Ragnar Relay

What happens when you take twelve ordinary people split them between two vans and then force them to run 187 miles through the Wasatch mountains? Well, besides having two stinky vans you get twelve exhausted yet jubilant people. I ran the Wasatch Back Relay a week and half ago, the reason it's taken me so long to write this entry is because it has taken me a week and half to recover! I ran as part of team "Not a Scrub in the Bunch," a family team put together by Bev's Aunt Carolyn and Uncle Doug.

For those who are unfamiliar with the Ragnar races, the Wasatch Back begins in Logan and ends in Park City. Each of the twelve runners has three different legs to run during the 187 mile experience, and the race never stops, you run all through the night. We started at 6:45 am on Friday and finished a little after 2 pm on Saturday. We had a lot fun being together and cheering each other on. We were also entertained by the other 650 teams, 1/3 of which belong in mental institutions, there were some crazy runners. Some of my favorites included the Winder Dairy van equipped with a microphone and blaring music, the disco team that ran in 70's shirts and Afro wigs, and team tumor (a team made up of cancer patients/survivors). It was clear that it was not about being the fastest, but more about having fun and loving the experience. Our whole team met just before the finish line and we all ran in together, a true team effort.

Even though I'm not a runner, by any stretch of the imagination, I enjoyed every minute of it, even the running. It was great to have a team cheering you on as you ran, encouraging you to keep going, and supplying you with water and food. To say that we were exhausted at the end would be an understatement. My body hurt so bad Saturday night that I could barely walk, but I still had a smile on my face. You may be wondering if I would do it again or recommend running a Ragnar Relay. The answer, absolutely!!! I'm planning to run again next year. Honestly the toughest part of the whole experience was being separated from Bev for two nights, this was the first time since being married that we were apart for more than a day. Hopefully next year we can do it together.

This is van #1 at the starting line in Logan.

My first leg, 7.5 miles up Avon Pass.

Our team running across the finish line together.

I forgot to mention that Megan and I are now famous. We were interviewed by the illustrious Park City news team. I'm sure the interview was seen by at all 10 people that watch the nightly park city news.

Our team at the finish line with our medals. Me, Sheila, Clint, Danielle, Megan, Nelly, Scott, Heather, Doug, Carolyn, Ben, and Kendal.

Happy Birthday Jake!!

This last Monday was Jake's birthday. We were able to spend the whole weekend and Monday (his actual birthday) celebrating. We spent most of the weekend in Vegas. Neither of us are huge Vegas fans, but we won a free trip there, so we decided to take advantage of it before the baby comes. This is how the free trip came about:


Last fall I was home sick and Jake stayed home from work to take care of me. We decided to turn on the TV that morning and happened upon a contest one of the local morning shows was having for a free trip to Vegas. We heard them announce it and didn't really think much of it, but then about 5 minutes later they announced it again and said they still needed people to enter. At that point we thought maybe we were the only ones watching (it was a pretty lame show and we have tried to find it since then and are pretty sure they have canceled it). So we sent an email in to the station with the answer to the question. A couple minutes later Jake's name appeared on the TV as the winner. Well, long story short, we didn't really know what we had won until we got the prize pack in the mail a few days later, and we still didn't realize what a great prize we won until we went to Vegas. This is what we ended up winning:

A free hotel stay at the Palazzo. This was not just any ordinary room. It was a luxury suite on the 43rd floor looking out over a beautiful golf course (Jake was excited about the golf part). The bathroom was bigger than our living room, there were 3 TV's (one in the bathroom, one in the sitting area, and one by the bed). The curtains even had a remote to open and close them from the bed. It was the nicest room either of us have ever stayed in.


We also won tickets to see Blue Man Group. Our tickets were on the 6th row, which made for a very loud concert that the baby danced all the way through.


We also won tickets to see Phantom of the Opera. We both agreed that we like the Broadway production better, but the special effects were still amazing and they had the whole theatre set up as the opera house.


The last thing we won was a gift card for $50 to spend at the mall there, but it is also good at some of the malls here in Utah. We spent some of the money on a souvenir and a few treats like yummy gelatto and will probably spend the rest on some more practical things.


Since winning this contest Jake has become a crazy man entering every contest he can find. He hasn't won anything as great as this trip, but some of you may have heard him a few weeks ago on Good Things Utah. You will have to ask him more about what he won and the whole story. It is pretty funny and a little embarrassing to him, but I don't think that has stopped him from entering more contests!


So, on to the rest of Jake's birthday. Monday (his actual birthday) we both had to work during the day, but we had fun celebrating that night with some of Jake's family. We surprised Jake at the local bowling alley and had such a fun time bowling. Jake even ended up being the big winner! We ended the celebration with a yummy dinner at the Cheesecake Factory later that night.

