Handicap Parking Sign

Saw this sign at a gas station in Wyoming.

What not to say on a date...

Him: So what do you do for fun?

Me: All sorts of things. I play according to the season, skiing and snowmobiling in the winter and lots of boating and horseback riding in the summer.

Him: Horseback riding, you're an animal person then?

Me: Yeah, I have two horses and two dogs.

Him: Really? Do you take care of them all by yourself.

Me: Um... yes.

Him: Huh, that seems like a lot of responsibility.

Me: ..............

Him: What else do you like to do?

Me: I like to do the fun weekend get-away stuff. Like I went to went to a hockey game and I'm going to Las Vegas soon and next month I'm going to the snowmobile climb in Jackson Hole.

Him: Geez, that sounds like a lot of work.

Me: ..............

Fat Bikes!

That's what I said Fat Bikes. Check this out. It's a mountain bike you ride in snow. 

These super light weight bikes float over the snow on fat inner-tube tires. It was really fun. They are a bit different than riding a normal street bike but if you can do one you can do the other for sure. They are designed to travel on groomed  ski trails. I rode them everywhere from downhill ski slopes to cross-country ski trails. 

They are fine in a little top powder but get into the deep stuff and that front tire instantly sinks and you do one of these. 

Which by the way was the softest crash landing I have ever experienced :)

You can rent these fantastic things at Kelly Canyon Ski Resort in the ski rental shop. It is $35 for a whole day or $25 for a half day. To go up the chair lift it is $5/ride. I recommend practicing in the parking lot for a second to get the hang of things on a flat surface then it's off to lift #4. Once to the lift there are designated chairs with hooks attached to them. The lift workers were fantastic and knew exactly what to do. All I had to do is get on the chair lift just like I do when I go skiing and the lift worker placed the bike on the hook for me. The bike hangs off the left side of the chair and you sit on the right side (to keep the chair balanced). 

Once to the top the lift worker will be waiting for you and he will slow the chair down and remove your bike for you. 

A few pointers. 

1) On freshly groomed trails you want your tires a little deflated to give you more surface area. 

2) When going down hill, sit farther back on your seat then you would normally on a regular bike. 

3) If you get going faster than you are comfortable with there is always the brake but I found it more fun to turn and circle up hill to slow myself down. 

4) You will come across skiing and snowboarding traffic so use the normal traffic flow of things. I like to yell "on your left" when passing people just so they know I'm coming. I startled a few skiers when I passed them for I don't think they were expecting me to be peddling a bike when I came by :) 

5) Of course my last piece of advice is wear a helmet. I like my head just the way it is and my helmet helps to keep it that way. Helmets can also be rented at the ski shop. 

This was a super fun winter activity. Not hard to do, super fun and a good workout. I think I worked my abs more than any other muscle because I was laughing the whole time :)

(Big thanks to my friend Lyndsey Norr for coming on this adventure with me!)

Things that Make Me Smile #2

I was meeting a friend for lunch one day. I spotted him standing across the lobby. His back was to me. I start walking over to him with my high heeled boots clickity clacking the whole way across the lobby. As I walk up behind him he says "Oh the sound of sexy approaching," and turns around with a big smile on his face. 

Classic, original, one-liner. Well done Brian :)

Ice Hockey!

This sport is crazy, I love it! Went to see the Salt Lake City ice hockey team play at the Maverick Center. The Grizzlies. 

It was so much fun. Now, I don't know squat about hockey but this is the kind of sport where even if you don't have a clue about the rules or regulations of the game, it is still really fun to watch. These players are super athletic. They are crazy fast and all over that rink. I had never seen anyone skate backwards just as fast as they could skate forwards. I'm talking sliding stops, sharp corners, impossible reverses... it was awesome. They moved the puck around so fast half the time my eyes could barely keep up to where the dang thing was. When a player went down it was almost like they bounce right back up to the feet. 

The goalies, who were dressed in enough padding to crash a car into a brick wall, were amazingly flexible. Their reaction times for stopping the puck were incredible. A few times the goalie had caught the puck and I was looking around confused as to see where it had gone.

What really sets hockey apart from other sports is the contact between the player. I mean they are body slamming each other, smashing each other into walls, beating each other with hockey sticks and of course, the occasional fist fights. It was so crazy I couldn't stop watching.

