Ketchup Time!

Remember that time I didn't blog for 6 months? Well, I decided it's time to do a little catching up. The problem is that I don't remember exactly what happened the first 3-4 months, except for a lot of snowboarding and even more wedding planning.... so we'll just leave it at that and start with March 10th of this year. :)
I never actually believed the day would come (especially that last week), but come it did, and everything turned out perfectly. You know your wedding day is going to rock when your also-restless fiance texts you at 6 AM to ask if he can come over and eat your cereal. Yes, please! The sealing was incredible. The sealer did a fantastic job bringing the Spirit there and not leaving an eye dry. What an amazing experience that was. Since that was later in the day, we went straight to our dinner/dance after pictures. Small though it was, it was pretty hopping, not gonna lie. The best part was doing the Thriller dance with family and friends -- classic!

So what have I been up to since then? Quite a bit, actually. I'm not feeling a whole lot like typing, so I'll let the pictures do most of the talking. First, obviously, was the honeymoon in Mexico.


We didn't snorkel a whole lot (just had a lot of fun taking pictures with them), except for that incident with the sharks and stingrays... but I'll let your imagination take over from here. Trust me though, your imagination won't do the day justice.






We spent a ton of time here at the beach in Playa del Carmen. I read The Princess Bride and Joe did Sudoku puzzles -- those moments we weren't swimming, I mean.

There was plenty to do away from the beach in Mexico. On our 3rd day there, we took a 4-hour bus ride to Yukatan to see Chichen Itza, and believe me, it was worth the commute. We also visited the ruins of Tulum one day.



We spent that Saturday (day 5) swimming with the dolphins. Our dolphins were named Yoconda (sp?) and Estrella. They were both mothers with 1-year-old babies, which, though they're cute, we decided we'd rather not sneak home with us when we kidnapped the mothers. They're useless right now; they don't do any tricks!


We did quite a bit more and ate a lot of indescribably delicious food, but I'll leave this where it is and move on to the things we've been doing since our return to reality...

We've played a lot with friends. On this particular Sunday evening, we invited our friend Jake over for dinner, after which we all decided to put various bridal shower/bachelor party gifts on our heads. And yes, believe it or not, I actually meant to make that face.
Another night, we went to dinner with our friends Logan and Elise. Wait, I worded that wrong. They kidnapped us and took us downtown to The Bayou, so we showed them a favorite location of ours -- what we call Thinking Hill. The only downside to this trip? There was a couple up there, so we felt a tiny bit unwelcome and eager to leave.





Joe and I went to the Salt Lake colors festival. It's much smaller than the Spanish Fork one, which is why it was so much better!


Here we are, showing dominance over our bikes after the Salt Lake bike tour, where we rode 26.1 miles for a Creamie and chocolate milk. Worth it? Well, yeah... the Creamies were peach-flavored!
So much adventure, and hiking season hasn't even begun... life is great!

Oh no, I'm not falling for that again. If it doesn't have Siamese twins in a jar, it's not a fair!

Just a quick update before bed. For those waiting for the news, I am officially engaged now. We've had a date picked out for quite a while, but as of 3 weeks ago, it's official. here's my sapphire ring.

How'd he ask? Well, funny story. We drove out to Antelope Island with our bikes, parked at the end of the causeway, and went for a ride. The causeway is a really fun, really easy ride. The only catch is all the brine flies. I was not wearing an immodest shirt by any means - just a Ninja Turtle t-shirt - but still the flies flew down the neck and flew around in there until I pulled a Tarzan, pounded my chest, and killed them all. Blech!

Anyway, we rode the 7 miles to the entrance and the 7 miles back to the van. After I killed the new batch of flies, we drove to a rocky area where we took pictures with a group we camped with a few weeks before - the view of the sunset there is always breathtaking.

We climbed the rocks so we were far away from the other people and watched the sunset. Joe bent down to pretend to tie his shoe and came up with the ring. While I wasn't totally surprised (I tried it on 2 days before), it was still perfect for us. There we were, covered in sweat and dead bugs, watching the sunset on Antelope Island.

I said yes, and he pulled a dead brine fly out of my hair (no joke!). It was pretty great. :) We went to Chef Tom's and got some cheap but fantastic Italian - which is also us! What's wrong with cheap if it's delicious, right? Best alfredo ever! We stopped at FYE, looked for the absolute worst movie we could find, and watched Frogs at his house.

That's the story! I've just been busy shopping for a dress and reserving reception centers and whatnot since then. I'm still in favor of elopement, but, as Joe so rightly put it, "we need stuff." Hehe.

Other things going on? I joined Joe's family on a trip to Cedar City a week later to see the final weekend of the Shakespearean Festival. I'd never been before, and I loved it. We saw Winter's Tale on Friday night, then Dial M for Murder on Saturday (obviously not a Shakespeare, but I do love me a good Hitchcock script.). We had tons of fun!

