December Challenge: Complete Spa Treatment

I didn’t get a complete spa treatment and have yet to do so in my life – if ever – but I did give a complete spa treatment to a turkey. Yes, a turkey. The ones that go ‘gobble gobble.’ But mine didn’t because, well, it was dead. And no, I didn’t kill it but it definitely would have added to the learning experience! I decided for my first challenge I would learn how to prepare, cook, and cut a turkey.

I was looking forward to learning how to cook a turkey this past November for Thanksgiving – it being my first Thanksgiving away from home – but circumstances had it where I was unable to. Plus, recovering from food poisoning on Thanksgiving I was also unable to partake of the turkey that was prepared by my roommate. All the more reason to learn how to cook one! Who needs a holiday as an excuse to cook a turkey anyway? Turkeys don’t just grow in the month November.

To be honest, I was quite intimidated by this challenge because I had never done it nor had I ever seen anybody prepare a turkey before. I’ve just seen it come out of the oven each year. Thus, my research began – I found a recipe online that looked tasty and that had also received many 5 star ratings. Plus, it was classified as ‘easy.’ Can’t go wrong with that. The recipe: Oven Roasted Turkey with Sage Butter

First mistake: I bought a turkey breast instead of a whole turkey. Now, I can blame this mistake on lack of sleep because I purchased the turkey breast right after getting off of my 12-hour long night shift on Monday. (The day has significance because that means I had just completed three 12-hour night shifts). But when I was in the store I was more concentrated on finding a turkey that weighed as little as possible; I wasn’t focused on the label as long as it said ‘turkey’ somewhere on it. Needless to say, I now have a turkey breast in my freezer and I made another trip to the grocery store.

The complete spa treatment began this afternoon by first undressing it of its plastic wrapping and removing the neck and giblets. I then thoroughly washed the turkey inside and out. This cleansing prepared the meat for the next spa treatment stage.

I began the exfoliating process by sprinkling sea salt and pepper on the inside of the turkey. Spreading olive oil all over the outside of the turkey, I then rubbed sea salt and pepper over the entire turkey. The next and most time consuming part of this spa treatment was the full body massage. (Since when do turkeys get full body massages!?!) I had to separate the skin of the turkey from the meat beneath in order to spread the Sage Butter over the meat. This part of the treatment ended up being the most fun for me. It was something that I never imagined or thought possible – but I was actually doing it! It was interesting to feel how the skin and meat were separated, but even more fun to see the turkey have saggy skin afterwards! (Thanks goodness this doesn’t happen after human body massages!).

After the massage, the conditioning and soothing lotion (Sage Butter) was added in between the skin and meat. And by way of suggestion, I rubbed minced garlic over the outside and inside of the turkey as well as sprinkled some additional salt and pepper over it again. I stuffed the inside of the turkey and the bottom of the cooking dish with sliced up potatoes, carrots, onions, and garlic for added nutrience and supplement. Covering it up with tin foil, it was ready for the last portion of its spa treatment, 3 hours in the tanning bed!

I had absolutely no idea how to carve the turkey once it came out of the tanning bed, but lucky for me the same website that provided the recipe (foodnetwork.com) also provided a video on how to carve a turkey! The video gives great instruction, but I had a difficult time getting good clean cuts because the meat literally fell off the bones! This made getting the meat off of the bones super easy. I guess that’s when you know you’ve done an excellent spa treatment! The meat was absolutely mouth-watering delicious!! It wasn’t dry at all, but burst with flavor! It made my taste buds sing and dance all night long. The turkey along with the cooked vegetables and some stuffing to complete the meal was a little bit of heaven on earth. I will be enjoying the turkey for days to come!

After all is said and done, I think the one who gives the complete spa treatment ends up with the better deal….

Bon Appetit!

December Challenge: Success!

(The recipe is included under comments for your convenience)

The Challenge

We often hear people quote the saying, "You learn something new every day!" And as much as that may be true, I would say that it is more passive learning than not. There is academic learning, but that is more of a 'comes with the territory' type of learning, which is mainly concentrated within the first 30 years of ones life. To me, it seems rare to find an individual who is constantly seeking to learn something new; somebody who is actively learning just for the sake of learning.

There are many things in this world and in my lifetime that I would love to learn how to do or learn about whether through experiential education, studying, or by other means. So to kick off this desire I have to become an active learner I have challenged myself to learn one new thing each month for the entire year.

The list is endless and the possibilities are mind boggling, yet somehow I don't know where to begin or what to choose to start off this challenge in January. Nonetheless, I am excited! And don't worry, I will be blogging about the new learning experience of choice each month. So, stay tuned...

Suggestions are welcomed

Fun-Filled Celebration!

Usually my weekends mainly consist of sleeping and working, along with a few other items of accomplishment from my to do list. There isn't much time to play on the weekends; the majority of my play time takes place during the week days. But today was a rare occasion wherein I was able to spend most of my Saturday playing and enjoying the day to the max!

