Travel Memories Part 3

In October of 2005, I went with 5 other girls to Maui, Hawaii for a vacation of a lifetime. My friend, Becca, had once upon a time worked for Delta Airlines and left the organization with five years of flight benefits. This particular year they had decided to issue each employee (and in some cases ex-employees) a set of extra buddy passes. Therefore, Becca organized a girl's trip to Hawaii that was once of the cheapest and most fun vacations ever! At the time, I did not realize how lucky we were to get six people on the same flight there and back using buddy passes. It must have been a Hawaiian miracle or something.

We spent long days at exploring the beaches, going snorkeling, watching the sunrise over volcanoes, and enjoying tasty beverages in the sun. We even spent an afternoon at a nude beach, and met a guy that we named Scuba Steve. Scuba Steve was conveniently snorkeling underwater right next to us, and finally he popped out of the water and asked us to hold his sea cucumber....one of his sea creatures he had found! He was something special. We also gave a nickname to a very old, very leathery tan gentleman we observed on the beach, but his name is not appropriate for print. It was a good times.

I would love to go back, and since I married a man who hates the beach, another girl's trip will be necessary....who is in????

Oh, and I literally only took four pictures on this entire trip, so thankfully all of these pictures are courtsey of Becca and VaRonica.

We apparently hung out in the trees quite a bit....you'll see...this is our first night in Maui.

VaRonica, Becca, me, and Trisha...the ARTEC crew...in a tree!

These trees had the most beautiful bark.
The whole crew...Varonica, Julie, Trisha, me, Becca, and Sara.

One of the many beautiful beaches we visited.

Heading to the beach one afternoon.

Volcano sunrise.

One very silly night in the hotel room.

Double rainbow.

Our last afternoon in Maui.

VaRonica and me doing the crane kick.

Dalan and I will bring the rain

Dalan and I went camping this weekend with a group of friends to Bear Lake, and although, I am generally not the biggest fan of camping, I was really looking forward to going to the lake and hanging out with some of our loved ones. The plan was for people to head up to Bear Lake when they could on Friday to play on the beach and in the water, then head to our camp spot in the evening, eat dinner and hang out, and then in the morning get up and go boating!

However, mother nature had other plans. It was much cooler than usual when we got up there on Friday, and although it was still a lot of fun to hang out on the beach, the water wasn't as appealing as one would have hoped....oh well, it was still a beach, and it sure beat sitting around and not being at the beach. We had a great time at our camp spot, and had an excellent dutch oven dinner, along with s'mores. We all headed for bed with grand plans for adventures in the morning.

It started raining early in the morning, and was in the 40's. After eating breakfast and taking down camp in the rain, Dalan and I decided to head home. I had no more dry/warm clothes with me, and even though, I wanted to get on the boat badly, I was too cold and wet to wait and see if it would clear up. Our much braver friends ended up staying up for a couple more hours, and although they never got the boat in the water, they did have some fun hanging out and playing on the beach.

Dalan and I have had a summer full of rain. It has rained on us during the following:

1. The Gay Pride Parade
2. My birthday party, well really, the whole month of June.
3. Most of our trip to Montreal
4. Bear Lake camping trip.

We did make it through the Fourth of July parade rain free, but other than that, it has rained on all my favorite events of the summer. I am not going to complain though, because we live in a desert and rain is better than drought. In fact, if you have an event you would like rained out, Dalan and I are available, and we will bring the rain.

Travel Memories Part 2

Shortly after my super fun trip to Kentucky, I was lucky enough to go on another trip to Grand Junction, CO with my parents to visit my Aunt Linda and Uncle Dave. It was probably the first time since I was a little, tiny girl that I got to go anywhere with just my parents and me. Very cool.

We had a really fun time driving down jamming out to a mixed CD that my parents had of all the greatest hits, I can remember singing along to Elton John's Tiny Dancer, and Pearl Jam's Last Kiss. I am pretty sure we sounded awesome, since the Carlson's/Plant's are known for their singing abilities.

While we were in Colorado, we played a lot of bocce ball on the golf course behind my aunt and uncle's house. My family loves, loves, loves booce ball and a golf course is the ultimate place to play, because you can play on the putting green which makes the balls easy to see, or you can be tricky and play into the rough.

Golf course by day, bocce ball court by night.

