Baby Alexis in Utah

I just returned from a wonderful trip out to Utah to visit Amy, Aaron, and their new baby Alexis!

It was a fairly quick trip (Thurs-Mon) but we packed in plenty of things and got to spend some quality time together. Thursday morning I arrived at the airport and met my dad and brother there. Amy carted us home and gave us a grand tour of their house. They basically re-did the whole house after they bought it and it looks great. My favorite part you ask? The sink in the downstairs bathroom! How sweet is that!?

After the tour of the house we went to the Tahitian Noni headquarters where there is a beautiful botanical garden. It was really cool to see because everything was so green and lush amidst the desert. It ended up being a scorcher that day so we didn't make it for too long!




Mom & Dad enjoying the gardens (especially the shade)!









The next day we spent out on the boat! It was a perfect day for wakeboarding - the water was glass! Plus it was another hot day, perfect for enjoying the breeze from the boat and the nice cool water. Here is Mike and I wakeboarding.

They also had a surf board that was a lot of fun, but unfortunately Mike had a bit of a mishap with the board and ended up with 2 black eyes!

The next day we had the baby blessing for Alexis. She was so well behaved the whole time and looked amazing in her beautiful dress!

There were almost 60 people in attendance to show their love for the little girl. Afterward, Amy & Aaron served up a great meal and we all ate outside.

On our last day in Orem, Utah the boys and girls split up. The boys went shooting & dirt biking on the mountain side, while the girls went to the outlet mall (got some cute baby stuff).

That night we celebrated my dad's 61st birthday (although his real birthday is today)!

Happy Birthday Dad!

For the rest of the night we played the game Scrabble Upwards which is soo addicting and really fun (especially when you keep messing up Amy's grand schemes ;) !

Here are some last pictures of all of us with Baby Alexis - can you believe Aaron's arm is long enough to get us all in a self portrait! Haha! Good to see you fam, can't wait to see the rest of the Meier clan at Xmas :)

I'm on a Boat!!!

Yes, that's right ladies and gentlemen! We have finally found someone with a boat! Now all we have to do is become better friends with him...

Mind you, this is no ordinary boat. This is a devoted Wake Boarding boat! And possibly the nicest boat I have ever been on. Thank You Tyson for taking us out on it!

This boat came complete with the Wake Boarding Cage, two hook and board holder.

It also comes with a giant Excalibur 330 Engine

I even got to drive this beast! Yay Me!

So even though Chrissy has only been wake boarding one time in her life, she showed us how to get up out of the water every time. And with so much easy and beauty! She is definitely a natural!

Then I tried my hand at it. I have been wake boarding one time and thought this was going to be easy after watching Chrissy. Apparently I was wrong. It was a lot harder than she made it look. After a couple of tries though I was able to finally get up out of water.

Then it was time to let the professionals take over and show us how it was done. Andy and Tyson have definitely done this a time or two.

It was a great day on the waters of Lake Washington! Definitely something we are going to have to do again.

But wait, there's more. Me, Chrissy, Matt and Kristin went on the Argosy cruise of Elliot Bay (Puget Sound). It was pretty cool getting some history while we toured the harbor. But what made the trip was the clouds that came in. They made for some pretty cool pictures!

No trip is complete without souvenirs. Instead of paying the $10/picture we took a free picture of the pictures ;) Check out the faces on Matt and Kristin's Faces!

That's all for today folks! And remember, when you are going to fall in the water, be sure to plug your nose!

Egan Family Vacation '09

Two weeks ago the Egan family was once again reunited! My Mom, Dad and Brother (Kim, Kim, Jesse) came out to visit me and Chrissy! Yayy! They stayed for a full week and we had such a great time! It was so nice to see my family again. Although before we start the blog, I just want to say

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!

When me and Chrissy arrived at the airport, they were easy to spot. The Egan's like to show their excitement by cheering, jumping, clapping and dancing around. EganNation was back in full effect. Go Team!

The first stop on their trip to Seattle was to hit up the Aquarium. We viewed tanks full of fish, octopus, eels, sea amenities, otters, seals and other aquatic life. We even got to touch some of the amenities and jelly-type sea creatures! Afterward we of course had to hit up the Public Market. This is a must for all tourists in order to sample what Seattle has to offer. We ended up getting some vegetables and King Salmon to grill up later that night.

After Jesse hit up the first Starbucks we were assaulted by a band of bag men and women. These plastic people were preaching about how bad plastic bags are for the earth. In fact, Seattle will soon be passing a 0.12 cents charge per plastic bag at grocery stores in order to promote reusable bags.

Jesse was constantly commenting on all of the random art throughout the city. Being an urban artist himself, this is definitely a city I could see him in.

That night we grilled up our fresh goods from the market for a special Extended Family Dinner. The real family got to meet the rest of the Seattle Fam. The next day was made the journey through the EMP (Experience Music Project). Full of musical memories and memorables, the EMP is place to showcase the earlier time in music. Seattle is famous for many big names in the music industry including (but not limited to) Quincy Jones, Heart, Nirvana, Presidents of the United States, Pearl Jam, Sir-Mix-A-Lot and Jimi Hendrix. We even got to have a jam out session in the interactive portion of the EMP.

We then took the trip to the top of the Space Needle. Also, I'm proud to say that my dad handled it well for being so afraid of heights. Even though this is a typical tourist attraction, I still recommend checking it out at least once.

We also had to stop to check out the Fremont Troll.

Later that night we had dinner with our family friends, Tom and Patti McAndrews. They graciously had us over for some delicious ribs! We were gonna need the energy for the next morning's adventure; the return of Mt. Si! Don't worry all we didn't make them suffer through big Mt. Si, we did little Mt. Si. See ( Yay, Friends! [Part2]) for a description.

Jesse even found a giant slug and decided to have it as a snack.

It is always a rewarding feeling to climb to the top of things. Nature can be so magnificent sometimes and we should all enjoy it as much as possible. Which brings us to our next event: The Safari trip. Located in Central Washington is a vast quantity of protected land inhabited by various animals. At some points we even got close enough to touch the animals.

I'm actually just kidding about the Safari. It was really at Woodland Zoo in Seattle that has very natural looking exhibits. Few animals are actually behind bars or glass cages. This zoo was by far the best zoo I have ever been to. There is enough to take in for atleast 2-3 days. The final day we decided to go out for a nice dinner and fresh food. Chrissy, Jesse and my Mom decided to order the Lobster Specialty. Thinking this was going to be a typical lobster tail, we were all surprised to see full lobsters, eyes, ears and everything included. After figuring out how to crack them open to get at the meat, everyone was loving the food. It was an entertaining experience for both them and myself.

Leaving your friends and family is the hardest part of moving away. Although we are working on getting others here. I think Jesse will be the easiest to convince. And if we get him out here, then Matt will next up. Isn't that right Matt?

Thanks again to my Mom, Dad and Jesse for coming to visit us. All and All it was a fabulous trip and it was so nice to see the family once again! We will now leave you with wobbly faces.