March Madness

We love March.

Here are our top ten reasons:
1. We are March-ants
2. In latin, -ant would make us 'people who March'
3. We have our scheduled 10 day fiesta from March 10th-20th
4. I am 2 years older than Doug for 10 days--straight!
5. Doug buys me presents
6. I buy Doug presents
7. We do something fun for our both our birthdays in ONE MONTH
8. It's the month that Winter ends and SPRING begins
9. March Madness would normally go here, but we're mourning Utah's loss
10. You can start going outside for a bar-b-que and BACKPACKING

March 10: We celebrate my birthday minus the cake. Instead we had yummy chocolate pudding from one of my favorite books: Raw Food Real World. I had never made it before because of the young coconuts you need to buy have gone up in price. But, I remembered a secret--asian markets. So, we picked some up for about 1/2 the cost of the health food stores. It was heavenly!

2 cups young coconut meat
3/4 cup young coconut water (these 2 require 2-3 young coconuts)
1/2 cup maple syrup (the real stuff)
1/3 cup agave nectar
2 tbsp vanilla
1/4 tsp sea salt

Puree in blender and chill for a firmer pudding.

We put frozen raspberries on top. I think this was taken around midnight. We picked up the coconuts on the way to Hale Center Theatre to see "All Shook Up"

Even though I didn't have cake, it felt weird not to blow out a candle.

March 20: I got off work and drove down to Zions National Park with Doug for a backpacking trip. This was his birthday wish. I don't think there could have been better weather for hiking and backpacking. It was sunny with a nice cool breeze. We hiked La Verkin Creek in the Kolob area of the park. We hiked to Kolob arch after dropping our packs and setting up camp at mile 5 into our adventure. I was very, very sore.

It looks like I am falling over...

This is a view on the trail about mile 3 or so.

This is Douglas also known as Thug-las (this is what his cohort calls him in grad school).

Our campsite. I was really happy to be sitting and Doug had to take a photo. I am glad you cannot see all the sweat.

Doug thought this little tree all by itself was the greatest thing. He said it looked like a Dr. Suess tree and I said Lion King. He took about 7 photos trying to get a good shot. I love him.

This is Kolob arch after sunset about 2 miles from camp. We had to cross some fast moving streams with only a few rocks. I was thinking--"Cool arch. Let's get back to camp." It was stunning--the second largest in the world. We saw the largest a few summers ago in Arches National Park.

A kiss at the arch. This is how dark it was as we hiked back. Doug puts up with my panicking so many times. I really enjoy myself--but panic a LOT in between.

We were having some snacks in the tent and I picked up the trail mix and it spilled everywhere. I quickly started eating it off the tent floor.

The view from our campsite. It was breathtaking. This was our first successful backpacking trip together.

Island Park, ID

When in Island Park where the snow is not measured in inches, but feet...sledding is always a great time. My brother-in-law, Aaron, rented some sleds from BYU-Idaho and we took the hill next to my parent's cabin. These AIRBOARDS were a big hit! They are amazingly fast, and you can steer--they are like riding on an inflatable airbed. So, Doug had some sweet moves.

Crashes

Although I love watching sledding, I don't really enjoy sledding like I used to. When Doug and I were engaged, we went to Idaho for this very same weekend and went sledding at the sand dunes. Something you may not have known--sand dunes can be really steep. Well, I was feeling daring and went down a run with Doug and had a little, well big, accident. We went down a steep hill (after Doug convinced me to, "you can't get hurt Heather, it's just snow") and at the bottom there was a dip and it had a jump. We flew in the air and I think I blacked out--I don't remember even flying through the air. Doug landed on top of me and I had the wind knocked out of me. It was so scary and my back hurt badly. After getting home and going for an xray, I found that I had a compression in my spine--so a few discs are wedged. I tell you this so it is understood that I was adventurous with sledding at one point, just not right now.

