Utah/ California Trip!

Here is how I spent my amazing two week vacation with my family!

Sunday 28th: Dan drove me to the airport and eventually convinced me he would be ok without me for two weeks :).  I then nervously headed for my first flight by myself.  I was really glad to sit by a girl about my age from BYU-ID, I was worried I would end up by the person who talks the WHOLE flight!  Nope! We had a quick chat and then I got to read my book.  My parents picked me up at the Salt Lake Airport.

Monday 29th: We loaded the high-tech van my parents rented and headed out!  We stopped in St. George to eat at Brick Oven YUM!  The booth we sat at happened to have a picture of Jacob Hamblin (3rd Great Uncle) above it.  From St. George we went to Las Vegas.  Dad and Jake went to a car show while mom and I napped and relaxed.  We were all so tired that night we went to bed around 9pm.

Tuesday 30th: We drove from Las Vegas to Yuma, California where we stopped at a cool 50's diner with a gift shop full of old time memorabilia.  We then drove to Fresno and got ready to go to the Fresno Mission Farewell Fireside.  As soon as we pulled up to the church, I jumped out and went to search for my long lost sister.  She was up by the piano practicing the song she sang for the fireside.  Her back was to me and I went up and tapped her on the shoulder.  She turned around and fell into my arms and started bawling.  The fireside was really good and Erin's song was beautiful!
It's not a vacation without swimming, so Jake and I went swimming when we returned to the hotel.  We had to get our swim in before we had a missionary with us!

Wednesday 31st: Happy Halloween!  Turns out the people of Fresno aren't crazy...it was just Halloween!  We went to the Mission Home to pick Erin up, and ended up having breakfast with all the missionaries who were going home.  We got to hear the final words from the Mission President.  Erin left the Mission Home and came with us.  She took us around her mission and we met people taught.  It was very special.  Erin was such a good example to the people she worked with and they loved her!

Thursday 1st: We went to the Oakland Temple to visit my Great Aunt and Uncle who are serving a mission at the visitor's center there.  Northern California is so pretty this time of year.  We then visited a family that Erin is friends with in Sacramento.  We stayed the night just east of Reno.

Friday 2nd: Long haul home!  We, mostly I, drove across the barren wasteland that is Nevada and the Salt Flats...We drove to LDSBC to have Erin released by the Stake President.  It was a great experience.  Yay we got to listen to normal music again!  Jake took us to ice cream in his Chevelle.

Saturday 3rd:  Mom, Erin, and I went to super Saturday.  I then had lunch with my long lost high school friends.  It was nice to catch up.

Sunday 4th: Time to visit Dan's side of the family.  I went to the Gingell Mingle and we all sang happy birthday to Dan over the phone.

Monday 5th-Tuesday 6th: Sick :P Enjoying the comforts of home!

Wednesday 7th: Mom, Erin, and I went to lunch with my Mother-In-Law and had a good time.  We then went Christmas shopping, I got everything except for gifts for Daniel.

Thursday 8th: Jake, Erin, and I played around in Scheels.

Friday 9th: Erin and I woke up early to get to Logan before the snow hit...ya that didn't happen.  We had to get off of I-15 and take 89 through Davis/Weber counties because of the snow.  We also went 30mph through Sardine Canyon.  We made it to Logan safely though!  We went straight to Jake and Hannah's house.  BABY JOSIE!!!  She is so stinkin' cute!  After chatting with Hannah we visited Jake at work.  We then went to lunch with my aunts.  Friday night we spent in Nibley playing Charades and staying up late with 'girl talk'.

Saturday 10th:  I drove down to Kaysville and then drove to Bluffdale with Jake, Hannah, and Josie.  We took Josie for a horse back ride!  Aunt Liz is awesome ya know!  Jake had a great time riding, and Hannah was a brave soul and rode around for a bit :).  It was good to ride again and it was pretty with all the snow.  The four of us then picked up Dan from the airport.  We went back to Kaysville and spent the evening with the Garrett's playing games and chatting, and playing with JOSIE of course :).