Today was a celebration of sorts, but mostly dedicated to my amazing friend who just passed the state test and became a CNA. A great accomplishment! After a interesting experience, but rather filling lunch at Sizzlers we began looking for hills to go sledding down. This was a last minute idea I had as I was running out the door, but was met with much excitement upon my suggesting it. Idaho has finally received it's first real snow fall over the last few days and my friend and I were both really excited to try out the new powder. We drove around looking for a certain hill, but ended up going to a park that had the perfect sledding hill in it. It wasn't a huge hill - but it was perfect to satisfy the adventurous spirit we had inside.

Our 'sleds' consisted of a long, body-width piece of plastic with hand holds around the edges. I had never used them before and so I didn't know how well they worked. But with snow falling heavily around us we didn't hesitate to jump on and give it a whirl. To my surprise the sleds worked fantastic, which only added to our fun. We slid down the hill in as many different ways you could possibly think of! It was sooooo much fun!

I think I had forgotten or had a bit of a bad taste for sledding in my mouth because of last year's winter experience. I had broken my tailbone mountain biking in October and so my winter activities, which consisted of sledding and snowboarding, weren't so enjoyable especially when I went over a bump or got any kind of air on a sled or when I would fall (which I did quite often) snowboarding. (I am grateful for the patience and love of those who were with me on these occasions!). Sledding today brought added excitement, fun, and new limits because it wasn't painful anymore and I could enjoy it to it's absolute fullest, especially since my friend was with me last winter as well in my attempt to go sledding.

Today was such a fun day of celebration and making memories! It was a perfect way to kick off the snowy winter wonderland. I look forward to many more similar fun adventures this winter may bring. Thanks for an amazing day today!!

Keeping Christmas Traditions Alive

This year's Christmas season won't be like any other Christmas season that I have ever experienced before. This will be the first Christmas that I will not be traveling home to spend this holiday season with my family, but instead will be spending the season in Idaho by myself. As I have accepted the fact that I will not be going home I have contemplated the things that I would like to do to bring the spirit of Christmas into this holiday season. My mind went immediately to what Christmas is all about - Christ. I began to think about Christ's birth, who Christ is, and the life that He led. From a young age til His resurrection Christ served and ministered unto others; He embodies charity. I decided that I want to fill and celebrate this holiday season by also giving service of sorts to others.

One of the things that came into mind of something that I would like to do also happens to be a Christmas tradition that my family has: ding-dong-ditching a plateful of homemade goodies. Each year as my family gathered together we'd each pick one goodie to make in order to create these Christmas goodie plates. After a lot of knocking elbows and bumping into each other as all six of us were crammed into the kitchen an array of Christmas goodie delights were created. The next fun part came when we each had an opportunity to sneak up to our neighbors or friend's front door, ring the door bell, and then run like there was no tomorrow, often having to jump into bushes, hide behind trees, and dive behind parked vehicles! If we got daring enough, we'd egg on our Christmas goodie victims to come out and chase us by throwing things as they looked into the darkness of the night with puzzled expressions on their face. Doing this alone will definitely not be the same, but the joy of this tradition and it's purpose will still be there and felt.

Not only is giving service this holiday season something that I want to do, but also keeping the Christmas traditions alive as much as I can that I grew up with in my family is a desire I have as well. Since my roommates will both be out of town, I am still trying to figure out who will secretly drug my egg nog Christmas Eve night with alka seltzer or benedryl and who will sneak into my room in the middle of the night to tie me up? I am wondering if Mrs. Clause will get the memo that I will be in Idaho this year and still swing by to drop off her Christmas Eve gift? And I hope that Santa enjoys the cookies and soymilk I'll leave out for him, along with some carrots for his reindeer.

The yearly tradition of making and decorating a gingerbread house is also a must on my list. Although I am not as skilled in constructing a gingerbread house as my mom is (SHE'S AMAZING!) I will not let this stop me from making one of my own and having the fun that accompanies this tradition. I have decided to make my gingerbread house this year into a log cabin because I have always loved log cabins and hope to live in one in the mountains some day.

Another tradition that I am looking forward to doing is my personal gift to Christ. As Christ gave his life for me, I want to give Him something. Each year I pick one thing specifically that I want to spend that year giving to Christ. I write this gift down, place it in a small box, wrap it, and put it under the tree. When the holiday season is over and all of the decorations get boxed up and stored away for another year, this wrapped gift to Christ is left out serving as a reminder to me throughout the next year of my gift to Him. The following Christmas season I open it and take some time to reflect and ponder upon this gift and what I did over the year to fully give that gift away to Him. I pray that my gift to Him this year, as I strive to do all that I can, will be fulfilled and completely given to Him.

With different acts of service and these fun traditions and many other meaningful ones, I hope that this holiday season is as enriching as in years past.

I am looking forward to having my very first white Christmas this year and also to have the new experience of sharing Christmas morning virtually with my family through web cams. The blessing of modern technology is allowing my family to spend Christmas morning together even though we're thousands of miles away from one another.

I wish everybody a wonderful Holiday Season this year and hope that you are filled with spirit of Christ and that lasting memories are created with you and your loved ones. And may this coming new year bring you the many blessings heaven has to offer. Merry Christmas and God bless!

