Rick's Adventure Blog

Farm Photo Shoot for Work

2011-09-30T09:53:00.000-07:00

Here are some pictures that we took about a month ago for a farm photo shoot for work. We flew the Grumman Tiger (N28300). We were shooting pictures for a promotional booklet that we are sending out to different power companies for our irrigation load control program. The pictures turned out great! I can't take credit for them, however. Kevin Hill took them while I was flying the plane.

Snake River

Rexburg, ID Temple

Cool looking fields near Moody

Farms outside of Rexburg

Saint Anthony Sand Dunes and Eagen Lake

2011-02-02T21:38:00.001-08:00

Aloha!!!!!! Day 1 in Hawaii!

2010-08-23T23:07:00.000-07:00

Since I haven't updated my blog in a very long time, why not start back up with Hawaii!! After a long long flight in a totally cramped plane, we landed in Honolulu and our adventure started right away! We dropped our bags, grabbed some lunch, and headed for Diamond Head. We were actually a little bit disappointed with it but we got about 9-10 miles of walking in! We had dinner at a cool little Burger Joint right on the beach and so far have just walked the town and the beaches. Tomorrow...Pearl Harbor, a rainforest, and the beach! I will try and keep updating the blog with our different adventures here in Hawaii!

I will have to put up pictures tomorrow...it won't let me upload any pictures!!! Keep checking back. Hopefully I will update it!

JUST ANOTHER DAY IN A COLD PARADISE!

2009-03-29T22:07:00.000-07:00

Sorry for not keeping my blog up to date! It has been a while! I have just been playing way too much and have not kept up with it. Anyway, this past saturday me and my roommate took dates snowmobiling to Mesa Falls, ID. It was so much fun....even when the snow storm hit! Anyway, I don't want to write a whole lot since I have a ton of pictures to upload. Here they are!!

This is the view from where we had our little bbq after we were done riding. It was right next to the river in a totally beautiful spot. It was awesome! It wasn't even that cold!

This was a little trail that we hiked on around an old abandoned train tunnel. It was cool walking right on the edge of about an 500 foot drop or so. Maybe even higher!

This is me jumping off the waterfall! Well....sorta. Good ol' photoshop! Same with the one below!

THESE PICTURES BELOW WERE FROM LAST WEEKEND WHEN WE WENT SHOOTING.

Back to its natural habitat

2009-01-31T18:37:00.003-08:00

As most of you know, my grandpa let me bring up a snowmobile that has been up in Big Bear for the last 20 years and lately that has been my project...fixing it up! After taking it apart quite a bit, tuning it up, it is running like a champ and I have been having a blast the last couple of days on that snow machine!! I have taken it the last two days to the same place that I go quadding in the summer. Its inaugural ride was Friday the 30th and today was its second ride. On Friday I learned a little lesson and that was to fill up the gas tank before I go. I only had about a 1/2 gallon of gas in there and didn't think to check it before I left and yup....I ran out of gas!! Luckily some guy was nice enough to give us a rope to tow mine back with! And thank goodness my manager came too, otherwise I would have had no way back! Today I went with one of my FHE sisters and we had an absolute blast! We rode close to 40 miles, blew through some big powder fields, and hit a lot of awesome trails. Anyway, enough words. Here are the pictures:

THANKS AGAIN GRANDPA!!!

IGLOO

2009-01-26T07:24:00.000-08:00

Here are some pictures of our igloo that we are going to finish tonight!

SNOW!

2009-01-25T10:26:00.000-08:00

Well, I still haven't found my SD card but I found an old one that I had on the mission so I am using that until I can buy a new one. So, lately I have been working on getting the snowmobile running and out of the garage where I keep it. My first problem was that the driveway was buried in a bunch of snow with a huge pile of snow at the top of the driveway from the snow plow that was about a few feet high. So that was my first task. Getting rid of that snow!

Overall, it took about 3 days to get rid of all that snow and then came the fun part. Trying to pull my trailer up a hill that was covered in snow. The only thing that worked was 4-wheel low. I am so glad this thing is 4 wheel drive! Now that I got my trailer out, it was time to make it into a snowmobile trailer! My manager and I used some carriage bolts to bolt a piece of plywood to the deck so that the skis don't get all scraped up on the metal. Here is how it turned out!
Now it was time to get the snowmobile! My manager and my roommate came with me to finish putting it back together since I had taken it apart and was cleaning it out. We got it back together fairly fast (it was just the plastics that we had to put back together) and then came the moment of truth. Would it start? Nope! For some reason it is not getting any spark so I am probably going to have to replace the ignition coil. Hopefully it is something less expensive though! Nonetheless, I have it here at my apartment on the trailer. We had to tow it up the hill with the quad and then we lifted it onto my trailer. I am going to work on it here.

Other than that, I got my first 3 snow removal jobs on friday and we are still getting snow so I am going to go back out on Monday and hopefully get some more! Wish me luck and pray for snow!!

Last night we were hanging out with our FHE sisters and we had a random idea to build an igloo. So that is what we did! We didn't finish it though so maybe on monday night we can finish the roof. It is way cool though. We got some awesome pictures last night that I need to get copies of but here is a picture from over our back fence.

We have to finish the doorway and the roof but I can easily stand up in it. It is way cool!! So yeah, that has been my life for the last few weeks! We are supposed to get a few more inches of snow from this storm so hopefully that will bring me business!

I LOST MY SD CARD

2009-01-14T13:42:00.000-08:00

Sometime when I moved apartments right before I came home before Christmas, I lost my SD card and card reader for my computer. So that is why I have not been updating my blog. Sorry!! Anyway, hopefully I will find it so I can keep everyone updated on my life! Happy 2009!

Christmas Lights!!

