So Excited

You can laugh at my childlike anticipation if you want, but I am seriously SO EXCITED for Chantry's wedding to see you all! Really. Like, I've been thinking about it everyday for weeks. I know. I just love my family so much! (Including Nora, Chase and Bill, who we will miss severely.)

Now, to figure out what to wear. What is everyone else wearing?

Love, love, love,

Caitlin

Violining Adventures

Yesterday was a pretty big day for me, or at least a pretty long one.  At six in the morning I was picked up and whisked off to a nearby Junior High, where the Utah Valley Youth Symphony had two buses waiting.  We all went up to Abravanel Hall  in Salt Lake City, where there was a festival of sorts for youth orchestras in Utah.  Our group played three pieces, which were the Beethoven Namensfeier Overture, Fantasia On Greensleeves by Vaughn Williams, and the Bauern Polka by Strauss (in that order).  It was a lot of fun.  I have inserted recordings of all three pieces (not our group though, because we aren't allowed to post any of our recordings for reasons mainly involving the director's pride and perfectionism).  

The first two aren't really videos, so don't bother waiting for the picture to change.  The third video is a lot of fun.  If you watch it, pay special attention to the conductor, who is a riot.  The Wiener Philharmoniker plays it, and that is fun to watch/listen to.  When we played that one, the audience had a similar reaction to the one you probably did.  All the texting and giggling stopped and everyone's eyes went wide, which was great.  

This picture is of some of my friends and me in front of Abravanel Hall.  It was a wonderful experience to play there, because it is really big and fancy, and the acoustics are mind-blowing.  Plus, I got to miss all of school.

Later in the day I also had a recital for my private teacher.  I played a Dvorak sonatina, but I don't really like the piece so I am not going to post a video of me or anyone playing it.  It went really well, though, and I didn't do any weird skipping around in the piece or forget anything, which I was worried about doing because it is pretty repetitive which makes memorization tricky.  

Though it's not quite the Junior Iditarod, it was a great day -- though tiring -- and well worth the early morning.  Also, for anyone who will be in town or interested, UVYSO has another performance on March 26 at the Covey Center in Provo.  We will be playing more cool stuff. 

Thank you family!

I just wanted to thank you all for your love and support and for standing by at your computers watching the race updates! It was really, really fun and I am SO glad I was able to do this. By the way, if anyone is around next Christmas time...we just might have some openings available for mushing lessons....I'm not 100% sure but I hear they're from the pro Davis mushing kennel... :)

Thank you everyone!!!

Chelsea! What at gal! We here in Provo are all exhausted from watching the GPS tracking and the leader board following Chelsea across the map. Our hearts stopped (figuratively) when the speed showed O.O mph at about mile 130. They started beating again when we saw the little arrow representing Chelsea and her dogs start moving up the trail again and the speed showed 6.2 mph. Then just a short ways from the finish (about one inch on the map) things seemed to stop again. They they went on again, and then, finally, Jeff called and said SHE IS IN!! 6th place!!! Congratulations, Chelsea, our little sweetheart. Now you have learned how strong your are and that you can do anything you set your mind to.

We hope to devote much of our campfire time this summer (Mark your calendars - August 15 through August 20, Christmas Meadows) to Chelsea for a step by step through the entire Jr. Iditarod. GG

Race Update

So Chelsea was stopped for about 40 minutes, but we don't know why. Hopefully she was just resting her dogs. It is still snowing with probably 2 feet of snow and low visibility. We just got word that a moose went through the front 2 teams, but everyone is OK. They have sent out another snowmachine to make sure everyone is aware of the "moose issue". It may be that Chelsea saw a moose and stopped her team. Anyway she is moving again, and assuming she is on her sled, all is well.

Race Update

Into 3rd place and going strong! In our minds we just want her to finish and run a good race, but in our hearts, we want her to win!

Winter Snow Warning for the Susitna Valley

Well the race goes on. Chelsea left Yentna around 4 this morning and passed the Eagle Song Checkpoint at 6:53, in 5th place. She is now in 4th place and is ahead of all the other girls! We are in the middle of a huge snow storm/blizzard. We got about 1 foot of snow overnight and it is still snowing. So it is going to be slow going. Most of the teams are doing 6 to 8 mph instead of 9 to 11. The heavy snow is good news for Chelsea if she can hang in there. She has big strong dogs built for this kind of weather. The lead team (Seavey, 3rd generation of mushers) has smaller faster dogs made for hard fast trails. The other problem will be seeing the trail markers. If she stays behind the leaders, and they go the right way she should be OK. She also needs to watch out for moose. There are support snowmachiners out there, but since the snow is so deep, the moose don't like to get off the trail. All of the mushers had to spend last night camped out at the checkpoint, so she was in a sleeping bag in a bivy all night. Chelsea has been up on the sled for 4 hours with a good 6 or more hours to go. I know how tired she must be, but hopefully she can hang in there!