One time a player took a shot and the puck cracked into the Plexiglas right in front of where me and my friends were sitting. My cousin and I both screamed and ducked creating a good show for all the other spectators sitting us. 

I also enjoyed how the player transitions from the bench to the rink. The players were flinging themselves over the wall onto the ice as their fellow players skated through a tiny little door for a break. The transition was highly entertaining :)

Of course to top off the whole exciting event, there was enough concession food to make every fan happy. I made a wonderful discover called a Funnel Cake. It's a scone-batter, powder sugar covered, yummy treat. I'm sure it was something close to 7,000 calories but hey it was worth it.

I highly recommend looking up your nearest ice hockey team, grabbing a few friends and buying tickets. 

I know nothing about hockey and had a fabulous time. Definitely will be going to another game.

My Favorite Christmas/New Year's Eve Moments 2014

1) A man walks into a grocery store and buys several different types of chocolates for stocking-stuffer gifts. By accident the man forgets the bag contains the chocolate at the store and doesn't realize it until a few days later. The man returns to the store and addresses one of the store clerks.

"I did something stupid a few days ago," the man starts to explain.

"I know who you are," the store clerk interrupts. "You forgot your chocolates. I ran out into the parking lot to give them to you but you were already gone. I put all the chocolate back on the shelves but wrote down what you had bought so go ahead and gathering it all up again," the store clerk says with a smile.

The man thanks her, gathers his chocolates and gives them out for Christmas as originally planned.

2)A woman is shopping for Christmas gifts a booth fair. One of the last booths she visits has these fantastic little helicopter toys. She goes to purchase them but the salesman running the booth can't accept credits, only cash. The woman realizing she doesn't have enough cash and goes to puts the toys back.

"Go ahead and take them and just send me a check when you can," the salesman says.

"Your going to let me takes these and trust that I will pay you?" the woman asks surprised.

"Yeah," the man says handing her a card with his address and the amount she owes.

"I figure I can either go through life trusting the people around me and be happy or not trusting the people around me and be miserable," the man says handing the woman the card.

The woman takes the toy helicopters, returns home and promptly mails a check and a thank you note to the salesman.

3) My dad and I are sitting at the dinner table one day.

"So on my plane ride home there was this movie playing. I didn't see the beginning of it nor the end of it and didn't recognize any of the actors in it. I really liked it though," my dad explains. He goes on to explain the plot of the movie. By some miracle I remember watching a movie preview the night before that sounds a lot like the movie my dad was describing.

A few days later I watch that movie preview again and it has to be the same movie my dad was talking about however the movie is rated R. My dad doesn't watch rated R movies. I jump onto google and start searching for edited movies. After several hours of searching I have found several different ways to illegal download edited movies but I don't think a DVD is worth going to jail or being fined over.

A few days later an idea pops into my head. I bet I could find a blue box somewhere. Blue box is the edited movie version of red box. I google a few different locations for blue box but when I actually go to the locations there is no blue box. I thought I'd give it one last try. If there was going to be a blue box it would be located on the BYU-I college campus (a religous college). I drive to the campus and starting walking down the sidewalk. I start asking random students who happen to be walking by.

"Hey is there a blue box movie rental neaby?" I ask.

"Not that I know of, sorry," the first random student says.

"I don't thinkg so," the second random student replies.

"I think there's a blue box in the Turner apartment building #3," the third random student tells me. So I proceed to stalk the Turner apartment builds. Sure enough there is a blue box in building #3. I cross my fingers and hold my breath and by some miracle there is the movie I am searching for.

Christmas Day, my dad opens his present and looks at the DVD. "Do you remember that movie you saw on the plane that you didn't see the beginning or the end of? That's the movie," I say with a smile.

 "Really?" he says with a laugh.

I love it when the perfect Christmas present comes together.

4) 

If you put on these paper glasses every light you looked at became a smiling reindeer! Totally changed Christmas for me forever. It was so stupidly awesome I found myself wearing them all Christmas day.

5)

How to make every little kid feel like they are "the best skier ever" is to tie them to a leash and let them believe whatever they want :)

6)

Snowmobile kisses

7)

"Psst, hey wake up. It's time to open presents."

8)

Now that's a white Christmas

9)

I have now witnessed the Boise, Idaho New Year's Eve Potato Drop!

Yes, that is a 14 foot potato hanging above my head.