Taken for Granted

Whether it's a quiet, full heart or an outward expression of some sort I think we all take time to feel the gratitude for the things in our lives during this holiday season. Over this past month I have taken many opportunities in my quiet moments to ponder upon the things in my life that I am grateful for. The list never seems to end for the blessings the Lord gives are continuous and eternal. My list of things are probably very similar to the things you would or have included on your own list: a loving and supportive family, true friends, truth, health, the basic necessities of life (clothing, food, shelter), a beautiful earth, etc., the list could go on and on.

An experience I have had and am still going through currently has slightly altered my way of thinking in regards to my perspective on the gratitude list I have been making in my head. Tuesday evening while having a pleasant conversation on the phone with a dear friend I began to feel sick. As the night continued on the feelings of sickness increased and the symptoms began to manifest themselves to a greater degree. Nausea set in and my stomach felt like bubbling swamp. Then with almost no warning at all the race to the bathroom commenced in an effort to beat the strike of the Double Dragon. With only seconds to spare I had successfully made it into the bathroom ready to face the fury of the Double Dragon. This wrath was fierce and the battle was long and weary.

I have had three prior experiences with the Double Dragon before, the first being manifested through the effects of giardia, the second from food poisoning, and third from a liver cleanse gone bad. Revisiting this a fourth time due to food poisoning (from one of two restaurants that will remain unnamed) gave me the opportunity to think back on my previous experiences. This most current experience beats out experience two and three hands down, but is quite comparable to experience one - giardia. The only difference between this experience and my episode with giardia is that I didn't have to dig a hole in the ground and I had the comfort of modern convienences at my fingertips.


So, a few of the things that I am grateful for that most of us take for granted include: a toilet, toilet paper, trash cans, never-before known comfortable bathroom floors, Pepsi (stomach settler), 'Rachel's Remidies (thanks M2/D2!), a true friend who stayed on the phone with me through the worst of the worst and who helped and comforted me, and two roommates and a brother who came to my aid in various ways.

And as I still suffer from the effects of food poisoning in various ways my list of gratitude for things that I have taken for granted in the past continues to grow and I find a lot more appreciation in the small, simple, and unrecognized things of life.

A Great Rejoicing

Through a series of miracles by the hand and grace of the Lord over the course of the last several months a great rejoicing of reunion was able to be orchestrated. One brother entered the MTC four months later than expected or desired. One brother was released from his three year long prison sentence a month early unexpectedly. And with a week and a half to spare, one sister, to no credit of her own, was inspired and guided to bring them together. Though the thwarting efforts of Satan were almost debilitating the Lord's power conquered through faith giving strength and ability for His will to be done and this reunion to occur.

By special request and permission the MTC President allowed Daniel and I to join Elder Gillmore at the MTC for his last Wednesday night TRC (Teaching Referal Center) meeting. Daniel and I arrived early at the MTC and with our Volunteer stickers on we made our way to the appropriate building in which we waited in great anticipation for Elder Gillmore. We were taken to the room, that was set up much like a living room, where our reunion would take place. Shortly after having a seat on the couch a number of missionaries began gathering in the doorway of the room, all of which were looking down the hallway indictating Elder Gillmore's arrival. His companion, Elder Turley stepped into view first, but turned and allowed Elder Gillmore to enter the room first.

Elder Gillmore & Daniel embracing for the first time in many years

The next hour was filled with tears of joy, powerful testimony of true doctrine and principles, and great expressions of love and forgiveness. It is an hour that none of us will ever forget.















Afterwards Elder Gillmore introduced Daniel and I to his district. Upon informing his district that he was about to introduce us to them all of the Elders in the classroom stood up as Daniel and I walked in. I felt the power these Elders have as they have joined the army of God to preach the truth throughout the world. It was very humbling.

The great and rare opportunity it was for Daniel and I to visit Elder Gillmore in the MTC was truly a miracle that the Lord mercifully blessed us with. An experience and blessing that will be forever imprinted on our hearts.

Vegetarian Style!

I was going to post about the Vegetarian Lasagna I made a couple weeks ago, but things got busy and I decided I wouldn't post about it. Then I read about a vegetarian dish my friend from middle-school, Amber, posted on her blog, which inspired me to post about my vegetarian lasagna dish I made.

I received a Vegetarian recipe book for Christmas from my parents last year. My best friend and I tried a few recipes out of it and loved the dishes! But in the events of life over the last several months this recipe book got shoved to the back of the bookshelf. Having the determination to again live a healthier lifestyle, starting with my diet, I pulled out my Vegetarian recipe book, dusted it off and made a list of all the things I wanted to try. Vegetarian Lasagna, or Lasagna Primavera as it is titled, was the first on my list.


This dish is very simple to make and it is absolutely delicious! Fresh out of the oven, my roommates and I dished ourselves a piece of Primavera Lasagna and none of us could get over how amazing the lasagna was! It was enjoyed for days to come as there was lots of it!

I've included the recipe under comments for your convenience. There are a few alterations and/or suggestions I gave, but are just personal preferences. I stuck pretty close to the recipe. I hope you take the opportunity to try this dish because it is one of those dishes that makes you feel like you've just tasted a bit of heaven. I also posted another vegetarian dish that I made this evening - California Black Bean Burgers, which was also surprisingly tasty! Bon appetite!

