MY MOMMA!

   

So my parents visited last weekend, so Abba could ordain me an Elder. It was a great experience. Here we are with my parents, Rebecca's parents and, our friends the Feist's.

Making breakfast for my Mother and Abba.

Mom and Abba going apple picking at the Rick's Ranch. Welcome to Minot!

SLACKLINING!

Second-Hand Sweatsuits

So, I just acquired a second hand sweatsuit. i couldn't be more excited, i ran around my building terrorizing in my sweaty style. Great fun.

The Saturday-a-Thon!

So Saturday was busy. Friday night around 10 i decided to run a 5k the following morning in Bismarck (2 hours away) So armed with 4 hours of sleep and a bowl of oatmeal, Becky Dee and i headed off at 530ish. (someone forgot to set an alarm)


We got there with time to spare, and I placed 8th out of 200+ with a time of 21:35. (that's 2:01 off my last 5k in Kalispell in 2006. So I was pleased, and sore. Then Rebecca and her parents went to the temple and i prepared my talk for church on Sunday. That is now my favorite place to Read, write, talk about anything spiritual. Can't wait to go inside! We then went to Golden Corral and i un-did all the calorie burning from 4 hours before.


Becky and i went back up to Minot for the elders quorum activity. We did the Zip-line and played some ultimate Frisbee. then we went to Becky's house where she removed rope splinters. (those hurt) it was a long day.

This Morning I was blessed to give a talk in sacrament on the power of prayer, which was fitting since I left my talk at home and needed that power to make it through my talk. But the spirit definitely knew the program because it went well and i said what i fell was supposed to be said, was a good experience. No rest for the difficult to entertain.

I met Satan. And He's in the form of a smoke detector!

I got home at 1230 with one thing on my mind. Sleep. unfortunately, my smoke alarm had other plans. it is beeping a high b flat every 15 seconds. i took it down. Unplugged it from the AC power, unplugged the 9V battery, and expected it to be silent. but no, apparently there is a capacitor in this vile creation that is keeping it charged for 5 hours. right now it's in my car. and I'm going to try and salvage the night. i hope it burns. Devil Device.

Johnny Appleseed and Sakakawea

So, this last Friday, Al, Becky Dee, and I went apple picking on the Rick's Ranch. Then we made apple pie. it was so good. Al was overly excited. (he should be, it was mostly his doing.)
We also made A LOT of Mexican food. Es muy bueno. Rebecacita gracias por hacer para nosotros.
Saturday, we went out to Strawberry Lake for some canoeing. Becky said that Al and I were Lewis and Clark and she was Sakakawea ( that's Sakagawea for you Non North Dakotan folk.) it was a little brisk but still fun. Then Becky and I went out with some friends and watched a really dumb action flic that doesn't deserve mentioning.

"AHHH! A BECKY-NAPPING!"

So Thursday afternoon, I snuck into the Rick's Ranch and stole Rebecca at banana point( I was fresh out of guns and I needed to use my bananas before they went bad).I threw a pillow case over her head and tried to sneak her out. Unfortunately, her mother wasn't cooperating, so I had to stab her with the banana. I took my spoils to the Y for some lap swimming, then we went to an Indie concert at the Red Carpet. It wasn't really our style so we got some cold pizza and smart waters and stopped by a used bookstore. Coincidentally, they were having an open mic night . So we stayed. I returned Rebecca home un-harmed.

Feliz cumpleanos a mi !......

I would like to start out this Birthday blog by giving a visual to my physical transformation in the last 2 years. The first picture is Sep 06 2006, the next is Sep 06 2008. The only difference i see is the hair.


So the activities.....no no fun-tivities! started Friday when Becky and her mother and I went to a Mexican restaurant in town and the waiters surprisingly sang me a birthday song, gave me a sombrero, and rubbed fried ice cream on my face. I let Rebecca try some.


This Morning, Al and Chrissy and I made French Toast. Well, Al slept mostly (I put in too much cinnamon and milk, so mine were soggy and spicy.)


Becky made me Cupcake Birthday Cake. HHHMMMMM HHHHHMMMMM. I almost burned down my dorm room lighting it. but them Cupcakes sure are yummy. Then Al Becky Dee Krystal and I went to Lake Metigoshe State Park and went hiking. Al fell in to the muck crossing a log.


Then we went to dinner with my friends.(left to right; Rob, Al, Becky, Me, Chrissy, Dan, Stephanie, Krystal, Darling, Alex.)

Then Krystal, Al, Becky, and I went to the Rick's Ranch, played pool, watched I.Q. and let off fire works. it was all good fun. Thanks everyone for a great birthday.

Getting "DOWN and DIRTY!!"

