tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-39753112118492398262024-02-20T23:50:35.056-07:00Jeff's Thoughts and StoriesJeffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10357398682419756851noreply@blogger.comBlogger547125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3975311211849239826.post-61266055752897782222017-06-08T16:28:00.000-06:002017-06-08T16:28:04.936-06:00Birthday Trip 2017Often for my birthday, I ask Robyn for a trip rather than presents. I've found that I generally enjoy the experiences and the memories more than the things. So she indulges me and lets me plan a small trip. <br />
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I was undecided about where to go until Robyn pointed out that there was a new temple in Wyoming. That became the obvious answer as to where we should go. So I planned a trip to Afton, Wyoming.<br />
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We also have another annual tradition where I take a half day off of work and go meet Robyn's students. We decided that this particular day would be a good day to do it because then we could leave from Robyn's school and get a head start on our trip. <br />
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Then it turned out that Robyn's school had their end of year faculty party on the same day. It meant that we didn't get off on our trip quite as quickly as we had planned, but I got to mingle with a few of Robyn's coworkers which was fun.<br />
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One of her coworkers was making balloon animals as part of the event. I told her I wanted a pikachu. I mostly meant it as a joke, figuring that she only did real animals and not pokemon. But she totally made me a pikachu!<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXyro0n7uyae1jWy7musjQkeykTUls3ET9_Yj5IJykY3iPPl7Lj-H6XvphGGC6Ej0ZhdjIVBozwEaCZvfdThm4UGMV56gMmw6Nu8rJaQPMK8hZfcwhwc4Ws_GHdGHFmhCtsk2HuqKjsKnk/s1600/2017-05-26+15.08.19.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXyro0n7uyae1jWy7musjQkeykTUls3ET9_Yj5IJykY3iPPl7Lj-H6XvphGGC6Ej0ZhdjIVBozwEaCZvfdThm4UGMV56gMmw6Nu8rJaQPMK8hZfcwhwc4Ws_GHdGHFmhCtsk2HuqKjsKnk/s400/2017-05-26+15.08.19.jpg" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I think she did a pretty good job. It was a great beginning to my birthday extravaganza.</td></tr>
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After the elementary school festivities we began our road trip. Afton is about a 4 hour drive, so we were able to get into town in time for a dinner that was only a little later than normal. After dinner I told Robyn I needed a picture next to the most important landmark in Afton. It's the world's largest elk-horn arch.<br />
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I'm not sure how many elk-horn arches there are in the world. But apparently they are all smaller than this one.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpB9AZC8GfLC08hli1xEyqsaNcGwxnNFOQcNVOx_eCTnCwd1zszgd_X0-nEO2eAKH3Ttrwai76tTCBMOkylPqnpuocq2ZQCCn3E_hGsmkJEXt0o3fDdVC4P0UjgU9dXPev2ZL951nc0uAF/s1600/2017-05-26+20.03.38.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpB9AZC8GfLC08hli1xEyqsaNcGwxnNFOQcNVOx_eCTnCwd1zszgd_X0-nEO2eAKH3Ttrwai76tTCBMOkylPqnpuocq2ZQCCn3E_hGsmkJEXt0o3fDdVC4P0UjgU9dXPev2ZL951nc0uAF/s400/2017-05-26+20.03.38.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I know it kind of looks like I'm getting a picture with that red car, but you're supposed to pay attention to the arch made out of antlers.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqWZgr9uF3uWSZsLH4PP-A8Mf9iXUXSDkQbq7qVqYpVJD61R_DZFs6yGhOIxl-ZN8piyq0B12OADvQpd750JoDr-p1NIY3PQRqKU0ue3OzhLgbdReiIQnMU3QGf4uiVUWVwo7IYe236mqP/s1600/2017-05-26+20.04.12.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqWZgr9uF3uWSZsLH4PP-A8Mf9iXUXSDkQbq7qVqYpVJD61R_DZFs6yGhOIxl-ZN8piyq0B12OADvQpd750JoDr-p1NIY3PQRqKU0ue3OzhLgbdReiIQnMU3QGf4uiVUWVwo7IYe236mqP/s400/2017-05-26+20.04.12.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">There's also a smaller bonus arch that you walk through to cross the street.</td></tr>
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After that it was time to go to the hotel for important activities like sleeping. The next morning was my actual birthday. When I awoke, I got to open a card custom made by my niece. I openned it up and laughed for a solid minute.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_PJq0brBv-L4IyK9ltuOpInOpOq1nfrjWIH9lFl8xyoA1Ur-1Tnr3Evkn3sgPBQpjiGDQeztY43WV7tqfZguw9P8YHswUgIQeBFLat-rGNDP8kiMnoxGyPPGFOeAXFG-s_J-3o7-rDpsA/s1600/2017-05-27+08.32.10.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_PJq0brBv-L4IyK9ltuOpInOpOq1nfrjWIH9lFl8xyoA1Ur-1Tnr3Evkn3sgPBQpjiGDQeztY43WV7tqfZguw9P8YHswUgIQeBFLat-rGNDP8kiMnoxGyPPGFOeAXFG-s_J-3o7-rDpsA/s400/2017-05-27+08.32.10.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">How great is this?</td></tr>
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The morning activity was to go to the temple. It's a tiny little temple, and they didn't have room for us to do an endowment session, so we did some sealings instead. We got to sit and chat with the sealer for a while. I love visiting temples in small towns, they just seem so much more personal. <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRBzBtTazLFx1fCmTDlq47LsHTROLpSvt2HXdDZ0tEnw_DjbPQiXIja1aUzMWHFPAceguq_Ykqni-_vKhjvBg_RA0VXajVdHhRx4GqQvb2ao1Jlt9_Ri5FaGsrLNZdYyzn85GzoC_5bwuK/s1600/2017-05-27+10.55.23.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRBzBtTazLFx1fCmTDlq47LsHTROLpSvt2HXdDZ0tEnw_DjbPQiXIja1aUzMWHFPAceguq_Ykqni-_vKhjvBg_RA0VXajVdHhRx4GqQvb2ao1Jlt9_Ri5FaGsrLNZdYyzn85GzoC_5bwuK/s400/2017-05-27+10.55.23.jpg" width="300" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkHIvCZ6insJfKlny1yURgJE4ObTwfpRnbUHnU9-JzleEBNF0ixVzit9kjcXf1jYQQlX95h3xOv8fiUGzFTAn0orpmOtBcuxhw4Gz2ep42QQLheU0cB-95qjsXd6exKHGtTvVL0Gm6KQAU/s1600/2017-05-27+10.57.47.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkHIvCZ6insJfKlny1yURgJE4ObTwfpRnbUHnU9-JzleEBNF0ixVzit9kjcXf1jYQQlX95h3xOv8fiUGzFTAn0orpmOtBcuxhw4Gz2ep42QQLheU0cB-95qjsXd6exKHGtTvVL0Gm6KQAU/s400/2017-05-27+10.57.47.jpg" width="300" /></a></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwY_KIxgn1rSdl_dAy-S1Qsio7Vh_7n6qINuCHCJpmMqkq5GfTev06uGnIoR6Eq4MdkLr22Hw5MfA4qopB8vXtNrC-xMb1wPMOq9pbxAiz0e4Ke-vqTS8HjTP_T7Jq3UZOS0YaCd3ItWLz/s1600/2017-05-27+11.02.27.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwY_KIxgn1rSdl_dAy-S1Qsio7Vh_7n6qINuCHCJpmMqkq5GfTev06uGnIoR6Eq4MdkLr22Hw5MfA4qopB8vXtNrC-xMb1wPMOq9pbxAiz0e4Ke-vqTS8HjTP_T7Jq3UZOS0YaCd3ItWLz/s400/2017-05-27+11.02.27.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The obligatory picture of Robyn next to flowers ar the temple is very important.</td></tr>
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After the temple we had some lunch and then explored some of the great outdoors. We wanted to hike to the world's largest intermittent spring.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhn9hcY5DGgWHc-hBX9MYC_b1DAiwF7_J2Y_x7Rggs3nqY8N5OzlK09gagvJG2jjNZ9367oZzd2_Y_j5DD6s3uU1uH71-b5CboHbfZb4IbqxcOTMPnpCjZfDk2FXHIdoqlMZ5KoBftgHtIF/s1600/2017-05-27+14.55.20.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhn9hcY5DGgWHc-hBX9MYC_b1DAiwF7_J2Y_x7Rggs3nqY8N5OzlK09gagvJG2jjNZ9367oZzd2_Y_j5DD6s3uU1uH71-b5CboHbfZb4IbqxcOTMPnpCjZfDk2FXHIdoqlMZ5KoBftgHtIF/s400/2017-05-27+14.55.20.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This car was in the parking lot at the trailhead. People in Wyoming just get it. Am I right?</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cute little hiker.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgG69cZrGF3XwvvX0KcTA7z2ZjsQSBYcUuDWcItI3STJfg-00H3_b_Jg99TpCY72PD5gLflnvZvUj0aFJjIeqwZpu57W5c3HtKEUGDtQ5n6VRiJavFyeynu9mCTPNMZhpT67Ct92UdMaTvh/s1600/2017-05-27+15.17.34.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgG69cZrGF3XwvvX0KcTA7z2ZjsQSBYcUuDWcItI3STJfg-00H3_b_Jg99TpCY72PD5gLflnvZvUj0aFJjIeqwZpu57W5c3HtKEUGDtQ5n6VRiJavFyeynu9mCTPNMZhpT67Ct92UdMaTvh/s400/2017-05-27+15.17.34.jpg" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Less cute little hiker.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjF_rbi64aD6_wqYngoId55JRMNkUqR2mEtNCZ9R9yRzjG-kveflBQp5O3zhHJC72vQuBEVgH-BwIbCoj06bT8Ivmef32PJtvZ3wb0mO5YihpoWISx1yGNbZXZVntLJMdkte8XDgIWRvPcE/s1600/2017-05-27+15.18.18-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1600" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjF_rbi64aD6_wqYngoId55JRMNkUqR2mEtNCZ9R9yRzjG-kveflBQp5O3zhHJC72vQuBEVgH-BwIbCoj06bT8Ivmef32PJtvZ3wb0mO5YihpoWISx1yGNbZXZVntLJMdkte8XDgIWRvPcE/s400/2017-05-27+15.18.18-1.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Wilderness selfie</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKs3xhLnoNrxrIinILvkfTJ-Up-y9egihxpCoHGc9jWkv6M_knaXfnQtCHuizS9YU2cQzmTc00V-JcJ_NuY7mFbjU_zqd-pcQ-4G0OWHe7AqUFO3PJXTahXfQowrU9PB7oGCA9LkdaTKl3/s1600/2017-05-27+15.47.55.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKs3xhLnoNrxrIinILvkfTJ-Up-y9egihxpCoHGc9jWkv6M_knaXfnQtCHuizS9YU2cQzmTc00V-JcJ_NuY7mFbjU_zqd-pcQ-4G0OWHe7AqUFO3PJXTahXfQowrU9PB7oGCA9LkdaTKl3/s400/2017-05-27+15.47.55.jpg" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The sign explaining the intermittent spring.</td></tr>
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So I've watched videos on youtube. The river basically turns off and on when the spring turns off and on. I wanted to experience the off and on nature of it, but it turns out that this early in the season there is so much runoff that it just keeps flowing. We hung out at the spring for probably close to an hour but it just kept flowing. Nevertheless, it was a really pretty area.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjs5Fy5Bbg9h_fozO25S944D7-h88nCFTG1Zu7ARqzUXMjDanFfFSs0tBNDzwPZ6s0zcT8D5r73S37aanG2DoT169BVH203wm_e4Awwhrm7kT-MljSWuZUORzWaaR08dVUeV1vg1hi5Cgiq/s1600/2017-05-27+15.34.05.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjs5Fy5Bbg9h_fozO25S944D7-h88nCFTG1Zu7ARqzUXMjDanFfFSs0tBNDzwPZ6s0zcT8D5r73S37aanG2DoT169BVH203wm_e4Awwhrm7kT-MljSWuZUORzWaaR08dVUeV1vg1hi5Cgiq/s400/2017-05-27+15.34.05.jpg" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">You can hike up to where the spring comes out of the rock, but we didn't want to hike over the ice. So we just watched the river flow down from it.</td></tr>
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I was a little disappointed to not experience the on/off nature of the spring, but the internet had warned me that labor day weekend is not the best time to go. I actually was glad that we got as far as we did, because other years you wouldn't have even been able to make the hike because of so much snow. So we got to see some pretty nature and that was good enough for me.<br />
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Sunday morning we departed back for home so I could celebrate my birthday with my parents and siblings. But that morning I took walk around town to just see what there is to see. Early morning walks in small towns are great. These pics won't capture the quiet serenity of my morning walk, but they're kind of fun.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh94IEX2wtkYzR6qMZIeSDBNP65h-_qc9i9RE2amYJB_iBVKSCwjQbdBMmWHV0uhVa6bymomIb_0uCrLhGau0aoFfnp7ZdoCuZSQeHIT3LajaON0P3R_MAjVkKMVPIjyV8U1P8EveaRI3H6/s1600/2017-05-28+07.18.55.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1203" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh94IEX2wtkYzR6qMZIeSDBNP65h-_qc9i9RE2amYJB_iBVKSCwjQbdBMmWHV0uhVa6bymomIb_0uCrLhGau0aoFfnp7ZdoCuZSQeHIT3LajaON0P3R_MAjVkKMVPIjyV8U1P8EveaRI3H6/s400/2017-05-28+07.18.55.jpg" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A random bear that was asking for a selfie.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVMohxhUsaEov4u4bG9s8_G2deBlx342ESzY0PJBcXFYEabN4dZt7z7hbset618lvY6IzOH11lEkBBDKalI5k2wsrNHHo9iL6N9OPmxzrTlYLh9Vb0zrhU4Ovb6AGP0NKEpEGQK8bOxvvn/s1600/2017-05-28+07.35.25.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVMohxhUsaEov4u4bG9s8_G2deBlx342ESzY0PJBcXFYEabN4dZt7z7hbset618lvY6IzOH11lEkBBDKalI5k2wsrNHHo9iL6N9OPmxzrTlYLh9Vb0zrhU4Ovb6AGP0NKEpEGQK8bOxvvn/s400/2017-05-28+07.35.25.jpg" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Star Valley Stake Tabernacle. Why doesn't my stake have a tabernacle?</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitM0WcwwtBaAccPoFaCD_qGGwwdFuWH3CIN-wHJIDj8hyphenhyphenv7HjRajLsVBaZVaSKlIid-rPQKVF9hOQ-VkRG541KrWpwffpMQ57PHTZnpARhwpkI5gTBOf7oOtFlGkdtYxvZlzKU2VIxWxAS/s1600/2017-05-28+10.26.18.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitM0WcwwtBaAccPoFaCD_qGGwwdFuWH3CIN-wHJIDj8hyphenhyphenv7HjRajLsVBaZVaSKlIid-rPQKVF9hOQ-VkRG541KrWpwffpMQ57PHTZnpARhwpkI5gTBOf7oOtFlGkdtYxvZlzKU2VIxWxAS/s400/2017-05-28+10.26.18.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Just a park at the edge of town. I loved that this town was nestled in wilderness.</td></tr>
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All in all, it was a great birthday. I couldn't ask for anything better.Jeffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10357398682419756851noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3975311211849239826.post-84342842554049012552017-04-23T17:01:00.002-06:002017-04-23T17:01:42.033-06:00Easter 2017This year for Easter, Robyn and I were lucky enough to be able to celebrate with both of our families. Of course, before all of the festivities, we had the opportunity to go to church to reflect on the true meaning of the day. And Robyn was able to look extra cute with a brand new Easter dress.<br />
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First, we met with Robyn's family for dinner. In her family, Easter is an opportunity to celebrate their Russian heritage. <br />
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We had some Russian Easter Bread.<br />
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We had some delicious shashlik.<br />
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After dinner, we had a little Easter egg hunt for the nieces and nephews. They had lots of fun. My favorite was my nephew Anders (not pictured) was walking around with his little basket singing a little song to himself that went like this: "Easta Eggs. Easta Eggs."<br />
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Then later in the evening we went over to my parents' house for more excitement.<br />
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It started with an Easter Egg hunt for the little people.<br />
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Then my mom had a special surprise. She had setup a hunt for the big people as well. <br />
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Each person had an egg with their name on it that they had to find. You weren't supposed to tell other people if you found their egg. But people cheated anyway. We had fun doing a big people hunt.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSOsMoJe0k-ZAbbrPudWrwQQhSYMKKYB3sZuO46QyvDmbnPeRUuGZhazsFOMOwSrZDi0vZPW6gZnVucZ40ARo85OZG9ShF3g3STijwaJjIhOdv3niVnS56pOkdlcTPUFaASW21KLrgDqQ/s1600/2017-04-16+19.47.52.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSOsMoJe0k-ZAbbrPudWrwQQhSYMKKYB3sZuO46QyvDmbnPeRUuGZhazsFOMOwSrZDi0vZPW6gZnVucZ40ARo85OZG9ShF3g3STijwaJjIhOdv3niVnS56pOkdlcTPUFaASW21KLrgDqQ/s400/2017-04-16+19.47.52.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">It says "Jeff #1". I thought that meant I was the my mom's favorite. Apparently, they all said #1, because the original plan was to do multiple eggs for everyone.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Jen found hers too!</td></tr>
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Naturally, after all the fun we had to do a selfie with everyone. It's not a holiday without a selfie. <br />
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It was a fun Easter with 2 different wonderful families. <br />
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How did you spend Easter?Jeffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10357398682419756851noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3975311211849239826.post-87533730683749629892017-01-29T17:52:00.001-07:002017-01-29T17:52:57.874-07:00SnowshoeingOur friend Jared invited us to go snowshoeing up Provo Canyon on a couple weeks ago. We deliberated a bit because we've gotten a bit out of shape in the past year, but we decided to make a go of it. We needed to get some exercise and we especially needed to get out of the inversion in the valley.<br />
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There were three couples going, so we got together in Orem and then carpooled up to Big Springs park where the trailhead is. (Fun fact: that trail is where Robyn and I got engaged. But it was during the summer when you don't have to hike through 2 feet of snow.)<br />
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Since we couldn't all fit in one car we decided to do a boy's car and a girl's car.<br />
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Obviously, both cars did group selfies. And both cars arranged the individual members of each couple the same way. <br />
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The majority of the trail had been packed down pretty good, which was nice because I'm fat and wouldn't be able to handle breaking new trail for very long. Along the way much cuteness ensued.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhv-3D1pVo4nsCk-3A3E7qBhQZDMYJGwMWZmGrR2F0Tzn2Psiu8PDzG8bmnjlqRGDSlo7uA9UmSsQGcfZTdWuJ_GcQHluei9F8OJew8rD5iaSeJZJYoGlMH-OYjbXGYfgyvEEU_83e7XLHG/s1600/2017-01-14+11.47.20.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhv-3D1pVo4nsCk-3A3E7qBhQZDMYJGwMWZmGrR2F0Tzn2Psiu8PDzG8bmnjlqRGDSlo7uA9UmSsQGcfZTdWuJ_GcQHluei9F8OJew8rD5iaSeJZJYoGlMH-OYjbXGYfgyvEEU_83e7XLHG/s400/2017-01-14+11.47.20.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">There was loving.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">And kissing.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhO2SiEqbNYIYxcFnohMJwGwV-UdL0LMcvZyxAQJwNzyToq1MUiXdPZ94GRWuksayAlWvDiK8E6zQn4KskCFcZrfl9hJV7NhdFjHh3-VVF-ug6CI30jEFTWNmv4e_jKOToNyUzcUcQOoIh/s1600/2017-01-14+12.30.22.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhO2SiEqbNYIYxcFnohMJwGwV-UdL0LMcvZyxAQJwNzyToq1MUiXdPZ94GRWuksayAlWvDiK8E6zQn4KskCFcZrfl9hJV7NhdFjHh3-VVF-ug6CI30jEFTWNmv4e_jKOToNyUzcUcQOoIh/s400/2017-01-14+12.30.22.jpg" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">And more kissing</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8mAAVsEPgkLxXH97GshxNHhzJ8Pe46kH8lLrfObDr3Rg6MUqxKgYYrMS5QpKiyuwJWEBCpjfL5QkCaWzqqXaa9R1_7X_qfpY5HZRE0I-wtu87XODna3uFANHikBG-nQWeLf3KSLos5Zxq/s1600/2017-01-14+12.06.39.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8mAAVsEPgkLxXH97GshxNHhzJ8Pe46kH8lLrfObDr3Rg6MUqxKgYYrMS5QpKiyuwJWEBCpjfL5QkCaWzqqXaa9R1_7X_qfpY5HZRE0I-wtu87XODna3uFANHikBG-nQWeLf3KSLos5Zxq/s400/2017-01-14+12.06.39.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This is what happens when you give Jackie your phone.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjasfFqmCPmb0HPmtbzyXC3A-8QR8HJKsjcn0hZJI72BIWRhUjlBBd8SFg7iWNgCCVPaEmVFIFI4zcPjLKRL7ChI7Wch0u_T_tv0j9emI-_WLc1cn9dbtlIZ6oqIP8z9bnR2Prfo5JTE25B/s1600/2017-01-14+12.29.31.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjasfFqmCPmb0HPmtbzyXC3A-8QR8HJKsjcn0hZJI72BIWRhUjlBBd8SFg7iWNgCCVPaEmVFIFI4zcPjLKRL7ChI7Wch0u_T_tv0j9emI-_WLc1cn9dbtlIZ6oqIP8z9bnR2Prfo5JTE25B/s400/2017-01-14+12.29.31.jpg" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Vincis make drinking water look precious.</td></tr>
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Eventually we arrive in a beautiful meadow.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAOH4j1fSF-Hc4d0RyjsqdjlaiJyPoxNOmPmQk1C-x4G4LhfxnfARS9aKr8YCfaoR1u7VBRAX_9zK7TFIZ8fgcC0AEvTctxEgH8R6wLuSdNhqvHBiyTGIWdN266HFwjodsVW-lizoWje3K/s1600/20170114_130157.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAOH4j1fSF-Hc4d0RyjsqdjlaiJyPoxNOmPmQk1C-x4G4LhfxnfARS9aKr8YCfaoR1u7VBRAX_9zK7TFIZ8fgcC0AEvTctxEgH8R6wLuSdNhqvHBiyTGIWdN266HFwjodsVW-lizoWje3K/s400/20170114_130157.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">We make the meadow look precious.</td></tr>
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You may notice that I'm wearing shorts. Because.. well, I was kind of hot. Plus I don't own pants.<br />
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After that we headed back down the mountain. It was a great little excursion with fresh air, beautiful nature and great friends.<br />
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<br />Jeffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10357398682419756851noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3975311211849239826.post-84261632341576936852017-01-22T14:11:00.002-07:002017-01-22T14:11:33.759-07:00Universal StudiosThe final day of our California trip was spent in Universal Studios.<br />
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But the real focus of Universal Studios was Harry Potter world, as you'll see in a moment. <br />
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We arrived at the park and naturally had to get a selfie with the globe.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioorHUMz0Wy_kpwr6-T3beyuvdFqV-pXzxmxsAXQ16UGsd9QuWzJP5xqYjhTW7MKxsWkDz1WQiZntCk5QWydIHfon9OhqZjUg3FkzprU1p_e5ip_gUFONIhN_ulXlFsf8G9i_8xDAIGli3/s1600/2016-12-30+08.06.14.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioorHUMz0Wy_kpwr6-T3beyuvdFqV-pXzxmxsAXQ16UGsd9QuWzJP5xqYjhTW7MKxsWkDz1WQiZntCk5QWydIHfon9OhqZjUg3FkzprU1p_e5ip_gUFONIhN_ulXlFsf8G9i_8xDAIGli3/s320/2016-12-30+08.06.14.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
