Kaya Kinnerley Newton Day 1

We are rapidly approaching the end of one of the best and worst days of my life. Tiff was scheduled for a possible C section as Kaya has been breech for about 2 weeks. We came in at 5am. They prepped her for a C section and then at 7:15am the doc checked and she had turned, put her head down and was getting ready to join us. Fast forward to around 4pm the doc came back, unhappy about the progress and decided to do the C section. When they broke Tiff's water it was green so they knew Meconium(Poop) was present and had the NICU respiratory team standing by to suction Kaya. The C section went well but once she was out they found she had aspirated a lot of meconium. I watched as 5 then 7 then 11 people worked on my little girl. They had to intubate her. It was very touch and go for a while, I felt like I was in a scene from ER. Then once in the NICU she started having what they thought were seizures possibly due to blood on her brain or oxygen starvation. Right now that has ceased and may have just been normal infant reaction to life on the outside. It is now 12:15 am and they just pulled her off the ventilator. Things are looking slightly better, but now we have the possibility of infection due to the meconium she inhaled. Tiff is recovering well and I just wheeled her up to see Kaya.
I have no idea what time she was born and all the weights I heard during the chaos were in Kilos but they tell me she weighed in at 5lbs 3oz
Our little girl is alive and fighting.
Prayers, kind thoughts, and good vibes are welcome offerings.

Our little Girl


Proud Brothers

26.2

Today is June 12, I've had this day circled on the calendar for 5 months. I've trained my everlovin ass off for today, and it was almost a disaster, almost.

My training was going well till I took that week and a half off for the Selway trip. I came home from that and ran my final 20 miler and completely messed up my Illiotibial band which runs from your hip to knee. I hurt it to the point I couldn't finish my other runs and actually walked home from a few runs almost in tears. I was completely unsure what today would bring and the prospects of even finishing were not good. Thanks to a some creative stretching and a varitable cornucopia of modern medicines I was able to pull it off. Not as fast as I had hoped but it was my first time and the hip and knee gave me a little trouble. I did sub-4 it though.


The Girl in the red is Jenny Davidson, This was all her fault.
I had spent about 2 years just happily running. Usually 5-10 miles and the occasional longer run. I was happy, I enjoyed running, then one fateful day Jenny called and queried me, "you ever gonna do anything with the running?" So here we are. I had just caught up to her badass self after 23 miles of trying.
I know some of you are gonna make some wise crack about me running shirtless. I'm ok with that. I may have been one of only 2 guys that were shirtless but I was NOT one of the 15-20 guys with bloody nipples bleeding all down their shirts. Put some ducktape on those puppies for hell's sake. I finally had to take my shirt off as it was soaked from the 2 hours of hard rain at the start and it was keeping me cold.

My sister-in -law Michelle made this and bought it to me.
Thanks Shell, you rock!

Chompin on a post-race Creamie while I waited for my Shirt. I guess most marathoners aren't 6'6". All things considered it went well, I enjoyed it and I'll likely do it again, but not tomorrow.
They say you can learn a lot about yourself in 26.2 miles.
What did I learn?
26.2 miles is a Hella long way to run.

Mustache May, it's not an easy month.

I'm writing this feeling a little melancholy over the last day of a difficult yet fantastic month. I typically loathe the month of May. Anyone who has seen me in the last 31 days is painfully aware that it is Mustache May once again. For me Mustache May began in Moab working for Western River Expeditions. They had some weird rule about facial hair that would only allow for Mustaches. For some unknown reason the owners thought that beards looked unprofessional. So in a rebellious uprising we all got together to show them how arbitrary the rule was. We decided if they didn't want beards they would get a group of pedophile look-a-likes running river trips. Thus were the humble beginnings. As a group of guides we have for the most part lost touch with one another. The one thing that still unites us is the pain we all continue to endure every May. Call it insanity, call it stupid, call it commitment to friends and an idea. We endure. Mustache May for me has grown, I brought it to UVU as a flight instructor and eventually to Skywest. I take alot of heat during the month and I'm aware that I look like an idiot, but after 13 years of Mustache May I'm getting used to the abuse. So we went to Noah's baseball game the other night and ran into our neighbor Wendy. I may have started the smack talk by making fun of her high heels but she quickly retorted with some wisecrack about the stache. You would think it ended there but no. We went to church yesterday where we had a combined meeting for the 5th sunday. As the meeting began I noticed that Wendy and her Husband Tyler were doubled over in a giggle fest. As I tried to figure out what they were laughing at I looked to the front of the room to see the Bishop sticking a fake mustache to his face. Tiff and Tyler then sported theirs as did a half dozen others. I think the old folks in the ward wondered what the hell was happening. All I can say to Wendy is, Well Played, I'll never make fun of your heels again. This year instead of shaving tonight at midnight, I'm going to make it one more day. I fly tomorrow with a fellow patron of Mustache May. So tomorrow we will be team Stache. Then I can shave tomorrow night in Gillette, WY. How apropos.

