Timp!

We hiked Timp again, but this time in the fall because the snow seriously just got done melting (right in time for Winter again). I had convinced several of my friends that had never hiked it to hike it with us. I promised them they wouldn't die!

We decided to go up the Timponokee way and down the Aspen Grove way to see all the beauty. As previously mentioned the Aspen Grove way was beautiful with so, so many waterfalls, but it is steeper so we thought the other way up would be the best way to not have the newbies hate us..

We picked a gorgeous day. Perfect weather to say the least. The colors were starting to change but not at their peak yet. It was about 80 degrees and just wonderful. We weren't the only people with the idea to hike Timp. I've NEVER seen it so busy as it was when we hiked it.

Our hike to the top was uneventful. Just a beautiful hike, wonderful company.


Eating our mid-morning snacks....

When we made it to the saddle we randomly ran into 2 guys from our ward that had just moved in. We stopped and chatted for quite a while. We then made it to the summit.


Here we are at the summit (Kim, Camille, Jeff, Mary, Me, Suzanne)

Me contemplating life.....or maybe just eating lunch. I've never actually eaten at the top. It has always been too cold and windy, but it was perfect today and we spent about 30-40 minutes at the top.


The first-timers....they made it!!!

This just shows you how busy it was getting to the summit. We had to stop numerous times to let people slide by on a very narrow trail. You can see Mary down there just waiting for this stream of people to go by!The way down we went down the Aspen Grove way. Last time there were TONS of waterfalls, but apparently the snow from the top melts a different way because they were all dried up. It was much steeper and not nearly as cool (or worth it) without the waterfalls. I felt bad that I had convinced everyone to go down this way because it really is harder especially when the waterfalls aren't distracting you!


As we (okay mostly me) were complaining about the lack of waterfalls and my desire to be done and eating at Cafe Rio we turned the corner and almost ran into a moose!! Seriously he was right on the trail about a mile from the car! We stood perfectly silent and still hoping he would leave us alone and thankfully he did! I took this picture after he had wandered off the trail a little bit. It was amazing how un-tired our legs were after seeing that moose and we RAN to the car!

Jimmer's All-Stars!

Since the NBA is in lockout right now and the players aren't playing, Jimmer hosted an "all-stars" game at the Marriott Center. He invited a lot of the first round NBA draft picks to play with him including the other Player of the Year finalists Kemba Walker and Nolan Smith. He also had some of his new teammates with him from the Sacramento Kings.....one of which would become a fan favorite with a familiar name.....Isaiah Thomas. He had some serious hops with some awesome dunks and had charisma and charm coming out his ears. He was hilarious to watch....almost more fun that Jimmer. I said ALMOST!!!

Thanks to Suzanne we had FRONT row seats! I never get to sit that low and I was quite excited. It did not disappoint. Even though it was just an exhibition game I loved being so close to the action with so many future NBA stars. The guys sitting right behind us were talking to all the players all night (friendly chatting). The players were responding so I pretended they were talking to me :)

(Camille, Me, Candice, Suzanne.....thanks Kim for taking the picture!)

(Jimmer and I in the same photo)

(Jimmer and Kemba Walker)

Of course the highlight of the night was that TJ Fredette (Jimmer's older brother) rapped for halftime. And by highlight I mean low-light. He's white and he is not Eminem.....enough said on that one. I did get to slap his hand though the video cuts off cause he denied me the first time and Camille thought she was taking a photo and not a video so the video stopped. Kind of funny though.





In the end Jimmer's team did not win, but it seemed like everyone was having a great time except for Jimmer who really wanted to win badly. It was kind of funny cause he was stressing like it was a real game and all the other players and fans were just enjoying such a great basketball game and so much talent on the floor at once. It was a fun game to be a part of.

Also thanks to Suzanne I got to hold Jimmer's Naismith Player of the Year trophy. She was in charge of keeping it safe while they built the case for it at the Marriott Center. And yes, we did make a special trip to her office just to take this picture. I'm such a nerd.

Dirty Dash!

