It's My Life

Labor Day

2011-09-12T11:02:00.008-07:00

We adventured down to G'ma and G'pa Carter's house for the weekend. Such great fun! We squished G'ma and Auntie Bec in the car with us for the ride down... and with the constant attention, Tess was pretty tolerable for the ride down. And of course, once there, Tess was spoiled rotten. That is probably the worst thing about visiting anyone. Tess comes home with the expectation that she will be held and played with ALL DAY LONG. Poor kid.

We gave my dad a Camelbak for his birthday this year, and we thought this would be the perfect time to break it in. Our plan was a hike to a nice waterfall (since it had been, oh... three weeks since Jason's last waterfall fix.) On the way, we detoured to The Gap. As in The Parowan Gap. It's a pretty important/impressive place. If you've never heard of it, you've never had dinner with my grandparents.

There are tons of pictographs on the walls of this pass. Some of them are thought to be calendars, notating the best time of year to conceive or plant crops. We decided that some of the markings are just doodles from the guy who had to sit there for a year to mark when the sun hit a particular place in the canyon at a particular time. He probably got pretty bored. Tess wasn't incredibly impressed. It might have something to do with the small rain storm that opened up on us for a few minutes. It felt like fall, and I was in love. The rest of us thought it was a pretty cool stop. We finally have pictures to compare with Great Grandpa Carter, though his detail the actual carvings MUCH better.

The second part of our adventure was a short hike up to a nice waterfall. It was so beautiful!! And cool. It made me so very excited for the coming Autumn!

I took the wrong lens to capture the whole waterfall... so just take my word that it is a nice 25ft er. There were a group of boys repelling down it (who assured us the water was freezing) and I think Jason is planning another adventure to do some canyoneering. Anyone interested?

Albion Basin Adventure

2011-08-25T09:39:00.009-07:00

We missed the Wild Flower Festival this year because of our string of Family Reunions. So sad. Luckily, my aunt went up the other day and said the flowers were absolutely amazing, so we decided to have a picnic up there.

It was AMAZING. I mean, the flowers are always good, but this year, they were great!!! Again, excuse my photo skills. The hills were covered will all different colors. Yellows and pinks, reds and blues... white and green. If we had spent less time eating, we would have had more sunlight, and a million more pictures. And yes, I'd make you sit through a slide show of all of them... Wha.ha.ha.ha. Oh well. I can't even tell you how much enjoyment I STILL get from naming off the flowers. (FYI, Jason still tries to call most of the berry bushes he sees "raspberries." Will he never learn?!)

The weather was perfect. About a million degrees cooler then the valley (and our apartment). The down side to this is that the mosquitoes also thought it was pretty fantastic weather. Giant swarms hovered around us... laughing as we slapped at eachother and danced like idiots to keep them at bay (reminiscent of our Glacier trip with mosquitoes the size of golf balls swarming us... or the Amethyst Lake Hike that I found as a draft from last year and will post soon).

I was a super bad mom and demanded that Tess be in some photos outside of the Moby, despite the bugs. One day, you'll thank me, Baby. In my defense, she only ended up with one bite, so our slapping and dancing must have been pretty effective. Or perhaps she doesn't have my insanely sweet blood that calls to mosquitoes from miles around.

We're frantically trying to cram another trip up there this week before the flowers are gone. I'm hoping they will last through next week. Why does the end of the summer have to be so full of fun things!!?!?! (Yes, this is a bad, blurry picture... But since Jason usually hauls around Tess, and I get the camera, there is a concern that I'm never in any of the photos and that we don't have any "Family" photos... I'm hoping to replace it as soon as I get the photos my Aunt took.)

Murdock Basin Adventure

2011-08-25T08:37:00.009-07:00

This time last year, we went for a drive up the Uintas. Jason had found a new waterfall he wanted to find at the bottom of Murdock Basin where the Duchesne Tunnel starts. But... that incredibly rocky road and my early stages of pregnancy didn't mix. I was pretty sure I was going to vomit all over and then die.

So we tried again this year. The road was just as bumpy as I remembered, but with Tess sitting beside me, instead of inside of me, things worked out pretty nicely. I was only a little concerned her neck would snap, and she seemed delighted by the rough driving conditions.

We wandered around the lake, and Jason showed Tess the fish. If only we had our poles. I was surprised at how little water there was down there after such a wet winter and so much flooding elsewhere. They really do divert a ton of water. Luckily there was enough for Jason to dip Tessa's feet into. She is becoming incredibly proficient at contorting her body away from cold water. I've tried to explain that she might as well get used to it, since her dad can't help but do it any time we see any amount of water.

The waterfall was fantastic. (If you look carefully, Jason and Tess are the tiny dot to the left of the falls, midway up). Much like her Daddy, Tess was in love with the cool spray and the loud rumble of the water. She was so distracted by the falls, I had a hard time getting her to look at the camera. I think this is one of our new favorite waterfalls.

We ended the adventure with a hike down the gorge.

It was absolutely beautiful. As usual, I haven't figured out how to capture the colors very well, but just take my word that they were lovely. We had to clamber over rocks for quite a while before we found any water.I think the pools are my favorite part. I imagine coming back in the middle of the day and playing in the little scoops. As we headed out, a nice thunder storm rolled it. It was the perfect end to a lovely adventure. Tess slept for most of the bumpy ride out, and we've decided that she'll fit into our family pretty well.

All About Tessa

2011-07-08T21:11:00.003-07:00

Yep. I've given up being any good at blogging.

Luckily, I had myself a kid... so there is plenty of stuff to show. And for that, I've switched over to a Tumblr account. So if you want to see millions of pictures of Tess, head here:

http://jandkchristensen.tumblr.com/

Cheers!

Havasupai Adventure

2010-05-14T20:36:00.007-07:00

(I wrote this a million years ago, and at least one lifetime past. Not sure why I never published it... or a handful of others that will follow)

I'd never been backpacking before.

Not sure that I actually ever thought it was something I'd want to do. Heavy packs. Crappy Food. No showers.

But we'd been talking about this place called Havasupai. and then grandpa made us watch his family home movies about the family adventures to the waterfalls every time we visited. So we made a few phone calls. A lot of phone calls. Because it is: 1. Very hard to get a hold of someone at the reservation office. 2. Insanely difficult to get reservations for the dates you want, even three months in advance. 3. Impossible to add additional people to the group later in the season.

By February, we had a group of ten people relatively committed to the adventure for the first week of May.

There were a million times I tried to back out. It was going to be hard. I was going to be slow. I would feel responsible for other's enjoyment. Blah Blah Blah. But after gathering supplies and doing a passible packing job, printing out maps, gathering fees, and texting instructions until my fingers were numb, I found myself in the car bound for Arizona.

A group of us stayed at my parent's house, because they are fantastic and also strategically placed between us and many destinations. (Thanks for always letting us stay with you!)

The next day we drove to Vegas and and played with babies. Turns out, I have old roommates and coworkers who have congregated down there, and who trust me to play with their wee ones for a while. Tons of fun! You guys have beautiful babies that smell SO GOOD!

Finally, after fantastic traffic delays and dam viewing, we found ourselves at the Trailhead to Supai. We slept in our cars. Not an awful plan, and I'd probably do it again, but there has got to be a better way.

At the crack of Arizona Dawn, which is much more like 6:30am Utah time, we got up and strapped our packs to our car seat crumpled bodies. Much of our gear was borrowed, so I'd never really worn my pack before. Who knew it takes so much effort to adjust a bag to your body, and who knew my body was so disproportionate? In fact, I didn't find the optimal settings until the last two miles ON THE WAY BACK OUT. But instead of thinking how ridiculous that is, lets just be impressed by the added difficulty of a misleveraged pack.

The first mile in/last mile out should have a name. A name like "mile of death" or "purging mile." You can't appreciate it from pictures. Unless you are dodging mule trains in 90degree heat in the pictures while the rest of your group is cheering you on from the top. But once to the bottom, the walk is phenomenal. Shaded wash beds with wildflowers and mules popping out all over.

The village is a welcome stopping place... and about as depressing as you would imagine it to be. It is here you pay and arm and a leg (though absolutely worth the cost) for your permits and camping fees. You can stop for a few more supplies and be impressed at the number of trampolines that have magically florished in the desert oasis.

And then it is time to hit the trail again, and head for the campgrounds. The waterfalls start appearing and you realize that while hard and exhausting, this is going to be absolutely worth every minute.

We set up camp and I took a life saving nap while some of our group went to explore. At night, we all whipped out our newly purchased pocket rocket stoves and I ate my first freeze dried back camping meal. Not too shabby.

Though I should take a moment to explain that I hiked in a brick of White Cheddar cheese from Costco. It was fabulous! Made all of our hiking food much more palatable. And the camp crow thought so to. He managed to move two rocks, pull the cheese out of the creek, strip it of one plastic bag, and was working on the second by the time Jason woke up and saw what was going on. I have immense appreciation for the intelligence of crows.

The next two days were full of playing in waterfalls. From the campground, all of the waterfalls are within about four miles. And the water is "reasonably" warm. There are so many incredibly fantastic places to explore and take pictures. We had a blast!

The hike out was tolerable, until that last mile. Yes, I thought I was going to die. but it is one of those things you just have to do in order to get to the end. Kind of line giving birth, I suppose. Ridiculously hard, but you don't really have much of a choice after you get to a certain point. There is no triumph quite like reaching the top and getting to sit in your air conditioned car. Bliss.

What an incredibly adventure! I don't know that we could ever do it again and achieve the same exceptional experience. So I guess next time, we'll find some other way to top it.

Reefing It

2010-04-22T17:24:00.009-07:00

First, let me admit that I forgot the tote.

I've got all kinds of bins, full of all kinds of stuff, including happy worms. One of those bins holds camping essentials. Like flashlights and air mattresses, lighters, extra batteries and tent tarps. And it is quite possible, I left it patiently waiting in the living room. Along with the gas tank piece for the camp stove, and our main cooking utinciles (pan, spatula, bowls)...

I'm terrified of what kind of parent I'll be. I can just imagine Junior with his sad face pressed against the upstairs window, watching the family car drive away... and ten blocks are passed before the brakes are slammed on and we circle back for the poor kid.

But despite my ardent attempts to destroy our camping festivities, we had another fabulous time at Capitol Reef. We finally took the new tent on her maiden voyage, and are extremely pleased. Except, yes, we did pitch her under a blossoming tree with tons of sticky flowers. We've since had to re-pitch her in the yard to clean her adequately. But I'm absolutely amazed at how excellent cooking with Charcoal is... it may have taken twenty minutes to make each grilled cheese sandwich, but you can bet your boots they were the most perfect golden brown every time. And also, this time, there were blossoms!

I really do love this place. I still believe it is one of Utah's best kept secrets. Although the campsite was completely full both nights, so it isn't too well kept. And perhaps last years early blossoming was actually a bad thing, since they had a frost come through that ruined the picking season. But it is excellent none the less.

This time, we decided to tackle one of the slot canyons this trip, since last year was such a failure. We talked with Volunteer Ranger, Rick, who had an impressive amount of enthusiasm, and made us promise to come back and give report. He had yet to hear of anyone making it very far up the canyon this year. And so we set out for Burrow Wash. Here is Jason showing off the entrance to the canyon that we never got close to finding last year. I'll sum up the hike by saying that there were a few mishaps, and lots of water, and the next day I could hardly walk. But it was fantastic!!! Not as exciting as Spooky or Pee-a-boo. But definitely an experience all of its own. We had to chimney climb our way through most of the narrows because of the water. I've never done that before. At least, not for long distances at a time. But while there are obvious disadvantages to being 5'5", it is possible it lends to my superior narrow climbing skills. There was only one part where I had to bring a large rock over so I could start my ascent from the middle of the pool where the walls were narrow enough. I'm pretty proud. Jason gave up on one stretch and barefooted his way through a few sections. I'd like to refer to that as "the walk of shame."

Mostly I'm just proud of the fact that our footprints were the first of the season to mark up the powdery sand of Burrow Wash. Huzzah!

The rest of the tip was filled with smaller adventures and scenic drives. We're already planning out next visit. We stopped by the waterfall again on our way out and Jason dreams of going back when the water isn't freezing to swim in the lower pools. I think he'll just have to wait for Havasupai for that pleasure.

Teeth Cleaning

2010-04-14T15:37:00.004-07:00

My family is a little obsessed with teeth. Aunts, uncles, grandparents, cousins... orthodontists, dentists, hygienists... so having nicely kept teeth has always been a big deal. All of my childhood memories of family gatherings include many moments of "Smile. Let me see your teeth." I think it has scarred me a little.

I've always felt that the hygienists were omniscient. That they could open my mouth and know exactly how many times I'd flossed since our last meeting, and precisely how many times I'd put off brushing because I didn't want have to get up off my bed after settling down to read before sleep. Guilt. Massive waves of guilt always accompany my trip every six months. And for no particular reason. But I watch the eyes as the hygienist scrapes at the plaque. And I see thought bubbles with words like "Garbage Mouth" and "Gross" and "Worst I've seen today" float around her head.

I feel a little animosity towards this perfectly lovely stranger with her fingers in my mouth. I mentally prepare for the onslaught of awful questions regarding my flossing habits (when in reality, I know she knows exactly how many times in the last six months I've flossed...)Concern furrows crease my brow and she asks me a dozen times if I'm okay. Poor Hygienist. Doomed to be the least favorite person in the office.

The dentist, on the other hand, has a sweet racket going.

He walks in, tips my chair back, and gets a "report" while he jams all ten fingers into my mouth.

Poke, Poke.

Dentist: So, never had a cavity?

Me: Oh yes. Once, when I was six. Worst day of my life.

Dentist: Well, things look lovely. Keep up the good work.

Takes off gloves and walks out. That's it. A nice pat on the head and words of encouragement. The guys gets to be the ultimate good guy. How on earth can any one dread going to "the dentist"? "They Hygienist" maybe, but not the dentist

Note to all Hygienists: You guys are amazing. You do a job I would never be able to do. And I promise it isn't you that my angst is directed at. Just your calling. But know, if you ever ask me to smile and show you my teeth when I'm not in your chair, I will punch you in the face. Thanks.

Easter Weekend Adventure

2010-04-09T09:13:00.015-07:00

It is kind of sad to finally be so removed from the "Spring Break" group that we don't even realize it is near until everyone at work tries to submit vacation requests.

In California, we got two full weeks for Spring Break. Glorious, glorious weeks!

Just so we didn't feel too left out, we took off the Friday before Easter/Conference weekend, and adventured with my Parents and little sister.

My what an adventure it was!

We spent the first day driving down and hiking Zebra Slot. Or maybe I should say, getting slightly lost in our exploring, and barely stumbling across Zebra Slot after I had given up. The "being lost" part was pretty fabulous too. We brought my parent's dogs (Jenny and Sadie), who provided excessive amounts of entertainment. Particularly Jenny, who raced around like a freed crazy woman, managed to get herself stuck in a cold watering hole, and required excessive assistance with some of the boldering areas.
Don't worry. I nearly sacrificed life and limb (or at least dryness) to keep her with us, though I'm not sure she always appreciated it. But there were times when she would have to stay behind with someone while the rest of us explored because she couldn't fit through the narrows. It is terribly difficult to have to walk on four legs all of the time. And it broke her heart. And she would cry, and cry, and cry. And the awful part of me couldn't help but giggle at how funny she sounded.

The slot itself was pretty fantastic. Jason and I agree, it was probably one of our favorites, even though it was incredibly short. The walls are vividly striped, and there are Moqui Balls embedded within. As the sandstone erodes, the balls are freed. It was tempting not to fill our backpacks with the cool nodules. We plan on going back to explore it again soon and maneuver ourselves over the ten foot wall that blocked out passage. I don't think there is much beyond, but the temptation is pretty strong.

We managed to talk my parents into bringing their travel trailer, which probably saved the trip for us. Yes, that means we have still not used our new tent. But it was windy and cold at night. And I woke up MANY times, incredibly grateful that we weren't trying to sleep outside.