Jeff just called us and said that the way you trace Chelsea's race is different than he told us earlier. You go to iditarod.com and then to the big square on the left that says Jr. Iditarod GPS, then follow the directions in the big, black box, which will set you up to follow Chelsea. There's other stuff on there to look at.

Here we go!

Update on Mia!

Hey everyone! I just thought I'd do a little update on what's been going on in my life lately.
School has been going well! I'm taking an honors Anatomy/Physiology class right now that's full of juniors and seniors, which is a little bit intimidating, but I'm really enjoying it. I've always been interested in the medical field, but I think that it's now something I'd really enjoy going into. I've started volunteering at the hospital. It's very interesting to be in the environment, but it can get a little boring sometimes (it's not quite like it is in the TV shows like, Scrubs or Grey's Anatomy).
I'm not quite sure what I want to do specifically but, because of my history with epilepsy, neurology has become one of my top interests.
I'm still a member of Student Council and plan on running again next year, and maybe even running for student body president my senior year.
I've also started driving recently! It's definitely easier to drive myself around than to ask my mom to make time to drive me around. I'm babysitting pretty regularly now too, so it's nice to be able to drive myself to and from where I'm sitting.
Oh! I almost forgot, I got my wisdom teeth removed about a month ago. It wasn't a fun experience but there weren't any complications. Plus, there is a funny video of me waking up from the surgery on YouTube. Here's the link to that:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rhO3JGQc6qw&feature=channel_video_title
I guess that's about it! I'm not mushing in the Jr. Iditarod or anything, but I thought I'd let you all know about the little things going on with me. 
I hope all is well!


-Mia


P.S. Here's a picture of my lab partner and me disecting a sheep brain in my Anatomy class:

And here's a picture of me after my Wisdom teeth surgery:

Doni asked for a picture of Grandpa Bill Davis' "green trailer." I found this one, above left, taken the year Doni and Mike got married. They shortened their honeymoon in So. Utah to come join us at Yellowstone River (Utah). After that, Mike was a regular enthusiast of our camping trips and will be forever missed. Going back further in time, the photo above is one of the family trips to Wildhorse in Idaho. It is hard to see, but we are all gathered around the old one-wheeled trailer Grandpa Bill made into a "kitchen." Going back even further, is the picture to the left, of our family at White River, Colorado showing tent and "kitchen." Finally, at the very top is a photo of Grandma Garold and Grandma's first trailer.

Back even further: my first experience on a Davis camping trip was about 1952 or 53 up around Lake of the Woods, Oregon. Grandpa Bill and Grandma Jo didn't have a trailer--not even the one-wheeled one (which I inherited from my dad). They didn't even have a tent. To sleep, Grandpa Bill rolled out a huge tarp, pillows were lined in a row along one edge. Blankets were piled in and the tarp was folded over to cover the blankets. Then we all crawled under this in a row and slept (?) with our nose outside to be a victim to the mosquitos. I stared at that and opted for an outside edge. I must have REALLY been in love with Garold to endure that! My family only went camping once in my entire life and we rented tents up at Big Bear Lake, California. So there you are.

Doni also asked about the people in the photo of the Bannock Chief. Grandpa Bill Davis attached the following to the back of the photo: "On Picture; L-R. Belle Woodall, Henry C. Gorton, Gladys DEWitt, sitting on Ground Pricilla Gorton and Dog under wagon, "NEB" Deam's Prize Bird Dog." These are all Grandpa Bill's relatives. On the front he has attached: "Bannock Chief" by Deam Woodall and Henry Gorton. Built for hunting and fishing.

So the Davises have really gone to high-class camping over the years.

We are really happy to have so many responding about our August camping trip. Lots of birthdays to celebrate. By the way, this year Grandpa celebrates his 80th birthday in October. Maybe we could add him to Lori's and Caitlin's celebration when we return from camping and before everyone takes off for home.

Countdown to race time!

