World Cup

Well, here it is again, the FIFA World Cup. It's kind of funny because I got really hooked on Brazil soccer on my mission and I always check to see how the Selecao is doing, but I can't really say I follow it religiously. But when the World Cup rolls around, it sucks me in bad. This year is no different. Here I am, getting the World Cup app for my iPhone, watching GameCast on ESPN, and trying to catch any game I can on TV. I was pretty disappointed that the U.S. lost to Ghana and are out now, but that didn't stop me from buying a U.S. "Miss America" jersey off eBay. If you haven't seen it, Google it. It's navy blue with a bold white stripe across the chest that looks like a Miss America sash. It's rad. But my Brazilians are looking good! I had this picture sent to me from a friend in Brazil that was taken during one of the matches and it just confirmed what I always believed... Brazil really is the Celestial Team.

Softball Game #6

I'd better preface this by saying that I was being a real "Negative Nancy" about this game from the start. It was a cold night and we had the late 9:00 game against another really good team that had never lost before. I started out watching from the bleachers and we had first ups. We got one run on our first at bat and actually held them to one run as well. They looked to be coming out swinging for the fences early, but our defense was playing pretty solid. Second inning, we score two more and hold them without a run! So by this time, I'm not exactly believing, but I'm starting to get pretty excited. We come up in the third, get two quick outs, and then open the flood gates on them! It really got going with Tim. He hit a shot into right field and flew around the bases to score a home run. I was coaching first and ran towards him and we both jumped and shoulder slammed each other and were way stoked. This was about the time the other team started to lose it. We hung 5 runs on them and held them to one so it's now 7-2. I came into the game and our hot bats continued, led by Colby, and they just couldn't put the ball where they wanted and started making a lot of dumb mistakes due to losing their tempers. There was a lot of expletives flying around as they realized they were getting it handed to them by a "bush league team" of "middle aged women." And we absolutely loved it! I'm being completely honest when I say we didn't rub it in on them, but we didn't let up and played great. By the time it was all over, we beat them 17-3 and we were ready to get off the field and head home because they were not stoked. It'll be pretty hard to top this win. What a great game! Record: 4-2

Elder's Quorum Campout

A few weekends ago, we organized a camp out up to Brad Bentley's family's cabin in Monte Cristo for the Elders Quorum and their families. We actually had a great turnout. I only sound surprised because it was POURING rain all day on Friday. We all had a good time, though. Almost everyone slept inside the cabin and it was great that we had the space to accommodate everyone. Amber and Jeremy were troopers and joined me out in the tent. Even though it was raining most of the night, we stayed cozy, warm, and dry. It was actually a pretty good night's sleep until about 5:00 a.m. when the wind picked up. And when I say it picked up, I really mean that it was howling. Haha. I woke up once and the tent was practically flat on top of us! But everyone felt better after having an awesome breakfast of eggs, bacon, pancakes, and fruit. I'd definitely call it a success. We even hit a wild turkey on the way home! We weren't going fast enough to hurt it, but it was pretty surprising because I'd never seen a wild turkey before!

100th Post!!!

Hey-ohhhhh! Happy 100 to me! 100 posts... wow. I guess I don't really know what else to say. I hope people have enjoyed reading my blog as much as I've enjoying working on it. It really has turned into a journal for me. Probably more insight into my life than you wanted to know, but rumor has it a couple people are still reading it so it can't be all bad. Thanks for following and here's to the next 100! Later days!

Farmington Canyon

So a couple of weekends ago, Jeff and I took Jeremy on his first camp out with theBRIGADE. Nothing too intense for his first tB trip. We went up to Farmington Canyon for the night and had a really good time. I put Jeremy into his pack on my back and we hiked in about a mile and a half and Jeff knew a great spot right by the river. The canyon was incredibly green and the river was gushing with spring runoff. We set up a great shelter and Jeremy had a great time exploring the campsite. Jeff threw some vegi dogs on for dinner and Jeremy stuffed himself on Goldfish crackers and snacks. We were enjoying the fire until we started to feel rain drops start to fall. We retreated to the shelter and got ready for bed. It was a pretty decent rain storm that night, but Jeremy wouldn't have noticed. He slept right through everything. That little guy is a HEATER too. I didn't even climb all the way into the bag. Haha. We got up early the next morning and had a great hike out. Welcome to theBRIGADE, little man!

Softball Game #5

Well, this game was a nail biter to the finish! I think we only played okay this game, but we played well enough for the W. It was a close one from start to finish even though we fell behind early. It's that darned 4th inning that gets us every time. We turned on the rally, though, and we took a one run lead going into the final inning. They got people on base, but our defense held and we won the game 7-6. Not too shabby. The game really belonged to Tim, though. He was a freaking rock in left field and was catching balls all over the place! The other team started complaining that he was cheating because he was in front of the line in the outfield, but he was just that fast. He really shut them up later... when he hit an INFIELD home run! Yeah, it was amazing. Nice work, bro! Record: 3-2.

Jeremy is 2!!!