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Once we got in the park, we saw Hogwarts castle and had to make a beeline for Hogsmeade. Teanca had told us to do the other parts of Universal Studios first, because the lines would be shorter. But we couldn't resist going to Harry Potter World immediately.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqIePDlpd3QQ7Qo5t4WK0XCXH4kJwJjvwW1Xfvab5EYYoyLEJTuk9z7auUD6yEziBR2QGjhxeA1aW_ZoT1JSLEDlnLWV55oEtUElOupZk0eD06Y9OpXBYOHocKO5pwA01RmgPttqH0s2nE/s1600/2016-12-30+08.14.38.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqIePDlpd3QQ7Qo5t4WK0XCXH4kJwJjvwW1Xfvab5EYYoyLEJTuk9z7auUD6yEziBR2QGjhxeA1aW_ZoT1JSLEDlnLWV55oEtUElOupZk0eD06Y9OpXBYOHocKO5pwA01RmgPttqH0s2nE/s400/2016-12-30+08.14.38.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Robyn is cute in Hogsmeade. Also, notice her Hufflepull Quidditch jersey.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoOdGcrMmwp9_w2w2nhiEJsc2GBo07XEwbrQ4bfvraDaLgIzdnxVd3xpd3lZQERSCamUp7aWqdii-ERKSOCPM86ukrAize54gBl-xm_Idv80nQFPa1DSZQNItITKbNZ49xvJBdLWGR2sE0/s1600/2016-12-30+08.16.40.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoOdGcrMmwp9_w2w2nhiEJsc2GBo07XEwbrQ4bfvraDaLgIzdnxVd3xpd3lZQERSCamUp7aWqdii-ERKSOCPM86ukrAize54gBl-xm_Idv80nQFPa1DSZQNItITKbNZ49xvJBdLWGR2sE0/s400/2016-12-30+08.16.40.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Looking up at Hogwarts Castle</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikBJGltTJV-Nd7vVJEj4H7sy8c2SkUr7gHv7oEVJyxiomw4tWzuDS3tlPMl5BM1I6A9qxxV9I5rSFLDinfk3z0KBbF8HEZkaLli9TL6LW9oqKiDfIXsduNn_Mi2oIrDFHV27iBb3M4yO97/s1600/2016-12-30+08.19.04.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikBJGltTJV-Nd7vVJEj4H7sy8c2SkUr7gHv7oEVJyxiomw4tWzuDS3tlPMl5BM1I6A9qxxV9I5rSFLDinfk3z0KBbF8HEZkaLli9TL6LW9oqKiDfIXsduNn_Mi2oIrDFHV27iBb3M4yO97/s400/2016-12-30+08.19.04.jpg" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">About to enter the caste</td></tr>
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We went to the Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey ride and the line basically runs through Hogwarts castle.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVtdP9r_LC1fSVCT7brDWRWlbTgxuyQ0KbiNX1kQliuLEi6Fal2YbEmJ9uM6SvIRG4k7c2zwuJRlcjh0z4oBO0_U7jkbu9TL-SG53RmlfsUJVMUSX-XDLQZY3226eQo0qugXh2c0_BXAv4/s1600/2016-12-30+08.27.16.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVtdP9r_LC1fSVCT7brDWRWlbTgxuyQ0KbiNX1kQliuLEi6Fal2YbEmJ9uM6SvIRG4k7c2zwuJRlcjh0z4oBO0_U7jkbu9TL-SG53RmlfsUJVMUSX-XDLQZY3226eQo0qugXh2c0_BXAv4/s400/2016-12-30+08.27.16.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">We enjoyed admiring all the details. They did a good job of immersing us in the wizarding world.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBM-q3fCrKZGQkm8oUjniLq3zgRvnms2UUjv6gl6OBDcLwMEwJNuLS80eW8eMMjGYG6Y88Alwk0mzQ5Mdgp-Y4FcgV4DfT5DnRsY59_dlQ4vmP17VQZ7O9GPoxxlpxYbjICJj2xgwgm7b_/s1600/2016-12-30+08.31.03.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBM-q3fCrKZGQkm8oUjniLq3zgRvnms2UUjv6gl6OBDcLwMEwJNuLS80eW8eMMjGYG6Y88Alwk0mzQ5Mdgp-Y4FcgV4DfT5DnRsY59_dlQ4vmP17VQZ7O9GPoxxlpxYbjICJj2xgwgm7b_/s400/2016-12-30+08.31.03.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mandrakes</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhogcT3bf2cj8qAkr0wLqwM-OnRa3F8oK37nLX7L-tdKbBkd0lT02AgjOapyEtGtfyZz9QjgCYLumsCXxlKz2e8fZOJFbz3WJRo3bdLDjDcLzjF66W27crM3FFp4SlrH7sEIy8HAmald1fV/s1600/2016-12-30+08.33.11.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhogcT3bf2cj8qAkr0wLqwM-OnRa3F8oK37nLX7L-tdKbBkd0lT02AgjOapyEtGtfyZz9QjgCYLumsCXxlKz2e8fZOJFbz3WJRo3bdLDjDcLzjF66W27crM3FFp4SlrH7sEIy8HAmald1fV/s400/2016-12-30+08.33.11.jpg" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dumbledore's office</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNpfIVokmTfVc7CcHeglE1Jj1LM1w33rInHWlLE1w8O1ztEWRGsb-aeKwb2Dhuug843SDnJVOD8Hwwqdm7MmLCqAY35NQDZDPjAujsEtKJ5ssbBlzY5K_b09Kd0TnCPVlCuturNEkmyr_i/s1600/2016-12-30+08.43.00.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNpfIVokmTfVc7CcHeglE1Jj1LM1w33rInHWlLE1w8O1ztEWRGsb-aeKwb2Dhuug843SDnJVOD8Hwwqdm7MmLCqAY35NQDZDPjAujsEtKJ5ssbBlzY5K_b09Kd0TnCPVlCuturNEkmyr_i/s400/2016-12-30+08.43.00.jpg" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The sorting hat</td></tr>
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After the castle, we tried a cold butter beer. It was pretty good. And then, it was on to the rest of the park. I don't have nearly as many pictures from the rest of the park. I guess we were just more enamored by the Harry Potter parts. But here are a couple pictures.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi564YvJif3Iy-ziVjK-YU0tLLZYDgx3oIysp6yApZg1DAT7IF5ktkVp1ZnHgiLgdfJF8o2DsOpYBOoiA1fWmsjG7Be1z2VnVbdh7L6z7GyddLg7L2Vn-kkRyJuPm21A9LRM45v_45vCqiR/s1600/2016-12-30+09.19.12.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi564YvJif3Iy-ziVjK-YU0tLLZYDgx3oIysp6yApZg1DAT7IF5ktkVp1ZnHgiLgdfJF8o2DsOpYBOoiA1fWmsjG7Be1z2VnVbdh7L6z7GyddLg7L2Vn-kkRyJuPm21A9LRM45v_45vCqiR/s400/2016-12-30+09.19.12.jpg" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I had to get a picture next to Kwik-E-Mart. And it was important to say, "Thank you, come again." several times, because I'm annoying like that.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-XtFQHU2hTW-DKamZXPuSJBjbriUEGwCjed7bJHji05ORurUkVyytezN7L-Fz-OIsOQTtu4pEixE9gBOKHjT-qQPYQaLaLuvhkpOd4C9hFbGJxqe6rWazS8wURLBCAJGApaumXNa6YwKD/s1600/2016-12-30+09.46.12.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-XtFQHU2hTW-DKamZXPuSJBjbriUEGwCjed7bJHji05ORurUkVyytezN7L-Fz-OIsOQTtu4pEixE9gBOKHjT-qQPYQaLaLuvhkpOd4C9hFbGJxqe6rWazS8wURLBCAJGApaumXNa6YwKD/s320/2016-12-30+09.46.12.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Jurassic Park ride was super fun. The best part was when the Tyrannosaurus jumped out and terrified Robyn. The picture above is her recreation of the face she made. Note: that is a velociraptor and not a tyrannosaurs, but she was equally terrified of the raptors, so it's an accurate dramatization of how she looked on the ride.</td></tr>
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After spending a few hours riding the other various rides we headed back into Harry Potter World for lunch at the Three Broomsticks. I was impressed by how well managed it was. They had you stand in line to order and then they had ushers find you a seat so you weren't wandering around like vultures trying to grab a table as soon as people left.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmAN3k4jPxu7e2mU_179P06nEsH2gKj8QVxsRhbPn132hyphenhyphen063iybNF4EQV84rViNY8fdGCSxKFWikfl4X8sVD1-pl42M7ws8rTcaGqWv3idibgsPIZiD3uJ6laKNOwLnDKPNPRUKpnkygi/s1600/2016-12-30+12.20.55.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmAN3k4jPxu7e2mU_179P06nEsH2gKj8QVxsRhbPn132hyphenhyphen063iybNF4EQV84rViNY8fdGCSxKFWikfl4X8sVD1-pl42M7ws8rTcaGqWv3idibgsPIZiD3uJ6laKNOwLnDKPNPRUKpnkygi/s400/2016-12-30+12.20.55.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The food was really good. And I met a cute Hufflepuff girl there.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisi9alZ0eMWh7pefHNVNKRNheAtTABvR803nqqUAwTe-R_rD78XJX2EGNzNsw0T7Zf5Hp2nq4ovdcHaL4TeBJwbAFCawwLgzdNPDJbDRK7ON4jJILniFjOcFvfVnpQ6KLimHGS4x_0zUWa/s1600/2016-12-30+12.41.00.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisi9alZ0eMWh7pefHNVNKRNheAtTABvR803nqqUAwTe-R_rD78XJX2EGNzNsw0T7Zf5Hp2nq4ovdcHaL4TeBJwbAFCawwLgzdNPDJbDRK7ON4jJILniFjOcFvfVnpQ6KLimHGS4x_0zUWa/s400/2016-12-30+12.41.00.jpg" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This time around we got a hot butterbeer which was basically butterscotch hot chocolate. It was even better than the cold butterbeer.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgp2Nl98U9JvrhhEq2lLKJnMkjIEbJiiFwZ0CFP4tx-ZFQH1jmVlPAhyphenhyphenhv3BmIF7Wb2ksYPoQi81dazgdx-uZeams63YXyVznkP6U3WKV6wXZ4pqhj97GDLrYnom6JsRguIx3gi2H5YUKPf/s1600/2016-12-30+13.01.21.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgp2Nl98U9JvrhhEq2lLKJnMkjIEbJiiFwZ0CFP4tx-ZFQH1jmVlPAhyphenhyphenhv3BmIF7Wb2ksYPoQi81dazgdx-uZeams63YXyVznkP6U3WKV6wXZ4pqhj97GDLrYnom6JsRguIx3gi2H5YUKPf/s400/2016-12-30+13.01.21.jpg" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Diagon Alley</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1UUE-JRmW9E5Zr26xurrevY15j0rtUL1ET9fJxNxT5hGf5lT3D7ArKGQJIy3AbozPTHkXnxxn6m4J0G0pPX7Kpg0M71vfM7xMNnph0ewxWxb3I-45rjEuoH2Kk-7q4MDjWzTIlNU0p2Y8/s1600/2016-12-30+13.02.32.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1UUE-JRmW9E5Zr26xurrevY15j0rtUL1ET9fJxNxT5hGf5lT3D7ArKGQJIy3AbozPTHkXnxxn6m4J0G0pPX7Kpg0M71vfM7xMNnph0ewxWxb3I-45rjEuoH2Kk-7q4MDjWzTIlNU0p2Y8/s400/2016-12-30+13.02.32.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Hogwarts Express</td></tr>
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After our afternoon exploring all of the intricacies of Hogsmeade and Diagon Alley we went to a few of the other shops in Universal Studios. They were kind of fun. The most important thing I found were minions. Naturally, I needed a selfie with them.<br />
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We ended our day in the early afternoon. We had ridden all the rides we wanted, and we had explored Harry Potter World thoroughly. We were both excited to have a few hours to just hang out in the hotel and rest up before our flight the next morning. It was a great end to a great trip.Jeffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10357398682419756851noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3975311211849239826.post-87310832825046047472017-01-20T16:37:00.002-07:002017-01-20T16:37:55.197-07:00HollywoodAfter our two days in Disneyland, the next part of our adventure was to take a little bit of time to slow down and go to the temple. We left our hotel in Anaheim and headed toward L.A. to go to the Los Angeles Temple.<br />
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I really enjoyed the peaceful morning in contrast to the hustle and bustle of the past couple days. Here are a few pictures of the temple.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHPCHMjb5wEtphw_DExmKnWzp5K3Fja5JTD-fRavjHFmpi-6sGXmVuo_ox1IJ0BwQut5GxzfJWHUAzU7Ubdc33Z74N4JaAxMWu-S_pI7HgmzJ1xr9OkwZ_HHQu9bxZ74sjoIY6zQ0qao22/s1600/2016-12-29+08.23.24.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHPCHMjb5wEtphw_DExmKnWzp5K3Fja5JTD-fRavjHFmpi-6sGXmVuo_ox1IJ0BwQut5GxzfJWHUAzU7Ubdc33Z74N4JaAxMWu-S_pI7HgmzJ1xr9OkwZ_HHQu9bxZ74sjoIY6zQ0qao22/s400/2016-12-29+08.23.24.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This is what it looked like as we drove up to it.</td></tr>
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One of the funny things about this temple is that there's no chapel to wait in for the session. They just have a little bench outside of the dressing rooms, so it's kind of a segregated waiting situation. It was a little weird, but it was fine.<br />
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After the temple, we drove in to Hollywood to pick up our niece, Teanca. She lives there because she's an aspiring actress and future star. We picked her up at her apartment, made fun of how ghetto her neighborhood is and then took her out for some lunch.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiE2Tk4ooNJiB7jLwCWuCDky8NU0hdRmQevfplmQuVUUZXz2Yg-xHvkbwjdLXbk4JQkfGyaG6G4QQLfqzL2C68kgRqmlRkp6BDQ9_kJEFuWCG7kBrIf-Y6iSiiJXAG2qFw6dJ0o5TPWbvMZ/s1600/2016-12-29+13.13.48.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiE2Tk4ooNJiB7jLwCWuCDky8NU0hdRmQevfplmQuVUUZXz2Yg-xHvkbwjdLXbk4JQkfGyaG6G4QQLfqzL2C68kgRqmlRkp6BDQ9_kJEFuWCG7kBrIf-Y6iSiiJXAG2qFw6dJ0o5TPWbvMZ/s400/2016-12-29+13.13.48.jpg" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I saw Lando Calrissian's star outside of the restaurant. Naturally, I took a selfie with it.</td></tr>
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After eating, we found an empty star. Being the embarrassing uncle that I am, I made Teanca take a picture with it because it's her future star.<br />
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We went back to the hotel and just hung out for a few hours. I mostly fell asleep while the women folk talked.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7NKolreFmbu5sECMNfrOqc-n_GcdwJWW6Orh7a-sbeCa6Y1UYFbolC6uw2OHgJc6xoytX5BGJtrpInJNH3yv1Q_UEG-3A5B_tIj1jfq1yj4EHTdCANfbKMsNgATZSLn1l8Qc9XTF_TXUw/s1600/2016-12-29+15.50.47.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7NKolreFmbu5sECMNfrOqc-n_GcdwJWW6Orh7a-sbeCa6Y1UYFbolC6uw2OHgJc6xoytX5BGJtrpInJNH3yv1Q_UEG-3A5B_tIj1jfq1yj4EHTdCANfbKMsNgATZSLn1l8Qc9XTF_TXUw/s400/2016-12-29+15.50.47.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This is what Teanca looks like while chatting in the hotel room.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiObbRhrER3bIaVgV0K6t5WasBuR5cHGEZF8UiSn4aFaBsxpbArQF_7txjMkGOAWLkWZBYHtK4TBo22hTHX-SOSZAuoCIA-egwhR1QyoriUYTtao3mlCRBsWueplLif7NyRw-d7ELVl1TUh/s1600/2016-12-29+15.50.50.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiObbRhrER3bIaVgV0K6t5WasBuR5cHGEZF8UiSn4aFaBsxpbArQF_7txjMkGOAWLkWZBYHtK4TBo22hTHX-SOSZAuoCIA-egwhR1QyoriUYTtao3mlCRBsWueplLif7NyRw-d7ELVl1TUh/s400/2016-12-29+15.50.50.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This is what Robyn looks like while chatting in the hotel room.</td></tr>
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We decided that our evening adventure should be going to see Star Wars in the Chinese Theater. <br />
I know that no one else understands how important the Chinese Theater is. But that's the theater where the original Star Wars premiered. AND I SAW STAR WARS THERE!<br />
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We walked to the theater which meant walking through downtown Hollywood. Robyn was terrified of all of the people dwelling in Hollywood after dark. I thought they were amusing. The funniest thing that happened was a big guy/girl (I know I'm supposed to call the individual by how they identify, but they didn't tell me how they identify. It looked like a guy with breasts.) came up to me and said, "Well, you're a big boy aren't you?" I just said, "That's correct!" and kept walking.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIrcvcI0umNzXwfUjaYL7QdPndg0kdLLdJVJuK8uD7IO7FR7cbH2C8bdC07RK7QiVXak0tjgF3WcZFu1Frk4CAW8v2LRZRNzjq_izy-k0lwYTMZnvhnfa7BA0CFcJ0boxyN1ov-ldHIa2K/s1600/2016-12-29+17.44.38.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIrcvcI0umNzXwfUjaYL7QdPndg0kdLLdJVJuK8uD7IO7FR7cbH2C8bdC07RK7QiVXak0tjgF3WcZFu1Frk4CAW8v2LRZRNzjq_izy-k0lwYTMZnvhnfa7BA0CFcJ0boxyN1ov-ldHIa2K/s400/2016-12-29+17.44.38.jpg" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This is what Teanca and Robyn look like on the walk of fame. They're walking. And they're famous.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Me at the Chinese Theater. I'm not sure why the guy behind me looks like a zombie.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEir9fJ7KdnxprdZJvmpYTWHyNPwYiTLFlVw2CGC7NdK_a1nTEch4FTJvjNMbnm7zPHy5B1ckLo6CUsKwY36llLN5kaKMtzRwKtM9EPxxPsXLRHfBRH7SQA2hv_J8kxqTVxk480WYB-inlUh/s1600/2016-12-29+18.09.30.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEir9fJ7KdnxprdZJvmpYTWHyNPwYiTLFlVw2CGC7NdK_a1nTEch4FTJvjNMbnm7zPHy5B1ckLo6CUsKwY36llLN5kaKMtzRwKtM9EPxxPsXLRHfBRH7SQA2hv_J8kxqTVxk480WYB-inlUh/s400/2016-12-29+18.09.30.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Me with the Death Star Plans.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The women folk taking a selfie before Star Wars.</td></tr>
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It was a fun day. I got to cross something off my nerd bucket list and we got to hang out with a rising star before she becomes famous. I'd call that a success.Jeffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10357398682419756851noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3975311211849239826.post-78975077444256603282017-01-09T16:12:00.002-07:002017-01-09T16:12:44.026-07:00California Adventure!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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After our day in <a href="http://odoyle42.blogspot.com/2017/01/disneyland.html">Disneyland</a>, the next day was spent primarily in California Adventure. (Although, we did spend some time in the main park, as you'll see below.)<br />
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Much like the previous day, we got there about 15 minutes before the park opened so that we could be part of the initial rush to our favorite rides. We marched right behind the Disney employees and went straight for Tower of Terror. (Tower of Terror was a huge reason for taking this trip, so it was very important.) Everyone was rushing to get in line for the ride, but no one was getting fast passes. So we grabbed a fast pass and then went straight to Soarin' Over the world.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmVJ_k3WNWJAxA0XXUDqsfAUea19homjP12aiVmDIKE3FXutOJ6aZzfz4-5qBptkvbUJo10K_Q3MtU8q2WPnouRZE_QL1Bwu0Ddy-4C-fIKKnGHUFRAwxux-auIvmc8usG1h77aOXc76fg/s1600/2016-12-28+09.23.38.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmVJ_k3WNWJAxA0XXUDqsfAUea19homjP12aiVmDIKE3FXutOJ6aZzfz4-5qBptkvbUJo10K_Q3MtU8q2WPnouRZE_QL1Bwu0Ddy-4C-fIKKnGHUFRAwxux-auIvmc8usG1h77aOXc76fg/s320/2016-12-28+09.23.38.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Just look at that cutie ready to soar over the world.</td></tr>
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That was the right way to do it. The line for Soarin' was only 15 or 20 minutes, which made it perfect for us to come back to Tower of Terror to use our fast pass. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOtSGfcwYBItRJ5b6ecwEahUsDsZhvSn2NUZpIp8RCAmuh3pboyHR1vxDGuhRKYhyphenhyphengo7XQQQGAiTBbO0d4bMpAQ3fP1pAXugpFcofDW16W3VETK9WDohwIl3k-HPYVQSQAK_AGx3k0Eov-/s1600/2016-12-28+09.04.05.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOtSGfcwYBItRJ5b6ecwEahUsDsZhvSn2NUZpIp8RCAmuh3pboyHR1vxDGuhRKYhyphenhyphengo7XQQQGAiTBbO0d4bMpAQ3fP1pAXugpFcofDW16W3VETK9WDohwIl3k-HPYVQSQAK_AGx3k0Eov-/s400/2016-12-28+09.04.05.jpg" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This is me about to enter another dimension.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFAUdxf01rtt9BSZ5FeQqFfK2pCmbe8Pn5UDcRawWtMnZKFykK54iwsz4I7G5LUgOky3XMtZPNfMcGsPj1R0tM_O3zrtom2xS9mq_V27s8RflvuNfjG8y-i__FxIPmJHibwnY5nkByRddg/s1600/2016-12-28+09.13.13.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFAUdxf01rtt9BSZ5FeQqFfK2pCmbe8Pn5UDcRawWtMnZKFykK54iwsz4I7G5LUgOky3XMtZPNfMcGsPj1R0tM_O3zrtom2xS9mq_V27s8RflvuNfjG8y-i__FxIPmJHibwnY5nkByRddg/s400/2016-12-28+09.13.13.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">It's important to take a picture of the picture.</td></tr>
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Robyn was wearing her Captain America shirt, so obviously she needed to pose in front of a sign welcoming her.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbnD3lI2U8TpvMnT0c4hyphenhyphendK7wvv8k_clmwz5z4kZXVM_DdMb7BVTz-0ewk862_SmSPCjC5L1XEfyCr7TZgP-W2d7zlhgz9Gy58QPzDUs1ziC-CEoE4kooNLSBADxwW4D9nngEYGh_WQFcX/s1600/2016-12-28+09.57.45.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbnD3lI2U8TpvMnT0c4hyphenhyphendK7wvv8k_clmwz5z4kZXVM_DdMb7BVTz-0ewk862_SmSPCjC5L1XEfyCr7TZgP-W2d7zlhgz9Gy58QPzDUs1ziC-CEoE4kooNLSBADxwW4D9nngEYGh_WQFcX/s320/2016-12-28+09.57.45.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
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At lunch time we headed back into the Disneyland park for our lunch at Blue Bayou. It was really neat. I had order envy though, because my chicken was nowhere near as good as Robyn's Monte Cristo sandwich.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The LED lights in the lemonade were really cool.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The famous Monte Criso</td></tr>
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Despite my order envy, the food was really good. And the atmosphere was really fun. It was just like being in the bayou at night. (At least, I imagine it's what it's like. I should say, it was just like being outside next to a river at night. I've never actually been in the bayou.)<br />
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After lunch we went back to California Adventure. Our longest line of the day was for the Toy Story ride. The important thing is that I won.<br />
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Robyn made sure to tell me that she's still a better person than me, even though I won the Toy Story ride. Also, she was quick to point out that she dominated me in Buzz Lightyear the day before.<br />
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We had to buy Robyn a tiara, so she went from Captain America to Princess America.<br />
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By 4:00, we had ridden everything we wanted to ride except for the Cars ride. The line for that ride was 4 hours long. Fast passes had long run out. (The line for fast passes was at least an hour until they ran out.) Since we're old and tired, we briefly pondered, should we stay another 4 hours for 90 seconds of entertainment? The answer was no. I was really excited to get off my feet, so we went back to the hotel and relaxed.<br />
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Some may say that we didn't get our money's worth because we could have stayed in the parks for another 8 hours. But I had a great time in the park, and I had a great time relaxing afterward, so I'm happy with it. <br />
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The next day we were off to Hollywood, so stay tuned.<br />