Hi Everyone,
Well, Chelsea completed her last training run (about 30 miles) last night and then practiced what she'll be doing once she arrives at the layover (Yentna River Lodge): Snacking the dogs, lighting her cooker, checking every dog from head to toe (with careful attention to their feet), applying ointment and massaging as needed, feeding a meal of kibble, meat and fat, bedding down the dogs with straw, etc. etc.
Her sled is packed, her paperwork ready for the Vet check at Iditarod Headquarters tomorrow morning and then to the musher's meeting tomorrow evening. The musher's will draw their starting position there, and hear about trail conditions, and such. We'll be staying in Wasilla (dogs and all) Friday night, as we need to be at the start before 8 am. First musher will depart at 10:00! Check the website for updates http://www.jriditarod.com Hard to predict when she'll arrive at the layover or the finish line, but we think she'll finish sometime late morning on Sunday. Thanks for following Chelsea in this amazing adventure!
Love, Gay

Lüneburg, 23 March 2012

Grandpa has reserved two sites (# 8 and #9)at Christmas Meadows for five days: August 13th through 18th. Any or all of you are invited to join us. We hope these dates coincide with your busy schedules at least for a day or two.

MARK YOUR CALENDARS!

Camping is a long-time tradition in the Davis family. I guess you can say it started with the pioneers trekking across the plains to Salt Lake. At the left is a photo of a camping trip taken by the family when they lived in Soda Springs, Idaho in 1912 (coincidentally 100 years ago).This is the camping trailer that Grandpa's grandfather (William Morris Davis) used to take out to stay in for TWO WEEKS! Compare that to the accomodations we offer you in August.

We would love to have you there and hope giving you advanced notice will make it possible. But understand if it just doesn't fit with your calendars.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ERIK!!!!

Today is Erik's birthday. Last night we celebrated together at Erik and Sarah's home. Some of the family went to see The Secret World of Arrietty earlier in the afternoon. Then we had soup, salad, ice cream and cherry/raspberry cobbler (the cobbler became the birthday "cake" with one black and white candle, which Erik managed to blow out with one blow!) Then we heard a really fun report from Nate and Kia of their adventures in Central America. We missed having all of you here. Family get togethers become more and more important as we all go our ways in life.

We really hope Nate and Kia write all their adventures down before they forget them. Believe us, you do forget over time. Grandpa's experience going through the letters Grandma and Grandpa exchanged while he was in the navy made us realize how much we had forgotten.

We love you Erik. We love ALL of you,

Grandpa Garold and Grandma N.

In response to Lori's note on the GGH, it appears that, in all the excitement of seeing Chelsea in the sled dog race last night, I don't think we gave you a good enough link to the site. I've checked it again this morning and here it is:
Alaska Jr Dog Sled Race:2012.mov-YouTube

She is number 6, she is definitely in pink parka, and she appears 3 times in all: starting out and twice on the trail.

Check it out. It is great fun. We were both cheering her on, even though we knew the race was really over by the time we watched it.

After reading all about the start of the WillowJr 100 race on Grandpa Garold Herald and wanting to know more about it, we went online.
For the latest news of the Willow 100 race and Chelsea's standing at the finish, go to willowjr100.weebly.com. Look first at home and scroll down to final standing to see Chelsea's statistics. Then go to photo gallery for more photos of the race--two with Chelsea.

There are lots more sites on google under WillowJr 100 race with some of the same photos.

Great work Chelsea!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO TOMI-ANN!

Willow Jr. 100

Chelsea and Gay ready for the Willow 100 start

More from Talkeetna

Chelsea and co. on the Yentna River.

Post and comment notifications

Hey family,

I set it up so that some people will receive email notifications when there is a new post and/or comment on the blog. However, it would only let me add 10 email addresses, so not everyone can receive notifications. I included at least one person from each family, so you'll have to pass the word along so that those who don't get notifications can get on and read and comment on the new posts. If you want your email address taken off the notification list, email me at caitlinjpbahr at gmail and I can take you off.

I really cannot wait to see everyone at the Davis-Lee wedding. I think about it daily. So excited! See you soon,

Love, love, love,

Caitlin

A neighborhood boy just rang the doorbell and gave us the pink sign you see sitting on our mantel. He made it (with some help from his mother, I suspect) and it reads "Bless your Hearts." I can't think of a better Valentine Day wish for all of you. We love you very much.

We hope you all have happy hearts tomorrow, whatever work you might have to do.

