Red Rock Memories

It would be nice if all turns led me here.

Strawberry Days Prep

Guess who is warming up for Strawberry Days in good ol PG? Me. Can't wait for the rodeo - who's with me?

Blessings realized

Today we got a ton of work done around the house. How? Because of the "service hours" that were performed by the Elders. This beautiful loophole helped us mow the lawn, install hanging baskets, plant the garden, prep soil, fix sprinklers, sweep up lawn clippings, and maybe vacuum out the car. The free labor didn't do all that, just some of it - don't worry. We did wear Elder Alik out enough to need a nap immediately after mowing the lawn. Great day for the yard.

More Moab

Photojournalism

I got the scoop on why there was water spraying all over campus the other day. How? With my photo skills. Check it. I guess they were bleeding out some water lines in the legendary tunnels under campus. In any case it didn't disrupt work so it wasn't exciting enough. It would have been cooler had that been flames rather than water. Maybe next time.

Flowers

Just outside the Jesse Knight building I found these flowers. They don't seem to mind the rain.

Popcorn

So maybe we ate some popcorn tonight while watching the biggest loser. Deal with it.

More Red Rock

Another shot of the scenery.

Red Rock Relay

This weekend we participated in the Red Rock Relay in Moab. I'm not sure you can find a more beautiful place for a race. This is the canyon where I started out my leg of the race. More photos to come . . .

Shoes

So I was hustling to get ready for my mountain bike class today and discovered that I did not pack any gym shoes for the ride. All I had were my dress shoes. I briefly contemplated just wearing those, but after talking to KT, decided to see what I could dig up in the office. Luckily, Nate, one of our designers also wears a 10.5 and graciously allowed me to swap shoes. I got his Nikes, he got my dress shoes. It was ridiculous, and pretty embarrassing, but I'm glad I work with really giving people - people whose paycheck I sign.

This was not one of the shoes, but it reminded me of the story. I vow to always remember my shoes from now on.

Yellow Rose of Texas

Meet Sarah.The yellow rose of Texas. She wasn't the only one who danced Monday night, but I just thought this photo best captured the attitude she and her sisters showed while dancing.

Mom

Since it is Mothers' Day and all, I decided to post a quick portrait of my mom I took when visiting Chateau Danklef today. She's pretty awesome.

UV Panorama

This is my first attempt at using Photoshop to create a panorama from three separate images. I'm continually amazed at the stuff you can do with software after you took the picture. I designed it for class so I could print it up as a 36" x 12" print.

Also, tomorrow is Mother's Day, so a special shout out to Laurie and Linda - the best moms in the world!

Timp bike class

On our first ride for the mountain biking class I'm taking at the BY, our instructor took us up above Dry Canyon. Pretty intense for a first ride! I did OK. I started out very cautious and tested out the capability of the fancy bike I'm renting. I've been mostly riding on a road bike these days so I'm want to go around rocks, not over them. It took some getting used to, but it really is fun. I am very risk adverse. So letting myself go on the downhill portion is kind of hard for me, but I was just starting to get into the groove of it when there was a sharp turn in the trail. I didn't turn so sharp and ended up going over my handlebars. Fortunately I have catlike reflexes and was able to do a sweet roll down the hill. Not too bad, but a little scary. First crash down. The best part is that it was within sight of the parking lot. This is a picture of our bike wedge and the group of us getting ready to come down the mountain. So far I'm really liking this as a great excuse to get myself up in those mountains.

Utah Valley

Took this while on my first ride for the mountain biking class. I can't believe I rode a bike up to this view.

More Topaz

I'm excited to post a picture today just to get rid of that creepy guy from KT's last post. I'm going back to the Topaz well. I'm going to have to get out there again tomorrow for some fresh pics, but until then . . .

Sunset at Topaz

I'm getting some good milage out of the trip to Topaz. I tried a bunch of sunset photos, but I think this turned out the best.

Depth of field

I was playing around a little with the depth of field. It's kind of amazing what you see when you start looking closely at the small things at your feet. This was also at Topaz Mountain.

Topaz Mountain

I took a trip this weekend with the scouts to Topaz Mountain near Delta, Utah. I think this is an example of how the desert can be beautiful. More to come . . .

Bridal Veil