If you ever want to see Sleeping Beauty again...

Ransom: Cinnastix

Note: She is being treated fairly well. She enjoys being wrapped up in her blanket/dish towel.

Best. Gift. Ever.

See disclaimers 1,2 and 4 from Mrs. Crazy Adventure Lady. Major emphasis on Disclaimer #4
Okay, now THIS is the blog I actually had permission to "write". If you don't have much time or if you are a slow reader, or if you don't care about a bunch of my past and how gaga I am over Carrie, then you'd better stop now!

Ahem.

Carrie and I have a tradition for our anniversary. We take turns planning the important day's activities. This year was an even year (6! yea!) so it was Carrie's turn to make the plans (It's just easier to remember that I have the odd years for some strange reason). We always warn each other not to set our expectations too high, so we aren't let down, but we always have a blast. Carrie diligently warned me of the same thing this year, but she sure didn't have to.

Rewind about 15 years to a seemingly unrelated topic.

My brother and I would go to Denver (Northglenn area to be precise) every summer to spend the off-school time with our Dad. We always had a lot of fun activities planned. My Dad was (is? ...that's a-whole-nutha blog) a truck driver for NAPA. He had a nightly run, so he would leave around 7:00pm and get back around 11:00am all rested and ready to go. So we would have all day to do whatever 3 guys could dream up. Our creative juices generally led us to the same conclusion. "Let's go golfing!", which we did probably 2-4 times a week since we had some annual passes.

Fast-forward about 9 years.

As a working student I didn't really have the funds or time to golf much (see a theme yet?), but I still managed to find a way to get out to the links a couple times a month. I've never been a great golfer, but golf is so relaxing and so much fun to play. I thoroughly enjoyed each time even though I still had the same clubs that I used as a kid; A set of dinged-up metal woods that were given to me by my Dad's co-driver who had them given to him several years before, and a fancy set of cavity-backed, no-name, used irons that I bought with the money I won playing racquetball with my Dad's drunk roommate. Good times!
My favorite course in Salt Lake has always been the Mountain Dell Canyon course because it is cool, and the surroundings are incredible. Nice and relaxing. (Except for the first few seconds after each shot when I'm wondering why I lifted my head for the up-teen billionth time, and hoping that punishing the club will make the problem go away).

Fast forward until a month or so ago.

As a married man I was lucky to golf once a year. I generally made it out for the annual company golf outing, or maybe when the Burgess' were short a guy during their annual Memorial Day family tournament. I missed golf, and Carrie had never forbad me from going, but it turns out I'm a pretty needy guy, and truth-be-told, I didn't see the fun in purposefully attempting to have fun without Carrie. It's too hard!

So you can imagine how I felt when Carrie informed me of our anniversary's opening activity. She had called and set up a morning tee-time at the canyon course...for two! I was ecstatic. She wanted to go golfing with me. ME!

So we did :o)



Now let me explain this blog's title. You may say to yourself, "She knew you liked golf so she took you golfing", but that would just be a 'great' gift. She didn't just take me golfing.

First of all, it was her day to plan however she wanted, and she tried to think of what IIII would enjoy the most. Her focus was on making ME happy, because she knew that is what would make HER happy (hence, our happy marriage :o) ). And she didn't just take me golfing, she is taking up golfing. That's right. She is giving golf a serious look because she wants to like it, because she knows I do. After 1 lesson she was already showing that she had learned well and had a very nice looking swing.



We've now taken two of our four lessons (yes, we. My swing aPPARently needed an overhaul) and Carrie is doing very well. She has an excellent looking swing and she just doesn't miss putts, even though she's never had a putting lesson and she sure didn't pick it up from watching me.

We went golfing for the second time today at the Jordan River Par 3 course. Carrie had several nice shots and did incredibly well for such a short learning time, but let me describe for you the second hole today. Carrie winds up her 7 iron on the tee box and blasts it into the tiny innocent ball which is sent flying through the air and lands right on the green. It rolls a bit and ends up about 10 feet from the hole. Then Carrie calmly strikes the ball with that perfect putting touch of hers and drops it into the middle of the cup at just the right speed after about 6-8 inches of left to right break. A birdie. A BIRDIE!!! I don't think I've ever been so excited on a golf course before. The amazing thing is that I wasn't even surprised. She has hit a lot of nice shots before, and she has sunk a lot of 10 foot putts. Don't get me wrong; other than that hole neither of us got anything better than a bogey, but it was so much fun to be out on the course with her.

I'm sorry if you are someone who I've already talked to about how cool it is to me that Carrie is trying golf, but I just can't get over what a selfless gift it is, or how loved I feel by her thoughtfulness.

And you know what? Golf has never been this fun to me before. I feel very blessed to have a wife who likes to be with me and who I like to be with.