NEWS from Talkeetna

Dogs, dogs, dogs! Over the last few weeks and for the next couple of weeks we have been training dogs for the Jr. Iditarod. A week ago, Chelsea and I did a training trip from Willow, 35 miles up the Yentna River to the Yentna Roadhouse and back. Gay volunteered to stay home and take care of the rest of the dogs and keep the fire going so the house didn't freeze up. Since we heat with wood, if we are gone for too long all of the canned food and any water or other liquid in the house freezes, which is a real pain. It was snowing hard when we left Willow and was around -20 degrees F with about a 20 mph wind. I was driving a snowmachine (that is snow mobile to all of you from the lower 48, they are also called iron dogs, sleds, or snowgoes in the native villages) with food and extra gear and Chelsea followed a few miles behind with 12 dogs. The dogs started off fast, which is about 14 mph, but after a few miles settle down to about 9 mph. The trail cuts across a large muskeg and then drops down a steep hill to the Susitna River wich is a few hundred feet across. It was snowing so hard that I couldn't see the trail. The trail is marked with painted lath stuck in the snow about every 500 feet, but we couldn't see from one marker to the next. So I just looked straight down and followed the snow machine tracks. The dogs just trotted along, the trail was probably obvious to them! We thought it was 45 miles to the Roadhouse, and after 30 miles Chelsea was getting pretty cold and tired, and it was dark, so we stopped and snacked the dogs and Chelsea got off the sled and walked around to warm up. We were not really sure where we were, but started off again. Fortunately we were a lot closer than we thought and after about another 45 minutes we arrived at the roadhouse (which is nowhere near a road). The Yentna Roadhouse is run by a family that has lived there for a long time. There is a downstairs common area with a dining room and bar with a half loft upstairs with rooms. They gave us a half bail of straw for bedding for the dogs and some water. We fed the dogs, watered them and took their harnesses off and spread straw for them to sleep on. The roadhouse is an Iditarod Checkpoint and will be the halfway point when Chelsea runs the Jr. Iditarod race. There is a large wood stove in the common area and all of the walls are covered with Iditarod posters and signed photographs. We were the only guests, so we ate diner at the bar and the owner told us stories about life on the river. We told him we were going to head up the river the next day for a training run and then come back to the lodge for the next night. He asked me if I had a gun, which I didn't, and then insisted that I take one of his the next day. He said the snow was so deep that the moose wouldn't get off the trail and so you would need to fire some shots over their heads to scare them off, or if that didn't work, shoot them before they ran you over! Well he was well into his cups at that point and by the next morning he must have forgotten all about it because he didn't say a thing about a moose or gun. While we were eating breakfast in the dining room we were looking at all the posters, and there on the wall were the articles of faith! Quite a surprise! I asked him if someone in his family was Morman, and he mumbled something as he walked off, so I take it one of his kids or wife's kids is LDS. We didn't see any moose the next day. We actually see way more moose tracks on the trail to our house then we did that day. But it was a clear, pretty day and we had a great run. We went home the next day. In the daylight when it wasn't a blizzard, the trail was about 50 feet wide. We had a great run home and all the dogs did really well. Lots of fun in Alaska! I'll post some pictures the next time we go to town where we have faster internet. We are still on dialup at the house, can you believe it! Dogs, dogs, dogs, three dogs in the house right now, and one of them (Kenai, I think) has gas, PU.

Sarah's father, David Harmon, just forwarded this photo taken of Gwen playing the violin her Grandfather Tippets (Sarah's mother, Laura) made. He once played in a symphony orchestra in San Diego. Gwen played that beautiful and tender "Ashokan Farewell" (from the Civil War series) on this violin at Mr. Tippets' funeral a few months ago.

As I look at this photo, I think of the importance of families--of staying connected--of honoring and preserving the accomplishments of each and every member of the family. There is a purpose and a reason for building everlasting family ties. No one appreciates or understands us as well as other members of the family do. That is because in the family we learn to accept one another's successes and failures, strengths and weaknesses, and learn to recognize and appreciate our own strengths and--yes, weaknesses--at the same time.

Hats off to Gwen. Hats off to Chase. Hats off to Chantry and Stephanie. Hats off the Chelsea. Hats off to Fiona. Hats off to Nora, Caitlin, Henry, Jason, Meridith, Annika, William, Emma, and Mia as you work hard in your studies and grow as you learn. Hats off to Nate and Kia who are completing a goal they worked hard to achieve and begin their lives as a new family and are at the same time a part of our family as a whole.

We love you all, Grandma and Grandpa

Happy Birthday to Jason Bahr today!

Above is a photo of Jason and Caitlin taken when they both graduated from BYU last year.

We are glad he is a part of our family because:
1. He adds interesting ideas and fun to our family get togethers
2. He likes to play computer games with Will and talk Will's talk about the games.
3. We like his smile and generally upbeat attitude
4. He likes jazz and plays several musical instruments: guitar, ukelele, banjo, etc.
5. He works hard at his college studies
6. He is kind to Caitlin
We wish you health, happiness, and joy in all you do.

Love from Garold and Norma

Nate and Kia in the animal rescue center

Thanks, Nate, for your article on the animal rescue center. I am going to forward it to all of my rich friends and suggest they may want to contribute something. Hey, wait a minute, do I have any rich friends? Well I can contribute something. Grandpa Garold