We Went to Moab with a Broken Camera

I had visions of all the amazing images we would share. Tyler and me, floating down a river with the magic of the orange rock looming above us. Tyler, then me jumping off the cliff. Tyler and me in a two-man canoe navigating the rapids like pros. Us, playing a game of balance on the side of the big raft. Etc. Etc. Etc. We would pass them down from generation to generation and our great, great grandchildren would show the picture to someone and say, “see, my grandparents forever ago were cool. They did awesome things.” 

Well … the waterproof camera miraculously recovered after the trip had occurred. It’s possible the batteries were faulty. I like to think this was a trip and a memory that only Tyler and me can share.

Whatever it was, the rest, I can just tell you, was just as I’d hoped. We arrived and went straight to the pool. Camping was great. The next day’s river rafting guides were as authentic and granola as ever. I find them fascinating.  We rafted on the six-man for the first half, stopped for lunch, then took our turn on the small, red two-man canoe. I was to steer, Tyler was to power the skiff. Once we got the communication thing down and I stopped spinning us in circles, it was really not so scary and a lot of fun. And a great workout, I might add. 

Back at the campground, mid-afternoon was not all that “cool” with the heat and all. We spent our time in the pool, then when things got too much – we hit up the Wendy’s in search of A.C. We played cards for the next few hours. 

When things cooled down a bit, we took our chance with our mountain bikes on the slick, orange rock. There was no one anywhere around for millions of miles it seemed. I am too scared sometimes. I was thinking of wildlife attacks and flat tires for approximately 1/3 of the ride. But when I let myself, it was really beautiful and exciting. 

Fun to be in Moab, fun to be just us, wish I had some pictures, but I guess a few words are going to have to do. 

What to do in the Month of July?

Well, if you’re me …

You go to concerts on rooftops and in stadiums to see fireworks. My very musically versed sister invited us to a concert in downtown Provo – an outdoor concert is one of my favorite things, and this one was quite nice. The next night, we attended the Stadium of Fire. It was patriotic and full of fire and works. Our first night of getting together was right outside the Stadium of Fire, watching the show two years ago. We’ve come a long way.

You celebrate babies and freedom. We welcomed a new niece to the family – Maya Kate – and joined her sisters along the Ogden parade route for the 4th of July festivities.

You realize Harry Potter is not such a bad dude after all. I finally gave in and agreed to read the Harry Potter series with Tyler. Turns out it’s not so bad after all. I’m quite enjoying Ms. Hermione and the twin Weesleys.

You go to Real Salt Lake soccer games and try arena football on for size. We've decided that Real Salt Lake is currently our favorite team to watch. The stadium is awesome and the games are exciting.

You stress at work and the event ends up on TV. The governor was here. The mayor was here. About 700 others were here and 500 more watched online. After months of planning, the ground is finally broken and the fancy spoon shovels have had their day in the sun. In about two years there’ll be an $85 million dollar building on the site. Thank goodness I’ve got some time to recoup.

Then, you plan a trip just for two. I can hardly sit still. We’re headed to Moab in mere hours for a day on the river, a few nights in a tent (hardly roughing it when the grounds boast showers and a swimming pool) and some mountain biking too. I’m so excited.

July, all-in-all I’ve enjoyed you. Thanks for sun and lightning and good times.

Life is Good

One day I did a triathlon with my husband, Tyler. He never did them before, but now he does when I do so we can be together when we train. It’s really nice, having him there. My parents were there at the race to cheer. They’re really good like that. 

I had to swim with the boys, which I didn’t care for much. My odometer was broken, so I road my bike very fast, faster than maybe ever. Then I ran and my dad yelled that I could catch Tyler if I hurried. I thought he was joking (Tyler is very fast), but I hurried anyway. I finished. Two minutes behind Tyler and 16 minutes faster than I ever had before. I placed 16th among the women. I felt tired. And good about that. I love when you finish and you’ve accomplished something you didn’t know was possible. It makes you wonder what else you could do. 

The next day we traveled over an ocean and landed in Hawaii. It’s beautiful there, in case you didn’t know. I love the green and the slight breeze (when it’s slight) on the beach. And Tyler. He was the best part. Tyler’s whole family was in Hawaii. We hiked and we played games and we tanned (or attempted to tan, in my case). It was a really great trip – one I’ll remember a long time. I loved the hiking. I got sea sick on the scuba diving, but I conquered a fear, and we touched an octopus. Tyler also touched a sea urchin, not such an awesome part. I liked the turtles. Boogie boarding was fun. It was really great to have some time away. 

Now we’re back and it’s a lovely summer, although it’s moving a bit fast in my opinion. We went on one last ride on the scooter, then sold it. We sit on the porch swing and Tyler makes smoothies. We decided to conquer the Harry Potter book series together. We talk about our days. We play tennis. It’s nice. I’ll snapshot the past few weeks and keep it in my mind for moments when the going is rough, just so I can remember that although life can be crappy, life can also be pretty good.

All in the Mind

The rains came down and the floods came up … so far so good on my house still standing though. Not too many floods this way, but the water has risen to a height we're unaccustomed to because of all the rain.

We finally got a chance to do our first lake swim this week and it went … well, it went. The water felt like it had melted off the mountain just moments before and rolled into Utah Lake. Quite nippy.

