haphazard musings

Another year older!

Well, another year has passed for Ryan.  He is now 27.  Kind of old - in my younger opinion.  I will let him tell you how he feels about it - in person of course - he doesn't really get this "blogging thing".  Not that he couldn't do it, he just doesn't want to.  So this is my version of his birthday party.

He requested a "poke cake" - thats we called it my house growing up.  But basically its a white cake mix with strawberry jello poured over it, topped with cool whip and strawberries.  Seriously good.  You should try it.  If you want the recipe, just ask, then I will call my mom and get it.  For some reason I never actually write it down and I can never remember how much jell-o you are supposed to use.

Whew, anyway, to make a long story longer - the cake was good.  No picture though...not sure why.

So to celebrate we had a bunch of our friends over to the house on a Friday night.  We ordered pizza, mostly because I didn't want to cook food for 17 people - seriously that's a lot of work, and had some snacks, and played with Ryan's presents inside.  But it didn't last too long because it was a BEAUTIFUL evening.

July doesn't typically come with 75 degree evenings and no wind - but this day was just that.  We even got too cool at one point and had to move inside. 

 

Apparently the funniest card ever - some Saturday Night Live sketch that I didn't get, but Ryan thought it was funny.

  

Ryan loves presents - especially when they are wrapped in semi-girly paper.  But check out the reaction!  Yea!

   

 

We played washers, ladder ball, bachi ball and the piano. :)

 

We also colored and enjoyed the outside weather.  Then everyone went inside and played video games. :)

So HAPPY BIRTHDAY Ryan!

Favorite YAC Night!

After our return to our "normal" schedule, we went to YAC.  For those who are unaware, YAC stands for Youth After Christ.  Ryan and I hang out with a great group of 30 to 40 junior highers each Wednesday night.  We have really enjoyed getting to know them and our fellow youth sponsors. 

One of my favorite YAC nights happened just a two weeks ago.  We call it Fear Factor Food night.  Basically it consists of some commonly eaten (in other cultures) and perfectly harmless (depending on your gag reflex) foods.  This could include: dried anchovies, squid, and a blended "Happy Meal" (like the drink, fries and burger in one cup).

We always have so much fun with this night!

  

The masterminds behind the food and all its glory.  We have the Cowgirl Conserve and Super Samurai.

There was a little mix-up in the theme of the night.  Some thought super hero and some thought crazy sunglasses.  Turned out to be an interesting night all around.

 

These girls went all out with the glasses.  Well done girls.

How many Saltines can you eat at a time, Max?

 

Its a race how fast can you eat 4 cold hot dogs?  Winner: Katie.  Yep the lady!

  

In case its unclear - that is a diaper filled with "poo" aka (a completely sanitary, clean diaper filled with scrumptious pudding).

    

Apparently pickled pig ears are hard to eat...

   

Dried anchovies - Kechra couldn't handle it, but Haylee, a 1st timer, got 'em all down!

    

The crowning glory...a McDonald's Happy Meal all blended up.  One drink was more than enough...

Well, if you aren't grossed out by that, perhaps you should consider working with junior highers - if you need a place to volunteer - I can hook you up!

A Wedding!

Well another one down and 4 to go!  This was one of my favorite weddings of the year.  It was just so relaxed and fun.  Everyone got to be there - except Kristen.  :(  But travel from Africa is expensive!

Our little Steph Mense became Steph Grennan - which is harder to say, but we love her all the more!

Here are some photos from the exciting event which took place in Grinnell, KS. (If you're curious, it out west.) 

We stopped and spent the weekend here on our way back from Utah - if you are keeping track we were gone for 11 days.  So glad we scheduled this stop!

  

Steph at the Bridal Luncheon - look how happy she is, but this is nothing new...this is Steph 24/7.  Seriously...ask anyone.

   

Then we went on a tour of Grinnell - it took about 10 minutes - and only that long because we went inside at her house.

This is the gas station, Steph had to show us how to work the pump.  It was so funny - we felt ridiculous.

I just love the sign on the pump..."Count to 20" ha.

    

The grain elevator...and the house.  So cute - surrounded by corn fields.

  

Girls always remember to where something that buttons or has a large neck...otherwise this will be you.

That's right, we cut her shirt off. :)

 

But it was so worth it! : )

 

The fellas and the ladies.

 

Watching the firework display!

 

And we're back.

