Ice Climbing!

I have wanted to go ice climbing eversince I started coming to BYU-I and saw that the school took trips ice climbing. I always tried to get someone to come with me butno one ever would, so I decided that if I was ever going to go ice climbing I should just take the plunge and sign up and go without knowing anyone else that was going with me.

I had to wake up at 3:30 and get

all of my stuff together and make it to the ORC to catch the van to go at 4 am. We then drove to Hyalite Canyon near Bozeman Montana and parked at a trailhead and took a short 15

minute hike to get to the ice. The leaders of the trip went and set up four ropes fo

r us to climb on and then came and gave us some instruction of how to ice climb and what to do. It was pretty cool being able to just hack into the ice with the ice tools and kick into it with the crampons and then just climb up it. I thoroughly enjoyed myself, and found that I like ice climbing just like I like rock climbing. I did have to be a little careful of where I stepped though, crampons can rip your pants pretty fast, luckily I only had one mishap where I kicked a hole in my pants while climbing.

I also decided to take my hammock with me, which was nice so I could have a place to sit down and relax that wasn't in the snow. It was a long tiring day, but also very fun. After we spent most of the day on the mountain, we stopped for pizza at a place called

MacKenzie River Pizza Co. It was some pretty good pizza. We then left to head back to Rexburg and made it back at 9:30 pm. I highly recommend going ice climbing. It is very fun.

4 tests and more adventures

Well, this last week has been a busy one. I had four tests to take throughout the week, one for each one of my classes. So tuesday came around and I spent over 5 hours in the testing center taking my linear algebra test, and then my physics 220 test. I spent the entire day on campus because I was there from 8 am until about 10 pm, I had work at 7 and made it there right after I finished my physics test. At 8:30 I had my tutor teaching methods class to go to, and then I had a futsal game at 9:00 that I was late to because my class didn't get out in time. I enjoy being busy though, for the most part. Since I was so busy though, it meant the state of my apartment was a little bit lacking in cleanliness, but thats ok. I don't have any tests this next week and can take time to clean up and organize and get back into the swing of things. I did well on the 3 test scores that I've gotten back so far. The lowest was in my chinese class, a 90% with a 97% on my microbiology test and I got a 96% on my linear algebra test. I'm rather amazed at how effective the human brain is at learning and remembering all of the information that I have learned from my classes, its truly amazing.

So after I took 4 tests this week and was busier than I've been in a long time, I decided to have an adventure this weekend by going snowshoeing. It was the fist time I went and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I had my buddy Jon, his roommate, and their dates come with me. I was going to take Katelyn with me as well, but she hurt herself snowboarding and wasn't feeling up to it. We went to Bear Gulch/Mesa Falls area and we were going to hike along the old railway trail, but I couldn't find where it started, so we just ended up hiking through the woods. I think this was a better choice though, because we were on untracked powder and it made snowshoeing quite a bit more fun that it would have been otherwise I think. Well, thats about it for my current post, I don't have the pictures from snowshoeing on my computer yet, so I'll put pictures up later.

Busy Busy Busy

Well, college life this semester is keeping me the busiest that I've ever been at college. I have 15 credits this semester, I'm working as a TA grading lab papers for my old Chemistry Professor, Brother Collins, and I'm working as a math Tutor doing my best to help others succeed in their math classes. So this semester is slightly busy. Two of the classes I'm taking are rather homework intense classes, Linear Algebra and Physics 220. I've never been a fan of homework, but I'm doing well with keeping up with the classes I have right now. My microbiology class is interesting, but its also been rather simple compared to the biochemistry class I just finished taking last semester. I'll see how I do on my first test though. I've decided to take a brief hiatus from dating until I get caught up on homework and tests, so since I have 4 tests to take this week, I most likely won't be going on a date this week, except I am planning on going snowshoeing for the first time this weekend. That should be a fun adventure and I'll be sure to take pictures of it. I had a fun time on my date last weekend. I took a girl out to dinner and then rock climbing at the local climbing gym. It was pretty fun. I think that she just wants to be friends though. Well, I'm always grateful for sundays, I've decided that I won't work or homework on Sundays, so its always nice to have a break. I also try to plan out all of my other work so that I don't have to do much homework or studying on the weekends. I figure I need to have some sort of social life and if its just on the weekends then that is fine by me, although I did make a futsal team (like indoor soccer) this semester. We won our first game 16-8. It seems like we have a pretty good team put together.