There is a chance that it won't pan out, and Carrie won't really like it that much, and after this summer we may never golf together again. Or maybe we just won't be able to find the time, except for company or family outings. But no matter what happens from here on out, there is no question in my mind about what the "best gift ever" is.

Mrs. Crazy Adventure Lady

Disclaimer #1 - This blog's writer is NOT Carrie
Disclaimer #2 - This blog's writer tends to make a lot of disclaimers.
Disclaimer #3 - This isn't the blog I have permission to write (I'll get to that in a minute)
Disclaimer #4 - This blog's writer is NOT a writer. If you continue reading this blog (known in California to cause cancer) it won't take you long to realize that this blog's writer tends to be excessively wordy without actually providing any useful content. He may even stop the blog at a climax, with careless disregard for a proper denouement.

You can't say I didn't warn you...

Though this blog is not written by Carrie, it belongs here because it is most definitely ABOUT Carrie. So yes, for those of you who are capable of adding 2 and 2, Carrie is Mrs. Crazy Adventure Lady.

Some of you might think that Carrie is pretty quiet and/or conservative and/or responsible. You'd be right, but let me give you a little insight into the inner workings that morph her into the Mrs. Crazy Adventure Lady that has made herself known regularly as of late. Carrie loves to have fun and she isn't afraid to try something new. Rather than continue blabbing on and on (I've got another blog to write!) I'll just give examples with photos or video where available.

She went on the roller coaster water slide at Raging Waters.

She went SCUBA diving in Honduras.

She rode a four-wheeler up a steep slope covered with giant boulders
It is worth mentioning that Crazy Adventure Husband and Crazy Adventure Brother (See adventure example below - he's a little camera shy) were unable to climb the same treacherous slope with their ATVs, but almost killed themselves trying!



She branded her very own arm with my name.



...okay, she didn't really brand herself. Actually she made a duct tape template with the letters cut out, slapped it onto her arm, and let the sun burn her skin while she went kite surfing in Northern Greenland.

She went on THIS ride in Ohio that accelerates from 0-120mph in 4 seconds and rises over 400 feet. ...and she did it 4 times. ...and she did it in the very front seat even though she had to focus on keeping her mouth closed so she didn't swallow any bugs (there were three bugs stuck to her shirt at the end of that night ride).



So there is a sampling of Mrs. Crazy Adventure Lady's activities over the past year. Just to keep from shattering your image of Carrie, I should point out that during each of the above activities she was very responsible (...except for burning my name in her skin. For Shame!).

Now, the pictures and video below are the real reason I started this blog 10 pages ago. We were returning to the cabin with a couple kayaks on the truck, and we decided to make a quick stop at Butterfly Lake.
One thing led to another, and...





You're crazy Mrs. Crazy Adventure lady!

I Don't Wanna Go Back...

Last year, after an especially long day at school, I created a blog solely for the purpose of venting. I came across the solitary entry today while I was going through my teaching files in preparation for the upcoming school year.

I thought others might enjoy...

Why am I subjecting myself to this again?

I'm a princess

We all know, deep down, that we're a princess. But now you can figure out which Disney princess you are. My first results said I was Pocahontas. Her profile isn't bad, but since I hate that movie I decided to change one answer (the obvious one that pointed me toward Pocahontas -sitting by a waterfall in the wilderness? Come on...) and now I'm Mulan. I can live with that.


You Are Mulan!

Strong and spirited. You're no one's girly girl; actually you are very determined person with a strong sense of self. Never let go of that! The only thing that equals your sense of self is your family, but the traditions of society can always be bent to protect something or someone you love.

Which Disney Princess Are You?

Unsent Letter

Dear driver of the four-door, black Acura with the California license plates,

Thank you.

Thank you so much for not hitting me today when I changed into your lane. I thought I checked all my blind spots when I moved into your lane, but I must not have. You were back there somewhere and when I changed lanes you had to stop short to avoid hitting me. Thank you for being so alert and attentive! We both avoided a lot of lost time, painful paperwork, phone calls, and money thanks to your driving. I don't think I can thank you enough.

Thank you also for teaching me a great lesson. Not only did I learn to watch my blind spots more carefully, but I learned a little bit about myself and how I should treat others who make mistakes.
You were obviously very upset that I didn't see you. I understand completely. I'd be upset, too. And I can understand that you'd want me to know how close I came to being hit and how careless I was when I moved into your lane.

However.

