Kayak

Erin and I had a 'final' hang out day before I move to Oregon.

We had Indian food for lunch, she helped with our broken car situation, we also watched the olympic opening ceremonies.  Between all of these things though, we trucked up to Mantua with a lovely yellow kayak and went kayaking.  It was a beautiful day, and super relaxing.  It was a lot of fun talking, chasing pelicans, and just enjoying being out on the reservoir.  It was a very needed stress reducer after what has been a few very stressful days.  I am so grateful to have a friend like Erin, we have been friends a long time, and it is nice to always have that kindred spirit and bosomed friend available no matter what.  She gave me a beautiful gift, in honor of the changes that are taking place that is amazing too.  Picture to come.

Temporary Post

 This is a preview of sorts, I use this blog for my personal journaling more than anything else, which I print off at the end of the year, so I will be going back in time to post some of the adventures I had with Erin this past week in Yellowstone, Island Park, and Lake Hebgen.  More to come!

Addendum: I am not going to delete this post because I think it is crazy that it took me until July 4th to catch this blog up by documenting our amazingly fun trip. Not so temporary.  So as of today, all caught up!

Mesa Falls, Rexburg, & Home

 Unfortunately, vacations wouldn't be vacations if they never ended.  So today we headed home, but we are not into the boring, just drive home idea. One year we drove through Yellowstone, Grand Teton, Jackson, and the Teton Scenic byway, this year we did the Mesa Falls Scenic Byway.  It was SO pretty!  I can't remember being there when it was so sunny to the point that you could see multiple rainbows off of the falls.  We went to Rexburg and explored our favorite stores: Artco & Porter's.  We found some cute deals, stopped at the temple, and then continued on our way home.  We had so much fun!  We relaxed, explored, photographed, napped, read, cooked, stoked fires, hiked, walked, 'hunted' moose, drove, talked, laughed, and had an amazing time.  I am grateful to have such a great kindred spirit for a friend. 

Snowy Sabbath

Happy Snowy Sunday!  We woke up to lots of pretty snow on the trees as we went on our way to church, it was a pretty winter wonderland.  Church was great.  We went to Big Hot Springs afterwards and saw Johnny Sack's cabin while there, it was cool to see how warm the water was there keeping everything near it green and free of snow. 

Erin was really sick, probably after doing so much the day before, so we stayed at the cabin most of the day.  The cabin was toasty from our fire, we watched Anne of Avonlea, I read a lot, and Erin had 4 1/2 naps.  We really did have a very nice and relaxing day.  I don't know the last time that I had such a quiet day watching the snow fall, reading, and poking logs.  It was AWESOME.

Yellowstone

Today was National Outdoors Day which means free entrance into Yellowstone National Park.  We had a blast today!  We saw tons of baby buffalo, a marmot, a momma and baby elk, and bonus: NO SNOW.  The forcast looked terrible when we set out, but while it was pretty cold, the weather was great.  We drove up to Mammoth Hot Springs, then down to Old Faithful, we loved the new visitor center, the waterfalls, and our all time favorite spot in the Old Faithful lodge with a perfect view of Old Faithful and perfect napping spot for sick friends.  We took pictures, snacked, played, napped, and ran all over the park that we have come to know so well.  Having done everything we can now be picky and go to our favorite parts.  Pizza at Pete's in West was delicious, and we made it home just before a very cool blizzard came through, I had fire down at this point so we didn't mind, we got cozy in our blankets and snuggled down into them as we watched Anne of Green Gables. 

Hebgen & West & Fires

 We drove up in Montana today and it was so pretty!  Quake Lake and Lake Hebgen were beautiful.  We found a Beaver pond that was pretty cool too.  A stop at Erin's favorite place per tradition was great, the water was really high this year so no dancing around in the duct going to Quake.  After our adventuring in the 'wilderness' we went into West Yellowstone and walked around pretty much all of the shops.  It was kind of weird to be there and have the town be so quiet.  We had dinner at the cabin and I got really good at maintaining a fire to warm up us and the cabin, it is cold up here!

We Made It!

Back in January before school had started, Erin and I had spent a long night chit chatting about all kinds of things, when it turned to what we wanted to do when we were done with Grad school we pulled out planners, pencils, and wrote down a few things, including a trip to Island Park June 7-11.  We laughed even that far in advance knowing it would most likely never happen.  However, after a long day of work and Erin arranging her clinical externship, we set off for Island Park.  We are here and it is wonderful, beautiful, happy, and fun!  Another adventure!