Happy Birthday Jake! Thanks for being such an amazing husband! I love you!

Memorial Day

Memorial Day weekend gave us a chance to get out of town. We spent the weekend in Venice (that's Utah with cows, not Italy with gondolas), at Bev's grandparents, and Capital Reef National Park.

We had a great time in Capital Reef even though a severe rainstorm closed down some of the park. The rain let up just long enough for us to get in some hiking and it even created some new waterfalls for us to see. We started with Hickman's Bridge which is a short hike to a natural bridge, we stopped along the way to enjoy some of the other geological wonders.

This is not Hickman's Bridge

This is also not Hickman's Bridge

This isn't even a bridge

This is in fact Hickman's Bridge, we finally made it.

This is everyone that went: Bev's sister Natalie and her husband Bretton, Uncle Doug and Aunt Carolyn, us, soon-to-be brother-in-law Gary, sister Megan, and brother Ben.

Fat Man's (Pregnant Woman's) Misery

We decided not to take the same way back, because we'd already seen it and wanted to try something new. Instead we opted for a slot canyon called Fat Man's Misery, for obvious reasons. Bev was a trooper and didn't complain at all as she was forced to squeeze through narrow passages and climb boulders.

In a couple more weeks Bev and baby wouldn't have fit.

You can see just how steep and narrow the canyon was.

We finished off our trip to Captial Reef with a visit to the muddy Fremont River waterfall.

It was the perfect weekend getaway and was fun to spend the weekend with Bev's siblings, aunt and uncle, and grandma.

Taking A Bite Of The Big Apple

Back at the beginning of March we took a trip to New York City. It was supposed to be a girls only trip, but I was invited as the body guard and tour guide. We had a memorable trip and enjoyed spending time with the Anderson girls and seeing the sites. Here are some highlights of our first trip to the Big Apple.


We began with a trip to the Empire State Building, to better orient ourselves, you know, "get the lay of the land." It was amazing to see the vastness of the city from the 88th floor, and I didn't even vomit from the height!!
Then we took a double-decker bus tour around the city, yeah it was touristy and freezing cold, but it was fun and we got to see a lot in a short amount of time.

We had the chance to walk around ground zero and witness the large void left in the city from the missing Twin Towers.
We ate lunch at the famed Serendipity restaurant, the peanut butter frozen hot chocolate was so good it was worth the trip just for that!

We had a lot of fun playing at FAO Schwarz (ginormous toy store), posing with the lego statues, and especially playing the huge piano from the movie "Big"

We couldn't go to New York without going to a Broadway show, so of course we went to "Wicked" and loved every minute of it.

The next morning we spent time with our Lady Liberty and at Ellis Island. We were suprised to learn that we were the only people who bought these amazingly patriotic hats and actually wore them.

We took an evening harbor cruise around Manhattan. It was a fun way to see the city even though it was so freezing cold we couldn't enjoy it from the open-air top of the boat.

We capped it all of by visiting the Manhattan temple Sunday morning for sacrament meeting.

Our first trip to the Big Apple was definitely a success, we only wish it could have lasted longer. Thanks again Mom for such a fun trip, we'd go again in a minute.

Half Baked

It's official, we've reached the halfway point and our little one is now. . .

We decided to celebrate with some Ben & Jerry's Half Baked ice cream, the "baby's" favorite.



Even more exciting, we had our 20 week ultrasound and found out that we're having a little girl!!!! We were so excited to see our cute little girl and learn that she is healthy and growing right on schedule. Pink is our new favorite color!

Winter Adventures

For Valentines Day this year along with some really pretty roses Jake gave me a cute little book that he had made. I just had to share what a cute and creative husband I have. He took a childrens book called Guess How Much I Love You and glued in pieces of paper that replaced the names of these bunnies with our names. The little Bev and big Jake are competing throughout the book to see who loves the other more. I just posted a few of the pages:

Now that the projectile vomitting has eased and I am feeling a little better we have begun taking our little adventures again. Jake and I both had President's Day off of work and it was a nice day outside so we decided to do a little snowshoeing up Mueller Park. It felt so nice to get out after being cooped up in the house all winter and especially nice to be off the couch exercising again. The scenery was beautiful. I love being in the mountains when it has snowed, everything is so white and peaceful. It felt like we were the only people for miles.
We have been wanting to go to a BYU basketball game all season, and finally had the chance yesterday. It ended up being such a great game to go to. They played the U of U and the Mariott Center was intense. Our ears were still ringing after the game and Jake's voice finally has come back. We went to the game with a few of my siblings and my parents. It was a lot of fun! Best of all the mighty cougars triumphed!!