5 months later...

It's been a while. I guess I just got lazy and the winter blues just overtook me. I'm not a fan of winter at all. Oddly enough, I actually enjoy January and February more than November and December. Micaela thinks I'm odd because, as she says, at least there's something to look forward to in November and December. For me, it's the fact that we're plunging head-long into winter that makes me hate those two months. On the other hand, January is the beginning of the end of winter. I also hate the build up to the holidays and how busy and commercial they've become, especially Christmas. I'm a simple guy and I like to keep everything simple, including Christmas. I enjoy Easter much more because it is warmer and the true meaning of the holiday hasn't been steam-rolled over by big business. I guess it's just nice to get back to normal after the holidays.

Well, a little bit of news from the past five months: Thanksgiving and Christmas came and went before we knew it. Micaela had a hard time without her parents. They're in Guatemala on a mission. They'll be home for next Christmas. We spent Christmas day and the next few days at my in-laws' condo up Beaver Canyon. It was nice except Eliza was grumpy. Jumping forward to January, Micaela and I took advantage of a free night stay at Johnsonville Bed and Breakfast in Midway, Utah in February. Probably one of the best getaways we had. The view was breathtaking and it was so peaceful up there. There was also about 3 feet of snow. We plan on returning this summer.



Unfortunately, the Monday after I took off to Hawaii for a temporary transfer. Because of the circumstances, I couldn't bring the family. I spent the first five weeks of my free time working on an online class and then Micaela came with Eliza. It was nice having them but one week is too short. We were able to do some whale watching where we spotted two humpback whales. My parents arrive in a week for a little R and R.

While I've been away, Micaela hired a handy-man to do various work around the house. The biggest project he took on was remodeling the playroom into the master bedroom. Unfortunately, the handy-man gave Micaela a lot a grief with that last project so we had to fire him before he completed it. Eliza has also been developing slowly; she rarely pulls herself up to standing and she's 15 months old. Micaela's been working with health professionals to determine if there are any serious issues with Eliza. Hannah has been Hannah; her speech is really developing and I can have a basic conversation with her now.

I've got a few months left in the navy and have one more PRT cycle, which I need to prepare for. I'm looking forward to going home; I've been really busy at work.

Jazz Game

I'm not a huge sports enthusiast, but I couldn't pass up the opportunity to go to a Jazz game with a friend of mine. The last time I had attended a game they played miserably and lost by a huge margin. We left at the end of the third quarter.

This time the Jazz were coming off an incredible season where they had made it to the Western Conference Finals. It was their season opener at home and it was a rematch of one of their playoff foes, the Rockets. Though the Jazz lost, it was still an exciting game to watch. At first, we were in the 'nose-bleed' section, but in the middle of the third quarter my friend's grand-mother-in-law (who is a Jazz usher) called him and told him there were some seats available six or seven rows behind the Rockets' bench. Now that was cool! I had to resist the temptation to rub my eyes several times because I'd never been that close to the action. Of course, I had to call my brother Ryan (who's a rabid Jazz fan) and brag to him about my experience.

Moving on. Life's going well; today is Mic's 24th birthday. There were a few firsts for us today. Eliza finally started saying 'mama' and Hannah bore her testimony in church (kind of).

That's all for now.

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Church Callings

Well, I'm alone because my wife and daughters went to my brother-in-law's new house to help clean. I didn't get home from work until after they left. I was gonna read a book I checked out from the library, but it looks like Mic already took it back.

Anyway... I have been serving in the Young Men auxillary since around March of this year. Initially, I was called as the second counselor, but prior to our leaving for Hawaii, the president moved and with the new president, I was called as the first counselor. I've enjoyed working with the youth; it's reinvigorating. However, I'm not pleased with the organization. Through the last two presidents, we haven't had a single presidency meeting. Currently, we're having issues planning more than a few months out. The disorganization is appalling. We were supposed to all be at a meeting this last Sunday, but I was the only one there (admittedly, I had forgotten to call the teacher's quorum president on Saturday night); the president wasn't event there. So church, starts and no sign of the president. We're down to the last meeting, Young Men, when he finally shows up and asks me to teach the priests. To be fair, his wife just had a baby; and I expect that he'll miss a meeting here and there. But he doesn't even call me and he almost always seems totally unprepared. This is just one example of the issues we face. Don't even get me started with the scouting program in this ward.

Despite the problems, I love this ward (much better than my last ward where I never really felt like I was welcomed). There are some wonderful people here, but we are really lacking in priesthood leaders.

Other news: Shellie had a birthday on the 23rd and Mic will be having a B-day on November 4th.

That's about all.

Fall is in Full Bloom

Yeah, I know. Fall doesn't bloom... it falls. But I think it's appropriate considering that almost all of the trees leaves have turned yellow, orange, and brown; the temperatures are a little cooler; and there's snow in the mountains. Winter is fast-approaching.