<br />Jeffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10357398682419756851noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3975311211849239826.post-33658134670612067472017-01-08T15:35:00.002-07:002017-01-08T15:35:12.807-07:00Disneyland!Robyn and I decided to do a little trip in between Christmas and New Years this year. It was somewhat spontaneous. We decided to go a few weeks before Christmas. For us, that's spontaneous. I know most people would consider spontaneous to be deciding to go within 24 hours of departure, but we are normally planning trips far enough in advance that you can't even buy the plane tickets yet. So we're calling it spontaneous.<br />
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The destination we selected was southern California. There were 2 main motivators. One was that Disneyland was closing (has closed, as of the time of this writing) The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror. The other was that we wanted to see Harry Potter world in Universal Studios.</div>
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We flew out the day after Christmas, and got to Disneyland bright and early on the 27th. <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Robyn did a dance of joy in the hotel room before our departure.</td></tr>
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We woke up early to get to Disneyland before it opened. They let people line up on Main Street before the official time. At 8 AM sharp everyone made a dash for their favorite ride. They're pretty smart though because they have employees come walk in the front of the crowd so that people don't trample each other.<br />
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We went straight to Star Tours to get a fast pass and then got in line for space mountain. Space Mountain is now Hyperspace Mountain and it is Star Wars themed. The moment the ride began and Star Wars music was playing, my heart filled with glee.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">In line for Space Mountain</td></tr>
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One of the most important things to do in Disneyland is to try on the various hats in the various stores.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Wearing funny hats</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8tphZvl6tk_GK5O281r_tX5fd0Sta_7nba62eCTsTxOpRXEiMjPp8BUEB7h6CheiO8_mLW5sJAl2VwGI098WuiJYvaYB2MbCE2cm7o1T7v7FpUggQKWQ3NBZv-JUpkwVq37cXczXk-Am5/s1600/2016-12-27+08.41.35.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8tphZvl6tk_GK5O281r_tX5fd0Sta_7nba62eCTsTxOpRXEiMjPp8BUEB7h6CheiO8_mLW5sJAl2VwGI098WuiJYvaYB2MbCE2cm7o1T7v7FpUggQKWQ3NBZv-JUpkwVq37cXczXk-Am5/s320/2016-12-27+08.41.35.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Wearing funny hats</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
I also really loved how much Star Wars has taken over Disneyland. There has always been Star Tours but now it permeates everything.<br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIg1Adi2LJ5eJdQeDpIbzEyZXVdu6vS88fXY2lQWnJDJelC1ieBOykXHN_q6oAjyEH1eUYXT-5f4z8FjyheSE9xLehOgDXXrS96-CoO-xst-bGHkcHrBiL9ifMNyCxRgtTJ_3LTfHC_2yo/s1600/2016-12-27+13.20.32.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIg1Adi2LJ5eJdQeDpIbzEyZXVdu6vS88fXY2lQWnJDJelC1ieBOykXHN_q6oAjyEH1eUYXT-5f4z8FjyheSE9xLehOgDXXrS96-CoO-xst-bGHkcHrBiL9ifMNyCxRgtTJ_3LTfHC_2yo/s320/2016-12-27+13.20.32.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Star Wars Launch Bay</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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We rode all the classic rides, Pirates of the Carribean, Haunted Mansion, Matterhorn, Jungle Cruise, etc. One of my favorite things was how many rides had been made over for Christmas. The Haunted Mansion was completely redone with Jack Skellington taking over. Even the Jungle Cruise had some Christmas touches such as monkeys wearing Santa hats.<br />
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Of course, the Buzz Lightyear ride has a separate Fast Pass system from everything else, so you can have infinite fast passes to that ride. Naturally, we rode it like 3 times. Robyn was the best robot killer. She beat my score every time.<br /><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUKA6WRr4sZCbKY-prMzVfj84w2W1DU2fBwjFQvqk1c8l9gssfSyezgMrVP2MtQFbGzpTnnQE3xT-fl3p8JQ4mI0wCn7navk4Hyo_DdBXDoQ1G0euH_qjDQqsR35uCZoWKilGSA-3dSHt8/s1600/2016-12-27+17.52.52.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUKA6WRr4sZCbKY-prMzVfj84w2W1DU2fBwjFQvqk1c8l9gssfSyezgMrVP2MtQFbGzpTnnQE3xT-fl3p8JQ4mI0wCn7navk4Hyo_DdBXDoQ1G0euH_qjDQqsR35uCZoWKilGSA-3dSHt8/s320/2016-12-27+17.52.52.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Selfie with Buzz Lightyear</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
After it got dark, we decided to ride It's a Small World. It was another one that had been done up for Christmas. They have them singing Jingle Bells in various languages. (The mermaids even sang Jingle Shells. They really understand all cultures.)<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLF-9JDSQPoi7bbIebgXu0qQXWoao484kt2trZ0j-lYlRQ31xjytxxX6y6WS0cvV7qm9Xz00INmYkkTuS4YFxAq7PKKukU91VJ4C7NIBiEIiNC6bVkWqh9gZl47lF8bEgwoVGB0YNUcWka/s1600/2016-12-27+18.11.44.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLF-9JDSQPoi7bbIebgXu0qQXWoao484kt2trZ0j-lYlRQ31xjytxxX6y6WS0cvV7qm9Xz00INmYkkTuS4YFxAq7PKKukU91VJ4C7NIBiEIiNC6bVkWqh9gZl47lF8bEgwoVGB0YNUcWka/s320/2016-12-27+18.11.44.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">It's a Small World</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijwk40ES1sTi2BN9QIS_y5aU3TOWbm83rYOIlWmktTa-5TfYbcLrkKp1PrFeTcq7CfN2OAmADd73hPV2TXSYlqo008b8ZR9HA9krThV0aGEC2rb-Fp2Gdaa8lf9l3fQ2OVD07xveeloZr8/s1600/2016-12-27+18.56.27.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijwk40ES1sTi2BN9QIS_y5aU3TOWbm83rYOIlWmktTa-5TfYbcLrkKp1PrFeTcq7CfN2OAmADd73hPV2TXSYlqo008b8ZR9HA9krThV0aGEC2rb-Fp2Gdaa8lf9l3fQ2OVD07xveeloZr8/s320/2016-12-27+18.56.27.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Selfies are important</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
While we were in line for Small World, the electric parade started. They stopped the ride and we ended up having pretty good viewing from our vantage point in line. It was a little weird because people crowded around us to watch the parade, so once it stopped it was a bit confusing figuring out who was in line and who wasn't. But we got it all worked out and successfully rode the ride. It's not as exciting as some of the other rides, but after a long day of standing in line, it's pretty nice to just sit in a boat for 15 minutes.<br />
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We got back to the hotel and instantly went to sleep. I was a tired boy. <br />
<br />
I know you're thinking, "Wait, but you said that Tower of Terror and Harry Potter world were your main motivators and you haven't even done those yet!" Don't worry. We did them both on this trip. So stay tuned for those posts.Jeffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10357398682419756851noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3975311211849239826.post-86223525325498899642016-08-31T17:16:00.002-06:002016-08-31T17:16:57.673-06:00Bear Lake with the FamThis past weekend, my parents traded their time share for a condo at Bear Lake. They invited us to come up and join them. Clearly we weren't going to turn down a free lake adventure.<br />
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My sister, Mellen, and her daughter, Adalyn joined us for the car ride up. Adalyn wasn't super excited bout riding in the car for three hours, but we discovered that she doesn't cry as long as I'm singing. I mean, who could do anything but smile when they hear my golden voice?<br />
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We got to the condo fairly late on Friday night, so Friday mostly consisted of hanging with the fam in the condo. <br />
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Saturday morning, Robyn and I made breakfast for everyone. We made epic breakfast burritos. We cooked more sausage than you can possibly imagine. The deliciousness was off the charts.<br />
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After a lazy morning, we all went down to the beach. Here are some highlights of our adventures.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOJrw64PtdCe9K6buMuOoZcXfJ0lB-7c3-Gm80YIaYWZtxY7SMYfq29w-Fbk-eMxZcVHOd4kAT5QyGqIKuPiKh5ukQ79Z6yuTL-Mpj6mtBhDzeoQhI0EAPJt3fQZxah2T3uIny2gZ055pU/s1600/2016-08-20+11.46.20.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOJrw64PtdCe9K6buMuOoZcXfJ0lB-7c3-Gm80YIaYWZtxY7SMYfq29w-Fbk-eMxZcVHOd4kAT5QyGqIKuPiKh5ukQ79Z6yuTL-Mpj6mtBhDzeoQhI0EAPJt3fQZxah2T3uIny2gZ055pU/s400/2016-08-20+11.46.20.jpg" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dad wore Adalyn's hat. I don't really know why. I don't ask questions, I just take pictures.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjC0wNTHLC6W3ycVTY1UuVxHCOXRjeJdhCQUPRyQ1P0fSL7-XillabSL1wmM42XFzreIYGZ14tON-ixg2Ngv0f1_6kgNzYUnq_yudkbMum7eKoelF9bCS57HcUSezKrUsDwKEpkoD0984WB/s1600/2016-08-20+11.51.44.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjC0wNTHLC6W3ycVTY1UuVxHCOXRjeJdhCQUPRyQ1P0fSL7-XillabSL1wmM42XFzreIYGZ14tON-ixg2Ngv0f1_6kgNzYUnq_yudkbMum7eKoelF9bCS57HcUSezKrUsDwKEpkoD0984WB/s400/2016-08-20+11.51.44.png" width="223" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I really wanted to get a picture of a pokemon under water. There were no pokemon at the lake. But at least that gym back there is blue because it has my vaporeon in it.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-ZnH1IriLzroe8AU8qbKumWyJFBSfjOkCxXmdmEL6lAfiMWCG-rXXzZyIBs6hkYbaI-uW4rkG_wRtcHzJyJ8F2pg36VGkkg1LiJ3oC7X9jztymuFndL_LyFDjdT31c7z4ixgP5AydxSFc/s1600/2016-08-20+11.56.19.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-ZnH1IriLzroe8AU8qbKumWyJFBSfjOkCxXmdmEL6lAfiMWCG-rXXzZyIBs6hkYbaI-uW4rkG_wRtcHzJyJ8F2pg36VGkkg1LiJ3oC7X9jztymuFndL_LyFDjdT31c7z4ixgP5AydxSFc/s400/2016-08-20+11.56.19.jpg" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mellen and Adalyn hogged all of the preciousness.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXDIHGxm9zLRt12grKDRJseylnXfD8RQ8WlcjeRBDcJbPMXx2kf9XGslPXsRBSBZ8Hya0hTX3co9ZGGOUTB5XlFnhtRorjSOA_-OahgFTKPUQ2ge6uYBOG_-VzkYS1rT7fL0JROV0Rw2ur/s1600/2016-08-20+12.21.19-2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXDIHGxm9zLRt12grKDRJseylnXfD8RQ8WlcjeRBDcJbPMXx2kf9XGslPXsRBSBZ8Hya0hTX3co9ZGGOUTB5XlFnhtRorjSOA_-OahgFTKPUQ2ge6uYBOG_-VzkYS1rT7fL0JROV0Rw2ur/s400/2016-08-20+12.21.19-2.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Adalyn and I ate our hats to show family unity.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaUBQlXS0zUqodO9a53l9C_apHPrtQDscco9dX4yunXtXmcCF1z4XULC5QeDkf46I0eYLhOcuTHqnUN7CV8f289Ko-kR6uL80deQwql1K-LaUEI_3y8fMqBjTMt3CILyhFEahi6MxpcaTG/s1600/2016-08-20+11.59.32.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaUBQlXS0zUqodO9a53l9C_apHPrtQDscco9dX4yunXtXmcCF1z4XULC5QeDkf46I0eYLhOcuTHqnUN7CV8f289Ko-kR6uL80deQwql1K-LaUEI_3y8fMqBjTMt3CILyhFEahi6MxpcaTG/s400/2016-08-20+11.59.32.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mom and dad were just eating up the opportunity to be grandparents at the beach.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsc06_rvcwxdIiIIKmo4eHwV5Am6p5iCeJTv4U-LEEHerBA4_gK6E1Yd_rV9zbQrRoTvOlSkP4UjBRFsQ5ed_mCjvv674sTIyLDZGAirq3YBpRtD2SLaxcz61ylcLfGT1quIt63cd2DS32/s1600/2016-08-20+15.59.13.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsc06_rvcwxdIiIIKmo4eHwV5Am6p5iCeJTv4U-LEEHerBA4_gK6E1Yd_rV9zbQrRoTvOlSkP4UjBRFsQ5ed_mCjvv674sTIyLDZGAirq3YBpRtD2SLaxcz61ylcLfGT1quIt63cd2DS32/s400/2016-08-20+15.59.13.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Meanwhile, Robyn was the only one who could compete with Adalyn in cuteness.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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It was a fun weekend. We headed home after a fun Saturday and got to sleep in our own bed. All in all, the trip was a success.Jeffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10357398682419756851noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3975311211849239826.post-9203973722320506952016-08-02T17:02:00.001-06:002016-08-02T17:02:26.340-06:002016/1941 Hugo Votes<span style="color: #212121;"><span style="font-size: 13.3333px;">This year the Hugo committee decided to do another Retro Hugo Award. The year they are retroactively awarding is 75 years ago in 1941. Unfortunately, I was not a very good reader this year. Normally, I would try to vote in every category for both 1941 and 2016. But I didn't do all the homework. So here are all the categories that I voted in. There were some very good works this year.</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #212121;"><span style="font-size: 13.3333px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="color: #212121;"><span style="font-size: 13.3333px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="color: #212121;"><span style="font-size: 13.3333px;"><b>1941 Best Novel</b></span></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5SzqQsL0x3tvJ4bqbILJw2yFiLiEVyDXyQQXoZKJj6fbtQL9WX0CXvaFWDN0eDElOmMr4i1j-dA_pWNbPK-A1XsHYIsy7RqDqHEhZwewYv2m26ucpaDNAsFNiKvo_YOlVfgU9Wm5DCuw/s1600/astounding-slan.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5SzqQsL0x3tvJ4bqbILJw2yFiLiEVyDXyQQXoZKJj6fbtQL9WX0CXvaFWDN0eDElOmMr4i1j-dA_pWNbPK-A1XsHYIsy7RqDqHEhZwewYv2m26ucpaDNAsFNiKvo_YOlVfgU9Wm5DCuw/s1600/astounding-slan.jpg" /></a></div>
<span style="color: #212121;"><span style="font-size: 13.3333px;"><b><br /></b></span></span>
<span style="color: #212121;"><span style="font-size: 13.3333px;">Slan was a lot of fun. A little bit dated, but it was basically X-Men. How could I not love it?</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #212121;"><span style="font-size: 13.3333px;">1 Slan by A.E. Van Vogt (Astounding Science-Fiction, Dec 1940)</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #212121;"><span style="font-size: 13.3333px;">2 Kallocain by Karin Boye (Bonnier)</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #212121;"><span style="font-size: 13.3333px;">3 Gray Lensman by E.E. "Doc" Smith (Astounding Science-Fiction, Jan 1940)</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #212121;"><span style="font-size: 13.3333px;">4 The Ill-Made Knight by T.H. White (Collins)</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #212121;"><span style="font-size: 13.3333px;">5 The Reign of Wizardry by Jack Williamson (Unknown, Mar 1940)</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #212121;"><span style="font-size: 13.3333px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="color: #212121;"><span style="font-size: 13.3333px;"><b>1941 Best Novelette</b></span></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjazaftg4uzzJNgtdZBfVZXbm8S7yJ0oNoFiSOVhqGA7oMatrp5n0_r5sxqwtJrl90fBJ8SnHp9G4IKBIIfm5LDNWPtHSCTHYPMsnl9QCk0AgwJFmrYqkX82rmCbmjNt3H2bHLJoCqKT-Y/s1600/The_Roads_Must_roll.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjazaftg4uzzJNgtdZBfVZXbm8S7yJ0oNoFiSOVhqGA7oMatrp5n0_r5sxqwtJrl90fBJ8SnHp9G4IKBIIfm5LDNWPtHSCTHYPMsnl9QCk0AgwJFmrYqkX82rmCbmjNt3H2bHLJoCqKT-Y/s1600/The_Roads_Must_roll.jpg" /></a></div>
<span style="color: #212121;"><span style="font-size: 13.3333px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="color: #212121;"><span style="font-size: 13.3333px;">Does my bias for Heinlein show? Probably. This was a really fun story about a neat technology. I agree. The roads must roll.</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #212121;"><span style="font-size: 13.3333px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="color: #212121;"><span style="font-size: 13.3333px;">1 The Roads Must Roll by Robert A. Heinlein (Astounding Science-Fiction, June 1940)</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #212121;"><span style="font-size: 13.3333px;">2 Blowups Happen by Robert A. Heinlein (Astounding Science-Fiction, Sept 1940)</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #212121;"><span style="font-size: 13.3333px;">3 Vault of the Beast by A.E. Van Vogt (Astounding Science-Fiction, August 1940)</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #212121;"><span style="font-size: 13.3333px;">4 It! by Theodore Sturgeon (Unknown, Aug 1940)</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #212121;"><span style="font-size: 13.3333px;">5 Farewell to the Master by Harry Bates (Astounding Science-Fiction, Oct 1940)</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #212121;"><span style="font-size: 13.3333px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="color: #212121;"><span style="font-size: 13.3333px;"><b>1941 Best Short Story</b></span></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7C9TiThx6s3JyMKEnYdiyR7r_4tz7JP3MyAMc3q4OCGVLNf2GMhYSqH8eyccs_juI18odBEMLc5n8C8nyehelpeHH9bYfL1i-VUjKkwcqa5ms83ABKSDug1Hojvl2AG6zVhR7JZMUUjw/s1600/super_science_stories_194009.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7C9TiThx6s3JyMKEnYdiyR7r_4tz7JP3MyAMc3q4OCGVLNf2GMhYSqH8eyccs_juI18odBEMLc5n8C8nyehelpeHH9bYfL1i-VUjKkwcqa5ms83ABKSDug1Hojvl2AG6zVhR7JZMUUjw/s400/super_science_stories_194009.jpg" width="285" /></a></div>
<span style="color: #212121;"><span style="font-size: 13.3333px;"><b><br /></b></span></span>
<span style="color: #212121;"><span style="font-size: 13.3333px;">My bias for Asimov is even greater than my bias for Heinlein. But Robbie is his first robot story. That's some serious history. </span></span><br />
<span style="color: #212121;"><span style="font-size: 13.3333px;"><b><br /></b></span></span>
<span style="color: #212121;"><span style="font-size: 13.3333px;">1 Robbie by Isaac Asimov (Super Science Stories, Sept 1940)</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #212121;"><span style="font-size: 13.3333px;">2 Requiem by Robert A. Heinlein (Astounding Science-Fiction, Jan 1940)</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #212121;"><span style="font-size: 13.3333px;">3 Martian Quest by Leigh Brackett (Astounding Science-Fiction, Feb 1940)</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #212121;"><span style="font-size: 13.3333px;">4 The Stellar Legion by Leigh Brackett (Planet Stories, Winter 1940)</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #212121;"><span style="font-size: 13.3333px;">5 Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius by Jorge Luis Borges (Sur, 1940)</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #212121;"><span style="font-size: 13.3333px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="color: #212121;"><span style="font-size: 13.3333px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="color: #212121;"><span style="font-size: 13.3333px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="color: #212121;"><span style="font-size: 13.3333px;"><b>2016 Novelette</b></span></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6JnJ8coHztlWJCcmCk6i6rWAejJ8tDGcGojCwjCdCxpzblyqCO3b584JuCu9Tvxn1mFbHJJq0BNNDd0N0RWZe3dCcwySvo3PJM7a2zpPQserbd2D18QkBqb64P8A4oq1MQ_KtKr2tEi0/s1600/gallery-1446825901-bazzar.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6JnJ8coHztlWJCcmCk6i6rWAejJ8tDGcGojCwjCdCxpzblyqCO3b584JuCu9Tvxn1mFbHJJq0BNNDd0N0RWZe3dCcwySvo3PJM7a2zpPQserbd2D18QkBqb64P8A4oq1MQ_KtKr2tEi0/s400/gallery-1446825901-bazzar.jpg" width="265" /></a></div>
<span style="color: #212121;"><span style="font-size: 13.3333px;">This was a hard one. But I really liked Stephen King's story. It was pretty unique, and a bit frightening.</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #212121;"><span style="font-size: 13.3333px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="color: #212121;"><span style="font-size: 13.3333px;">1 Obits by Stephen King (The Bazaar of Bad Dreams, Scribner)</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #212121;"><span style="font-size: 13.3333px;">2 Folding Beijing by Hao Jingfang, trans. Ken Liu (Uncanny Magazine, Jan-Feb 2015)</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #212121;"><span style="font-size: 13.3333px;">3 Flashpoint: Titan by CHEAH Kai Wai (There Will Be War Volume X, Castalia House)</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #212121;"><span style="font-size: 13.3333px;">4 What Price Humanity? by David VanDyke (There Will Be War Volume X, Castalia House)</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #212121;"><span style="font-size: 13.3333px;">5 And You Shall Know Her by the Trail of Dead by Brooke Bolander (Lightspeed, Feb 2015)</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #212121;"><span style="font-size: 13.3333px;"><br /></span></span>
<b><span style="color: #212121;"><span style="font-size: 13.3333px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="color: #212121;"><span style="font-size: 13.3333px;">2016 Short Story</span></span></b><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpPhquCnPOm6xspNZ6VCUW5P51dJzBypCm631zlWiooP0GYBnYMLxjR-QtmTHMjSYXMKbobzKanjGMtuEFNMVmHUobsHvG-ck9NYa5eXgRy-4r2NIPqSRlnk2oTuhqfZ4RcIvjuWY95Nc/s1600/clarkesworld-january-2015.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpPhquCnPOm6xspNZ6VCUW5P51dJzBypCm631zlWiooP0GYBnYMLxjR-QtmTHMjSYXMKbobzKanjGMtuEFNMVmHUobsHvG-ck9NYa5eXgRy-4r2NIPqSRlnk2oTuhqfZ4RcIvjuWY95Nc/s400/clarkesworld-january-2015.jpg" width="258" /></a></div>
<b><span style="color: #212121;"><span style="font-size: 13.3333px;"><br /></span></span></b>
<span style="color: #212121;"><span style="font-size: 13.3333px;">I really liked this story. Stories about artificial intelligence are always a lot of fun.</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #212121;"><span style="font-size: 13.3333px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="color: #212121;"><span style="font-size: 13.3333px;">1 Cat Pictures Please by Naomi Kritzer ( Clarkesworld, January 2015)</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #212121;"><span style="font-size: 13.3333px;">2 Seven Kill Tiger by Charles Shao (There Will Be War Volume X, Castalia House)</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #212121;"><span style="font-size: 13.3333px;">3 Asymmetrical Warfare by S. R. Algernon (Nature, Mar 2015)</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #212121;"><span style="font-size: 13.3333px;">4 No Award</span></span><br />