2008-12-22T09:25:00.001-08:00

Last night we all headed out to Rancho Cucamonga because there is almost an entire neighborhood (probably about 100 houses) that is totally decked out with the most Christmas lights that I have ever seen in my life! It took us a couple of hours to walk through the entire neighborhood and I don't even think that we saw all of them. The houses were absolutely amazing. Oh yeah, just on a random note, among the thousands of people in that neighborhood last night, who do we happen to run into? DEV and LISA! It was so random. Oh yeah, and a big thank you to the Jewish people for the free hot chocolate and cookies! Anyway, here are some pictures:

Triton Company Party in Salt Lake

2008-12-08T13:01:00.000-08:00

This weekend all of here who work at my apartment complex went down to Salt Lake City for Triton's annual company party. This is the first time that anyone went from up here because it is such a long drive and they usually have them on a weeknight when nobody from up here can go. Anyway, this year they had it on a Friday night and they offered to put us all up in the hotel where the party was being held. So on Friday right after class I headed down with my managers and made it just in time for the start of the party. The party was at the Raddison hotel about 1 block from Temple Square. It was a pretty nice place! After the hors d'oeuvres we went into the "wasatch room" where a nice dinner was all set up for us. When we sat down, there were wine glasses on the table with a mystery red liquid in them and we were all wondering if it was alcohol so we were all a little nervous to try it. We were obviously some of the only Mormon people there and we probably stood out! So after smelling it, and me trying it, we discovered that it was just fruit punch and we felt kinda stupid. Anyway, the dinner was great and afterwords me and Janae headed over to temple square to check out the lights. Overall, it was a great weekend!

This is my hotel room with an awesome "Select Comfort" Sleep Number bed. My sleep number is 45 just in case anyone was wondering!

Here I am trying that mystery red drink at our table. It was actually way good. I had like 3 glasses!

Here are some nice cars that I saw while down there. There was the new Challenger, Nissan GTR, and a Noble.

This is what it looked like out my window this morning! It finally snowed! It is starting to melt already. Bummer.

Truck-trade trip and Hailee's Party

2008-11-22T09:07:00.000-08:00

Last weekend I headed home to California and man was it an awesome trip!! I went there to bring up the famous "farm truck" for the winter since my little Ranger just doesn't do too well on the Rexburg ice. And that weekend just so happened to be the weekend of Hailee's first birthday party! We all had so much fun and let me tell you, she is growing up so stinking fast. The last time I saw her she was just starting to crawl and now she is walking all around the house! It blew me away. She sure is adorable though. Anyway, I wish I could have stayed longer because driving almost 2,000 miles in 4 days is not cool. So now I am back up here in Rexburg enjoying the current temperature of 23 degrees at 10:10am. Here are some pics from the trip:

Hailee, Mommy & Daddy opening presents

Me and Hailee kicking back, telling jokes, and laughing!

She was nice enough to share her cake with me!

Me, Hailee, Kipper, and Sarah

Got the Hummer all cleaned up and Oil Changed. It is parked at the house next door that has been vacant for over a year. Thats why the grass is completely dead! It is nice having 2 driveways!

The Farm Truck!! I got that thing all cleaned up and installed 2 spotlights on the bumper. They look sweet and completely light up these dark country roads up here. It is so much bigger than my ranger. I love driving it! Back home it is a total hillbilly truck (hence the name!) but once I got up here to Idaho, I have gotten so many complements. I thought that was so funny! At first I thought people were joking....I guess it fits in here in Idaho!

This is the smoke that you could see from our house from the Corona Fire.

GORILLAS ON THE LOOSE IN REXBURG!

2008-11-02T18:55:00.000-08:00

This is by far the most random night that I have ever had. It started off with the idea of going to the Civil Defense caves and somehow evolved into putting on gorilla costumes and scaring the heck out of people. Anyway, we borrowed these costumes from a guy named Trevor's roommates. We don't even know who they are but they let us borrow them. Anyway, we went around to apartment complexes and if people were sitting on the couch next to the window, we would lightly tap on the window and when they looked up make really loud gorilla noises and would scare them to death. It was soooo funny! Then we started knocking on random doors and when they would answer the three of us would have our faces right in the door. Every time without fail the girl who answered the door screamed and then we would run inside the apartment and do random gorilla stuff and then we would run out and go to another apartment. On a few apartments they just told us to come in so we ran in REALLY loud and in one of the apartments one girl jumped over the couch to hide and another girl took off running down the hall to her room screaming bloody murder. I guess you wouldn't expect 3 gorillas to come running in your apartment. So we did this for like 3 hours. We went into parties, through a drive-thru and by the end we would just walk into apartments silently, sit down, and wait for people to come out. It confused the heck out of people. It was so funny! I don't think that I have ever laughed so hard. Anyway, it was such a random but fun night!

I had to test it out so when my two friends came out the door to the right, I jumped out and scared them. IT WORKED!

This is when we went and sat down in an apartment and waited for them to come out. It was actually my apartment and my roommates were freaked out then I started chasing one of them down the hall and he was sooo freaked out! It was so funny!

Here we are running into a random apartment

My 40 Mile Ride

2008-11-01T15:48:00.001-07:00

So today I was feeling the urge to go for a ride. So I did just that! I was originally going to go for a short ride since I was going by myself but it turned into a VERY long ride, but SOO awesome! I was riding for almost 3 hours and didn't even make a dent in the trails. I will take you along on my ride

I unloaded the machine on my trailer that now tilts! My manager and I cut the weld on the trailer that was preventing it from tilting. So now it is WAY easy to load and unload. 1st stop on my ride was Kelly's Canyon Ski Resort.

