The other side of me... and Deiter F. Uchtdorf

Ellen Eccles Opera Theater in Logan Utah


No, I am not making reference to the often heard cliche of Hannah Montana. I am literally referring to the other side of me that I feel that most people don't know. Most people think of me as this adventurous, outdoor, sporty type person, but while I do love to do these type of things, I also have another love.

I sometimes think I was born in the wrong generation. I think I would have fit in well in the early 1900 when people dressed up to go out. When people wore white gloves and attended the theater. I love going to the theater and NO, I am not talking the movie theater. I am referring to the theater of other art forms. Last week I spend time seeing 6 plays at the Shakespeare theater in Cedar City and 2 plays at the Tuacahn Ampitheater in St. George. This week however, I have been up in Logan for the Opera Festival and I have seen productions of Carmen, Cavalleria Rusticana and Pagliacci (all sung in Italian with English subtitles), Mikado and Camelot.

It is thanks to my Aunt Ruth that I get to do this each year (I'm going on 9 or so years...) and she always gets the best seats; 4th row center. I turned around during the second intermission of Carmen yesterday and realized that kind of crowd I was in. There was a sea of white heads surrounding me. Out of the hundreds of those in attendance, I very well could have been the youngest.

This didn't bother me. I actually kind of revel in it. Then I noticed that 5 rows directly behind me sat Dieter F. Uchtdorf. It is through attending the Opera over the years that I realized how much the apostles also love the theater. While sitting in this same theater over the years, I have also seen Elder Maxwell, Elder Nelson and Elder Perry in attendance. While at a different theater, I also ran into Elder Oaks. Now I can add President Uchtdorf to that list.

Another performance we attended while here was a show dedicated to the music of Rogers and Hammerstein. I grew up watching musicals and am very familiar with the music of The Sound of Music, The King and I, South Pacific, Oklahoma, Carousel etc. I once again had that feeling that I was born in the wrong generation when toward the end of the program, the conductor turned and had the audience join in singing with the artists. Yes, I knew the words and I joined the sea of white heads in singing along to the wonderful music of Rogers and Hammerstein.

So while many of you think that outdoors and adventures is the only thing I am about... think again. There are a lot of sides to me that most don't seem to know.

What constitutes home?

Watching the Monticello Parade

I went to my hometown of Monticello last weekend for a family reunion. We had the entire Buckboard camp sight reserved for our family. It was so good to see all of my relatives and be able to spend time on the mountain. I felt at home on the good old Abajo's. There is nothing quite like the Blue Mountains... I got to camp, see the stars, bike up the Blanding road... Ahh, it was so refreshing and it brought back a lot of good memories.

Ironically, when I was back in town for the big 24th of July parade, I didn't feel so at home anymore. I grew up in Monticello from age 4 until I graduated and left home at 17. However, it just felt odd and it was hard to be there, even though I know just about everyone in town. It made me think about what really consitutes "home". The actual house I grew up in is no longer my house, but I don't think the building itself is what constitutes home... It's an odd thought...

Either way, it was so great to see the family!
Here are some photos from the reunion

Heather and I with some of Andrea's kids


The family talent show is always a highlight. Here is Julie's son Tanner doing a nice rendition of Elvis

Haley and I... she now has 2 kids!


Some of the Bunker clan at dinner one night


Sam, watching his fishing pole like a hawk... or maybe not so much...


We actually did catch some fish however...

There was a little pony that the kids loved to ride


While I was home, I also did the Lloyd's Lake 5K. My time wasn't all that great considering I'd been camping for two days and eating lots of brownies, but it was fun to run with my brothers, cousins and nephews. Plus, it was in Monticello, which means I knew most of the runners. My old cross country coach was there as well, which made it extra cool. I'd also like to say that I beat one of the girls that as the #2 runner on our team back in the day... I guess it is only fair to mention that she is 6 months pregnant though!

This was the first real official 5K for Adam...


The course around the lake is the same course we ran for our XC in high school. It was great to run it again. We got a little rained on...


At the starting line


Jordan won the race, not surprisingly!


Trisdan didn't run the 5K with us because she did the triathlon in Blanding instead. It's good to see she is still running too. We ran XC together all through high school.