The second day, we found the legendary Spooky and Peek-a-boo. My dad's family always reminisces about hiking these slot canyons, and I always felt a little left out. No More. They were fantastic! A lot of pushing and pulling was required, but we all made it without any maim-age. Of the two, I'm pretty sure Peek-a-boo was my favorite. Pockets and arches and nooks and crannies. A definitely must see. It absolutely makes you appreciate the wonder of water. Nothing man-made would ever be this amazing.

Our adventuring took us to Dance Hall Rock and finally down to Hole in the Rock. Let me start by saying that all this time, I thought Hole in the Rock was literally a hole that the pioneers carved through the rock. Like the tunnels that you have to drive through from time to time in mountainous country. For those of you who would have guessed the same, know that it is not a hole in the rock. It is more like a crack that they blasted into a canyon big enough to hoist wagons through. Mostly, those Pioneers were crazy, crazy people. I'm pretty sure I would have given it one glance and promptly written it off as not worth the effort. In fact, that was my attitude when we finally got there. Half of the group headed down towards Lake Powell, and I wandered back to the car and took a much needed nap. Not for one second to I regret that decision. Except that, once again, Jenny was incredibly distraught that the group had split up, and she was being left behind. Luckily, my mom understands the importance of naps, and took the dog for a nice long walk.

Day three was Easter, so the dogs and I made Kenlynn go on an Easter Egg Hunt. While grumpy at the beginning, she was pleased to earn herself some Robin's Eggs and stopped complaining.

On our way out of the area, we stopped by the infamous Kodachrome Basin. This lead to some singalongs that, perhaps were intended to sound like this... but in all actuality, sounded much more like this.It took us a lot of quality research to even verify that the song was real.

All in all, a fabulous adventure. What a good family I have. And if you are crazy and want to see all of the pictures from the weekend, I've posted them temporarily HERE. Please do not use them for blackmail.

Springtime Teaser

2010-03-29T19:34:00.010-07:00

I always forget how spring works in Utah.

I like to watch the weather forecast. In fact, I tend to check it a dozen times a day. And I try to plan accordingly. Rain jacket in the morning. Prop the trash cans up carefully- wind. But blink an eye and my widget has changed the five day forecast. And it usually calls for snow. ALWAYS on the weekend.

Thus we have been pretty homebound the last few weeks. And we have started going stir crazy. So we finally committed to Capitol Reef this weekend. Come rain or wind or shine. Because last year, this was a brilliant idea that saved our spring. Blossoms, beautiful weather, nice camping. Just what we needed.

Despite the day of blusteriness and drizzle, we started out with high spirits and only began to get concerned after we had to wait for a snowplow to lead us through some of the passes. Not a great sign. But we are troopers.

Lets just keep this story short-er and say that in the end, camping was given up in exchange for non-frost bitten fingers and toes. I now understand that when your sleeping bag says that it is warm enough for -20 degrees... it means it will keep you alive but in no way comfortable at that temperature. So we found a nice-ish hotel and spent the night watching the Food Network. (A brief aside: We rarely watch our TV. And by rarely, I mean perhaps once every few weeks. But I would watch all day, every day if I could have the Food Network.) But we weren't completely lame. Instead of going to an easy restaurant for dinner, we hauled the camp stove out to the nearest picnic table and prepared our favorite camping meal: grilled cheese sandwiches and warm tomato soup. It is hard to say if this was fun or tasty because my fingers got numb about half way through the process, causing me to drop of spill a good deal. But remember, I'm a trooper.

The daytime was absolutely beautiful. Though there weren't any blossoms yet, we did some excellent hiking and scenic driving. We spent a decent amount of time dedicated to gypsum. From the "Glass Mountain" to the Gypsum sinkhole (in the picture), I'm feeling pretty intimate with the mineral. The temperature was absolutely perfect for hiking with a sweatshirt and a leaky Camelbak. (Anyone have a good suggestion for how to get my mouthpiece to stop leaking? It is replacement bite piece #2 and I'm getting concerned that I drink from it incorrectly. Is this possible?)

And yes, we did find the all-important waterfall of this adventure. It just wouldn't be a success if there wasn't water pummeling its way through some rocky shoots.

Unfortunately, this adventure also marked the first Camera accident that we've ever had. And by accident, I mean I DIDN'T DO ANYTHING and it started making an awful grinding sound. GRRRRRRUUUUUU, GRRRRRRRRUUUUUU. Jason is pretty sure something has gotten into the lens focal area and the gears and striping themselves. I'd like to say it was absolutely uncalled for. So if you have a new lens you would like to donate to the cause, I'm not too proud to take it. I'm not sure I can go back to our little point and shoot. Especially since we just got done with a fantastically boring photography class that took up many of my precious Tuesday evenings. Spring is the perfect time to practice all of my new found skills.

But at the very least, it was a nice adventure and we broke out the camping gear in preparation for this weekend's adventure with my parents. The plan is for some excellent Narrows exploration in Escalante. May my sleeping bag be adequate to keep me comfortably warm this time around.

March Madness

2010-03-21T12:30:00.000-07:00

With my limited Sporting history, I have a vague understanding that "March Madness" refers to lots of Basketballing. And charts. I've been asked to fill out one of the charts before. I randomly filled in the names of the teams I found on the Internet. And lost.

Sports aside, a whole different madness has begun to infect the Christensen household recently. The symptoms keep evolving and show no signs of abating. The latest symptoms include shoes on the porch, an inability to walk or pick up any item larger then an egg, and wallets that are substantially less full of useful spending medium. I checked Web MD, but they haven' yet come up with a decent diagnosis or treatment.

I'm guessing the first Prion was hidden amongst the new seed packs that came in the mail a few weeks ago. It was my very first time ordering seeds from a catalog, and it was amazing. Tomatoes and peppers and squash, oh my! I obviously spent hours researching what I wanted, and came up with a conservative list for our small garden space. And then we started some sweet little seedlings under a little grow light.

And at some point, Jason must have nibbled the new foliage... because I don't know of any other source for the infection. Next thing I know, we were feverishly building light hoods, and collecting plastic containers for graduating our seedlings to larger pots. Soon after the initial symptoms, Jason developed the rash tendency to grab extra seeds any time we walked past a seed stand in any store. Peas, pumpkins, sunflowers. And instead of thinning our crops, we've transplanted the extras. With ridiculous success.

Like dishes building up in a household laid low with H1N1, seedlings are starting to take over. The tomato plants almost don't fit under any of our lights anymore, but still wouldn't be able to tolerate the nightly lows... so they just spread. Window ledges are filling, and clusters are forming on the floor where the sunlight traces a path. I can't walk around without turning on a light at night for fear of knocking something over.

But if this where the extent of the madness, it wouldn't be so bad. There is a terminal timeline for this behavior. The seedlings will start to head outside in a matter of weeks.

Instead, by some twist of fate, our neighbor finds herself 37 weeks pregnant this week, with a large backyard, and currently desolate gardening space. And so at the crack of dawn on Saturday, I found myself roaming Home Depot in a zombie-like trance.

Must... rent... tiller...

And this is when things started to spiral out of control. We spent the entire day transforming the span of dirt. It is at least four times the combined size of both of my garden patches last year. And you can feel the difference. Jason (the main Tilling Captain) could hardly roll out of bed this morning.

After no less then nine hours in the neighbors back yard (sans some travel time and a lunch break) I've learned some things:

- Tilling is hard. Very, very hard.
- There is one crop every garden can grow in abundance, regardless of your skills: ROCKS.
- Dirt can migrate to the most interesting places.
- You shouldn't leave onion sets in your car for any period of time.
- Crazy poodles have absolutely no regard for finely raked areas, or trenched and planted rows.
- It takes time for you hands to recallous.
- Giant Worms will sneak up on you more quickly then you can imagine.
- You'll have to start vacuuming several times a day to keep up with the dirt that accidentally keeps getting tracked into the house.

I didn't take any "before and after" pictures, but we are incredibly excited by the progress so far. It is looking like we will have to create some sort of fence to keep Copper, the poodle from bounding through our babies. But at this point, it feels well worth the effort.

We have nearly forty feet of peas in. I've never measured my crops in feet before. It feels... substantial. We also managed to get in some onions. And this morning, I snuck out extra early to get in a few rows of spinach. I blame the blogs I read, and the podcasts I listen to for making me crave fresh food. The thought of waiting until June/July is absolutely killing me. I dream of a greenhouse in California. < sigh >

And so the illness spreads. We are now talking about potatoes and corn. And banana squash. And at least five different types of tomatoes. And watermelons. And three different types of peppers. And Brussel sprouts. And...

We both wake up in the night with great ideas and plans. And we spend a good deal of time cursing the frost dates. And sitting around our grow lights, watching the babies get bigger.

I'm guessing time is the only cure for this madness... and I am terrified Jason will be cured first, leaving me to hoe and pick and maintain the gigantic garden by myself. But I suppose if he doesn't help pick, he doesn't get to eat... right?

My Lamest Update Yet

2010-01-13T17:26:00.002-07:00

Aggg. I feel like I have to post something since Reuben linked here to represent Jason. :D Poor kid... to be represented by this blog...

But I suppose I should get back in the saddle of blogging for 2010. So far, it has been pretty fantastic. We've got some great plans. Camping trips, domestic projects, hot springs, home improvements, weddings, photography classes... The calendar is almost overwhelming.

As a side note, I just turned on the TV to passively glean information about Haiti while checking my Google Reader and I've become completely distracted by a show on PBS. I think it is called Young at Heart and I'm enthralled. Seriously entertaining!

Seriously.

There Once Was a Birthday Party

2009-10-18T19:36:00.003-07:00

Last weekend we attended a birthday party. A party extravaganza to be sure... and for the first time in ages, I enjoyed a picture scavenger hunt.

Now, I attended BYU... and anyone who has also attended BYU can attest to the fact that random strangers hugging you as you are walking down the street, or people begging to take a picture of you being piggy-backed are not too unusual. And maybe only slightly annoying.

But I now live in Salt Lake... and consider myself a quasi-adult. And I was a smidge scared that this was not going to be the funnest activity. Not to mention the fact that I absolutely despise audience participation. And photos of myself.

Luckily, my friends are awesome.

We had a great time. We didn't win, but we kicked trash in a few categories. And while I most definitely wont be sharing too many of those pictures anytime soon, I chuckle ever time I look through them.

This is us about two thirds through the celebration, on our way to a haunted "This is the Place" park. Yes, we are exhausted, but determined to get points for our matching costumes, and taking pictures with employees.

Thanks Sarah, for turning one year older, and inviting us to join in the festivities. Your awesomeness is astounding!

Pumpkin Patchin

2009-10-18T12:21:00.002-07:00

I think the absolute, most rewarding aspect of being part of the CSA was the trip to the pumpkin patch this weekend.

The pumpkin patches I've grown up with were never like that. They were much more commercial, and while incredibly enjoyable I've never had that real experience.. you know, wandered through a field and actually pulled your pumpkin off of the vine. Though it was ridiculously hot outside, it was the most "fall" esque thing I've done this month!

It is possible we got a little carried away with our task at hand. Who knew there were so many perfect pumpkins out there... crying out to be taken home with me? When we got home, we kept walking back and forth from the car saying... "There's MORE!!?!?!" And pumpkin hauling is hard work. So we're saying we deserve our bounty. Can't wait to start carving!

Happy October 1st... and an Ode to Lauren's Worms

2009-10-01T16:51:00.003-07:00

First and foremost, isn't October one of the most magical months? I'm feeling all kinds of love and good will towards mankind right now, despite some rather unfortunate occurrences today.

I also wanted to dedicate a small portion of my day to remembering Lauren's Worms. It appears they just couldn't hack the hot Paso heat. And really, I don't blame them. I remember 115 degrees. I doubt anyone could survive that is a moistened plastic bin. May they find perfect weather in their great dung heap in the sky.

My worms think they are freezing with our lovely cold snap. It is 52 degrees outside right now, and I'm contemplating coco and a good book in my cozy bed.

Happy October!

Red Trout Adventure

2009-09-30T19:30:00.004-07:00

I had a really hard time remember the word "Salmon" this weekend. It was particularly unfortunate because we went to the Salmon runs up around Strawberry.

I might have referred to them as trout on a few occasions.

And I was heartbroken and frustrated about the separation tanks. Yes, there are dead fish floating in the background... and yes that often happens naturally after spawing... but they don't just give the ladies a squeeze to get out their eggs and then send them on their merry ways like I naively though might happen. There is some slicing and dicing taking place.

But it turns out the Red Trout/Salmon are not native to Utah. Just imported for sport. Which makes it all a little better in my fickle mind.

Speaking of fickle... It is possible I've eluded to a new overwhelming love for Spring. But, um... I've forgotten about that. All I can see are the changing leaves, and the wonderfully cool evenings. And the Pumpkins, and fall decorations, and warm soups, with bread. I'm so in love.

Worm Update

2009-09-20T20:47:00.003-07:00

In case anyone as interested, but mostly for Lauren's benefit:

The worms are doing fabulously. For those of you who haven't read the comments of the "Guess what is in this box" post, Lauren guessed correctly. The box is a worm bin.

Since I don't really have enough room to compost, I figured vermicomposting would have to do. It is pretty excellent. You can make out some worms, some nibbled squash chunks, a lot of cardboard and some newspaper. All of the brown crumbles are the worm castings. Glorious, glorious castings.

I've been a little neurotic about them... I just about cried the first time I found a worm had escaped and slowly dried to death as it inched several feet away from his home. He preferred death to hanging out with me... Crushing. But it happens about once a week... so my skin is thickening.

Also, Jason does not wholly approve of the experiment. He's concerned about pests and smells. So I check on them at least once a day, and don't feed them very often. This seems to work fine, as I don't find anything more offensive then a slight musty dirt smell and there is always still identifiable food inside when I give them more.

Some random points:
I still don't want to touch them...
I don't understand how people feed their pound of worms a half pound of food a day. Maybe a week, but never a day...
I did keep them in the living room for about a week before Jason put his foot down.
I talk to them a lot.
I had no idea worms could and would eat egg shells.
I feel the need to go check on them again...

Whether or not you care, I'll keep you posted.

Lymen Lake Adventure

2009-09-20T20:16:00.007-07:00

No. The adventuring has not stopped. I'm just lazy and don't post.

Last weekend we adventured up to Lyman Lake in the far Unitas. And I really do mean FAAAAAR. We got lost. Kinda. More like Garmin tried to route us over something marked as a TRL, which yes, stands for TRAIL. Camry is awesome, but not that awesome. So after backtracking and taking the long alternate route, we decided to herd some sheep. Miles of sheep. I've never actually seen anything like that before. It reminded me of the time we went to Yellowstone and got stuck behind some sauntering bison.

And then there was the 17 miles of bouldering that took us an hour and a half. We really, really need a car besides Camry. Shhh! Don't tell her that though!

But we finally made it. And it was beautiful.

Nearly devoid of other human life (except the guys from work who told me about the lake in the first place and the other family at the far end of the campground). We pitched tent and spend the day fishing.

And I caught my very first fish. As you can see from the picture, there wasn't much to see. He was tiny. But we intended to catch and release anyways. My next catch was much more reasonable, as were most of Jason's.

One of the best parts of the day was just sitting around the lake and watching the fish leap out of the water. It is no wonder we caught so many. They were literally leaping into our open hands! Fishing is awesome!

The night was cold. But absolutely no where near as cold as our last fishing adventure, when I was sure I was going to die. We got new sleeping bags to try out, and they mostly did the trick. I think I'm just a pansy with a VERY narrow temperature range. And it was possibly the absolute stillness, and ear buzzing quietness that kept waking me up. That, or the giant pack of coyotes that kept circling our camp. I've always enjoyed the cries of coyotes from a hammock on the porch, or an open window... but there were a couple times that our tent didn't feel like incredible protection.