I had never ridden to the ski resort before and really had no idea how to get there but after exploring for quite a while, I came across it. I started heading up the trail where I took this picture and got a little ways up the trail and got stuck. It got pretty steep and really rocks and there came a point where the machine was just too wide to get up. So I had to go down backwards down this steep rocky hill. Kinda creepy but fun!

I hate how cameras don't show how steep things really are! After getting stuck, I found a place called "Y Junction" and there were a ton of trucks parked there with trailers. I knew that something WAY cool had to be close by. So I rode for a little ways and found a trailhead for a trail called Poison Flat.

This trail was so stinking awesome!!! I rode it for quite a ways until it started raining so I started to head back. Once I was almost back to the trailhead, it stopped raining so I turned around and kept going! Here are some pictures from that trail.

After exploring for quite some time, I went down the back side of the mountain and ran into the Snake river. It was totally beautiful.

At this point I realized that I was getting low on gas so I started to head back, exploring here and there on the way back. At this point I was at mile 25 so I still had a ways to go.

By the end of the trip, I rode almost 42 miles. It was soooo fun! Now I need to go and wash the quad! Oh yeah, check out this sweet house that I stopped to look at. It is about 3 blocks from the temple and has been vacant since before I left on my mission. I have no idea why but it is soooo nice! It is still for sale. I think that we should buy it! I will keep dreaming. Here are some pics though. I would have to admid that my truck looks pretty good in that driveway!

HALLOWEEN PARTY!

2008-10-31T23:27:00.000-07:00

Tonight we had a Halloween Party slash Farewell Party for Collin Hansen since he is going away for basic training for the Army. We all had a ton of fun, there were some pretty cool costumes and all that jazz, lots of good food, and yeah....it was fun!!! I don't know what else to day about it! How about some pictures! Those are supposed to be worth a million words so I will let them talk.

Me feeding my "new bride" a cookie

Hilary about to cut the cake

I was kicking some serious butt in this game that I do now know how to spell. Fooseball?? Soccer...how about that. That is much easier!

Courtney and Robby

Jalissa and her friend. They were Asians for Halloween

Collin's good luck pumpkin

Lisa and a guy whose name I don't remember

Hilary and Collin

This is my lounge....where the party took place

These are little spider cookies that Hilary made

Collins Army cake. It was quite cool!

My high school graduation pictures

2008-10-28T21:17:00.000-07:00

I normally don't share these with people, but here are my high school graduation pictures. I went to a few different photographers because I just couldn't figure out which one I liked. Anyway, I blew the dust off these pictures and thought I would share them with you.

AS GOOD AS NEW!

2008-10-28T20:46:00.000-07:00

I had a fun little project today! I had to fix my trailer fender due to a little fender bender. It was actually quite fun! Anyway, I am a nerd and brought my camera so I thought I would post the pics of the fixing process! Sorry...I know this is like the most non-interesting post in the world!

A SWEET NEW PLACE

2008-10-25T17:36:00.000-07:00

Well well well, I am totally in love with this new place that I went riding today! I don't even know what it is called but it was probably the coolest place that I have ever ridden. My buddy told me about it and gave me directions (without street names...just landmarks...you know, the Idaho way!) and we found it without any problems at all. We unloaded and BAM! Trails up the wazoo! They were everywhere! I could stay up there for days and explore. They were all nice trails and just tons of fun to ride on. I know where I am taking the snowmobile! We explored for hours and didn't even make a dent in the places to be explored. I totally have to go back. Oh yeah...it was quite chilly up there hence the giant coat. I would have taken more pictures but my camera died. I haven't charged it in like a month. I guess I should have thought of that!

Um...yeah...that's me being stupid. It wasn't even moving!

THE MOST FUN I HAVE EVER HAD ON A WEDNESDAY NIGHT!!

2008-10-15T23:15:00.000-07:00

Wednesday nights usually aren't very fun a special, right? Well, tonight was an exception. At 9:15pm, we went to a place called the haunted mill. Here is a picture of it:
Every year, this old abandoned flour mill is turned into a huge haunted house. It is so awesome and it is soooooo long!!! When we got there, there was absolutely no line at all and we just walked right up to where you pay. It was only 5 bucks a person. TOTALLY WORTH IT! Last time I went before the mission, I waited for about an hour and a half to get in. That was a Saturday night though. The mill takes about 30-45 minutes to go all the way through and it is sooo scary! Seriously, probably the scariest thing ever. When you first go in, you start on the first level of the mill and within the first split second people are jumping out and scaring the number 2 out of you! You actually start out crawling and as soon as you get out of the tunnel, this guy in a potato sack mask thing (like in the new batman) jumps out and you are totally not expecting it. The cool thing about Idaho is that there really are no laws. They grab you, the whole time you are walking on uneven boards, it is just so awesome. Anyway, once you get through the first floor, you go outside through a field where guys are hiding. From there, you go into the other part of the mill which then takes you into the mine. It really takes you underground and it I guess was a mine at one point. It connects back to the main mill and then you go up to the second and third stories of this mill. The stairs are about 2 feet wide and super steep and at the top, people jump down from the cieling and just about give you a heart attack. There is never a time for 45 minutes where you are not in a panic. Honestly, it is by far the coolest thing ever!!!! We all had so much fun! On part of it, you go over this huge suspension bridge over the river (you know, the kind that are super wobbly) and even out there there scary people chasing you with shovels and what not. All the old equipment is still in there and is part of the haunted house. By the time you are done, you are actually quite dirty from crawling around in the tunnels, going through the mine and stuff like that. I am so going back!!

