boulder field:

In the end... we did conquer! And even made it home without a search and rescue!

Until next year...

Backpacking Music Pass!

2010-08-26T20:17:00.000-07:00

This was amazing... the highlight of my summer, maybe my year... I can't believe I don't get out and backpack more often. We will definitely squeeze another trip in before summer is over. About a 10 mile roundtrip with packs, plus a nice little day hike to get up to some pretty cool views.

Anyway... here are some pics to tell the story:

State Games Tri

2010-08-26T20:13:00.000-07:00

Me and Jamie and Holly and Celeste Higbee did the State Games Triathlon a few weeks ago. Max would have done it with us, but he missed the age cutoff by a few months. We should have a much bigger group next year. Alisa... you should come up for this. It's a great event. We'll be going back every year.

Hiking the Manitou Incline

2010-06-27T15:19:00.000-07:00

We made a spur-or-the-moment decision late yesterday to hike the Manitou Incline with our friends the Hansens.

This is a straight shot that goes up over 2000 ft in about a mile distance. Up a bunch of railroad ties. It's about an average 40% grade.

And a little over an hour later... here we are at the TOP!

Here's a little video I took. But it's kinda hard to capture the steepness with pics or video....

To come back down, you jog-hop-trip-slide the Barr Trail, cuz it'd be too dangerous and tedious to down-climb those incline steps.

The kids hike-climbed like champs. What a cool hike... can't believe we have lived in the Springs all these years and just got to this...

Cass and Teri mtn biking Kipps Loop

2010-06-17T11:24:00.000-07:00

Max 50m breaststroke - first swim meet

2010-06-17T11:22:00.000-07:00

Mama don't 'low no guitar pickin round here...

2010-05-26T07:47:00.000-07:00

Buena Vista Bike Fest - CANCELED

2010-05-17T07:46:00.001-07:00

May 15 in Buena Vista, CO... after months of preparing for my first "century" ride (100 miles)...
But, consistent with Colorado weather, about an hour after the event was officially canceled, the sun broke through and roads dried off. So, after fueling up with ham, eggs, hash browns, green chili, and griddle cakes... I got out for a 70 mile solo ride along the base of fourteeners between Salida and Buena Vista...

Totally worth the trip.

Cassidy practicing for her recital...

2010-05-16T18:06:00.000-07:00

Euro-Ogdens

2010-04-08T09:57:00.000-07:00

Not sure I have it in me to try to put these in any particular order... so here goes:

Max and Cassidy looking particularly french next to La Seine river -

First of all, we rode subways all over London and Paris. This was the waiting are for one such ride. Apparently, Parisiens like gay, sparkly vampires as much as everyone else. Figures.

My favorite street of the whole trip... Rue Cler in Paris. It's kinda like the French version of Pike Place Market in Seattle. Fruits, pastries, cheeses, little outdoor cafes, etc. I probably coulda spent my whole vacation on this street and been happy -

Probably the coolest structure we saw, in a land full of cool structures... Notre Dame cathedral. Could almost convince a Mormon to turn Catholic -

...and more of Notre Dame. With a crazy bird lady hanging out with Max. No offense crazy bird lady, if you're reading this -

Maybe the coolest structure in Max's opinion...

Le Louvre. The building is probably more impressive than the art inside. Especially the Mona Lisa, which we saw and was pretty lame. But, don't get me wrong, the art inside was awesome. Mona Lisa was just lame -

Fromage baby... wonderful, putrid, stinky, moldy fromage. And we ate it on paninis every chance we got. Mmmm.

I can't remember the name of this thing...

We combined to down about 400 crepes in 2 days. This particular model was loaded with ham, egg, mushrooms, and cheese and was the ultimate breakfast.

Arche de Triomphe in Paris.

In a plaza with St Paul's cathedral in the background waiting for mom to find a bathroom, as we occasionally did.

Pillars on the front of St Paul's. Max did his best to disrespect many of the European landmarks.

These buses saved our relationship with the kids. The more we walked, the more their hatred of us grew. But, they loved riding the buses around. And Teri and I did too, for that matter.