The next morning we woke up to an awesome wind storm, and decided to pack up early. Our drive through the Mirror Lake Hwy was fantastic, with the changing leaves and patchy storms. We even got to see a "moosen in the woodsen!" He and his lady were just chillin' in the river near the road. I conquered my fear of being mauled by a moose long enough to take some pictures and dive back into the car...

All in all, fishing is still awesome, the Unitas are beautiful, and I need to invest in some impressive long johns.

Bet you can't guess what is in this box!!!

2009-09-04T16:16:00.002-07:00

It's my new favorite thing!!! Guess it right, and part of it will become your prize!!

Roommates are Awesome!

2009-09-03T18:05:00.002-07:00

Last time we got together, I went on in detail here about how awesome my roommates where. Well, they still are.

Some of us got together and went to the Farmer's Market (my current favorite get together activity. I'll meet anyone any Saturday... just name the date.)

It was absolutely fabulous to see them. And it made me miss those who couldn't make it, so much! You guys are great!!

I may be crowing a litttle...

2009-08-26T20:14:00.001-07:00

Holy Cow...

I rolled tonight. Several times. On my own.

It was amazing!

I'm feeling pretty awesome!

Sstugrf!

2009-08-19T20:13:00.002-07:00

That is the sound I made many multiple times tonight.

Yes... this is another pictureless post about kayaking.

And it is hard.

I'm still awesome at T rolls. And I've learned the ever useful side sweep to shuttle myself across the pool. And my team won the relay.

But that C to C roll is ridiculous. The most frustrating thing is how easy it looks. I tell you... check Youtube for tutorials on C to c rolls.

And the problem is that every time you don't successfully do the roll... which at this point is still 100% of the time, you need someone to provide a bow for you to T roll off of. And Jason likes to see me drown.

I think he might have lured me into taking this class with him so he could pass my death off as a kayaking accident. I better learn how to roll fast...

And then the world came crashing down

2009-08-18T20:27:00.003-07:00

Jason called as I was walking home today... to break the news to me.

The roofers finally came to give us a new roof. And in the process, they destroyed my front garden. The small one. With the onions and heirloom tomatoes, bell peppers, beautiful squash, and barely budding pumpkins. They threw the roof directly on top of my babies.

I cried when I saw it.

And contemplated gluing all of the nails that have dropped into the garden and surrounding grass upside down on the new plywood they laid. But I'm sure they wear thick soled shoes for just that reason.

May it be miserably hot on my roof tomorrow...

Rollin' Rollin' Rollin'

2009-08-13T17:00:00.002-07:00

I've got to admit, I'm pretty proud of myself. Last night we learned to do a rescue roll, possibly called an Eskimo Roll, and I was good. Very good.

I feel confident in my new found abilities...

so long as I've practiced a few times before hand, and I haven't partially filled my kayak with water, and am in a pool of deep, standing water, and my partner comes to my right side...

Yeah, I've got it down.

Lake Cleveland

2009-08-10T20:56:00.008-07:00

I've never been fishing... unless you count hooking some celery to the end of a string and hanging it off a dock at Lake Powell.

But Christensens fish. They have actual fishing polls with cute little flies and hooks... and they catch things. And then they eat those things.

So I was a little torn about this last weekend, being the non-eater of fish that I am. But we talked the family into joining us on the Allred Traditional stomping ground up at Lake Cleveland in Idaho. Boy were we in for a surprise. As we drove up the mountain, visibility dropped to nearly nothing. It doesn't look all that impressive in the picture, but there were moments when we couldn't see the lake, fifteen feet off the road. Eerie and awesome to be sure.

If I had to boil the rest of the weekend into three words, they would be: freezing, filling, and fantastic.

I didn't even try for alliteration there. I'm just that awesome.

Working backwards through our list: Fantastic. Turns out I love fishing. I didn't actually catch anything, but Liz, being the excellent MIL that she is, let me reel in her little catches and let them go. I'm in love with catch and releasing. And the rest... the family, beautiful location, and general fun-ness didn't hurt either.

Filling. Not a hard one. Camp food is fantastic, and Liz definitely knows how to keep us fed. I ate more this weekend then the whole week previous. And yes, I even took nibbles of the catch. Still not my favorite, but I could keep alive if I had to. (Note to self: I think I prefer Cut throat trout)

Freezing. No words can describe the type of freezingness I experienced. We knew we were coming into a bit of a cool weekend, and we knew we would be on a mountain. But who knew I'd see my first snow fall in August?!? You should note that in this picture, I am wearing underwear, scrub bottoms and tops, a pair of jeans, three additional shirts, a sweatshirt, a poncho, and the blanket. I still thought I was going to die. Seriously. I spent the second night sympathizing with the pioneers that went to sleep under their wagons at night and froze to death. But I can feel my toes again... so all is well.

As we speak, I am trying to plan our next fishing trip. Strawberry, Mirror Lake, Provo River... the options seem endless. Anyone up for a good time on the water?

Latest Activity

2009-08-05T20:29:00.003-07:00

Kayaking classes, a summation of things I really hate:
Kalie in a Swimsuit (even a brand new one)
Audience participation
Name games
Being trapped under water
Sitting with my legs cramping up in an awkward position

Oddly enough, amazingly fun.

Looking forward to next Wednesday.

And just for future reference: KarenEricaLaenaJeffGrant

Timp: My Stats

2009-08-02T10:50:00.005-07:00

Desired time at the trailhead: 6:30am
Actual time at the trailhead: 7:45am
Number of people in party: 11 (or 3, 5, 3)
Ascent Distance: 7.5 miles
Ascent Elevation change: 4580'
Number of sunburnt patches: 0
Number of Mosquito bites: 17
Number of walking sticks: 2
Liters of water consumed: 3.5
Number of bathroom breaks: 0
Number of sheep sighted:0
Number of wildflowers named: about 15
Types of food consumed: string cheese, pbj, mango, beef jerky, cheese and crackers
Descent Distance: 8.3 miles
Descent Elevation change: 4840'
Number of pictures taken: 68
Number of hours on the mountain: nearly 12
Number of tired, sore muscles: probably 312
Number of times a chairlift was wished for: 1 million

Might I be just a little proud about the fact that we actually summited Timp this year!!!! It was fantastic and exhausting, beautiful and frustrating.

Jason's family (sans Jon) joined us once again, along with a handful of my cousins and sister. Nothing went according to plan... which was pretty awful in a few instances, but all but three of us managed to get to the top. Infinitely better stats then last year. And there were again, no casualties.

The wildflowers were a million times better this year (thank you again late, long spring!!!) and everything except the mosquitoes was pretty excellent. But good grief I was completely exhausted by the time we finally reached the bottom. For those of you who know it, along those last switch backs on the Aspen Groves trail, I was litterally reminding myself to lift my feet over any especially rocky trail. Step. Step. STEP.

Give me a few days to recover... because right now I'm still of the opinion that a chair lift to the top would be god-sent... but it looks like this is becoming a tradition.

The Garden: an Update

2009-07-30T10:21:00.001-07:00

So I think everyone with a garden (especially those that blog about their garden) post a picture of their bounty every once in a while. This will have to do for mine. No basket or colander, but bounty none the less. There is an ear of corn, two peppers, two cucumbers, a smattering of tomatoes, and a small onion there...

What you can't see is that there are two summer squash, one crook neck squash, five cucumbers and a few tomatoes from the morning picking in the fridge. Also, at least a half dozen of the tomatoes disappeared into my mouth before we made it to the front door.

Add our CSA stuff and Farmer's Market finds and I find myself pretty impressed at the produce we are eating.

Gardens are awesome.

Something Missed

2009-07-28T09:44:00.000-07:00

Have I mentioned that we should have celebrated our 3rd Anniversary this year?

What with the family reunions and other grand adventures, we haven't had time to really sit down and celebrate.

So thanks, Honey. Best three years of my life, ever... Seriously.

Reunion Weekend

2009-07-27T08:07:00.002-07:00

I'm post dating this to its actual weekend... is that cheating?

One of the things that Jason and I definitely have in common is how much we appreciate family relationships. A lot of my coworkers and friends actually think we spend a crazy amount of time with kin. I'm pretty proud of that fact. I'd guess that at least once a month, we do something with someone from our immediate families, be it "going home" for a weekend, or meeting up for dinner somewhere. Add in there Thursday adventures with Aunt and Cousins, occasional Sunday dinner with the Grandparents and extended gang, and text messaged intents with everyone else, and we spend more time socializing with family then any other social unit.

During the Weekend of Family Reunions though, Jason really shown through as the Family Champion.

We headed up to Koosharem, Utah early on Friday. We were headed for a reunion of my maternal grandfather's siblings and all of their families. (Grandpa is on the far right) I'm totally guessing, but maybe 200 people in attendance. We rolled up to the festivities on The Mountain by mid morning, by which time they were in full swing. And of course we were passed from arms to arms, bosom to bosom, hugged by everyone. I started feeling completely overwhelmed by the twelfth time a complete stranger said "Kalie! You've grown up so much!!!" I was completely ready to retreat into the safety of our car, but Jason prevailed and we socialized. Seriously though, how do these people remember me and I have absolutely no idea who they are?!?!

The Mountain is absolutely beautiful. We (the Hal Torgersen subset of the reunion) have often gathered for reunions of a much smaller scale. I can't wait to take Jason up this fall. It is even more amazing then. But we did enjoy a beautiful thunder storm along with our perfectly sunny weather.

There were tons of activities (including a saw dust pile full of treats, that I helped with) and story telling and food. It was great to see my cousins, that live close, but have all gone on to have families and lead busy lives. It was even better when my parents finally showed up on the last day with Jenny. This is Jenny trying to sneak her way onto my lap while I was supposed to be paying attention to a memorial for my great grandparents. Since Cricket, Jenny likes to think that she too is a lap dog.

Reunion number one was a complete success and we headed home to shower, pack, and prepare for Reunion number two. Reunion number two is a yearly tradition. My dad's parents have been going to Bear Lake for, oh, probably fifty years or so by now. And every year during the last weekend in July we migrate north to Rendezvous Beach to keep the tradition alive.

It was during the preparations that Jason experienced symptoms of possible food poisoning. Note: Since no one else at the reunion has expressed similar symptoms, I chalk the whole thing up to a bad Subway Sandwich choice (having let it sit in the hot car for four hours before eating...) but it is the second time it has happened after a Koosharem event, so he likes to think that the Mountain Folk (ie. great grandma Opal) are out to get him...

Despite the crumminess we traipsed our way north to enjoy the Carter family and lake. Hair braiding was a major priority, along with game playing and chatting. It was a much smaller group and of people we routinely associate with, so there wasn't nearly as much stranger danger hugging.

It should be noted that, like my mother, I don't find the trek down to the beach incredibly rewarding. It seriously is a twenty minute walk to the non-weedy beach, and I would much rather spend my time playing Corsari or Ticket to Ride with the camp side people. So, Jason spent a lot of time down at the water, hanging out with my extended family, without me. He's brave. I went on a hike and lead the awesome* wild flower tour. (*read: "seriously nerdy") There was good food, as always, and mostly just a lot of fun. I sure do enjoy these people.

I think it is particularly interested that both of my families chose to camp for their reunions. I don't think of us (the extended "us": meaning the extensions and extensions of kin that gather for these things) as "outdoorsy" kind of people, but apparently we are. No somewhat decorated Cultural Hall or Park Pavilion here... we like quality time with tents and fires and a few mosquito bites.

So we spent a great deal of time with my families this weekend. Friday thru Tuesday of story telling, and joking, and enjoying the company of others. I'm not sure I'd be as great a sport if Jason hauled me from one end of the state to the other and made me socialized with very hugging prone people I didn't know. But I'm sure I'd offer to lead a wildflower hike for them too... :D

Wild Flower Festival

2009-07-26T14:54:00.004-07:00

Our weekends have been busy and wonderful of late. Call me a HUGE nerd, but one of my favorite outings was to the Wildflower Festival. Each day, a different Ski Resort hosts a cluster of guided hikes. We decided to take an Advanced Hike, which included a ride up the mountain and a 4+ hr. hike down.

Armed with my handy Wildflower book and following our fabulous guide, Bob, we had a stellar time. Even with the wet winter and late blooms, we saw a ton of flowers! It was fantastically beautiful. Jason learned that the plant he has called a raspberry since childhood is actually a thimbleberry. Quite a heart break... I walked away with an impressively sunburnt chest and a head full of flower names. I'm guessing my retention of the names will last at least another week, but will be infinitely better than Jason. I can't wait for next year.

The Garden

2009-07-14T18:31:00.004-07:00

Have I mentioned how awesome my garden is.

In the beginning...

Now...
Tasty tasty goodness!!!

That One Vacation We Once Took

2009-07-06T20:42:00.002-07:00

In case you, for some odd reason, really want so sift through all of the pictures from our European Adventure, I've posted them HERE.

They will be there for a VERY limited time.

So browse at your leisure, you crazy, crazy people.

The Asomeness of the 4th of July

2009-07-05T20:52:00.008-07:00

Until I married, Jason, the 4th of July was just another holiday. Nothing particularly exciting... some good food, probably a parade.

But my eyes have been opened and the 4th is quickly becoming one of the best holidays we celebrate all year.

This year was particularly fantastic. I'll just show you some of the highlights.

Because obviously the 3rd becomes a holiday when the 4th is on a Saturday (something I did not know before making the schedule at work), our adventure began on Friday. We leisurely made our way down to Oak City and met up with Jason's family and my sister. With a little effort, we inflated some tubes, donned swimsuits, and headed out for the Sevier River. We had so much fun we did it again the next day.

That night, we spent several hours dressing up for a few moments of Guitar Hero. Totally worth it in my book though... And in case you were concerned, absolutely no damage was done to my hairstyle by sleeping on it. In fact, it might have looked even more stellar the next morning.

The highlight of Saturday (besides the most fabulous breakfast... thanks Liz!!) was the Demolition Derby. Say what you will, but there really isn't a better way to spend the 4th of July. And we've persuaded my family of that fact quite successfully, though we missed most of them this year because of Missions and other obligations.

It was another perfect year for the Derby. Our seats were great, the weather was awesome, the crowds were manageable. And the excitement was comparable to nothing. Multiple roll overs... several surprise endings... and more screaming then you can imagine. At one point, it was raining pretty decently... but that obviously didn't distract me from being totally involved in the scene. Yes... there were a couple times I got a little stressed out by the destruction, but I don't think you can be completely sane and not worry just a little when cars are flying into one another.

The night ended with fantastic fireworks... second only to the Payson Onion Day's Fireworks on Labor Day.

All in all, a very successful holiday weekend. I'm already looking forward to next year.

Oh, and in case you were wondering, my corn was waaaaaay taller then "Knee high by the Forth of July!!!"

Firsts

2009-06-29T21:05:00.003-07:00

Today was a surprising day of many "Firsts" here at the Christensen household. Two are worth noting out loud.

First, we had our very first bell pepper from our garden. I realize I'm a little obsessed right now... but I'm still in love with the garden. And the bell pepper was everything I've hoped for, and more, since there are five others in line to be enjoyed.

Second, I finally figured out what to do with the piling bags of Swiss Chard that are taking over our fridge. See, we joined a CSA and have been picking up boxes of tasty produce for three weeks now... and since it is so early in the season, greens are the most common article. And rainbow swiss chard is amazingly beautiful and quite healthy. That is until you saute it in the million cups of butter that all Swiss Chard recipes call for. But we had our first helping of Swiss Chard today, yum!

Both Firsts were enjoyed so quickly that there simply wasn't time for photographic proof of the evens. Perhaps I'll try to recreate them for your benefit later.

G'nite!

Storms and Babies

2009-06-26T19:03:00.006-07:00

I'm watching an amazing storm roll its way across the SLC valley right now. Ten minutes ago the clouds were pitch black and there was thunder and lightening, and a lot of rain... and now the clouds are shifting. There is still a lot of thunder and lightening and rain, but the sun is trying so hard to shine through for its last hour and a half of the day. The result is a murky, foggy glow everywhere... kinda creepy.