Dehydrated

You are probably rolling your eyes and thinking (as you move your mouse cursor over the x in the top right corner of the screen), "Another posting about being dehydrated...C'mon, we all know we need to DRINK MORE WATER!" Well, to your surprise this is a different kind of dehydration; a good kind of dehydration. Is that possible? Can you put "good" and "dehydration" in the same sentence? Almost sounds like an oxy-moron, but yes indeed, it can be good!

A few weeks ago my roommate, Krissy, told me about an industrial size food dehydrator that a friend of hers had. Soon thereafter she came home with a large bowl of dehydrated bananas. She was gracious enough to allow me to try a few of them. They were so delicious! I had a hard time resisting the urg to eat all of them. I was grateful when she put them in the freezer - out of sight, out of mind.

Being on a food storage and preparedness kick recently I decided that dehydrated food would be something that I would like to have in my food storage. So I put a dehydrator on my Christmas list and left it at that. But Krissy kept bringing home more dehydrated fruits and then bought 90 lbs. of peaches to dehydrate. Our conversations often revolved around the different things one could do with a food dehydrator. I couldn't resist my desire to start dehydrating my own fruits, nor the jealousy I had each time Krissy brought home more dehydrated fruits any longer. So after doing a little bit of research on the different types and qualities of dehydrators, I made my selection and purchased my own Excalibur 2400 4-tray Food Dehydrator.

After demonstrating much patience for the few days it took my dehydrator to arrive, I didn't waste any time to break it in when it came. I cut up all the fresh fruit that I had - bananas, strawberries, and pineapple and began the dehydration process. I again had to demonstrate a lot of patience as I waited for my fruit to dehydrate. It felt like it took forever for those little pieces to fully dehydrate, but the wait was well worth it! The results were amazing!

One concern that I had about dehydrating fruit was the loss of flavor that might occur through this process. I was surprised and very happy to discover that the fruit still burst with flavor!

Flipping through the little pamphlet that came with the dehydrator I came across a recipe to make fruit leather. It was so simple that I had to read it several times to make sure I was understanding it correctly. All you have to do is puree the desired fruit you want to make into fruit leather and then spread it out on a sheet, slip it into the dehydrator and in 5 or so hours - waalaa - you have fruit leather! No added sugar or anything. Pure fruit!

Dehydrated bananas (with cinnamon sprinkled on top),
strawberries, pineapple, and the fruit leather.

Gathering up what fruit I had left over - peaches, bananas, strawberries, and raspberries - I pureed it all together and put it in the dehydrator shortly before leaving for my Fire Fighting class last night. Only having to wait an hour or so after arriving home from class my fruit leather was done! I ripped off a good chunk and let my taste buds have a party! Nothing less than delicious!

My first batch of dehydrated fruit and the fruit leather was a success! It has been a fun learning experience and I've only touched the tip of the iceberg. I am excited to keep trying and making new and more things! The possibilities are endless!

Photo of the Day

Halloween Sunrise

Photo of: Grand Tetons
Date: October 31, 2008

Anasazi Foundation - The Making of a Walking

"Within every child is a seed of greatness." -Ezekiel C. Sanchez

Created by: Seth Adam Smith, former Anasazi Trail Walker

Photo of the Day

Harvest Sunset

Photo by: Rachel Gillmore
Date: October 23, 2008
Note: Please disregard the power lines

The Closest I've Come

I hesitate writing this post in concern for those out there who are playing with the idea of donating plasma or blood. I don't want to scare them. So, I add a disclaimer to this post. In my many, many, many times of donating plasma, situations - that you will soon read about - of the like have only happened a hand full of times.

Read on.

Each time I plan on donating plasma I take the proper measures beforehand in order to be accepted to donate. That includes drinking enough water and eating the right kinds of food to have enough protein in my system as well as to produce good, useful plasma. There are occasions where I have been declined to donate because I haven't had enough water to drink. There was even one instance where they declined me because I was too hydrated! Imagine that. Anyway, I took the proper measures before going into donate this afternoon. Drank plenty of water (but not too much) and ate a good meal before going. I was accepted!

I always have a little bit of fear, nervousness, or anxiety (take your pick) when my name is called to start the whole process of donating after I've gone through the screening process. This fear, nervousness, or anxiety comes because the person who has the needle only has one chance with me to get it in my arm right, without fishing around for my vein, or I start to get nauseous, lose color in my face, go lightheaded, and start to sweat - in other words, start to pass out.

Today's experience was a little different than the ones I've had in the past where they failed to make contact with my vein on their first attempt. The guy who stuck me got the needle into my vein but how ever he did it was very painful (I don't watch when they stab me). I knew that something wasn't right, but everything ran just fine as the machine began sucking the blood out of me, even though I was still in pain. I tried to brush my anxiety away telling myself that the pain will go away and everything will run smoothly.