Buckingham Palace. The ultimate in inherited wealth.

British Museum... one of the many free attractions. Pretty impressive art inside and out.

Some of the art impressing Max and Teri.

Cassidy outside the British Museum.

Big Ben.

The kids were fascinated and took tons of pics for a few hours.

Moving on to areas of mom and dad's mission...

President and sister Ogden watching us on the following...

"Go Ape!" high ropes course. Awesome 3 hour long course with 200 yard long zip lines, Tarzan swings into cargo nets, etc. Very cool. Max and Cass rocked it too.

Gadfield Elm chapel... the oldest LDS meetinghouse. Just purchased in the last 15 or so years by local members and restored to what it looked like back when Wilford Woodruff taught there.

Warwick Castle... one of the several castles we saw. Highly recommend for you siblings that will be going out for a visit.

These are some pics taken up on a hill called British Camp. Amazing views of the English countryside. This is another site with historical church significance. Brigham Young and Wilford Woodruff would come up here to meditate, pray and make decisions about the church in England.

There was no meditating as far as Max was concerned.

Cool pic of dad, eh? Think Isaiah 52:7

And Cassidy checking out the view.
WHAT A TRIP! Thank you mom and dad!
Maybe we'll get crazy and post more pics later. But, probably not.

Cassidy and Max are growin' up!

2010-03-01T20:15:00.000-08:00

I haven't blogged in awhile... but we had a big event over the past couple weeks...

That all started with the traditional breakfast in bed:

Then continued at a local Japanese Tempanyaki place. AI Sushi table side cooking complete with onion volcano pyrotechnics!

On Sunday, Max and Cass set a new record for 'family in attendance' at their primary graduation / priesthood ordination / young women transition. It was very cool. Bummer mom and dad Ogden couldn't be there, but we will make up for it when we party with them in England in THREE WEEKS.

Many special gifts (including a grandpa refinished hope chest family heirloom for Cassidy, that can be seen to the left, filled with meaningful and sentimental gifts from generations of great-example-setting women in our family)...

...and as you can see, we have a couple of happy little tweens:

Miracle!

2010-01-26T08:54:00.000-08:00

We were 5th place, out of 5 teams, going into our final regular season game, where we barely made the playoffs by beating the number 4 team by one goal.

So, last night (in the playoffs) we had to play the number 1 seed in the semifinals, and then the number 2 team for the championship. We won our games 5-2 and 4-1 and are the new Bronze B (read: lowest level of recreational inline hockey) champions!

And yes, this is the blogworthy event that broke my blog silence after 3 months.

Halloween

2009-10-31T07:55:00.000-07:00

Teri made Max's, and Cassidy made her own. Like, sewed it.

Max and Cass at the SLC temple

2009-10-19T22:49:00.000-07:00

one more I meant to post below...

Utah Trip

2009-10-19T21:31:00.000-07:00

First of all... I don't know why I have such a hard time with this blogspot program. This thing drives me crazy. So, I'm just gonna skip the captions with properly ordered individual pictures, until someone can show me how to do it in less than 3 hrs... I'll just post my photos and you can guess what's going on.

This weekend we went to Utah to take care of some business. Business of helping our kids understand where they're gonna go to college. After about 15 minutes of walking around campus, seeing the foodcourt, candy shops, bookstore, student center and many college girls, Max said "this isn't college, this is heaven". So, our work there was finished.

So then we went to SLC to visit temple square and see the Joseph Smith movie. Another great experience. Both our kids wanna get married in that temple. the movie was awesome. Between BYU and temple square, it was a GREAT day.

Then we went up to Logan to hang out with Lisa and Jeremy and Ben and Rio. We had an amazing time going to a haunted farm, playing in the park, visiting the farmers market and Logan Canyon, and even got to see Where the Wild Things Are.

What a trip!

ManApes Music Vid

2009-10-05T08:16:00.000-07:00

Max and Cass did the camera work!

Stupid Robots - by the ManApes from Todd Ogden on Vimeo.