Back to our regularly scheduled program.  I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend - we sure did, but that's later.  Last time, I was telling you about the trip to Utah. For a recap, scroll down. I do believe this is the last post on the topic.  I bet you are all pretty excited. :)

After rafting, we headed into Salt Lake City for the afternoon and evening.  We started out at the Great Salt Lake.  If you have never been there it is an odd site.  Beautiful, but oh so unique.

  

I kind of like it in the sepia tone also...

 

According to the Great Salt Lake radio station, the water there can be 8 times as salty as the ocean.  Its pretty thick.  It can only support life in the form of brine shrimp and brine flies.  They were nasty and covered the beach.  Its really kind of weird to be at such a vast water source that is so barren and dead really.  We walked out to the edge of the water - no way was I going in - not at all.  It just looked stagnant - and it is.  While there are rivers flowing into it, nothing is flowing out.  The only way for it to drain is evaporation.  

Interestingly, there is an island in the middle of it - it is about 42 square miles.  Its huge!  Its called Antelope Island.  That's where we went.  It is home to a buffalo ranch since the 1890's and that's about it.  It also has big horn sheep, antelope (obviously), and bobcats.  I know how the bison got there (on a boat - they are not indigenous - there was a sign).  But what I want to know is how did the big horn sheep get to an island in the middle of the lake?  I would guess that they didn't swim...hmm...any ideas?

Anyway, here are a few more shots (you can click on them to see a bigger version).

    

The pronghorn antelope and a "beach" scene.  Both of these are looking across the lake toward Salt Lake City.  If you make the one on the right bigger, you might be able to see some of the downtown buildings just to the right of center.

    

Like I said, beautiful!

So then we went into the city for dinner at a Brazilian steakhouse - this was our fancy night out - meaning it was expensive and it was the only time we did that. : )  It was all you can eat.  Steak, pork, chicken, shrimp, and pineapple - basically anything you can grill!  The pineapple was definitly my favorite - we are going to try it at home.  Basically, you take fresh pineapple, roll it in brown sugar and grill.  Basically, its what I think Heaven could possibly taste like.  You have to try it.  There was a huge buffett loaded with side dishes and desserts.  Plus the waiters came around and cut you off a piece of meat.  Its called Tucanos.

    

Next we walked around the downtown and viewed all the Church of Latter-Day Saints buildings.  Awesome in size and beauty, but unfortunatley, they remind of a song by Andrew Peterson - All Things New.  It has a line - Rise up o sleeper, awake.  Anyway, just listen to it.  It fits.

   

   

   

Ok, so I have a slight obsession with architetcural details like that awesome fence.  Seriously, it was beautiful!  Also, I love fountains.  I have like a hundred pictures of various fountains.  I just love the way the water looks when its caught in motion.  I love seeing the individual drops and seeing the splash frozen in time - whoa sorry, getting caught up. : )  Also the building has a reflection of the tabernacle with the rosey sunset.  Kinda cool!

So, that's the last post from Utah.  What a trip.  Happy Times.

A weekend event!

This program will return after these commercial messages brought to you by the Newton Chamber of Commerce!

This weekend is a little event called Main Street Mania.  Go check it out tonight and tomorrow all day.  There are sales in all the shops, drawings for awesome prizes, trolley rides, bouncy things, live music, and free snacks and drinks. 

Friday: 6 to 9pm

Saturday 9 - 5 pm

United Way will be there too! (Shameless plug, but I can, this is my blog.)

So go, support your community (you don't even have to spend anything) just be there and let 'em know you care.

Now, back to your regularly scheduled programming.

Adventurous ... Me?

Well, just for the record, I am not always terribly adventurous.  Its not really my style.  Especially when it comes to fast things *unless its a roller coaster* or potentially dangerous things.  I like calculated risk for the most part.  Anyway...

While we were in Utah - we did several of these things: zip lining (it was fun), whitewater rafting (fun too) ok so that was really the only things that seemed possibly dangerous.  But to get to many of the fun activities, you had to ride the lift up the mountain.  As it turns out, I am afraid of the lift.  I never really knew that before. 

Since I have never been on a lift without snow, perhaps it is seeing the really hard ground without the snow that bothers me.  I always envisioned that if the lift fell, I would land on my skis and take of down the hill like a pro.  While that's not terribly likely, it suffices.

