Birthday Trip 2017

Often for my birthday, I ask Robyn for a trip rather than presents.  I've found that I generally enjoy the experiences and the memories more than the things.  So she indulges me and lets me plan a small trip.

I was undecided about where to go until Robyn pointed out that there was a new temple in Wyoming.  That became the obvious answer as to where we should go.  So I planned a trip to Afton, Wyoming.

We also have another annual tradition where I take a half day off of work and go meet Robyn's students.  We decided that this particular day would be a good day to do it because then we could leave from Robyn's school and get a head start on our trip.

Then it turned out that Robyn's school had their end of year faculty party on the same day.  It meant that we didn't get off on our trip quite as quickly as we had planned, but I got to mingle with a few of Robyn's coworkers which was fun.

One of her coworkers was making balloon animals as part of the event.  I told her I wanted a pikachu.  I mostly meant it as a joke, figuring that she only did real animals and not pokemon.  But she totally made me a pikachu!

I think she did a pretty good job.  It was a great beginning to my birthday extravaganza.

After the elementary school festivities we began our road trip.  Afton is about a 4 hour drive, so we were able to get into town in time for a dinner that was only a little later than normal.  After dinner I told Robyn I needed a picture next to the most important landmark in Afton.  It's the world's largest elk-horn arch.

I'm not sure how many elk-horn arches there are in the world.  But apparently they are all smaller than this one.

I know it kind of looks like I'm getting a picture with that red car, but you're supposed to pay attention to the arch made out of antlers.

There's also a smaller bonus arch that you walk through to cross the street.

After that it was time to go to the hotel for important activities like sleeping.  The next morning was my actual birthday.  When I awoke, I got to open a card custom made by my niece.  I openned it up and laughed for a solid minute.

How great is this?

The morning activity was to go to the temple.  It's a tiny little temple, and they didn't have room for us to do an endowment session, so we did some sealings instead.  We got to sit and chat with the sealer for a while.  I love visiting temples in small towns, they just seem so much more personal.

The obligatory picture of Robyn next to flowers ar the temple is very important.

After the temple we had some lunch and then explored some of the great outdoors.  We wanted to hike to the world's largest intermittent spring.

This car was in the parking lot at the trailhead.  People in Wyoming just get it.  Am I right?

Cute little hiker.

Less cute little hiker.

Wilderness selfie

The sign explaining the intermittent spring.

So I've watched videos on youtube.  The river basically turns off and on when the spring turns off and on.  I wanted to experience the off and on nature of it, but it turns out that this early in the season there is so much runoff that it just keeps flowing.  We hung out at the spring for probably close to an hour but it just kept flowing.  Nevertheless, it was a really pretty area.

You can hike up to where the spring comes out of the rock, but we didn't want to hike over the ice.  So we just watched the river flow down from it.

I was a little disappointed to not experience the on/off nature of the spring, but the internet had warned me that labor day weekend is not the best time to go.  I actually was glad that we got as far as we did, because other years you wouldn't have even been able to make the hike because of so much snow.  So we got to see some pretty nature and that was good enough for me.

Sunday morning we departed back for home so I could celebrate my birthday with my parents and siblings.  But that morning I took walk around town to just see what there is to see.  Early morning walks in small towns are great.  These pics won't capture the quiet serenity of my morning walk, but they're kind of fun.

A random bear that was asking for a selfie.

The Star Valley Stake Tabernacle.  Why doesn't my stake have a tabernacle?

Just a park at the edge of town.  I loved that this town was nestled in wilderness.

All in all, it was a great birthday.  I couldn't ask for anything better.

Turning 33 on the 3rd!

Well it happened again.  I had a birthday.  I love my birthday.  My family has always tried to make me feel so special on my birthday.  This year was no different.

It all started on the Sunday before my birthday,  We flew in from Washington that afternoon and then drove straight to Jeff's parent's house for family dinner.  Jeff's mom always makes a special birthday dinner for each person's birthday.  She made me chicken and potatoes and had an apple pie for dessert.  Then his generous family gave me a bunch of presents.  Jeff's family is so sweet.

Next, was my actual birthday on Wednesday December 3rd.  My Nike Fuel Band was the first one to wish me a happy birthday.  The first time I tapped it to see what time it was it said happy birthday! How cool is that?

At work my principal put a sign and a balloon on my door.  The kids and teachers wished me a happy birthday all day long.  My sister also brought me lunch and I got to hang out with her and her two cute little boys.

After work I came home and face timed with most of my family.  My mom sent me a beautiful and really warm sweater.  I then gave myself a manicure and treated myself to relaxation before Jeff got home.

