Vegas Baby, Vegas

We stayed at the Monte Carlo, on the 31st of its 32 floors. When we first got up there the whole floor was vacant, all the doors were open and our room had some rubble beneath a wall mirror illustrating that it had just been hung. This could have been kind of creepy, like couldn't anyone sneak in and stay there? But I saw this as a great opportunity. I mean, when else can you run naked up and down the hotel floor hallway?* Yes, but can you do it sober? That's what I thought.

At the bowl game we had incredible seats. We were on the 3rd row in the corner behind BYU's end zone. When it was clear they would win, 8 seconds left in the game, we all jumped down and stormed the field. After the game Tyler and I and his brothers and sister Billy, Alana, and Bobby all went to some Mexican restaurant that was mostly empty, right across the street from ESPN zone on the strip. We were so excited about the game that we had to order a celebration drink and unfortunately, may have gotten Billy drunk.*

Tyler and I went to the fashion show mall the next day. It really didn't feel so much like Christmas in Vegas, maybe I'm too used to cold-weather Christmases, but these "ornaments" hanging in the mall looked incredible. Later we went to see a comedy show at the Riviera. Out of 3 performers, I loved Doug Benson's "marijuanalogues." He was hilarious.

It was a fun trip, but it was a huge relief to finally get home when we did. The last few weeks have seemed even busier than normal and so I hope to just relax this week.


*I wasn't quite naked and Billy didn't really get drunk, but can't those details stay in Vegas, so I can make up what happened there?

Las Vegas Bowl 2006

I've got some great Pictures and Video Clips from the Vegas trip we just took. BYU won 38-8 over Oregon in the Las Vegas Bowl, which was fun.

Las Vegas Trip

Curtis Brown's TD


John Beck's TD run


Walking by John Beck on the field


John Beck's speech after the game

Zion National Park, & Snow Canyon Nov. 2006

Alene, Caiden, and my Nephew Brady (who is 1.5 years older than Caiden) all went down to stay in St. George this weekend to get into a bit warmer climate. We spent our time in a hotel there at the Marriot, which was very nice. Alene gets great discounts there through her work as a travel agent. When we arrived we immediately hit the pool. I convinced Brady to do a belly flop for $1.

Saturday we went out to play some mini golf and then headed back to the hotel to watch the BYU-New Mexico game. BYU won 42-17 and with this win BYU has the out-right championship to the MWC and an invite to the Las Vegas bowl, which Alene and I will be attending in December. I was able to stream the game to our laptop (stupid MTN channel) and since the TV was free I figured I'd watch two games at the same time (Michigan-Ohio St). College football heaven.

After the game, we did some more swimming then went out to Cold Stone to celebrate Brady's BD (he turned 9). One thing I've noticed is that St. George does every portion much bigger than they do in Salt Lake. At Cold Stone, the portion of ice cream they gave was HUGE. At Cafe Rio, I felt like they piled on more meat and also didn't skimp on the beans and rice.

On Sunday we went to Zion National Park, which was beautiful. It could be my favorite park in Utah (at least so far). We drove to the Temple of Sinawava and hiked the riverside trail that leads to the entrance to the Narrows. I want to hike up (or down) them a someday. Alene has already done it and says it becomes kind of boring, but she said she would do it with me when we had the chance. It's so cool to see a river flowing out of the canyon with nothing but rock wall on each side. We also hiked did the Emerald Pools hike, which was beautiful.

On Monday we went to Snow Canyon and did a couple of the hikes there. We went into Jenny's Canyon, which is the only Narrows spot in snow Canyon. Not very long at all, but it was fun to explore around. We then hiked out to 3 ponds, but never found the 3 ponds. The trail map listed the hike as 3.5 miles round-trip, but we had to have gone at least 2 miles and still had not found anything. We ended up just climbing on some rocks nearby. Getting out there, we hiked through a sandy river-bed for quite a bit which was nice because the sand was really soft. We worked our way back to the car and went over to the red sand-dunes area and played around on them for a bit. I was disappointed that the dunes weren't very steep (funner to jump into), but it was still fun.

