If you get grossed out by people kissing, ignore this post. Here are a couple of more shots from our little shoot in Sandy, UT.

^–Reagan, dancing around in excitement over her new (second hand) glasses.

^—About to get a room, hehe.

Tuesday evening, Reagan’s parents drove us to Kolob Canyon, which is in the northern end of Zion’s National Park. It is only about 20 minutes from where they live. It would be a spectacular sight under any circumstances. But, the way it was lit up in the evening, with the patchy clouds, and contrasting trees/snow, made it absolutely gorgeous.

^—Reagan’s hair dancing around in the wind.

^—Photo by Joe Baker

More photos of Kolob here.

It has been a pretty amazing seven days. We have had a blast hanging out with our families. Monday night we took a trip to the Cedar City bowling alley. Reagan’s parents took us bowling with her brother and sister-in-law. The shot above was Reagan’s idea, since one of the best parts about bowling is the awesome rental shoes.

Before the bowling session, we were able to wander around town with some of Reagan’s friends and hit some thrift shops, etc.. We also dropped by Reagan’s old hair school, to say what’s up. It was beautiful weather, all day. The temperature was in the 50’s and the sky was as blue as can be.

Here are a couple other of my favorite shots around town:

This is the part of vacation that is kind of a bummer. It is that part where, although you are still on vacation, it is hard to enjoy yourself, because you know it is almost over. And, the stress of the logistics of traveling back coupled with the stress of having to catch up on real life again start to weigh you down. Maybe I’m wound a little too tightly. Hehe.

Nothing caps off a mini-family reunion like family photos. It was a pretty miraculous ordeal, considering all of the logistics. Highlights included, watching a huddle of moms try to position all of the grandkids:

Kelton’s awesome face, during the huddle:

And last but not least, my brother Pete bribing my autistic sister Laura to be in the group photo. After everyone had tried their hand at coaxing and pep-talks, cash money spoke the loudest. Genius move, Pete.

It has been pretty crazy in SLC, so far. Reagan and I have been loving every second of it. Here is a little taste of what we have been up to, since we arrived.

^—–Reagan holding our new little niece Clover

^—-Me, holding our new little niece Penelope

While NYC was having a snow day (our firm even closed early), I was having a little bit of a snow day of my own, enjoying all of the fresh pow that had fallen the night before. I took Reagan back country snowshoeing/snowboarding for the first time in her life. She loved it. I was so impressed by her toe touch, while wearing snow shoes.

^—-Looking down at Little Cottonwood Canyon from UT back country.

^—-”Flipping out” over all of the fresh powder. Heheh, I couldn’t resist, the pun.

Yes yes. How many times have I thrown up photos like this one before? Right? As I mentioned earlier this week, my Nike Plus sportband died on me, again. This is the third time it has happened. My cousin Liz suggested that I just abandon the sportband and go with the Garmin. I am almost to that point. I probably would have done just that, if it weren’t for the ever smooth and adept Nike customer service team. That, and the super cool staff at the running store in my building. I called Nike, who quickly trouble shot my watch with me and determined that it was a dud. They suggested that I try returning it where I bought it, before  sending it back to Nike. So I called Urban Athletics, who told me they would trade it straight across, for a new one. So, here we go. Sportband number 4 (pictured above). Treat me right, baby.

Switching gears completely, Reagan and I will be flying out west tomorrow. We have not been to the land of Deseret (yes that is Deseret, not desert), also know as the beehive state, since 2008 for my sister’s wedding. Since that time, one nephew and two nieces have joined the family. We have not met any of them yet. So, we have been anticipating this visit for quite a while.

Reagan and I were having a lot of anxiety about being able to go, because of Piper’s condition. But, it seems like she is on a pretty good plane, at the moment. God willing, things will continue that way, at least until we can return. Additionally, some of our amazing friends have agreed to take care of our car. Our lovely friends, the Alaska/Hofstra missies will be keeping an eye on our pad for us.

We will be taking a notebook computer with us (mostly so Reagan can play the cake building game). But I’m not sure how much posting we will get done over the next week. So, if it tends to be sparse, that is the reason.

^_____Reagan, waiting for the A after our Piper visit on Sunday morning

Now that January is officially over, I’m starting to come to terms with the fact that 2010 is really here and well underway. February is going to be a big month for us. First of all, it is Reagan’s birthday is on Thursday. Woo hoo! Apparently, she is getting pissed off about people telling her that she is entering her “late twenties.” So, if you talk to her about, try to avoid that characterization.

Piper will most likely be moving back to Blythedale in the next couple of weeks (possibly next week). We are pretty excited about that, and what it represents, as far as her recovery from this illness that she has had.

Mercedes Benz Fashion week is also this month, starting next week. I’m already booked for one event, but hoping to get a couple more things lined up. There are a few possibilities in the works, so I’m keeping my fingers crossed.