I was able to do that as I got caught up in the novel I had brought with me to read. The pain eventually did fade for the most part after a cycle or two had passed. Once I thought I was in the clear I began feeling quite uncomfortable again. I could feel my vein begin to pulse back and forth in my where the arm cuff was inflated tightly around my upper arm. It felt like the ticking of a second-hand on a clock - tick...tick...tick. I did my best to remain calm, but when my whole arm quickly went from a tingling sensation to numbness and I began to feel the onset of nauseousness set in I knew I was in trouble.

Luckily, rather a tender mercy and blessing, there was an phlebotomist chatting with the girl in the bed next to me. I quickly got her attention. As soon as she looked at me she knew something was wrong because my face had gone completely white. The nauseating feeling got worse by the second. First light headedness, to feeling like I was going to throw up, then to a quick rise in my temperature causing me to sweat all over, and then to a tingling sensation in both my arms, legs, and lips. They quickly put a trash can next to me in case I lost the tasty sandwich I had before going into the plasma center. (I plead that I wouldn't!). Then they stopped the machine from drawing blood and started putting blood back into my body. In the process of blood returning to my body, which felt like an eternity, I did my best to deal with my body's reaction. I closed my eyes in an attempt to stop the dizziness and nauseating feeling, but was told I needed to keep them open so they could tell if I fainted. When I opened my eyes I soon found that the room was getting darker and my hearing was fading. I had never experienced this before. Finding it quite alarming I informed the now two phlebotomists that were at my side of my condition. The girl kindly informed me that that is what happens right before you are about to pass out or faint. WHAT!?! The girl quickly turned the speed up on the machine in order to return the blood back to my body faster, while the other phlebotomist put an ice pack under my neck. That ice pack was so blessed!

Slowly but surely and one at a time the symptoms began to disappear. The tingling in my lips, arms, and legs diminished, my temperature began to decrease with aid from the ice pack, color returned to my face, and ever so slowly the nauseating feeling reduced to only a slight lingering. I was so grateful I didn't faint! But that was by far the closest I have ever come to fainting.

When I felt well enough and after drinking 8oz. of water they started the machine up again to finish the last one and a half cycles I had left. Despite the lingering nauseous feeling the rest of the donating process went smoothly. When finished I took my time to stand up and slowly walk to the waiting area to get paid. While waiting to get paid I watched others who were donating nearby. As my eyes crossed over one of the exit doors it swung open and I saw a group of phlebotomist huddled together. Before the door closed I saw through the spaces between their legs somebody lying on the floor. It was quickly apparent that this person had fainted. I walked through those doors to exit and sure enough a girl who had donated for her first time had fainted and was being cared for. As I passed the room she was in and peered in I could tell she was scared as she wiped tears from her eyes. I was grateful that I wasn't her and then I said of prayer for her as I continued to carefully exit the building.

After arriving home I made sure to replenish my body of water and nutrience, but the lingering nauseous feeling continued to stay with me. I could really feel the weakness in my body when only after being at work for an hour I was exhausted and dragging my feet. Continuing to drink lots of water I eventually was reengergized and back to my normal self. What a great feeling that is!

Now even though this is a very descriptive account of what happened to me the worst of it only lasted a short amount of time. I am ok. I didn't die. I hope I didn't scare any of you off!

Additional Photos!

A while ago I said that I would upload the pictures that I didn't post on my blog onto Photobucket for all of you who would like to see additional pictures. I have finally done so. Below is the link to my Photobucket. After opening up the page you will see on the left hand side of the page a list of albums. Those are where you will find the additional pictures. Browse all you want! The most recent albums added are, Utah Adventures and Table Rock.

Photobucket, click here.

For future reference, I have also added a link on the ride hand side of my blog under the category Outside Links. This is the same link as above. Enjoy!

Skipped Right On By

This past year has been a very different year weather wise for Idaho. We had a very cold and very long winter. It felt like it went on forever. Finally there was a break in the winter weather in June where we had one week of spring weather before it jumped right into the summer. I didn't mind that too much because I love summertime!

The summer was short and went by quickly. I was not looking forward to the colder temperatures, but when seeing the color of the leaves changing I began to soften my heart towards fall weather - not too cold and beautiful! But fall has mirrored it's opposite season of spring and has only last a very short amount of time, thus throwing us into the bitter cold of winter weather. Winter for Idaho means snow and freezing temperatures and we have already received our first blanket of snow. I am still in shock and disbelief.

Since I don't see much of the day during the weekends because I'm usually sleeping, this shot of my truck was taken after the first fall of snow after getting off work before coming home. It is now dark when I arrive at work at 7pm and it is dark leaving work at 7am.

Each year I have noticed an increase in my dislike and discomfort of cold weather. (Maybe being stuck in Idaho is a way for the Lord to humble me). I do think that the snow is beautiful! I especially love snow on branches of pine trees or fields of untouched snow. In my own perfect world I would love to have all the seasons, each with their own splendid qualities and attributes, but without the cold. Only in my dreams...

Utah Adventures!

I had the great opportunity to spend five wonderful days in Utah with my family last week. We were able to spend some quality time together before dropping my brother Ben off at the Missionary Training Center where he would embark on his new journey as a missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints serving in the Guadalajara South, Mexico mission.