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Jeffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10357398682419756851noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3975311211849239826.post-35245722490612320432016-07-14T15:14:00.001-06:002016-07-14T15:14:48.551-06:00Helicopter over KauaiAnother fun adventure that we had on Kauai was riding the helicopter. Remember that time we <a href="http://odoyle42.blogspot.com/2014/08/escaping-havasupai.html">rode a helicopter to get out of Havasupai</a>? This was way, way better than that.<br />
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That ride lasted about 6 minutes. This one lasted about an hour. That was to get us to our destination as fast as possible. This was to enjoy the ride and the scenery.<br />
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When we got there, they had a little briefing on how to use the life jackets and everything. It was kind of like every time you get on a plane, only they did it before we boarded. They also explained to us that the rotors are way above our heads and we didn't need to duck down. But when it came time to get on the helicopter, there was still a little 5 foot tall lady who was bending way down so that her head wouldn't get chopped off. It was funny to watch her stooping way low, when the rotors were a good ten feet above her head.<br />
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Robyn and I paid extra to get the good seats next to the pilot. That was soooo worth it. They loaded everyone else into the back, and then it was our turn to get up front. I was next to the window, so I got in last.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEih0Kd6Ba4XbdffhMPsmaoUVndz3S6HLxME-9WObhd7_RI5koL9cY0bxqz4lav4h78vcIGjv-g-hQjA43idsKfy74UZrNVuh0zt62Tr5OjjhN43q5hXSoZj3z_fqpvUdosEmKZyksc68Ak/s1600/2016-06-28+08.02.51.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEih0Kd6Ba4XbdffhMPsmaoUVndz3S6HLxME-9WObhd7_RI5koL9cY0bxqz4lav4h78vcIGjv-g-hQjA43idsKfy74UZrNVuh0zt62Tr5OjjhN43q5hXSoZj3z_fqpvUdosEmKZyksc68Ak/s400/2016-06-28+08.02.51.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Robyn putting her headgear on.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6g0mS_9hxmRxG8JfK3fSCrrw19LPzoK-cF1vHGUQom0_NVzn0VgL3sWJD8KIqo3dXtcyJodlaQY3EPXHYj5E0n4a3Db3u7eA8EANX9Z3clBLV3x8uoDcbUOg5-sGHrEotJggoipWxG4M/s1600/2016-06-28+08.04.40.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6g0mS_9hxmRxG8JfK3fSCrrw19LPzoK-cF1vHGUQom0_NVzn0VgL3sWJD8KIqo3dXtcyJodlaQY3EPXHYj5E0n4a3Db3u7eA8EANX9Z3clBLV3x8uoDcbUOg5-sGHrEotJggoipWxG4M/s400/2016-06-28+08.04.40.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cutie Robyn and the pilot, Trevor.</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi20l15AYe8pssbNnwacTuAiqYin9ZVMky_xsRYa3a-9qbcXKGvtO66VNCU9cT24JLm4wMRm8hgDgZKTgLkh-yR-4_4vyrEvbH0ZYKjLoMMLBj8IL4y9Sz7c4iD1qKCVoINLHk_hpRu12M/s1600/2016-06-28+08.04.52.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi20l15AYe8pssbNnwacTuAiqYin9ZVMky_xsRYa3a-9qbcXKGvtO66VNCU9cT24JLm4wMRm8hgDgZKTgLkh-yR-4_4vyrEvbH0ZYKjLoMMLBj8IL4y9Sz7c4iD1qKCVoINLHk_hpRu12M/s400/2016-06-28+08.04.52.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Me.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhl2tiGZrUdg-UNEXNSUPVDHvTtTUdun5JnkN-0bzIFymwkY6g-x00v4Kwhatw74OGsOASK-bvz0lNonlQ01BSbkx7VxniEgCBnGKfnvzv1pUjxxOqTdrqyWl3SlVwnHMm1-_08aYXEcrA/s1600/2016-06-28+08.05.54.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhl2tiGZrUdg-UNEXNSUPVDHvTtTUdun5JnkN-0bzIFymwkY6g-x00v4Kwhatw74OGsOASK-bvz0lNonlQ01BSbkx7VxniEgCBnGKfnvzv1pUjxxOqTdrqyWl3SlVwnHMm1-_08aYXEcrA/s400/2016-06-28+08.05.54.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Our shadow on the fields.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQswtRHuwwIJh7ezII3OALcLxsAGShyfaBS0lFgeNhJJnz1yqZqGZodaf5QVttLsSgnoqj18ijgAN1SnRw5M549vTV-mOR0Dnm14YWJiFanEX5mwpYU0bjgX8nmLfkWhVYGrhlMnkdjCc/s1600/2016-06-28+08.17.40.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQswtRHuwwIJh7ezII3OALcLxsAGShyfaBS0lFgeNhJJnz1yqZqGZodaf5QVttLsSgnoqj18ijgAN1SnRw5M549vTV-mOR0Dnm14YWJiFanEX5mwpYU0bjgX8nmLfkWhVYGrhlMnkdjCc/s400/2016-06-28+08.17.40.jpg" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Jurassic Falls</td></tr>
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The above waterfall is very important. That's actually the waterfall that they show in Jurassic Park when the helicopter comes in. The helicopter pad that is in the movie was destroyed by a storm like 10 years ago. But the important thing is that I actually flew over Jurassic Park.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2nZmrBLWZdnqt6Kt9ukK5KTysAXlUUe3Tl99djLX8nk0wXNJ_QQwCzlxk9gOJquwYXfv-Btc59r58nWy_88NX0TNNgtEseILw2K3cvfCvHoJ1zD5x_XP85R3GCF1xs3jyeJzZutzoOU0/s1600/2016-06-28+08.29.28.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2nZmrBLWZdnqt6Kt9ukK5KTysAXlUUe3Tl99djLX8nk0wXNJ_QQwCzlxk9gOJquwYXfv-Btc59r58nWy_88NX0TNNgtEseILw2K3cvfCvHoJ1zD5x_XP85R3GCF1xs3jyeJzZutzoOU0/s400/2016-06-28+08.29.28.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Na Pali coast</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjf-UN11roJlPSxsgKDPEetFM1YM_rXh56cL5ydTkqYyme_5AIFppiY7UvMcze7vIxM670i2FghdzlblclPfk88t6DEwQh6zamTuo-spkdqVZsmVM2XhG_s3XxMUjefwK999-uF0Xq1was/s1600/2016-06-28+08.30.15.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjf-UN11roJlPSxsgKDPEetFM1YM_rXh56cL5ydTkqYyme_5AIFppiY7UvMcze7vIxM670i2FghdzlblclPfk88t6DEwQh6zamTuo-spkdqVZsmVM2XhG_s3XxMUjefwK999-uF0Xq1was/s400/2016-06-28+08.30.15.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Na Pali Coast</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMGDDo9-AE2aX_mrCbm5AJdFw0Fr5uxX5rDCyao0PnPS5Ryk7OZ3zLMtcQmMMsC8gJ-kTHCZBnGKpWv-kouJ3rzbmLEBz7_V8etOFuBVdhltekcV244ZzxUwAGXiyxQb11MGy_kzM6Cxo/s1600/2016-06-28+08.31.01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMGDDo9-AE2aX_mrCbm5AJdFw0Fr5uxX5rDCyao0PnPS5Ryk7OZ3zLMtcQmMMsC8gJ-kTHCZBnGKpWv-kouJ3rzbmLEBz7_V8etOFuBVdhltekcV244ZzxUwAGXiyxQb11MGy_kzM6Cxo/s320/2016-06-28+08.31.01.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEil_lsQOhKkq-eto_uTRr4uD5Pubem3z5Sf4N3p7DoUiCR-BN0UPG86QRl3peuK_8F391__8Im_WBF4Yj_uvz8AYaCr2Aze1Hdn-LxV54Hh8hZNgNatg3HbMfEMiD0Duhh9DSm7y2gFv6U/s1600/2016-06-28+08.36.48.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEil_lsQOhKkq-eto_uTRr4uD5Pubem3z5Sf4N3p7DoUiCR-BN0UPG86QRl3peuK_8F391__8Im_WBF4Yj_uvz8AYaCr2Aze1Hdn-LxV54Hh8hZNgNatg3HbMfEMiD0Duhh9DSm7y2gFv6U/s400/2016-06-28+08.36.48.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Tunnels Beach (Where we went <a href="http://odoyle42.blogspot.com/2016/07/scuba-diving-kauai.html">scuba diving</a>)</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh71dL75N1gUG-IBgBvk-clPnWr5goY5M0Odd2epVq6yvkA6gN5RiFTpodcoMGIS6Ks9Pvjr0fG_RdYcydf-NKXx8-Ua8YUl5IfodCpTnYnshBnhmjHL9hbtOY7F9OqOqYrEIWmDC2ccq4/s1600/2016-06-28+08.12.01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh71dL75N1gUG-IBgBvk-clPnWr5goY5M0Odd2epVq6yvkA6gN5RiFTpodcoMGIS6Ks9Pvjr0fG_RdYcydf-NKXx8-Ua8YUl5IfodCpTnYnshBnhmjHL9hbtOY7F9OqOqYrEIWmDC2ccq4/s400/2016-06-28+08.12.01.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Flying into the volcano</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaX-Az_n49-ARWmzyxFPi-shV9ZtOhUmaInP49rDkrhtNnK0Zcow7bHZxSC1WQkl69klRcElZfE2owfTg8WXVR2rfHCHns2T5BhnRB9wAV-AtYbeEaEWYOH4mPKhyphenhyphengytkm_YJgSgz1h2k/s1600/2016-06-28+08.12.31.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaX-Az_n49-ARWmzyxFPi-shV9ZtOhUmaInP49rDkrhtNnK0Zcow7bHZxSC1WQkl69klRcElZfE2owfTg8WXVR2rfHCHns2T5BhnRB9wAV-AtYbeEaEWYOH4mPKhyphenhyphengytkm_YJgSgz1h2k/s400/2016-06-28+08.12.31.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Little waterfalls inside the volcano</td></tr>
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I know you think my caption on the above 2 pictures is a lie. Kauai is the oldest hawaiian island, which means its volcano has been extinct the longest. It's had 4 bajillion years (that's an exact number) for nature to take its toll. One side of the volcano has completely eroded away. That's the side we flew in to. Inside the volcano has been completely taken over by vegetation. The waterfalls aren't normally there, but it had rained the night before. (Trevor told us we were very lucky to get all the waterfalls, and yet have it be clear enough to have such good visibility.) <br />
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Overall, it was a great experience. There were a few spots when the helicopter would bank to one side or the other where my tummy was not too happy about it. I do tend to have problems with motion sickness. But it was no worse than flying in an airplane. (In fact, it was much better than flying in an airplane, because the chair I was sitting in was comfortable and the views were much better.)<br />
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When it was all over, I jumped out first and turned around just in time to snag a cute picture of Robyn.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjs9uzU1wjYPIvr2Rog5F7wCYRpeYtNtyRai41-KLJ65Phlr6275C8txMw8FznVBc-7d07U1TrWACEZmrlqqpbB6QFPG6jjUWkQG7HLUjUN15HhQwhp8Z7nD8lLo7m4dR-mfiSO-GWD32E/s1600/2016-06-28+08.50.21.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjs9uzU1wjYPIvr2Rog5F7wCYRpeYtNtyRai41-KLJ65Phlr6275C8txMw8FznVBc-7d07U1TrWACEZmrlqqpbB6QFPG6jjUWkQG7HLUjUN15HhQwhp8Z7nD8lLo7m4dR-mfiSO-GWD32E/s400/2016-06-28+08.50.21.jpg" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I call this masterpiece, "Disembarking Robyn"</td></tr>
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The moral of the story: Helicopter = Awesome.<br />
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<br />Jeffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10357398682419756851noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3975311211849239826.post-70925591289600884712016-07-13T16:16:00.000-06:002016-07-13T16:16:31.057-06:00Hiking KauaiThe majority of our time in Hawaii was spent in and around the ocean. However, Hawaii also has pretty fantastic mountains, so we had to do a bit of hiking.<br />
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Kauai has a massive canyon called Waimea Canyon. It is affectionately called the Grand Canyon of the Pacific.<br />
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Naturally, we couldn't go to Kauai without exploring some of that massive canyon.<br />
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The first thing we did was head to the Waimea Canyon overlook. This part didn't require any hiking. (Well, it was about a 30 foot climb from the parking lot to the overlook. I'll let you decide if that is hiking.)<br />
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But it had some great views of the canyon.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Selfies with a canyon are the best kind of selfies.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I had to do a panoramic shot, obviously.</td></tr>
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After the overlook we headed to the Canyon trail. This trail ends at a massive waterfall, but we were more about the overlooks and views of the canyon.<br />
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This hike was a little bit different than your normal hike. Usually, you're starting at the bottom of a mountain and climbing up. We were climbing down into the canyon, so we were hiking downward. As we got lower, we got more into a jungle setting.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Isn't she cute in the jungle?</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.8px;">It was raining on and off while we hiked. Robyn liked to stop and enjoy the rain on her face.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9dZTwAaIEVkT7fKAVrG2L8fkV9Smg_Py0oQn9_jAH6PVrbH8IxotYYI-n6YxQq61jri39Y2ZTDFOKvLjJCI1mekrF5Sv5jIueH2PaBnfjvyqTqsIRe5SY8JzJZbehCmzYhnQJv-gtM_E/s1600/2016-06-26+14.50.56.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9dZTwAaIEVkT7fKAVrG2L8fkV9Smg_Py0oQn9_jAH6PVrbH8IxotYYI-n6YxQq61jri39Y2ZTDFOKvLjJCI1mekrF5Sv5jIueH2PaBnfjvyqTqsIRe5SY8JzJZbehCmzYhnQJv-gtM_E/s400/2016-06-26+14.50.56.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">There were some ancient carvings made by the ancestors of Steve Jobs.</td></tr>
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The trail kept going down, and we were starting to get nervous about how difficult the climb back out would be. I think we were probably pretty close to the waterfall, but when we got to this view below, we decided that would be a good destination and turned around.<br />
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My watch said we did about 4 miles round trip, and we climbed around 1000 feet. That climb on the way back was plenty to get us good and tired.<br />
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Also on the way back we got to have a good discussion about parenting. There was a mom who was terrified of heights and was really struggling. She was doing her very best to convince their child that he should be terrified. The dad was getting cranky about it and making the whole situation worse. <br />
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We like to be hypothetical parents, because in hypothetical situations we handle everything perfectly. In this hypothetical situation, neither of us fed our children a phobia, and neither of us got cranky. It was great.<br />
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This excursion ended up being our only hiking on this trip. We had planned on hiking the Na Pali coast, but our legs were a little sore and on the day we had planned to hike, we just decided it would be more fun to spend the day at the beach. We didn't want to do it just to cross it off a list, so that just means we'll have to go back. Next time on Kauai: Hike the Na Pali Coast.<br />
<br />Jeffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10357398682419756851noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3975311211849239826.post-36756369691227305632016-07-07T22:10:00.002-06:002016-07-07T22:10:33.481-06:00Scuba Diving KauaiOne of my favorite adventures on Kauai was scuba diving. We decided to do our scuba dive at Tunnels Beach. It's famous for a a barrier reef with tunnels that go through it. That sounded fun and exciting, so how could I pass it up?<br />
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We had to be at Tunnels Beach at 8 AM on Wednesday. It turns out Tunnels Beach is really hard to find. There are no signs for it at all. There is a little road that goes to the beach, but it isn't marked, and it's not anywhere near where Google says the entrance to the beach is. We eventually pulled up to that little road and I walked down it. I found the people we were Scuba diving with, and they told us to park at Haena Beach which was a quarter mile down the road.<br />
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Robyn was stressing out (like she does) but we got there and got suited up without any problems. They gave us wetsuits and put all the gear on us. We got in the water and had to swim out to where we actually began the dive. It took us a a minute to get back into the groove of how to move with all the gear and everything. But once I was back in the water, everything went super smooth and it was great.<br />
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We saw some really cool things while diving. Here are a few of them.<br />
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Swimming underneath a turtle<br />
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A sleeping turtle
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Seeing an eel<br />
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Swimming through a tunnel
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We did a two tank dive, which means you do one dive and then come back and get another tank to go out for more. In between dives, they gave us snacks and our dive masters acted as sherpas, hauling the empty tanks from where we left them in the water and replacing them with full tanks, so that we could put them on in the water and not have to haul them down ourselves.<br />
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It turns out I breathe way more than Robyn. Near the end of our first dive, I told the dive master I was down to 200 PSI in my tank, so he told me to go to the surface. At that point, I took the regulator out of my mouth and put in the snorkel. I snorkeled directly above Robyn. She didn't see me go up, so she continued to follow the group. She said she was a little concerned that she couldn't find me, but she trusted that the dive master was taking care of me. She didn't realize that I was snorkeling directly above her. I just continued to follow her until she was ready to surface. I never lost sight of my dive buddy, even if she didn't know where I was.<br />
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All in all, it was super fun. It was a little more work than a boat dive, because we had to swim out from the shore, but it was still really cool. We had planned to snorkel at Tunnels Beach after our dive was over, but we were much more tired than we had anticipated, and we realized we wouldn't see anything snorkeling that we hadn't already seen diving. <br />
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So instead of snorkeling after diving, we went back to the condo and took a nap. <br />
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Naps are a great part of Hawaii too.Jeffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10357398682419756851noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3975311211849239826.post-88671320589270849752016-07-06T20:48:00.002-06:002016-07-06T20:48:58.870-06:00Getting to KauaiWell, we're home from our trip to the beautiful Hawaiian island of Kauai. That means it's time to share all of my experiences. I'll get to the good stuff in a future post, but first I thought I'd share the difficult time we had in getting there. (Don't be confused. I'm not asking for pity. This story still ends with me in Hawaii. Nothing that ends in Hawaii is bad.)<br />
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The day started much too early. I set my alarm for 3 AM. (I set my alarm. That's generally against everything I believe in.)<br />
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I randomly woke up at 2:45, and wondered whether I should just get up. The next thing I remember my alarm went off, so I guess that was my decision. <br />
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We had planned to leave at 3:30, but we got off a little late at 3:40. That was fine, though. We still had plenty of time to grab breakfast and get to our flight. Especially since our flight was delayed a good 30 minutes. The reason for the delay? They said they were changing a light bulb in the lavatory. I'm no handy man, but I could have changed that light bulb in under 30 minutes. I mean, I get that it takes a few minutes sometimes. If it's anything like my house, you have to find a chair to stand on, and then climb up on the chair, and then realize you shouldn't have picked a chair with wheels, and then you find a different chair. That whole process can take a good 5 minutes, but 30 is definitely pushing it.<br />
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Anyway, we finally got on the plane and got in the air. Our first layover was in Seattle. I'm not sure how much closer that is to Hawaii, because for every mile you go west, you go north almost just as much. Our plane landed, and we only had about 20 minutes until they started boarding. We had to go from the A gates to the S gates. Robyn was super stressed out because we had to take a train to get there. I thought a train sounded perfect, because it dropped us off where we needed to be. I think she was imagining it being like taking a train from Lehi to Salt Lake. <br />
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She kept saying, "We'll never make it. We have to get on a TRAIN!"<br />
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The train got us there in just a couple minutes, so we had time to spare while we sat and waited to board. They got us on the plane, and then we sat on the plane for about an hour. There's nothing like rushing to get somewhere only to just sit forever.<br />
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After about an hour of sitting on the plane, they announced that they couldn't find our pilot so we were all going to deplane. The words they used were, "We don't know where the pilot is." I find myself wondering, how do you lose a pilot? I mean, they didn't say, "Our pilot called in sick" or "Our pilot was in a car accident on the way in." They said they don't know where he is. <br />
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So we had to get off the plane and wait for them to find a pilot.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">They gave me free chips to eat while we waited for a pilot. So there's that.</td></tr>