Labor Day Golfing

2009-09-07T20:37:00.000-07:00

What a great day celebrating labor. We learned a lesson from the last 3 day weekend and decided not to even attempt to drive with 90% of other Coloradans to the mountains. Instead... we made a nice, big breakfast, went mini-golfing, hot the batting cages, chomped some taco bell, and went to see "Up" at the dollar movies. What a great day...

Lost Creek, Colorado

2009-08-09T15:44:00.000-07:00

One final Ogden getaway before school starts this Thurs. We went camping at Goose Creek campground, next to the Lost Creek Wilderness, this weekend. We did a 10+ mi dayhike into the wilderness, fished Goose Creek by our campground, taught the family how to shoot the shotgun (before our right to arms is stripped away), and ate. And ate.

Trust me... the pics don't do the place justice.

Mt Sherman - Twins' first 14er

2009-07-11T19:12:00.000-07:00

We've been wanting to get the twins up a 14er for the past couple years. Finally found the right weekend. We got up at 4am and headed west a couple hours from the Springs to Fairplay, to attempt Mt Sherman.

I'll let the pics do the talking...

XTerra Triathlon

2009-06-20T22:01:00.000-07:00

A first for the Ogden family:

We camped the night before on the shores of Lake Wellington, where the Tri would occur the next day...

My Tri was first... 1/2 mi swim, 10 mi MTB ride, 2.5 mi Run... that's my good friend and training partner Matt, behind me...

The thrash was insane. All I learned about swimming while training in a pool went right out the window for the first 5 minutes or so. Then I found some space and my groove and started getting exited that I wasn't going to die...

I finished in a little under 19 mins, beating my 20 min goal... somewhere in the middle of the pack.

The MTB ride was great. Just barely avoided a nasty crash where I'm pretty sure someone's neck got run over. But, I made up some good time finishing just over 1 hr 3 mins... probably just eeking into the front third of the ride times for my age group...

After the 3 mile uphill stretch at the end of the bike ride, combined with not enough liquids, the run started with a mile of pretty steep uphill. And my legs started cramping really bad... I tried to catch some water in my mouth from some roadside kids that were squirting squirtguns at the competitors, but it just didn't do the trick. Fortunately, my legs didn't ever come to a dead stop, like they felt they would, and I actually surprised myself with a 22 min (and change) finishing time, breaking my goal of 25 minutes.
(note: I think if you look closely at my left quad you can see it contorting and deforming from the cramps)

Overall... my time was 1 hr 49 mins and something like 50 seconds. I think that landed me right around the 1/3rd mark for my age/gender division, and probably about middle of the pack for all men. But, I made or beat my personal goals for each segment and overall, so I was stoked.

Now this is cool... after the adults, they had kids' tris. Max and Cass entered the 11-14 yr old division. Swimming 100 meters, bike 2.5 mi, run 1 mi...

See em? (Cassidy is right behind Max) Can you tell who our more competitive kid is?

Here's Max RACING out of the transition area (he did very well, we think he came in 2nd in his age division)...

And Cassidy finishing up the run...

Amazing experience... we'll be back there next year, trying to improve our scores.

2009-05-08T22:28:00.000-07:00

Max spending some quality time in the airport after we de-boarded our first flight due to mechanical probs.

The first day we met up with our Townsend side cousins for some Disney fun.

Before (Disneyland)

After

Beach Days... mmmm

Cousin time... yeah

and of course...

...tons of food.

Yes... we will be moving there soon.

A quick Economics Class...

2009-04-08T09:44:00.000-07:00

Thank you for attending.

Disclaimer: This class is especially important for people that say things like:
"I'll make oil companies like Exxon pay a tax on their windfall profits, and we'll use the money to help families pay for their skyrocketing energy costs and other bills" - Obama

BDay Snowboarding at Winterpark!

2009-03-25T06:51:00.000-07:00

Here's some vid of John's Colorado visit, with Brett, Jamie and I:

5th Grade snowboard year in review...

2009-03-15T11:39:00.000-07:00

Even democrats are realizing it now...

2009-03-05T20:27:00.000-08:00

This is now going beyond enjoyable political debate.