ZION NATIONAL PARK

Hiking along the Virgin River on the riverside trail



We almost lost Brady over this cliff



The virgin





The only tree with golden leaves still on it



At the narrows



Wading around in the virgin river at the beginning of the Narrows



Looking back down canyon



Caiden and Brady hanging out on the trail



Alene and I on the trail



Ran across a deer on the Emerald Pools trail



The lower emerald pools



It was still more colorful up here than below



At the middle pools



The boys at the middle pool. They were much further from the edge than they look



A little narrow section on the trail down



SNOW CANYON

Jenny Canyon narrows section



Alene doing a little stemming



Up in a little side part of the canyon



Barefoot Brady hanging out on the slickrock



Caiden and Brady





Brady jumping over a bush at Snow Canyon near 3 Ponds



Me, up in another side canyon



In another side canyon near 3 Ponds



"3 Ponds" (where are the ponds??)



Resting along the trail (I love this picture of Alene)



Alene's sandals after a hike in Snow Canyon



At the sand dunes



Sand Angel

"I must access my attack pack"

I went to the San Rafael Swell this weekend with April, Bill, Lanik, and Lanik's Buzz Lightyear toy. Needless to say, we all listened to all of Buzz's sayings countless times. Having an attack pack though doesn't sound too bad instead of a backpack. Of all the things to forget, I forgot 2 of the most crucial--toilet paper and a flashlight/headlamp. I blame this on the fact that Tyler didn't come because had he come I'm sure we would have had more supplies than ever imaginable. But of course April and Bill covered my butt.

This time around we took their Montero so instead of getting stuck, we actually pulled someone else out of the sand. (who cares if just moments later we thought the Montero wouldn't start again). We hiked Ding canyon and Little Wild Horse canyon, hiked all over Goblin valley so we could make it to the other side and to the top to collect some agate and view "the nothing."

The next morning we went to Black Dragon Canyon to view the rock art, one of which really resembled the Wily Coyote to me.

There are just a few things that would have made the trip better.
1.--If I'd actually brought some cash to buy Ty and Caiden some of those cool Goblin valley t-shirts.

and 2.--If instead of filming my walk through the narrow, twisting, Little Wild Horse canyon sideways to capture the narrowness I would have realized that we'd have to watch it sideways too.

And 3.--it would have been better if some of the little pools had hot springs inside of them so I could warm up before I got in my tent at night.

If only I could take home the papasan chair I found in Goblin Valley!

Grandeur Peak - Wasatch Mountains Sept. 2006

View Larger Map

We had some time to kill after church and before having to be down at my parents, so Alene suggested hiking Grandeur Peak, which we thought for some reason was only supposed to be around 3 miles round trip, however we found out about 3 miles into the hike, that it was 3+ miles one way, so over 6 miles RT. Still, it was a beautiful hike and we had a great time. There is nothing like making it to the summit of a peak and feeling like you "conquered" that mountain.

When we got up there, there was an Australian dude there out for a hike. He was in SLC on business (mining industry) and was VERY nice. He even took our family picture on the peak.

Here are some pictures from our hike:

A little waterfall that we had to pass through



Looking back up Millcreek Canyon



Alene and I on the trail



Caiden and I on the trail



Looking down at SLC (Parley's Canyon below us)



My favorite part of the hike, just below the peak was this grove of trees that reminded me of a scene from Isreal or something (or at least what I'd imagine those olive groves looked like)



Family on the peak



Looking down the SL Valley



Looking back up Millcreek Canyon and the wasatch range

Paperbacks and Peaks

the HB prefers hardcover books because they last longer and still look nice. He would love to have shelves full of collections of hardback books someday. I prefer paperback books because you can bend them. And when you're done reading them they look used, but they also look loved. I like that things break down and decay. I like it when things get overgrown by other things. I like that species become extinct--not when sped by human action, but when it naturally occurs--and when new species or existing ones' population grows to fill the gap, thus altering the ecosystem again to create other extinctions and flourishes (I just finished reading “Cod” and the fictional “children of men”—both great stories of population growth and decline).