It was also very near my birthday! You know, I love, love, love my birthday. I got my presents early from Linda and Dave, which included a pink neon flamingo....do they know me or do they know me? I also begged my parents to buy me this little pink poodle purse, in which I named Pinkie. I decided Pinkie would be like the gnome people take on vacation with them, and get pictures of the gnome all over the world. Unfortunately, Pinkie's only trip was returning from Colorado to Utah, but it was a fun idea while it lasted. I was itching to get a dog of my own at this point too, so in some ways, Pinkie was the practice dog before I got Piper. Ha, ha, ha!

Me and my awesome gifts!

Patti and Pinkie on the way home.

Pinkie enjoying the ride.

Red and Pinkie on the open road.

If you look very closely you can see Pinkie chilling on the UPS box.

Pinkie and me stretching our legs at the gas station!

Travel Memories Part 1

So, I was just looking through some old photos and I found a whole file full of vacation photos from 2004 and 2005. They were so fun to look through that I thought I would start a little mini-series and share some of these photos with everyone. I need to explain, however, that before that before I was motivated by the blog, I was the world's worst memory maker, and never took very many photos on vacation.

So, my first travel memory will be when I went to Louisville, KY to visit my friends Aubrey and Sam, and to go to the Kentucky Derby. Aubrey had been in dental school there for three years by that time, and I had yet to go visit her. I was so excited to go out there, see a part of the country I had never been to, and just visit with Aubrey. That is one of the great things about Aubrey and me, we can be apart for months and years at a time, but always have no problem quickly catching up and having a blast together. Aubrey and I can just talk and talk and talk when we are together, and no matter the location or the activity.

Kentucky was so much fun, and we even got to go up to Cincinnati to see a see a concert. We also went to the Louisville Slugger Factory, and did some shopping and some eating. We did not however, get to go to the actual Kentucky Derby. We went to the grounds, but due to a ginormous rain storm that flooded that tunnels into the field to watch the derby. After standing outside for a long, wet while, we gave up, and watched the derby at home. Oh well, it was a lot of fun, and started my love of horse racing.

Aubrey and me outside of the Louisville Slugger Factory.

Aubrey and me by the Ohio River.

BFFs since 1983...Aubrey and Jessi

Aub and Sam...my gracious hosts!

Quick little update

We just filed a claim with our insurance. The floor is the kitchen is wet all over as far as we can tell. It is going to be a big project. We decided it would be better to pay our deductible than keeping working on a never ending project, that we know little about. Hopefully, some people will come out and get this all sorted out for us sooner than later.

The little pump who didn't...grrrrr!

Sometime over the weekend, I subconsciously thought that the floor (a wood laminate) in our hallway felt strange on my bare feet...maybe like it was a little warped or something, but it was more of a passing thought that I left float out of my head as quickly as it came. Then this morning I was laying on our couch facing toward the hall/kitchen while talking to Dalan and I noticed that the floor looked a little warped. Dalan came over and stood and it, and it felt squishy. Not good. We stood on another section, and there was clearly water under the floor boards. Really not good.

We then opened the doors to where the furnace, water heater, and air conditioner are located, and Dalan saw immediately that the pump that takes condensation and water from the air conditioner was not working, and had been leaking for who knows how long. GRRRRRR! We got the pump replaced and the water from that space cleaned up quickly.

Old, leaky pump! The cause of our problems...

The new pump!

Next, Dalan started taking up the floor boards to see how far the water had gotten. It turned into an all day project, and was not an easy task. Molding had to come off, and some of the boards did not easily unsnap from their neighbors. Dalan got all the hall up, with one broken board. I was feeling ok about this because we have some extra in our stoarge room. Also the floor boards in the hall were installed running north to south, rather than east to west like the living room and kitchen, and we were excited at the idea of getting to put them in the right way.

Dalan, as the hallway project begins

One board up....little did we know how many more to go!

Off with the molding!

The hall is almost done....

Finally, Dalan pulled up the one board in the kitchen that we thought may have water under it too. Unfortunately, it turns out several of the boards have water under them. Dalan got through a good part of the kitchen, and we hope now we are at the point where only two more boards have water under them. Now, I am a little worried that we won't have enough boards in storage to replace broken/warped boards. Not good. I looked online, and apparently the company that made our flooring went out of business in 2001, so there is not a lot of hope in finding exact replacements. Really not good. I am annoyed. We want to replace all the flooring upstairs in the future, but like our flooring downstairs. I don't want to blow our flooring budget on the flooring I actually like!

