a cabin story

The following is based on a true story, stolen from the Jeepeeseeenss.s.

It started out when 5 couples took to the mountains for a weekend at the cabin. They're a random enough group of people.
Every story needs a villain though, can you spot ours?
We'll make it easy and put the villain in a perfect villain suit.
(The villain farts once in public and look what happens!)
Once up at the cabin we proceeded to make sure gravity was still working. Gravity... check.
Then during the check, Garret was abducted by aliens...

If regular flips are awesome... then synchronized flips are double awesome.
The characters experience death-defying adventures wicked awesome snowmobiling rides!
The hard snowmobile ride was worth it... it was beautiful!Even the characters disagreements were settled like gentlemen with a promp whitewashing, scone dough-ball to the face, or tiger uppercut.
happily ever after.
Thanks so much Jeppeeseknes! The trip was amazing!

Free!

Wahoo! No more debt! The car is officially paid off!!

7 Falls Hike!

We went on an epic journey this Saturday. It was so rad! It looked like it might rain, especially up in the mountains, but we decided to go anyway and boy was it worth it! Our destination was 7 falls up above the Mission in Santa Barbara.
It was a really fun hike because we just got to hop from rock to rock along the river bed. It was really fun until we got to this super hard part to get past. The rocks were really slick and steep slanting into this deep murk water. We had to do some sweet ninja moves to get past them.
Here's Jackie doing her ninja chimney crawl...
Me looking down the chimney the girls are climbing...
Jodi looks like spiderwoman here. She did awesome.
Just past the hardest part.
Jodi was ecstatic to be past the hard part.
Garret showing Jackie how the ninja wall kick jump is done.Jackie doing the ninja wall kick jump (it was only a 3 feet jump over 6 inch deep water, you'd think it was hot lava by how the girls were reacting.)
Jodi made no pretenses about doing the leap of doom- she climbed around.
the walls were really steep and slick in parts though
The group behind us didn't even dare to go past the hard part! Granted, they had a little pug to carry.
THIS was definitely the best part of the hike though. After I had hiked up past the hard part and I was trying to convince the girls that they could do it they had serious reservations. I looked away for a minute and apparently Jodi had a random spurt of short lived bravery and she went scampering up this rocky incline. I looked back and saw her and she frieked out! She was terrified. She ended laying all the way down on the rock face and slithering down the rock backwards like a slug while Garret held her feet for her!
The hard part required the use of some serious commando toes.
It had tons of pretty pools of water.
and on the way back down we found this sweet salamander... or newt thing.

Me

I never do this type of thing, but I have been reading them on a lot of blogs and they are kind of fun, so I thought what the heck...here are some things about me you may or may not know. Perhaps you will feel that our friendship is now that much closer.

I love to stay up late, but don't let me fall asleep outside of my bed or there may be crying and gnashing of teeth.

I really like dredlocks...I would never get them, but I like the way they look.

I'm pretty up to speed on 50's music and movies, thanks to having older parents...I was always the nerd that knew who sang
"that old song"

I have double jointed thumbs that freak people out.

I am a movie fiend...I especially like dramas, foreign films, and unusually unique flicks

I love scouting, scout camps have been a part of my life for as long as I can remember, I have a closet full of uniforms, and if I were a boy I'd probably be an Eagle Scout.

I HATE the sound of dragging over rough surfaces and markers on cardboard

I am definitely a perfectionist who also suffers from OCD

I'm a time freak-because of my OCD tendancies I feel like I have to be accomplishing something EVERY minute of my day, but I also daydream a lot and lose track of time (my mother accused me of "piddling around" for years) so I'm always wearing my watch, except for when I sleep,
yes even in the shower.
*funny story: I was wearing my watch in the temple when we got married so that I could make sure I was on time, but forgot to take it off so in my wedding pictures where I come bursting out of the temple doors...I look like a nerd with a watch:( I at least noticed soon after and promptly removed it*...whew long story

I pick at the skin around my fingernails...a habit I've been trying to break since the 9th grade...ocdocd

If I could spend a day with anyone who is dead- it would be Leonardo Da Vinci- a simply magnificent individual who truly took advantage of the world around him and discovered every facet of creation. He understood, probably more than anyone, that knowledge is power.