This picture is from a hike we took in Kolob Canyon (which is technically a part of Zion National Park, but it's accessed somewhere funky and very few people know about it). Pretty, right?

One last picture for the road. This is my favorite engagement picture, taken 2 weeks before actually being engaged so's not to miss those leaves:

Yeah, I like Thai. Do you like shirt?

I've been collecting quite the conglomeration of good times, intending to blog about each one individually. In the interest of moving on with life and saving time, I'm just posting a few highlights.

August 19th and 20th - Grand Teton Relay! I was in van 2 with Jess, Josh, Kim, a high school friend of Jess's, and a younger brother of Josh's coworker, who DOMINATED the 10-mile leg. This is a picture of Josh ending our van's first leg and Jess picking up the second. This race worked exactly like a Ragnar. Not sure how weekend relay races work? Here's an enlightening video:



This race starts in Ashton, ID, and ends near Yellowstone, WY, taking the team all over the Grand Tetons.

I ran the 12th leg, which means I finished the race (boo-yah, Grandma!). I was also fortunate enough, at the end of our second set of legs, to hog the sunrise run. I was running up a mountain road, meaning I was cursing mountains, elevation, and the world in general. The sun rising over the peaks as I rounded the east side of the mountain was the most beautiful scenery I've ever seen in my life. Too bad you'll have to take my word for it, because I wasn't running with my camera.

September 5th - Say one Labor Day you decide to go on your second favorite hike in the world, you take a wrong turn, and wind up facing the choice of either scrambling the jagged mountain edge or backtracking a couple of hours. What do you do? 1) You take the knife's edge. 2) You turn your second favorite hike in the world into your first favorite hike in the world. Seriously. My favorite part about the hike (taking the Red Pine trail and then climbing the Pfeifferhorn) in the first place was the rock scramble near the end. The fact that we extended the scramble and skipped the steepest part of the hike made it absolutely perfect. Sure, we were nervous about moving forward when we first realized we were on the wrong side of that mountain, but just look at Joe and Reba in this picture. So. Much. FUN! As for the picture on the left, there's our destination as seen from about halfway through our invented rock trail.

Those are the two big things. As far as hikes go, here are a couple of honorable mentions:

Twin Lakes (Up by Brighton and Silver Lake) - not a particularly difficult hike - it's steep, but it's also very short - but it's absolutely gorgeous.

Remember that snow storm in the mountains last weekend? Well, Joe and I took a little drive up Little Cottonwood canyon to scope it out. This is the bridge at the start of the Red and White Pine trails.

Wait for Me While I Play Catch-up, Play Catch-up

Well, this is embarrassing. I thought I'd been slacking off for a couple weeks, but it turns out it's been almost 2 months! Sadly, as I imported pictures from my camera earlier this evening, I discovered that my camera is more neglected than my blog. There's a 4-month gap between my most recent photos and my second most recent. I've been using my iPhone for pictures, but still! In the spirit of making up for my disappearance, here are a few updates, brought to you by some of the images I just loaded:

About a month ago, Joe and I hiked Broad's Fork again (we've done it three times now: once snowshoeing as friends - ha! And twice this summer). As I led the way back down the trail, I heard a rattle. And proceeded to bolt to the other side of the trail at speeds I never knew were possible, all the while asking, "What the heck IS that?!" I knew was it was (derp!). It's really hard to see the snake in this picture, but sadly, it's the best shot I have. It's towards the lower right corner. Actually, contrary to what it looks like in the picture, rattlesnakes are pretty big. I thought they'd be the size of a garter snake or something, but he was muchly much more bigger.

A couple weeks later (I guess this would be 2 weeks ago now), we hiked Grandeur Peak. It's definitely a new favorite hike of mine. The only thing there to slow us down? A rattlesnake. I kid you not, haha. I'd never seen one while hiking before, and now I've seen two within a couple weeks! This one was pretty boring compared to the first one; he just curled up under a bush by the trail and refused to let anyone pass without throwing a fit.

The filthy legs you see here are the aftermath of that hike.


This picture is about 5 months too late, but here I am, dominating Moab on President's Day. That's right - my Moab trip is the most recent thing on my camera besides Grandeur Peak and Broad's Fork. Can you say it with me? On the count of three. One, two, three: FAIL! Fail of epic proportions! To add to the glory of this huge exhibition of shameless slacking on my part, I'm going to go ahead and conclude my update here. Honestly, I'm keeping busy and enjoying the living crap out of my summer (not to mention life!), and yet I'm having issues thinking of things to blog about. So, on that note...

Until next time, suckas!