Ogden Half Marathon

What a blast!  I can scratch off a Half Marathon off my wish list as of today.  I loved participating in the Ogden Half Marathon.  It was seriously so much fun.  I liked the whole course....except the last 7 blocks on Grant with the Finish line glaring at me in the distance.  Utah blocks aren't short and that part just wasn't much fun, though the crowd was great.  I couldn't have asked for a better race buddy.  Erin was fantastic too and it was fun to have that experience together.

 

 

 

 

Piglet

When I was growing up my mom would always call us piglets when we had made a mess.  This was not necessarily a term of endearment, but rather one of exasperation.  This expression would come from projects being left out, socks left in the living room, dishes left in the sink after a cooking experiment etc.  This week I have been a 100 billion percent piglet.  The key part of being a piglet is that you don't really notice what you have done, you make your messes and over time they build up into what could be referred to as a pig sty. My projects that have culminated into such a mess include:

• Assembling my new bike
• Creating an amazing card for Erin's graduation
• Experimental enchiladas
• Primary lesson
• Remnants from our trip
• Redoing my Summer blocks
• To do pile

I am not proud of this mess, but the first step in piglet recovery is to observe the individual projects on a whole and come to the conclusion that it is indeed a mess.  Now I am trying to wrap everything up as quick as I can to get this mess out of sight so that full remission can be obtained. In the mean time: I am a piglet.

Camino Rio

Sometimes random river parkway walks with one of my best friends are just what I need.

My turn next!!!

I know a lot of people who are graduating this spring and I think it is amazingly exciting. Joni was the first to graduate. She got her BSRN from BYU-Idaho but didn't drive up there to walk, so I brought graduation to her by taking my old cap and gown with me to work and taking some standard graduation photos: Scholarly image at a desk (Dr. Calton's desk to be exact), beautiful outdoor scenery shot (outside of the West entrance of McKay Dee), and the friend with flowers photo. There are many more including the offical changing of the tassel picture. She was a good sport to let me take the photos and wear the gown, but it is big deal even if you are working the whole day.

Friday April 20th is my big day followed by May 5th for Erin yay for both of us being done with graduate school! Super exciting and congratulations graduates!

City Creek Adventure

Erin and I had a wonderful day Tuesday. It has been a very very long time since we had a whole day to play, but thanks to Spring Break at the school district and my doctor off climbing Mt. Everest we got to go to Salt Lake for a day and we had a lot of fun. Erin is graduating in May and had to get her hood and tassel at the bookstore, so I made her pose with the Ute statue and other landmarks around campus. We went to the Gateway, watched Hunger Games, went up to the U on the mountain, explored City Creek/Harmons, enjoyed the flowers on Temple Square, and a great many other things. It was a fantastic day and a ton of fun.

Kindred Spirits

Today was Erin's birthday and while she had SO much fun in the morning with dental work, I think the evening may have been just a little bit better. It was so fun hanging out with Erin and her family as we celebrated her turning 25. We have been friends forever, that is, since my first day of 1st grade at Lomond View Elementary in 1991 when Erin invited me to play with her at recess, we weren't even in the same class and I was the new kid. We have had many adventures, hikes, road trips, concerts in rain and snow, who knows how many pictures we have taken together, many letters back and forth during her mission to the Land of Anne, late night chats, plans and schemes, baking, running, dreaming, crafting, sewing, jumping, cleaning, moving, singing, and the list goes on and on. I am so grateful to have had a kindred spirit in my life all of this time, and I look forward to many more adventures that lay in store for the next 20 years. HAPPY BIRTHDAY ERIN!!!!

Hiking

Erin and I went hiking at Donut Falls this weekend up Big Cottonwood Canyon(yes the same place I was throwing snowballs at JD just 1 week ago). We had SO much fun. It has been a long long time since we went on an adventure and I can't think of a better person to go on adventures with. I also love having a fellow lover of fall with me. Erin's birthday is in November, and while not quite as cool as October, it is in the best season. We took a ton of pictures as we walked through yellow quakies and gathered leaves for Erin's clincals. I am so grateful to have such a wonderful Kindred Spirit as Erin.

U2 360

Emi, Chris, Erin and I all had a blast at the U2 360 Concert last night. The Fray was a great opener, but nothing compared with what U2 had in store for the 50,o00+ people in attendance. Great music, great band, fun venue, and overall just a good, fun, clean concert (clean in multiple senses of the word). Bono thanked Utah a few times for the patience of waiting for them to come back a year after his broken back surgery which was pretty cool. He also sang a few Bob Dylan songs to honor his 70th birthday. Some of my favs included: Walk On, City of Blinding Lights, Vertigo, and All I Want is You; really the whole concert was amazing. I have seen U2 perform before, but this tour took the term concert to a whole new level.