After that, we did the old quarter in a bandaid tied to fishing line trick to people. We put a quarter into one side of a bandaid, wrapped it in fishing line, and stuck it to our FHE sisters window and went about 200 feet away into this dark field and pulled on the fishing line to make the quarter tap on the window. It was driving them nuts! They came outside, look all over, went back in....they couldnt figure it out and they were freaking out. We secretly took it off and went over to the girls dorms and put it on a random bedroom window and sat in the car with the fishing line. This girl got sooo mad. It was good fun. Then I came home and here I am! Totally fun wednesday night.

ITS BEGINNING TO LOOK A LOT LIKE CHRISTMAS!!!! (WAY TOO SOON!)

2008-10-11T22:47:00.000-07:00

Yup....I just took those pictures out my bedroom window. Whats that stuff you ask? Yeah....its snow. It's sticking. And it's coming down!!!! Well, I would normally be quite bummed that it is snowing but now I have a whole new attitude toward the snow. The more the better!!!! Why? Well well well, I am starting up an internet based snow removal company up here in Rexburg and the snow will keep me in business. I had kinda a crazy idea one night and thought that I would shovel snow to make money during the winter up here apart from the job that I have right now. I have 2 brand-new show shovels that I got for free and thought that I would put them to good use. Well, thinking about it more, I thought why now make it a little bigger and get a little snow blower so I can get the job done faster and have some customers. Then I thought, why not make it internet based since we have been talking about the importance of having web pages in my business class. Then it all started coming together. I was trying to figure out how it would all work and everything has just fallen into place. The name of my company is Rick's Snow Removal. I know...it isnt very creative but I thought that I would just keep it simple. Maybe I can call it RSR later on. I don't know. Anyway, here is my plan and so far from the people I have talked to, they think that it is really going to be a success. I am selling pre-paid snow plowing cards that will have the customers membership number on it. They can pre-pay for 5, 10, 15, or more plows that way they don't have to worry about being home when I come to pay me, waking up early to get their checkbook out, etc. It will all be paid for. All they do is go to www.rickssnowremoval.com, click on "schedule an appointment," enter their Membership ID number, and bam! They recieve a confirmation e-mail and I am there the next morning clearing their snow. Can it get any easier than that? As of right now, I have my web page up and running (I will make it nicer as time goes on but it works for now), membership cards on order and should be here mid next week, am starting on writing the contract agreement, and today I invested in a SWEET snow blower. It was not really what I had in mind at all to get, but man is it going to be awesome. It is actually much better than the one I was going to get but I couldn't pass up the deal. I went down to Idaho Falls today to buy a Jacket and came home with a snow blower. I think I went down there for a reason today! I haven't opened it yet but here is a picture of it: Actually, first I will show the one that I was going to buy:
Meet the Toro CCR 2450 GTS. Here are the facts: (girls, you can skip this part)
Snow clearing width: 20"
Engine: 141 cc 2-cycle
Starter: hand pull
Rotor type: Rubber paddles
Cut depth on 1 pass: 13"
Wheels: Gay little BBQ wheels
Drive: push with your arms and legs
Weight: 74lbs

MEET MY NEW SNOW THROWER!!! Don't you just want to stick you hand in it? I still need to give her a name. Any suggestions?

Facts:
Snow clearing width: 24"
Engine: 179 cc 4-cycle engine
Starter: electric or pull
Rotor type: Metal augers and impeller to launch the snow (2-stage snow thrower)
Cut depth on 1 pass: 21"
Wheels: Sweet beefy tires with sick tread
Drive: 6 forward speeds and 2 reverse speeds
Weight:190 lbs

Do you think I will look a little more legit with this one? (The answer is yes!)

Girls, you can come back now!

Did it cost me a lot more? Heck yes it did but it was still a great deal and I can still pay it off without problems. Plus, I can get the job done faster and this will allow me to take on bigger jobs. The thing that I really like is my 5 year warranty. It covers everything from the engine to the tires. My fault or not, they come to MY HOUSE and fix it for free. Tires wear out, frozen newspaper busts my chute, they fix it for free! Yeah, it is a pretty sweet deal and I really don't have to have any worries, well, at least for the next 5 years! Anyway, I am really excited to start up my business and hope that it will be a huge success and hope we get a TON of snow!!! I will keep everyone updated as things go on. Oh yeah, just a side note. This has all developed within the last 4 days or so. Crazy, huh?

Oh yeah...here are my cool new snow boots that I bought today. Did I ever mention how much I love Idaho? That has nothing to do with anything, but I sure love it up here!

MY APARTEMNT

2008-10-11T22:34:00.000-07:00

I feel like nobody know where I live up here because nobody ever comes up to Idaho. I can not blame anybody who doesn't want to make that 14 hour drive. It is quite brutal!! Anyway, just though you guys might want to see my apartment.

About my apartment:
Built in 2003
About 2000 sq. ft.
6 bedrooms
2 bath
Walk in pantry
Huge kitchen
Nice living room
The only place with central AC and Heating up here!

Here are some pics:

MISSION REUNION!!!!

2008-10-11T22:22:00.000-07:00

Wow!! Sorry I have been so bad about updating my blog! During conference weekend, I had the chance to go down to Utah to attend my 1st mission reunion! It was so awesome!!! It was so good to see all of my old buddies from the mission and to see my Mission President and wife. We were very lucky to see them since they are from Mexico. Probably the highlight of my weekend was seeing the nearly completed 1936 Ford 3 window coupe that my grandpa has. He has been working on it for the last 13 years and finally it is just about there. I got to go for a ride in it and man was it nice! And did I mention the sound of it? Oh yeah, its got some power all right and the sweet sound to back it up! Here are some pics from that weekend:

BUDDIES FROM THE MTC

ELDER ISON, ME, SISTER RAMOS, AND ELDER HOLT. THE OFFICE ELDERS!

US WITH THE PRES AND HIS WIFE

US AND SISTER DOYLE

THERE SHE IS!