I love these storms. This is one thing that really is substantially better in Utah then in California. (Have I offended anyone?) And it is even better now that we live up on a hill and can see across the valley.

Last year we would drive up the hills on the north side of Salt Lake to watch the storms. Once we saw the lightening hit a transformer station. Blue sparks flew and a chunk of the city went dark.

I'm sure no one else appreciated it, but we thought it was pretty awesome to see.

There is a down side to these fantastic storms though. When the wind picks up and the rain beats down, I feel a sense of panic rising that my plants are going to be harmed. I suppose this is how you know you are capable of being a parent. I am all kinds of willing to run out in a deluge to somehow protect my plant babies.

I'm not sure exactly what my plan is. Make myself big and tall and block the big, mean raindrops, I suppose. Big bullies.

But how can you not love something so beautiful? I could spend hours just sitting and admiring my plants. And I do. A garden is one of the best discoveries I have ever made. I'm not sure how I lived so long without one. It combines three of my most favorite things: planning, being productive, and creating order.

Right now my pride and joy are the cucumbers. (Don't worry, a couple days ago it was the peppers that are out of control growing peppers, and a few days before that it was the corn that is going to be so much more than "knee high by the forth of July," and before that it was the tasty lettuce that been a part of nearly every meal since we got home. Everyone gets a turn...) The cucumbers are sending out the most perfect flowers. I'm absolutely in love. And their little tendrils are like baby hands... they love to hold onto anything... and hold on they do. Very tightly.

We are going to have more cucumbers then we know what to do with. I don't think my coworkers will go hungry this summer.

But back to the original topic of this post... the storm has rolled over. And I just climbed out on the roof to get you a picture of the most fantastic resulting rainbow. Words cannot express how disappointed I am that the picture looks absolutely nowhere near as magnificent as real life. Ain't that how it always goes?

No Rest for the Wicked

2009-06-21T15:06:00.004-07:00

To some, it might really seem like we hate our home. In fact, some of my coworkers have asked "So do you guys just really not like living in Salt Lake?" And I mumble something only partially coherent about never wanting to leave my house, but always having plans for something else... stircrazy... never enough weekends for everything... etc.

Like this weekend.

We have been home for less then a week... our suitcases are still laying around the house... and the last thing I really wanted to do was leave. But somehow it seemed like a fantastic idea to go and visit the In-laws for Father's Day. Except FIL wasn't going to be home for our shenanigans. His loss :D

So we hope in the car and head for Oak City. And let me tell you, you just don't ever regret these decisions. It was fantastically beautiful down there and we had so much fun with the family. Muffins and card games and tons of chatting. It makes a girl very happy.

Our awesome adventure for this trip included a hike to the waterfall that they hiked last year this time when I was in NYC. We totally lucked out with the weather... it was perfect: cloudy, a little breezy, and it rained on us just a little. There wasn't a whole lot to the waterfall at this point (we suspect last year a lot more snow was melting at this point) but there were still wildflowers everywhere.

In the evening, we ate a fabulous dinner of Mike's Braid. (It turns out I do have the recipe for this... it has just been stuck to the back of Chicken Divan). So good! And we ended by playing a new game: Corsari. It was touch and go for a while, but Liz took the prize in the last round. We are sold. Going to buy it and practice till we can kick some trash.

So it was a very fun weekend... and totally worth not being home for a few days. And we got some bikes. This is going to be a great summer!

A Day in My Life

2009-06-18T20:45:00.008-07:00

This is for Lauren, who wants to feel connected. Schedules are switching around and habits are changing with the new seasons... May a day in my life not put you to sleep!

5:15: wake up, arch neck to an awkward position so as to see the clock around Jason's sleeping body. Great! Another hour and a half to sleep.

5:35: repeat clock check, do math, another hour and ten minutes to sleep.

6:07: repeat clock check, do math, still 38 minutes to sleep, be impressed with stellar groggy math skills...

6:25: repeat clock check, do math, twenty blissful minutes left.

6:35: repeat clock check, ten more minutes... contemplate what would justify a sick call to work this morning. discard ideas.

6:40: Jason stirs. Pray he will decide to shower first so I don't have to get out of bed for another twenty minutes.

6:45: alarm goes off, Jason gets up and showers, I roll over, sprawl across the whole bed and snuggle further down.

7:00: bathroom door opens... try to ignore this cue to get up... light gets flipped on. Roll out of bed, stumble into bathroom and proceed to lather, rinse, repeat.

7:08: wander into living room to plop in front of mirror to put on make up. Yes, I still sit on the floor in front of a mirror to primp in the morning. I'm not sure I know how to do it any other way.

7:20: breakfast... or not. I'm still not very good at eating that all important meal of the day. (though last week I was successful all five days. yay me!)

7:30: gather bag, lunch, ID badge, and transit pass.

7:35: Option A)determine whether Jason is willing to drop me off on his way to work. More often then not, I get lucky and he says yes... or Option B) walk a few blocks to the bus stop and wait for the bus that might, or might not be on time. It usually is not. I spent a great deal of time cursing the bus.

7:53 - 16:30: enjoy one of the coolest jobs ever. Visit with old people, play with babies, watch fascinating traumas and resuscitations. Plus, I'm kind of important in my areas... which obviously strokes my ego. I mean, not hugely important... but the MDs come to me for help and I have a lot of say in changes that we make... so I gotta say I'm pleased with my position.

16:35: Option A) catch the bus home. Option B) work late and have Jason pick me up on his way back from Park City. Option C) take the 35 min stroll home. Every week is a decent mixture of the three.

17:00: on good days, I go to the gym. Definitely on Wednesdays, when Sarah makes me :D

18:30: think about making dinner. I'm a complete failure at making dinner. Failure.

The following is a list of options for how I generally spend the rest of the evening. It varies. Sometimes multiple list items are accomplished... sometimes only one.

a) Grocery Shopping. Usually a trip to Costco and/or Smith's or Walmart.
b) Laundry. Neither of us like this task much, so it gets put off the longest.
c) Playing in the garden. It is my pride and joy. Lots of pride... lots of joy.
d) Strolls around the neighborhood. I don't know if I have mentioned this, but the Avenues are the most awesome place to live. Ever.
e) Weed the yard. There was once a time I took on a million dandelions all by myself. I'm older and wiser now. As long as they aren't ten feet tall and asking for supper, I don't stress.
f) Pick up around the house. This is a never ending task. We are not neat people.
g) Play on the computer. From organizing my photos, to reading other people's blogs... I can spend a lot of time on here.
h) A hike up City Creek, a wonder through the Cemetary... we just got bikes, so we'll expand our circle, I'm sure.

I usually tell Jason at 19:00, 20:00, and 21:00 that I'm ready for bed... but he rolls his eyes and I usually make it to 22:00.

It isn't a glamorous or particularly exciting schedule, but I like it pretty well.

Hello from Abroad!!!

2009-06-06T00:11:00.002-07:00

I'm pretty sure I would bore you to death if I caught up on all of this when I got home... so I'll feed you very small chunks at a time.

This is Part ONE which includes London and Ireland.

We have been ridiculously lucky everywhere we go... minimal lines, superb weather, great locations. And everyday we say "this has been the best day of the trip."

If you want to see the captions that go with it, just go to Picasa and watch the slideshow from there. I still haven't figured out how to slow it down.

Part TWO: France to come soon.

A Most Daunting Task

2009-05-17T07:45:00.003-07:00

This is the type of thing keeping me up at night.

The Grand Finale

2009-05-15T15:08:00.004-07:00

It is official.

Our days as students are completely over.

They are coming to collect our discount IDs on Monday.

I think I'm the only one looking back.

So Jason officially graduated from the S.J. Quinney College of Law at the University of Utah on Friday, May 15, 2009. But since this blog is about me, I'd like for you to notice that he gave me the "Red Stole of Gratitude" because I'm a trooper. And if you ask me, on any particular day, law school was the hardest thing and one of the most fun things about the last two years and ten months. I loved having Jason do internships at the hospital. He would come up and visit me and we would go to lunch once a week. And he met a lot of great people there. And I'll really miss talking about cases and listening to his horrible review CDs. And what are we going to do without our Smith's Student discount?

Our families were great and came up to sit through the two hour graduation. It was interesting, but like most aspects of law school, a little too long, a little too full of praising each other to look good yourself, and wrapped up in quite a bit of dullness. I can't believe my parents tried to be upset that I didn't walk at my Undergrad Graduation. I think I would have died.

Also, a note to all people headed for higher education: Check to see what the color combos will be when you walk. Somehow, red, black, and purple just don't work for me. Some of the teachers had sliver and blue and other awesome combos and I was very jealous. I probably wont be borrowing Jason's hood any point soon...

I'm told we'll be able to get professional photos of the event... which is obviously a good thing. I think this is a great representation of our memories of the event... kinda a blur...

So we are about ready to embark on a whole new chapter of life. The world is our oyster... We know no limits... we can go anywhere and become anything... and were just a little bit clueless.

Its gonna be great!

Bliss

2009-05-12T12:27:00.002-07:00

It's called "Covering the later shift because someone called in sick" and it could be wonderful. I've worked the 8-16:30 shift for about a year now... and I love it. The sun is always still shining when I leave work, though sometimes just barely. I have full evenings to hang out with Jason, and plenty of time to get things done. And, though I am a horrible morning person, I think it is a great thing that I can't sleep my life away. Because I would.

That being said, I haven't worked this swing shift for a long time and might have forgotten how fantastic it is. Granted, I'll have to report back tomorrow... but I laid in bed until 7:30. I ate a great breakfast, went for a lovely run through the cemetery, did some things around the house, got dinner ready for Jason and I (though we will be in two different places) and got ready at my leisure. I made phone calls and though about the complete potential this shift has.

But I'll probably be singing a different tune tomorrow. Sigh. Are we never satisfied?

Thursdays in the SLC are Magical

2009-05-07T20:15:00.003-07:00

Often on Thursdays I meet up with my Tia and we do fun things. Like eating, and walking and project planning. This week, two of my cousins joined in and we enjoyed the city library. We had dinner on the roof, road the glass elevators up and down, and played around in the statue garden. Mostly the library is one of my favorite places to be. And all the more enjoyable with people who are equally enthusiastic about it.

And it makes me feel a little less horrible that I've paid at least $20 in late library fees since we moved here. I'm just doing my part to keep it wonderful!

Well done!

2009-05-04T19:27:00.002-07:00

Not much to report... except we did successfully plant our garden!!! Yay us! I'm so proud! We've probably over packed the small area, but we just don't have a ton of options. In fact, we got so caught up in the gardening fever, we ripped out some of the ornamental ground cover in the back to plant some watermelon. Every day we talk about stripping just a few more feet for a few more plants. Just a few more.

I'll post a picture when our plant babies have bounced back from the trauma of transplanting. They are looking a tad bit sorry right now. But with a little love...

Happy MayDay!!!

2009-05-02T07:31:00.012-07:00

Yes, I have been singing pieces of the May song again... It's May! It's May!!! If anyone has any better May songs, I'd gladly branch out.

I'm still blissfully in love- though the weather has had a propensity to be beautiful during the week and very rainy on the weekend. But, I love the rain too... anything that isn't snow at the moment.

To celebrate May Day, I pulled out my beautiful Tulips. I love the before and after... planting in the fall, with the crispy leaves everywhere, and cutting down in the spring when everything is bright and green. My two favorite times of year!!!

You might be thinking that I have no soul. I felt that way for a while too, because while about half of them are past their prime, the pink and yellow were just shy of reaching it. But we have talked about my fickle nature, and know that I get tired of things pretty quickly. I've been patiently waiting for weeks until I could rip them up and plant a little garden up there... and my patience ran out this weekend. So now my kitchen gets to enjoy a vase of flowers. Win, win, win.

We got a little overly excited last night and were playing with our new plant babies until long after the sun had gone down. And then there was graph drawing for optimal plant fitting. And minor arguing over the proper placement of peas.

I'm thinking, despite the downpour, we'll probably still spend the whole day in the yard. I find it so hard to believe that little kids don't enjoy yard work. Every day this week I've spent at least an hour pulling weeds or tending plants. I've never really done yard work and such before (blame me for being lazy, and not my parents for depriving me of the opportunities), so this is quite the learning experience. And terribly exciting. I think my green thumb is starting to sprout... though it might just be toying with me, like my avocado seeds that I have tried to start a billion times. Don't kindergartners do that. (Note that I just tried to spell it Kindergardeners... I've got a one track mind.:D) Regardless, the Farmstead keeps looking better and better :D

Catch up Adventure

2009-04-26T10:08:00.006-07:00

I feel pretty lame for not having any spring pictures. So I thought I'd take a moment to review a previous adventure we took at the end of winter and I never managed to post about. It looks like spring.

Ta-Da!

Capitol Reef is one of the best kept secrets of Utah. I had hardly heard of it before we headed down. But I think it might just be one of my new favorite places. And not just because it has blossoms weeks before everyone else!

We headed down a few weeks ago... mid March. Rain and snow were in the forecast for SLC. It was very dark when we got there, but I was instantly frustrated by the white swirls that were caught in our headlights. I was prepared to camp in the snow, but annoyed at the prospect. When we got out, it was ridiculously pleasant. It took me many several seconds to realize that the white flurries were, indeed, blossoms. BLISS! We decided to camp in Fruita, which is full of orchards. Absolutely mind boggling. When we woke up in the morning, the sun was starting to creep over the sheer red cliffs and into our little valley full of orchards. Think for a minute about wandering through Zions and stumbling across fruiting cherry trees. Simply amazing.

We did a few hikes, saw the hieroglyphs, appreciate the old pioneer legacy. We made friends with a couple from NYC because we have amazing camp stove talents. We did a lot of driving through the park. We were not successful in finding our slot canyon, though we wandered the wash for many miles. There are some very amazing things out there. I almost envy the pioneers who got to live there.

We can't wait to go back at the end of June. I hope to be able to pick a lot of cherries and apricots during the U-pick season. They are supposed to be the best pieces of fruit on earth. We also plan to find our slot canyon and try out some of the others. I'm so excited. Any takers? The more the merrier!

Catch up on Nothing

2009-04-26T09:34:00.002-07:00

Spring has sprung and I can spend amazing stretches of time outside, enjoying the sunshine. There have been several days when I don't even pick up the computer after I get home from work because I spend the time until bed outside. Very unlike me. It is glorious.

I've always thought of myself as a fall kind of girl. Autumn is my glory. Warm, creamy soups, hot chocolate, snuggling, sweatshirts. Falling leaves, Halloween, crisp cool air. Yes, heaven will probably be year round fall...

But I'm currently smitten with Spring. I don't think I loved it as much last year. I mean, I'm always happy when the snow melts and the sun comes up early, as referenced here... And I know I love May, but this year there has been a particularly strong pull. Maybe I really do have seasonal affective disorder and I just don't know that I'm unhappy until I get the massive rush of Vitamin D and saratonin in the spring that make me feel Oh-So-Very-Happy.

I've spent a ridiculous amount of time pulling dandelions from the front lawn (and managed another stellar neck burn), and going for walks in the still light evening. All of our windows are open and the bugs are welcome to come in... its a decent trade off. My Tulips have bloomed and I'm getting antsy about pulling them out and planting edible things. Growing things are amazing!

It makes me so very, very homesick. One day, California, one day.

So while Jason studies day and night for the very last finals he will ever take, I think I'll go sit on the porch and enjoy the lovely spring rain. And ponder how long I have to leave my tulips blooming... really, I'm ready to move on. Which reminds me, don't tell Fall of my current obsession. I'm a fickle girl, and will be ready to love another by September.

Junior Prom '09

2009-04-09T20:17:00.004-07:00

Last weekend I attended my third Prom. Cedar City Prom of '09, baby!

I suppose it wasn't exactly MY Prom. I didn't spend a fortune on a dress. My hair was not pulled into an updo. No one even asked me to dance. Kenlynn, however, looked fabulous!