(Todd, Mike, Ben, Me, Greg, Mary, Melinda, Gwen)
Missing 2 others that got lost finding their families or tearing their ACL's before this picture was taken

A new tradition was made this year. A bunch of our EMBA class got together to "run" the Dirty Dash. I had never run this before, but a 5K through the mud with some of my favorite people sounded like tons of fun.

Our team name (Back of the Bus) came from our trip cause only the cool people sat in the back of the bus where all of life's problems were discussed (and unfortunately for the singles they have not all been "solved" yet)! We ran the 5K version in just under 1.5 hours....LOL! We did have a 30 minute intermission for an injury, but once you are wet and muddy you aren't really going to run the 5K for a PR. It's all about making sure everyone is as muddy as possible.

As I mentioned earlier, we did have one casualty on our team (torn ACL) but it was a fluke accident as Matt jumped into water he thought was a foot deep and it ended up being only about 2 inches deep. Luckily was all caught on video. It is likely Matt's own fault though for wearing that Ute shirt though :-)

Thanks to Todd for having a waterproof HD video camera and for putting together this awesome video to show us in action. Can't wait until next year!!

Omaha!

For Labor Day weekend Kathy and I made a quick trip out to visit Nicole in Omaha. Yes, you read that right, Omaha, Nebraska. Nicole has lived there for over a year and I haven't been to see her new life there.

I got there on Friday afternoon at it was a "cool" 90 degrees with more humidity than I would even care to know about. We promptly went golfing as we had previously planned...LOL! Nicole informed me that it was much cooler than it had been. I tried to believe her as I wiped the sweat from every pour on my body. It was fun to golf though. I really enjoyed it and it felt like a real workout since I sweat so much :)


After a much needed shower we headed to a restaurant called "Jams." It looked like an 80's hair salon on the outside, but I had what I would have to say is the BEST salad I've ever eaten. It was called a "bread" salad and it was delicious. While we were at Jams an awesome storm blew in. While this delayed Kathy's flight by an hour we were able to watch a great thunder and lightening storm. It was super cool.

The next day we got up and went to the Farmer's market. No pictures of that yet as shower's had not been taken. It had cooled off significantly and was actually raining a bit. We then headed to some hole in the wall hamburger joint that we had seen on TV. It was awesome to say the least, even though they didn't give us plates! Seriously so good and they had TV's where all the football games were being played.
After lunch we headed back to Nicole's penthouse.....yep she is fancy like that to shower and watch the BYU/Ole Miss game. After waiting and waiting and waiting for BYU to do something we left to go shopping and to dinner. Of course BYU came back and won in the 4th quarter 14-13. It's okay......thanks to technology I watched the game on the iPad later that night. Dinner and shopping was excellent.

On Sunday we headed out to visit Winter Quarters before going to church with Nicole. It was interesting to walk around the grounds and see the temple and visitors center.

Are these "Mitchell's" some of my relatives? I need to be better at family history to find out.


After church we just hung out and talked at Nicole's and then went on a walk. On our walk there was a Buddhist wedding going on in the park. We may have stayed too long watching, but we did get this one cute picture of all 3 of us :)
Monday was a beautiful day. We went downtown to get pedicures and then there was a parade going on that we watched, ate lunch, met Chef Boyardee and then it was time to head back to Utah.

We had a great weekend and it was interesting to see Nicole's life. That being said I think she is WAY braver than I am to live in Omaha as a single person. I'll just leave it at that!

St. George, Zions

For our end of the summer trip, Suzanne, Kim and I went to St. George. The plan was to see "The Little Mermaid" at the Tuchanan and then to hopefully hike the subway at Zions with a group from the ward (if we could get permits).

