Hiking, web development, best practices, and general awesomeness
Now that 2017 is officially up and going it's about time to solidify some of my goals for the new year. I already talked about how 2016 was for me and hinted at a few areas of growth that I want to focus on moving forward. Which may be a bit optimistic, as Katie and I will be welcoming a little girl…
Thanksgiving Day is one of the few weekdays that I truly take off from work. Katie is busy with cooking and I like to spend the time with my boys doing things that we usually avoid on the weekends, like checking out popular hiking areas in the Supes. There was one destination in particular that I…
Noah and Thomas munched on their breakfast in their seats behind me, occasionally breaking out in short bursts of chatter between long periods of quiet eating. I drove the three of us eastward on US-60 under a predawn sky towards Globe. This was my weekend alone with the boys and we had ambitious…
Hiking with the boys has, for the most part, been limited to short outings in San Tan or South Mountain. There are a number of loops in these parks that are less than five miles with wide, easy trails that are perfect for them to wander along. I've tried taking them to the Superstitions a few times…
Several weeks had passed since the boys and I had gone out on a desert hike. I try to take them out on semi-regularly on a little loop in the San Tans near our house, an easy 1.3 miles that Noah is now running through and Thomas rides in the back carrier for the first half and wanders around the…
The drive up to Lost Dog Wash Trailhead is around an hour from my house - a bit on the long side when you have two impatient sons squirming in the back of the van. We survived the drive with minimal issues, though, and pulled into the parking lot just before Chris. Preparation took some time, as it…
A few miles from our house in Gilbert is a little county park that I have barely explored. Well, maybe I misused the word 'little'. San Tan Mountain Regional Park is over 10,000 acres and offers miles and miles of trails. Until now the only loop I've really explored is the Goldmine/Dynamite, both…
On the morning of January 5, 2015, Thomas Neal Emerick was born, our second child. He arrived in a small hospital in Mesa, Arizona after a drawn-out pregnancy that was filled with anticipation and far too much stress. We had a few close encounters over the last few weeks, late-night visits that we…