Mostly, I just tagged along because my Mother and Grandmother had agreed to chaperon Kenlynn's Prom. Luckily, we didn't get stuck with patrolling the dance floor. I don't remember people sucking face nearly as much at my Proms... but maybe I'm just getting old. We were safe over in our cozy corner handing out water and dessert. There was only a slight uproar when we ran out of cups (because teenagers are not even remotely eco-savvy and think nothing of taking a drink, tossing the cup, and repeating the process three or four times instead of having me refill their cups). I wanted to pass out magic markers so people could label their cups and reuse them throughout the night... but I'm sure that makes me very uncool. In the end though, it would have been the much better option. The women in charge of the event completely refused to provide more cups, even though the event would last for two more hours. Kids started scavenging cups on tables (very unsanitary) and there were several attempts to sip straight from the spigot. That will teach them to go anywhere without their Nalgene equivalent or Camelbak.

It was a lot of fun to hang out with Mother and Grandmother. They both went to my aunt's Prom about twenty years ago. Kenlynn was pretty cool about the whole thing too, and didn't mind at all that I ran around taking pictures when she was named 2nd Attendant. She was even excited when Grandpa showed up for a second after a Conference session to oooh and aaaah over her. What kid is okay with their mom, sister, grandma and grandpa crashing their Prom? Probably just Kenlynn. May the tradition live on!

Tasty

2009-04-09T19:46:00.003-07:00

I'm honestly not a morning person. Jason will nod his head emphatically when I say this. This particular morning was no different. I stumbled out of bed and got myself into the shower.

Generally it takes a good five minutes before I can even open my eyes. When I finally started focusing, I noticed some intense teeth marks on my thighs and arms.

I kept wondering how Jason had gnawed on me without waking me. And WHY he would bite. He doesn't bite. Right? What was going on?

I probably spent a whole minute trying to figure it all out before I realize what had happened.

I got my very first bite guard yesterday and pulled it out some time in the night. I proceeded to roll around on it all night long till I looked like a teething ring. Yum.

I'm hoping my teeth and body are guarded a little more successfully tonight.

Spring has Sprung! kinda...

2009-03-29T08:59:00.005-07:00

It's snowing outside again.

I think it is because I grew up in California and there are supposed to be a billion almond blossoms in bloom... but I feel disappointment. I'm ready to take the plastic off the windows and enjoy cool breezes and the warm sunshine. I'm ready to actually see the sunshine. I'm ready to buy a new swimsuit. (Does it make me incredibly old that the ones I want are from Lands End????) I'm ready to plant my tiny garden out front. And go for walks at the dog park again. I'm ready for Farmer's Market and tasty, fresh produce. I'm ready for my tulips to bloom. I'm ready to picnic and BBQ with friends, and roadtrip with the windows down.

And instead, I sit curled up under blankets in the front room thinking about how I can't walk the two blocks to Church in these conditions. We'll have to scrape car windows. Ugg.

This particular storm comes as such a slap in the face because yesterday was such a perfect Spring day. IN FACT, we ushered in the glories of Spring, which is obviously what this present post is about.

I've been planning on going to the Holi Festival for quite a while now. How I missed out on it while we lived in Provo is completely beyond me. Our old age wouldn't have made us stick out so badly then... But we decked out in white, short sleeved t-shirts and set out to enjoy the beautiful day. And beautiful it was. Warm, sunny, windless... a perfect representation of new spring.

Once there, we walked for a million miles to actually reach the Krishna Temple. I think all of BYU attends the festivities. Poor Spanish Fork was totally overrun. But it was a fabulous walk, through sunny pasture lands. And the Krishna Temple is always intriguing.

The anticipated color throwing was a blast. I'm not sure if this link will get to it properly (especially in a few days) but the Salt Lake Trib has some fun pictures. We were only slightly concerned about the amount of chalk we inhaled. And we were promised that the chalk wouldn't stain... but my fingers are still pretty pink.

We left a little early (like the old duds we are) and missed most of the horrible traffic. Perhaps the best part was showering when we got home. Who knew that colored, swirling shower water could be so cool?! It took at least ten minutes before my hair stopped draining colors. It's possible my scalp is still rainbowed. And while we took clothes we intended to destroy, I'm hoping my bra can be saved... chalk can get into the oddest places.

It was a perfect, care free celebration with a lot of happy, excited people. I think everyone loves Spring. Its a good time of year.

Shoe Love

2009-03-23T21:04:00.004-07:00

You know how they tell you that your shoes should be replaced after 300 - 500 miles or so? Do people really do that?

I definitely don't. Probably because I've never thought of myself as a runner of miles. I can't compute. Mile= 4 laps= red in the face and out of breath. So 300 - 500 red in the faces and out of breathes? Am I dead? Uggg.

Then too, I've never actually had real running shoes. I get the athletic shoes on sale. And then run them into the ground. I've had my most recent pair for two years. The ones before that since high school (four-ish years). My toes were literally creeping out of the sides of these shoes.

And since Jason and I are becoming runners, we decided to buy ourselves nice shoes for our birthdays. Thus a trip to The Salt Lake Running Co ensued. Upon reaching said destination, my feet were slipped into average shoes and I was placed upon a treadmill. My running was video taped and played back to me in slow motion.

Red Asphalt VI couldn't turn your stomach like 20 seconds of watching me run.

How my feet haven't wrenched off as a result of my stellar pronation is completely beyond me. I should have callused ankles. I was terrified they were going to bring me the horrible orthopedic shoes, perplexed eyebrows raised, as they tried to explain that I will never again be able to wear acceptable shoes.

Instead, they sold me $140 shoes with awesome cush. Apparently, my arches are much better supported in these shoes, and my ankles have a chance to grow up and become cankles.

I heart my new shoes.

But that left us with the tragic decision of what to do with the old trusty companions. I have a hard time letting go of things I love. So we drove up to Park City to expand the infamous Shoe Tree. I'm not even really sure how it started or what it means, but from the moment I saw it during a Dog Walk this summer, I knew my shoes were destine to be a part of it.

Turns out, it is really hard to throw your shoes into a tree. I tried a million times. And finally Jason stole them and took his turn. I'm not feeling too bad about it... It still took him a half dozen lobs before they stayed.

I couldn't point to them at their final resting spot even if you paid me... but I sleep soundly at night knowing that my old shoes are happy and my new shoes are incredibly comfortable. Live is good.

Worth it for the Entertainment

2009-03-08T09:41:00.013-07:00

If you know me very well, you'd know that while I can't keep the kitchen clean for consecutive days to save my life, I have OCD tendencies in other areas. My iPhoto library is one of those places. I spend a ridiculous amount of time arranging the photos and captioning things.

The last two days I've been using the new face recognition program to further enhance the beauty of my library. It is tedious, and frustrating, and amazing, and hilarious. Sometimes it is spot on and can label someone's face regardless of its expression. For some faces, it might not be entirely correct, but at least it suggests an alternate family member with similar features. In my case, it rarely even registers that there is a face to be labeled. I'm thinking of being offended.

That being said, I have laughed until I cried at some of the suggestions it has made. Here are some of my favorites.

This is one of the least funny. Sorry for the bad quality picture. The statue and I are actually part of the same shot. I'm mimicking the pose. The program did not box me as a recognizable face, but tried to label the statue with my name... Obviously I'm an amazing mime.

This one is particularly funny, not only because there is an awkward resemblance, but because the program tried several times to get me to label the snowman as Jason. There are at least five pictures of the snowman, and every time the program asked "Is this Jason?" It is possible I said "Yes" the last time around.

The program does a fairly good job only selecting human faces. Occasionally it does try to create a face out of completely inappropriate objects. I'm constantly amazed at the few nonhuman things it does select to compare to a human face. Not as much in this case. It took me hours to figure out what this thing was that the program was trying to compare to Jason's grandpa... Turns out he resembles a beam in the JFK Airport.

I might have just been particularly tired when I stumbled across this comparison, but I honestly nearly choked I was laughing so hard. I think Bec would be very proud that her hair resembles a fluffy lap dog.

Overall, I'm pretty impressed with the program and definitely look forward to many more hours of entertainment!

Bingo in Monroe

2009-03-06T18:27:00.006-07:00

Jason has this thing with warm springs... and not so warm springs, in the case of Gandy. They are up there next to waterfalls on things to detour, at all cost, to see. We have a list full of things to do on our weekends... Trips to take, tasks to complete... and hot springs to visit. Lots and lots of hot springs.

So one weekend we look into going down to the Mystic Hot Springs outside of Monroe, UT. We were excited about camping in an old, retired bus. In the mid February snow.
As it turns out, the buses were not available, so we reserved a cabin. Definitely the better choice. There were two separate twin beds... and some chinks that had not been completely caulked... but it was heated, and oh-so-worth it.

To be honest, the place is a run down hippie dream resort. It could use some funding... and a lot of work. But you go for the full experience. The Hot Springs themselves were great fun and incredibly warm. There were actual wading pools and then the soaking tubs. The tubs were obviously the best part. There were just a bunch of the old claw foot tubs scattered around the property, with hot water constantly flushing through them. The ones that we spent the most time around were the hottest, and had the best travertine mounds swallowing them up. If you look closely, you can tell that we spent some quality time building dams to divert some of the caldera boiled water. We're pansies...

The weather was perfect. Our favorite spot was up high on a hill. We sat in our tubs and watched the storms roll across the valley. It rained and snowed on us, which only served to make the water that much more enjoyable. A great deal of the time it was clear and absolutely beautiful.

But it turns out that no matter how fabulous the hot water, and how fantastic the scenery, you just can't soak for more then a few hours at a time. So we drove around for a while and got our fill of Monroe. We drove up a canyon that we will definitely return to for further exploration. And finally, we decided to head to the Ice Cream Social and Bingo Night, sponsored by the Monroe Senior Citizens Center. Let me just tell you, IT WAS A BLAST. Free ice cream is always a win in my book... but the bingo was a lot of fun too. We won ourselves 32oz. of V8 and a fleece throw. I'd probably go back just for the bingo.

So if you are ever in need of a Utah adventure, Monroe is the place!

Bath Time

2009-03-05T17:40:00.006-07:00

If these pictures don't make you smile a little, something inside of you is broken.
This is Cricket, my mom's Yorkie. I nearly wet my pants laughing every time I look through the million pictures I took of her bath. The best part, however, is the second she hits the floor after the bath. Greased lightning can't move as fast as she does... rolling and burrowing through anything and everything to muff up her hair and reestablish a doggy scent. Hilarious!

I know I'm Lame...

2009-03-05T17:16:00.003-07:00

I heard the crickets and the name calling and all I can say is that we have been WAY to busy having fun and I am way to lazy to keep up on all of it.

But we've got a lot of pictures, so we've gotta be doing something right.

Quick update. Nothing has actually changed.

Jason:
Still trudging through the last semester of Law school.
Seventy one days to go till Graduation.
Still works up in Park City.
Takes occasional "Ski Days" with his complimentary Park City day pass.
Does a much better job cleaning up the kitchen then Kalie does.
Still loves living in the Avenues.
Still dreams of having a garden in the backyard.
Still wakes up WAY too early and wants to adventure.

Kalie:
Still works as lead tech at the hospital.
Still loves the hospital.
Still loves living in SLC.
Doesn't even mind the scattered snow storms.
Still kills every plant she shares love with.
Still tries to grow avocado trees from the pits.
Is still always too hot or too cold.
Loves to find new places to adventure.
Still likes to sleep in late.

We have obviously settled into the groove of our life very well.

Adventures to come.

Called To Serve... Part II

2008-12-19T20:38:00.005-07:00

So I've got a lot to update about, but one of the most notable is that we dropped Erik off at the MTC last week. The most interestingly melancholy part was that Bec wasn't there with us. And Kenlynn weaseled out of it because she couldn't miss any more school. I was the only sibling there to represent in the triple time singing of "Called to Serve."

Mostly, I can report that the MTC drop off is no better the second time around. I'm so very grateful I probably wont have to do it again. But, we did have a fabulous dinner the night before... so I can't complain :D

We got a letter from Erik on Wednesday and it is almost bizarre to hear how much older and more mature he sounds already. Nothing like Bec, who was "speaking missionary" many months before she even entered the MTC. She got to make her Christmas call the night before Erik went to the MTC so she could chat with all of us. She sounds EXACTLY the same. So it will be exciting to watch Erik grow up. If nothing else, the letters home will provide much more insight into the mind of my little brother then I have ever before seen.

Yay Erik! We LOVE YOU!!!

My Confession

2008-12-07T15:29:00.002-07:00

I'm staring out my living room window, feeling like a particularly awkward teenager in high school. Pimples and all...

To be honest though my teen years were surprisingly enjoyable... so I'm just guessing this is what it feels like.

See, after years of putting it off for a myriad of reasons, I've finally caved and opened a Facebook account.

And I feel guilty...
The only reason I really want the account is so I can lurk. And to be fantastically honest, for the most part, they aren't even people I should be too concerned about. People I haven't spoken to since high school or college. People I didn't even talk to all that much in high school or college. But I'm obsessed. I want to know who has come out, to ooohhhh and aaaaahhhh over baby pictures, and see who else has moved to NYC this year. I want to see wedding pictures, and know who is pursuing their predicted course, and have hundreds of friends.

I'm one of THOSE kind of people. The ones that don't worry very much about updating their profiles... the ones that just read over others and occasionally leave comments. I know I'll drop it after I've gotten my fill. I go many, many months before checking my MySpace.

So I'm going to sit here and mull it over for a while... and probably check to see how many more people have accepted me as friends in the last hour...

Thanksgiving 2008

2008-12-07T13:42:00.003-07:00

After a lovely blogging sabbatical, I'm back, and ready to continue focusing this blog solely on the mundane details of my life. It has been an absolutely fantastic two months since my last post. Luckily for you, I'll stay in the present, except to touch on Thanksgiving 2008.

Because the two oldest Christensen daughters and I had to work Thanksgiving day, we were prepared to wait until Friday to consume the celebratory feast. Luckily for me, I swapped shifts at the last minute, and we were free to head to Oak City early to assist with the glorious preparations. Pies, pies, PIES filled every square inch of kitchen when we got there... and I'm only exaggerating a little. There were definitely enough for everyone to have their very own. And so many options: Pumpkin, cherry, pecan, lemon meringue, lemon cream, apple... So we spent most of Thanksgiving day gorging ourselves on pie and listening to Christmas music as we waited for the others to get home. MIL made the decision to have a late Thanksgiving meal. So around 7pm, when the girls were home and the Prime Rib was done (and yes, that was the main meat this year... an excellent experiment) we gathered together to give thanks for the many blessings in our lives.

And then we ate ourselves into individual comas.

The next few days are a food filled, lazy blur. There was a few hours devoted to a new family picture... with a few successful options to pick from. There were several hours focused on Dr. Mario. And even more hours spent with The Big Bang Theory. But mostly eating and sleeping and laughing.

We continued the tradition of building a holiday tree for the animals. This year we went out and cut down an old, dead cedar tree. We had a lot of fun with that, though we felt a little odd driving through town with a very dead, very not pine tree in back. For the decorations, we dye peanut butter green or red, spread it all around pine cones, and roll them in bird seed. We also string popcorn, though past experience tells us that only the dog will actually eat the popcorn. There are still a few strands in the tree from last year as proof. Grandma got excited about stringing peanuts, but this turned into a time intensive ordeal. She thought it would be funny if she ate the nuts and reattached the empty shells, but felt bad when Amy told her how mean that was. In the end, she was satisfied with refilling the empty shells with peanut butter and tying them with stings. Our angel was one of the best parts, even if I do say so myself. She's quite the stylish lady.

So it was an absolutely fantastic holiday. Made me extra grateful for the great family I've joined.

The end of the world as we know it

2008-10-12T18:46:00.002-07:00

We were waiting in the hideous lines at the grocery store on Saturday when my happy little world was shaken. Jason mentions in a rather blase manner that he read an article about Mother's Cookies going out of business.

Just like that. "Hey, so I read an article about Mother's Cookies going out of business."