Jeff ordered in Chinese food and brought me flowers and ice cream sandwiches.  How sweet is he?!  The rest of the night was quiet and relaxing.  Just what I wanted for my birthday.

The great news is that it isn't even over yet!  Tomorrow I will be going over to my brother's house to celebrate again!  My sister-in-law has a brother (who is a good friend of mine too) and his birthday is exactly a week after mine so we will be celebrating both birthdays.

I think that families make birthdays the best!  Here is to another year full of adventure!

Birthday Trilogy Part 3

Are you ready for the stunning conclusion to my birthday trilogy?

The final chapter in the birthday trilogy took place on my actual date of birth.  That's right.  All of the goodness you're about to read about was on Tuesday, May 27th.  The day I became 33 years of age.

It was a great day.

I woke up, expecting to eat breakfast and ride my bike to work.  I wasn't really expecting anything special since all the celebrating had already happened the previous two days.

It turns out that my legs were a little sore from the hike the day before, so I cancelled the bike ride.  (Every once in a while the reality that I'm still not where I want to be is placed in front of me.  Despite all the progress I've made.)

That was a small disappointment but was quickly overshadowed by my first birthday surprise.  John and Carol (Robyn's parents) had sent me a birthday present, so Robyn let me open a present in bed.  (Apparently, it had arrived long in advance, but Robyn hid it so that I wouldn't get too excited and try to open it.)  It was Elder Bednar's new book which I've been super excited to read.

 But the birthday love, just kept coming.  Foursquare gave me birthday love.

 Scramble with friends gave me birthday love by allowing me to get my highest score ever.

 Google gave me birthday love, by changing the Google page.  (I like to believe that everyone's Google looked like this on my birthday, to celebrate the anniversary of my birth.)

That evening, after work, Robyn told me to meet her at our rental property in Orem for a birthday surprise.  If I'm being honest (which I always am) then I have to admit that I guessed what the surprise would be.  There's a restaurant in Orem called Los Hermanos.  It's one of the most delicious places on planet Earth.  We haven't been there in a super long time since it's not exactly a place that makes it easy to eat healthy.  But the good news is that on your birthday you can eat whatever you want and you won't gain weight.  Ask your doctor.  It's legit.

Robyn had even brought our Los Hermanos T-shirts so that we could get free drinks.

They should put Robyn in Los Hermanos commercials.  Also, they should have Los Hermanos commercials.

That evening when I got home, Robyn had another surprise for me.  Even though we had agreed there would be no presents, she got me a present.

There are 3 presents in the picture.  It turns out 2 of them were books that had happened to come on my birthday.  (People like to send me free books.)  Robyn wrote Happy Birthday on the other packages, to make it look more exciting.  But the big one was from Robyn.

Do you want to know what was inside the ginormous package?  Of course you do!  It contained a magical pillow.  This pillow has some sort of enchantment on it that makes it stay cool all the time.  It's like sleeping on a cool breeze.  It's kind of amazing.

How does it work you ask?  Well, I'm glad you asked!  It's MAGIC!

Of course, the day was filled with lots of love through text messages and through Facebook.  But the final crowning act of love on my birthday was when Graham (my brother-in-law) sent me this picture.

Can everyone on Earth please make this face for my birthday every year?

Don't you feel like that Graham face was the crowing achievement of my birthday?  That face is Frodo throwing the ring in Mount Doom.  (Only with way less death and destruction.)

Birthday Trilogy Part 2

As has been previously stated, my birthday was so spectacular this year, it couldn't be contained within one day.  I've already written about part 1.

The second part of a trilogy has a difficult task.  It doesn't get to introduce the characters.  It doesn't get to deliver the exciting conclusion.  But, it has to carry the story forward.  It has to develop the characters.  When done right, the second part can be the best part of the trilogy.  We're talking The Empire Strikes Back.  We're talking The Two Towers.  We're talking Attack of the Clones.

Wait, did I hear you correctly?  Did you just say that Attack of the Clones is not a good example of a solid second part of a trilogy?  Are you saying you didn't find Anakin's super awkward dialogue about the coarseness of sand to be incredibly romantic?  You clearly have no soul.

Regardless of how soulless you may be.  We're not here to talk about Star Wars.  (Okay, let's be honest, we're always here to talk about Star Wars.  But it's not our primary purpose, at least.)  So without further ado, here is part 2 of my birthday trilogy this year.

Day 2 of my birthday trilogy took place on Memorial Day.  Memorial Day is a very special day that comes the Monday of my birthday week every year.  For this reason I call it, "My birthday observed."

Robyn had asked me several weeks earlier what I wanted to do on my birthday observed.  I had told her that I wanted to go on a hike, but I didn't want to plan it and I wanted her to surprise me.  Naturally, she called my BFF Jared William and put him in charge of planning a hike.