On to the kitchen....little do we really know how much more work is to be done!

Chunk of missing floor....grrrr!

I am just hoping Dalan can get the job done over the next few days, and it is easy and inexpensive. Wish us luck!

Super fun weekend!

This last weekend was so busy and so fun that it actually started on Wednesday evening for me. It was also so jammed packed with awesome things that I forgot to document any of it with photographic evidence. Oh well. I will paint a picture with my words.

On Wednesday night, I went with Ali and my mom up to my Nana's to help her put together some patio furniture and eat some grilled cheese sandwiches. It was a fun girl's night, that included a quick visit from McKay when he came up to fix my Nana's toilet. Surprise, surprise, but we got a little giggly when we were all together, and I even played a trick concerning the Bush Baked Beans' dog (who my dad hates) on my dad later that evening when we got back from Nana's. I was laughing hard the whole time, but got him to believe that I really do love those commercials with the dog.

On Thursday, I got to hang out with Hilary and her adorable girls. What a blast! I love how Annie is a shopping expert at age three, who insists on carrying two pairs of sunglasses with her into every store. I love how Ellie growled at the dinos in the toy aisle, and then was obsessed with the pictures of the dogs and cats in the pet food aisle. I also cracked up at 18 pound Ellie pushing our huge cart through Target. I enjoyed my conversation with Hilary, and love the fact that we have been such wonderful friends for the last 15 years! There was a whole lot of love on that shopping trip!

That evening I got to hang out with Julia for her 30th birthday! Hooray for most of my beloved friends entering their thirties in the last 10 months or so. Julia came over and we went swimming in our pool. It was a nice evening, and swimming totally cooled us off. Later that evening we went and met Sierra and Scott at the Gallivan Center to see Sonic Youth. It was a great show, and although it was crowded, we had a good spot and I never felt too boxed in. Then Julia and I went to grab a late dinner. We had a great conversation and it was nice to just hang out with her on her special day. It was a little nerve racking though, because the next day, Julia's sister, mom, and boyfriend were having a surprise party for her, and I had to bite my tongue several times to not blab about all the party!

On Friday, Ali came over and she, Dalan, and I ran some errands together. I went back to Target for the second time in two days. So much for my goal to reduce the amount of times I run to the same store (or type of store) multiple times in a week. We also got some Taco Time. Yum! We had not been there forever.

That evening, we went over to Julia's sister's house for the surprise party! Julia was totally shocked and surprised, which was perfect! I love birthdays and birthday parties. It was so fun to hang out with my friends on a summer evening. It was a great night.

On Saturday, we went kayaking down the Weber River with Sierra and Scott. We rented a two man inflatable raft from REI, and off we went. It was great. The river is only about an hour away from Salt Lake, and you get to ride over some fun little rapids. It took some time for Dalan and I to get our rhythm down in our tandem kayak, but once we did, it was a blast. We went under a railroad bridge while a train went over us. It was nerve racking for me, and totally Dalan's favorite part. I thought the train would drop things down on our heads or something! We also loved going over the rapids, although that made me a little nervous too! However, we totally can't wait to do it again. I did get a little sunburned while on the river, including the weirdest sunburn/scratches/rash while on the river. I do have pictures of that....let me know what you think it is....see the part that looks like a railroad track down by my ankle....weird!



Later that evening, we went to a wedding reception for a girl I used to work with at ARTEC. We had a lot of fun hanging out with Becca and Dave, and got to see Tristine and her family. It was fun to catch up with some of the ARTEC girls. We also went to dinner with Becca and Dave. The four of us always have such a good time together. We laughed so hard throughout the night! Finally, we stopped by Jason and Becca's (a different Becca, obviously) house. It was good to catch up with them and see their new house. Jason is so funny, and we had a good time listening to all his crazy bartending stories.

Today, we took it a little easier! We just went to Costco with my mom, sister, and McKay, ate some McDonalds, and took a nap. Later in the evening, I went to my parents' house, and ate a delicious dinner made by Ali and McKay. I also had to help Ali record a video for her ASL class. Luckily, after the first take I controlled my giggling, and Ali and I actually made a video without excessive laughter in it!

Wow! We were busy, but it was wonderful to see so many of the people we love!