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Eventually, they found a different pilot and let us get back on the plane. He came over the intercom and let us know that he wasn't the one who didn't show up for work. They got him out of bed on his day off to fly us to Hawaii.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGh3D9JVMlAK8TZm1CvHqA-lvvvSOwjk79aeZDU9GSRPHWxHpqIW3leQ6fUjp7vU_ORt4qmmuaTD8D32_obNWstq0taLRFL_-8JqzSEkSOs18SFXCO63l9aZqFe62PLwslArMB73pvJ_A/s1600/2016-06-25+08.26.39.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGh3D9JVMlAK8TZm1CvHqA-lvvvSOwjk79aeZDU9GSRPHWxHpqIW3leQ6fUjp7vU_ORt4qmmuaTD8D32_obNWstq0taLRFL_-8JqzSEkSOs18SFXCO63l9aZqFe62PLwslArMB73pvJ_A/s400/2016-06-25+08.26.39.jpg" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">When we got back on the plane I had to take a selfie with some of my plane mates. These are the people that will form our society when we crash on an island in the middle of the ocean.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
By the time we arrived in Honolulu, they were already boarding our connection to Kauai. We were supposed to have a 3 hour layover. It was going to be great. We would grab a bite to eat and wander around the airport. (It's a beautiful airport.)<br />
<br />
We had to take a shuttle across the airport to find our gate. We also had to get our boarding pass printed, because this flight was with Hawaiian Airlines, and Delta didn't give us a boarding pass when I printed the others. No one was working at any of the service desks, so we went and asked the ladies at the gate. They eventually got them printed, but their computer apparently had no idea who we were. They asked questions like, "Do you have any infants with you?" Or "Where did you fly in from?"<br />
<br />
But we got it printed and got on the plane. We sat down with me on the aisle seat and Robyn in the middle. There was no one in the window seat. The plane seemed to be completely boarded. Maybe we would get lucky and have some space to spread out.<br />
<br />
No. There would be no luck today. I saw a giant man walking down the aisle. I looked around and realized there were no other seats. He came to our row and pointed to the window seat. Robyn and I got to snuggle real close to make room for the giant in the window seat.<br />
<br />
But, hey, it was our last flight of the day. Only 40 minutes to Kauai and then all of our travelling troubles would be over.<br />
<br />
Not so. <br />
<br />
Our plane landed on Kauai. We got off the plane and could finally relax knowing we arrived safely and nothing else could go wrong in getting us to our destination.<br />
<br />
We went to pick up our bags at the baggage claim, and they weren't there. What?<br />
<br />
It turns out that our short layover where we rushed to the plane was too short for our luggage to make it. We went to talk to the baggage claim guru, and she said it was very likely that it would be on the next flight in, that came an hour later. There was a nice family who had also been on the Seattle flight and they had the same problem. It gave me a little comfort to know that they were in the same boat. To me that meant it really was an issue of not making the flight, and not an issue of the luggage being lost.<br />
<br />
We went and picked up our rental car. I thought we would be back in 20 minutes or so and have to wait a long time to see if our luggage was there. Luckily, it was the least efficient rental car facility I've ever seen. It took about 90 minutes to get our car. By that time, we drove back to the terminal and our bags were there waiting for us. The baggage claim guru that we spoke to had gathered them all together, so I just had to thank her and roll them out to the car. We were on our way.<br />
<br />
We grabbed some dinner and drove to our condo. It took about 40 minutes to get to the north shore. The first thing I did after bringing everything in was plop on the couch and just look out the window.<br />
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The ocean view was beautiful, and I stayed awake just long enough to see the sunset. Then it was time for sleep because I was more tired than you can possibly imagine.<br />
<br />
It was a rough day but it ended in Hawaii, so it was great.<br />
<br />
Stay tuned and I'll share some of the adventures we had while we were there.Jeffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10357398682419756851noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3975311211849239826.post-69836603065467232832016-06-12T17:10:00.001-06:002016-06-12T17:10:41.463-06:00Geeking out about Marvel's Civil WarIt's been a few weeks since Captain America: Civil War hit theaters. I purposefully waited a little while before writing about it. I figure it's been long enough that if you're worried about spoilers you've already seen it. This post will actually have more spoilers for the comic book than the movie, but be warned that if you are worried about spoilers for either medium then you should close your browser now.<br />
<br />
Okay, I warned you.<br />
<br />
So I probably need to write a couple more paragraphs before diving in, just in case anyone is super concerned about spoilers. In those couple paragraphs I'll explain what this post is and what it isn't.<br />
<br />
This post isn't a review of the movie. I loved it. That's my review. <br />
<br />
Now there are things that I really would have loved to see in the movie that weren't there. But that doesn't change the fact that I loved it. The comic book storyline consisted of over 100 comic books with dozens of characters with different motivations, different backstories and allegiances. It makes for a very complex and interesting story but there just isn't time to introduce all of those characters and cover all of their different nuances, so I liked the movie for what it was. It's a different medium and it executed the story beautifully in my opinion. <br />
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That being said, I wanted to compare and contrast the movie with the comics. Of course, as I mentioned above, there are lots of things I would have liked to see in the movie. But there are actually some things I was glad I didn't see. Let's start with those first.<br />
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(By the way, if you'd like to take a closer look at any of these comic panels, just click on the image to enlarge.)<br />
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<b>Things I was glad weren't in the Captain America: Civil War movie</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>The Initiative</b><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqmV5Ic0Br05XMeKgLt8O0TZU9gVXpz9uB2VfIrU1Z5rO9WzEAGk-8PoL8SkxI41l5H5ZINnOTSg2QFdK3n-pWQWOzr9-xM81Xa_GFbUh1rZgjsLnW3DVdvZJejhcAscnqKjzWeV4H6go/s1600/iron-man-initiative.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="173" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqmV5Ic0Br05XMeKgLt8O0TZU9gVXpz9uB2VfIrU1Z5rO9WzEAGk-8PoL8SkxI41l5H5ZINnOTSg2QFdK3n-pWQWOzr9-xM81Xa_GFbUh1rZgjsLnW3DVdvZJejhcAscnqKjzWeV4H6go/s400/iron-man-initiative.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
The Initiative was Iron Man's plan moving forward after he won the Civil War. The Superhero Registration Act has passed and now he continues to hunt down heroes that have not registered. It also includes superheroes who do register being forced to be trained as superheroes and ending up fighting Hydra and other villains. It amounts to forced military service, and it depicts teenagers being killed because they followed the law and did what they were supposed to. (And ended up being killed in the line of duty.)<br />
<br />
Iron Man did some awful things during the Civil War, but in my opinion The Initiative was actually worse. I like that movie Iron Man never did anything I couldn't forgive. Comic Book Iron Man was essentially the villain of the story. I'm glad movie Iron Man was still a hero, even if he was a little misguided.<br />
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<b>The Unmasking of Spiderman</b><br />
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In the comics, Iron Man manipulates Peter Parker into joining his side. He then asks him to unmask before the press, which has all sorts of terrible consequences and makes Spiderman one of the worst victims of the Civil War. This is one of the many things that make me hate Iron Man. (You'll notice a theme to all the things I'm glad weren't shown. They basically all make Iron Man awful.)<br />
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<b>The Death of Aunt May</b><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjygCHjuWE49EjuDGO2Y-5uImcGKwRQcFghSaXI9M0XTz4CAxvxAxBFaKmI8YX7uZYoFm3rR60oH8PdC9_LYjRKzAa4MbhG10_u15lj_QgvFyADdMRO5Kq7RPb5deWLcsObPfWk01P7a0Y/s1600/aunt-may-dead.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjygCHjuWE49EjuDGO2Y-5uImcGKwRQcFghSaXI9M0XTz4CAxvxAxBFaKmI8YX7uZYoFm3rR60oH8PdC9_LYjRKzAa4MbhG10_u15lj_QgvFyADdMRO5Kq7RPb5deWLcsObPfWk01P7a0Y/s400/aunt-may-dead.jpg" width="261" /></a></div>
One of the repercussions of Spiderman's unmasking is that Kingpin comes after him and his family. He's able to protect Mary Jane but Aunt May gets shot. There's some really cool stuff where he injects her with his radioactive blood in an attempt to save her, but it doesn't work and Aunt May dies. <br />
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<b>The Death of Captain America</b><br />
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After the Civil War is over and Captain America surrenders, they take him into custody and put inhibitors on him that eliminate his super human abilities. While in that weakened state (that stupid fat Iron Man put him in) Crossbones shoots him and he ends up dying. <br />
<br />
After that the Winter Soldier dons the shield and becomes the new Captain America. The first thing he does is hunts down and tries to kill Iron Man. <br />
<br />
I honestly thought this was going to happen in the movie. I knew they had cast Crossbones, and Cap's death is his entire role in the comics. I also had seen trailers and the scene where Bucky and Tony are fighting hand to hand and Bucky tries to shoot him just totally seemed like it should come as a result of Cap's death. (It turns out that he was under Hydra control in that scene. I probably should have anticipated that.)<br />
<br />
After the movie got over, Robyn asked me how I liked it, and I said with much relief, "I'm just so glad Cap is still alive."<br />
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Because of the things above, I actually think I liked the movie better than the Comic Book. I rarely like the movie better than the source material, so this is a big deal. Despite that, there were a few things I really loved from the comics that I would have liked to see. Here are a few of them:<br />
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<b><br /></b>
<b>Things I wished were in the Captain America: Civil War movie</b><br />
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<b>Cap's speech</b><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9XWUmJCyvwvzPTHjh49-hos_30u2xCjEmRXzWddEexJPaUapvkhFciyzymRjO0WA6CIjbnxkvzmdbkcyROwfiq1pspjTz3j_kpMlyvrlAl4QGWLMJ8xeGyo1dZdu54cjs9hnVVwWj3iw/s1600/captain-america-speech.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9XWUmJCyvwvzPTHjh49-hos_30u2xCjEmRXzWddEexJPaUapvkhFciyzymRjO0WA6CIjbnxkvzmdbkcyROwfiq1pspjTz3j_kpMlyvrlAl4QGWLMJ8xeGyo1dZdu54cjs9hnVVwWj3iw/s400/captain-america-speech.jpg" width="397" /></a></div>
This speech was one of those iconic moments that you just want to experience over and over. Spiderman has just seen the prison where superheroes are being kept who refuse to register. He realizes that a life sentence without a trial is a pretty terrible violation of human rights. He seeks an audience with Captain America because he starts to feel he's on the wrong side. Their discussion results in this epic speech. The movie gave a small piece of this speech to Sharon Carter (who was quoting her aunt Peggy) and I appreciated the nod to the comic, but it would have been cool to see the speech in its entirety.<br />
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<b>Spiderman switching sides</b><br />
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The panel above is basically right after the speech. Spiderman is on the good team now. His story arc was so interesting. Spiderman is in many ways the point of view character through whom the reader gets to experience the civil war. We get to see him struggle with the ethical dilemmas posed by both sides. I totally get that his full story arc is much too complex for a 2 hour movie, but I would have loved to see it.<br />
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<b>Black Panther vs War Machine</b><br />
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I know they were on the same team in the movie. They weren't supposed to be. This battle is epic for so many reasons. War Machine is not in his normal suit for this battle. He's actually piloting a sentinel. When the sentinel attacks Black Panther he takes it down, which is super cool. But what's even more cool is that when the crowd sees Jim Rhodes inside the sentinel, they start mobbing and trying to attack, which causes Black Panther to stand and defend Rhodey until Iron Man arrives to protect his friend. It showed how much integrity the Black Panther had. He fought those who were aggressive against him but still fought to preserve the lives of his enemies. Sooo cool.<br />
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<br />
<b>Iron Spider</b><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZHai_TsTW7VBNjGyelRkwZDrpxaXDbY8C5UICJ6_pCT7tquO1MW0PlANo4qRL4lp3MnSHAF0B_Dr5sWlEHeQjofmnKBdXj7El-RIBrXkePZk_0Rj-qA6pBMvkL6fKh_dbLi68idcl2x4/s1600/iron-spider-suit.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="260" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZHai_TsTW7VBNjGyelRkwZDrpxaXDbY8C5UICJ6_pCT7tquO1MW0PlANo4qRL4lp3MnSHAF0B_Dr5sWlEHeQjofmnKBdXj7El-RIBrXkePZk_0Rj-qA6pBMvkL6fKh_dbLi68idcl2x4/s400/iron-spider-suit.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
When Spiderman joins Iron Man's team, he gets an upgrade. Iron Man makes him a new suit with lots of sweet upgrades. He has super cool spider legs and he can even fly. Of course, unbeknownst to him, the suit is also running all sorts of biological tests on him so that when Spiderman ultimately changes sides Iron Man has intel on him and is able to mess with his spidey sense. The whole story with this suit was just cool.<br />
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<b>Storm vs Thor</b><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4Gvtf5sNhEEDvhYfbMPuU3Rk8EyfnFnle4fAhBJCE5Tmh0fJ5JT4aUpM5yv3hSQFC-FTJp6uI8Z4yiZY_1cx4oovGHHrVLAhwH6jyDojbtG0u3dL9XiUnvtImVemVCqT49bk2eJ5LH20/s1600/storm.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4Gvtf5sNhEEDvhYfbMPuU3Rk8EyfnFnle4fAhBJCE5Tmh0fJ5JT4aUpM5yv3hSQFC-FTJp6uI8Z4yiZY_1cx4oovGHHrVLAhwH6jyDojbtG0u3dL9XiUnvtImVemVCqT49bk2eJ5LH20/s320/storm.jpg" width="306" /></a></div>
Storm is one of the coolest X-Men and probably the coolest female superhero. I know that Disney doesn't own the rights to her character, but when she and Thor go at it, it's pretty dang awesome that she can tangle directly with a god.<br />
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<br />
<b>Spiderman dominating Kingpin</b><br />
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Kingpin is one of my favorite Marvel villains. Spiderman comes after him as revenge for what he did to Aunt May. I'm glad Aunt May wasn't harmed in the movie, but that doesn't take away from the fact that this was one of Spiderman's coolest moments.<br />
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<br />
So there you have it. That's everything I wished for and everything I was relieved not to see. Was there anything from the comics you wished to see? Was there anything you were glad wasn't there?<br />
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Jeffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10357398682419756851noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3975311211849239826.post-89670264710757032482016-05-31T16:58:00.000-06:002016-05-31T16:58:36.106-06:00Birthday Trip 2016So I told Robyn that this year I wanted a trip for my birthday. However, one of the funnest things about a trip is actually planning it. So I also told her I wanted to plan my trip. <br />
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The trip began on my birthday, and I told her that my birthday was up to her to plan. She did an excellent job. She told me to get off at 3, and she bought us tickets to see the new X-Men movie. So I got to hang out with my friends Jean, Cyclops, Wolverine, Mystique, and Professor X. It was a fantastic way to kick off the trip. That evening was spent in a hotel in Salt Lake to give us a head start in our travels.<br />
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For my trip, I decided that I wanted to see a few of the things in Utah that I had heard about but never actually experienced.<br />
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The first of those things was the Golden Spike National Historic Site. Every child in Utah learned the song about how the transcontinental railroad was completed in Promontory, Utah. It's a little site in the middle of the desert in the middle of nowhere. But we drove out there and checked it out.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMPLZIHgQSyJ9O6XqSV5Kc25U100l09jfDWfd1FqvXZC1CAGZRMwjNvW6WaSg4m_mxB1WK8fWIj5JyiQr56yQi0sfp_W-YdyftNbZa-0JtxIbDvuXMTGjmllRQl8BoMORYLqPHEYUnFyk/s1600/2016-05-28+10.30.33.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMPLZIHgQSyJ9O6XqSV5Kc25U100l09jfDWfd1FqvXZC1CAGZRMwjNvW6WaSg4m_mxB1WK8fWIj5JyiQr56yQi0sfp_W-YdyftNbZa-0JtxIbDvuXMTGjmllRQl8BoMORYLqPHEYUnFyk/s400/2016-05-28+10.30.33.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">You have to get a picture next to a sign as proof you were there.</td></tr>
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They had a whole reenactment where the train pulled up and people gave speeches and then drove in the final spikes.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7zNnVT8lIxRUzO9FXDOTxamREL95pqtrqKOOIMvQ0kvFAX2zPpVkRW0RK_mzLA20OJrLYsRCr9poGP-yhu3JCJfyFQ72Q-1Anm2mnw2X5ZYFAVIt9YH80hv2MH9GLXDuAWhTFIEYON-E/s1600/2016-05-28+10.49.00.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7zNnVT8lIxRUzO9FXDOTxamREL95pqtrqKOOIMvQ0kvFAX2zPpVkRW0RK_mzLA20OJrLYsRCr9poGP-yhu3JCJfyFQ72Q-1Anm2mnw2X5ZYFAVIt9YH80hv2MH9GLXDuAWhTFIEYON-E/s400/2016-05-28+10.49.00.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Who doesn't love trains?</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHPM2V7NvzSWDxqWiKC532wFAkFIoHNbQWvAHq3gEpYkr_sOUcnSaGT3bSHbLK9-sX8xP573-22DsGPfhmeSIpoSQq0PtglP3_tmkZnodNfoIdlUaoFFO2pFc9qFrJkzVeDm88mpIwZWM/s1600/2016-05-28+11.20.59.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHPM2V7NvzSWDxqWiKC532wFAkFIoHNbQWvAHq3gEpYkr_sOUcnSaGT3bSHbLK9-sX8xP573-22DsGPfhmeSIpoSQq0PtglP3_tmkZnodNfoIdlUaoFFO2pFc9qFrJkzVeDm88mpIwZWM/s400/2016-05-28+11.20.59.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">It was just like in 1869. I bet back then everybody at their phones out taking pictures.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhssiVD_umicvYNkFkttG_4yISN9il2JEtWgK2lczyE4jm_9q8Zi4uqzXT-BM58WNe2XHq6m6LYCtFRyBGFWdSD2B4-CYPqLRaBIfFlxDa4GTcBZJ1P3hwMzoHioGzfUAzHVhgYiQoUdDk/s1600/2016-05-28+11.25.29.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhssiVD_umicvYNkFkttG_4yISN9il2JEtWgK2lczyE4jm_9q8Zi4uqzXT-BM58WNe2XHq6m6LYCtFRyBGFWdSD2B4-CYPqLRaBIfFlxDa4GTcBZJ1P3hwMzoHioGzfUAzHVhgYiQoUdDk/s400/2016-05-28+11.25.29.jpg" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I made Robyn stand on the railroad for a picture. She totally didn't get run over by a train.</td></tr>
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The next location I took us to was the Spiral Jetty. It's also in the desert in the middle of nowhere. It sits on the shore of the Great Salt Lake. It was made by a sculptor and depending on the level of the lake, sometimes it is below water and sometimes it is not (like right now).<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxX9Rni0_pFdBEo3r-pOFQCqjKE7Rrg8_Sx5js3j-ZmF4YmWrA5Zd8SDk3LqCC6f_ZFVLWfyyil-Guvb2-CbGQLJtowKFCiWrJ4ExqI5GgIacgHrViXZ-w3OAw0Y4Cqtvzt3FBnlF0OdA/s1600/2016-05-28+12.01.23.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxX9Rni0_pFdBEo3r-pOFQCqjKE7Rrg8_Sx5js3j-ZmF4YmWrA5Zd8SDk3LqCC6f_ZFVLWfyyil-Guvb2-CbGQLJtowKFCiWrJ4ExqI5GgIacgHrViXZ-w3OAw0Y4Cqtvzt3FBnlF0OdA/s400/2016-05-28+12.01.23.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpD0UnVn8e9rvo5mYm4nQeqCqmUdgijXqVEpzlrm6Og3ANdQ11AGvHAQ2mpEw4oH3ibPtnQ5lpPwfJLVKvuVAO-oAn9urhEwRBw5yzMKAh8mXOnN3bHirLVT2wjYa3fWUE7DtfACNjUKo/s1600/2016-05-28+12.01.45.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpD0UnVn8e9rvo5mYm4nQeqCqmUdgijXqVEpzlrm6Og3ANdQ11AGvHAQ2mpEw4oH3ibPtnQ5lpPwfJLVKvuVAO-oAn9urhEwRBw5yzMKAh8mXOnN3bHirLVT2wjYa3fWUE7DtfACNjUKo/s400/2016-05-28+12.01.45.jpg" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Selfie with the jetty.</td></tr>
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I made Robyn walk the whole spiral with me. She tried to cut across, but I wouldn't let her cheat herself from the full experience. We got to the center and had to take a precious pic.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgP8Ax4pKTo37ziMReMiGCrUKB0UXEQewb5KYdjY10Y6WzpDSA3tptVDvm8drC7gIYCkUJLhKlFvNs7ASvLz_mDLXMmz8eQgN-SAMFxuKsfsRUIDmVExbgoBpL6dGUfr3AQ6peHySWpZlE/s1600/2016-05-28+12.11.29.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgP8Ax4pKTo37ziMReMiGCrUKB0UXEQewb5KYdjY10Y6WzpDSA3tptVDvm8drC7gIYCkUJLhKlFvNs7ASvLz_mDLXMmz8eQgN-SAMFxuKsfsRUIDmVExbgoBpL6dGUfr3AQ6peHySWpZlE/s400/2016-05-28+12.11.29.jpg" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Doesn't she make the spiral look precious?</td></tr>