The week was full of wonderful and fun adventures. Instead of making one huge long post I have broken up the week highlighting the main and exciting things that we did. Looking back there isn’t one thing that I would change. It was just so great to be with my family and spend such quality time with them. I really needed it and am grateful that my schedule permitted me to spend as much time with them as I did! I love my family!

Boarding the Canyon

Several years ago, when my family still lived in Washington, my older brother DJ took Ben and me out one day to teach us how to long board. We drove down the street to a new housing development that was being created. The pavement was new, clean, and smooth – perfect for long boarding. After a quick set of instructions we were ready to jump on our boards. None of us ever having long boarded the street we were on we weren’t completely familiar with its course. But Ben having ridden his bike on it several times assured us that there was turn with an ever so slight downhill – nothing to be concerned about. With that we hopped on our boards and began the cruise.

After gaining some speed and then making the turn we all realized that the ever so slight downhill was in fact quite the down hill – a hill FAR more advanced for Ben and me to ride on for our very first ride. DJ was trailing behind us and yelled encouraging words to us to keep going and that we could make it. I had the wobbles like crazy and my fear was increasing by the second. Ben was ahead of me and shortly after our decent down the hill he wiped out. When I saw him go down I knew I was a gonner too. I took a hard crash just seconds later. I still have scars from it. I haven’t had much interest in long boarding since then. I always admired the people I would see doing it, but had accepted the fact that it wasn’t my thing and I was perfectly content.

A long board happened to fall into my care by a trail walker friend of mine who joined the army. Knowing that DJ & Adria are really into long boarding and hearing that Ben was bringing his long board to Utah I decided to bring the one I have as well. When my family discovered that I had brought my long board with me we decided to drive to Provo and board down Provo Canyon. I had a bit of anxiety about boarding to begin with, not to mention down a canyon. My mind began envisioning how steep Provo Canyon (even though I had never been there) was and then I began to visualize what my funeral was going to be like. I was scared.

The drive up the canyon only deepened my fear. I couldn’t imagine riding down something that steep. It wasn’t until we reached the starting point of our ride when I realized that the pathway wasn’t as steep as the freeway we drove up to get to that point. Phew! I was still quite nervous though. Adria gave me a few pieces of advice and after a slow ride to begin our way down the canyon DJ stopped me to give me a few more helpful pointers and some encouragement. My confidence in riding was greater and I began to become excited for the ride.


Left: Ben, DJ, & Adria riding the canyon.

Right: Me trailing behind...













Stunning!


Left: Adria & I below Bridal Veil Falls

Right: DJ & Ben below Bridal Veil Falls











Left: DJ working the board!

Right: I got this shot of Adria as I passed her while both riding our long boards









Right: Bridal Veil Falls!
















There were only a couple places in the canyon where I stopped to walk, but other than that the ride was AMAZING! Not only was I able to ride the majority of the canyon, but the pathway was absolutely gorgeous! It was lined with trees that were changing color and the pathway was also littered with fallen leaves that made it really fun to ride through. I learned that Bridal Veil Falls was along this pathway – a place I have heard so much about and have always wanted to visit. It was awesome! Everything about the ride was amazing! DJ, Ben and I had our cameras with us and took pictures of one another and the scenery as we rode down the canyon. It was an absolute blast. When we got done I wanted to go back to the top and do it all over again. My view/opinion of long boarding has thus changed. I love it! I’m bummed that the weather has turned bad preventing me to take any rides myself, but I look forward to when I can get on a long board again and enjoy a nice ride while tuning and improving my proficiency of riding. Thanks DJ & Adria for your pointers and encouragement and for believing in me!

The Four of Us!
(Ben, Rachel, Adria, & DJ)

Wee on the Wii!

When I was a kid my family owned the original Nintendo system. After many years of mastering the original Mario Brothers games and the famous Duck Hunt game my parents bought us kids the Nintendo 64, which challenged our Nintendo playing skills. We eventually mastered those games as well. By that time the three older kids had moved on from playing the Nintendo while Ben was still young and addicted as we once were.

Over the years I have looked back at our Nintendo playing years and realized how addicting the Nintendo really is and how much of a waste of time it was. In college I studied as well as wrote a few reports on the effect of video games on children, which only furthered my resolve to never own a Nintendo system. There was a lot of hype when the Nintendo Wii came out, but it never even once perked my interest in the least degree. I had no desire whatsoever to play or even be associated with the Nintendo Wii.

One of the first things that I did upon arriving at my brother and sister-in-law’s house (DJ & Adria) was play the Nintendo Wii. I must admit that I was not too thrilled or had the desire to play at all. I was looking forward to going to bed somewhat early that night because I had just finished my three-day 12-hour work weekend. I was tired. Four hours later I finally made it to bed. But those four hours were filled with side-aching, tear-streaming laughter as my family played one another in several different games. We got the most laughter while playing against each other in Mario Kart, especially when my parents were playing.

