Craig's newest quote...

So most of you will remember Craig from my past post. Well he had quite a funny quote today when we went to visit. He was in the army during Vietnam and we asked him to tell us a story. He thought for a minute and said...
"There was a lot of pot smoking in Vietnam.... short story." We had to refrain from falling out of our chairs laughing! That was the extent of his stories of Vietnam.

Our friend Greg went with us this week to visit and we made a comment about how Greg wasn't allowed to grow a beard since he goes to BYU. Craig got this funny look on his face and said... "Wait a minute... didn't Brigham Young have a beard?!" He does have a point.. what a guy.

Trampoline Heaven

So for those of you who have never been to "Jump On It," I highly suggest it. You have to initially get over the smell of sweaty bodies and stinky feet, but once you do, it is well worth the ride. Imagine one large warehouse room full of nothing but trampolines back to back to back... Trampoline Heaven.

I spent hour after hour jumping on a trampoline when I was little. In fact, my dad once sold trampolines, so we would sometime have more than one set up in our backyard at the same time. However, still not quite the same effect as this. It was incredible! Here are some pictures and video to show the excitement. Notice the height in some of the videos. So much fun!

Crack the egg at it's finest!


It takes me back to when I was a kid...

Just one more entry about snowshoeing...

So I know that 2 or my last three entries have been about snowshoeing, but I couldn't resist writing one more. I will try to refrain from writing about our next few trips, but this one had to be written. This past weekend I went snowshoeing again... the ironic thing is that I did the same trail as I did last week. However, it is one of my favorite trails and this week I took some different friends. Friends who haven't had the joy of experiencing the wonders of the Tibble Fork Trail. I am amazed at the joy it brings me. I know I have become an avid fan of snowshoeing when my first thought when I see snow start to fall, is "when can I make it to the trails?" Here are some photos from our President's Day trip.


This one is just as it started snowing, yet everything was so still.




Making our way down the trail...



This one shows how deep the snow was in places...

Ode to Connie and Craig

This is Craig...



and this is Connie.



Connie and Craig are two of my favorite people. This blog is in honor of them not only for this reason, but because Connie passed away this week.

Kim and I go to visit Connie and Craig every Sunday afternoon at the Old Folks home in Springville. Connie and Craig have a slightly different story than most. They actually met, and got married, IN the Old Folks home. That's right... they didn't just check in together, they actually met there and decided to tie the knot right there in the front lobby, right near the cafeteria. Connie and Craig are special people. While they both had/have their ailments and troubles, they were always in high spirits and were so kind. Craig always insisted to be the gentleman. Every time we show up to visit, he would immediately stand and offer us his seat. His face always lights up when he sees us standing in the doorway. We are still trying to convince him that he needs to quit smoking. He tries to convince us though that God created Tobacco and it's good for him!

While Craig was content with smoking, eating and watching movies, Connie liked to spend her time a little differently. She liked to do the weekly craft and she liked to string beads and always had beautiful new jewelry to show us each week. To give Connie something to do, we gave her a pack of Uno cards. It was her favorite thing to do when we would come visit.

All of my grandparents have passed away and are gone. Connie and Craig are like surrogate grandparents of such... I am happy for Connie now that she is out of pain and in a better place, but it makes me sad for Craig. Kim and I stopped by to take some treats on Valentines Day and heard the bad news. Craig was still his cheery self and like clock-work, he jumped up to offer his seat. What a guy. What a gal. I feel honored to know them.

Snowshoeing at Tibble Fork

Geoffrey and I just after we made it to the top...

I have become a fanatic for snowshoeing. The more I go, the more I want to go. It is so addicting. It provides great quiet contemplative time as well as a lot of fun. There is nothing quite like being in nature's playground and having the noise and busy-ness of regular life tuned out for a little while. Plus, I've been told that it is the best form of cross-training for runners!

My boss at work decided I should be in charge of all snowshoeing trips for the year. He and his wife have been dying to do the Tibble Fork trail, which happens to be one of my favorites. So when he shouted at me from his office Friday afternoon with the weather forecast for the night being snowy, Saturday's trip was put into action. With the moisture in the valley being mostly rain, we didn't know what to expect in the mountains, but we gave it a try anyway. We were pleasantly surprised. The snow was moist, but new and we even got some fresh powder as we made our way to the top of the mountain.


Joe and Ashton in the meadow




John (my boss) was excited to be able to bring the dog...

Who has ever heard of an indoor 5K?

I love to run races. However, sometimes the same old races, get exactly that... old. I like to try new and exciting races that somehow are distinguished among the throng of races available out there. So when my friend Nick sent me to the link for the UVU Indoor 5K, I just couldn't resist. I mean how can you pass up the chance to race inside... and not on an indoor track! Talk about new and exciting!

For those of you unfamiliar with UVU campus, it is built in a way that you can pretty much get to any building on campus without having to go outdoors, making an indoor 5K possible. We started in the Mckay events center, but made it into many buildings across campus, including the library! The best part was to watch the faces of those who didn't know about the event. There they are, unsuspectingly being dilligent students on a Saturday morning, studing at the library tables, to be interuppted by a throng of young to middle ages and old men and women come running by wth i-pod in hand.

The best part were the stairs. Yes, there were stairs and lots of them. However, I being on the younger side of some of the male runners around me, it was great to be able to take large strides and bound up and down the many flights. It was a great place to pass runners up. Talk about a runners high! :)

With this being the first year for this race, it was rather unorganized and a little confusing at times. However, for only $10 (which all went to Habitat for Humanity) I got a great t-shirt (both cute and good quality), a pancake breakfast and the chance to run through the halls of a university. It was exhilarating.

Snowshoeing the Abajo's

Dustin and I just as we started the trek...

I got to go to the good old town of Monticello last weekend. I went with Dustin Randall and Morgan Barton (who are also from Monticello) and my friends Annie and Marianne. We snowshoed across the Abajo's to Bronson's cabin. We didn't get started until about 4:00 in the afternoon, so we only had about two hours of daylight. Our remaining three hours were in the dark with headlamps, but the snowshoeing was incredible! I loved how quiet it was and the stars in the country are a sight to behold. We stayed the night in the cabin (melting snow to make soup and hot cocoa) and snowshoed back out the next morning. It was an amazing trip and it was so good to be back on the Abajo's! We sang through quite a few verses of the Blue Mountain Song. "Blue Mountain your azure deep... blue mountain with sides so steep... blue mountain with horse head on your side, you have won my love to keep."



Here is the cabin with some mountain peaks in the background.




It was so much fun to tread our own path and not follow a trail.



Can you see the joy on our faces? :)



You better believe our cabin had an outhouse and it was a good 25 yards from the house for obvious reasons...


This is just after making it to the cabin after our 5 hour trek