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The next event wasn't a place I'd heard about my whole life like the first two, but it was on my Utah bucket list. We went to the Eccles Dinosaur Park in Ogden.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAgXb8Xdza42ndoOGGJcdYhcIXKLnWg-Gp7wXAl7VUZflgImuH9x9j4aRr3FeP-U7YTDWa1EGCqlOJem_LoWbqaBAYeJLajEsY9kIfiZQY3w0LfeSkLS3Jox0i54tM6arFTxfFbnjporM/s1600/2016-05-28+14.58.16.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAgXb8Xdza42ndoOGGJcdYhcIXKLnWg-Gp7wXAl7VUZflgImuH9x9j4aRr3FeP-U7YTDWa1EGCqlOJem_LoWbqaBAYeJLajEsY9kIfiZQY3w0LfeSkLS3Jox0i54tM6arFTxfFbnjporM/s400/2016-05-28+14.58.16.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">They had mosquitoes in amber, so I'm not sure what the holdup is. They should clearly have clones some dinosaurs by now.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4c8IA5ICC76KuUd3jyw6tZTRa44-3VweFuB81IayeD39ud2KXtxNS05yADjQUINGaujYQwYlWkXH3ZnNsri_bdU_4C3EP3-LWtKnbMklAIln0E2HOvKl7vzCVl6OqVhKNO8G-nf0yIqc/s1600/2016-05-28+15.03.20.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4c8IA5ICC76KuUd3jyw6tZTRa44-3VweFuB81IayeD39ud2KXtxNS05yADjQUINGaujYQwYlWkXH3ZnNsri_bdU_4C3EP3-LWtKnbMklAIln0E2HOvKl7vzCVl6OqVhKNO8G-nf0yIqc/s400/2016-05-28+15.03.20.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">There were lots of bones to look at.</td></tr>
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They had an indoor museum that was more of the traditional natural history museum, and then outside they had lots of dinosaur statues. There were little signs that could teach you about the different dinosaurs, so it was fun.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdPe897q6CxQk9ri1Tf6ZwCs2diHYc2wihcn4ZwnzZb_LjfJMFa4u1PB7c1YP5wTu8YFE0PdR_YLVo4RNQN1IaB62dXV63gvJyovVby7dBAR7IwWAF2U7gztBIgdshNaR5B9nVzO8a_ro/s1600/2016-05-28+15.17.18.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdPe897q6CxQk9ri1Tf6ZwCs2diHYc2wihcn4ZwnzZb_LjfJMFa4u1PB7c1YP5wTu8YFE0PdR_YLVo4RNQN1IaB62dXV63gvJyovVby7dBAR7IwWAF2U7gztBIgdshNaR5B9nVzO8a_ro/s400/2016-05-28+15.17.18.jpg" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Just hanging with the triceratops.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3WkGMOqYqLNtMx-RJ6Weryd2m6XyLbwI2-jUonlIiG-r3NihNTirSXMcNQZFZRSHyMmLO7HsVqCm8Fp60CzDZEbNzH6maJYNbhWclzZdgP2fzfvMzjonTf6uGB0n4KhPs-W9gT5l3a3U/s1600/2016-05-28+15.18.51.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3WkGMOqYqLNtMx-RJ6Weryd2m6XyLbwI2-jUonlIiG-r3NihNTirSXMcNQZFZRSHyMmLO7HsVqCm8Fp60CzDZEbNzH6maJYNbhWclzZdgP2fzfvMzjonTf6uGB0n4KhPs-W9gT5l3a3U/s400/2016-05-28+15.18.51.jpg" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Look how calm she looks even though she's about to be eaten.</td></tr>
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That concluded our Saturday activities, but fear not! There was more fun to be had on Sunday.<br />
<br />
We wanted to have some sort of church experience, and another thing on my Utah bucket list was to attend a taping of Music and the Spoken Word. They were doing a memorial day special and it was really fun. There was a TV that was showing the live broadcast, and I liked to watch the cameras move around and see how they achieved the shots that were being shown on the TV. <br />
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Before the broadcast they explained to us that it was live and that the acoustics in the tabernacle are very good, so we need to be very quiet. I was totally reverent.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCUT_Tsi6CJedBRbeFZe376nQD6cYnRhUt3CK0P3aIiJDWtFwOprap3orflzqz05WdCLCPe_DM1wWbsSLzsaqgvvOm5FViVxouGRuaXTEjWrPxB34DBnms6JE5c_ETy3cvRHDd1szA0Sk/s1600/2016-05-29+10.06.52.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCUT_Tsi6CJedBRbeFZe376nQD6cYnRhUt3CK0P3aIiJDWtFwOprap3orflzqz05WdCLCPe_DM1wWbsSLzsaqgvvOm5FViVxouGRuaXTEjWrPxB34DBnms6JE5c_ETy3cvRHDd1szA0Sk/s400/2016-05-29+10.06.52.jpg" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">We didn't take any pictures inside the tabernacle (they weren't allowed during the broadcast and before and after there wasn't much to take a picture of.) But naturally, we got a selfie in front of the temple on our way out.</td></tr>
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<br />
The next Sunday event was to visit Gilgal garden. It's a little garden tucked away in a residential neighborhood. I had seen pictures of the Joseph Smith Sphinx and had wanted to check out the whole garden for a long time.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLLuExCnXXZoV6ar3F5vWyJyExejfgfp8X3nkoxvUUnBNP98kKhuoDJAci2xAxRl9MIcCYPM4WYOzbeCQyFV2O4QzPvWQ0aux886ljV21tvxLGFCw-6gqHOepav93Q7qUZV0yY8pynQug/s1600/2016-05-29+11.52.21.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLLuExCnXXZoV6ar3F5vWyJyExejfgfp8X3nkoxvUUnBNP98kKhuoDJAci2xAxRl9MIcCYPM4WYOzbeCQyFV2O4QzPvWQ0aux886ljV21tvxLGFCw-6gqHOepav93Q7qUZV0yY8pynQug/s400/2016-05-29+11.52.21.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Pictures of signs: very important.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLOVxpV5_GXowcXTQehWk0TcTDcSg-cNcr78GHHG9Kr4KGAEZf5qmYs8XqPkZi6CLWJEEo1_WjLLaSr7KuXm785PFkIc-B99ONOU3xYzo1a8TxubuoWFbELbgg4JoyVH-_NpoDESJT6yg/s1600/2016-05-29+11.53.07.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLOVxpV5_GXowcXTQehWk0TcTDcSg-cNcr78GHHG9Kr4KGAEZf5qmYs8XqPkZi6CLWJEEo1_WjLLaSr7KuXm785PFkIc-B99ONOU3xYzo1a8TxubuoWFbELbgg4JoyVH-_NpoDESJT6yg/s400/2016-05-29+11.53.07.jpg" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">When I saw it I just started grinning and laughing. I think Robyn was embarrassed to be with me.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilPHVDWaZzYMIKFsIRtiU_W6JphOmlzVZBoJXwMyD5H4KlrZ-ojh1U-itQSM2OTO_X6nxI2_n67ABuYSaZG4Ut3p_J2DeBAm1Tn4SKHeKh0Saab92RX7HeGtG8tlRc3xt-0B4ldDpMZVU/s1600/2016-05-29+11.55.39.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilPHVDWaZzYMIKFsIRtiU_W6JphOmlzVZBoJXwMyD5H4KlrZ-ojh1U-itQSM2OTO_X6nxI2_n67ABuYSaZG4Ut3p_J2DeBAm1Tn4SKHeKh0Saab92RX7HeGtG8tlRc3xt-0B4ldDpMZVU/s400/2016-05-29+11.55.39.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I told Robyn I needed a picture of her in front of something. She chose this arch and those giant books behind her.</td></tr>
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At this point, it was about lunch time and Robyn wanted to be home. I only had one more stop on my list and it was the Summum Pyramid. It's a pyramid that actually performs mummifications. (Who knew that was still a thing?) <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQkzEIVV9pekQnco_7bnjv6KHBKN42rWHcED_0q89g7DNYxWMZcHOJgUuBnO48vYtz4KQgyOT-Dj1Z5tdrR4Z5D1LKcZ25JoYp4yIjgTGiWj4rlvDvbGoS2TNZuZlZJjJWp4jusicHrGQ/s1600/2016-05-29+12.12.41.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQkzEIVV9pekQnco_7bnjv6KHBKN42rWHcED_0q89g7DNYxWMZcHOJgUuBnO48vYtz4KQgyOT-Dj1Z5tdrR4Z5D1LKcZ25JoYp4yIjgTGiWj4rlvDvbGoS2TNZuZlZJjJWp4jusicHrGQ/s320/2016-05-29+12.12.41.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
Robyn didn't even get out of the car, so I had to take my selfie with the pyramid. After seeing X-Men: Apocalypse, I was pretty sure Apocalypse was hiding inside and probably acquiring new powers he would use for world domination. But I didn't see him.<br />
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Finally, we could head home and take a good afternoon nap in our own beds. I'd say it was a successful birthday trip. Jeffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10357398682419756851noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3975311211849239826.post-60563161074246402462016-05-24T16:50:00.000-06:002016-05-24T16:50:14.129-06:00The Post Office Thinks I'm in CaliforniaSo whenever I feel frustrated with the fact that Post Office prices have doubled over the last 15 years, I think about how terrible they are at their job and then I feel even worse.<br />
<br />
So here's the deal. In the month of May there are like 4,000 birthdays over the course of 2 days in my family. (And by 4,000 I mean 3.) We celebrated one of those birthdays this past Saturday. I purchased the present roughly a week before, knowing that Amazon could get it to me in plenty of time.<br />
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Amazon said it would arrive on Wednesday. I always trust Amazon. Amazon is my most trusted friend.<br />
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On Thursday, it hadn't arrived yet, so I checked the website. It said the package had been delivered. But since I hadn't received it, I was a little confused. I clicked on the "track package" button because it usually has notes about whether they left it with a neighbor or at the back door or something weird like that.<br />
<br />
Well, the delivery notes were a little weird. But it wasn't at my back door. It was in Norco, California. It just said, "Delivered: Parcel Locker. Norco, CA."<br />
<br />
I double checked the address I had given them. It was definitely to my house in Lehi, UT.<br />
<br />
I'm just trying to imagine how that even happens. The guy driving the truck is like, "I have a whole truckload of packages. I bet at least one of them belongs in Norco, and that does seem like a big parcel locker. I guess I'll leave them all here. I bet no one will notice."<br />
<br />
I got online to chat with an Amazon representative. They were very helpful. They told me there was nothing they could do to retrieve the package because it was delivered. (I was hoping Amazon would send stormtroopers to break in and get it back, but alas, that didn't happen.) But they asked if it would be acceptable to ship another copy. I said that would be very acceptable.<br />
<br />
You want to know the best part? Apparently whoever owned the parcel locker decided to forward the package on to me. Now I have 2 copies. One as a gift, and one for me. <br />
<br />
I guess this post office blunder gave me a free book. That might help to pay back the ever rising postal costs.<br />
<br />Jeffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10357398682419756851noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3975311211849239826.post-59363136954410230732016-03-30T21:13:00.000-06:002016-03-30T21:22:54.586-06:00My Nominations for the 2016 Hugo AwardsI just got an email from the administrators of the Hugo Award. It turns out that all nominations are due tomorrow. So I finally sat down and figured them out. As always, my reading of new stuff is a little bit sparse, so even though I can nominate up to 5 in each category, I don't have 5 works in most categories. But, I do have some great ones even if the slate isn't full. Here they are. I linked to where you could get these works where possible. I also put a link to my review on the ones where such exists.<br />
<br />
<b>Best Novel</b><br />
The Dark Forest is the sequel to last year's Hugo winner. I am loving the series and looking forward to the third. It's one of the most unique science fiction stories I've read in a long time. Of course, the other two I nominated are excellent as well.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-ZpazDD217ecobZxjMf8Dv1AlWillQRBZphpdBm5x7b5OFPSMO3Y6yXfd1yhoEEsOO8ZB_HJpzYbTx3UJXGb9CnwDBAQMOwUoKV8eFd_P_RIcQfR-j9RR29hb5eLv5pjK6TzacCrpq78/s1600/dark-forest-cixin-liu.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-ZpazDD217ecobZxjMf8Dv1AlWillQRBZphpdBm5x7b5OFPSMO3Y6yXfd1yhoEEsOO8ZB_HJpzYbTx3UJXGb9CnwDBAQMOwUoKV8eFd_P_RIcQfR-j9RR29hb5eLv5pjK6TzacCrpq78/s320/dark-forest-cixin-liu.jpg" width="212" /></a></div>
<a href="http://amzn.to/1PGJE5s">The Dark Forest</a> by Liu Cixin (<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1305351216?book_show_action=false">My review</a>)<br />
<a href="http://amzn.to/1onls1Y">Chimera</a> by Mira Grant (<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1075229332?book_show_action=false">My review</a>)<br />
<a href="http://amzn.to/1PGJGKF">Library of Souls</a> by Ransom Riggs (<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1388587276?book_show_action=false">My review</a>)<br />
<br style="font-family: wf_segoe-ui_normal, 'Segoe UI', 'Segoe WP', Tahoma, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13.3333px;" />
<b>Best Novella:</b><br />
The New Mother was fascinating and a little bit frightening. An excellent story. Of course, Rolling the Deep is about scary mermaids. Both are excellent.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGJsurdUGQeRfItqCYMpccBllFALMNkklPitjN7gOPMByq98lpnF1mzE0mzS3lbqJkVw4cJYFLXGHevkfKgrYqiTj3rtToQSvPcsCEMOypY_tu0ecRBnP4TYWilsbstKueSbb0XTCH1pU/s1600/Asimovs-Science-Fiction-%25E2%2580%2593-April-May-2015.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGJsurdUGQeRfItqCYMpccBllFALMNkklPitjN7gOPMByq98lpnF1mzE0mzS3lbqJkVw4cJYFLXGHevkfKgrYqiTj3rtToQSvPcsCEMOypY_tu0ecRBnP4TYWilsbstKueSbb0XTCH1pU/s320/Asimovs-Science-Fiction-%25E2%2580%2593-April-May-2015.jpg" width="217" /></a></div>
<br />
The New Mother by Eugene Fischer - Asimov's April/May 2015<br />
<a href="http://rolling%20in%20the%20deep/">Rolling in the Deep</a> by Mira Grant (<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1149092700?book_show_action=false">My review</a>)<br />
<br style="font-family: wf_segoe-ui_normal, 'Segoe UI', 'Segoe WP', Tahoma, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13.3333px;" />
<b>Best Novelette:</b><br />
Pareidolia by Kathleen Bartholomew and Kage Barker - Asimov's March 2015<br />
<br style="font-family: wf_segoe-ui_normal, 'Segoe UI', 'Segoe WP', Tahoma, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13.3333px;" />
<b>Best Short Story:</b><br />
When Your Child Strays From God by Sam J. Miller - Clarkesworld July 2015<br />
Tuesdays by Suzanne Palmer - Asimov's March 2015<br />
Cat Pictures Please by Naomi Kritzer - Clarkesworld January 2015<br />
Holding The Ghosts by Gwendolyn Clare - Asimov's March 2015<br />
<br style="font-family: wf_segoe-ui_normal, 'Segoe UI', 'Segoe WP', Tahoma, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13.3333px;" />
<b>Best Graphic Story:</b><br />
Ms. Marvel, Vol. 3: Crushed by G. Willow Wilson<br />
<br style="font-family: wf_segoe-ui_normal, 'Segoe UI', 'Segoe WP', Tahoma, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13.3333px;" />
<b>Best Dramatic Presentation (Long Form):</b><br />
<a href="http://amzn.to/1WYZ8HT">Star Wars: The Force Awakens </a><br />
<a href="http://amzn.to/1RrvdIb">The Martian </a><br />
<a href="http://amzn.to/1Rrvc70">Jurassic World </a><br />
<a href="http://amzn.to/1onlMO2">Terminator: Genisys</a><br />
<a href="http://amzn.to/1RrvfQ4">Avengers: Age of Ultron </a><br />
<br style="font-family: wf_segoe-ui_normal, 'Segoe UI', 'Segoe WP', Tahoma, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13.3333px;" />
<b>Best Dramatic Presentation (Short Form):</b><br />
Doctor Who - The Zygon Inversion <br />
Doctor Who - The Zygon Invasion <br />
Agents of Shield - Melinda <br />
Grimm - Wesenrein <br />
Agents of Shield - Afterlife <br />
<br style="font-family: wf_segoe-ui_normal, 'Segoe UI', 'Segoe WP', Tahoma, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13.3333px;" />
<b>Best Professional Editor (Short Form):</b><br />
Ellen Datlow <br />
Hank Davis <br />
Sheila Williams <br />
John Joseph Adams <br />
<br />
<b>Best Professional Editor (Long Form):</b><br />
Toni WeisskopfJeffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10357398682419756851noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3975311211849239826.post-3661823261750478602016-03-24T10:13:00.001-06:002016-03-24T10:13:35.622-06:00Happy Birthday Padre!You guys. My dad turned 60 today. Sixty! He's older than iPhones. He remembers when you could go to the gate at the airport to greet your friends when their plane landed. He remembers when there wasn't an internet!<br />
<br />
Oh wait. All of those things are true of me. Blast! I guess I'm pretty old. But my dad remembers when there wasn't a me. Now that's old. I'm pretty sure he cried when the dinosaurs died. I would have.<br />
<br />
I was going to post a throwback Thursday pic on Facebook to commemorate this day. But when I started looking through my pictures of me and my dad, it turned out I couldn't just pick one. So I figured this was a better venue.<br />
<br />
Here are a few pictures and memories of my dad with me and my family.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwrq-F97pzwsjokfTr5DZDEWXrprVrtugf_C3Zqr72cmRrSqNObuAGn-YPRfUKExuX1mEcNhg9Qi-1EKXBBf0puztpLknV7fM9mr9M_p6QZ6j91vccMUfcLk4LmsGuBVu_kSHRvcnKfFw/s1600/IMG_0036.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="361" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwrq-F97pzwsjokfTr5DZDEWXrprVrtugf_C3Zqr72cmRrSqNObuAGn-YPRfUKExuX1mEcNhg9Qi-1EKXBBf0puztpLknV7fM9mr9M_p6QZ6j91vccMUfcLk4LmsGuBVu_kSHRvcnKfFw/s400/IMG_0036.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My dad had a beard once. True story. Even more surprising is that there was a time when I was cuter than I am now.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKMiXwnPBI-1kDvHKm6-wFugjF2T6gWYlLbSf4loXu0xPfFAyRpfj02oDPuOxuKge-2VhDhgvN9d8O8ic6kN2xYteytII9F4yTglrNaCJaaEEf7C3SJLfe1wSZkUV6VCSx1QXMDGx4yHY/s1600/IMG_0024.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="378" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKMiXwnPBI-1kDvHKm6-wFugjF2T6gWYlLbSf4loXu0xPfFAyRpfj02oDPuOxuKge-2VhDhgvN9d8O8ic6kN2xYteytII9F4yTglrNaCJaaEEf7C3SJLfe1wSZkUV6VCSx1QXMDGx4yHY/s400/IMG_0024.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Look at all that loot. I bet you never had matching pajamas with your dad.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjI_gVJOPEC1M7FL_R3GdKo3dlds2LoihGPAgFdqu6kEQkQEZTXKpkNaf8BMZpXUE6CedFBO_565JN2TjvHQfkCD0LXEu00ZUnzp_XjX_E8Bxx3NRcc81i7FFhjBvtZoS2YDcYS-tRECro/s1600/IMG_0034.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="268" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjI_gVJOPEC1M7FL_R3GdKo3dlds2LoihGPAgFdqu6kEQkQEZTXKpkNaf8BMZpXUE6CedFBO_565JN2TjvHQfkCD0LXEu00ZUnzp_XjX_E8Bxx3NRcc81i7FFhjBvtZoS2YDcYS-tRECro/s400/IMG_0034.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I spent most of my childhood trying to look unhappy about stuff. Little known fact: I think giant shark jaws are super cool. Thanks for taking me to Sea World mom and dad! Sorry I looked like I hated it.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyFiUCz_bqJO1qc3T_rG1i7uJtxXlGs9EUJlZOJLvn1aV586XiJ5df8vZMU6uIdPQ-JVUYMjKftnBn74lkxkZTYwx7-QFLUNh0_IdPSomTisUsqErc3vOyW6zNdf5IzxeqfukQWjxp3l0/s1600/IMG_0063.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="265" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyFiUCz_bqJO1qc3T_rG1i7uJtxXlGs9EUJlZOJLvn1aV586XiJ5df8vZMU6uIdPQ-JVUYMjKftnBn74lkxkZTYwx7-QFLUNh0_IdPSomTisUsqErc3vOyW6zNdf5IzxeqfukQWjxp3l0/s400/IMG_0063.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sometimes I even looked like I was having fun.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyUi0f1Hwz2W_N5Q8aXZqZkmbW3jYs_kqk5qjpQ5csBIGULJEgEXRCWhBfoSig39TheA8aJm-IJnZUoNrUiUa1CDSMrkP0RYkVuGV-3dOevNlWywdgtnire0jQufh_DbFQSfJxUXyzBTI/s1600/IMG_0066.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="271" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyUi0f1Hwz2W_N5Q8aXZqZkmbW3jYs_kqk5qjpQ5csBIGULJEgEXRCWhBfoSig39TheA8aJm-IJnZUoNrUiUa1CDSMrkP0RYkVuGV-3dOevNlWywdgtnire0jQufh_DbFQSfJxUXyzBTI/s400/IMG_0066.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">At least in Yellowstone, Zack is the one that looks like he hates it.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTth37y1uEdAo_LKPfkGKBe9fMG0XQHMj7L92kfTeXnpeFzsrAnj79TYg9NNExxA7hYd_OWsYwo_jNdPH1fL46phRQCSXxmQrCafrkZTeI6Icyar8eoL2xnjDaEqsM3V2ZYMid6QV7Y-I/s1600/IMG_0105.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTth37y1uEdAo_LKPfkGKBe9fMG0XQHMj7L92kfTeXnpeFzsrAnj79TYg9NNExxA7hYd_OWsYwo_jNdPH1fL46phRQCSXxmQrCafrkZTeI6Icyar8eoL2xnjDaEqsM3V2ZYMid6QV7Y-I/s400/IMG_0105.JPG" width="268" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">People put cups on their face. It's a thing.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKo_9L-5ihKWHgIUMvYvmjVEOEdcOjtNqrQ2lgl4PTdwbrnos2L9_OuTfD3nORbFSk3HBrbq1xw7cgpSNkukwNWcm8PnELIJqZ8bYBd2M_gMBD_vAmzwSEHMNL4_6OaAL7ai1XPQuJQJU/s1600/IMG_0183.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="286" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKo_9L-5ihKWHgIUMvYvmjVEOEdcOjtNqrQ2lgl4PTdwbrnos2L9_OuTfD3nORbFSk3HBrbq1xw7cgpSNkukwNWcm8PnELIJqZ8bYBd2M_gMBD_vAmzwSEHMNL4_6OaAL7ai1XPQuJQJU/s400/IMG_0183.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">We've had many adventures at Bear Lake</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYXqFCAz3jZYGvzSHRlQNvjOBsejArZ70d8Ch4gENehS4dZQ0L8t61XNDpQULOX246p-lUOJCqbrdEsjdNTdBZCwMTx4hVGqo4cm8VaW1laTE_79kITiWzd7-uEwChyphenhypheniibH3axXDjeL5g/s1600/DSC_0369.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYXqFCAz3jZYGvzSHRlQNvjOBsejArZ70d8Ch4gENehS4dZQ0L8t61XNDpQULOX246p-lUOJCqbrdEsjdNTdBZCwMTx4hVGqo4cm8VaW1laTE_79kITiWzd7-uEwChyphenhypheniibH3axXDjeL5g/s400/DSC_0369.JPG" width="265" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Weren't the Padre and I the cutest hikers in Hawaii?</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgviDJmbYTMPxg4KyZtBm5T98ibQRjXwnkhrfXqIBvsNVaRF7397eo35zzRAUtCDoh84lkQwFMQWeah6NXAAQ3GcGfocFBKnuGM87CGU2m7VE-dmUfNwb7K7mV0uINJN8cC3lMTzHhCITw/s1600/IMG_0003.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgviDJmbYTMPxg4KyZtBm5T98ibQRjXwnkhrfXqIBvsNVaRF7397eo35zzRAUtCDoh84lkQwFMQWeah6NXAAQ3GcGfocFBKnuGM87CGU2m7VE-dmUfNwb7K7mV0uINJN8cC3lMTzHhCITw/s400/IMG_0003.JPG" width="276" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mom and dad even flew to South Dakota to see me.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Thanks for all the memories Padre! Happy sixtieth birthday! I look forward to at least 60 more years of memories.Jeffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10357398682419756851noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3975311211849239826.post-22893276828994275372016-03-20T12:40:00.002-06:002016-03-20T12:40:36.560-06:002015 StatsI'm a numbers guy. I like to see stats. Every year I like to publish the highlights of the previous year, mostly reflecting on numbers. I'm pretty sure no one else cares that much. But I like it so I do it. I usually post this in January. But I noticed this was sitting in my drafts and hadn't yet been posted. I think I was trying to come up with some more numbers and think of more highlights, but now it's just embarrassing that I haven't posted it and it's March. So here are some of the highlights and stats from last year.<br />