PACKSADDLE LAKE

2008-09-14T20:30:00.000-07:00

I don't have a ton of time to type right now but here is the bottom line. We found packsaddle lake and we had a blast! The trail getting down to the lake was absolutely insane but we managed to get the quad down and back up again so I guess it was a success. Oh yeah...we tried to do a little fishing in the lake because the fish were jumping like nobody's business so I grabbed my little fishing pole that I keep in the quad, found a spinner and some 5 year old power bait to put on it, and on the second cast the spinner got stuck in the mud and broke my fishing line. That was a bummer. So then I found an old rusty hook and tied that on the fishing line with a little rubber worm and tried casting that out and it went about 2 feet because it had no weight to it. We then had the bright idea to tie a rock into the fishing line to give it more weight and that seemed to work good! We didn't catch any fish....the closest we got was a fish that followed the hook and the worm all the way into the shore just looking at it. I think that it was laughing at us trying to fish with a rusty hook and a rock tied into the fishing line. Oh well! I am going back next weekend to fish with some real stuff!!

PACKSADDLE

2008-09-07T10:28:00.000-07:00

Yesterday (9/6/08) I took my friend Melanie Voge (sister of my friend who I took up American Fork Canyon) riding up in a place called Packsaddle. Neither one of us had ever been there so it was sort of an adventure trying to find it. We stopped and asked for directions in a random hotsprings place in the middle of nowhere and the kid there told us that we need to turn on the dirt road next to the field. He must have forgotten that we were in Idaho because next to every field there is a dirt road! Anyway, we finally found the right dirt road next to the right field and we onloaded and headed up the mountain. It was a totally beautiful ride but was quite cold up at the top. We were trying to find Packsaddle lake but we never did. But we did find some pretty sweet trails through the forest and we had fun chasing the cows on the quad. Here are some pictures!

AMERICAN "FARK" CANYON QUADDING

2008-08-30T21:36:00.000-07:00

Well, I would have to say that I had a pretty sweet looking rig coming back to school. Snowmobile in the back of the truck and a quad (4 wheeler for all the Utah/Idaho people) on my trailer. Yeah, it's going to be a fun semester!!! I am spending a few days here in Utah and I could not resist going on a ride here. Me and my friend Janae headed up American Fork Canyon this morning to go for a little ride. That little ride eventually turned into about a 6 hour ride! First off, those stinking environmentalists have closed down more than 70% of the trails up there for quads probably to save some little microscopic plant or bug or something so it took us a few hours to even find a decent trail to ride on that wasn't closed. Anyway, we eventually found a pretty sweet trail, quite treacherous, but one that we could actually ride on and we had a ton of fun. All I know is that I am so excited to go up to Idaho where all the trails aren't closed to "save the dirt" or whatever those enviornmentalists try and make us normal people miserable about. Overall, way fun day!!

THE GRAND ADVENTURE IN THE GRAND CANYON!

2008-08-17T19:02:00.000-07:00

As you all probably know, I went with a huge group of people to the Grand Canyon this weekend and it was such an amazing trip! All 36 of us hiked almost all 12 miles down late Thursday night and camped on the road a few hundred yard from the town since we couldnt check in until the next day. The weather was awesome, the water was nice and cold, and the whole trip was absolutely amazing. Now, what everyone wants to hear about. THE FLASH FLOODS!!!! About an hour before we left to hike back up, 2 people from the tribe came running through the campground yelling out that a flash flood was coming and that everyone needed to take high ground. Well, we all went next to the river because we really wanted to see it! The only thing we saw was the water turning from blue to brown from all the dirt being stirred up in the water. That was kinda cool I guess! We all gave up on watching the flash flood and didn't think that it would come. We went and explored a cave and then came back, packed up, and started hiking out. We were all bummed because we really wanted to see a flash flood. As we were walking through the Village, an Indian lady stopped us and told us to be very careful because there was a flood coming. We thought that they were just overly paranoid because they were freaking out about a flash flood that we waited for that never came (so we thought!). We took her advice very lightly and started our hike out of the canyon. A couple of miles out of town, a huge storm rolls in and starts pouring on us like I have never seen rain pour before. It sure felt nice because we were getting really hot! We had no idea what that rain would bring on though. We noticed a little stream coming down the canyon and within minutes, it was a full blown river rushing down the canyon. That's when things started getting a little bid scary. Our group got broken into two and I was in the back group and we were somewhat stranded on some high ground. The water was rising really fast and the current of the water was very strong. We were on that high ground for about a half hour or so and we really felt that we needed to keep going just in case things got worse. We all had to work as a team to get out of that canyon. We all held hands and made a huge chain to cross the river so we wouldn't fall down and we all had to help each other climb up rocks to try and take the safest way out. It was so intense! I think everyone was a little nervous because we had to idea how bad it would get. Water was pouring over the canyon walls making huge waterfalls that poured right onto what was the trail and that certainly added to the level of the water. After 6 hours, we finally got out of the canyon and up to our cars. We were all so grateful that we made it out ok because I know that some people weren't as fortunate. When I was leaving thismorning I was stopped by the police at a road block that they had set up 60 miles out of the canyon trying to find missing hikers from last night. They asked me if I hiked the canyon last night, took all my information, and told me that they are trying to account for everyone because there were a bunch of people missing. They also told me that then Dam upstream had broken and that a 10 ft wall of water was coming. That made me even more grateful for getting out of the canyon when we did. People today were airlifted out and I am pretty sure that where we were is completely underwater. It sounds like it wiped out a lot of stuff down there! Anyway, here are a bunch of pictures from the trip. Enjoy!!!

