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 G
uitar 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, th
e 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 an
d 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
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.
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.
Well our trip in Florida is winding down. Right now we are sitting around the beach house waiting to go to the airport, our flight leaves at 5am so we will be leaving around 2am.Our trip to Florida started at 4am Saturday morning when Dan's dad drove us to the Salt Lake Airport. We got there at a great time! The lines were pretty short when we got there. Our flight left Salt Lake at 7am and we flew to Houston, Texas. Dan and I were the rebels in the back seat of the plane! We sat by a family who was on their way to Cancun and also on the flight we saw a family from Bluffdale who were on their way to Spain. While waiting to unload off of the plane we watched a man abuse several pieces of luggage as he unloaded and reloaded them.
We had about an hour lay over in Houston and ate at Ruby's Diner. I asked for Mayo...then when I asked for it again the lady said she had put extra on my sandwich. I explained to her fry sauce and she kindly brought me a cup of mayo :)
From Florida we flew to Ft Lauderdale, Florida. I sat by a high school aged boy who had attended a week-long ROTC Drill Camp at Texas A & M. I should mention that we were also traveling with three of Dan's co-workers and one of their wives.
Our beach house was really nice with plenty of space for 6 people.
Sunday some of us drove to Miami North Beach. The water was nice and warm! Later we went to Hallendale Beach at high tide. Dan and the guys liked swimming with all the waves and trying to ride them, but I preferred the calm water. Also, at Hallendale Beach I got stung by a jelly fish! The life guard just sprayed some cleaner on it...it was pretty anti-climatic.
Monday Dan presented at the American Nuclear Society Conference (the reason we were in Florida in the first place). The other wife, Kariann, and I went to downtown Hollywood to look around the stores. Most of the stores were closed, and the few clothing stores that were open were Latina stores...pretty much we stood out. In the evening we went to the Greek Joint. So Good! We had Saganaki, fried cheese and I had Pork Slouvaki with seasoned fries. We then went to an ice-cream shop and I got cheesecake turtle ice-cream Yum!
Tuesday the guys went to the conference in the morning and returned in the afternoon. Then the married couples went to Flamingo Gardens. We were able to walk through an aviary and watch an animal show. The best animal was the opossum that walked around the stage. We also saw crazy spiders, alligators, and panthers. In the evening we went to Hollywood Beach.
Wednesday the other 3 guys presented at the conference so the guys were gone all day. Kariann and I went to the Sawgrass Mill. There were 400 stores/eateries/ vendors there! It was so big they had some stores twice! In the evening we went to the Hollywood Beach Boardwalk. We walked up and down and after the sun went down we got ice-cream and watched a storm out on the ocean from the beach. It was amazing!
Thursday we drove to Key Largo! Highway 1 is just on the ocean! The married couples went snorkeling. It was amazing! At first I was scared to jump out of the boat because there is no touching bottom in the ocean. We were able to swim over the coral and swim in the middle of schools of fish. We were also able to see a lobster.
Tonight we will leave Ft Lauderdale at 5am and fly to Charlotte, NC. From there we will fly to Denver, CO and then land in Salt Lake City around 1pm. Hopefully, we will be able to sleep all day Friday!
If you read Hannah Leigh Abbott's blog (sis-in-law) you will have seen that we did family history stuff together. It was really fun watching someone else discover their ancestors and what needs work needs to be done. After she left I continued to do family history, naturally... Which led me to filling in more on my life history. That's right, I'm 22 years old and I have a 13 page life history written that I add to occasionally. :D I read through what I had written about my past 22 years and I started thinking about dates, like dates on a calendar. I find it extremely amusing that even 5 years ago I had no idea that July 29th would be so important to me! Or that I would have to buy a gift for November 20th every year (Dan's birthday). This got me excited and thinking about the future and how I have no idea what dates will be important and/or special! Who knows on this day in 30 years my youngest child could be getting married!
Anyway that was my rant about how cool family history and life history is :D
uitar 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.
e 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.
d 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!