Sunday 11th:  We arrived in Bluffdale just in time for church, not like it mattered...Erin was the last speaker...a little peeved she only had 10 minutes, I guess that is life. We then had a big to do at my parents house for Erin.  Dan and I then said our goodbyes and my aunt drove us to the airport.





I am so glad I had the opportunity to go out there to pick up Erin and spend time with my family!

Cardinals vs Astros Baseball Game

Tuesday night we went to the Cardinals Vs Astros baseball game in downtown Houston.  The drive to get into downtown actually wasn't too bad, until we were in the middle of the city, and most of that traffic was because of an accident and police cars trying to get to it.  We found parking that was really close to the field and free...I'll get to that part later.

Dan and I sat in section 111 on row 5, that's right we were 5 rows up from the field!  We sat on the Cardinals' side, so it was really cool to watch the players in the dugout and walk on and off the field.  We were in foul territory, but sadly and to my relief, no balls were hit at us.  We learned that if you want to take home a ball as a souvenir, you must sit right above the dugout and have a child who is willing to stand above the dugout and yell for the ball.  They only give the balls to children...Sadly this man sitting in front of us never caught on to this, and we watched him try to get a ball for about 4 innings.  It was kind of sad, he would shout and wave his arms around every time they were going to throw the ball into the audience, but the players just looked at him and then threw it up to the same group of kids. 

The stadium is an indoor stadium, so we didn't have to fight with the Houston heat while we were there!  It was very pleasant! Also, the snow cones there are bigger and cheaper than the ones at Bees games!  

I felt safe wearing Cardinals colors, because at least half of the fans there were Cardinals fans, by the end of the game we were sitting in a sea of red, all the Astros fans were headed home.  The final score was 4 to 0 for the Red Birds.

So about the free parking...the game got over around 9:30 and we walked back to the parking garage.  My heart sunk when I saw the exit gated up. I thought that the garage had closed and we would have to get a hotel for the night.  Luckily, we found an open entrance to get in and and open exit to get out.  The exit gate arm wasn't down and there was no one in the booth to stop us, so we just drove out.  So free parking!  Unless they took a picture of our license plate, we lucked out on having to pay for parking! 

It was great to get out and go into the city and enjoy the evening.  Next week we are going to an all day music fest/concert and we hope to go to the zoo the following week.  We have to go before the dinosaurs leave! 

Our First Month in a Foreign Country

Houston is named after this guy: Sam Houston

Well Daniel and I have been in Houston, Texas for a month now!

Things are definitely different here than they are in Utah and especially Logan, Utah.  For example, the population of Houston is 2.1 million people, the population of Utah: 2,817,222.  There are about as many people living around us in an hour radius as live in the whole state we came from.  There are people everywhere at all times of the day and night! 

The pros of living in Houston:
The mall in our neighborhood has over 70 stores...goodbye Cache Valley Mall!  Hello many many clothing options!

We live in the restaurant district of North West Houston and the restaurants are open after 9pm!  No need to go to Rancheritos for a late night snack, we can pick from much nicer (although maybe not as tasty) food joints.

Our apartment complex has a pool and work out room, and it is hot enough to use the pool without freezing. 

We are just far away from downtown that we are in the suburbs, we live about the distance from downtown as Orem to Salt Lake City.

It is so pretty and green here!  The flowers here are big and pretty and the trees and tall and green.  When we walk outside it sounds like we are living in a rainforest with all the birds and insect sounds.  They have really pretty birds here, we have already seen a Cardinal, Blue Jay, and Herron.

Houston isn't a 'TEXAS' as pretty much the rest of the state, a lot of the people living here have moved here from somewhere else.