The hike in standing above Havasu Falls

The descent going mooney falls. It was straight down the canyon wall and you had to hold onto the chains so you wouldn't fall. If you did fall, you would totally die! Don't worry moms.....we were very careful!

Mooney Falls

Group of us at Mooney Falls

This was at a lookout over Mooney Falls

Me on the rope swing

Right after we got the flash flood warning, the water turned from a beautiful blue to a nasty brown within 5 minutes

Havasu Falls. We actually swam behind the waterfall and let me tell you, that thing has some POWER!

This used to be the trail....we think. It was pretty much non-existent. Here we are working as a team to get out of the canyon. It was pitch black at this point of the hike.

This one is hard to see but we were all helping each other get up some rocks out of the water.

2008-07-06T22:31:00.000-07:00

I must say that I had an EXCELENT 4th of July this past weekend. One, because it was my first one since I have been back from the mission and two, I was able to spend it with some of my very best friends! After a couple of girls came over and cooked us breakfast, we headed down to Idaho Falls and found a spot right on the green belt (right next to the river) and we fired up the coals on our $20.00 BBQ that me and my roommate split the cost of a few weeks ago. We had a huge BBQ right on the Snake River and enjoyed the live band that was playing a few hundred feet away and just relaxed, played Frisbee, cards, Catchphrase, and laid down on the grass and enjoyed the AWESOME 80 degree weather. We had about 20 or 25 people at our spot and we just totally had the best spot. It finally got dark at around 10:00pm and the most amazing firework show you have ever seen commenced. Idaho Falls is way famous for their incredible firework show and let me tell you, it was by far the best firework show that I have ever seen in my whole life. They spare no expense! Afterwards we sat in traffic and enjoyed the 1 1/2 hour 20 mile drive back home!!! Awesome weekend!

This was our spot

Yeah.....there is a chance that I got a little carried away with the lighter fluid.

Me, Beth, and Liz

Sunset over Snake River

I'm not really sure what Dev was doing here...

Dev, Me, Collin, and Hilary

Cascade Canyon

2008-06-28T21:39:00.000-07:00

WE DID IT!!!!!! Oh my goodness, that was by far the BEST backpacking trip that I have ever been on and I am so happy to put pictures of it on my blog that I TOOK and not ones that other people took! This place was so much more than I expected! So here is how our trip went:

We arrived to Jenny Lake, Wyoming at about 5:30 pm Friday night and we went and got our back country camping permit from the ranger. The ranger thought that we were somewhat crazy for starting the hike so late in the day but we were so pumped that we didn't even care! They made us take this big plastic bear container to put our food in and told us that it was mandatory because there have been so many bears out this year! COOL!!! So we flew over to the parking lot, threw our packs on, and without any further adieu we were off hiking at about 6:15pm! What an amazing hike it was. It started off with a hike around the lake to the trail head and that was gorgeous in itself. Once we started up the canyon, I realized that the stuff that we thought was beautiful before was nothing compared to what was in the canyon.

The first amazing thing that we passed about 1 mile up the canyon was a 120 foot waterfall called Hidden Falls. Man was that amazing! Then it just got better from there. We came out to this point called Inspiration Point and it overlooked the lake and the valley and it was amazing. Then once we started getting deeper into the canyon, it was beautiful rapids, waterfalls down both sides of the canyon walls all over the place, luscious green forests, moose, porky pines, marmots, and other cool little animals. We were surrounded by the Tetons on both sides of us which made the most awesome scenery. Once we got to our destination 6.6 miles up the canyon, we made camp. We were up at the snow level and it was about a foot deep in some places but we found an awesome little spot on dry ground and we busted out our little stoves and made our Top Ramen. Its amazing how good that tastes when you are really hungry!! The night was cold. I didn't bring a pad so it was my sleeping bag on the frozen ground. Yeah, not too comfortable!!! But we did hear the roar of the waterfall that we camped next to all night and that was quite soothing!

We woke up at about 7:30, got some water from from the stream and made some hot chocolate and oatmeal. Our plan was to hike 2.4 more miles up the north fork of the canyon but the trail was covered with 4 feet of snow which made it too difficult with a heavy pack and no snow shoes. So that idea went out the window! But thats ok. I am 110% satisfied with where we went and what we saw. It was by far the most beautiful place that I have ever been to and I am so going back in a few months after the snow melts to get up to Lake Solitude. The trip was awesome, nothing went wrong, and it was a BLAST!!!! I wish that you all could have been up there with us. I for sure have my Dad's Wyoming blood in me! I could live there forever!

Here are a few of the 114 pictures that I took:

This is what the walls of the canyon looked like.

This is the first little bridge that we went over on the trail on our way to Hidden Falls

About 3 miles up into the canyon. Luckily it doesn't get dark until about 9:30 so we had plenty of light.

This is the waterfall right next to our campsite. It was so beautiful!

That is me washing my face with the water running off the hill side.

Yeah...it was really cold!

This was part of our hike around Jenny Lake

We were about 1 mile or less into the canyon

Just some water! There was so much of it up there!

This was pretty early on in the hike. Notice the little marmot in the background on the rock. I didn't even realize it was there!

Hidden Falls. Man did that thing roar! It felt so nice to stand there in the mist.

This was the ascent up to Inspiration Point. We felt so inspired. Ha ha!

We had about 2 miles left to go at this point.

I took this from inside the canyon.

Our little campsite

Just another cool picture I took from Jenny Lake

Filtering some water

Another picture of the waterfall next to where we camped. It looks identical to the one someone else took in my last post, but its not! Mine has snow in it!

A cool little bird I saw by the car. I took that with an SLR...thats why it turned out so cool!

This peak is called Coyote Peak (or something like that) because it looks like a howling coyote.

Another scenery picture! Sorry if you are getting sick of these!