It wasn't necessary for you to go out of your way to follow me so closely on my right side as I made that left turn onto another street. It also wasn't necessary for you to drive along side, roll down your window and yell at me. Honestly, I have no idea what you were saying because my window was rolled up. And I wasn't about to roll it down because I already knew what you were trying to say. Your driving said it all. Rather than listening to your screaming, my main objective at that point was to make sure I didn't get in another close-call because of your erratic driving. I was willing to drive slowly until you got your point across. You taught me a lot in that moment about being aware of the cars around me. I was now very aware of your car and was anticipating any move that it would make. That's why I was able to slow down and avoid rear-ending you when you shot in front of me and then slammed on your brakes. I know I am in no position to give advice at this moment, but, really, is that how you teach other people a lesson? I didn't really learn much from your lesson. All I learned was that you were a jerk. And I'm sure that you're not really a jerk. You were just acting like one to me.

Aside from learning that you have a temper, I did learn a few more important things. I learned to think about what I do when people around me do dumb things on the road.

When I'm the one who has to stop short because some careless driver didn't see me, is it my job to let that driver know what an idiot move they just made? Having just been the idiot driver, I can honestly say no. Believe me, I learned that lesson as soon as I saw you in my rear-view mirror and heard you honking. It's a good lesson to learn. I'm so glad it was just a lesson and not a consequence involving higher insurance rates.

So, for all the lessons learned, thank you.

Sincerely,
The driver in the four-door, silver honda, with the Utah license plates.

A man and his truck

I married a typical boy. I'm learning now that I didn't grow up with "typical boys". (No offense my bruthas...) They didn't live for playing sports and competing. They didn't have sports idols (at least not that I was aware of). They didn't drool over a good piece of meat or grunt or any of that stuff. In my high school mind boys like that were kind of rude. And mean. And they were jerks. Funny how I knew what somebody was like just by looking at them. Aren't high school stereo-types fun?!

I hung out with a different class of boy. The intellectual/nerdy/musical/funny boys. Give me a boy who could understand subtle sarcastic humor and appreciate some good music over a boy who spent his time sweating in a gym or on a court any day. (No offense to the boys I hung out with growing up. I'm sure you were good at sports....and stuff.)

But then I met Zack. He's a unique combination of both types. He taught me that you CAN be on the football team or basketball team and not be a jerk. (But what about my good old-fashioned high school stereo-types?!) He's super smart in a good nerd sort of way, AND he appreciates a good subtle, sarcastic comment any day.

But he's also a typical boy. He likes meat. He likes to play sports. Give him a ball and his face lights up. He likes to watch sports. He even reads about sports in the paper. Honestly, when they start talking about sports on the news my brain tells me that the news is over and I change the channel. It didn't even occur to me that people like to watch that stuff. But Zack does. He loves it. He knows all sorts of tid-bits about any sport. He knows names and statistics. He also knows how to play most sports.

He also knows about cars. He can change oil, brake pads, flush fluids and actually knows how the engine works. What a guy.

He likes to work out (when he has the time). He loves his power tools.

And he likes his truck.

I used to think that trucks were kind of like big toys for boys. They used a lot of gas, they cost a lot of money, they aren't practical to take a family around in, and guys always bought them bigger than they needed to be. I could see that they served a purpose, but only if you lived on a farm or needed them to haul stuff around alot.

I never understood how much a truck can make a guy feel like a man until we got our truck. There's something about being able to haul your own stuff in your own truck; beholden to no one. Shortly after we got the truck we were hauling some wood in a trailer and Zack said, "I've got my truck, I'm hauling a trailer full of firewood that I'm going to chop up for my woodburning stove, my dogs are in the back and my wife is in the seat next to me. Can it get any better than this?"

Maybe it can...

When we decided to get a truck we agreed that it would be used for good. When you have a truck people are going to ask you to help them move stuff. We agreed that we wouldn't complain when people asked us to help them. That's why we have a truck. To move stuff with. Since getting the truck we have used it for lots of things. He has helped people move stuff. Even though it's a smaller truck (it barely fits in the garage) his truck can do many things. At the cabin we discovered that he can put two kayaks on the back of the truck plus room for chairs, coolers and life jackets.

He can even fit an ATV in the back of his truck.

But my favorite image of him and the truck is that of last Monday. That's when he drove away with two boys in the back seat and a scout trailer attached to back. He was on his way to scout camp for the first time as scoutmaster. This was not an easy call to accept. It took a lot of humility to accept a call that he was sure almost every guy in the ward was more qualified for. It took, and still takes, a lot of patience to work with 12 and 13 year old boys. It takes a lot of commitment and time and work. It was hard to take 5 days off of work to spend up in the mountains with someone other than his wife. But he did it. He's doing a great job. And even though there are times he grumbles because it's hard or takes time away from being with me, he does it, because he knows who it was who called him to do it. And he's doing a pretty good job with those boys.

And I have to admit, the truck makes a huge difference. It's probably one of the best uses "for good" that I can think of right now. I hope it gets a lot more use like that.