For those of you who aren’t familiar with the Nintendo Wii, it is different than other Nintendo systems in that it is an active inter-active Nintendo system. Sounds kind of redundant, but all Nintendo games are inter-active. The Wii is more than just plain inter-active. You are actually acting as if you were actually playing those games in real life. For instance, the first game I played was Tennis.















As you can see from the picture my dad and I acted as if we were playing tennis – having to stand up, serve, and swing at the ball like in real life. Other games like these included bowling, baseball, soccer, hoola-hoop, tight rope walking (which was a personal favorite) to name a few. All of these games we physically active games. Even Mario Kart is inter-active as you act like you are driving the go-kart with a steering wheel. Playing the Nintendo Wii was a whole new experience for me as it was completely different than any other Nintendo system I had ever played before. Although I am still set on not ever purchasing one myself, I did thoroughly enjoy playing the Wii with my family.

Getting my mom to participate in activities like this is always a treat. She has become a lot more open and willing to join in these types of activities in recent years which have provided lots of entertainment and great lasting fun memories. As my mom sat down and took one of the steering wheels in her hands to play Mario-Kart against me I took advantage of her ignorance in knowing how to play the game. In addition to explaining to her that Mario-Kart was just like driving, I mentioned that when a jump came in the course you had to jump as well – just using your arms. The following video shows it all…

What this video clip doesn’t show is me being unable to continue to race because I was rolling on the floor in laughter with tears streaming down my face from seeing my mom jump. It also doesn’t show my mom slugging me in the arm when I told her that you really didn’t have to jump to make your go-kart jump. It was hilarious!

We played quite a bit of Wii over the course of the week and each time was so much fun and filled with tons of laughter, but nothing beats that first night when my mom and dad played. That was pure entertainment. Thanks Mom and Dad!! :o)

Full-time Servant of the Lord

Dropping Ben off at the Missionary Training Center (MTC) seemed to come and go too fast and it all felt surreal. It still does. As I think about Ben throughout the day and imagine him in the MTC I still find it hard to believe he’s there, but then a smile grows on my face and warmth fills my heart because I know that he is dedicating every moment of his time to the Lord’s work.

The day Ben entered the MTC – October 8th – began with me getting a running start and jumping on Ben to wake him up early that morning. It was the last time I could do that for quite a while and so I took full advantage of the opportunity to wake him up and have one last“annoying hour” with him. What are big sisters for? :o) The morning was busy with everybody getting ready for the big day. We left for the MTC at 9:45am in order to give us enough time to arrive on time for Ben’s setting apart 11:00am. After Ben officially became a missionary we had about and hour before he had to report to the front desk to check in.

Being at the MTC brought back floods of memories for my older brother DJ and my dad when they had been there. We walked around and both DJ and my dad took all of us down memory lane as they showed us what buildings they had stayed in, special places they would sit to write in the their journal or read their scriptures, or different experiences they had had while there. It was fun to listen to them and then having the excitement of soon hearing Ben’s stories and experiences as he is there now.

We were also able to have some time to take a few family pictures as well as individual pictures with Ben. I was grateful for this because it has been a long time since our last family picture and it will be a long time before another family picture will be taken. I love my family!


At noon Ben checked in at the front desk of the MTC, along with many other arriving missionaries, and received his “dork dot” – a bright orange sticker they place on the new missionaries’ name tag to signify that they are brand new missionaries (as well as a way to say “help me! I’m lost!”). We took a few pictures of him with his official name tag on before we went into the chapel where we would hear from the MTC Presidency, watch the famous missionary movie, and then say our goodbyes. The MTC President proposed a good theory about saying goodbye. My sister in law quoted him well on her blog, “As the time grows near to the final goodbye I would like to propose the Band-Aid Theory...The quicker it is the less painful it will be for you and your Missionary.”

When it came time to say goodbye we all stood up and Ben gave each of us a hug one by one. Emotion filled each of us as we watched one another embrace Ben and as we ourselves were embraced by Ben one last time. We all watched as he walked away before we turned and walked out the opposite door. It wasn’t as hard as anticipated because the Comforter filled our hearts with love and peace as we gave him to the Lord for the next two years.

I couldn’t be happier and more proud of Ben for the life he has lead and the decisions he has made, especially the one to dedicate two years of his life to the Lord. He is an example to me and one of my greatest heroes!

City of Parks!

I spent the last day and a half of my Utah trip with my old roommate and wonderful friend Marliett. She lives in the Avenues in downtown Salt Lake City, just a few blocks away from Temple Square. We didn’t have a whole lot of time with each other because I had to be back for work on Friday night, but we spent every moment to the max!

Thursday evening upon meeting up we went to her Enrichment meeting. (That’s what happens when your friend is in the Relief Society Presidency). It was an enjoyable Enrichment to say the least. Afterwards, we hit up Marly’s favorite Thai restaurant for a late dinner. With full bellies we went back to Marly’s house and then got all bundled up to walk a few blocks down the street to a little chocolate shop. I wasn’t too thrilled about walking in the cold but it ended up being WELL worth it. The chocolate shop didn’t have what Marly was looking for so we each settled on a truffle instead. I got dark chocolate filled with caramel (yes, I really did get dark chocolate) and Marly got milk chocolate filled with caramel with a pecan on top. They were SO delicious! Being really full we decided to go home and ‘fat dog’ it – meaning sprawling out and vegging because you are too full to do anything else. We put in the movie ‘Cool Runnings’ to entertain us in our fat dogging. It was wonderful.