Two of Us Riding Nowhere, Spending Someone's Hard-Earned Pay...

Saturday was easily one of my top 5 days ever. Why is that, you ask? Well, sit back and keep a tight hold on your pantaloons, because I am about to answer your question! One of the best days ever starts like this: waking up at 4 AM. Bet you didn't see that one coming, did you? So after 3 hours of sleep, I dressed, packed up some stuff for a 25-mile bike ride and drove out to South Jordan to meet my fellow biker cronies. We left around 5:20 (much later than we wanted), but wound up at the U's institute just in time.

Joe and I bailed on the others and rushed to the starting line literally less than a minute before it started, but as we crossed the street near some Trax tracks (haha, tracks-tracks?), the tandem's front tire caught the track and we fell over. I almost took some lady down with me, it was very amusing. Anywho, once we shook off the scrapes and bruises, we made it to the line and started the ride. The most entertaining part was that it was raining - everyone had this wet streak up their backs from the back tire that looked like babies when they... well, ya know.

Anyway, not long after passing the 8 mile mark, I heard a pop. Not feeling anything, I asked, "Was that us?" It was. So we pulled over and started taking the tire off. I found the tear in the tube, and it was pretty impressive. Joe called his dad. We had a repair kit on the tandem, but there was no way to patch that thing up. So we told his siblings to ride on, and we just waited for Kevin. We finally called him after a while to find out that he thought he was behind us when he was actually ahead, so he'd been riding in the wrong direction. In the meantime though, we fell back on our usual form of entertainment while we wait for things. The goat ladder video.

Eventually, Joe's dad got there, we pumped up a new tube, fiddled with the off-center brake for a bit, then took the bike out into the road. It was easy, since the rest of the bikers were long gone. The second I sat down, I heard an all too familiar popping sound. I stood up, felt the back tire and yelled out, "THAT just happened!" At that point it crossed the funny mark and became just downright hilarious. So we felt ALL over the rim and tire for anything tearing the tubes and found nothing. We took the risk and pumped up a third tube, but this time it was inside the tire and on the rim before we pumped. As it inflated, the tube pushed out through a rip in the tire. Yep, that had to be causing it. I was so glad to find out that I hadn't gained 1,000 pounds since I woke up!

Joe's dad rode back to the van and we waited for him to come back. In the meantime, we sat on the curb and watched the marathon runners. One of them sneezed, I yelled "bless you!" and some lady threw us a shirt and told us to throw it away (Uh, yuck?). Some guy was wearing Kiss make-up and an 80's rocker wig, another guy dressed like a flower, one was in a shirt and tie... it was good fun, haha. Oh, and there were many mean jokes about Ethiopians as the ones who were dominating the race ran by - mostly inspired by Billy Crystal's joke in When Harry Met Sally. Anyway, after maybe an hour, Kevin came back and took the above picture for us.

Since the bike tour failed, there was really only one obvious solution: spontaneous zoo trip. But first we stopped at a grocery store and bought bagels, cream cheese, and strawberry milk. We ate that in the zoo parking lot, then headed in for the first time in a very long time for both of us. We got mooned by a gorilla! I'd never seen an ocelot before, so I cooed over that for a while, and kept squealing "KITTY!" like Boo in Monster's Inc. Joe's response? A playfully condescending "Okay, let's go get a drink out of the giant lion head." Hehe. Love to!

Anyway, the zoo's the zoo, and the zoo is awesome. After all that, obviously it was nap and shower time, so I drove home and did just that. After an hour and a half (what's wrong with me?), I got dressed and we went for a real bike ride on the Jordan River parkway, sans killer tandem. After a long, relaxing ride and some dinner at The Pie that felt like swallowing a delicious brick, we went to Nick and Weenie's to play for a bit. Weenie, Nick, Joe, Jake and I walked over to Macey's, grabbed some movie food and, for some reason, more cereal than any human could consume in a lifetime, and headed back to watch 1408. That about concludes the day. Partying it up with friends and eating the Western Family version of Samoas, which I nicknamed Tongas.

Yep. That answer your question?

Geez, Banana! Shut Your Freakin' Gob, Okay?

And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them.
Ether 12:27

Lately I've been feeling that I need to be a better friend. I tend to repel people, but I couldn't quite figure out how I was doing it. I know I can sometimes make myself unapproachable, but the trick is figuring out just how I do it.

On Sunday, I read a few articles in the Ensign. One was a small snippet from a woman who felt inadequate somehow, but couldn't figure out how. Referring to the scripture in Ether 12 that I quoted above, she prayed for Heavenly Father to reveal her weakness, and it was something totally unrelated to how she was feeling (she'd been impatient with her kids). I decided to do the same thing. Sunday night, I prayed to know what I could do to be a better friend.