At the end of the month, assuming that Piper is in good shape again by then, we are planning to make a stop out west, to visit our new little nieces and nephew. It will be a really huge thing for us, since my entire family will be there (except Piper ), even the ones from Alaska.

Finally, for something completely random: Check out this slide that I found on the sidewalk, over the weekend. I haven’t seen a slide in ages! Some people pick up change. I pick up this (someone’s trash). Hehehe.

We were able to see Piper in real life, this morning, for the first time in over a week. She definitely looked like she is doing better. It was tough for us to get a real sense of how she is feeling though, since she slept during the entire time that we were there. Her nurse said that she thinks Piper has her days and nights mixed up. I don’t blame you, lil’ Pip. If I had been drugged into a coma like they had you, I probably would have a lot more than my days and nights mixed up. Even though we were kind of bummed that we couldn’t see her awake, it was really really nice to see her, at all.

Reagan and I still aren’t feeling 100% better. But we just threw on some face masks and called it “good enough.” Although, Reagan wouldn’t wear her’s over her nose– hahaha.

Piper’s A-line is now out. So, the only remaining inter venous line is her center line. She is still getting a pretty stiff cocktail of meds through it, but in each case the dose is much smaller. Her nurse also told us that they are going to try to get her completely off of the nitric this week, as well as the morphine. She didn’t say anything about the NG tube (the one going into her nose), but hopefully that will be coming out soon, too. I’m sure that it drives Piper completely crazy. Such a tough little girl.

Earlier this month, I received an email from my brother Peter about contributing to the La Musica Coolica feature of Jake’s New Blog. He told me that my commentary about music was getting tired, and needed to be refreshed. Hahahaha. He didn’t really tell me that. But he did offer to chime in with some track selections and commentary of his own. Of course I gladly accepted.

Doing some sort of online collab’ with my brothers is something that I have had a desire to do for quite a while. Back in the day, I registered jakensam.com, in the hopes that I could get my brother Sam to publish a flash cartoon with me, or something. As it turns out, Sam was more interested in WOW than in publishing marginally funny flash sketches. So, it never really materialized, and I let the registry lapse. Alas my excitement to collaborate in online debauchery with brothers has been renewed, with receipt of the email from Peter.

Pete, like myself is a bit of a music junkie. He will now be authoring LMC on the final Tuesdays of the month (possibly more), starting January 26, 2010.

By way of  background, my brother Peter Breinholt, is not he balding musician from Salt Lake City. He is the apron wearing accident magnet from San Diego (for another week). Pete and his wife are in the process of moving from San Diego to Salt Lake, so that they can be near our other siblings with their new baby, while he finishes his undergraduate studies. He is a great guy, who isn’t afraid to get creative with his facial hair. He has a technical understanding of precision photography that I am extremely envious of. He is well read, and thoroughly versed in the various ways to turn java from a bean into a delicious beverage. He is no stranger to the ER, with more first-person accounts of possibly life-threatening pedestrian-auto accidents (always playing the role of pedestrian), than most stunt men.  Also, his initials are PJB, the same as Piper. So, you know he’s cool. You can read more about his latest developments on his blog Idiotbook.

Piper had a pretty uneventful day, Saturday. Being that she tends to become agitated and de-sat when she is awake, she was kept a bit more sedated. The doctors took another X-ray of her in the evening, which came back almost the same as it was Thursday. Although we would have liked to have had it clear up a little bit by now, there are a few other things that have indicated that she is at least moving in the right direction. One thing, is that her white blood cell count has come down. That generally means that her body isn’t having to battle the infection as hard anymore. We have also been told that her blood-gas readings are still becoming progressively better.

I can’t help but think how lucky we are to live within walking distance to one of the world’s best children’s hospitals. It is so amazing to be able to come home and sleep in our own beds, and know that if something crazy happened, in the middle of the night, we could be right there in 5 minutes. We are always so impressed with the way that Piper’s doctors and nurses at Columbia have treated her and us, during her time spent there. Truly, enough can’t be said to praise them for what they do.

These are also the times that we realize how incredibly fortunate we are, to have such amazingly supportive family and friends. Even though we are so far from our families, they have done an excellent job of letting us know that they are there for us (and would be here for us, in the flesh, if we so much as made the request).

Saturday night we took a break from the hospital and  spent some time with some of our friends, having dinner, and just hanging out for a bit. It was so nice to have a little bit of a break from hospital. It was also nice for both Reagan and myself to be able to talk to some people face to face, besides each other, or nurses and doctors. Heheheh. Not that we don’t love spending time together, and chatting it up. But I’m sure that you can imagine, the conversations have been pretty heavy for the last few days. It tends to wear a person out.

Thanks again for all of the thoughts, prayers and positive vibes.