Thursday night I had a very strange dream. I dreamt that I was with a group of people and we had to decide what we were going to make this really important person for breakfast the next day. (I don’t remember the people in my dream or who the important person was). We were in the grocery store trying to decide when I got the genius idea to make pancakes! I pointed my finger down the isle we were standing in to where the pancake mix was for somebody to run down and retrieve it. Then the idea came into my mind, that I expressed with the others, “We won’t just make pancakes…we’ll make chocolate chip pancakes!” With that I was off running around the store looking for a bag of miniature chocolate chips.

Not long after this dream I was awaken by Marly coming into the bedroom to let me know that breakfast was ready. I crawled out of bed and walked into the kitchen where I saw a plate of stacked chocolate chip pancakes. I turned to Marly with disbelieve written all over my face and exclaimed how I had just had a dream about having chocolate chip pancakes for breakfast. Dreams do come true, even if they are completely random.

After Marly’s chiropractor’s appointment – where I took full advantage of the massage chair they had in the office – we started our adventures for the day. Surprisingly with the short amount of time we had before my departure we did quite a bit. Our first stop was Ensign Peak.

Ensign Peak is where Brigham Young looked over the Salt Lake valley and decided that this was where they were going to build up an “Ensign.” The jaunt up to the memorial at the top of Ensign Peak took about 20 minutes. The wind was blowing making it quite chilly. After sitting and overlooking the valley – noting its beauty and amazed by its transformation from desert to richness – we headed back down so we could be off on our next adventure. It really was amazing to look over the valley and imagine what it must have been like when the pioneers first arrived and settled there compared to the sky-rise buildings, freeways, and roads that now cover the valley.

Marliett and I at the beginning of Ensign Peak trail and park

The plaque about the historical significance of Ensign Peak

Ensign Peak memorial

Overlooking the Salt Lake City valley (North view)
Look at those clouds!

The thing that amazed me the most about being in Salt Lake City is that they have parks everywhere! The first park that I saw in Utah was when my family was driving back to SLC from Provo. I recognized something out of the corner of my eye was we drove passed it on the freeway. I quickly glanced back and discovered that what I recognized was a park that I had played at a little over a year ago with my best friend and her niece and nephews. A flood of good memories came back to me as I remembered the fun adventures we had and the great laughs we shared. She has super fun nieces and nephews! I spent a little bit of time at Liberty Park Thursday evening and was amazed by how huge it was (a whole city block) and all the things that were in the park! My favorite part of that park was the duck pond.

Marly took me to her favorite park in downtown Salt Lake City for our next adventure – Memory Park. In the back end of the park there is a trail that takes you up a small little canyon that has a stream running down it. This trail is engulfed by trees that were changing colors and the path was littered with fallen leaves. It was absolutely gorgeous! There were a few man-made waterfalls that I played and climbed around on. The water was freezing and my feet and toes went numb, but my sense of adventure exceeded my discomfort with the cold. (That says a lot!). I loved this park because walking on this trail made you feel like you were a world away from any city, but in fact you were right in the middle of one. I thought to myself, “If I could change something about this world it would be to put in parks like this in every city.”

Memory Park

The waterfall that I played around on. It was quite the slippery adventure getting to those rocks I am squatting on. I spared you those pictures...

Here I am standing on the flat cement slab where the water shoots out onto at the base of the man-made waterfall. The water was sooo cold, but it was sooo fun to play in!

Marly sitting on the edge watching me play in the water

This picture doesn't do the beauty of the trail justice...

One of the memorials at the Park - this memorial was dedicated to all those from Utah who served in one of the wars

A rose from one of the rose gardens they had planted in front of the memorials. The smell of these roses were intoxicating!

After walking up this trail for about a mile or so we decided to head back in order to get back in time for me to pack up and head home. There was a cement pathway on the other side of the stream that we crossed over to and ran most of the way back to the main area of the park. We took a quick tour of the many memorials they have there as we headed back to the car. Hiking Ensign Peak and Memory Park was really filling for me – it was what my spirit needed!

We tried our luck again at the chocolate shop on the way back to Marly’s apartment to see if they had the chocolates that are Marly’s favorite (I’m sorry I don’t remember the name of it). They hadn’t made them yet so we settled on a Wild Huckleberry shake instead, which was very delicious. What a great way to finish up a fun-filled week in Utah!

Marly enjoying her delicious Wild Huckleberry shake!

I made it back into Rexburg half an hour before I needed to be at work – just enough time to unload my truck and change into my work clothes. There was a huge difference in temperature between SLC and Rexburg! When I hopped out of my truck after arriving in Rexburg winter hit me full force! The air felt and smelled like winter. I realized again how sorely I am not ready for cold weather again.

I had a fantastic week in Utah and am so grateful I was able to spend some good quality time with people I love! It wouldn’t have been so incredible without them.