It was like he wasn't even concerned that the most fabulous frosted covered circus animals were no longer going to be available... anywhere... ever again.

So in a moment of panic, I run through the entire store to the back and rummage through the cookie isle. There was still a tiny selection of cookies, high on the shelf. high, high on the shelf. There were four bags of Circus Animals tucked behind some Molasses cookies. I took two of them and left the others for some other lucky person.

But I was so sad.

So Jason proposed we hit one other grocery store on the way home. And again, a tiny selection of Mother's Cookies looked to be completely without Circus Cookies. But I'm all kinds of full of sleuthing powers. Very discreetly hidden behind some Keebler cookies were the two final bags of Circus Animals. Since someone had obviously taken the time to hide the cookies, I thought I would only take one bag... but Jason is mean. He snagged both bags and never looked back.

So now I'm wondering... should I spread out the goodness ad enjoy each individual frosting and sprinkle covered pink or white animal cracker... or should I gorge myself on the four bags and make myself so sick on the cookies that I can't stand the thought of them?

Any thoughts?

'Cause Everyone Else is Doing it

2008-10-06T20:23:00.003-07:00

I'm more then fantastically embarrassed to admit that I might have left out one of the most importantly exciting aspects of my life right now... the thing that is absolutely consuming my waking -and plenty of sleeping- thoughts.

No we are NOT pregnant. Please, stop holding your breath for that one.

We are moving. Renting part of a lovely house. A house in the Avenues. Which suddenly makes us feel very cool. We finally get to start working on something... and boy do we have our work cut out for us.

I'll blame the lack of blog update on the fact that I still don't have pictures. Lame. I know.

So if blogging is scant for the next couple weeks... understand that I am not sleeping at nights because I get to pick out paint colors. And when have I ever made a decision easily? Right. So patience, please. Lots and lots of pictures to come to make up for it.

Politics

2008-10-02T20:52:00.002-07:00

We watched the Vice President Debate tonight... and I've read about a hundred articles and blogs since... and all I'm willing to say is that this is great entertainment. We've had some great laughs in the last few weeks and I think this is the first time I'm really enjoying the world of politics.

I can't wait to see what hilarious things will happen in the next week!

October First

2008-10-01T17:29:00.001-07:00

Not sure how you improve upon a day like today. Has anyone else noticed it is the first of October?... and is there any other better day? I'm so excited for fall! Ahhhhhhh! Happy October!

The Weekend... the Weekend!!!

2008-09-23T17:52:00.005-07:00

What a fabulous weekend we had... One of the best! And we are havers of fabulous weekends, so that is saying a lot.

We went down to my parents house in Southern Utah. Fabulous food, as always, and excellent activities. On Saturday, after a great deal of exploring our options, we decided to explore Kanarra Falls. It is amazing! Kenlynn, Bec, Jason and I did this the summer Jason and I started dating. Ohhh. Precious. Fabulous slot canyons... exciting waterfalls... and freezing water. The perfect adventure. This time my siblings bailed out and so my parents were our partners. They are very enjoyable hikers who don't mind posing for the occasional picture.

That evening we went down to the Tuacahn Theater. We saw Les Miserables. It was fine. The theater itself is absolutely fantastic! And I feel culturally edified to have finally seen Les Mes. But I'd much rather go see Wicked :D

The parts not mentioned are filled with food, dogs, talk and sleep... of which we always do fantastic amounts of while we are there.

Jason's already planning our next weekend down. There's no place like home!

We Might as Well Move Out East

2008-09-15T19:43:00.004-07:00

So... after very minimal fanfare, Erik called on Friday to tell me that he had received his mission call. Is this bizarre to anyone else? Are you feeling ridiculously old? Where did my little brudder go?

But back to the point.

Drum Roll Please...

Ahem.

He's going to Rochester, NY! Yep. Just a couple hours north of Bec. Freakishly small world. And as far as I can tell, he's excited. We're going to head down this weekend and celebrate until he begs us to leave :D

I've Found Domestic Talent

2008-09-14T16:57:00.003-07:00

As many of you know... I have absolutely no domestic skills whatsoever. Sure, I can fold clothes, keep the bathroom sanitary, and mix some ingredients together for an eatable meal... but I am constantly in awe of people who are so ridiculously talented at things relating to the home front. Really good cooking and cleaning and sewing is so very beyond me.

And sometimes I'm okay with that. I'm really good at other things. Need your family movies transferred from 8mm cassetts to DVDs? Bam- done with transition titles and slideshows and ready for mass production. Want a spread sheet of camping essentials and where they can be found in our house?... I'll even color coordinate it for you. I can problem solve, train intimidating physicians, and get a screaming child to hold still for an ECG. I adventure well, I plan well, and while I may not sleep well, I'm fantastic at tucking others into bed. But hand me a pattern, and my eyes start to cross and fingers go numb.

But... EMH was going to have a baby. And that baby deserved something amazing. And luckily, it was going to be a girl. So, relying more then heavily on my Aunts and Grandmother, I made an attempt at creating something beautiful. I learned how to smock. And it turns out, I'm really good at it. It is like graphing. You do a ton of counting... and dividing... and suddenly you have a pretty fabulous piece of work in front of you. Its almost as adorable as the baby, herself.

Granted, I couldn't do any of the actual sewing myself. I did a tiny bit of the hand sewing... and I decorated with some embroidery (something else I had absolutely no experience of before) and turned the rest over to much more capable hands. Thank you Grandma and Jannie for all of your very hard work.

It has gotten me onto a creative kick. I want to learn all of these things I have always felt so intimidated by. I want to smock a billion more dresses... but I figure I need to learn how the sew the dresses before I do anything else. And get a sewing machine. Anyone have one they want to get rid of... even temporarily? I'm excited. I'm thinking scrubs should be a good place to start, since I'm back down to two workable pairs. And maybe by the time Bec or Kenlynn are ready for kids, I'll be able to make the whole dress myself.

Wish me luck.

Labor Day Weekend Recount

2008-09-14T07:36:00.005-07:00

I know it seems like we have done a billion different adventures back to back to back... but it is only because I couldn't find the camera cord for so long and have to hurry and account for the lost weekends before I forget the exciting details. In reality, we live the same boring life of everyone else... probably even more boring. :D

But on to Labor Day weekend.

Jason had been planning for the Saturday Adventure for a few days and was pretty excited to go to the Sheepdog Championship in Midway. And it was surprisingly fantastic. We watched the dogs bring small herds of sheep (we were there on the second day... the herds eventually got up to something like 15 sheep) down the mountain, and through a series of obstacles. Some of them were amazing, and some were just mediocre, but we cheered like it was the Olympics all over again. We also watched goose herding... which was on a much smaller scale, and infinitely more hilarious. Ducks and geese don't care much for being herded by large dogs. We finally checked out the dog jumping competition. I'd read about it here, but never really appreciated how fun it could be. We're thinking of training my mom's Yorkie for next year. Come on Cricket!!! :D

Late Sunday afternoon, we got a little antsy from the meetings and rain that had taken over the morning. When both stopped, we decided to go for a scenic hike up Milcreek Canyon. We'd never been up there before... and it is definitely a place we will head back to. There were still wild flowers everywhere, and the earth was nice and moist from the morning showers. I was only a little sad because, yet again, this was a place where everyone has a dog. A garden and a dog... that's all I really need... for now.

We left SLC, very poorly prepared, and headed down to Payson. We had invited ourselves over to my Aunt and Uncles house for breakfast and the Payson Onion Days parade months in advance because of the success of a similar event two years ago. Uncle had offhandedly joked about sleeping in the still unfinished tree house, and Jason was hooked.

First, let me describe the tree house. It is bigger then our apartment. Almost. I'm seriously concerned that it might require its own zoning stuff. And it is probably built better then most of the houses in the area. But it has been shifted to the back of the TO DO list for most of the summer... so there are small pieces of wall not in place... and nails sticking out... but full roof.

Second, let me tell you that we knew there was inclement weather surging our way. I knew thunder and lightening would take up most of the night. I knew a cold front was charging along, kindly leaving tolerable temperatures in its wake.

That being said, we hauled all of our bedding up into the tree house in a two minute break in the deluge. There were moments when the sane part of me said "Seriously, is it a good idea to be towering yards above any of the houses in the neighborhood when the lightning is cracking right on top of you!!!" But it really was wonderful. Blistfully cool, rain pitter pattering all night, a little excitement with the thunder and lightning. It probably kept the rooster from next door quiet for hours, until his sense of obligation finally made him start yelling at 5am. I don't think we'll have roosters on our property. Ever.

Having survived the night, we were excited for breakfast and the parade. Breakfast was fantastic... as always. We set ourselves up in the yard and waited for my cousin to come by on her float. And then we noticed the storm cloud speeding towards us.

It was like a cloud of death. Within seconds, we were soaking wet and being pelted by hail. But so many of the stalwart floats continued on... Town Royalty looking like drowned rats, and barely smiling, marching bands in ponchos, the exposed float driver- who couldn't leave the lineup even though his entire group of passengers had abandoned him... how could we leave. Tia JoAnne and I figured that there wasn't any wetter we could get... so why not stay and cheer. And we did... till the last float drove by. I can't remember the last time I was so wet and cold. But it was still fun. And funny. And Jason disapproved so very much. I think he would have been happy if I had caught some horrible cold. Such a fuddy duddy.

I'm totally going to be the favorite parent. :D

So our Labor Day weekend was so very exciting! We're already making plans for next year.

Fruit Gorging... Again

2008-09-13T17:28:00.006-07:00

We drove up to Brigham City today to experience the Fruit Highway.

We came away with a peach shake, a half bushel of peaches, a half bushel of pears, a bag of squash, a bag of green bell peppers, a bag of special peaches, a bag nectarines...

I'd say we definitely experienced it... AND I LOVE THE FRUIT HIGHWAY!!! I'm almost embarrassed to say that the tents of produce were absolutely beautiful. Who knew? Mounds of the most colorful, plump, wonderful fruit and veggies. It was an over stimulation frenzy... too many colors, and textures and smells! I can't believe I'd ever go back to a grocery store for produce again. I NEED A GARDEN! I particularly love the crazy golden hubbard squash. They had some black ones and white ones... and I've decided to grow them in our first garden for Halloween decorations.

We've spent the afternoon eating our fruit. Tons and tons of fruit. I don't think I've eaten anything besides peaches and nectarines all day long. But besides the gorging, we really are preparing a lot of it for dehydration. Turns out I eat fruit leather like candy. Please tell me you believe it has more nutritional value then candy... I mean, fiber, right??? AND NATURAL SUGARS! :D

And besides being able to eat it all, I love the way it makes our apartment smell. Warm and sweet and tasty. I think I could do this forever... or at least until we go broke. If only we had our own orchard...

Last Weekend: 1/8 Marathons and Park City with Grandma

2008-09-13T08:02:00.003-07:00

Last weekend was honestly the definition of perfection.

We slept in till 7:30 (which sounds so ridiculous coming from my mouth... but it really is perfect. An hour more sleep, but not too much to make you feel sluggish the rest of the morning) and headed to the b-e-a-u-tiful Sugarhouse Park. I thought we would spend the morning supporting my patients by participating in the American Heart Assosiation 5K run/walk. We'd like to think of it as a 1/8th Marathon. Honestly though, the most perfect weather. And though we found nearly no other people from Cardiology (WHERE IS YOUR TEAM SPIRIT!!!?!?!?) amidst the million milling people, everyone was really friendly. ANNNNND we got super sweet matching T-shirts for our efforts.

Once we successfully ran for the hearts of others, we headed down to Sandy to visit with Jason's Aunt and Uncle and Grandma. Low and Behold, his parents showed up. Perfect! After a while, we stole Grandma away and took her up to Park City to share her childhood stories of visiting her sister. She is a most excellent addition to my "Amazing Grandma's" list. Though she was so sad to see all of the things that have changed she kept us laughing with all kinds of good stories. I only wish we could have recorded everything. We're planning on stealing her again to visit Heber, which is where she actually grew up.

We spent the evening gorging ourselves on peaches as we made Fruit leather. SO TASTY!

And so it was a success. I'm already looking for our next excellent 1/8th marathon, and we set out today for another box of mystery fruit. Its gonna be good.

I've Been Tagged

2008-09-11T17:29:00.002-07:00

I know!!! I have a billion things to blog about. But first, I have to respond to being tagged by Kayla

Answer each with ONE word (OR A LITTLE MORE), then tag three friends!

1. Where is your cell phone? Pocket
2. Your significant other? Jason
3. Your hair? UGGGG!
4. Your mother? Wonderful
5. Your father? Fun
6. Your favorite thing? Home
7. Your dream last night? Bizzar
8. Your favorite drink? Root Beer
9. Your dream/goal? Happiness
10. The room you’re in? Livingroom
11. Your hobby? Resting
12. Your fear? Boring-ness
13. Where do you want to be in 6 years? Christensen Ranch
14. What you’re not? Chic
15. Muffins? Blueberry
16. One of your wish list items? Running Shoes
17. Where you grew up? PASO
18. Last thing you did? Ate
19. What you're wearing? Scrubs
20. Favorite Gadget? Gingers
21. Your pets? Citrus Trees
22. Your computer? Mac
23. Your mood? Well Worn
24. Missing someone? Bec
25. Your car? Surprisingly Clean
26. Something you're not wearing? Shoes
27. Favorite store? REI
28. Like someone? Yeeeeaaah
29. Favorite color? Green
30. When was the last time you laughed? Seconds ago
31. When was the last time you cried? Monday

I'll tag Laura, Natter, and Kenlynn

Ewww. Gross.

2008-08-26T16:51:00.002-07:00

I think it is the most awful thing to be sick when it is a hundred billion degrees outside. Ugg. So I'm just gonna lay here and read everyone else's blog. Thanks for your amusing stories and pictures.

We had a fabulous weekend... and I'll post when I find the camera.

Here's How I Grossed Jason out Today

2008-08-18T18:56:00.008-07:00

Who's awesome profile could that be??? Yeah, don't worry, I've got myself a sweet brain.

This is the result of my first MRI. I have to admit, I was ridiculously excited. Turns out I absolutely do not mind that tiny tube. The only trouble I had was holding still... always the issue of the more essential it is to hold still, the harder it is for me. I had to focus on the the "thunk" to keep my legs from spasming uncontrollably.

And here is proof that I will never be a truly creative person. Look how the right side of my brain totally overshadows the left. Too bad, but explains a lot.

{Edit thought} Unfortunately it turns out the left side of the brain is the more analytical and the right is more creative... apparently I'm just a failure :D

The Trip of a Million Falls

2008-08-12T16:53:00.010-07:00

All I can say is you need to experience it for yourself.

Having said that... you can look through our pictures and sigh with envy. We're nice like that.

Day One: Left SLC after a partial day at work. Drove to Idaho Falls. Enjoyed the falls.

Day Two: Checked out the old Montana prison. Ate some Huckleberry ice cream. Arrived at Glacier National Park and set up camp. Worked absolute magic with the white gas stove Jason inherited from his grandpa (Jason is pretty proud of himself). Was eaten alive by gigantic mosquitoes. Checked out the beautiful glacial lake.
Day Three: Road the park shuttle along the Going to the Sun Rd.
Hiked to several falls. Appreciated wildlife. Waited a ridiculously long time for the final shuttle home. Worked more magic at the grill.

Day Four: Tried to explore a barely established road. Tried to find bears. Headed for the Two Medicine park entrance. Saw some tricky falls. Explored to another waterfall.
Took a sweet boat ride. Hiked to another set of falls. Returned to camp and swam in the freezing lake. Made Tasty, tasty grub.

Day Five: Took scads of pictures (which you can see a small portion of the over 200 stellar shots HERE) as we finished exploring. Saw more waterfalls. Packed up and headed south. Saw a black cow disguised as a bear. Stopped in Great Falls. Hunted for the "great falls." Was successful. Spent the night in Montana's Capital.

Day Six: Explored and appreciated the last of Montana. Arrived home completely covered in bug bites.

I'd say we were pretty successful.