Hannah has FINALLY begun potty-training. She has her good and bad days.

Eliza continues to crawl and actually likes crawling to explore different places rather than crawling to find mommy or daddy.

I had drill last weekend and I finally past my physical fitness test. I have one more test to go with the navy and I'm done. I can't wait to get out.

We've been helping my brother-in-law finish his house in Grantsville in preparation for their baby to come (which she did last Wednesday). Unfortunately, he probably still has a good month's worth of work left on his home before it it finished.

Don't have much else; it's been a slow few weeks.

Eliza, Orrin Hatch, and other Stuff

After our anniversary trip, life's been kind of... boring. But things are still happening.

On September 25th, Eliza started crawling. Unlike Hannah, Eliza never scooted. And unlike Hannah, she'd rather be held than crawl. However, she's getting faster by the week and does like to investigate the house, even the cat food. She's growing fast, a lot faster than Hannah did. She's now over 20 pounds; Hannah struggled to get 20 pounds at one year. Unfortunately, she wakes up a minimum of four times during the night.

I've been 1st counselor in the Young Men's presidency since July. I never was excited to accept the call, but I've grown to like it over the months and feel comfortable around the young men I'm over. Activity is tough and inconsistent among the young men. It's something we work on.

On Friday night while shopping at the Albertsons on the corner of 9th West and North Temple we ran into one of Utah's senators, Orrin Hatch. When I first saw him he had his back to him and I thought he was well-dressed for shopping at Salt Lake's ghetto Albertsons. Later, I saw his face and knew it was him; his wife also called him by name and there was no doubting it then. He looked like a fish out of water and frankly, we were quite surprised he was shopping at that particular Albertsons. When we thought about it though, he must have just returned from D.C. and was in town for the LDS General Conference. That Albertsons is between the airport and downtown.

Fall is here and every weekend since our trip it's rained. Though I dislike the timing, we need the moisture after the hot and dry summer we've had.

That's all I have for now.

Fifth Anniversary Trip

It was short but sweet. Three days isn't long enough. Seven days should be the minumum. Our trip to Southern Utah for our fifth anniversary was awesome

Last Thursday we left and on our way dropped the girls off at my parents' in American Fork. We spent the next 3 or so hours taking Utah's less travelled highways. After we exited I-15 in Nephi, we took state highway 28 to Gunnison (the least interesting part of the drive).

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In Gunnison, we hooked up with US Highway 89 down to Salina. From Gunnison, the scenery began to be beautiful.


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In Salina, we got onto state highway 24, and from here the scenery just got better and better as we got closer the Capitol Reef National Park, our destination for the night. Unlike Utah's main thoroughfare, I-15, we hardly saw anyone on 24 all the way to Capitol Reef. It was nice for a change.


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Once in the park, our plan was to camp in the established campground, but it was full. Upon the recommendation of one of the park rangers, we decided to camp just outside the park 'at large'. Much better than staying in the campground... more on that later. Before we left for the campground, though, we took in some of the sites. We first checked out the main area of the park, Fruita. Fruita was an old Mormon settlement that had a lot of orchards (many of which exist today). Some of the original settlers' homes and other structures exist today.

We than checked out some Freemont Indian petroglyphs:


Freemont Indian Petroglyphs

And then it was on to a short hike up to an arch (I believe it was Henry's Arch):


Mic gazing at Capitol Dome on our way down from the arch.


Henry's Arch?

After our hike we went back to Fruita to get some water and then it was on to find a camping spot. We found a nice semi-isolated spot on the east side of the park. I say semi-isolated because it was just off the road going to Notom. We had cars that would go by but we were the only ones there and after about 9:00 that night, not a single car passed by until the morning. We were fortunate enough to find a spot next to a little stream. We were surprised because usually those desert streams are dry by late summer. We had a little dinner and set up the tent. We thought about sleeping under the stars, but decided against that because of scorpions, tarantulas, and coyotes that might be in the area. In fact, that night we heard some coyotes.



View from the stream out to the east side of the park.




Me getting the coals ready for our dinner.

In the morning, after we broke camp, we went to the center of the park. We followed the road until it forked and continued up the left fork until it ended. From there, we took a trail to the tanks (water collected in natural sandstone basins). These tanks are unique in that they receive enough shade that they keep their water year round and they even have their own little ecosystems. Two of them were quite accessible and we were able to spot some tiny frogs living there. On our way down we found the largest tank of them all and an arch just below it. Unfortunately, this tank was inaccessible for us.



View of the top two tanks.



One of the tiny frogs.



A lizard we saw by the tanks.



The bottom tank along with an arch.

