Trying new things

My friend from work Debbie, who actually turns out to be my second cousin, have fun doing things together. We get together to do our long runs in preparation for the marathon and to just bum around. Her husband recently received an internship in California so she will be alone for the summer. But no worries we have been plannin' stuff to do to keep her busy. First things first, girls night! We fed our faces with awesome pizza, saw a chick flick, talked about fellas for me:), slept in, and had a good chocolate breakfast.

This is a picture after coming back from the movie. This is around midnight and we were pooped! I guess getting up early in the morning for work does it to ya.

At work a group of nurses wanted to get some sushi on one of our days off. I have only tried sushi once at a friends party, just the wrapped seaweed with some rice. I didn't do the real stuff because rawness just sounds awful to me. So they promised me that it was really good and we made plans to go. We went to some place in AF, a kind of buffet style.

So honestly I have been getting anxiety over this whole thing. I was pretty skeptical and was trying to play it cool. But that didn't work out too great when the others found out I couldn't use chop sticks. . . BLAST! They tried to teach and I actually did pretty good, by the end I would just grab them little rolls of the plate with my fingers. The first bite (and it continued throughout the course of our meal) I was a wee bit gaggy. I tried real hard not to think about what I was eating.

Here is the goup that showed up. Me, Debbie, Suzette, Jai, and Jai's daughter taking the pic. The four of us are all nurses. It was fun to get together outside of work and to have fun and laugh without our patients:)

After Sushi Debbie came over to my parents house to teach me how to ride a motorcycle. Debbie and her husband love to ride motorcycles and they each have their own harley. Little side night. . . you should have seen the looks people gave us as we drove her harley to work one day. People would look first at the loud bike and then do a double look when they saw it was two girls. Priceless moments I tell ya!  Anywho so this is my mom's bike that she bought when she was in college, so it is pretty young:) Debbie wanted to test drive it first just to make sure it would be okay for me to learn on. She was amazed that it was still running, bless her heart. I informed her that my brothers still take it out for little spins here and there, as the cob webs were blowing in the wind and as I tried to brush of the Kingston dirt from the control signs so I could read it.

Where is the best place to learn how to drive anything? Yes the church parking lot. Debbie was relieved to learn that I know how to drive a stick, may Clarence rest in peace. After Debbie stressing and calling her husband to make sure that I wasn't going to die she finally let me go. I am proud of myself that I can say I picked it up pretty fast, even Debbie was pleasantly surprised and could finally relax. I only killed it twice when I stopped and let go of the clutch, other than that it was a big success!

Glenwood Springs Colorado

So our next stop on our Spring Break '11 was Glenwood Springs Colorado. This place is absolutely beautiful! It's nestled, yes nestled, in a very little but long valley. This is a view from the hotel that we stayed at. You can see the naturally heated pools. The pools were so hot that we would have to get out every once in a while to get a drink or to get our bodies cooled off. The majority of the people there were the retired people. They seemed to all know each other and were friends. Some of the bathing suits they wore, or the lack thereof, brought giggles and open mouths of shock. I won't even try to describe the locker rooms, mother and I shall always treasure those memories!

So atop of one of the mountains is an amusement park, no kidding. To get to the top you had to ride these loverly things, the tram. 

Kaden and I were instantly banished by our parents into the front tram and they took the middle one. I have no idea why they didn't want to ride with us:) If you look real hard you can see how excited they truly are.

 A favorite and memorable sign in the tram. For those who can't read it: "IN CASE OF EMERGENCY. Please remain calm and stay seated. If tram is stopped for an extended period, park personnel will contact you from the ground." At this point Kaden thought it would be just hilarious if he stood and tried to shake the car we were riding in. Naturally I started to scream for him to sit down, kind of lost my nerve, bless my heart. My first reaction and instincts was to look for my mother. All I had to do was point at Kaden while my parents were looking at us from behind. Mom did the univeral sign for Kaden to sit. He obeyed:) Point me!

 After winning and making Kaden sit down. We laughed about the warning sign. But no worries I took my revenge upon the poor boy. Let's just say it involved being in closed quarters with no ventilation and the ride lasting a whole lot of minutes:) That is all I will say on the matter.

The View on our ride up. Glenwood valley. 

Our first adventure at the amusement park. A cave tour. 

Our Tour guide is pictured below. He really liked our group a lot. Not only was dad picked to be the official door closer because he was the tallest but because he took us for a whole 30 minutes longer telling us stories. Our favorite part about the tour guide. . . his comb over. It literally wrapped around his whole head. Once again it's the little things in life:)

Inside the cave. Let's be hones I am not the best with pictures. So very limited pictures are taken inside the cave. Also pictures don't do justice of how pretty it was inside. 

So the picture below is where the first cave ended. We were out on a ledge at the top of the mountain. On the side of this picture is a contraption called the sling shot. It throws strapped people over the side of the mountain then back and forth. The town people say you can hear the screams. 

Since dad was the chosen one and the official door closer, he was given the speical nail when he closed the door to put it back in the lock so any outsiders couldn't get back in. Dad posing most beautifully for the picture. I think he was a wee bit embarrassed because everyone was looking as we were begging him to hold the nail up for a picture. 

Once again inside the cave. . .  