Previously pro-Obama, lifelong democrats, like Jim Cramer below, are realizing that Obama's radically anti-capitalism, anti-profit, anti-wealth, anti-growth, big govt policies are already severely hurting our economy:

You CANNOT punish success (raising corporate taxes, capital gains taxes, estate taxes, etc) and reward failure (bailouts, $1000 tax credits to those who already pay NOTHING, mortgage reduction programs, etc) and not expect the balance to shift from success to failure.

And what else can we expect when we have a president that believes (and is implementing policies that reflect) that "now is not the time for profits":

And if you believe that the stimulus money is really all for stimulus, as Obama promised (with "no earmarks"), you may wanna study up (digital TV conversion coupons, little league parking improvements in Puerto Rico, etc). Added to which, his latest budget has us operating at a $1.7 TRILLION deficit. Which includes another $800B in bailout money, as well as $600B for nationalized healthcare THAT HASN'T BEEN EVEN INTRODUCED AS LEGISLATION, much less voted on, yet.

It all makes the high $600B cost of the Iraq war start looking smaller.

Whatever you don't lose in the stock market or home equity is at risk of being inflated away by our de-valued dollar from this insane big govt spending.

I don't know about you, but this is turning seriously scary for me.... unless we can get this man to start considering the value of free market capitalism in our economy. It's time to make your voices heard, or we're gonna seriously mess up the future of our country.

5th Grade... Snowboard Year!

2009-01-31T21:00:00.000-08:00

5th Grade in Colorado... the kids ski free for the whole season. So, here are a few pics from our first couple trips up. There will be more...

Max stuck this jump like a pro, by the way.

Pretty, eh?

3 generations of boarders (only 2 pictured, but you get the point)...

By the way... I'm about done with the blog thing. But, will be posting pictures on my flickr account (see my links). I think that may be better than trying to elaborate on our pics.

That is all.

Random Photos

2008-11-30T14:34:00.000-08:00

Just testing out the new camera. I have no further description:

Max playing Hockey

2008-11-26T12:17:00.000-08:00

Just a quick upload for your viewing pleasure... sorry it gets blurry a few times. Still learning the camera.

Max is in the white pants with black patches.

ManApes

2008-11-21T15:28:00.000-08:00

2008-11-05T15:36:00.000-08:00

"I won't have to worry about putting gas in my car. I won't have to worry about paying my mortgage..."

"A democracy cannot survive as a permanent form of government. It can last only until its citizens discover that they can vote themselves largesse from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority (who vote) will vote for those candidates promising the greatest benefits from the public purse, with the result that a democracy will always collapse from loose fiscal policies" -Lord Thomas MacCauley

Halloween Costumes

2008-10-23T18:11:00.001-07:00

The Oompa Loompa should be obvious. You guys can guess at Cassidy's costume... I will reveal it after interest in commenting dies down.

Cassidy the Entrepreneur

2008-10-23T18:01:00.000-07:00

Cassidy heard about a theater class this fall, after school for a few weeks. Since she's already in Volleyball and Dance, and considering the current economic woes, naturally we told her to go kick rocks. But, she decided she'd try to earn money for it herself. So... she posted this sign on our mailbox. Needless to say, we signed her up for the class in the end (despite the weak neighborhood response to her offered services).

Little does she know, if she ever does make a bunch of money by starting this enterprise we plan to tax her at 50% so we can redistribute her wealth to her poor brother that opted to play video games. It's time for her to start paying her fair share, we think.

ManApes tomorrow!

2008-10-17T07:36:00.000-07:00

To answer Megan's excellent question: What's going on with the ManApes?

Because there are more important things than politics.

Funner than politics...

2008-10-08T18:58:00.000-07:00

I would never have posted this, but my sicko brother Brett thought it was blog-worthy.

Check out my fatty cyst and the incision on my spine that the doctor cut it out of.... Awesome!

Suddenly I'm hungry for meatballs...

Martin's Cove and Yellowstone

2008-08-12T22:23:00.000-07:00

Cassidy shot a lot of this video and pictures, and helped put this compilation together. What a cool trip...

ManApes concert event of the year!