The Second Dirtiest Tourist Attraction

I went up to Seattle this last weekend to act as the support vehicle for a few friends who were riding in the "Seattle to Portland" bike ride. While we were there, we went on a few adventure in Seattle. One attraction we visited is known as the second dirtiest tourist attraction in the world; the first being the blarney stone in Ireland. It's known as the gum wall. There is a wall at Pike Place Market where everyone sticks their gum... talk about germs. Sick. It was pretty cool to see however. We all added a piece of our own gum so we could say we left our mark..

Nothing like the 4th of July...

The 4th of July in Provo is the best. Not only are there so many things to do with the Freedom Festival, but everyone in town participates. Talk about feeling patriotism! For those of you who know me well, you know that the day started out with a 5K. I ran with a couple friends. There were over 2,000 runners!



Following the race, we went to the parade. The highlight of the day however, was our bbq party. This was our 5th annual and it was a huge success. The boat of beverages made another appearance (which is my personal favorite). I love the 4th of July!

Here is Nate and I with the boat of beverages!


A view of our backyard from the balcony


Emily, Michelle, Nate and I (Nate and Emily both drove down from Arizona... It was so good to see them!)


We had quite the spread...


Nate and I enjoying the fantastic weather


Ian and Ryan were in charge of the barbequing


Joslyn, Kristy and I (Joslyn was our roommate before she got married)


Kristy and her soon to be husband Ryan (check out the view of the mountain)


Mom Plessman (Kristy's mom) was in town again and we were so glad! Here she is with Colton


The day was a great success! Quite the tradition...

"Master Jensen"

So I did it. I finally did it! Yesterday was my thesis defense and I passed with flying colors. It couldn't have gone better had I planned it myself and that includes the feedback I received from my committee. I can't believe I have really made it to this point. It feels so liberating. I graduate in August.

The pictures show some of the folks who came to see my presentation...

Some good friends who came to support me


Mom Plessman and Kristy


Wendy and I... Wendy defended the day before me and also passed!


My mom and two of my brothers also came to support me


What a great day!

Fun in the kitchen...

I babysat my nieces and nephews last night so Joe and Julie could go out. I noticed as I was cooking dinner that there were some bananas that were getting to that point of not being very edible anymore... I then noticed there were some nice large zucchini from my brothers garden sitting on the counter as well...

Suffice it to say, we made banana and zucchini muffins. The kitchen smelled so good. The girls were great helpers and Ashton quickly volunteered to be the official camera man. His video dialogue is hilarious!

Ashton was not only the camera man, but the music man. He made sure we were well supplied with good songs.


Abby just enjoyed watching us dance and sing around the kitchen


Haley was pretty proud of the muffins


Annemerie struck a few poses every once in a while


Ashton's dialogue to this video is hilarious!


I love having family so close.

Runners are Wild

The Alpine A-Team


"Runners are wild. Joggers are runners that have been domesticated."

I love running. My most recent race really goes to show that runners are "wild" as the quote says. To think that this last weekend there were over 7,000 runners that were willing to participate in an event such as the "Wasatch Back" is mind boggling. For those of you unfamiliar with the Wasatch Back, the race goes from Logan to Park City. Each team has 12 runners to complete 188 miles. Each runner runs three times over the duration of the trek, with 1-2 hours of sleep in-between if they are lucky. Sounds like suicide, right? NO! I love it. It is such an exhilarating experience.

This year I ran with a team of colleagues. We were known as the Alpine A-Team. Joe was on my team again and we were in the same van, which was a lot of fun. He made a fun running soundtrack for each car with the A-team theme song and a bunch of other songs about running. Our Captain Barry Graff gave us each a nickname. I was dubbed as "Little Red-Running Hood" and Joe was coined "Dash".

I was runner 9 and ran just under 17 miles total. My second leg of the race began at about 3:30 AM and was 9.6 miles. Nothing like running through the country in the middle of the night with a headlamp on your head to give you a runners high. Here are a few photos...

Joe got really creative with some of his photos. I thought this one was kind of cool.


Running up the Ragnar Hill


This sign says it all. That little runner on the left hand side is me...


Joe getting a road kill on his last leg of the race


My race face just as I'm getting ready to start my first leg


Joe pretending to be running because we missed him coming through the exchange point the first time... Gotta love it!


This is what the sunrise looked like as I was running my second leg... It was breathtaking.


The entire team ran the last 100 yards into the finish line together


We were team 127... This shows our final time; 27 hours, 31 minutes and 49 seconds.


Our team ended up taking 114th over all, with 700 or so teams actually completing the race. Captain Graff has already purchased us a team again next year, so we are going to come back more prepared and even better next year!