So Becky had the urge to get all soggy today, so we set out on a trek of Ricks Ranch. We chased some deer, turkey's, found a frog and a farm vehicle graveyard. All while it was raining. Then we did some gardening, and ate our spoils. Very wet, but very fun.

Yay for 4 Day weekends!

So the Labor Day Weekend is coming to a close and I am sad. I tried to stay as busy as possible, because lately I have enjoyed the active life and I'm not ready to surrender to the boredom that is Minot quite yet.


Thursday night, Chrissy and I set up our hammocks and fed the mosquitoes (as you can see, one was feasting during our picture.)


Friday morning i was awoken by Chrissy and Al who decided to join me in my wee little bed. Al and I went Halfsies on 20 lbs of peaches which we then "jam"-ed, "smoothied", and just ate all 20 lbs. That was fun.


Saturday we went out to Rice Lake and went swimming and had a little Subway picnic. Al needed some motivation to get wet, so being the good friend that I am. I gave him that motivation. I felt quite confident afterwords.

Sunday Al and I went to church, and Chrissy, Al and, I went to Family Home Evening. I won Apples to Apples for the first time EVER!



Monday started out slow but I soon became determined to get out. I decided on a trek to the International Peace Gardens about 90 miles north. It's a Garden that sits on both Canada and the U.S. Symbolizing our war-less relationship, and the largest un-fortified national Border in the world. But no one would bite. So I went by myself, the weather was less than peaceful, and it never stopped raining. But, it was quite tranquil and I enjoyed the solitude. I also saw the World's largest man made turtle. crazy!

The road trip to end all road trips!

So, The following tale takes place between Friday the 22nd of August and the 27th of August. This is a tale music, adventure, disappointment, family bonds, extra long runs and super awesome culinary encounters.

Alright, so the first day of our awesome trek started with me having to pick which road to take.....how i do like picking.

I picked Rebecca up Friday night in Rexburg. After going to the local county fair, and sneaking some of her surplus belongings past a large guard dog named Magnum, we headed to Idaho Falls for some much needed rest.

Saturday we went up to Hiese Canyon with my sister and her five kids. We did a little climbing, both of us suffered from post "gravity realizing experience" jitters. My Nephew and my sister both got a turn also. We then went to the Reservoir and did a little cliff jumping. Then off to Salt lake we went!

Sunday we went to the Spanish speaking branch. Fue divertido, pero me ha confundido con facilidad. Rebecca me ayudo a cabo. Had explosive homemade root beer with the fam, put way too many people on a hammock, and crashed under the stars.


Monday was the Jack Johnson Concert, great fun great music. 5 minutes into the concert we started to smell an interesting odor. it wasn't me. (even though i am on this Tex-Mex kick) but it soon became apparent that we had some converted Rastafarian's in the stands.

Tuesday we went for a walk with my grandpa, than we went for what was supposed to be a short run, but i got us lost. so we wondered around and hopped a few fences. Tuesday night (or Wednesday morning, i cant remember which) we headed out to Jackson Hole, WY, after visiting with my much younger twin.(my nephew Oliver seems to have received the good lucks from ........ well, you figure it out :)


Wednesday afternoon we met up with some of Becky's friends and did some slack lining in the park, and hit up a local restaurant where one of us had pizza with peaches on it. odd. We crashed at Becky's friend Justin's place on his crash pad.




Thursday we joined Jo and Kory to climb Deception Peak in the Grand Teton's ( which I'm told in french translates to a colorful synonym of "Big Breast") We headed out for our 8 hour hike, everything went smoothly, we did have a run in with some thuggish wasps about the time Jo started eating her sandwich. After Amphitheater Lake, which was our way point. we got a little disoriented, good thing Becky Dee had a map of the range on her bandanna. we ended up turning our fairly easy hike into a little adventure, traversing cliffs, bouldering alongside drop offs and snow chutes. but eventually we found the trail again and we we off to the summit. We got there around 530 and man was it windy, i lost my hat,(found it later though) we wasted no time coming down. went and got these Gi-normous! nachos from the signal mountain lodge and then went to another lodge and bummed their Internet. we then headed out to west Yellowstone. and slept in the car at a truck pull out..... crazy!


Friday we headed up to Glacier but my work called and told me i had to come back. so we turned around and headed back to Minot. a few hours later we found out that i didn't have to go back and we were saddened. so we took out time on the way back to stop at the border. We also did some late night scripture reading! great idea becky dee!


The last day of our official road trip was Saturday, we drug our feet a lot,. stopped at a Mexican restaurant, then went to the Cemetery in Sawyer.( we just stumbled upon it.) and enjoyed some Sarsaparilla in Velva, ND, finally we took the home stretch to Becky's house and made dinner. oh and smoothies!

So that's our tale. it was a blast and I'm ready to go out again. hope everyone is well.