Moab 2009

This past weekend Jeremy and I went to Moab with the Barclay's, Steven & Tara and some friends. Jeremy's dad works with a guy who got a permit to run the Westwater seciton of the Colorado River. A 17 mile section of river with a series of 17 rapids. Of course we were in the smallest raft. There was lots of rowing, lots of sun and lots of water. The first few rapids were pretty small. I thought "if this is as bad as it gets, we're good". Boy was I wrong. We went through some pretty amazing rapids. The one that I have the best recollection of was called Skull Rapids. Ya, the name really instilled a sense of saftey for me. Well, the 6 of us in our little raft (that included a guy who's run the river a lot and was our "guide") headed into the rapids and after we hit the first big one we got thrown over to the right and pinned against a rock wall. The raft went up on the wall and we thought it was going to flip and we'd all fall out. Instead Jeff (my brother-in-law) fell into me and I in turn fell into Jeremy and Jeremy and I both fell out! It was pretty scary. Luckily I was right by the raft and could feel the side of the raft. I kept reaching for something to grab onto but couldn't find anything. I was still under water and couldn't get any air. Suddenly I was ripped out of the water and was back in the raft. Literally ripped. In the process I got a huge bruise on my leg somehow. Jeremy on the other hand had gotten sucked down when he fell in. Finally he came up and was right under the raft. He finally got out after being under long enough to feel "uncomfortable". When he popped up the other rafts in our group were yelling at him to swim left. We finally made it out of the rapids, picked up Jeremy from another raft and tried to calm down. It was at this point that our "guide" told us that 3 people have died this year in that exact spot. He didn't tell us before so we didn't freak out. Overall the rafting trip was AWESOME! Definitely scary in spots but way fun!

35th Annual Scottish Festival

This past weekend Jeremy performed/competed with the Utah Pipe Band at the Utah Scottish Festival at Thanksgiving Point. Friday night was the tattoo and Saturday was the competition. The UPB placed 3rd out of 12 competing bands in both the timed medley and the quick march medley. The main reason I go is to see my hubby in his kilt! Oh, and I guess the sweet piping that they do isn't bad either!

Masters of Business Administration (MBA)

grad·u·a·tion; (n.)
- Conferral or receipt of an academic degree or diploma marking completion of studies.
- A ceremony at which degrees or diplomas are conferred; a commencement.

2 years of study, countless late nights, 1 trip to Europe. Lots of money.
Finally being done with his Masters degree. Priceless.

Trip Pictures

Europe 2009

In lieu of the fact that there is no way I could possibly share all the experiences we had on our amazing trip to Europe I am going to list a few key things that stick out and let the pictures do the rest. That's if I can ever get this blasted slideshow to work.

Poland/Czech Republic 2009

Number of flights: 5
Hotels stayed in: 3
Overnight trains with moldy cheese in them: 1
Days of chronic coughing: 10
Amount of money spent on bathrooms: Lots
Amount of money spent on drinks with no ice: Lots
Number of people in our group: 30
Favorite place visited: Prague
Weirdest food I tasted: Pork lard spread on bread... Yummmmm!
Days spent being grateful I'm American: 10
Most sobering place: Auschwitz
Favorite moments: When it was just me and Jeremy walking around exploring.
People who wouldn't sell us ice cream: 1
Friends made: Many
Hours on a bus: Numerous
Miles walked: Countless

Don't let this list fool you. Even the things that may sound negative were so fun.. well, everything except being sick the whole time. I could have done without that. I'm sure I'll have more to say once I get everything organized.

Snow, snow and....more snow

Microclimate (n); The climate of a small, specific place within an area as contrasted with the climate of the entire area.

I have learned two things in regards to the recent accumulation of snow here in Layton.

First. Don't try shoveling the snow off a huge driveway unless you want to employ a chiropractor and a massage therapist. Whoever said 'lift with your legs, not with your back' has obviously never shoveled a driveway 15" deep in snow. Because I DID lift with my legs... and my back... and my arms and every other muscle in the human body. In fact my jaw is sore from clenching my teeth while lifting. Crazy.

Second. Before you buy your next house check out the neighbors and make sure you have some good ones. Our neighbor Dusty gets the award for best neighbor this year. Although we do have a snow blower, it's a hand-me-down and doesn't work. Dusty, however, has one of those industrial snow blowers that can suck up small cars and turn them into rubix cubes or something like that. He generally beats us to our driveway and saves me from any shoveling at all. I must admit that last Monday when we also got dumped on he didn't come and snow blow our driveway. I was kind of irritated that he would leave me to do it myself...heaven forbid. Well, yesterday when I was out there shoveling again he came over when I was half done and helped finish it. We got to conversing and he told me how sorry he was that he didn't help on Monday. He wanted to but couldn't because he dislocated his shoulder! Wow, I'm a jerk!

AND THE WINNER IS...

As many of you know Jeremy is in his last semester in the MBA program at Westminster. One of the requirements for the Masters program is that he take a trip to study business internationally. He was given a list four locations and had to pick which place he wanted to go. Choice #1 Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; could be interesting but there's no real desire to go there. #2 Mexico City, Mexico; might be fun but guaranteed to be very dirty and hot. #3 Ireland; you might think this is a no-brainer and the obvious choice. However, that is one place we will probably visit someday due to it's close proximity to Scotland. You all know Jeremy's Scottish right? That leaves us with #4 Poland & the Czech Republic. It may not be an obvious first choice, however, the likely hood that we would choose to go there on our own is pretty slim. So that's where we're going. Yep...WE! It just so happens that there was extra space in the group so spouses can go if they want to. Thus, April 29,2009 we will be flying to Warsaw, Poland where we'll start our stoic journey. Next on the itinerary is Krakow, Poland. Last but certainly not least (I'm very excited to go there) is Prague, Czech Republic. In the coming months we have lots to do to prepare and to be honest I'm a little bit anxious about it! So if any of you have any information about any of the places we're going we'd love to hear about it!