The One Where We Got There Late

I don't know what it is (maybe the 4 hour drive) about camping in Moab but we always get there after sundown.  It makes it very hard to find an open camp spot and we inevitably end up on the same mesa overlooking the city.  It's a beautiful view in the morning but a little chilly at night.  This trip was no different.  Justin, his dad and I went camping and biking in Moab back in April before it got too hot.  It was our first bike ride of the year so we took it easy and didn't do the big Slick Rock trail.  We hit up the Bar M practice trails which are still really fun.  I even (unknowingly) did part of Dead Man's Loop, yikes!!  I think I surprised myself the most with how well I actually did on that trail.

We also did a short hike out to Corona Arch. 

This arch is famous for being easily accessible for "arch swingers."  People hike to the top basically wearing rock climbing gear and then swing out and through the arch.  It's pretty crazy!  Someone actually died recently on that very arch because they didn't measure the rope correctly.  Ouch!

 *For some reason we didn't take pictures at the Arch so neither of those are mine.  They're from Google.

Sunday morning before we drove home we went to Canyonlands and Justin showed us where he'd been backpacking the month before.  We did a short hike and took some pretty pictures.

The aptly named Canyonlands :)

  Justin and Wes standing on an arch.  Looks totally safe right?

This is the view from below!  There is literally empty space directly below the arch walkway.  Crazy!!  Kinda like the rock bridge Indiana Jones had to cross in the Last Crusade.

 

 Me and Justin on the arch.

I just think this one is cool with the jet flying by.

Justin being silly.  As usual.

A ranger was giving a talk right when we showed up so we learned what all these formations are called.  I already can no longer tell you but it was neat.

Hmmm, this may be the only biking post without pictures of our bikes!

The One with Justin and Payton

Payton is the son of our friends Brock and Carrie.  He is so darn cute!!  I absolutely love his laugh.  Since I'm still playing catch up on the blog I don't think I've mentioned that Justin and I watched him overnight for B&C for their anniversary back in May.  I told them to not do anything (change Payton's diaper, give him a bath, etc.) before they left because it would be good training for Justin.  Unfortunately I went over early and Justin got to their house a little later then planned so all that really happened is I look capable of motherhood because by the time Justin arrived I had fed, changed and played with Payton and barbecued dinner.  That's right.  Not just cooked, barbecued.  That was actually our payment for babysitting.  Brock is an excellent cook/marinader.  And Carrie's not bad herself :)

Anyway, back to babysitting.  It is so funny to me the little things watching a child requires that Justin is not aware of.  Like how much (or little) water is required for a bath and how "easy" it is to watch a baby.  Easy because literally all you're doing is watching them.  Not so easy because all you can do is watch them, you can't let them out of your sight!  The night went very well.  Payton is so easy to put down for bed and B&C were home by 10 the next morning.  So Justin passed the "Future Dad" test.

His grade was raised to an A this past Sunday however when we went to B&C's house for dinner.  Payton has apparently learned to feed other people and thinks it is absolutely hilarious.  I have to admit, I do too.  Justin was laying on the floor and Payton really wanted to feed him some yogurt covered raisins.  I wish I had a picture of this!!  He is very determined once this process starts and when Justin tried to just clamp his lips shut Payton forced his tiny little finger in!!  Soooo funny!  There's nothing tastier than candy fed by a baby :)  I laughed so hard my stomach still hurts.  There's just something about watching my husband with children that makes my heart melt.

**This post is in no way making any sort of announcement.  Simply sharing a very adorable experience :)  I'll get back to camping posts soon!

The One where Justin went to Canyonlands

Catching up a little...

