A Valentine's Waterfall

I had a fantastic Valentine's Day.  Of course, the best part was the person I spent it with, so I'm pretty sure it would have been great no matter what.  But I did enjoy the activities that were associated with Valentine's Day this year.

It all really started the night before, on Valentine's Eve.  Robyn and I generally don't like to go out to dinner on Valentine's Day because it's super crowded.  We usually go out that weekend, but since Valentine's Day was on the weekend we figured both Friday and Saturday everywhere would be packed.  So Robyn volunteered to make us a fancy dinner Friday night to celebrate.  She made Shrimp Scampi with some asparagus and mushrooms.  It was fantastic!  I'm pretty sure Robyn makes better food than most restaurants so I will never complain about a home cooked meal.

Robyn is modeling the delicious meal she made.

Since we weren't going to go out for dinner, Robyn told me I was in charge of taking her out for breakfast on Saturday.  That was basically the greatest idea known to man.  I got a delicious home cooked dinner and then I got a delicious restaurant cooked breakfast.  I took her to Callie's Cafe in Orem.  I had killer hash browns.  (If you've never had killer hash browns, you need to.  They are basically the greatest thing that ever happened to breakfast.)

After breakfast, we wanted to go on a hike.  This time of year is fairly difficult to find a good hiking spot, because most of the best ones are covered in snow.  We found one that wasn't completely covered, but it certainly wasn't snow free.  We did a little hike in Bell Canyon.

It started out snow free, at the trail head.  We got to wander through some beautiful woods, and hike next to a beautiful river.

Well hello there, river.

As we started to climb into higher elevation, we encountered snow.

Luckily, Robyn looked totally cute in the snow.

As you can see in the picture above, the snow wasn't deep, and since it's a high traffic trail, it had all been packed down anyway.  But that was part of the problem.  All the snow that had been packed down and frozen was super slippery.  It was fun on flat areas such as the picture above, but other areas weren't so flat.

This is an example of a not flat area.

Whether you were going up or going down, there was difficulty with the ice.  It was also difficult because sometimes it just looked like mud, but it turned out it was ice covered in mud.  Luckily, there were plenty of trees to hold onto.  I never actually fell, but I definitely slipped a few times and did one of those moves where you run in place as you're trying to get your feet back under you.

It took us a lot longer than we had originally anticipated, but we eventually arrive at the waterfall, which was our destination.

It's important for Robyn to do her pose in front of the waterfall.

Also important is my hands in my pocket pose.

Selfies are the most important.

After our photo shoot, Robyn made sure to go stand on a rock in a way that looked like she would fall to her death.

Good news: she didn't fall to her death.

It was a great experience.  We had a lot of fun, and I'm glad that I got to see an icy, snowy waterfall.  We went to Bridal Veil Falls last week, which is an annual winter tradition, because I love to see it all frozen.  Unfortunately, winter didn't show up for that visit, so I was glad that winter decided to make an appearance.

All in all, it was a great Valentine's Day.  Beautiful food, beautiful waterfall, beautiful girl.  What more could I ask for?

Happy Valentine's Day to My Love

As you know, Valentine's Day is quickly approaching.  I thought I'd write a little something about my valentine.  My wife Robyn is possibly the most amazing person I've ever met.  Sometimes I feel bad for every other man that lives on the earth.  It often occurs to me that every other man should be jealous of me, because it's not humanly possible for any other wife to be as amazing as mine.  (Of course, I hope that all of them feel that way about their wives, even if they are wrong because mine truly is the best.)

I just wanted to share a few of the things that I love about Robyn.  So if you don't want to read mushiness, you should probably walk away now.  You can join me again with my next post.  I promise not to be offended.

Without further ado, here are a few of the things that make Robyn great.


She's funny

Robyn and I like to laugh.  A. Lot.  She makes me laugh all the time.  Her wit is so much fun.  My favorite times are when we are laying in bed before we go to sleep.  We just chat about our day, and we usually find something hilarious to laugh about.  She's funny stuff.

She's Creative
Did I mention that Robyn planned a Nerf archery date?  Who does that?  I love that she is super creative, and always comes up with great ideas.

I'm the assistant cub scout master in my ward.  The cub master is always impressed with the games I come up with.  One time he asked me where I get such great ideas.  I told him that my wife came up with it.  Now I'm always in charge of talking to Robyn to get great ideas from her.  That's how creative and brilliant she is.