Part of the trail was the stream

Um...self explanatory. The river in the canyon.

WE ARE ALMOST READY!!!!

2008-06-25T13:30:00.000-07:00

So everything is falling perfectly into place for our trip this weekend. Just in case anyone forgot, this weekend is our big Cascade Canyon backpacking trip. Man are we excited! Our packs are packed and we are making the last minute preparations so that we don't encounter any problems along the way. Unfortunately, some people aren't going to be able to go so it is just me and my two roommates. I don't care if nobody else went, would still go! I have been so excited ever since I heard about this place over a month ago. It actually worked out nice that we waited to go because up until two weeks ago, it was snowing in the Tetons. I called up to the Ranger Station today and the place where we were planning on camping still is covered in snow and the lake is frozen. So what we are going to do is go as far as we can until we hit the snow and we will camp there. Saturday morning, depending on the snow level, we will try to make it up to Lake Solitude which is where we were going to camp. Either way, it is going to be an amazing trip and I am counting the hours and minutes until we go! I will post new pictures probably on Sunday or Monday after the trip! Wish us luck!

AIR SHOW

2008-06-16T20:19:00.001-07:00

And who says that cool things don't happen in Rexburg?! Last Saturday Rexburg held its annual air show and I must say that I was a little skeptical as to whether or not it would be worth going to or not. Let me tell you, it was well worth it! They had a ton of WWII fighter planes, bombers, and other stunt planes that were just incredible! All of them were in flying condition and all of them at one time or another were putting on a show in the air. There was one guy who was absolutely nuts as he purposely made his plane start falling apart in the air as part of a stunt. He had us all fooled. First, part of his right wing fell off while he was way up in the air and he came spiraling down to the ground and we all thought that we were going to see some insane crash but that was all part of the act. He pulled right out of it right before hitting the ground and went up and made another piece of his plane fall off. This guy was insane! But these things that he was doing while not even having all of his plane intact was way impressive! Probably one of the coolest things was watching the fighter jet fly at about 600 mph 5 feet above the ground about 40 feet away from you. Those things move!!! Anyway, it was an awesome day and man did I get fried! I now look like a red tomato and was in pain for the first couple of days. It's all good now! Might I say that those old planes are so stinking loud! They literally shake the ground! Oh man, it was so awesome!

Kite Flying with 50mph + winds...FUN STUFF!!

2008-06-06T23:38:00.000-07:00

Ok....so I know that kite-flying might be a bit childish, but man this was fun! My roommate has these two awesome stunt kites that he takes to the beach so we decided that with these 50mph winds that it might be fun to fly them....or have them fly us! Man!!! Once those things got in the air, they dragged us all over the place! On the big one, you hold onto a water ski rope handle and control it with that. That thing had some amazing power! When it was at about a 45 degree angle, the force of it would pull you so hard that it sent you running just to try and hold onto it. It was so much fun!!! Check out the videos so you can see just how crazy this was! Sadly, we learned the hard way that these kites probably aren't supposed to be in these kinds of winds since the strings on both kites busted from the force. It was fun while it lasted!

THIS JUST MIGHT BE THE COOLEST TRIP EVER!

2008-05-23T18:52:00.001-07:00

Ok, so here is the deal. Today I was kinda not paying much attention in math class because this kid that sits next to me told me about this place that he and his wife are going to this weekend called Cascade Canyon. He was showing me pictures and I am sold! Today I started planning the trip for June 6th...so I really need to get training. It starts with a beautiful drive to Wyoming that gives you incredible views of both sides of the Tetons. We go past Jackson Hole, past Teton Village, and up to Jenny Lake. That is where we start the hike. So we park the truck near Jenny Lake and start the 9 mile hike through Cascade Canyon and up to Solitude Lake. Cascade Canyon is self-describing because the whole way you are hiking next to a stream and you pass all kinds of waterfalls and all of the beautiful stuff that water does.

Once we get up to Solitude lake, we will make camp and stay the night. You cannot have camp fires so we will have to pack some camping stoves. The next day there are a few other places that we can hike to during the day. I am sure that the water is much too cold to swim in considering that the lake is at 10,000 ft. So I guess that we will just enjoy the scenery and have an awesome day up there. The lake is very close to the Teton peaks. So needless to say the sights will be AWESOME! So be ready for some sweet pics on the blog! Here are some that I found on Google Earth:

So does't this seem like an awesome trip??? I am so excited! I even went out and bought my hiking boots today to start breaking them in. So this is pretty much set in stone that we are going to do it. If weather doesnt permit on our planned date, we will do it the 13th and the 14th. My roommates are all stoked so we are going to start training now for it. I am actually training for the Teton Dam 10k right now too! I am way excited for it. It is going to be June 14th so hmmm....I guess if the 6th doesnt work out we will have to go 2 weeks later. Anyway, let me know how it sounds to you guys! I am totally stoked!!!!!

The Best FHE Ever!

2008-05-19T20:50:00.000-07:00

Tonight I must say that we had an awesome FHE! After eating some amazing truffles (thank you Boston!) we jumped into mine and Dev's trucks and headed about 10 miles outside of Rexburg to a shooting range. WE HAD A BLAST! Might I mention that we have the best FHE group in the world too! We stayed out there for a couple of hours shooting the shotgun, 9mm handgun, 22 250 big 'ol rifle, a 22 handgun and a little 22 rifle. Fun stuff! We stayed out there as long as we could until the sun went down and headed back to Rexburg harassing people on the PA along the way (mostly Dev and everyone in the back of his truck!). What a great way to start the week!