<br />
1. Read <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/list/2950483-jeff-stockett?read_at=2015">57 individual works</a> totalling 10,376 pages<br />
2. Went inside 4 new temples<br />
<ul>
<li><a href="http://ldstempletourism.blogspot.com/2015/11/payson-utah-temple.html">Payson Utah Temple</a></li>
<li><a href="http://ldstempletourism.blogspot.com/2015/09/spokane-washington-temple.html">Spokane Washington Temple</a></li>
<li><a href="http://ldstempletourism.blogspot.com/2015/07/boise-idaho-temple.html">Boise Idaho Temple</a></li>
<li><a href="http://ldstempletourism.blogspot.com/2015/07/portland-oregon-temple.html">Portland Oregon Temple</a></li>
</ul>
<div>
3. Walked 659 miles and biked 326 miles for a total of 985 miles. (I know it's totally embarrassing that I was that close to 1000 and didn't go over.)</div>
<div>
4. Wrote on this blog 43 times. (My worst year ever. I'll totally do better this year.)</div>
<div>
5. Attended <a href="http://odoyle42.blogspot.com/2015/09/world-con.html">Worldcon</a> for the first time, and even got to attend the <a href="http://odoyle42.blogspot.com/2015/09/the-hugo-awards.html">Hugo Awards</a>.</div>
<div>
6. Set foot in 5 states</div>
<div>
<ul>
<li>Utah</li>
<li>California</li>
<li>Idaho</li>
<li>Oregon</li>
<li>Washington</li>
</ul>
<div>
7. Travelled 15,471 miles. (That's total distance travelled according to my foursquare data.)<br />
<br />
I'm sure there are more numbers I could have shared. I feel like I'm missing something. I'll try to get you better numbers next year.</div>
</div>
Jeffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10357398682419756851noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3975311211849239826.post-25542007545791503042016-03-17T14:07:00.000-06:002016-03-17T14:07:01.217-06:00Escaping the RoomHave you heard of escape rooms? It's a new trend that I only heard of 5 or 6 months ago. My sister suggested that we should try one as a family. We selected one in American Fork, and it turned out to be a lot of fun.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I made Robyn stand next to the sign before we went in.</td></tr>
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So here's how it works. They lock you in a room. (In this particular one, the room happened to actually be a trailer in the parking lot of the One Man Band restaurant.) They set a timer, and you have a limited amount of time to get out. In this case, the timer was 45 minutes. I imagine that's fairly standard, but I'm sure it could vary. When the time runs out, if you haven't gotten out, they let you out and you lose. But, I preferred to pretend that if you don't make it out, you die. I felt like that was a little bit more motivating. Spoiler: We survived.<br />
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As we initially looked around the room, there were lots of things to explore. There were a number of boxes with combination locks, there was an exercise bike, there were locked cupboards and various other mysterious objects.<br />
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As you explore, you discover that there are different puzzles that, when solved, reveal clues to solving other puzzles. Many of the puzzles, when solved, reveal a combination for a lock, then you have to find the lock that it goes with.<br />
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It was super fun to work as a family and solve the puzzles together. Here are a few pictures from our adventure as a family. <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mom solved a maze puzzle to acquire this key.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">It took us a while to figure out what the books were trying to reveal.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Robyn is having things revealed to her in the box.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Those pesky books.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Padre may have broken off a piece of the cupboard while he was trying to figure out a clue. Don't tell anyone.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZisZs1zrbiXda4Yxb0yiU0S44uE6Lnn_rJCjR9pHBtI_t0vwHITSTIO4JABrld61aLW0Z3MumdfsdLdfeQIuq2L0c5vWCBMfcIA8Uc-QN9CfMF1p-GBTb_JkGINWPQ7ap1Fd0lUaOw7M/s1600/2016-03-12+15.33.54.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZisZs1zrbiXda4Yxb0yiU0S44uE6Lnn_rJCjR9pHBtI_t0vwHITSTIO4JABrld61aLW0Z3MumdfsdLdfeQIuq2L0c5vWCBMfcIA8Uc-QN9CfMF1p-GBTb_JkGINWPQ7ap1Fd0lUaOw7M/s400/2016-03-12+15.33.54.jpg" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This particular box had a locked box inside of it, so it was extra tricky.</td></tr>
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We cut it a little close. We got out of the room with 3:22 left. When you open the door, the time stops, so naturally Robyn and I had to take a selfie with the clock.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">And here's the whole team. We totally got out alive.</td></tr>
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I totally recommend it. The puzzles are challenging enough that you get to feel smart when you solve them, but it's all very doable for a group to achieve together. It also allows you to work as a team and have fun together.<br />
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You totally need to give it a try. And let me know how you do. <br />
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Next time we need to try one where a bomb explodes and you die if you don't solve it. I bet we could do it even faster with proper motivation.<br />
<br />Jeffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10357398682419756851noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3975311211849239826.post-61358185552635585512016-03-14T21:05:00.003-06:002016-03-14T21:05:39.049-06:00Pi Day ObservedAs you know, today is Pi Day. If you don't know that, you can begin by feeling ashamed. You should probably do that for at least ten minute. Please proceed to feel shame.<br />
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Now that you're done feeling shame, you can read <a href="http://odoyle42.blogspot.com/2015/03/pi-day-of-century.html">my post from a year ago</a> where I explain a little bit about Pi Day.<br />
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Now that you're all caught up, you can avoid that shame in the future. You're welcome.<br />
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After seeing last year's extremely successful celebration on a Saturday, we decided that it would be better to have a Pi Day observed, so that we could celebrate on Saturday. So while today is the real deal, we celebrated on Saturday, and it went very well.<br />
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As we always do, we offered prizes for the most delicious pies brought by our guests. We had 10 homemade pies, and all of them were delicious.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyoIKGtkyrmt6K0m_wxKQEMhKoiZF1BP0AuHvHIldMPdLB_rzB0E4lpNWipAxhxL5Zt2W9PdswqJxpp9g0zE7VVuuISxSx7Jcz0J-6EILo6SuVdIn8OxGjuYOCZHcLXtxmr9Sr5Y7FRi0/s1600/2016-03-12+18.20.28.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyoIKGtkyrmt6K0m_wxKQEMhKoiZF1BP0AuHvHIldMPdLB_rzB0E4lpNWipAxhxL5Zt2W9PdswqJxpp9g0zE7VVuuISxSx7Jcz0J-6EILo6SuVdIn8OxGjuYOCZHcLXtxmr9Sr5Y7FRi0/s400/2016-03-12+18.20.28.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Look at all that goodness.</td></tr>
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I've been celebrating Pi Day for longer than I have been married. But, Pi Day has become much more fancy since Robyn became involved. Look at these fancy decorations.<br />
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I think we had about 25 people in attendance. I didn't actually count, but we definitely had our little house filled to the brim.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The kitchen and main room were full of people.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">We had another room with toys for kids and more room for enjoying pie.</td></tr>
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Our panel of judges consisted of my friend Dave and my friend Jason. They were both highly qualified due to their math knowledge. They know all about pi, which naturally means they know all about pie.<br />
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The winner was my friend Deanna with an apple pie. It was quite delish.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">It's important to get a picture with the winner. If you can't tell, we're signing 3.14.</td></tr>
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All in all, it was a successful evening. Did you celebrate? If you did, tell me about your experience. If you didn't, feel free to be ashamed.Jeffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10357398682419756851noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3975311211849239826.post-20833310362184780622016-03-07T17:36:00.002-07:002016-03-07T17:36:42.805-07:00Let's Talk About Donald TrumpHello, Fellow Republican. Thank you for sitting down to chat with me. In the past, we've agreed on so many things. We both feel strongly about free markets and free trade. We both love liberty, and have fought to protect it in our great nation. We both believe strongly in the original intent of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. We've both been outspoken about the rights of the unborn, and the need for more government protections of those rights. We both believe that private citizens should love and serve their fellow men through kindness and personal service as well as through churches and charities.<br />
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That's why I'm a little bit perplexed by your recent decision to support Donald Trump. It seems to me that perhaps we don't have the shared beliefs that I thought we did. I've been watching Donald Trump on the debate stage as well as news outlets and other sources. He just doesn't seem to embody any of the conservative Christian principles that I believe in. I've been watching his supporters debate about him, mainly on Facebook, and it seems like there are only a few arguments that people give. These arguments don't seem to hold water for me, especially when viewed through the lens of the principles I thought we shared. I thought I'd go over each of these arguments and explain why they don't work for me. <br />
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Below you will find 100% of the arguments that I have observed. The good news is this won't take long because there aren't very many.<br />
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<b>He Will Make America Great Again</b><br />
I've also heard this argument summed up in other equally ambiguous ways such as: "He's the only one with the guts to get it done." What <i>it </i>means is never defined, just as what a great America looks like is never defined.<br />
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In Donald Trump's book, <i>The Art of the Deal</i>, he wrote this about the way he promotes himself or his business enterprises:<br />
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The final key to the way I promote is bravado. I play to people’s fantasies. People may not always think big themselves, but they can still get very excited by those who do. That’s why a little hyperbole never hurts. People want to believe that something is the biggest and the greatest and the most spectacular.</blockquote>
Is it possible that the reason you don't say anything specific about him is that he hasn't made any specific policy proposals? Is it possible that you are promoting a fantasy version of him that he is purposefully trying to get you to create in your mind? What does a great America look like to you? Has he suggested specific elements of your great America?<br />
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Every time he is asked about specific plans, he dodges the question by insulting the person asking. It's very frustrating for those of us who want to hear specific ideas come from him. But for those willing to believe his bravado, it's very effective. I'm honestly terrified, because I don't know what he will do as President. But when you consider that through most of his business career he has donated to liberal politicians including supporting Hillary Clinton's previous attempts at the Presidency, it doesn't make me believe that he will do conservative things in that office.<br />
<br />
I can't tell you what a great America should look like for you. I can tell you what it looks like for me. I'd like to see a President who will respect the original intent of the Constitution and who will appoint Supreme Court Justices accordingly. I'd like someone who will decrease the tax burden on individuals and on businesses so that companies can create jobs. I'd like to see more protections for the unborn. I'd like to see religious liberties strengthened. <br />
<br />
Do those things describe Donald Trump? They definitely don't describe the Donald Trump of a few short years ago when he supported Hillary. The Donald Trump of today says nothing specific, so who knows? But I do know that all of those things describe Ted Cruz. <br />
<br />
Ask yourself, why you are voting for Donald Trump? Is there a specific policy he has espoused that you like? Has he painted a specific picture that describes the America you'd like to see? If not, and if your great America looks anything like mine. I suggest a vote for Ted Cruz. The guy memorized the Constitution when he was a teenager. I can't think of any other candidate more qualified to appoint justices to the Supreme Court. He is conservative on taxes and has pledged to defend religious liberty. He is truly the candidate who understands how to make America great.<br />
<br />
<b>He's Not Afraid to Speak His Mind</b><br />
I've also heard people say, "He just says what we're all thinking." Really? Are these things really what we're all thinking? Donald Trump definitely isn't afraid to speak his mind. But shouldn't we also look at what's on his mind and decide whether those things are things we want in a President? When he says that <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/fact-checker/wp/2015/07/08/donald-trumps-false-comments-connecting-mexican-immigrants-and-crime/">most Mexican immigrants are rapists</a>, <a href="http://fusion.net/story/176716/heres-the-creepy-video-of-donald-trump-saying-hed-date-his-own-daughter/">that his daughter has a nice enough figure for him to be dating her</a>, <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/donald-trump-carly-fiorina_us_55f17d22e4b03784e2781531">that we shouldn't vote for Carly Fiorina because she's too ugly</a> or any of his many other nasty, creepy, and generally terrible quotes, do we not stop and think that we don't want someone this vile as our President? <br />
<br />
Everyone has nasty, terrible thoughts at times. Most people suppress those thoughts and replace them with something else. The act of choosing to cast away those thoughts helps us to grow beyond them, so that our nature changes and those types of thoughts happen much less frequently. Donald Trump chooses to spout them off as they come to him. He gives in to his basest nature and in so doing, that part of his character grows rather than shrinks. It has helped him become a more nasty person. It has turned him into someone that is not a person that I want representing the United States to the rest of the world.<br />
<br />
When I watch him on the debate stage, it honestly seems like the others are debating with a toddler. In the most recent debate, he bragged about the size of his genitals and then referred to Senator Rubio as Little Marco. This was during a Presidential Debate!! It baffles me that people could see that, and think that is Presidential.<br />
<br />
The thing that most people are looking for when they say, "He's not afraid to speak his mind" is not necessarily someone who voices every vile thought that comes to them. What they are looking for is someone who is willing to stand up for what they believe in. They are looking for someone who will be genuine, and be willing to have the difficult conversations.<br />
<br />
Ted Cruz has gotten a reputation for being unpopular in the Senate. Let me tell you a little story to illustrate why. Back when the debt ceiling was being debated, all of the Senate Republicans met in a room to discuss strategy. As you probably know, in the Senate you need 60 votes to get anything passed. Democrats controlled 55 seats which meant that they would need 5 Republican votes in order to raise the debt ceiling. Republican leadership wanted to pass a resolution to allow Democrats to pass the bill with only 50 votes. That way, they could raise the debt ceiling without voting for it. All of the Republicans could go back to their constituents and say that they had voted against it, even though they had voted for giving the Democrats the ability to do it.<br />
<br />
Ted Cruz felt like that was dishonest. He felt like he was there to represent the interests of Texas and they wanted him to control the size and scope of government. This is what he said about it in his own words:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
None of us should oppose this, we were told, and for two reasons. First, if we lowered the threshold, then the "clean" debt ceiling would pass, and that was very much the outcome the leadership assumed each of us really desired.</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
And second, if we consented to lowering the threshold, Democrats would then have the votes to raise the debt ceiling on their own. We could all vote no. This way, we could return home and tell the voters that we had opposed raising the debt ceiling, right after consenting to let it happen.</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
This time I was stunned by the chicanery, expressed openly, if not proudly, to the rest of us. Looking around the Lyndon Johnson Room, named for one of the biggest-spending presidents in American history, I had a new appreciation for why we were gathered here, beneath his smiling portrait. Most senators seemed perfectly fine with the leadership’s proposal. There were nods and murmurs of assent.</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
It was too much. I raised my hand and said, "There’s no universe in which I can consent to that."</blockquote>
Whether you agree or disagree with his position on the debt ceiling, that's the kind of "speaking your mind" that requires courage. Simply calling people names is not courage, it is cowardice. If you're looking for someone who is willing to speak their mind, even when it requires courage, I suggest a vote for Ted Cruz.<br />
<b><br /></b>
<br />
<b>He Will Create Jobs</b><br />
I totally get that he has made a lot of money in the private sector. A year ago, I knew nothing about Donald Trump, and I would have assumed that he would be a great job creator because his private sector experience gives him economic knowledge that will help him reduce regulatory burden. But when you listen to him in the debates, is that what he talks about? I have heard him talk a little bit about lowering taxes, and that's something I can get behind. But much more often, I've heard him talk about how we need to protect American businesses. We need to stop China from exporting goods to the United States. <br />
<br />
Look, if you want to personally stop buying anything that was manufactured outside of the United States, more power to you. That's what freedom is all about. But I thought we were the party that believed in free trade. Donald Trump wants to put tariffs on imported goods. The net result is that if you want to buy something that was manufactured elsewhere, Donald Trump wants to make it more expensive for you. He wants to hit American families right where it hurts, in our pocket books.<br />
<br />
After that, do you think other countries will be happy about that? Do you think they won't retaliate with tariffs of their own? Once the trade war begins, it will be more difficult for American companies to sell goods overseas. Do you think that will create more jobs?<br />
<br />
This is one of the very few things that Trump has been specific about, and it would be a disaster. <br />
<br />
However, Ted Cruz has outlined a plan that would reduce regulatory burden on businesses and reduce their tax burden so that they can create more jobs. His plan would also decrease taxes on ordinary individuals and simplify the tax code so that you can do your taxes on a post card. <br />
<br />
The Ted Cruz plan helps Americans create jobs by increasing freedom and decreasing the tax burden. Donald Trump would do the opposite. If you'd like to see more American jobs. I suggest a vote for Ted Cruz.<br />
<br />
<b>He Will Save the White Race</b><br />