We left on Friday morning and started our trek. We stopped in Cedar City and ate at a delicious dive of a restaurant thanks to Yelp. Of course by this point Suzanne and I were done talking to each other so Kim (our friend historian) took this picture of our "socializing".....LOL!! (For the record I had not showered either which explains the beauty I have in this picture)


We had decided to go on a little hike on our way down that one of my co-workers had recommended. It was an awesome hike with a waterfall that you could slide down. Seemed perfect since it was over 100 degrees outside. We thought that there might not be as much water as earlier in the summer, but since it had been such a high snow year we thought perhaps it would have some. We should have known by the empty parking lot that it was dry......but we hiked it anyways. It was only 2 miles round trip so not too bad. I guess there was water there, but it looked like it hadn't moved much in weeks so we opted to not dive in :)

So now we were super hot and desperately in need of a pool (and/or a shower) so we decided to go to Kim's sister's pool in Washington. It was an awesome indoor/outdoor pool. Since we had been going to Seven Peaks all summer long we didn't feel weird at all going down the hyrdo-tube or playing in the children's area.



Suzanne and I obviously have problems with our phones.......we might need therapy.

After the pool we went to Kim's parent's house (who are currently serving as mission presidents) and showered and got ready to see "The Little Mermaid." First we at Thai food that was SO good!

Camille and I eating our delicious food

Then we headed out to the Tuchanan to see the show. I wasn't sure how they were going to do all the underwater scenes for The Little Mermaid, but it was honestly amazing how they incorporated the water. They flooded the stage with water and had a "water curtain" that they would be behind when they were under the sea. All the actors were on "heelies" (the shoes with wheels in their heels) so they could glide across the stage. It was honestly flat out amazing. It threatened rain all night and there was an awesome lightening storm that was going on during the whole show, but that only added to the cool lightening and thunder of the shipwreck :) We were happy that within 2 minutes of getting in the car it started pouring rain. Great timing!!!

Camille, Suzanne, Kim, Me

I make a beautiful Mermaid......

We had found out from our friends that they didn't get permits to hike in the Subway but after meeting them in the morning they had gotten permits, but not enough for us to come. At that point we weren't prepared for the all-day subway hike so we just explored Zions on our own.

First we hiked to the Emerald pools. It was a nice hike and early in the day so it wasn't too hot (yet).

Then we headed over to hike in the Narrows. I had never done this before and I quite enjoyed how beautiful and refreshing (cold) it was. Here are some pictures:

The person who was taking our photo held the camera so low that we all thought it was going to be a weird shot.....it appears I ended up being the only weird looking, hunched over person. Oh well.

On Sunday we went to church and then drove home through Kolob Canyon. I had never been there and it was a really pretty drive.

Me, Suzanne, Kim

Sound of Music @ Sundance

When we heard that the Sundance outdoor theater was doing "The Sound of Music" we knew we must go. I mean who doesn't want to be in the mountains listening to the "hills are alive??"

We didn't know at the time we bought tickets that this was going to be a popular show. It was sold out all nights! We also didn't know that Breann Folkman (Okoren now) who I used to babysit was playing Maria. Yes that's right I used to babysit her and now she is old enough to play Julie Andrews characters. Yikes I'm getting old.

It was a beautiful night and a wonderful performance. I quite enjoyed it.

Mary, Melinda, Elisa, Kathy, Kristan, Me, Camille, Kim

I took the opportunity to take a quick nap and stare at the stars when Maria returned to the Abby......that part always bored me in the movie (and in the play!). Luckily Kim snapped a photo.

FBE Reunion

So precisely 5 days after we graduated (in August) we had our first EMBA reunion. I mean it had been 5 whole days since we had seen each other. Actually this reunion was just the people from our trip. We wanted to re-live the memories we made on the trip and make some new memories.

Our social leaders "Chalinda" (Chad and Melinda) put together a great activity at Dr. Radebaugh's home (aka "Sugar Daddy Rad"). We ate dinner, socialized, watched our video, socialized, handed out awards, socialized and played "minute to win it" games. It was so fun and I'm sure we will be getting together all the time. Here are some pictures:

Andrew and Dave competing.......


Andrew got dog piled after his WIN!

A picture of our group. LOVE, LOVE, LOVE these guys!!


Here is my attempt at "Minute to Win It." As you can see this isn't my specialty.