OUR TREK TO "R" MOUNTAIN

2008-05-19T20:38:00.000-07:00

This past weekend we decided to hike up to the top of what's called around here "R Mountain." It is actually an old inactive volcano so when y0u get to the top, it is just a big crater. It is pretty sweet. There were 4 of us who went and it was a blast! It was a short but intense hike and a lot of fun!

CRAB

2008-05-16T17:40:00.000-07:00

If you know me well, you probably know that I am an anti-fish person. I refuse to eat the stuff because it just grosses me out for some reason! I have tried it a few times and it really isn't too bad, but I would definitely not order it from a restaurant or anything like that. Well, tonight my roommate cooked some crab legs and when I walked in the door he pulled out a plate and slapped a leg on my plate with two forks. I guess one is to crack open the leg and the other is to eat with (I am sure that all you fish eaters already know that....but I being an inexperienced fish eater did not know that). Anyway, after cracking open the leg and pulling the meat out, I actually tried it and......drum roll........it was actually pretty good! I thought that it would be a lot worse! But will I ever eat it again? Probably not. Why? I am not down with cracking open a leg to eat my food. Kinda nasty!

The Bottom Lands

2008-05-10T22:25:00.000-07:00

Our friends Collin and Hilary invited us to go to a cool spot tonight up here in Idaho called the bottom lands. It is down by the river out in the middle of nowhere. It was pretty sweet! After hiking for about 15 minutes through "horse fertile" fields, we arrived to our destination, made a campfire, roasted marshmellows and told scary stories. It was pretty fun! Dev was pretty scared though! Afterwards we went to some guys field and lit a whole bunch of fireworks off and woke up all of the neighbors. I love Idaho!

Nuestro Gran Asado

2008-05-10T14:18:00.000-07:00

Me and my roommate, having both served our missions in Buenos Aires, Argentina, have had the craving for the most amazing bbq ever, the Argentine Asado. So with some help from my roommate's parents (they brought the "carbón"), with the help of of Dev with the meat, and with the help of my eating skills, we had one of the best bbqs ever. Slow cooking over carbón for hours on end makes for one amazing taste! We invited a bunch of people over, ate some great food with some home-made rootbeer, turned the projecter on and watched a great movie! It made for a great night! We sort of cooked way too much meat and had to give a lot of it away afterwards which made for some really happy poor college students!!!! Hey, that would make my day if someone gave me a few pounds of incredible steak for free!

Mesa Falls, Idaho

2008-05-10T13:55:00.000-07:00

So last weekend we were trying to figure out something that we could go and do and we remembered a place up here called Mesa Falls. It was a warm sunny day here in Rexburg, but little did we know what we would find up at the falls. The drive was beautiful and the roads were completely clear up until we got within 3 miles of the falls. BOOM! 3 feet of snow covering the highway. So we really had no choice but to park and hike the rest of the way. The hike was awesome but our feet got a little cold but what can you expect when you are hiking in the snow? So we spent a few hours up there, had lunch, and made the treck back to the car before the sun started going down.

The Trip Back to Argentina: The Most Amazing Trip Ever

2008-05-09T15:25:00.000-07:00

A few weeks after returning home from my mission to Argentina, I had the awesome opportunity to go back to Argentina with my parents so they could see where I served, meet my friends, and so forth. Let me tell you, what an amazing trip. It started off at 12:00am at LAX for the 5 hour check-in process with TACA airlines (later named by us “Take a Chance Airlines”) and we wont even get into the horrible organization of that company. At least the plane was nice! After 12 hours of airtime, we finally landed in Buenos Aires in a huge storm and that is where our adventure started! We were able to drive around my mission, see my areas, visit people, eat some awesome food, and go shopping in the capital. It was so much fun!

After a few days in the city, we drove 7 hours to the other end of the province of Buenos Aires to a little town where my companion and me were called to start the church. What an amazing experience that was. It was so awesome to see how fast the church is growing out there in such a short time. When I was there we had church in our tiny little living room and now they have a brand-new facility with 2 classrooms, a bigger room for sacrament meeting, and a kitchen and bathroom in the back. It was so neat to be able to attend church there with my parents. And now it is an official branch of the church! We stayed for a few days, got caught in a tornado-like storm that was knocking over trees, demolishing buildings, and almost blowing us over, and finally headed out.

After making the long trek back to the city, we hopped onto a plane and headed up to the very northern tip of Argentina right next to Brazil to a place called Iguazú, home to the most beautiful waterfalls in the world. In fact, you will be seeing them in the new Indiana Jones movie. The flight was a short hour and a half or so. We got off of the plane and the Guns and Roses song “Welcome to the Jungle” popped into my head. We were literally in the jungle! We went to our awesome bungalow situated out of the city in the jungle where were we were greeted by our two pet geckos that lived in our room! We spent the whole next day at the falls going on a 4x4 rides through the jungle, in a boat up the river to the base of the falls where they literally jetted us into the falls, and hiking around on the catwalks across the rivers, and finally back to point A on a raft. What an awesome day and what amazingly beautiful waterfalls. Like I said, you will all see them in the Indiana Jones movie.

Unfortunately, the trip had to come to an end and we are glad that it came to a safe end. We were a little worried after our plane had to make an emergency landing back in Buenos Aires for a serious problem that it was having. Despite the fear, I was really looking forward to jumping down those slides out of the side of the plane. The flight attendants were at the emergency doors with the keys in ready to activate them and then they got the word that they would be sending those big trucks with the stairs over. We landed, came to a halt on the tarmac, and were taken back to the terminal on busses where we waited for hours for the plane to get fixed. Unfortunately, we had to get back on the same plane! That was a little scary! Since that happened, we missed our connecting flights and had to stay the night in El Salvador. I don’t recommend vacationing there! What a scary place! But now we are back safe and sound with some awesome memories!

Here are some more pictures and videos