The cons of living in Houston:

Want to go on a walk?  Sorry, no can do, this is Houston there are hardly any sidewalks here!  You must get in your huge gas guzzler and drive to a park or YMCA.  (Although gas is cheaper here since we live in oil country).

You don't want to go outside on a walk anyway, it is hot, hot, hot!!!  Just walking outside to get the mail will get me sweaty enough that I stick to anything I touch. 

We live 1500 miles away from our hometowns.  We like living out and on our own, but the fastest we can ever get home is a 2 1/2 hour flight plus the time it takes to get to the airport and go through security.

Cockroaches...that's all I'm going to say about that one...

All in all though, I am enjoying Houston!  We have no reason to be bored here and there are so many free and fun things to do!  We also live within a reasonable distance from Dallas, Austin, and San Antonio, I don't foresee us being bored on Friday nights and Saturdays anytime soon!

Roadtrip!!!

These past few weeks have been so CRAZY!  On May 22nd Daniel accepted a job with Hewlett-Packard in Houston, Texas. His original start date was going to be June 4th!  We had no idea how we were going to be able to get out there that soon.  Luckily they pushed back Dan's start date to June 11th.

We were waiting to hear from the relocation company before we decided when to move.  We heard from them on June 4th.  From our conversation with them we decided to start packing that day.  With the help of family members we were able to pack up and clean by Tuesday evening.

Wednesday evening we drove to Kaysville and Bluffdale to say our goodbyes.  Wednesday morning at 6:00 am we left Bluffdale, Utah.  We drove for a total of 16 hours across Utah, Wyoming, Colorado, and Kansas.  We stayed the night in  Salina, Kansas.  We knew we had hit the Bible Belt when we saw multiple "Trust in Jesus" billboards and anti-abortion billboards. Unfortunately we weren't able to stop and see the 7 foot Prairie Dog or the dozens of museums along the road.  I decided you know you live in a 'fly-over' state if you have a bunch of random specialized museums.

Thursday morning we left Salina, KS and drove for 12 hours through Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas.

Friday morning we got a storage unit close to Dan's work and we loaded all of our stuff into it. We then got rid of the UHAUL and trailer that we used to tow our car!  We had to go into the scary part of town to do that. We were glad t get out of there.  Friday night we looked at apartments online and narrowed it down to 4 apartments.

Saturday we looked at apartments and found one!  We are hoping to move into Carrington At Champion Forest by Friday the 15th.

Thank you for all of your prayers during our trip!  We were truly blessed and we were just ahead of the storms that contained tornadoes. 

