Monday, July 27, 2015

Additional Photos from our trip to Cos

Allison at Garden of the Gods
Guy at Garden of the Gods

Guy and Allison on the rock at Garden of the gods

Guy pushing the balancing rock over

Kissing camels!




Rock climbers


The view






in front of the fountain DC temple





halfway to the false top

hiking the incline


Guy's almost there



Vacation to Cos! (Colorado Springs, CO) part 1

This past weekend we went to the Springs for a few days. We both wanted and needed a vacation to break up all that's happened during the summer and before school starts. We had a little trouble with the rental car we got. When we went to pick it up, they told us that it was "smoked out" so we could choose from a Nissan Altima, Nissan Versa or Dodge Ram truck. We decided on the Altima.

We left Wednesday evening after we were both done with work. It's an 11 hour drive from our apartment to my parents house. Typically, we leave at night or early afternoon; that way its easier for one of us to sleep as we drive and then we can switch at midnight (or halfway).

We arrive in the Springs early (about 3 am) Thursday morning. My mom met us at the gate and picked us up (visitor center was closed so we couldn't get passes). It was nice getting there early because we were able to get a few extra hours of sleep before the day started.

Thursday: We went with my mom on her walk. She's walking anywhere from 5-8+ miles a day! After the walk we ate lunch and got cleaned up and then she took us to Garden of the Gods. It's a really sweet place, and Guy and I both want to come back and spend some time hiking at it. The park was donated to the city under two conditions: that it would be free for all who wanted to come, and second that it would be kept forever. My parents opened there anniversary gift and my mom opened her birthday present as well. We ended the day watching a Hallmark Christmas movie (who doesn't love Christmas in July).

Kissing camels at Garden of the Gods
Another view of the kissing camels
Guy and I hiked up one of the rocks and posed
Wendy and Allison
Friday: My dad was able to get the day off and he took us to hike the incline (my mom went to meet her dad, otherwise she would have come). It was a EXTREMELY DIFFICULT hike. In fact, the climbing sign says: "do not attempt if you aren't use to hiking at altitude." It's a 1.02 mile hike of stairs up the mountain with a 2000 ft elevation change, and a 60% grade.

Here is some of the history behind it: It was originally built as a cable car to carry materials to build pipelines on Pikes Peak. After the pipelines were finished it was turned into a tourist attraction. In 1990 it was damaged in a rock slide, and the rails were removed. In 2013 it was illegal to hike up the ties of the old cable cars, but many climbed it.

My family hiked it in 2014; they loved it but said it was difficult! There were places where you had to crawl up because it was steep and difficult. It's been reopened and is now readily used.

We left early to hike as much of it as possible before the sun was up (it's a total sun bake when you hike it). We made it up before it got to hot out, but it sure was difficult. I struggled a lot with the elevation changes. Some people can do it in 20 minutes (it took us 1 hour and 7 minutes). It's worth doing and I would totally do it again. It's about a 4 mile hike down the trail afterwards. The views were spectacular. I would totally do it again!
Hiking up the incline
The top of the incline

To celebrate (and since we missed breakfast) we went to a place called Amy's doughnuts. A person could get in trouble here. The doughnuts are DELICIOUS! We got 6 to try: Butterfinger cake, German Chocolate, Oreo, Girl Scout Samoa, Chocolate kit kat, and White Chocolate kit kat. They were fantastic. Here is a picture of some of the types of doughnuts.

My dad still had energy after the hike so he went out and ran 11 miles while Guy and I finished walking with mom and then rested.

After lunch my dad took us to go see the new movie Ant Man. I loved all the one liners and was surprised at how funny it was, and hey who doesn't love a Marvel movie?

Saturday: We went with my parents to the temple in Denver. There, we did a sealing session with my parents. It was nice to be able to be in the temple with my parents, but we were all a little stiff sitting there and serving. We met up with Karl afterwards and hated a bit before we ate lunch at an authenticate Mexican restaurant.  I had beef tacos and Guy had a giant burrito.

At the Denver temple
With my brother Karl
We went and saw Pixels in 3D when we got back to Cos. I was surprised at how much more I liked the movie. I thought it looked funny when we saw the previews but it was more funny in theaters. I would definitely see it again!

Sunday: Dad made his famous pancakes for breakfast. Before church we played the game we got for my mom for her birthday (Pictopia). It's a fun game and some of the questions are difficult while others are easy. I ended up winning :) My mom spoke in church on the Sacrament. She did a great job! The whole theme for the day was sacrament. I really enjoyed the talks and lessons, and learned more that I had forgotten. We left after church on Sunday for Ames.  The drive back wasn't to bad until about the middle of Nebraska, where we hit a thunderstorm and there was some pretty strong wind. We finally cleared the storm and laughed when it struck Ames about noon today.

James cooking pancakes Sunday morning
We had a great time in the Springs! It was nice to get away and spend some time with my parents. Can't wait till the next time we are there.









Sunday, July 12, 2015

Iowa Games Ultimate Frisbee Tournament

A few weeks ago, one of our friends (Joey Greene) approached Guy about being a part of the ultimate frisbee team he and a friend were putting together. Guy was interested and went to a few of the practices. The team was going to be playing in the Iowa Games Ultimate Frisbee tournament. Guy thought it might be fun so he decided to join the team.

The team had few problems, but the biggest one according to Guy was that they had never all played together. The first time they actually played with the whole team was in the tournament!