Doug and I recently went up to Island Park for our annual President's Day weekend fun with my family. I love my family. Seriously, family is the greatest. We had a lot of fun playing, talking, and sledding. Most of all, it was fun to just see everyone. Doug and I haven't made it up to Idaho in a while and it was great to see my siblings and their families.

My brother-in-law, Chris, took these photos and sent them to us. I laughed when I noticed that I was standing at the top of the hill in every photo. I actually went snowboarding and went down with my neice, Ellie, a few times. She gave me these puppy-dog eyes and asked me to go with her. I do have weak points! She is adorable. Just thought it was hillarious that all photos of me were of me being a little tenative. I had a blast though!

This is Natalie--she is a daredevil. It's amazing to watch her balance and coordination. That's me standing behind her--at the top of the hill.

I think I started collecting sleds to bring them back to the cabin before dinner--it looks like I am Eeyore from Winnie the Pooh, moping around...just hard to tell how much fun I was having apparently!

My sister Katie...we had a blast.

This is me, still at the top of the hill 'supervising' the sledding festivities.

Cam aka Horton

Cameron is my sister Tiffany's oldest. He is absolutely hillarious and he gave us a special treat Christmas Eve by doing the "Horton dance" from Horton Hears a Who. I asked for lessons and he tried to teach me. He said I was doing everything wrong and that I cannot move my legs or up upper body, but just my bum. Apparently, I didn't make the cut. I think Doug thought it would be better to film this with the camera vertical, so you'll need to tilt your head, but it's worth it. Cute kid.

Surgery Flowers

I had surgery in November to have a cyst removed. My doctor discovered it in a routine exam, and it was this crazy thing called a dermoid cyst. I have a photo of it that the doctor gave me, maybe I'll post it sometime. Thank goodness it was only a laparoscopic procedure and I recovered quickly. Staying home from work for a week was a killer though. I was grateful for smiling visitors and lots of flowers. My sisters, parents, sister-in-laws, co-workers, and grandparents were so kind to me. I took this photo because many of them may now know what their flowers looked like because they were sent by various messengers.

Halloween Recruits

Most of you know that I am a health nut. I love to be healthy and talk about being healthy. Well, the apartment we live in isn't in a great position to get trick-or-treaters and I have been sort of glad. The idea of handing out candy seems odd to me. This year, we asked 2 of our health-conscious friends to bring their kids over so we could at least enjoy the costumes. I went to the store and bought some healthy licorice (sweetened with molasses--Panda licorice, it's our favorite) to give to them. It was great. They don't take their kids trick-or-treating because of the junk they get, instead they have family parties and one family has a fun tradition of the Halloween Witch coming and taking their candy in exchange for a present while they sleep.

This is our one visitor this year...the other family forgot. We were waiting up excited, but we ate their licorice! We loved our first real trick-or-treaters.

Work Trip

About a month ago my boss asked me to book myself to attend a conference in Irvine, California for a 3 day class called "By Referral Only". I booked my flight and found that the cheapest hotel was where the class would be held because of a group discount they were offering. It was a 4-star hotel that looked amazing. They mentioned that Doug should join me and I was on it! When I approached Doug, he reminded me that he is in grad school and missing 2 full days off class wouldn't work. Well, the next week 2 of his 4 classes were cancelled. Yup, I won! I must have done something right because we bought his ticket and he joined me for the trip. The best part was going up to our hotel room on breaks or for lunch and seeing Doug there. I told him that I finally got my wish--he came to work with me.

We went to Newport Beach with Ron and John (my boss and his brother--a colleague). I couldn't help going down and putting my feet in the water while the guys just standed watching the surfer next to me.

It was a beautiful night and the water was so calm. There is something about a beach...

This is our hotel pool. Doug had it rough for 3 days--doing homework and hanging out around the pool until I got out of class.


This is on my lunch break--just chillin' by the pool. Wow...love warm weather in October. Too bad we came home to Utah Thursday night and it snowed on Saturday.