Or it could have been the fact that Ryan and Andy were constantly discussing ways to save yourself should the worst happen.  I never really thought about all the ways a lift could break, fall, slip, etc.  So on to me being adventurous.

First whitewater rafting - not quite as whitewater as we would have liked.  I was quite nervous at first, turned out to be quite enjoyable other than some seriously cold water.  I would highly recommend it, and next time I might even ask for more!

  This is the river where we put in.  So yeah, it looks pretty tame. : ) 

But never fear for really big life jacket people are here!

    

So, I don't make very good mean faces, and it doesn't help that my pony tail is sticking straight up in the back.  But, hey, I try.

Unfortunately, we couldn't take the camera on the boat, so you will have to take my word for it that there were some seriously amazing views to include but not limited to: a flock (?) of vultures of some sort, natural rock bridges and some fly-fisherpeople.  At one point we did have to all lay down in the boat to go under a bridge - apparently not a common occurrence.  Seriously it was a close call - well kind of.

On to more adventurous fun...

  Looking all kinds of cool in our glasses while riding the lift - notice the smile - the falling talks had not yet started.

 

Our very own, Julie (on the left) and Andy swinging in on the zip line.  It was really fast!  It was a ton of fun, but unfortunately, the line was like a million years long.  Seriously we waited for over an hour.  So we only did it once.  But there were many other activities to keep us busy.

Alpine Slide:

 

Watch out, it does go really fast and you can crash and burn - literally - ask Andy.

Alpine Coaster:

   going up.

all the way down - check out Ryan's classic hair do.  Look out!

We also spent a little time hiking a couple trails and enjoying the scenery too. 

We need have to make an emergency trip to the Pharmacy Aisle of the grocery store to remedy an allergic reaction - for pictures of that see Julie's facebook page.  But all in all a fun and exciting day.

Did we just drive...

well we did a lot.  But we also did lots of other fun stuff.  But I am a firm believer that half the fun can be found in in the journey.  Deep right?

So in light of the journey - two more photos from the drive.

    

Seriously, love the water out of the rocks, and that rock is just sweet.  Wish we could have stopped, I really want to touch that rock.  It looks so smooth.  I have always had and still do have the need to touch everything I see - much like a 3 year old.  Museums that are completely hands on are right up my alley, but those other ones that have signs like this: "PLEASE DON"T TOUCH!" are much less fun.

Ok so, we saw this:

  

The ski jump from the Olympics that were held in Salt Lake City/Park City.  For some reason, it never really dawned on me that ski jumps were ever without snow.  But apparently yes, the snow does melt.  Weird.  However without the snow, they seem a great deal more dangerous!  Then I thought to myself and said aloud to my companions, what in the world would inspire someone to launch themselves off of that?! 

This was the best lunch spot ever - no idea what it was called - but wonderful selection, cheap, unairconditioned (and it didn't need it!), and the best atmosphere.  Also the best chicken salad sandwich I have ever had - and just to clarify, I've had a lot.

 

The first day we were there Park City hosted the Silly Sunday street fair.  Bascially it was a huge street full of vendors, shops, food, etc.  It was awesome!  We got some fun foods and saw great booths like the Gnome Grown Mushrooms.  Hilarious!  We even got a little present for Finley - you'll see that later.  We spent a little while just sitting and watching people go by. 

We also got to enjoy the town's firework display!  It was great.  No pictures, but trust me they were good.

    

Happy Birthday Andy!  We had lunch at this joint - Wasatch Brew Pub - his choice.  Yum!

We saw lots of Moose.

   

    

We went walking/exploring a lot!

    

   

We found this cool park area - with musical instruments made out of random objects. 

   Everyone was enjoying themselves and playing nice: 

Until...Julie decided fun time was over. : )   

Some other random sightings included the Olympic Flame, Columbine Flowers, the cool house, and a wise sign.

    

 

 

The Drive was...

loooonnnnnggggg.

unique.

scenic.

Ok, so I was going to provide you with a long list of adjectives so you could fully picture what the 14 hour drive was like.  But - I ran out of adjectives.  Not that there aren't millions more, but I am not currently capable of thinking them up.  Yep, no imagination today whatsoever.

Lucky for you, I took about 5 million photos.  Most of them from the car window with my happy little work station.  Ryan drove for like 12 of the 14 hours.  Yeah - he's pretty cool like that. 