What's cool is that the HB and I both love old buildings. He's into history and I think the decay is plain romantic. This weekend we backpacked up to Emerald Lake with April and Bill and then summitted Mount Timpanogos. There’s an old shelter by the lake that’s been vandalized. I don’t think it gets used much now but I wish I could see it when it was thriving. When Tyler and I went to San Francisco in July we got to explore the ruins of an old bath house by the coast and then compare it to the poster picture of what it must have looked like. That was awesome.

Tyler is the shiz. He hiked up by himself to meet us at the lake Saturday night after his football team’s scrimmage. It was dark by then and a long hard hike with a pack, especially on a trail he’d never been on before. I was so worried about him and probably drove him crazy by continuously calling him on his way up. Then I hiked down a ways to meet him and show him our campsite. Bill built some chairs out of rocks and our site looked really awesome. In the morning I couldn’t wait to show Tyler the area and to get up to the top with him. It was cool to hike to the peak together and then all the way back down even though I thought the last mile or two was going to kill me. When we got down we both grabbed a 32-ouncer at the gas station, for me, a vanilla Diet Coke, woohoo!

Mount Timpanogos Camp/Summit Aug. 2006

Alene, April, and Bill had planned a backpacking trip up to the top of Mt Timpanogos over a weekend we did not have Caiden, however I had a football game to coach that Saturday and opted to back out of going with them. I was a little jealous because I had not had a chance to try out our new backpacks we each purchased.

Saturday morning Alene packed her bag and headed down to meet up at the trail head with April and Bill. I went up north to Centerville to coach my scrimmage, but it ended much sooner than I though, so I had this burst of energy and thought I could catch them. By the time my scrimmage ended they were already on their way up the trail, but it didn't deter me. I did not know much about the trail up to Mt Timp, but I was able to call them and find out where they started from and how to get up there.

Alene getting ready to leave the house



April and Bill on the hike up



They passed many waterfalls along the way







Looking back toward Aspen Grove and Sundance



It starts to thin out a bit and you start to see the mountain goats



More waterfalls



Looking up at the summit shack from below at Emerald lake



The TERT shack. Lots of packs stored in here for people that are doing the summit





Emerald Lake and the glacier. If you look closely you can see two people coming down the glacier. It gives you an idea how big it is.



Looking back at Heber Valley



Setting up camp; Bill constructed some chairs out of rocks in the area



The runoff from Emerald lake



I arrived at the Aspen Grove trail head around 6pm or so, threw my pack on my back and set my ipod to "shuffle" and started high-tailing it up the trail. They actually had some cell phone coverage up there so I had occasional contact with them on my way up. As I worked my way up to the top it got really dark and cold and I was dripping with sweat, which made me even more cold. For the last mile or two I hiked in pitch black with nothing more than my headlamp on. It got a little scary because at times you had nothing to follow but some worn talus rock and in the dark it's hard to find. At one point Alene and April were able to reach me on my cell phone and decided to start hiking down to me. We met up about 1 mile from our campsite and I was glad to see them. I was tired and soaking wet and COLD.

When we got to camp we quickly ate our backpacker meals and shared the same broken fork with only two prongs on it (we all forgot to bring utensils). After eating it was late, I was beat from the fast pace of hiking, and we all went to bed. I was still very wet from the hiking and it became VERY cold high up on that mountain and I started to shiver like crazy in my sleeping bag. I remember not really sleeping well that night.

The next morning we packed up and parted ways as April and Bill had to be somewhere and could not do the summit. Alene and I stored our packs in the TERT shack and worked our way up to the summit.

Beginning our trek on up outside the TERT shack



At the saddle before making the route up the rocky route to the summit. There were surprisingly a lot of people up here, even some runners





The route on up - I was extremely out of shape. Even though the summit was only at 11,750', I had to stop what seemed like every 10 steps because my head was hurting and I was tired. I could not believe a few of the guys I saw RUNNING up this trail. They had to be in phenomenal shape to do that. I was in terrible shape, so it made sense that I had to stop often.





Getting close to the summit



In the summit shack



Taking a break



Looking down on emerald lake (near where we camped)



Looking back at Heber Valley



Back at the TERT shack and ready for the steep hike down



More mountain goats



We were really sore coming down the mountain as it takes its toll on your knees. It was a fun experience and I can't wait to get back and do it again. I need to get my butt in shape first however!