There team name was WIETA. Which stood for "Why isn't everyone as excite about this as I am"

Guy came back a little discouraged from a few practices and decided it wasn't going to go well, but at least he thought that the team would have fun.

Saturday (July 11) we woke up to a thunderstorm then the temperatures were suppose to climb into the 90s. Side note: all of their morning games ended up being during the rain..

I needed to help clean the church that morning, so I figured I would come a little bit later and still be able to watch the next 2 games. As I was about 1/2 mile away from the fields, Guy sent me a text saying don't bother we're already done with all 3 games so I was just going to come home for lunch and then go back. Shocked, I told him that I was almost there with his lunch so why don't we just stay there. When I got there and asked why they were done already he said it didn't go so well.



Here's the break down:

The rule is you have 60 minutes to play. First team to 12 points wins. If one team scores 12 points before the time is up, the game is over, otherwise whatever team has the highest score after 60 minutes wins.

Game 1- They lost 12-0 in 20 minutes.
Game 2- They lost 12-1 in 20 minutes. However the only point they scored was from Guy. Who caught it and threw it to the girl who caught the touchdown pass. He said this helped boost the team morale a little.
Game 3- Lost 12-0 in 30 minutes.

Guy said that the teams they played were really hard! Everyone was a good sport, but they were all better athletes and players and the faster they were done, the sooner each team could rest until the knock out portion.

We had lunch on the fields as we waited for the knock out portion to start. During that time the sun came out and it got hot and humid fast! It was pretty miserable by the time they started the single elimination part of the tournament. Guy secretly hoped his team would loose so that they could just go home.  The team they played was the next worst team playing.

The rules for the knockout portion was first team to 9 points or 45 minutes. Guy said the team didn't play as well as they did in the morning, and he thinks most of them just wanted to be done playing. They lost 9-3 in about 30 minutes.

He said he had fun playing with the team, and would potentially play again.

After the game we went to Lowe's to pick up a few things. We ended up also deciding what kind of carpet, blinds, cabinets and fridge we will have in our dream house. We had Little Caesar's pretzel crust pizza for dinner that night and followed it up by sharing a concrete mixer (blizzard) from Culver's and watching the movie Eargon







.

4th of July Weekend

Friday July 3rd was the last day of Girls Camp for me, I had a lot of fun but I was really tired! I ended up having to take a 2 hour nap that afternoon to be able to go watch the fireworks that night. Ames is kind of weird in that they do their fireworks on the 3rd of July, but all of the other celebration items are still done on the 4th.  We first tried watching the fireworks at Friley Hall, but we thought that some of the buildings might get in the way. We then tried down by Maple, Willow, Larch dormitories, but we ended up not being able to see anything, so we drove over to the stadium and finished watching them there. In terms of fireworks show, Ames is pretty sad. The entire show lasted about 15 minutes, with the grand finale being about 30 seconds (and not that grand).

Guy's comment about the fireworks was, "we waited around for this?! This is the worst show I've ever seen! The time it is taking for us to get out of traffic is longer than the entire show!"

On Saturday, we left in the morning for Waterloo. We got there about 10 and then went with Morgan, Melissa and family and Ginny on a bike ride. We rode about 17 miles. It was a really nice day and there were several other people out riding. We stopped for lunch at a Mexican restaurant that Morgan really enjoys. The food was good, and I enjoyed being able to have a plethora of cilantro (Guy doesn't like it that much).

Morgan had recently purchased a new gun so later that afternoon Morgan and Guy went shooting. About 15 minutes after they left, Pete, Emily and kids showed up. The women stayed back and chatted while Pete went to go catch up with the brothers.  Morgan grilled burgers and pineapple brats for dinner that night.

The original plan was for Melissa to stay home with the younger kids while the older ones all went to the fireworks, but everyone was pretty much wiped so we just stayed home and watched the PBS National 4th of July program from Washington DC that was on TV.

That Sunday, all of us traveled to Manchester, IA to attend Jonah's (Shannon and Kyle Griffith) baby blessing. It's a cute branch with a fairly new building. The sister teaching the RS lesson was shocked that we all filled the RS room, and had to take a picture to prove it. It was a beautiful blessing and we were glad that we were able to attend.

After church we all went to Kyle's parents house to have lunch. His parents made pulled pork and grilled chicken, while everyone else brought sides or desserts. It was nice to sit there and chat with everyone before Shannon and Kyle continued on there move to the DC area.

Poor Guy didn't sleep well Saturday night and then had to drive the whole way back. I wasn't much help since I slept for over half the ride! Still trying to recover from camp I guess...

LDS Girls Camp

The last weekend of June I was able to go with the teenage girls from our church to camp. Overall the camp had a great turnout. There were about 130 girls at the camp that week. Our congregation (ward) had 13 girls attend camp. The girls that were ages 16 and 17 ran the camp for the most part. I think they did an excellent job! I know several of the younger girls commented how much of a blast they had. 
The theme for camp was embark in the service of God with all your heart, might, mind and strength. One part that didn't go so well was the fact that we had a girl get hurt on Wednesday during game night. Her hand was pretty swollen but she wanted to stick it out, especially since there was really only 1 day left of camp. I agreed to let her stay. I found out Monday, that she ended up breaking her ring finger bone in her palm! Oh well, she was definitely a trooper. She now has an awesome orange cast to remember camp!