She helps me be healthy

As most of you know, Robyn and I have lost a lot of weight over the past couple years.  I've lost more than her, but that's because I had more to lose.  It's also because she has been such a great support system.  She loves to exercise with me.  Together we've gotten into hiking, Scuba Diving, backpacking, and we even tried snow shoeing.  She encourages me to spend time getting more healthy, and she makes super delicious meals that are low calorie but satisfying and scrumptious.  Basically, she should get all of the credit for working hard to lose the weight she's lost, and she should get 70% of the credit for all the weight I've lost.

She's fun

I know I already talked about how funny she is.  Fun certainly includes being funny, but there's more to it.  She's such a joy to be around.  There's not a person on this planet who dislikes Robyn.  Everyone loves to spend time with her.  She has such a joyful personality that you can't help but feel happy when you're around her.

She's kind
Robyn loves people.  She genuinely cares about how others feel.  She cares about the well-being of others and she goes out of her way to take care of people.  She does so many things for me that I can't even count, and she is constantly helping out other people, whether it be at work, or in the ward or in her family, she never passes up an opportunity to serve.

She's a hard worker

Robyn is not afraid to roll up her sleeves and get to work.  Whether it's working extra hours at work, or doing various menial tasks at home, she is always up for the challenge.

She's a thinker

I can't tell you how many times I've heard something in the news and I just can't wait to get home and ask Robyn about it.  I find it so stimulating to hear her thoughts and to get her perspective.  She really thinks about things and I absolutely love hearing what she has to say.

She's Beautiful

She's always embarrassed when I say things about how pretty she is.  But she is, so she'll just have to deal with it.

Basically, Robyn is the complete package.  I'm sorry to every other guy in the world.  I wish your wife could be as awesome as mine.  This list is by no means comprehensive.  I could write a novel.  The point is:  Robyn, I love you.  I love you more than bacon.  I love you more than great books.  I'm so happy that you are my Valentine.  Happy Valentine's Day!

A Date with Katniss

I'm married to Katniss Everdeen.  Okay, that's not actually true.  But my wife is basically the same as Katniss.  Not so much in the "I kill other children who are trying to kill me in order to survive" sort of way.  Also not so much in the "I'm the reluctant face of a nationwide rebellion against tyranny" sort of way.  Mostly, just in the "I shot an arrow once" sort of way.

When I say she shot an arrow, it wasn't so much in the "I shot a real arrow and became a master at it in order to feed my family" sort of way, but more in the "I bought a Nerf toy bow and arrow for a date night with my husband" sort of way.

You see, Robyn and I try to do a date night every weekend.  We take turns being in charge of planning the date.  Probably 90% of the time, this means we take turns deciding where we'll go out to eat.  But on Friday, Robyn decided to get creative with our date.  She went to the store and purchased some Nerf weapons, and we became toy archers for the evening.

We setup these blocks as targets.

I make archery look good.

It turns out that toy bows and arrows are even harder to aim than the real thing.  It took us like 45 minutes to knock down all of our targets we had setup.  But the important thing is that we did it.

If Robyn is ever in the Hunger Games, The Capitol will broadcast this picture to all the districts.

If our society ever implements the Hunger Games, Robyn and I could totally win it.  But only if everyone agrees that the only weapons allowed must be Nerf weapons.

Check Your Blind Spot

You probably think that the title of this post is some kind of metaphor about how you should be more aware in your life, and look for the areas where you are not seeing reality.  That would be a great blog post for the future.  This one is just a rant about drivers.  Is it really that hard to check your blind spot?  Considering the number of times that I've seen people not do it, you'd think it was some kind of Herculean task.

There's one particular individual I'd like to rant about that personifies mankind's inability to turn their head slightly before moving their steering wheel.  I have affectionately named our villain, "GMC Sonoma license plate 2469G".  That's just a name I came up with.  I call her Lil' 9G for short.

A few days ago, I was driving along on the freeway, minding my own business.  Lil' 9G was passing me in the lane to my left.  Here's the thing about passing me.  9G came from behind me, that means there was no way she didn't know where I was.  As she passed me, she got to the point where I was in her blind spot.