Roll OUT!

2008-08-04T14:40:00.001-07:00

Where on our way! Hopefully we don't get eaten by any bears. We'll post pictures of our Glacier National Park Adventure when we get back next week!

Park City Art Festival

2008-08-03T11:47:00.004-07:00

Besides celebrating Nuvi, we had quite an eventful day yesterday.

I spent the morning slaving away at work. There was so absolutely nothing to do that I pulled apart the office and reorgaized everything... and defrosted and cleaned the fridge. Yuck. Its verly likely been eons since the poor thing was cleaned properly.

Meanwhile, Jason braved some nasty traffic issues and forged his way down to Springville for his cousin's baptism. It seriously took him two hours to get there. But he got to hang out with the fam, and eat some fabulous food... so he's not complaining too much.

We stayed up in Park City again for part of the week, so once work was over we headed back up. Seriously... EVERYTHING is better up there. Even breathing.

And because we are so cool, we had VIP Passes to the Park City Arts Festival. We spent hours wandering the street, flouting out sophisticated artistic taste. Nodding and mumbling pretentiously about the mass production of kitsch. Or, mostly just mezmerized by the lucious colors and fantastic variety of pieces.

We would have had some fantastic pictures, but wouldn't you know it... Jason pulls out the camera to take an amazing picture of me in a superb green hat (seriously Lauren, "What color are my eyes!!!??") only to find that somehow the battery opted to stay sunggled in its charger instead of coming on our outing. Jason was particularly heartbroken no one would be able to ooooohhh and aaaaaahhh over our experience in the VIP lounge. Too bad.

If only Nuvi had a camera on her...

Welcome to our family!

2008-08-02T18:57:00.003-07:00

So I'd love to introduce you to the newest member of our family.

Her name is Nuvi.

She's adorable, with a sweet British accent and oh so bossy. She makes me look like the most relaxed, easy going, non-nagging wife ever.

No, we don't need her. Yes we already have an E Trex Garmin. And we live in Utah where there is a phenomena known as the Grid System. But... my sweet dealing husband did what he does and a month or so later a little package appeared on our door step, free of charge. (Don't ask... it requires WAAAAAAAAY too much time at places like this and this)

She has now narrated us on important trips, like to my work, the the Park City Art Festival, and Smith's Market Place on 4th. I'm not sure what we would do without her :D

Oh Yeah. And I Went to New York

2008-07-30T12:45:00.004-07:00

Its an indication of how much we have done lately that my trip to New York is a side post done a month after the fact. But here is a recap with pictures.

About a year ago, one of my cousin's got married. At the reception, another cousin introduced the family to his girlfriend. About 8 months later, a ring was purchased, and annoucements were made. And thus the New York Adventure was born.

When my mom first brought up the plan, I almost didn't go for it. Call me absolutely ridiculous (because she did), but this would mark the first time I would spend the night away from Jason. AND it was the first time I would do something really fun without him. Something about it just didn't seem fair.

Though I felt bad about it the entire time, I finally agreed to go. But let it be noted that it would have been even better if Jason had come along.

Grandma, Grandpa, Mom and I flew out as the sun was rising on the Vegas Strip. Pleasant flight, nice trek into the city, rush off to the Groom's Dinner. The food was great, and company even better.

Mom and I separated from the group and stayed at THE POD... which was possibly one of the best parts of the trip. We had super cool bunk beds, and cute little TVs above both beds. Though there were communal bathrooms, they were fantastically clean, and very enjoyable. I can't wait to go back.

Most of our time was spent enjoying wedding festivities. They were amazing. It was the sort of thing you read about in celebrity magazines, or watch in a movie. An amazing amount of food (I realize I seem to fixate on the vitals), great music, tons of laughing and quite a few tears. This was the first wedding I've been to since Jason and got married, and it was horrible to be without him.

We spent a day playing around NYC. Saw Mary Poppins. Played around The Met. Did one of the double decker street tours. Got caught in The Gay Pride parade. Ate some more.

Turns out I love NYC. I know everyone thinks this... but I really do. And luckily, it turns out everyone I know is moving there... so they had better be prepared for some visits :D

Did you really just say "Two Years!!?"

2008-07-28T19:13:00.002-07:00

So two years ago today I went from a "me" to an "us." From status "S" to "M." A claimer of 2 on my W4.

And it changed everything. Almost entirely for the good.

To be absolutely honest, the first six months was terrifying and exciting, lonely and wonderful, horribly depressing and very lovely. There were 30 additional pounds that attached themselves to me. And several boxes of tissues that disappeared almost instantaneously.

They always tell you that getting married is an adjustment. Learning to live with someone else is difficult.

But I disagree.

Being a married individual was and adjustment. Learning to live with myself was difficult. I learned so much about myself. I was the one to change.

So yes, year one was hard.

Now this second year... that is a whole different story.

Life really is great. We really have done tons of adventuring. We really don't disagree often. And I'm a much more stable person. It doesn't seem to matter that we have no idea what we will be doing next year. Or that we have a billion dollars worth of Student Loan Debt. There have been road trips down Hwy 89. Many hikes. Pleasant lap swimming. Envelopes of negatives, and boxes of 8mm cassettes. Camelbaks and picture frames. Adventures and lazy evenings of nothing. Hardware Ranch and Hotel Dawn. New plants and old treasures. Yes, life is very very good this year.

Dare I even hope that year three will be even better???!!!

Honey, I love you. Thank you for sticking with me. And seriously, we need to take some better pictures together...

Mt Timpanogos or Bust

2008-07-20T09:55:00.005-07:00

I know! Its been a month... and we have done scads of exciting things in this last month... And today marks the first day of normalcy we've had in weeks, so I thought I'd start playing catch up.

We'll start with yesterday's Adventure.

As the title obviously indicates, we attempted to summit Timpanogos. Jason's parents and little sister, and my little sister and two cousin's joined us in our trek.

Let me confess that we didn't actually make it to the tip top. I could give you a billion excuses to justify it, but in the end, we were just too tired.

It was an absolutely beautiful hike. Wildflowers EVERYWHERE!!! Waterfalls EVERYWHERE! and even snow EVERYWHERE!

I can't figure out how to slow down the slideshow on the portable slide show, so if you actually want to read the captions, feel free to click on the picture and go the the Picasa website and slideshow from there.

It took us about eleven hours to reach the saddle and back. Everyone survived, some better then others. Today Jason and I are hobbling a little and have some good snow sunburns, but no big. I'm glad I didn't die up top and TERT doesn't even know my name! A success I would say!

Father's Day

2008-06-15T20:27:00.003-07:00

I often cannot believe how lucky I am to have such amazing men in my life. Being Father's Day and all, I thought I'd just mention how wonderful each of them is. This is probably going to get pretty mushy... so be warned.

Jason, is obviously the most wonderful husband ever. And if his attention to the citrus babies is any indication of his future fatherhood talents, I'm set. I love that we are going to get to grow old together and celebrate being parents one day. What an exciting adventure we are on, and what a great partner I've picked.

My dad is also obviously the absolute best dad ever. I'm sure others would dispute this, but they would be wrong. I'm the winner. My mom does an excellent job of pointing out all of his wonderful points... so I'll just say that one of my most favorite things is to make my dad laugh. When I see my dad's eyes glimmering with mirth, I feel as if I've achieved my life's goals. Thanks dad, for all of the wonderful wonderful things you do and are!

Jon, my father-in-law has also been an excellent addition to my life. We are still ridiculously awkward... and I suppose it will take many more years for that to fade, but I appreciate how funny and kind he is. I love how much Jason is like his dad, and I love even more to point these things out. Jon, Thanks for raising an excellent son for me to marry.

Both of my grandpa's are characters all to themselves. Both and strong willed and opinionated with enough stories to last a lifetime. Grandpa Carter can make friends with absolutely any living thing. Grandpa Torgersen is a man of many talents. Both of these guys make me smile. I love having such fantastic grandpas.

Mostly I read the Post Secrets from today and was overwhelmed with how grateful I am to so love, and to be so loved by the men in my life. A great father appears to be a rare thing. How am I so lucky?

Last Weendend

2008-06-14T06:42:00.004-07:00

I still haven't found the camera, so pictures may or may not fill in later. But at least I am writing.

So last year, because of the stellar job I did taking part in the complete overhaul of my department, my supervisor gave me a present. This present came in the form of a gift certificate to the Homestead. Being me, I savored the little piece of paper. I planned and dreamed, prepared and enjoyed until it nearly expired.

And so we found ourselves at the Homestead in Midway Utah last weekend.

Wait. <<<< Rewind >>>>

We actually found ourselves in Park City for a while. There was a mine Jason had to show me. But this lead to some crazy back road from Park City to Midway that spent most of the time not being paved. We found some pretty cool things on this drive... including a pond with a billion screaming frogs. As soon as we got near enough that they could see us, they stopped, but you could hear the other 999 million wailing away around the rest of the pond. Alas, we never actually saw any frogs, and are slightly concerned that it was just the living forest trying to draw us from our secure car where it could snatch us up and eat us in seconds. There were a couple terrifying moments when that didn't seem out of the question.

The Homestead was great. Extremely mellow. We had most of the pools and hot tubs to ourselves. The grounds were beautiful and the room was fun. I expected Jennifer Grey and Patrick Swayze to sneak around the corner any minute. We spent our time swimming and eating and chasing geese.

Obviously, one of the best parts was swimming in the Crater. I was a little surprised at my initial panic. I've been there before without a second thought. But along with my budding maternal instinct is coming a distinct fear of cave diving. I've always been uneasy about it, but our last few similar events almost resulted in a full blown panic attack. Remember Gandy Not-so-Warm Springs? The whole time I swam through the little tunnel I was hyperventilating. The mounting hysteria only let me swim around the cave for five minutes before I had to head back out again.

Well, this wasn't even remotely as bad. I was uncomfortable for the first five minutes, and spent the rest of the time not thinking about all of the different body sludge particles swimming along with me.

We look forward to going back sometime.

To finish the weekend, we took a mini hike up to the first falls on Timp. There was too much snow to go further, but it looks like it will be an outstanding hike in a few weeks. Despite living in Provo for four years, I never took the time to appreciate all that is TIMPANOGOS. Jason is looking forward to dragging me to the top... where it seems very possible he will leave my body and restart his life in Seattle under the name Jose Blanca. Hmm... maybe Timp isn't the greatest idea...

We have too done things!

2008-06-13T20:44:00.002-07:00

I know. Forever without a post.

But I'm too lazy.

It might be the ever nearing (but still non existing heat), or the mounting stress... but probably not.

I don't even feel like finding pictures to put up... and we have a lot of new ones.

Maybe tomorrow.

Maybe.

"Called to Serve...!!!"

2008-06-05T19:05:00.003-07:00

Bec went into the MTC yesterday. It was great fun! She was incredibly ready to go (pretty much ditched the whole family at the luggage line) and we were ready for lunch. Kenlynn and I sang our hearts out, even at the triple time speed they were leading us.

We might have been the only family without a single tear in a single eye. I feel a little guilty about it.

Lunch was fantastic.

We're excited for the next 18 months. Cherry Hill, New Jersey here she comes!!

Sweet Sixteen

2008-06-02T19:26:00.005-07:00

Though I am absolutely horrible at recognizing birthdays, I thought I would dedicate today to Kenlynn... as it is her birthday.

Sweet, sweet sixteen!

I'm so proud of my little sister. She is funny and smart. She is beautiful and kind. She only has a bit of an attitude. And mostly I just like to be around her.

"Kenlynn, Sunshine... chic-chic-chic-chicken!"

Happy Birthday, Baby!

Near Death at Doughnut Falls

2008-05-30T19:44:00.008-07:00

One of our other most excellent adventures has been on a little jaunt to a place called Doughnut Falls. It was an absolutely beautiful drive up Big Cottonwood Canyon. Beautiful Day!

But of course... we were totally unprepared.

To be fair, we read a post about the hike that had been made in early March. They made it sound ridiculously easy. And extremely short.

And to some extent, it was. But we had to walk from the road... which added two miles. Not bad. But the trail was completely covered by two feet of snow. And we don't have snow shoes. And I was wearing capris. Slippy, slidy, icy and cold.

Nice action shot. This was before the snow really started. Jason likes leaping ledges.

But we found ourselves a sweet waterfall.

Kind of hard to tell, but the waterfall is dropping through a hole. And it is much larger then it looks. My magnetic personality just dominates all pictures :D We tried to get to it from the base, but there was WAY too much snow. It bridged the water all the time and we were never really sure if we would drop down into it. But, being the fantastic adventurers that we are, we decided to climb the snowy wall along the side of the falls. Let me tell you what, I'm considering investing in a fine pair of crampons.

And the hike down was just as treacherous. I'm assuming it is because I have much smaller feet (and not because I'm extremely fat), but I sink and slide all over the mountain side. So I decided to sit and slide down the more difficult looking hills.

Some slides were more successful then others.

This particular slide started out like the others, but I gained way too much speed. The picture was taken just as I'm realizing the potential issues... and start veering out of control towards a poky tree in a hole that you can't see from the picture. The way Jason tells it though, you'd think I was headed for that tiny baby of a tree. NOT SO!! it was giant... and sharp.

Notice some of the pokies aimed at my flesh! My hands will never quite be the same again after dragging behind me through that snow. Quite soft now, though.

I'm excited to head back when we aren't spending most of our time slipping and sliding about. Tasty hike!

Monday's Memorial Meandering

2008-05-27T20:34:00.004-07:00

It was an absolutely fantastic weekend. We had so very many adventures... and I'm sure I'll share them eventually.

One of the best parts was our spur of the moment jaunt to Oak City. We headed out Sunday afternoon and reached Christensen's just in time for dinner and birthday cake. Becca was home for the weekend so our evening was full of fun and games. Turns out I kicked everyone's trash at "Five Crowns." They may claim beginner's luck, but I think it is a gift.

Monday morning we got up at the crack of 7:30 and went to the Partridge Family Breakfast put on by the Lyman Family. The Pancakes were excellent and Jamie and Collin have the most adorable baby. Sharp teeth and all.

We then went in search of the Lava Tubes out in the desert. Don't worry. we got ridiculously lost. Luckily, some wonderful stranger and his family happened upon us and gave us a most fantastic tour of the area.

We climbed down into the bottom of a lava pit and found ourselves a little ice cave. There was fluffy green moss! I was extremely excited!

The Lava Tubes were amazing! There were some fantastically large ones... pitch black and a little creepy. We didn't have very many flashlights to be sufficient for our extended group, so we didn't spent an excess of time down there. On the other hand, there were some most excellent, and extremely long tubes with more light. Sections of the ceiling had caved in over time and there was plenty of light for exploring. I would love, LOVE, LOOOOVVVEE to go back and camp in one of those tubes.

Finally, we visited some hot pots. We didn't actually get in them, because, being us, we were totally unprepared for such a treat. But we scoped them out for further adventuring. I'm excited!

I just wanted to thank Stranger and his family for being excellent adventure guides- for hauling us around in the back of your trucks, and listening to stories you've probably heard/told a million times. It wouldn't have been nearly as amazing without you!

It's May! It's May...

2008-05-20T20:04:00.003-07:00

I know we are more than midway through the month, but I saw this on another blog and it reminded me of some fabulous memories...

Memories of prancing around and singing the songs of Camelot... not of having illicit affairs :D

Hope you keep humming the song all day!

Duck Details

2008-05-18T17:23:00.002-07:00

Jason and I just got back from a lengthy walk around Sugarhouse park. We were witness to some pretty fantastic Mallard Mating Maneuvers. There was one particular part after we first arrived when I felt as though we had accidentally walked in on a Porn set with seven males and one female. My body moved involuntarily to block some innocent children from the scene. And all I can say is that I'm still not entirely sure what they were trying to accomplish. Multiple males just kept chasing after and pinning down a female while they attempted something incredibly awkward but seemingly unsucessful.

The best part, however, was when the two most determined males got the female to themselves. They both gripped on to the females neck and the bigger of the two accidentally slipped off the female and onto his partner... where he continued to do his thing. No one really seemed to notice the difference.