2008-06-26T08:48:00.000-07:00

Check this out... we're playing tonight at Herman's Hideaway in Denver.

That's big to us because they've previously been host to huge bands like 311, The Fray, Dave Matthews Band, Widespread Panic, Phish, and most importantly Big Head Todd and the Monsters, whose career they helped kick off.

And check out this cool ticket... (printable if you care to attend):

They make videos of all shows available, so I'm sure I'll be posting video highlights in the coming weeks.

Cruisin' to Mexico

2008-06-03T15:52:00.001-07:00

Some pics of our cruise from San Diego to Cabo to Ensenada:

Toasting the amazingness of the fish taco.

The beautiful fish taco (held by the beautiful fish taco model, Teri) in Ensenada. Definitely felt better going in than coming out that evening.

Warming Brett up for his Ping Pong tournament.

Everyone gets so excited about Yahtzee

1 of the 83 free ice cream cones I consumed during the week.

With our ship, leaving Mexico.

Hanging Lake - Glenwood Springs

2008-03-29T16:19:00.000-07:00

We surprised the kids this weekend (the first weekend of our "Discover how much Colorado rocks" summer) with a trip to one of the state's classic hikes - Hanging Lake... just east of Glendwood Springs.

Most of the steep path (3-mi roundtrip) was covered in snow. And most hikers had soaking wet butts on the way down.

The most exposed part of the hike... protected by an old handrail.

Timed self-portrait. I might have gotten closer to the family group, but I might have also slipped under the rail in my haste and fallen to a cold, rocky death.

The reward at the end - Hanging Lake. Amazing. The picture can't do it justice. A 1-acre alpine lake with crystal clear water, trout, and limestone waterfalls.

Sprouting Rock is a short side-hike... a waterfall right out of the side of a cliff.

Putting the new Strat to work...

2008-03-16T14:01:00.001-07:00

ManApes playing their "Ides of ManApes" show.

YouTube needs time to process

Happy Birthday to Todd

2008-03-10T10:26:00.001-07:00

Todd's new Hot Rod 1962 Reissue Strat

If you haven't seen the ManApes live yet... it is now time.

Cassidy and Max's 10th Bday

2008-02-19T21:01:00.000-08:00

The brand new 10-yr-olds all dressed up for their favorite birthday activity - church.

The birthday breakfast-in-bed-tradition.

You can probably figure this one out without a caption.

Hawaiian theme party with (Brett)Ogden and (Jamie)Townsend cousins. Plenty of energy at this party, even before cake consumption.

Chuggin coconut milk (incidentally, a lifetime goal of Cole's).

Cassidy and her new guitar (see the vid below for proof that she's not just a po... she can rock with that axe).

Cassidy jammin' a primary tune

2008-02-19T20:57:00.000-08:00

After a flawless and quiet performance at church, this is the video of Cassidy attempting an encore performance at her family b-day party. You may hear evidence of young family members in the background.

Cassidy & Max Snowboarding

2008-01-22T06:49:00.000-08:00

Highly artistic vid of our family board trip to SolVista Basin last week. I felt like I needed to make up for my blog laziness.

Cassidy and Max - Halloween 07

2007-11-01T15:12:00.000-07:00

Enjoy...

Florida with Granny Ogden

2007-10-02T12:33:00.000-07:00

See the ManApes in Action

2007-09-14T16:43:00.001-07:00

ManApes covering "16 Tons" live at Pikes Perk Coffee Shop in Colorado Springs.

2007-09-12T10:34:00.002-07:00

Am I supposed to blog something about this? I'll blog later. For now, just watch the vid.

2007-09-12T10:34:00.001-07:00

My son... We're very proud of him.

2007-08-26T17:28:00.000-07:00

Max inherited his mom's bladder, and on this occasion has been left with no choice but to relieve himself in a parking lot. Please click for more detail.

A great performance by The Hoff...

2007-08-26T17:26:00.000-07:00

Welcome to my blog.

2007-08-25T17:11:00.000-07:00

I'm just so excited to have a blog and share with you some of the things that bring our family happiness. Enjoy...