Thanksgiving in Rexburg

This year, Jared and I went to Rexburg to spend Thanksgiving with his whole family. Good times were had by all. The fun began on Tuesday when we met up with Jared's brother, Jordan. He and Jared's dad have quads, so we took those out for a little spin. It was fairly cold and I had never been on a quad before, so we kept it pretty low-key. For me, I was just trying to get the hang of driving it. The quads were manuals, so I had to get the hang of using my hands for the clutch and throttle and going up and down with the pedal to shift. I got the hang of it fairly quickly, though, and we had a great time. Jared and I switched off driving his dad's quad while his brother rode his own.


Jared and I living dangerously

On Wednesday, after a day of running errands and taking care of some other things, we went on a little hike with Jared's sister Ashlee who needed to take some photos for one of her classes. We had a good time, although it started to get pretty cold with the sun going down. When we got near the top, we realized we didn't have flashlights, so we had to make sure we made it down before dark.


Cute Jared climbing up the mountain


I'm so little way up there!


We made it to the top!

On Thanksgiving morning, we decided to go to the ice caves which are near Jared's parents' house. The ice caves are lava tubes which have lots of ice frozen inside. So, you're mostly walking (or sliding) on ice the whole time. There were frozen ice crystals all over the sealing and sheets of ice on the floors. It looked really cool. Some parts of the caves got very narrow and we had to slide through on our knees or stomach. It was pretty awesome. And, of course, we finished off Thanksgiving with a fabulous meal. We also had family pictures, but that involved some drama which will have to wait for another post. . .


Jared and I ready to start the adventure


Ashlee sliding through


Hilary and Bernie enjoying the headroom


Jared helping Zoie through one of the tight spots


Me with my ice nub that I found in one of the caves

A Holiday Wish to All of My Friends

As the holiday season approaches, I am reminded of just how favorite one of my favorite of pastimes is for me. You see, this pastime takes center stage during this season of gluttonous indulgence and careless disregard for responsible consuming. Eating. I love eating and consuming food products all year long, but at this time, it climbs to a whole new level. During the holiday season, it is accepted, nay, expected, that you overeat. And all of the foods that we so love to eat are showcased in holiday splendor. The lover of food is in a veritable winter wonderland of tastes, smells, textures and calories with which to indulge themselves. And indulge I will! As I mentioned, eating is one of my favorite things to do. Put some tasty food in front of me, and I will consume it with great pleasure. Eating brings feelings of satisfaction and pleasure rivaled by few other activities. There are foods I don't like, however. And consumption of these food items can completely destroy an otherwise happy eating experience. I don't think it should be socially unacceptable to be picky about the things we eat. How often have we had to swallow things that we sure didn't want to just to be "polite"? In my opinion, there is no need to create such misery. May this holiday season bring you and yours a plethora of wonderful foods to be enjoyed and savored without being ruined by the food items you don't like. Happy eating!

Happy Halloween. . .

. . . from Disney World!!!

Jared had to attend a conference for work in Orlando. We decided that since Apple was paying for his hotel and plane ticket, it wouldn't be too much for us to buy a plane ticket for me so I could accompany him. And what else would I do in Orlando while he was in the conference but check out Disney World.

And check out Disney World, I did! On the first day, I hit up Magic Kingdom. It was good times, but I had a lot more fun when Jared joined me after his conference was done for the day. We decided that Magic Kingdom is fun, but some of the rides are not as good as their counterparts in Disneyland.

Day two was Hollywood Studios. Jared finished with his conference a little earlier that day, so he was able to join me just after lunch. Unfortunately, the good weather we enjoyed the first day somehow disappeared overnight and all of a sudden it was freezing! I didn't even know Florida could get so cold! We still had a good time, though, and didn't let the cold stop us from enjoying some of our favorite rides.

The last day we went to Epcot. Jared only had a short session for his conference in the morning, so we headed over to the park later in the morning when he was done. We were both excited for Epcot since we didn't know quite what to expect there. It doesn't really have the same rides that Disneyland does, so it was totally new for both of us. And, we loved it! There are some awesome rides at Epcot which we rode numerous times. And the world showcase was a lot of fun. We walked around and checked out all of the "countries" there and for dinner we ate at the restaurant in the Moroccan section. Of course the cold weather continued. If you look closely in the picture, my collar is flipped up. Sometimes I do that for looks, but in this case it was completely functional. It was cold! Of course, we still had a blast!

We had such a good time in Disney World and were a little sad to come home, but we were excited for warmer weather and to see my parents who are home for over a week while they get ready to extend their mission.