A normal person would think, "That person that was in front of me a moment ago is not visible in my mirror.  I bet they are in my blind spot.  I should keep moving forward until I can see them in my mirror.  Then I should check my blind spot to be sure it's safe before moving over."  But that's not what Lil' 9G thought.  Being the wise person she is, her thought process went something like this.  "Just a moment ago I saw a car in front of me.  I went forward a few feet, logic would say that person is now to the right of me, but since I can't see them, they must have magically vanished.  It's like when I was little and I would close my eyes to make everyone else vanish from the world.  Well, I guess I better crank my wheel to the right."

As Lil' 9G began entering my lane, I pondered my options.  To my right was a giant semi, so I couldn't go there.   I did crank my wheel a little to the right to avoid a collision.  I came within a few inches of the semi.  I also laid on my horn.  Lil' 9G said, "I hear a loud sound.  I guess I better keep going."  I slammed on my brake and 9G just came right on in.  I'm pretty sure the person behind me had to slam on their brake to avoid hitting me.  I almost spun out from swerving to avoid 9G and then swerving the other way when I realized I was about to hit a semi.

You want to know the worst part of the whole ordeal?  Well, I suppose the worst part is that I came within inches of death.  But the second worst part is that Lil' 9G was completely oblivious.  She could have actually killed me and been none the wiser.  In fact, I choose to believe that Lil' 9G has already killed countless millions.

The moral of the story is that Lil' 9G is still at large.  If you see her, stay far away, she might kill you.  Also, if you have the option, feel free to slash her tires.

The second moral of the story is that you should check your blind spot.  It's really not that difficult.

The Time My Wife made me Steal Ice

I'm a hardened criminal.

Okay, not really.  I didn't actually steal anything.  I don't actually have the ability to do that.  However, it was very similar to stealing.

Here's the story.

On Saturday my wife went grocery shopping.  That's a true act of love, because I hate grocery shopping.  (I hate shopping in general, but grocery shopping happens to be a subset of shopping.)  After performing this great act of love and sacrifice, Robyn came home and let me bring all the groceries in.  (In exactly one trip, as per my lifelong commitment to never take more than that.)

I brought everything in and then suddenly Robyn gave a shout of sheer pain and exasperation:  "Oh no!"  To properly understand the urgency of the situation, you would have to hear her tone.  But just believe me when I say that it was clearly a big problem.  I quickly asked her what was the matter.

"I bought the ice but I forgot to pick it up!"  It was one of those situations where you tell the cashier that you want to buy a bag of ice, but then you grab it yourself on the way out the door.  She had forgotten the "grab it yourself" step.

It was very urgent because we were having a friend over for dinner and she wanted to do Italian sodas.  I offered to run to the store and grab the ice.

She gave me the receipt and told me to walk in and talk to customer service to get permission to grab the ice.

I drove to the store.  I walked over to the ice machine.  I grabbed a bag of ice and got back in my car. I didn't talk to anyone.  I just took it.  I had the receipt in my hand in case anyone questioned me.  But no one did.  So as far as everyone was concerned, I totally stole it.

I'm not gonna lie.  It was kind of exciting.  Even though I wasn't stealing it, since it was already paid for, it still felt like I was going to "get caught".

But more importantly, the Italian sodas were delicious.

2014 Year in Review

I normally write this post at the very beginning of January. As you may be aware, it's almost February. But I'm writing it now because this is when I got around to it. Here are some of the cool things I did in the year 2014. It was a pretty good year. Clearly, not as good as 2015 is going to be. But no year can compete with 2015. Am I right?

 Without further ado, here are some of my favorite events or accomplishments of 2014 (in no particular order):

• Walked/Ran 591 miles
• Biked 632 miles
• Went on a cruise
• Set foot in 9 states
• Utah ( I live here)
• Idaho
• Washington
• Texas
• Pennsylvania 
• New Jersey 
• Wyoming
• Arizona 
• Nevada
• Set foot in 4 countries
• United States (I live here)
• Honduras
• Belize
• Mexico
• Lost 11 pounds  (After getting off diabetes medication, my weight loss significantly slowed down.  But at least it's going in the right direction.)
• Did our first Scuba Dive in the Ocean
• Wrote on this blog 90 times (not my best year)
• Took up backpacking
• Went inside 4 LDS Temples that were new to us
• Ogden Utah
• Houston Texas
• Rexburg Idaho
• Idaho Falls Idaho
• Acquired 2 new nephews (I know it's totally offensive that I wrote about one but not the other.)
• Ethan
• Logan
• Read 72 individual works totaling 17,461 pages.

It was a pretty good year, if I do say so myself.