Seriously, I sat for most of the trip like this.  Laptop in constant use or reading.  I worked diligently to get my work done, so I could enjoy the vacation when we got there.  (except for the time that I was napping - i was a little narcoleptic...)

Anyway...

We left Denver early on the 4th of July and pointed the trusty Altima to the west - after a quick stop at the local area Starbucks.  Now I don't know if you know this about me, but I love mountains. 

Not like love - "Oh that's nice." 

But like - "Whoa, Ryan did you see that one?!?
or
"Look at that view - where's the camera?!?"

By the end of the trip, I am pretty sure Ryan wanted to put a kabash on the picture taking and the "whoa's"  But I am what I am.

So, now onto the photos that are hopefully in order from Denver to Park City, but one never knows...

  

After passing through the Eisenhower Tunnel, Ryan and I spent a great deal of time discussing the amazing marvel of science that it is.  Well, really Ryan was telling me how it works and how it was built and other interesting information that I was unaware of.  So if you need to know, you should definitely ask him - Ryan's special talent is knowing random facts.  Just ask!

  

We changed mountain types.  We went from smooth mountains to rocky ones with lots of interesting formations. 

  

This is angry peak - so dubbed for the intense clouds that were all around it - including this wicked storm that popped up.  Yikes!

  

  

Hope you enjoyed the drive.

A little trip.

Thanks to a lucky break, Ryan and I were able to go on a lovely vacation this year.  We were pretty excited!  So we got the most possible out of our time off.  We left On July 2nd and headed west - yeah we do that a lot - but this time we went past Limon.  Our final destination was Park City, Utah.  Here's our first couple days. 

Please be prepared for photo overload.

Along the way we stopped for dinner - at Wendy's - dinner of champions right?  Plus Finley loves (I mean LOVES) their french fries.  And we happened upon an impromptu gathering of classic cars.  Among those cars was one of my favorites of all time.  I have always wanted one of these.

 

Isn't it awesome!?!  I believe its called a Cobra.  But that is so not important.  I like the two little seats and the convertible part!  Just thought you all should know.

And because Ryan would like me to post it - here is his favorite.

  

So, after looking at the pictures I couldn't remember which one he liked best...so here are two.  If I remember right, it is a Chevelle and a Camero.

Anyway....

We spent our next day in Denver with our friend Ashley.  We went to the 16th street mall, the Rockies game (with FIREWORKS!), and then stayed at her cute little apartment before heading on to Utah.

   

This is currently one of my favorite streets in the world.  I haven't been to Europe, but I am sure some of those streets will usurp the title as favorite, but this one is great!  It has the best shops, art - all local artists, clothes - unique boutiques, restaurants and cafes - sidewalk seating, and the best buildings all old and full of details!

   It was also home to the world's perfect scooter - I want one! : )

On our way to Ryan's favorite place, we stopped for dinner just in time to watch the down pour of hail and hurricane rain descend upon the mall goers and the poor souls on the patio.  Luckily, wise with our phone weather updates, we chose to take a seat inside the building. 

The next photos are on the walk to Ryan's favorite place -  

  

    

           

The Rockies played the Arizona Diamond Backs and stomped them 5 to zip!  We had a great time and it was a pretty exciting game.  Plus there were fireworks so how can you go wrong with that?  Here is our view.

  

I don't know if you can see it but there is a line of purple seats all around the stadium - like 7 rows from the top.  That line marks one mile high.  We were one row below it.  So yeah, we climbed a lot of stairs.  It was a BEAUTIFUL evening after the rain at dinner.  It was made even better with my giant flavor-ice! Seriously, it was huge!

   

And so ended the first day of vacation.

A happy/sad farewell

So a few weeks ago, we had to say goodbye to Grace's youth pastor - Jim.
This is him - serving noodle soup at a Hunger Awareness Event.

So we had a party!

YAC (Youth After Christ) style!  Nothing but the best for Jim.

Cookies
Chips
Candy
Basically every type of junk food you could think of.

We also brought in   his mom and dad - great folks!

AND

   Yep, ANDREW PETERSON!  Click his name to find out more.  He is an awesome Christian singer, song writer, and author - and Jim's favorite artist.  He came to share his talent with us.  He was totally real and shared some great songs and words with us.  Loved it!

Jim, we will certainly miss you, but we enjoyed the time together and wish you nothing but God's best in what I am sure is your fully-totally-rocking future!  Thanks for being you!