Back in March Justin informed me he was going on a long camping trip with a buddy from work- without me.  With.  Out.  Me!!!  How rude.  Haha!!  Really, I'm ok with (and even encourage) this happening every once in a while.  I think you need your own interests, space, time etc. even (or especially) when you're married.  Plus, I got a lot of spring cleaning done that weekend :)

The work buddy is a guy named Pete.  He's actually a former student from Justin's research group and is a professor up in Oregon.  He really loved Utah when he lived here during grad school though and comes back every summer.  He and Justin have a lot of similar interests (hiking and basketball) and get along really well so Pete invited Justin on this 5 day trip to Canyonlands National Park.  I'll admit, I did want to go but I really don't think there would have been room for me.  Not to mention they were really getting into some remote areas.  Read- 4 hours on what could barely be considered a "dirt road" that was just over 30 miles long.  I'm good, thanks!

Justin is actually much better at remembering to take pictures than myself so you can see the rest of his trip through  those.  Not to mention he is actually a really good photographer.  If this whole chemistry PhD thing doesn't work out, I think we'll be ok :)

 Do you see the cut on the side of the mountain in this picture?  That's the "road."

That's why I was totally ok not going :)

Hello photography skills!  Not to mention our camera captures blue skies really well.

 

Gorgeous!!

The first night they camped at the base of Chimney Rock.

And Pete caught a mouse!!

Pete suggested that Justin bring a hat on the trip.  Justin doesn't actually own a hat (he thinks he looks funny in them) but picked this one up at REI.  He was so glad he did!!

Although I'm not sure if Justin liked the hat's ability to keep the sun off his neck or the cool Darth Vader shadow it gave him better :)

Colorado River

 

Chimney Rock

Boys are funny.  They thought it was hilarious that there was this gigantic cairn to mark the trail when it was so obvious where to go.

Ancient Indian artifacts.  The cool thing about these drawings is Justin and Pete knew they were in one of the canyons but not exactly where and they just happened to find them on one of their day hikes.

 

Justin and Pete actually climbed almost to the top of this rock formation.  Justin said he chickened out at the end because it's a pretty difficult last climb to the top.  As in one of those rock climbing moves where you use your hands and feet to climb a crack in the rock and then had to pull yourself up through almost a donut hole.  After I saw the picture below and how far he would have fallen if he hadn't quite made it I'm kinda glad he chickened out!

 

Justin is silly :)

So is Pete!

The One with March Madness 2013

Not only did we get to go to the Pac-12 Basketball Tournament this year but Salt Lake hosted a round of the National Tournament.  Glory be!  Justin and I got to watch little Wichita State (who turned out to be quite the Cinderella making it to the Final 4) beat top-ranked Gonzaga and then Arizona kill Harvard.  We ended up sitting by some Gonzaga and Wichita St. fans and the WSt fans were saying how cool it was for their little school to have even made it to the tournament and be up against a big dog like Gonzaga.  Funny thing is, WSt actually has about 3 times the student population of Gonzaga.  So they really were up against a much smaller dog.  Gonzaga just has a great basketball program (and not much else) thanks to John Stockton whose jersey is hanging in Energy Solutions Arena.  Just FYI, Stockton's son is currently playing for Gonzaga.  Must have been pretty cool for him to play in the arena where his dad's jersey is.  Or really intimidating.  He played well but his team lost.  There were a lot of Arizona fans there so that made me happy but if you're just a basketball fan who wanted to watch the game and your team isn't there, you shouldn't wear one of their t-shirts just to be a butthead.  I'm talking to the one stupid ASU fan I saw in the crowd.  He's lucky he didn't get jumped with all that red and blue walking around!

Waiting at the Trax station.  I was proud of my sign :)  Also, it looks like there was still some snow on the ground and it was insanely bright, as evidenced by my super squinty eyes.

I just love the Arizona uniforms.  They're so pretty :)

They honored 3 members of the only national championship basketball team from Utah, way back in 1944!  These guys were so cute!

We killed Harvard!  It was a good game :)

It's hard to see but the guy with the big yellow head is the Wichita State mascot, the Shocker.  Apparently a shocker is a cross between a firework and an ear of corn :)

Sad day, I forgot this poster at the stadium after I put it behind us to pose for this picture.  I bet the cleaning crew just threw it away :(