Christmas Break 2011

Daniel and I definitely ended the 2011 year with a bang! On Friday the 23rd Dan and I drove down to my parents house. As a family we watched the ever-so-classic "The Year Without a Santa Claus" which is my Dad's favorite Christmas show. The following day was Christmas Eve and we spent the day mostly lounging about and unsuccessfully trying to break into unfinished homes. For my family's Christmas Eve gift we got "Rise of the Planet of the Apes" so we watched that.
Christmas Day was on a Sunday this year and I am so grateful I was able to see some of my old friends from my home ward! Before going to church though, we opened gifts. Some of the gifts we received include the following: Muppets Monopoly, Sherlock Holmes, a Guitar Stand, a Piano Bench, a Lady Bug Pillow Pet, Moses Prince of Egypt, and Joseph King of Dreams. I think the best gift we gave was to my brother, it was a Batman Snuggie! Around 2pm we called Hermana Wiese. It was great to talk to her again! She is doing well and is training in a Spanish area in Fresno. After the call, Dan and I drove to Taylorsville to visit his Gingell Grandparents. Before bed we watched the amazing Sherlock Holmes movie.
Monday afternoon Dan, Jake, and I took trax to downtown Salt Lake. We went to the Gateway, Temple Square, and we were able to take a tour of the Conference Center Roof! I have always wanted to do that!
Tuesday morning we packed up and went to Daniel's parent's house. One of Daniel's old roommates invited us to his wedding and we attended the sealing and festivities for their wedding day. It was great to see him again and he picked quite the beautiful, fun-loving bride!
Wednesday Mitch and Sarah came and picked us up early and we drove to Zion's National Park. It was definitely worth the $25 entrance fee! We hiked Canyon Overview Trail, the overlook to the Three Patriarchs, and Angel's Landing...well 2 of the 4 made it all the way. Mitch and Dan went to the top as I watched in a panic from the location where I felt I could go no farther without spazzing out and falling off the mountain! Thanks to Mitch and Sarah for a great time! After Zion's we we to St. George where the Daniel's family was staying in a condo.
Thursday morning those who could go went to the St. George Temple. It was SO Beautiful!!! All of the family then went golfing at a local golf course. We split into 3 teams and played a scramble. It was pretty fun! Our team consisted of : Hannah, Jake, Willis, Dan, and Myself. Sadly we did not win... :<
Friday we attempted to swim at an indoor pool...but alas it was not meant to be and the pool was closed. We sat in the hot tub instead. I have decided that it is more enjoyable to sit in a hot tub when it is 20 degrees outside and snowing than 50 degrees and sunny. Friday night we played the Newlywed Game with everyone in the family who is married (4 couples). Sadly Daniel and I did not win at this either...
Saturday we left St. George around 11:30am and had an epic car ride with John, Rachel, Dan, and myself. We ended up playing leap frog with Jake and Hannah and every time we passed them we would do different things in the window...great times were had by all. Dan and I stayed at Dan's parent's to do some laundry and we pulled into our parking stall at home at 9:30pm. Needless to say we aren't staying up till midnight for New Years this year!

Highlights of the trip:
*Jacob getting a Batman Snuggie

*An Elderly Missionary telling my brother that he is a menace to society for not being married even though he is only 18 years old

*Daniel running up 20 tiny switchbacks

*Daniel and Mitch referring to Angel's Landing as Man Mountain

*Jake accidentally turning off the light in the room we were in while Todd was talking to everyone...trust me this one was priceless

*Willis being brought back to life

*Mitch asking me in a dead serious tone if I have ever heard of Princess Cereal

And great times were had by all :D

*Passing Jake and Hannah while pretending to row boat our car

*Passing Jake and Hannah with drawn on talking hands talking at them

LAS VEGAS RAGNAR 2011

Well Daniel finally did it...he got his Saint & Sinner Medal for running Wasatch Back and Las Vegas RAGNAR in the same year!

For this race the team was #340: Scrambled Legs & Aichin.
Van 1: Stacey (Dan's cousin-in-law)
Dan
Alex (Dan's Cousin)
Matt (Dan's Best Friend from H.S.)
Kari (Dan's Mom)
Michael (Dan's Cousin)
Van 2: Mitch (Dan's Bro-in Law)
Sarah (Dan's Sister)
And the other 4 were relatives of Dan's Aunt Myndee

We started out journey at 12:30 pm on Thursday Oct 20th. I had the car all packed and I picked up Dan from the University. We drove down to Kaysville and picked up Matt on our way to Kaysville. In Kaysville we got in Dan's parents van and Todd drove us to Henderson, Nevada. The trip down was pretty fun talking with Dan and Matt. On the down side, we were stuck in Nephi for about an hour and a half due to traffic. Dan and Matt are now convinced that Nephi goes from Provo until St. George :)

In Henderson we stayed in a Marriott Courtyard because Myndee has a niece who works for that company and could get discounts on the room. Dan & I shared a room with Sarah and Mitch who didn't show up in Las Vegas until 5am. Luckily for them they were in Van 2 and Van 2 didn't have to leave Henderson until 10:30 am. Van 1 left Henderson at 6:30am.