I heart Elton John.

I slept like a thrashing demon until I was about 16, and then I suddenly started sleeping like a stiff corpse...for reals...wierd.

One of my biggest pet peeves is when people are unreliable or flaky

I'm a planning freak *note previously stated peeve*

I love nachos, cheese, and hot chocolate... and eat them most days

I'm driven to do the opposite of trends...I hate being like everybody else

I love the cello. Bach's Cello Suite No.1

I'm allergic to penicillin

I was in the musicals every year in highschool and had a leading role my junior year

I hate Los Angeles

I draw, and paint sometimes, and I like to draw black people more than anything else

I feel very passionate about life...and that's probably why I could find a reason to CRY over just about anything- out of happiness and sadness.

I love theater and live perfomances

In college I worked in the scenery shop building sets and I LOVED it...It absolutely made my professors day when I told him I discovered a new passion-now if I just had the space for my own workshop...

As a kid I drew floor plans instead of pictures of rainbows and ponies -well I did those too-I Really wanted to study architecture in college...but it just wasn't it the cards.

I still draw up floor plans in my spare time.

Taylor is the only boy I have ever kissed
Boys did like me in high school, I just wouldn't kiss any of them
But I did have a crush on every boy

I REALLY dislike Indian food

I dance a lot, when nobody is around, and I think I have some pretty fancy footwork...Taylor has been surprised

I love being a Mormon
and I love linking everything to that website

I love being obsessed with a book...and I think Oscar Wilde is absolutely
my favorite author
Even more I love discovering that everytime I read his work

I love live music...of most varieties

And best of all, I know I'm a daughter of GOD

Christmas Vacation

It was pretty fantastic to go home for a couple of weeks and enjoy the holidays with family. Taylor's mom made a fabulous advent dinner and invited all of the in-laws parents to join us.

Christmas was full of cheer, a lot of wrapping paper, and cute nieces and nephews.I pretty much nailed it this year with Taylor's gifts...a UTE Sugar Bowl shirt, climbing hardware, and hot sauces from around the world. He was one happy boy.My gorgeous nieces have already passed me up in everywayI made Taylor hold babies. Secretly, he really loved it, don't let him fool you...We did a little sledding with my familyAnd we played A LOT of rock band with Taylor's family. Turns out I'm a pretty wicked awesome drummer. Taylor never knew the wifey had such good rythm...Meet Maggie...Taylor's three legged dog. Her and I...we don't get a long so well. Although, she does do a pretty mean shakeface.We had dinner with some of my high school friendsAnd we made some time for my favorite winter sport, snowshoeing with our awesome friend Kevin Day and Kashi. It was a great way to start off our New Year's day. The drive home was pretty much miserable and long. I don't deny that I made it worse by being a crabby wife because I was bored and I didn't have a book on tape. Taylor is a good husband to put up with me and he did most of the driving.

Well it's a new year, new goals, new haircuts for both of us (which by the way has been slightly tweaked and I no longer look like David Bowie as stated by my loving husband) and I do like it.And this is pretty much how Taylor feels about all haircuts...Long live 2009 and life in the shackles of graduate school.

Who knows what it will make us do next.

Sugar Bowl Champions!

Go UTES! The ONLY undefeated team in the country!
Not only did we beat #4 Alabama, but we licked em! The Las Vegas betting odds had Alabama winning by 9! that means a lot of people lost a lot of money! Go UTES! 2 BCS victories in 4 years!

read the game recap here.
I think the game ball should go to this man right here: Sly! Stevenson Sylvester. He forced 2 turnovers and was responsible for many of the 8 quarterback sacks.