My best ideas and answers to prayers usually come right when I wake up. They come in those final dreams that are short, yet vivid, then in the pondering as I lay in bed that first 5 or 10 minutes of the day, my mind unaffected by surroundings. This time, I had a dream about a friend I had in several classes at the U. I always admired her, wondering how she was able to get along with so many people. She took initiative, and I always felt like if I tried that I'd scare people off. She's just likable. In this dream, I sat in the back of a classroom, right in front of three girls who gossiped to each other. They said something mean about the girl I mentioned, and I turned around to tell them that I knew her. "Yeah, the one with long, blond hair?" one asked doubtfully, testing me. "No, it's short and brown." I was proud of myself and felt happy to be a part of the group.

Then the girl they had just talked about walked in with chocolate-covered pretzels that she brought to share with everyone. She also brought some random pudding or something she'd made with Slim Fast (it's a dream, something weird and random had to show up somewhere), since it was just after New Years and some people might want to avoid the straight chocolate. I woke up, knowing which of these people I wanted to be friends with.

This girl (her name is Emily) reached out to everyone. She showed kindness and thoughtfulness (completely blind to the clique) and expected nothing. Her only motive was to make others happy and brighten the day. Ultimately, she is the better friend. This is the kind of person I want to be. I feel that this was the answer to my prayer. To be a better friend, I need to reach out to everyone. As hard as it is for me, I need to talk to people - without considering whether they even want to be my friend or talk to me. I need to show kindness just to make people's day brighter and not even worry about what they think, do or say. All that matters is what I think, do and say.

You know, Catholicism. We believed in the teachings of Cathol and everything it stood for.

These last two weeks have been pretty dang eventful, considering I haven't done a thing really! How does that work? Oh, well, have a seat, get some popcorn, and I'll tell ya. I paid off my car last Monday (and I received the title in the mail 2 days ago). Yeah, I officially own The Black Mamba... but wait, IS she black? I'm very convinced that she's actually gray... but then again, I only wash her in the summer. Hm.

On Wednesday, I came home from work and immediately went to the kitchen to make dinner, 'cause I was starving when Buster said, "There's a surprise for you downstairs." I was very confused, so I went down there, and I have a brand new cedar chest. I instantly knew who it was, because my mom's been talking about getting me one since I graduated from high school. I called her up and thanked her, but she insisted it was all Dick's doing, 100%. A few days before, he had texted to ask our address. I was suspicious, but I didn't connect these two immediately. I can't believe he does these things for me - he's so thoughtful!

On Monday, I got to play with my best friend for the first time in what felt like forever (though it's only been a couple weeks). We went to Zupa's and watched an episode of the Gilmore Girls. Such good times! I've been missing all that - I'm pretty sure I've been craving Zupa's for 6 months, I've been needing friend time badly, and then there's the Gilmore Girls withdrawals... I think I might just pull through now.

See? Like I said, it's been eventful, but at the same time... think about it, all but the playing is over in an instant - and even then, the playing sure feels like an instant. I hope everyone had as good a week as I did and has an even better one this week! Hopefully in the next couple days I'll finish some sewing projects I've been working on and have some pictures to share. :)

PS (can you PSify a blog?) check out this song! No More Hotdogs
Buster came home with a copy of this CD, and we've literally been laughing for 3 days straight at this song.

It Tastes Like Goblin Piss

The new job is going very well. I still feel very out of place and strange, but the first couple weeks of any job are the "What have I done?" weeks. I'm easing in, however, and adjusting to the new environment. My day Thursday, for example, consisted of my going in a half hour early, turning on my computer, and converting some software documentation to HTML. I finished that quickly, so I browsed through the documentation that's already been done to make observations about the style. I noticed that images were presented in tables, so I changed all the images in my project. Then I noticed side notes were written differently, so I changed that... etc. Basically I was trying to make it identical in format, and I took notes so I could contribute to a style guide for our company's documentation.

After about 5 hours, my manager checked in for the first time and asked if I needed anything or had any questions. It's so strange not to be constantly watched at work, you know? Anyway, I showed him the operations section of the documentation and pointed out that it looked really ugly. After asking if there was another way he wanted to present the information, he took the controls and I watched. We created a table that would work pretty well, so I spent the remaining hours converting most of the operations to our table. I didn't quite finish.

As I was about a 15 minutes away from packing up and leaving, my coworker came in and started chatting about school. He has the same major as I do, only he's not at all happy with the way English degrees are done in Utah. I agreed with his argument, but added that while the required classes are useless, I have enjoyed them nonetheless, haha. We also talked about movies and stuff too for a while. All in all, I had about a 45-minute conversation with my new coworker. It was so nice! I'm still new and alone, but the environment there is super friendly, and I'm sure the newness feeling won't last too long. I love it. :)