Well, in spite of how busy I am, I did take time to come home this weekend. Kevin, Leonora, and their baby came up to visit. They were also so kind as to bring me some dried mangoes from Costco. I also came home because Katelyn Hanny gave her farewell talk today in her homeward. She leaves on Feb, 9th for her mission.

Anyways, I think thats enough blogging for now. I'll just put a picture up of the lunch I made myself last week when I came home from class to make myself lunch. Oh I also forgot to mention that I made myself a potato cannon for fun. So thats been fun. Well enough rambling for now. I'll catch you all later!

Christmas Break

Well, this christmas break was a good one. It was a nice break from school for a while. I was definitely glad to be done with the two chemistry classes I was taking at the time, quantitative chemical analysis and biochemistry. I pulled an A- in both of them. It was a good christmas break though. It was a lot of fun playing with Joseph, Suzanne, Ali, and Ethan. I hadn't seen them for a while. I also tried paragliding with my buddy Dillon who went and bought a paraglider. It was a lot of fun. Sadly though, I got strep throat and was sick for the second week of the break, but I still went and played while I was sick. It was fun. Alas as all fun times start though, they must also end. I'm back up at college now. I'm taking 15 credits and working hard in my classes and working as a math tutor and a TA for my chemistry professor. well, thats about all I feel like writing for now. I'm going to try and update my blog more regularly. We'll see how it goes.

Ragnar Fun!

Well, considering that this happened almost two monthsago, I guess it is now high time for me to write a post about it!

I like running, I think it is a great time for me to just go run and relax and use my body that God has given me. I thoroughly enjoy running outside, but usually am not motivated to go by myself very often unless I have some stress I need to run out. Joseph was working on getting a team together to run in the Las Vegas Ragnar Relay this year. I decided that I would join the team, David was running in it as well, and we needed more people, so I invited my friend Micquellyn to come along and enjoy the fun that Ragnar is. It was David's, Micquellyn's, and my first time running in one, so we had no idea what to expect. So hence begins the chronicles of the Ragnar relay, since I enjoyed this one so much, I plan on running one again in the future, if not more than one.

The relay happened to be the exact same

weekend as midterms for me, and I had three tests that weekend to finish, as well as three lab reports to turn in and on top of all that I got sick that week with one of th

e worst colds I'd had in a long time. So I had the lovely time of getting everything done before thursday that weekend so I could leave to run on friday and saturday while I was sick. I asked my hometeachers to give me a blessing though, and that greatly alleviated the stress that I was feeling at the time. It was great fun let me tell you. I did fine on my chinese culture and biochem tests, but sad to say I did not fare as well on my quantitative chemical analysis class. I studied for it with the intention to take it on wednesday so I could leave early thursday for it, but I came to the sad r

ealization that it would not be possible for me to do that, so I woke up thursday morning and took it as soon as the testing center opened, hoping it would only take me two hours, sadly it took me 2 hours and 45 minutes and I got a 67% on it, the lowest test score I've had pretty much ever.

After the test I came home and hurried and grabbed my stuff, and then took off to go pick up Micquellyn. She was ready and waiting patiently for me. After shutting my jeep off to pick her up, I went back outside to go, but my jeep wouldn't start. Luckily I know how to hotwire it and within minutes we were on our way to Shelley to pick up David and switch to mom's car to head out. We picked up David, but could not find his gps so we left without it and without a map as well. No worries though, it was all in the sense of adventure. We hadn't had lunch yet though, so we went to the classy establishment of Mr. Pizza's to get a delicious lunch special and head out on our way to Vegas.

The trip through Utah was nice, I drove most all of the way. We stopped in the wonderful town of Beaver, Utah for some overpriced gasoline and then continued on the way. We then continued to drive and be entertained in the car, trying to take pictures of how far it was to Vegas to document our trip. We stopped for dinner in St. George and I ate at in n' out for my first time. It was alright, I wouldn't say its my favorite burger place. The next strip of highway was then unfamiliar territory to me, although it was really gorgeous driving through the virgin river gorge in the corner of Arizona at night.