I'm ashamed that this one is on this list. If this is not why you are voting for Trump, I'm very glad. Please understand, I'm not accusing you of racism. But you also need to understand that there is a very vocal group of Trump supporters that are loudly making this argument. I've seen them on Facebook. That's why I had to put this on the list.<br />
<br />
In the past, if you are a solid conservative, you have definitely been accused of racism. The left automatically assumes that the only reason you could have chosen to not vote for a black man for President is because of the color of his skin. They already assume we are all racist. Why in the world would we want to elect someone who gives them real reason to believe it? <br />
<br />
I'm sorry. When he says that the majority of Mexican immigrants are rapists and criminals, even if he concedes that some are good people, that is terribly racist. When he says that Muslims should not be allowed to enter our country, that's definitely bigoted, even if it's not exactly racist. (And terrifying for a person like me who is a member of a religion that has been persecuted in this country.) Do we really want him to be the representation of our party? Donald Trump is definitely a very racist individual. Whether he wants to use the Presidency as a way to promote white supremacy, as some of his followers have suggested, I have no idea. But in my mind, the fact that he is racist enough that white supremacists can see their agenda in him is reason enough not to vote for him. If this is your reason for voting for him, I don't have another candidate suggestion for you. But I would like to suggest that you should not vote at all. Also, I would rather lose an election than win it with your help. I don't want to be part of a party that would ever have your belief system as a tenet.<br />
<br />
If that is not your reason for voting for Trump, please understand that many intelligent people are looking at the other reasons and realizing that they are false. They are assuming that this is your reason since there really isn't another reason for a conservative to vote for him. Please don't vote for racism and put it on a pedestal in my party.<br />
<br />
<b>He Can Beat Hillary Clinton</b><br />
The simple answer to this claim is, "No, he can't." But I'd like to dive into this a little bit more. I'd like to divide this up into two questions. Can he beat her? and Do we want him beat her? I'll do the latter first.<br />
<br />
<i>Do I want Donald Trump to beat Hillary Clinton?</i><br />
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<i><br /></i>
Hillary Clinton is dishonest. She will say anything to get elected. She has openly tried to destroy the lives of her husband's sexual assault victims. She will say that she stands for women's rights until the women whose rights need protecting stand in the way of her power. She loves abortion and would love to expand it in our country. In short, she lacks any morals whatsoever.<br />
<br />
She's also a bought and paid for politician. She has accepted donations from Wall Street and plenty of other big business types. She is the very personification of crony capitalism.<br />
<br />
A Clinton presidency would be terrible for our country and it would be terrible for the cause of liberty. No one wants a morally bankrupt crony capitalist who thinks that Planned Parenthood is super awesome.<br />
<br />
And that's why I don't want Donald Trump to beat her.<br />
<br />
I can hear you now. "Wait a minute. Jeff. You just said you don't want those things in a President. Shouldn't Donald beat her to avoid those things?" <br />
<br />
Exactly. All those things I said about Hillary are true. But guess what. They are also true of Donald Trump. <br />
<br />
Donald Trump conned people out of hundreds of thousands of dollars through Trump University. When people had their credit cards maxed out, they had people available there to help them call the credit card company and lie to them about their income. They told the people that it wasn't a lie because they were going to be making that higher income in the future. <br />
<br />
Trump University has a D- through the Better Business Bureau but he has repeatedly lied saying it has an A. I can't even count the number of lies Donald Trump has told on the debate stage over the past few months. He will say anything and he doesn't care what's true. You'd be hard pressed to convince me the man has any morals.<br />
<br />
As for crony capitalism, one of those business people who has donated to Hillary in exchange for political favors is Donald Trump. Why do we look down on the politicians who accept the donations but we give the business people on the other end a pass? Are they not both participating in crony capitalism? Especially when we consider that Donald has used eminent domain to harness government power and take property from private individuals for his developments. This is a man who has bragged about using government power to help himself and other elites.<br />
<br />
He has openly praised Planned Parenthood from the debate stage. His views on abortion are unclear. He has stated that he is pro-life as well as pro-choice, so I leave it to you to decide what that means.<br />
<br />
But in the end, he is a morally bankrupt crony capitalist who loves planned parenthood. While a vote for Hillary would be bad for the country, a vote for Donald would be equally bad, but with the added bonus of being terrible for the Republican party.<br />
<br />
We get all of the big government policies of Hillary, but we also get a super racist, sexist bully for a President, who has an R next to his name, so that decent people will be frightened a way from the Republican party for decades. Is that what you want? <br />
<br />
In the end, politics isn't about sports. Do we want our team to win even if they don't believe in the principles we espouse? What is the value in that? Personally, if it's between Hillary and Donald, I'd rather Republicans lose and try to put a principled conservative in the White House in 4 years.<br />
<br />
Which brings me to my last point<br />
<br />
<i>Can Donald Trump beat Hillary Clinton in the general election?</i><br />
No, he can't. I've outlined above why a staunch conservative like myself would not vote for him. There are plenty like me. Do you really think a Republican can win without the solid conservative part of our base?<br />
<br />
Maybe you think I'm an idiot. Maybe you think I'm the only one who thinks this way. Well, take a look at <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2016/03/01/politics/donald-trump-hillary-clinton-bernie-sanders-poll/index.html?sr=fbCNN030116donald-trump-hillary-clinton-bernie-sanders-poll1120AMStoryLink&linkId=21783626">CNN's latest poll</a>. That poll says that Donald Trump loses to Hillary Clinton. In fact, 18 of the last 20 polls say that Donald will lose to Hillary. <br />
<br />
But guess what? That poll, as well as 7 of the last 9 polls, say that Ted Cruz beats Hillary Clinton in a general election. <br />
<br />
So let's pick a principled conservative as our nominee. Let's put a principled conservative in the White House. Let's vote for Ted Cruz.Jeffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10357398682419756851noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3975311211849239826.post-41124082231573944192016-03-01T17:04:00.000-07:002016-03-01T17:04:01.619-07:00My Nominations for the 1941 Retro Hugo AwardsFor the past few years, I've been an active participant in the voting and nominating process for the Hugo Awards. As you may or may not know, part of the rules that govern the Hugo Awards say that if there was a year where there was a World Con but there were no Hugo Awards given, there can be Retro Hugo Awards 75 years later. That means that in 2016, we get to retroactively give awards for 1941.<br />
<br />
The 1941 awards are given for works published in 1940. I haven't read a ton from 1940, but there are a few gems I need to nominate.<br />
<br />
So here are all of my nominations for the 1941 Retro Hugo Award.<br />
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<b>Best Novel</b><br />
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<br />
<i>1. Slan by A.E. Van Vogt</i><br />
<br />
I only have one nominee in this category, because, well, that's all that I have read from 1940. But I really did enjoy Slan. It kind of reminded me of the X-Men. It's about super powered people that are at war with regular people. It's a bit dated. It's supposed to be in the far future, and yet people don't even have personal communication devices of any sort. Nevertheless, it's a really fun read, and I think I would have enjoyed it even more if I read it in 1940.<br />
<br />
<b>Best Novelette</b><br />
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<i>1. Half-Breeds on Venus by Isaac Asimov, Astonishing Stories, December 1940</i><br />
<i>2. Half-Breed by Isaac Asimov, Astonishing Stories, February 1940</i><br />
<b><br /></b>
Both of Asimov's Half-Breed stories are excellent. These are some of the few Asimov stories that deal with aliens. Later in his career, he settled on a galaxy populated only by humans from earth. It's fun to see some of his earlier dabbling in the pulp style alien stories. Interestingly, the first story, <i>Half-Breed </i>does have aliens, but at it's core it's a story about racism, which was probably a big deal to Asimov, as a Jewish person in the 1940s. It's probably the deeper of the 2 stories, but <i>Half-Breeds on Venus</i> has telepathic amphibians and Venusian dinosaurs, so it's hard to beat that.<br />
<br />
<b>Best Short Story</b><br />
<br />
<i>1. Robbie / Strange Playfellow by Isaac Asimov, Super Science Stories, September 1940</i><br />
<i>2. The Callistan Menace by Isaac Asimov, Future Fiction, July 1940</i><br />
<i>3. The Magnificent Possession by Isaac Asimov, Astonishing Stories, April 1940</i><br />
<i>4. Homo Sol by Isaac Asimov, Astounding Science Fiction, September 1940</i><br />
<i>5. Ring Around the Sun by Isaac Asimov, Future Fiction, March 1940</i><br />
<br />
<i>Strange Playfellow</i> (later published as Robbie) is Asimov's first robot story. That alone deserves some kind of recognition. And, it's a cute little story that Asimov wrote to combat the sentiment within science fiction that our technology would destroy us. Eventually, he expanded that idea into the Three Laws of Robotics, but none of these stories feature the Three Laws. Another of my favorites from this list is <i>The Callistan Menace</i>. It's another fun alien story that takes place in our solar system.<br />
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As you can see, I didn't nominate in every category. It turns out my reading from 1940 is somewhat limited. Do you have a favorite science fiction work that I need to read and nominate? Feel free to share it.<br />
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<b><br /></b>Jeffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10357398682419756851noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3975311211849239826.post-6055294956623453202016-02-19T16:07:00.000-07:002016-02-19T16:07:19.746-07:00Escaping the Inversion for President's DayI'm glad that Abraham Lincoln and George Washington were born. It gives me an excuse to do something fun every year. (They were great presidents. I suppose I should be glad about that as well.)<br />
<br />
This year, the number 1 thing I wanted to do was get up in the mountains and be above the inversion. The inversion was pretty bad when we planned it, but there was a storm Sunday night that blew most of it out. But I still wanted to get up into the crisp mountain air. <br />
<br />
We put Jared W in charge of planning it, because he is our official adventure planner. We got in the car and headed up Big Cottonwood Canyon.<br />
<br />
We donned our winter clothing, and the adventure began.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">It's customary for Robyn to complain about the cold whenever we are outside. It's also customary for her to look precious. Isn't she cute?</td></tr>
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We didn't have snowshoes. We just had our boots on. For the most part, the snow was frozen enough that our boots were perfect. Although, I did fall into the snow a few times.<br />
<br />
The beginning of the hike was pretty steep, and was further complicated by the fact that we were on snow, but it was beautiful up there and I was super happy to be out in nature.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPW90BiqI52oYMwV90WjtGi_g_kgfPlaKaYLCuPiQsgW0TxB-b5lyx1Q-WyeCwF1UGPZYhKZxqPo6h5TsSSyALAT1d4KdTAtPztbsl7kjDeSNPwdvkhHy0hiw-51jW3QdHGOqoz2hIr3E/s1600/2016-02-15+10.01.17.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPW90BiqI52oYMwV90WjtGi_g_kgfPlaKaYLCuPiQsgW0TxB-b5lyx1Q-WyeCwF1UGPZYhKZxqPo6h5TsSSyALAT1d4KdTAtPztbsl7kjDeSNPwdvkhHy0hiw-51jW3QdHGOqoz2hIr3E/s400/2016-02-15+10.01.17.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">It's important to get a couple's picture. It's also important for Bryce to photobomb in the back.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgt6mltbDI1AVia0rfBZy6b6pSfAWNvX9RPUFHMakKOv4Txqh9sERCUTEU-9KYHHezKjsF6SFm7M4tOZ7HTI3MSL1ZrO_nnS1pKDSVyx9FaTDXySCuy_OV-tuSfWbBOCfmXUDJaUbqfd68/s1600/2016-02-15+10.06.22.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="292" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgt6mltbDI1AVia0rfBZy6b6pSfAWNvX9RPUFHMakKOv4Txqh9sERCUTEU-9KYHHezKjsF6SFm7M4tOZ7HTI3MSL1ZrO_nnS1pKDSVyx9FaTDXySCuy_OV-tuSfWbBOCfmXUDJaUbqfd68/s400/2016-02-15+10.06.22.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Jared stopped to rest, so I told them both to look cute.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3T5gpcALw0hW6-hFPBMcmccl7ySJfQ8I_T2WwJ0FfZMmImEYOJ-VdmYeNUhoJlefBWL783zrsSyhP9MnlA6tsP1YzqfRg_BQUU4wYDA4QuZ9C8WxMfJnt4iBkCz0ejq5jt2cRN1oz5zg/s1600/2016-02-15+10.16.42.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3T5gpcALw0hW6-hFPBMcmccl7ySJfQ8I_T2WwJ0FfZMmImEYOJ-VdmYeNUhoJlefBWL783zrsSyhP9MnlA6tsP1YzqfRg_BQUU4wYDA4QuZ9C8WxMfJnt4iBkCz0ejq5jt2cRN1oz5zg/s400/2016-02-15+10.16.42.jpg" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Do not underestimate the importance of selfies.</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFDXUVkd4dtwS3dbX2Im0mTPNKuZfmj2RnyMLpXXvC3B2lNbcjNdDkWNP5-AHD3hrlTYmMLngf0EoIaCTaLbLyI-pHujIlIDKiNqYKGFE1-XgRra089kFf8P4NyUhzGwpjaK5p_mckUaY/s1600/2016-02-15+10.16.55.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFDXUVkd4dtwS3dbX2Im0mTPNKuZfmj2RnyMLpXXvC3B2lNbcjNdDkWNP5-AHD3hrlTYmMLngf0EoIaCTaLbLyI-pHujIlIDKiNqYKGFE1-XgRra089kFf8P4NyUhzGwpjaK5p_mckUaY/s400/2016-02-15+10.16.55.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sometimes Robyn just takes a belax in the snowy wilderness. (Belax is a word coined by my niece when she was about 5 years old)</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbUrgJdGQu2Ff7WQzKpA4TGC9xpu8FDvAvZO1HFxQVvTJ9imWEbirqWuJJPCSDTt0UaHQpFzo8GJPEwZSTqFb2DnFlAl1Q6DlOHBthoSX5NEd8k6qcCQsDTv7CRmo0Ww-lGSoeVbERil4/s1600/2016-02-15+10.20.17.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbUrgJdGQu2Ff7WQzKpA4TGC9xpu8FDvAvZO1HFxQVvTJ9imWEbirqWuJJPCSDTt0UaHQpFzo8GJPEwZSTqFb2DnFlAl1Q6DlOHBthoSX5NEd8k6qcCQsDTv7CRmo0Ww-lGSoeVbERil4/s400/2016-02-15+10.20.17.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Here's the whole crew that went on the adventure.</td></tr>
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All in all, it was a successful President's Day. How did you celebrate?Jeffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10357398682419756851noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3975311211849239826.post-62174653737342520942016-02-15T18:15:00.002-07:002016-02-15T18:15:50.504-07:00The Day of LoveValentine's Day is a day of love. I feel like mine was very successful with lots of love from my love.<br />
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The day of love started on Saturday when we ordered pizza at Papa Murphy's. Obviously, it was important to get a heart shaped pizza.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifMnRBnOb378KXBe9jGKoqxLpHAw7XDS4jHKZH0rsoOpWicCimpsM_TI6p7cLscF-LUoIPaJSuZB75VzzIduq2psPOpHZGvCUUdb6br_pS-uzpZUUn0X2wBy8qGQwfsma29Ay4T03gFYM/s1600/2016-02-13+18.48.53-2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifMnRBnOb378KXBe9jGKoqxLpHAw7XDS4jHKZH0rsoOpWicCimpsM_TI6p7cLscF-LUoIPaJSuZB75VzzIduq2psPOpHZGvCUUdb6br_pS-uzpZUUn0X2wBy8qGQwfsma29Ay4T03gFYM/s320/2016-02-13+18.48.53-2.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">It totally looks like a heart... kind of.</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfjwRG6-Ahc7w3W9tVTyhKDxoAFDObp-qniIaL1-4ZN0gk6MZ94mcehgGyxxPhdodvukDYyfD4GEEJ3sQhMMULSE3ruRZVx1GVniVOlDjFFlNGbLSEjOzajEbvCEbsxmbTTyJa65CLWWk/s1600/2016-02-13+18.52.07.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfjwRG6-Ahc7w3W9tVTyhKDxoAFDObp-qniIaL1-4ZN0gk6MZ94mcehgGyxxPhdodvukDYyfD4GEEJ3sQhMMULSE3ruRZVx1GVniVOlDjFFlNGbLSEjOzajEbvCEbsxmbTTyJa65CLWWk/s400/2016-02-13+18.52.07.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A selfie with the heart shaped pizza. Except it doesn't look heart shaped at all.</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4D0aiGT6ER_5t02UtVDbfynkBImpDNvZdhed_2-n_S_SccuirMWQ0yhIgG9xC4lDIMMVyv957tBQElEJV01tOkOsRsCjzEWCrSwM2TE4JvIAUQauO9ZeprHOQO0m_W5I61_0LsEZ1M38/s1600/2016-02-13+18.52.15.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4D0aiGT6ER_5t02UtVDbfynkBImpDNvZdhed_2-n_S_SccuirMWQ0yhIgG9xC4lDIMMVyv957tBQElEJV01tOkOsRsCjzEWCrSwM2TE4JvIAUQauO9ZeprHOQO0m_W5I61_0LsEZ1M38/s400/2016-02-13+18.52.15.jpg" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I tried to take a selfie with Robyn while she cut the pizza. But I fogot to put myself in the picture.</td></tr>
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In addition to the heart shaped pizza, we also ordered a chicken bacon artichoke pizza. I didn't look at it when I took it from them, but when I got home Robyn took one look at it and exclaimed, "Oh no!" It turned out they gave us the wrong pizza. But the good news is that when I went back to get the right pizza, we got to keep the wrong pizza for free. <br />
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True love really does conquer all. Our true love got us a free pizza.<br />
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Valentine's Day morning, I woke up early to make Robyn breakfast. Unbeknownst to me, she had placed nerdy valentines all over the house. Here are just a few examples.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitKA2jorbF3NMQD7WlLe-37Ngw4NEgGqRqaRoKU9i-3GMqf3Sm6rC9lGMVYKxut_6ioP_8oWlJIaATi35COMBHzClWrwsrCq-91IRdUMchLo4xrSX-8ey_Oyx-FGJQHzVzl8f4gEVQ2mM/s1600/2016-02-14+06.38.33.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitKA2jorbF3NMQD7WlLe-37Ngw4NEgGqRqaRoKU9i-3GMqf3Sm6rC9lGMVYKxut_6ioP_8oWlJIaATi35COMBHzClWrwsrCq-91IRdUMchLo4xrSX-8ey_Oyx-FGJQHzVzl8f4gEVQ2mM/s320/2016-02-14+06.38.33.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2chCVChyrF63g6EPjIbVOHau-NujXdrxRKITjOdRpDfHkEq8Sfiwk-iMzURGsadGrdTx_-fCF2Ln20JizkwVjBn2LObBP7U3hrG3WDjh8P1By-vXuL86NCCbsjg_n88EZM9hj_yVSWFI/s1600/2016-02-14+07.27.37.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2chCVChyrF63g6EPjIbVOHau-NujXdrxRKITjOdRpDfHkEq8Sfiwk-iMzURGsadGrdTx_-fCF2Ln20JizkwVjBn2LObBP7U3hrG3WDjh8P1By-vXuL86NCCbsjg_n88EZM9hj_yVSWFI/s320/2016-02-14+07.27.37.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj99zEM2NYVnyhWjBucCuPsBIunKTqM_VV15_2wlcwsxeUXD-UKdxsM2agAGjcKqVw7dsOy6i6F5aym_OzD5vpL88vYDduid4oKTI9Zf9V6oQoOQDp_tplGFE2jajN7dsRoMh-9yVL3XBg/s1600/2016-02-14+08.03.12.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj99zEM2NYVnyhWjBucCuPsBIunKTqM_VV15_2wlcwsxeUXD-UKdxsM2agAGjcKqVw7dsOy6i6F5aym_OzD5vpL88vYDduid4oKTI9Zf9V6oQoOQDp_tplGFE2jajN7dsRoMh-9yVL3XBg/s320/2016-02-14+08.03.12.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_ACb8NyU3v6_HvNHpSM7Z13kmcrpXBtCCtiwrlo_MS6evBv76lnGAy4ks0HXhG19rsMcCFatnf5II5QwXqW34teud2DyNSACcTGodQoWJTB5d6MqOM3lZPvWIkHpa2-DJGak0YUrO3Lo/s1600/2016-02-14+08.05.27.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_ACb8NyU3v6_HvNHpSM7Z13kmcrpXBtCCtiwrlo_MS6evBv76lnGAy4ks0HXhG19rsMcCFatnf5II5QwXqW34teud2DyNSACcTGodQoWJTB5d6MqOM3lZPvWIkHpa2-DJGak0YUrO3Lo/s320/2016-02-14+08.05.27.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMLepFmIZ49-ZGXZ5PO3V1u5OAoU3dXY89E5fGiQL9JpnC7q-Z6oAv_yYYjqNJzwUbo7KHA8HycmnMqHOCer_Kiw24zjlB2jDwtZJkdqf3gN7gXoDq6HCRn_h9uBBdS9EHuj0LmJTeQgQ/s1600/2016-02-14+08.15.10.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMLepFmIZ49-ZGXZ5PO3V1u5OAoU3dXY89E5fGiQL9JpnC7q-Z6oAv_yYYjqNJzwUbo7KHA8HycmnMqHOCer_Kiw24zjlB2jDwtZJkdqf3gN7gXoDq6HCRn_h9uBBdS9EHuj0LmJTeQgQ/s320/2016-02-14+08.15.10.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
I'm pretty sure that was true love.<br />
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Of course, she got some true love as well. I gave her a box of chocolates with a little note I had written.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitDK_3uzse8NL3lPtnDny32wxAwPKHg5Ks4rPSEtjPeswV58Ujo7QPd6mc3EmwqYIW0sRuUXqYzx_kADnhNgEuanpb-yt4aI4I_lgUqtI1gNqkRP0dLzTHx2g23jElhmk2BvFyirLyiKY/s1600/2016-02-14+08.03.18.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitDK_3uzse8NL3lPtnDny32wxAwPKHg5Ks4rPSEtjPeswV58Ujo7QPd6mc3EmwqYIW0sRuUXqYzx_kADnhNgEuanpb-yt4aI4I_lgUqtI1gNqkRP0dLzTHx2g23jElhmk2BvFyirLyiKY/s400/2016-02-14+08.03.18.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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Free pizza and nerdy valentines are clearly signs of true love. What love did you receive on the day of love?Jeffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10357398682419756851noreply@blogger.com0