Other attractions at this amusement park: 4D movies, a slide kind of like the one at park city but more like a mini roller coaster, a restaruant, little shops, and lastly laser tag. Let me just say my family is full of CHEATERS! Not only would they grab your gun and shoot mercessly at you, they would totally break the rule of running around. I may or may not have done it to them too. Lots of laughs! 

All in all the trip to the top of the mountain was so fun. Sad to say I didn't get any pictures of the slide/mini roller coaster. The others took pictures but I neglected them. But if you ever get the chance to go to Glenwood Springs. . . GO!!!!!



PRIVATE

So. . . . I have decided that I need to make my blog private due to some reasons. So if you have some desire to follow my posts please send me your e-mail. I will go private in two weeks, making it May 1st. GRACIAS!

Arches

Our next stop was Arches National Park for our Spring Break 2011.

Brynlee and Addie resting at the top and eating go-gurts, that's why they are so happy.

Addie using her walking stick to poing out the next arch we were going to. It was after this that a group of senior citizens on a bus tour passed us. They kept commenting at Addie how big she was with the walking stick, yada yada yada. Anywho that's when Addie made this comment "People like me all day, everyday".

 This sign made me giggle everytime!

Kaden and I doing a jumping picture.

Trying to get Steve-o on top of the rock. And Addie with her walking stick.

A slab of rock that looks like an elephant. Pretty cool looking uh?

 Addie with her stick performing a 'salmon'. For those of you who don't know what a 'salmon' is I shall explain. Someone flaps thier hand very fast between another persons knees. It is a very disturbing feeling, trust me. Addie has mastered this and loves to give it to others.

Wild Horse Canyon

After leaving Goblin Valley the two girls fell asleep in the car. My dad voluntered to stay back while they slept and the rest of us hiked up Wild Horse Canyon, which is 10 minutes from Goblin. This canyon is compared to the Narrows in Zion's.

The side of the canyons go up real high, it becomes very narrow, and there are lots of twists and climbing of rocks.

To allow other fellow hikers to pass Evan Rude had to climb the walls. Thankfully for me and my mom we found a little cove we could sneak into to let them pass.

Sporting the narrowness of the way

Jenn walked into this narrow section. The rest of us commented how it looked like a part off of the movie Lord of the Rings. The last movie as they enter the canyon to talk with the ghosts.

At one of the big rooms before heading onto the next narrow section. On our way back Steve-o and I decided to get it over with faster and to jog back. We were all tired from walking around Goblin Valley and running actually felt better on our legs.While going back through the narrow sections a bat came out of no where. While Kaden was trying to get a picture I kept screaming as it was flying at us. HILARIOUS and scary, YES! The bat flew at us 5-6 times and got REAL close. Thankfully the little bugger didn't land on us.

"Is this where Jesus lives?"

After spending two nights at my grandparents house in Kingston Ut, we made our way to the second stop of our Awesome spring break of 2011. . . Goblin Valley. Mom, Dad, Logan and Jenn with thier girls, Kaden and I made some pretty RAD memories:) The title of this blog, so eloquently given by Addie asking her mom, started off our ventures through the park. Logan and I haven't been here since he left on his mission, Jenn and the girls never.

As we parked and got out of our vehicles, Brynlee was down and walking all over the place. She saw papa walking back from the restrooms and went over to be with him. Brynlee has a talent of getting in front of people without them knowing. . . papa's leg then caught her and she ate asphalt, bless her heart. After I held her she stopped crying, then went to nana and started crying again to tell her the sad story (she did this story telling multiple times to whoever would listen). We started the trip out on a bang:)

Goblin valley is so awesome! Why you might ask. . . . because you actually get to climb up on the rocks (unlike other parks where they have since stopped any human touch of the artifacts. Cough cough Mesa Verde, cough) Anywho Kaden ridin' on the saddle.

Kaden, Brynlee, and I on a rock formation. Dad in the corner.

A neat cave you can climb up to which has a peaking hole in the top.

This picture doesn't do justice at all. My mom is taking the picture while the girls are screaming. Maybe they are claustrophobic, who knows. They were pretty anxious to get out. They wanted out so badly that they made it through this hole to my mom.

Jenn and I are sporting the beginning of the cave. Logan, better known as Evan Rude, is showing us where they cave starts to turn and then it opens up to a pretty good size room.

Papa with Addie. Notice the walking stick Addie is holding. . . it will appear in all the photos to come. My dad needs walking sticks to help climb around. Addie didn't want to miss out on the fun. For the next 3 days she would insist to carry a walking stick and draw pretty pictures for us.

Trying to find our way to the top of the ridge.

At the top of the ridge looking down at all the 'goblins'. Really guys if you have never been here you need to go!

Making our way back to the vehicles after exploring the park. We were pretty slow exiting the park. We got a little lost after being on top of the ridge. Not lost really, just tried to find a better way down that wasn't too steep. Evan Rude and Steve-o took off for a bit while we rested on top. Steve-o came back but Evan Rude never did. Steve-o took off running trying to find him and I took off too. When Evan Rude finally showed up minutes later, he got an ear full. Not from my mom or his wife. . . but from Kaden, bless his heart. Kaden was positive that Logan had fallen and was bleeding to death, it was pretty steep. We were happy to make it down and back to the cars. All in all, Goblin was a hit!