The starting line was by the shore of Lake Mead. Our team started at 8:00 am. We had two vans with us, the RAGNAR van and Todd & Kari's van so Todd drove the RAGNAR van for the first 2 sets of legs and I drove the other van. After Dan ran his first leg I went and chilled with Van 2 at the exchange where the vans switch.

I should add that Dan has been recovering from a leg injury and even though he was injured he still ran all his legs and even had some kills (passed people during the race) !

After talking with Van 2 for a while I went to what I thought was the next Van exchange...it wasn't but I had a nice hour long nap in the van in a shaded casino garage terrace. I then drove around and found the exchange. This exchange was at a really nice casino/resort. Once Van 1 showed up we ate and sat around playing Uno and Phase 10.

Sarah was the last runner for Van 2 and we got to watch her run in. After Stacey took off running I drove to the next van exchange. I called my brother while I was on I-15 because it was so late and dark and there was nothing to look at...I was worried I would fall asleep. I ended up misreading the directions and getting lost in the desert. Luckily I found my way to the exchange. After Van 1 showed up we all went to sleep. Everyone but Dan and me slept on a tarp on the gravel, Dan and I slept in the back of the van.

For our last set of legs Todd and I switched vans so I drove the RAGNAR van. It was so fun!!! The best part is pulling over to support the runner by giving them water or just cheering for them. The bad part was that we were out in the middle of the desert with NO SHADE at all and the runners were running on a dirt/gravel road. I am now a firm believer that people can die in the desert.

After Van 1 finished their runs we went to the finish line in Las Vegas. It was at a really nice park. We waited there for 7 hours!!! It wouldn't have been so bad if there had been more shade around. Once the sun went down though it felt really good. Sarah lead the team into the finish line and everyone got their medals. Somehow Dan & Matt ended up with Florida Keys RAGNAR medals, so I had to go switch those out. Dan also earned the Saints & Sinners medal that has a bottle opener for Rootbeer and Real Beer.

On the drive home Todd drove to St. George and then I drove from St. George to Kaysville. We pulled into Kaysville at 5am.

It was a long drive down and back, but it was totally worth it!

Highlights of the trip:

* The Lord of the Rings Van with the following quotes written on it: Not the Beard! You need people of intelligence on this journey, quest, thing. We dwarfs are natural sprinters. We may have made a mistake leaving the shire. The team's name was: One does not simply walk into RAGNAR.

*The Area 51 Van claiming that all their kills would be probed.

*The disco man runner who ran the first leg in bell bottoms, a leopard print shirt, and a giant wig. The next time I saw him he was dancing disco on top of his van.

*Team 420 having a Bob Marley Theme...think about it...

*Matt, Alex, Dan, and Michael following each other doing a spin off of inception theme music "Tch ch ch ch ch Tch ch ch ch ch ch ch"

*Fast runner chick spanking a walking "Bumblebee" (a man in a black and yellow tutu) and then him trying to catch her for revenge...he never did.

*Mega phone van telling Matt that his flag waiving skills had earned him a "10.0, 9.7, 10.0"

*Dan and me only being able to find a oldies station in the middle of Utah and dancing to Disco music at 3am.

*Dan, Matt, and me making up an epic movie that includes Robert Downing Jr, Hugh Jackman, Samuel L. Jackson, and Morgan Freeman.

*Me not understanding that some of the vans names were inappropriate

*John came into our room in Kaysville and said "It's 12:30 and church starts at 1" Me being asleep yelled "Then we're not going!" I then politely said, "Thank You." Ya i apologized after I was fully awake.

Layton 5K

I ran in the Layton 5k on October 8th. I have been training for a 5k for about 2 months. My goal time was under 35 minutes and I finished this 5k in 33:08! I got a medal for 3rd place in the Women's 20-24 age division.

My brother-in-law and sister in-law also ran in this race. My brother-in-law took first with a time around 18 minutes and my sister-in-law took 1st place in our division with a time around 28 minutes.

My mother-in-law ran the 10k and took first in her division with a time under one hour.