I had no idea where we were going.  Robyn just told me that  I needed to be ready to leave by 8 AM.

Once we drove there it became clear where we were going.  Or, at least where we were starting.  We started at Kiwanis park at the mouth of Battle Creek Canyon in Pleasant Grove.  Where our final destination would be was still a mystery.

All I knew was that it was a beautiful day, and I was in beautiful nature with a beautiful girl.

Look at the cuteness of my hiking partner.

Jared was not nearly as cute, but he wore his banana hat which did make him fairly high on the cute meter.

Jared gave me some head ornamentation so I could be cute as well.

Look how strong she is!  I was super impressed with her hiking abilities.  She's gotten in super good shape.

A little bit of bonus preciousness.

 I've hiked Battle Creek Canyon before, back when I was ginormously fat.  But the destination was always Battle Creek Falls.  And Battle Creek Falls was pretty much as high as I could go, because by that point I was panting and crying and approaching death.  This time we got there in about 15 minutes and walked right past.  It turns out it's not that hardcore of a destination when you're not ginormous.

Don't worry, even though we just walked past it, I still took the time to make an animation of it.

 We kept hiking for another hour or so.  We crossed the river a few times, went through some forested areas and then it opened up into a huge meadow.

Our fearless leader taking us into the meadow.

The trail wound through several meadows, until it got high enough that you could look back on the valley and on the lake.  I ride past that lake on my bike several times a week, but it's not until you look at it from far above that you realize how huge it is.

Looking at my kingdom.  Everything that the light touches is Utah Valley.

Another view of the lake.

We reached a super big meadow with rolling hills and a beautiful lake view.  That's when Jared laid out a tarp for our sitting pleasure and Robyn busted out some delicious food.

Of course, my wearable camera made sure to capture the picnicking experience.

Don't you feel like you're there with me?

It's like you're the one eating the apple.

 We made sure to get some cute pictures of us in the meadow.

I'm sweaty.  She's precious.  That's how we roll.

We got a precious picture of Jared in his cape as well.  No birthday would be complete without a superhero in a cape.

It was a super fun hike, and I really enjoyed it.  It totaled about 6 miles with a 2200 foot climb.  Fat Jeff of a year ago would have cried about the idea of doing a hike like that.  New Jeff loved it.

After our return to the valley we got to go to a barbecue at my parent's house.  Since Memorial Day was actually my brother Zack's birthday, it's difficult to make the case that the barbecue was to celebrate my birthday observed.  Nevertheless, I will believe that was the purpose of the barbecue until the day I die.  Much the same way that I believe that all barbecues that occur on that day are in honor of me.

And thus we see that day 2 of my birthday trilogy was a smashing success.

The Birthday Trilogy Part 1

It turns out people love me.  I know, who would have thought?

You know how I know that people love me?  Well, there are lots of ways, but one of them is that I sat down to write about my birthday and realized that I received way too much love to write about it in one sitting.

This year, my birthday love came on 3 separate days.  Thus, it was a birthday trilogy.

I know what you're thinking, all the best stuff comes in trilogies.  There's Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, Hunger Games, and my birthday.  It fits right in, doesn't it?

Part 1 of the birthday trilogy took place on Sunday.  I went to my parents' house to have a celebratory dinner.

Mom made all sorts of goodness.  There were zucchini noodles with chicken and alfredo sauce.  There was grilled asparagus.  Mom's famous rolls.

But, most importantly, there was eclair cake.

First, I need to tell you of my love for eclairs.  When Robyn and I got married, I pretty much let her plan everything she wanted.  But there was one point on which I was immovable: Eclairs.  We had to have eclairs at the reception, because they are the most delicious thing ever made.

So, knowing this great truth about eclairs, can you imaging the greatest thing ever?  Say it with me:  Eclair Cake!

Here it is, in all its glory.  My photography probably doesn't do it justice, but it was fantastic.

After dinner, my family gave me gifts.  I primarily received books.  (Which I love.) I now have a problem.  My to read shelf is overflowing and I've begun stacking on top.  (That's a glorious problem to have.)

My new acquisitions are stacked on top.  Except that I now realize that the most excellent title, "Freedom is Blogging in your Underwear" is not pictured because it fit snugly on the shelf lower down.  I just have lots of reading to do.

I did receive on item that was not a book.  My mom gave me a Chromecast.

What is a Chromecast, you ask?  Just a device that brings happiness and joy to all that enter its presence.  Also, it streams video from your computer to your TV.

Of course, one of the presents had a bow on it, so we naturally had to try it on.  Who do you think pulls it off better, me or Robyn?

That's only day 1 of my birthday trilogy!  Stay tuned for the rest of the story.