There were a few very bright spots to the Month for me. Namely a 4 day self support kayak trip down Idaho's Selway River. The Selway flows through the Selway-Bitteroot Wilderness in northern Idaho. It is one of the most difficult river permits in the nation to aquire. They allow only one launch per day of no more than 16 people. I was invited to go with a fantastic group of 9 paddlers. The river was at it's peak runoff for the year and it was HUGE. Having all of your gear for 4 days stuffed in the back of your kayak makes it all the more challenging. A swim on this trip would have meant a lost boat, lost gear, no food, and a 47 mile hike out. We drove for hours to get there, got rained on everyday but not all day, and ran rapids that had me scared like a little school girl. Many of that rapids were on scale with the biggest in the Grand Canyon. It was one of the greatest trips of my life and I would do it again in an instant.

Gauge at the put-in reading 5.2 = BIG water


The Coveted Selway Permit



View of Double Drop Rapid.
not the biggest but not the smallest either.
It's on par with Lava in the Grand.


Breakfast on the bridge above Moose Creek.
We didn't get on the water this day until 2pm.
We were there 4 days and only actually in our boats for about 7 hours.


Camp on the last night.

My good friend Shannon (that's GOOD friend not Girlfriend for you smartasses that doubt my integrity) has put together a far more exhaustive report of the trip on her blog. please view it here http://team-zubs.blogspot.com


Shannon and I rallied home after the Selway so she could get back to California and so I could load up the raft and the boys and the dog and My beautiful prego wife and drag them all down the desolation daily run for an overnighter. We had the time of our lives and the dog eventually learned to stand on the whitewater platform I built for her.

Boys, boats, dog, what else is there?


Some of you I know think I'm a slacker and possibly a bad Father.
To you I ask, do they look happy or no?
I'm not as bad a dad as you might think.

I may be bias but I challenge you to find a more beautiful woman anywhere.
My Tippy is a trooper, and she looks hot even with a belly in the desert!


The boys, practicing the art of just being.


Got the duckie out for some paddlin


Ani chased us as we paddled.
She's a great water dog.


Moose, just being Moose.



We had no where to be, so we chilled riverside style.


Then we tossed the big black dog back on the boat



and made for home.

Stopped at Rays for a cheesburger, and rolled on to Mapleton,
Physically, emotionally, and Spiritually Full!
Probably the best week of my life.
Peace out yo!

And so it begins.....

The paddling season is officially here. This past weekend was the first of the Black Canyon of the Bear releases. About 85 boaters from around the west showed up for good times and good paddling. I made the trip up to Grace Idaho with a great crew of people. Thanks to Shan for the pics I have stolen from her blog.

This pic is taken from the Grace Bridge looking down stream. In the lead is Johnnie A. Unfortunately, he is not in his boat, he took a bad swim. Chasing him is Ray, then Dowd is upside down, Shan superstylin behind Dowd, and I'm hanging on in the back just trying to survive. Nothin but good times!!

Basketball, and why I'm not scared of no Dirl.

Noah finished up his first year of Basketball last week. I couldn't commit to being the coach because of my unknown schedule, but in the end I only missed one game and his coach was more than happy to let me help out. As it turns out, coaching 2nd graders in Basketball is alot like "Herding Cats", that is to say it's damn near impossible to get them to do what you want. We had a good time though and improvement was seen.

lil' Johnny Stockton


Our "Post up" move needs some work, namely that you "post up" on the post blocks down under the basket, not so much at half court.


After basketball was over I was presented with two dilemmas that had me frightened, first we found out that we are having a girl, and second I was informed that Cub scouts and their fathers had to bake a cake for the Scouts "Blue and Gold" banquet, an event that took all of 3 minutes to remind me of my profound dislike of scouting. However, my desire to be a good well rounded father overcame my feelings for scouting and I dove in to the cake baking with Noah. I also figured my skillz with cakes will come in handy when my daughter (holy shit, did I just say daughter?) when my daughter gets an frickin EZbake oven.

Anyway, here's the finished product.


That's right, it's a Kayaker
what did you expect a fairy princess?



These three guys ain't scared of no little Dirl.
We can be "In touch with our feminine sides" without being a bunch-o-sissies!
My little girl's gonna be the best female kayaker in the family.

It's a Dirl

Max tends to struggle with his pronunciation of the letter G, but we went to the ultrasound folks today to find out that the first female Newton will arrive around July 26th. So as Max has been saying for the last 3 months, "It's a Dirl"

Hap, Hap, Happy New Year

I have really been meaning to post an end of year blog with fabulous pictures of all the great times we had in 09. But, alas, I am just too lazy. After making a Salmon River DVD and making Tiff's New Year Calendar, I have had enough of scrolling though last years pics. So here is what we've been up to thus far in the 2010.

I take Ani running most mornings but usually we walk her out in the fields 3-4 times a week.

This is her "can I please have a treat" face

This is the "You WILL give me a treat" face
Zoom in on this to really scare yourself


Pheasant Landing zone

Then we did some Baptizin.
Noah did fantastic, everyone did a wonderful job making it a special day for Noah. Uncle Greg even played his Guitar and sang. It could not have gone better. Thanks to everyone that came and participated.

The family on the big day.

The kids both got climbing harnesses for Christmas but the rocks around here are mostly under snow, so, we decided to practice rappelling from the tree in the backyard.
It was a success!


Noah tying a figure 8
(Yes mom, I checked it)

Just chillin in midair.


It's going to be a good year.