Typically our route is shallow enough to be able to touch the bottom, if necessary, the entire distance. But about 100 feet out and the bottom was nowhere in sight. I struggled this particular swim. You see, there were these reeds floating in the water pretty much everywhere. Which meant, I felt like there were snakes swimming around me, pretty much everywhere.


Oh, how I hate snakes. Ever since my parent’s cat left one slithering behind the bathroom door when I was 15, I have had issues with snakes. So not once, but several times during the swim I shivered, stopped and screamed a bit, thinking of black snakes up my wet suit. Tyler was ahead of me lucky for him, but I’m sure the onlookers on the road had a fun time with that.
 
I’ve always said mindset is an important thing to anything you try to accomplish in life. I’ll take that one step further on the swim – mindset in open water is vital to survival. I’ve got one more week to bring mine back into focus.

The Freedom Phase

We often called our first year of marriage the Gift Card Phase. We got a lot of gift cards for our wedding (so totally awesome), and we bought pretty much everything we needed for our new place and went out to eat and had a lot of fun with them.

Those gift cards stretched for almost the whole year. But with just a few movie tickets and half a Coldstone card left, I think we’ll have to declare the phase officially past. Unfortunate, I know. I LOVED the gift card phase.

So what’s next? I think our next phase will be rightly named the Freedom Phase. 

 It started when Tyler graduated. He did amazing, passed all the classes and tests and received his Masters of Science – Finance degree. We’ll proudly hang that diploma above our other two and celebrate no more homework for a very long time.
 Then, Tyler got a job. It seems to be not just any job, but an awesome job. He is a financial analyst for Deseret First Credit Union’s corporate offices. He does a lot of Excel and numbers all day, which he really likes. The company and the friends he’s making are all cool.

We now have freedom that we’ve never had before. Since we’ve known each other, Tyler has been gone at least three nights a week either at work or class. I work in the daylight hours, so we didn’t have a whole lot of playtime together. This whole nighttime together thing is novel and fabulous.


And I’m in the process of overcoming some of my big fears and becoming a little freer too. First, I’m getting scuba certified for our trip to Hawaii in June. I am terrified, but I really want to do this. It’s a mind game for me to remember that there is air coming out of my tube, and it’s enough air to sustain me. I’m getting better.

Oh, and last weekend, we spontaneously went to St. George with our good friends Beth and Ryan and I tried downhill mountain biking for the first time. Turns out I loved it. It was super fun. We may need to buy a new set of bikes in the coming years…

It’s hard to tell quite yet, but I think I may like the Freedom Phase better than the Gift Card Phase. And that’s saying something.

Missiles in the Night

We’re playing in this field next to the city buildings, about a block away from my office. My entire family is there except for Tyler who is in Europe on business. White, cloud-like jet lines begin to appear in the sky, lots of them. It’s a cool sight, and I’m pointing them out to my nephews. Until the jets start dropping missiles.

The missiles continue for several minutes. We’re all ducked and huddling in a circle. We don’t get hit, but everything goes black around us (it was the middle of a nice spring day, but apparently when the power goes out, the sky goes dark as well). We check to make sure everyone is ok, then we see a group of what looks to be police officers carrying those big plastic shields. They’re coming towards us and my dad and I start to stand up to see if they can help us get to safety. But then one of them talks in a weird robot voice and tells me to give them the keys to the city so they can get the documents they’re looking for. I give them my car keys and they go away. Do I look like a person with keys to the city?

I still have cell phone service, but have an uncharged phone. I try to call Tyler to tell him I’m alright, but my phone goes dead. Blasted iPhone battery. We all walk the 13 miles to my condo. We are there and my boss is calling my mom to tell me I need to come back to work and send out a press release so everyone knows the company is fine and operating as normal. We don’t want the stock price to drop. A missile hit right next to the building, my husband might think I’m dead – I do not want to go back to work to send a release.

I can't remember Tyler's phone number to call him on another phone to tell him I'm ok. I keep trying to think, but I can't remember any numbers right then.

Then I woke up. It was 3:30 a.m. I almost woke Tyler up, just to confirm it was only a dream. It was a vivid, deep dream and my heart was racing. I woke up again at 4:30. 5:30. 6:24. I just got out of bed after that. All in a night’s work lately. I'm done with dreaming for a while I think. I’m tired. But safe, just in case you were wondering. Thank goodness for Fridays.

The ad said the car was for sale. “My family is changing, so I need to change,” he wrote. (You’d think he was making an announcement on family growth or something with a statement like that. Not so, my friends, not so.)

It made me sad. Tyler decided it was time to sell his bachelor cool, zippy little Mazda Speed3. I loved that thing. He picked me up for our first date in that car. I remember the sweet sound of the turbo-charged engine when he’d come home from work. I remember how every once in a while he’d show off a bit by beating someone from the line. I remember how cool my nephews thought it was – car seats didn’t really look the part in it, but that was kind of the point.

 It was a part of him.

Most likely the jobs will be in Salt Lake. And since mine is not and our condo is not, gas mileage has become an issue. It needs to be better than a turbo can be. We test drove and decided on a 2010 Honda Civic. Tyler says he loves it more. That’s good, because I was worried. Worried he felt like he was giving something up.

But his car is still cool. Not quite as cool. A different kind of cool. I’ll miss that Speed3.