We continued to drive, just knowing that we were supposed to meet up with Joseph somewhere by Lake Meade and the Valley of Fire state park, so I texted google for directions on my phone, which it kindly gave. We then continued to make the drive through the dark in unknown parts of Nevada. I mistakenly thought that the valley of fire state park would take us to the beginning of the race, and to Las Vegas Bay, which is where Joseph said he was camping. After driving through the entire Valley of Fire State park, I realized that it was clearly not the way to where we wanted to go, and we had to back track. David spent most of this time asleep in the back, while Micquellyn and I were trying to find where we needed to go. We finally found the road that we needed to drive on, but sadly were in an area without any cell phone coverage so we had to drive and drive to get to where we needed to be. The road was brand new though, it looked construction on it had just been finished, and there were reflectors in the middle of it so it was lit up the entire time by the headlights of the car, so we were following the golden light to get to where we needed to go. I forgot to mention that during this time we hadn't seen another vehicle for at least two hours it seemed. We finally found some cell phone coverage and were able to call Joseph and find out where we needed to go to meet up with him so we could get some sleep that night.

The next day started the adventure of running the relay. We were in the second van, so we didn't have to start running until about 4 pm. Which put my leg at about 7 pm so I had the

pleasure of running my first leg in the dark. I ran about 8:30 minute miles which I was pretty pleased with. The end of my first leg was funny, because a guy tried to pass me at what he thought was the very end, and pushed really hard to beat me, but it turned out that it was not the end so he spent all of his energy and I was able to cruise on past him to the finish line, but the first van went to the wrong checkpoint, so we had to wait for them to show up to pass off the slap bracelet. That was pretty funny to say the least.

After that it was about 8 pm and we were pretty hungry, we went to Fazolis and got some pasta and then we went to the next major exchange point so we could get some sleep. It was rather warm sleeping in the van, and I definitely did not get enough sleep, but it was fun. We then started having our van run their second legs in the Ragnar relay. Joseph was first and I was out supporting him while he was running. David was next and ran super fast. Micquellyn did really well on her leg, which was straight and flat and on a closed road, which was nice. My leg was rather challenging for me, as I started running it at about 4 am in the pitch black and it was on a rough and bumpy four wheeler trail in the dark and it was 6.2 miles or so on the dark path, luckily I did not stumble or fall but it wore me out, and my last mile and a half on the pavement killed me.

After I finished my part we got in the van and literally drove through the middle of nowhere Nevada to get to the next major exchange point where we could get some more sleep in the van. Then it was time to run our last legs. I was so ready to be finished, but I was the last runner out of our twelve person team and I got to run the last 4.5 miles of our 195 mile adventure. I was so tired running it, but a nice guy caught up to me and talked with me and we paced each other to the finish line. He was a really great guy and I was glad for his support during that last run, or I would have started walking it.

It was so nice to be done running when I got to the finish line, I had run almost 19 miles throughout the relay, all without showering, and in a two day period. I was so grateful for a good burger from the food court area at the casino/hotel we stayed at, and for a hot shower in the hotel room. I promptly crashed for the night, and then woke up early the next morning to head back home. We stopped in Mesquite Nevada for church, limping our sore bodies into the church building to change and go to sacrament meeting. It was that wards primary program that day, which was thoroughly entertaining to watch. I love little kids and all the funny things that they say. They sang "follow the prophet" as one of their songs, and I just realized that if an investigator were to have been there watching, he totally would have thought we were brainwashing the kids! That was one of my favorite songs when I was little though. After attending the primary program we then hit the road. We stopped at Micquellyn's house in Mountain Green, Utah for dinner then Micquellyn drove us back to my house in Shelley. Then after getting some pie and apple cider we headed back to Rexburg.

It was quite the adventure running the Ragnar Relay, totally worth the medal and the experience of running. I would definitely do it again, and may be hitting up the family members to run it with me next time, so get ready to go run!

Fall Hunts

10-16-10

I took a break from homework on a Saturday to go hunting with Dad, David, and Richard. We decided to go to the Kelly Canyon area. Although we didn't even see any game, we did have a good time hiking through the woods. I also had a good opportunity to take some nice pictures of the fall colors.

More updates on Adventures

So, to follow my current trend, I'll be trying to make updates on the recent adventures that I've had since school started, currently I will be posting about my temple to temple relay adventure.

9-18-10

So the school put on a relay where we ran from the Rexburg Temple to the Idaho Falls temple. I decided that I wanted to run in it, so I worked on putting together a team since I didn't know anyone whose team I could join. I found 7 other friends to run in the relay with me so that we could have fun together. We each ran one leg, and totaled about 40 miles. I ran the longest leg, which was 7.2 miles. My goal was to finish in under an hour, which I did even with forgetting to wear my knee brace. I also met some fun new friends on the relay. It was enjoyable, it also gave me a little bit of an idea what running the Ragnar relay in October would be like. I really enjoyed running relays.