After the hike, we decided to depart to Zion's. The quickest way from Capitol Reef to Zion's was to start out on state highway 12, which is designated a scenic byway (and rightly so). The beginning of the drive takes you up to the heights of the boulder mountains (almost up to 10,000 feet). From the top of the drive there is a good view of Capitol Reef and the surrounding areas. Beautiful views. From the Boulder Mountains the highway descends down to Boulder, Utah.


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Capitol Reef from the Boulder Mountains.

After Boulder, Highway 12 enters the north end of the Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument. This area alone is worth a trip. At one point the highway passes over a ridge; on both sides is a drop-off and no guard rail. Definitely a place I don't want to be at during the winter. We passed by Calf Springs campground and a trail, which I've been told is quite beautiful.

From the national monument to highway 12's terminus at US highway 89, there are many scenic spots to stop off at; one of those being Bryce Canyon National Park. Unfortunately, we only had time to do a driving tour.


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After that beautiful drive, I couldn't imagine that the rest of the journey to Zion's could compare, but I was wrong. I was pleasantly surprised at how green and beautiful the drive was along Highway 89 to the turn off to Zion's. I've already decided to buy some land to retire on in that area. It was a much more pleasant drive than taking I-15 to southern Utah.


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And once we got in to Zion's, it was spectacular. The east side of the park is just red sandstone that looks like they used to be sand dunes. And growing on top of them are pine trees. The landscape was surreal. Going through the tunnel was also awesome. The tunnel follows the side of a shear cliff and ever so often there were windows that looked out onto the park. Unfortunately, there was no place we could pull off and look gaze out those windows.

From the park, we continued straight to our motel in La Verkin.

Unfortunately, the next day was rainy and we weren't prepared for it, so we opted to take in the sights of Kolob Canyon, the northeast section of Zion's.


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The rainy weather actually made for some good picture taking of Kolob Canyon. I didn't realize that its beauty would match that of the main part of the park.


Kolob Canyon


Kolob Canyon

Kolob Canyon

Our trip was coming to a close and we had to head on home, but we decided to make a pit stop in Micaela's old home town of Fillmore. After visiting with Julie and family for a while (Mic's sister), we went to Cluff's to eat (an old fashioned diner). They're a fickle restaurant, closing at the drop of a hat, so we wanted to take advantage of it while we could.


Me waiting for our order at Cluff's and wishing our trip wasn't ending.

So it ended. It's something I'd like to do a few times a year, if not more. This is why I love Utah and won't leave. I used to think it would be great to live elsewhere, but I really can't complain about this great state. So many different landscapes within a small area. Not too many place like it in the world. Although, fall and winter are coming upon us, and I'm really not too fond of that aspect of Utah...


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Drill Weekend

I just completed my drill weekend for September. I'm in the Navy Reserve and drill here in Utah. I know... "Navy in Utah?". That's just the way it is.

I never was active duty. I was recruited here in Utah and have never been on a ship; I haven't had a true navy experience, I guess.

This wasn't my best drill weekend. We have a new chief who is very much into the military side of the navy. Sometimes, I feel like I'm back at boot camp. He seems to think he needs to militarize use, even though many of us have been in at least three years. I've been in five years and have a year left until I go IRR (YES!!!!).

I mean... what is it with many chiefs in the navy? Do they think that khaki uniform makes them that much better than the white hats? Are they that much better than a PO1 (where the chief is an E7 and the PO1 is an E6)? I don't think so. An example is I had sent an e-mail to our ops chief (who I actually like) and cced our CO (which has been something our COs in the past have requested). I may have skipped the chain of command by not contacting my LPO first, but it was an item that needed to be taken care of ASAP.

This other chief got upset with me because... "I'm not supposed to cc the CO on anything unless it's urgent and needs immediate action". Though I disagreed with him in principle, I agreed to make that my new SOP in the future. The thing that bugged me was he lectured me THREE different times on the matter. I'm not stupid... I got it the first time. That wasn't the only thing that he got after me for, but I won't get into that.

I swear, many of these chiefs are just on a power trip. They think they're gods. Whatever. This is one of many reasons (not to mention that the navy is THE worst bureaucracy that I have personally dealt with) I will NOT re-up with the Navy.

In addition, I failed my weight portion for my PRT, despite the fact that I work out much more than I did when I first joined. This is another big reason I'm getting out. I struggle with the PRT and dread it each time.

It hasn't all been bad. I've made some really good friends; in fact my best friend I've had in a long time is in my unit. I've also been more conscious about my eating habits and physical fitness. It has also taught me to be more assertive (because heavens knows, you need to be in this organization that "looks out for its sailors").

I'm sorry to those of you who've had a different experience than I have and think I'm in left field. Maybe serving on a ship is a better experience (less politics); I don't know. Just keep in mind, this is one man's experience and hence, one man's opinion.