So I'm just curious how we still manage to have so many ducks around here when no one really seems to know what they are doing.

Don't Mind Our Dust

2008-05-18T08:02:00.003-07:00

This is a perpetual sign posted ALL over my hospital as they renovate and expand the entire building. They also had one that said "Don't mind our virtual dust as we upgrade our systems... blah, blah, blah." This has been an ugly time for us, as a good deal of our EMR servers are being updated and crashing and our ordering operations are transitioning to paperless shambles. I'm sure it gets better when the proverbial bugs get worked out...

But most to the point... I'm making some changes. And I'm taking my time. So don't mind the ugliness and the fact that the words and pictures don't line up very well. In the end, we'll all be better for it.

Picture Update

2008-05-17T21:29:00.007-07:00

Because its been a while since my last post. And because I'm too lazy to write anything...

We took some family pictures a few weeks ago. No surprise, but I absolutely hate them. ALL.

We met up in St George to go with Bec through the Temple for the first time. It was the most beautiful day and an enjoyable time with everyone.

We came home to the Carbon Monoxide alarms going off at my parents house. This resulted in three fire trucks and a half dozen dressed/excited firemen prancing around the front yard. All of the kids (minus Bec, who went back to town) spent the night partying at the Grandparents... hot tubbing and watching dish. (Also, for anyone who cares- I finally finished my quilt. Only took me three years.)

Here is our most recent waterfall. We drove up Nine Mile Canyon to look at pictographs. There wasn't a ton of water out there... so this was the best we could do. Also, I was terribly disappointed not to find any wildflowers out there. Isn't is springtime in the desert too?

These were the best finds. It was a fun drive.

So... this is what we have been up to lately. Great weekends. I love springtime!

Contentedly Discontent

2008-04-27T19:50:00.004-07:00

So... while Jason studies for finals this weekend, I've had an excess of time to read blogs. I've tracked down old friends and followed up on the one's I keep somewhat adequate contact with... and I've come to the conclusion that EVERYONE'S life is more exciting then mine right now.

EVERYONE is having a baby, or moving to the East Coast, or traveling the world, or buying a house. I have such a huge urge to get pregnant while traveling through Europe and then come home to buy a house in Maine, just so I can be part of the pack. It is all just so exciting!!! And our current status is so, just... not.

On the other hand... I love my life! I love that we have no real responsibility yet. No house to take care of... I couldn't even imagine being a good mom yet... no major moves to take us away from family or our lovely SLC...

I love Salt Lake. I love my job. I love Jason's job. (PS Reuben- Jason works for the Attorney's office for the city of Park City. He works on a ton of projects for them and is getting excellent exposure to a lot of different things. Plus, he has great stories most days.) We love our parks, and gym, and DIs. I wouldn't change anything right now.

Except maybe a trip to Greece.

So I laud everyone's accomplishments. I acknowledge all of the jobs well done, and the exciting news everyone has to share. High 5s passed all around!

And I issue the reminder: When things settle down in your lives, we'll still be in SLC working at the hospital and enjoying the spring. Come visit us and we'll show you a good time.

"When you the best of friends..."

2008-04-26T10:17:00.012-07:00

I hope you now have the song from Fox and the Hound stuck in your head... because it is in mine.

So I was reading Darcey's Blog and it remotivated me to post about our Roomie Reunion two weeks ago. I've been putting it off in hopes of additional pictures (ahem, Em... Hope you are feeling a little guilty :D) but I'll put off no more!

I love my old roommates. They all make me smile. They are absolutely the best part of my college career. I'm sure there were times when it was frustrating, and and bothersome to live with so many females, but if I had to do it all over again, I would definitely choose these guys to do it with. (Natter, you are included in this statement. I couldn't have finished that senior year without you!)
Lo-lo is ever the adventurer... she inspires me with her ability to go off and try amazing and exciting things. Every email reveals a new task or adventure she is planning to undertake, from working at a rehab resort in Southern Utah, to nannying in Sweden and biking across America. I live vicariously through her and appreciate her ability to do the things she wants, while I merely dream and plan.

Em is the ideal model for acquiring proficiency. From single roomie, to girlfriend, to wife, and now soon to be mom, she is always amazing at what she does. She excels in the details. She inspires me to be a better wife and a better friend. She will be the best mom in the world!
Whit has always been the loyal caring one. I remember her as the Relief Society Pres and have always been in awe of her ability to take lead and guide. At the same time she is excellent at listening and commiserating and supporting. She has some of the best qualities of both the leader and the follower.

Court is one of my favorite people to be with. She is the one you want to watch a movie with, or go to the gym with, or go shopping with. She is just a great, companionable person, funny, insightful, caring, and good.

Corey is brilliant. She is witty and opinionated, motivated and capable. I could sit and listen to her stories for days. I appreciate that she is open and energetic and intelligent. I'm excited to see what she does with her life.

This picture was from when we lived together in 2005 (minus Whit, who lived down complex, and plus Jane, who has since gotten married and moved on). One of my favorite things about these people is that we can come together after years of being apart and nothing has really changed. Everyone still laughs and uplifts, discusses and enjoys. I feel like we could meet up 30 years from now and still love to be in one another's company.

And just for future reference, Em's Costa Rico Voodoo predicts I'll have 3 children: Boy, Girl, Boy. We'll have to see.

Spring Has Sprung!

2008-04-14T16:05:00.007-07:00

This weekend was the first weekend of honestly stellar weather we have had in a long time. I was so very excited. It is amazing how much easier it is to get up in the morning, how much more energized and excited for the day I feel when there is sunshine to greet me.

So we woke up on Saturday and decided to hike further up City Creek Canyon. We had only previously been to the divide where car use is limited to even days. And to be perfectly honest, we had absolutely no idea what they were talking about when it came to rules for this road... Bikes, dogs, pedestrians, cars... so many many rules. But we were excited to finally figure it out.

It was a beautiful hike.
This is Jason re enacting The Sound of Music. We've got some pretty impressive Alps, if you ask me. Also, you can't see them, but there are some pretty fantastic hawks swooping overhead, appreciating our sweet moves.

This is me being fierce next to the super fierce tree. I really hope that Tyra would be proud.

Also, you have to appreciate that this tree is completely by itself on the hillside... it was pretty majestic, in a slightly menacing way. I wonder if it looks a little friendlier when it has leaves... or if it has destroyed all of its leaves in an effort to achieve supreme fierceness...

Finally, here is the waterfall of the expedition. Jason's adventures are never complete unless they include a waterfall. It's pretty small, but I love that it was so very green, in a countryside that was still pretty sparse.

We hiked up the canyon until we were knee high in snow and didn't feel it was worth the scraping, cold pain to progress further. Seriously though, we kicked the bikers' trash! None of them made it that far! Our little wander turned itself into an 8 mile hike, which was just long enough to make my legs grateful to sit down. We're pretty proud of ourselves.

On a slightly less jubilant side note: I got home and my neck started itching really bad. It took me two hours to figure out that I managed to get a truly horrible sunburn. I take a minor amount of solace in the fact that the tops of Jason's hands, below his jacket cuff, is nearly as read as my chest. I'd like to congratulate us for achieving the first fantastic sunburn of the summer. Yay us!

Kimchi Magic

2008-04-10T20:11:00.006-07:00

My family came up to visit this last weekend. To celebrate, Jason and I provided a fabulous Korean meal. It consisted of beef bulgogi, gamja jorim, and kimchi. It is entirely possible our living room still smells vaguely "authentic."

Me (jar in hand, walking towards the sink): Kimchi, Kimchi, Kimchi Time!!! It says it's mild, and low in carbs! Magic. And oh, check this out. On the lid it says "Open Slowly, Contents may overflow!" Cool!

Jason: Let me see.

(Jason takes jar from Kalie, walks to living room, and proceeds to twist off the cap)

Jar: Slock! Qwush..

Jason: Auh! Shoot.

Kalie: Seriously?

(Go ahead and picture Kimchi slime all over the dining room table, carpet, and Jason's shirt. This stuff is like thick soda after you've shaken the bottle... incredible spray radius)

This is obviously how communications works in our home. I say something, Jason second guesses me, and I shove my fist down my throat to stop myself from saying "I told you so."

Thinking About Anything but My Stomach

2008-03-26T16:17:00.003-07:00

So I'm feeling extremely miserable right now and just a tad bit ridiculously grumpy, so I thought I would blog about the great things from this week in the hopes of getting out of my funk.

- Because I kept him up all night with my food poisoning antics, Jason skipped his early morning class today and has been taking care of me. We even took a nap together this afternoon. Haven't done that in ages. He has also finished cleaning up the house. What a perfectly excellent spouse.

-With the exception of today, the weather has been so wonderfully warm and bright and cheerful. I LOVE SPRING!

- Things are finally starting to flow together at work again. It has been terribly frustrating there lately, but for the first time in about three weeks, I'm looking forward to heading up there each morning.

- Jason spent his first day at his new job in Park City and really seemed to enjoy it. If nothing else, at least he has internet access at this job. :D

- Some of the Citrus Babies are in bloom and occasionally I get a sweet whif of citrus blossoms... tasty!

- We've started going for walks in the City Greek Memorial Park area again. This is by far one of my most favorite SLC treasures! It makes me want to have a dog so badly!

So despite my inability to keep food down, my life is still pretty fantastic right now. We have so many things to look forward to in the near future (Conference Weekend with my family, a weekend at the Homestead near Heber, the end of Jason's 2L year, my sister's farewell, my cousin's wedding in NYC, Jason's roommates bachelor party-esque weekend...) It is going to be an excellent Spring '08 for us!

A Little Slice of Irony

2008-03-20T21:37:00.002-07:00

So we were on our way home from the gym last night when I experienced the most intensely excruciating bout of chest pain. I honestly thought I was going to die. Pulsating, gripping pain.

I was so close to going to the hospital, despite my dread of having the people I work with all day have to mark me up with stickers and relentlessly torment me. I'd never live that down. Luckily, after about an hour it started to lessen. It kept me up for several hours still... but definitely started getting better. This morning I woke up and my entire upper body was so horribly stiff I'm not entirely sure it was better then actually having the chest pain.

And I know it wasn't heart pain. I'm nearly a 100% positive it was esophageal spasms. But I lay there thinking about the dozens of people I work with, and how sever there heart pain is.

So not fair that I have to suffer sympathy pains after a working day after day in the chest pain business. Perhaps I should be grateful I don't deal with bowel problems.

Happy St Patrick's Day!

2008-03-17T19:01:00.005-07:00

So I had to head in to work an hour early today, which means I totally wasn't awake until I was actually on TRAX at 6:30... I was about ready to walk out the door wearing blue scrubs- until that little part of my brain that deals with holidays rolled itself over, yawned, and sighed "Dude, It's St. Patrick's day... What are you doing?!" and promptly fell back asleep again.

So I frantically change outfits (if you can call scrubs and a t-shirt an "outfit") and flew out the door. Not that it even mattered. I think I was one of, oh, seven people in the entire hospital to be wearing green. But I was proud of myself.

Where is the holiday spirit, people!?

Luckily, and without any nagging on my part, my sweet sweet husband managed to show a little St. Patty's Day love.
He's going to hate this pictures, so let me just say "Honey, this is in retribution for the horrid pictures you picked of me to go on the living room wall. I love you!" And just so you, the reader, knows: He's not Irish, and wears this shirt in public on days other then St. Patrick's day.

So, we have established one of our very own traditions (which has survived at least three years of our time together, so it really is a tradition by now). Jason makes a most excellent Corned Beef and Cabbage dish. And I actually really love it.

It's possible that this looks a little revolting in the picture, but its not. I could eat another bowl full right now... which is good, because we have enough veggie part to last us for the next month. <***Skip the rest of this paragraph if you are easily grossed out***> And so I absolutely cannot handle the fat in the corned beef... which means I honestly sit there and dissect each little bundle of meet from its little fatty wrap. It takes me about twenty minutes just to eat a slice of corned beef, which means my stomach totally has time to register fullness and I don't eat nearly as much. Perhaps we should wrap all great food in bundles of fat. Eww...

So, to each of you, Happy Day After St. Patrick's day. Hope you wore green and celebrated a man most people couldn't tell you a single detail about. Remember that it is almost officially Spring and we should definitely celebrate that!

Two Edged Sword

2008-03-10T18:32:00.002-07:00

I HHHHHhhhhhhhhaaaaaaaatttttteeee Daylight Savings. I was JUST BARELY becoming okay with the waking up at 6:30 every morning. And only because the sunshine was starting to wake up with me. Suddenly that has been stolen away from me again. I honestly wont be able to adjust again for weeks. Every morning will become a battle... and I'll lay in bed for an hour, waking up every five minutes, trying to come up with a plausible reason for why I can't head in to work- why I must be too sick to be able to spend 8hrs on my feet. And I can't even sleep in on the weekends, because I'm married to the kid who wants go find elk at 8am.

But then, I love that it is just barely finished getting dark and it is already 8pm. I feel like I can do so many more things in my day. And it is getting warm and wonderful again.

So I'm thinking that I'll just move over to Arizona.

Excuse Me, Have you seen my Elk?

2008-03-07T20:24:00.008-07:00

We wake up at 8am last Saturday and Jason says, "Hey, are you ready to go find some Elk?"

Where does he find these things?

So we hope in the car and head North. And this is what we found.

Don't worry. That's 600 head of elk out there...

And this is us in with the freaking elk!

This was such an excellently fantastic adventure!!! I'm not even sure how we beat this. How'd you spend your weekend?

Eighteen Months..? Are you serious?

2008-02-28T19:37:00.003-07:00

So, we might have been guilty of laughing at Jason's cousin for so seriously celebrating her 6th month anniversary... but I've gotta say: "Eighteen Months! Beat that!" Probably not a difficult feat to do, but I think I might just be a little childishly proud.

No, we haven't done anything even remotely romantic, though it was wonderful of Jason to meet me back at the car, whose battery I obviously killed. We didn't even eat dinner together. But then, I'm not really sure that 18 months deserves anything more then a pat on the back and a goal to last six more months.

I think we can make it. (Us enjoying the great Yellowstone Adventure)

Name Tag

2008-02-28T18:15:00.002-07:00

Because it made me giggle:

1. Your Rock Star Name: (first pet & current car) Whiskers Camry

2. Your Gangsta Name: (favorite ice cream and favorite cookie) Mint'n Chip Oatmeal

3. Your “Fly Girl” Name: (first initial of first name, first three/four letters of your last name) K-Chri

4. Your Detective Name: (favorite color, favorite animal) Green Giraffe

5. Your Soap Opera Name: (middle name, city where you were born) Carter Provo

6. Your Star Wars Name: (the first 4 letters of your last name, first 2 letters of your first) Chrika

7. Your Superhero Name: (2nd favorite color, favorite drink put “The” in front) The Blue No Fear

8. Your Nascar Name: (the first names of your grandfathers) Gerald Hal

9. Your Stripper Name: (2nd pet, the street you grew up on) Tabby MardiGras

10.Your Witness Protection Name: (mother’s & father’s middle names) Torgersen Gerald

11. Your Hawaiian Name: (the first 2 letters of your first name, first 2 letters of your middle name, the letter i, double the 4th letter in your last name, the letter a) KaCaiiia

I love my stripper name! And feel really awkward about my Rockstar name...

I tag anyone that reads my blog.

And the verdict is... New Jersey Cherry Hill Mission

2008-02-27T20:46:00.005-07:00

So it has happened. My precious little sister has turned in her mission papers and recieved a call to serve as a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.
She is the one on the left.

Obviously, she will be serving in the New Jersey Cherry Hill Mission.

That means that one of my best friends in the whole wide world will be about 2,150 miles away for the next 18months. I know she can't wait, and I am very proud of her and excited for her.

She leaves for the MTC June 4th. That means we don't have much time to cram in three more months of memories and adventure! Gotta get planning!

I LOVE YOU, BEC!