Pioneer Day - July 24, 2010

I had all sorts of hiking plans for today.  I wanted to get up early and hike a huge mountain with James and eat a picnic lunch and take pictures and get home and make us a yummy dinner.  Instead, we stayed up too late hanging out with Chris and Diana and Hudson and playing Super Mario Brothers on the Wii.  I might be addicted.

So I let James sleep in and made us a scrumptious breakfast with hashbrowns and french toast and juice and sausage and bacon and eggs.  And it was a good thing we didn't spend all day on the mountain because Jordan and Michael (& friend) were driving through and stopped by our place.  They needed to pick up some camping gear that U.Doug had ordered via James and backcountry.com, but I was happy for a quick visit!  I fed them tuna melts and they played video games for a bit.  Then the guys were loading the truck and started playing catch in the parking lot - with a weird football (rugby ball, apparently) - in the hot July sun.  So I took pictures from the shady porch.

Michael, Friend and Jordan and rugby ball.

Jordan - on his way home to California for the summer from BYU-I.

Michael - on his way home from EFY at Utah State in Logan.

James - hanging out at home on a very mellow, very un-pioneerish Utah holiday.  Isn't his 'football' jersey sweet?  Kathleen brought it home from her European adventure for him.  I got a "Nessie" T-Shirt.  LOVE IT!

Adventures from Biking to Work - July 23, 2010

I have now ridden the bike for 6 work days in a row.  I'm counting the ride to the auto repair place on Wednesday even though I didn't actually ride the bike to work, I still rode the bike.  (The Outlaw was broken - now it is happy again)

The long-straight ride to work was very uneventful, except I (successfully) attempted to ride without hands for awhile.  Changes up my posture and eases the saddle-soreness a bit.

I chose a new route home though.  Very, very interesting.  Mostly residential along a fairly busy street.  Over the freeway to a very busy highway.  There is a nice shady park at the beginning of my highway miles, so I decided to ride on the sidewalks in the park instead of along the highway.  When the park ended, there was a dirt path along the weedy hillside, so I decided to follow that path.

After a dozen yards, it wasn't a big enough path to ride, so I dismounted and began pushing the bike through the weeds.  When I started seeing luggage, mostly-full garbage sacks and blankets (see the photo below) along both sides of the path, I decided that I was in a make-shift homeless shelter.  I was fairly near a road and was able to push the bike through the weeds and get out of their living room.  I didn't see any people, so I don't think I disturbed anyone but myself.

Up ahead of me on the side of the highway was another bicyclist pulling a trailer.  Most of the time, I get passed by other bicyclists like I'm standing still, so I got super excited when I found that I was catching up and could pass him!  As I was passing, I asked how much his trailer weighs.  65-pounds. 

He (Phil from Ohio) seemed chatty, so I slowed up and once we got to a designated bike path, we rode together up the long, long, long, long hill.  He was pedalling from Ohio to California.  Except that he didn't want to ride through Nevada next, so he changed his plan and is now pedalling to Oregon.  Phil was going through some "life stuff" and decided to take 3 months and pedal.  Said he didn't see another bicyclist for the first 900 long, flat miles.  He really enjoyed Colorado and the mountains and was enjoying Utah too.  And on the way home, he was probably going to buy a train ticket and bypass the flat states altogether. 

It was really nice to have someone to chat with through the long hill, a bit of motivation - didn't want to be wimpy!   Good Luck Phil from Ohio!

Couples Date Night - July 23, 2010

Chris and Diana Elexpuru are a couple in our ward.  They moved in during Elder's Quorum softball last summer and we've been friends ever since.  Their son, Hudson, is in my nursery class and we're getting to be pretty good buddies. 

Last night was the last night of EQ softball this season.  Chris and Hudson picked James and I up for the game.  Chris and James played softball.  Hudson and I played on the bleachers and played with someone else's basketball and with Diana's old volleyball and with the spare softballs and with the bats....  After the game (we forfeited - not enough players - we scrimmaged anyway and then we got creamed in the scrimmage because the other guys were better hitters and so, so serious and the ump was obviously biased), Chris invited us to go to dinner with them tonight. 

Tonight we picked up Chris and met Diana and Hudson at the Mexican Restaurant in Layton.  They had a great coupon, so the five of us ate dinner with drinks and desserts and the tip for $40 total.  Nice!  We sat and visited for quite a while and then we went to the mall on a quest for a protective case for Diana's new phone.

The phone accessories hunt was not my idea of fun, so Hudson and I went to the kiddy play area.  And then, so did James and Chris and Diana.  (James is climbing through a giant whistle / slide thing - Hudson is that blur by James' head.)

One of the 'toys' in the play area was a mock TV station.  The News Desk had a camera pointed at it and a TV in front of it.  The camera broadcast the picture of the News Desk into the TV.  This is Chris and Hudson testing out the camera.

This is Diana, taking their picture from near the TV and camera.

This is Hudson and I being TV anchors and James being a fame seeker!

That's a wrap, thanks for watching the date night news...