Happy Birthday, Jeremy! On June 1, Jeremy turned two years old. He decided that he wanted to have a Buzz Lightyear/Toy Story birthday party so we invited some of his favorite friends and went to the park by our house. We had a really great turnout. It's so cool to see how many great friends we have. Everyone seemed to have a fun time as well. Amber did amazing getting all of the decorations set up and the food was great as well. Casi made an AWESOME Buzz cake and it tasted soooooooooo good! And best of all, Jeremy had a fantastic day. Special thanks to everyone who came to share the day with us and bringing great presents! Happy Birthday, Monkey!

Coyote Gulch

At long last, here it is, the much anticipated latest wilderness adventure of theBRIGADE crew. This one had it all and I think it will easily go down as the best trip yet. You know it's an epic adventure when just the trip down is blog-worthy in itself. That said, let's get on with it...

We left after work on a Thursday and did our best to make it through Utah County before the traffic got too bad and the despair of "Crappy Valley" set in. Thankfully, we survived that part of the journey, but in our haste, we passed the last buffet for miles and that was kind of a downer when we were all craving some buffet bliss, but none could be found close by. However, this led us to an unbelievable experience. We grabbed a hold-me-over in Peyson and continued to Scipio where we found a Dairy Queen. We pulled into the parking lot right next to a green Prius that seemed to be in trouble. Before my feet could even hit the ground, I was hit by the smell of B.O. and stale breath as a man we later named "The Vulture" got in my face asking me if he could borrow our jack. It wasn't his Prius with a flat, but he apparently was "gracious" enough to offer to fix the flat for $20. The couple looked like they were pretty overwhelmed with the task of hauling the dude's (we called him "The Aztec" because he looked Aztec-ish) parents in the back seat to who-knows-where and didn't have a car jack. So we pulled out our jack, but being in a truck, our jack was too big for their low-riding car. The Vulture started getting a little edgy at the prospect of losing out on his bounty, but the Aztec found someone to lend a car jack and we started raising it up... that is until the Vulture swooped in (nice little play on words, eh?) and insisted on doing the "work." Well, that lasted about 3 minutes tops before he was too tired to turn the crank anymore. Tim got down on it and realized the dummy had put the jack in the wrong spot and was on the verge of breaking the car or the jack so we hastily threw mine under and got it up the rest of the way. It was about this time while Tim was down on the jack that Jeff nudged me and I looked up to see a lady who was in desperate need of some "support." Let's just say a "push-up" bra wouldn't work. She's needed a "PULL-UP" bra. Nasty. And can you guess who she was with? You got it, the Vulture. Of course. Well ol' Vulture was getting pretty anxious again seeing as we were doing all the work and for the unheard of price of FREE... so he decided to try to hit me up for some money. See, he and his lady friend were heading to Atlantic City and needed some funds to get there. As Jeff so eloquently put it, "I won't give you money to go gamble! But I will give you money to take a shower and get that lady a bra!" Gnarly. So the vulture flew off to swindle a different helpless person and we got the Aztec and his family back on the road. We ended up at Subway instead and shook our heads in disbelief of what we'd just witnessed. Makes for an awesome story though... and picture! Hey-ohhhh!

The rest of the trip down was pretty uneventful. We passed some awesome scenery and a way cool town called Torrey that'll be the first place I take my teardrop some day. We went over this super cool pass before dropping into Boulder and took pictures at the summit. This was Tim taking a leak at 9600 ft. above sea level. We even saw a deer standing next to a "Deer Crossing" sign. For real. That was a first. Anyway, we got past Boulder and drove another half hour or so to Hole-in-the-Rock road and turned onto dirt. We were already pretty tired by now, but Jeff took the wheel and championed the worst stretch on the trip: 32 miles on dirt road in the dark with nothing to look at. Let me just say that 32 miles on that dirt road at night is like poking your eyes out with dull toothpicks dipped in lemon juice. I'm not kidding. Glad Jeff was there. We finally made it to the trail head just after 11:00 p.m. and threw down a tarp and sleeping bags and fell asleep behind the truck under the stars.

Day 1: We woke up early to rain clouds and wind and we'd no sooner gotten dressed when it started to rain. As Nuestra Senora de Guadalupe Hidalgo would say, "No bueno." So we sat in the truck and waited out the storm and it cleared off in about 30 minutes or so. We ate breakfast and started off on the trail. It was pretty barren looking country with desert as far as the eye could see. The sand and rock was various shades of red with very little vegetation. The cooler temps made the hiking much more enjoyable than it would be on a sunny day for sure. We were able to make good time and cover a lot of ground. The desert hills turned into dry riverbed which we followed until it began to turn into sandy hills and back to riverbed full of cottonwood trees. A small stream began on our right and grew wider the deeper into the canyon we got. We took a short break next to the stream and Jeff did his best Bear Grylls example of how to descend a steep slope. Let's watch:

We continued down the trail and the canyon got more lush and green the further we went. The water also got more plentiful as well. Soon we were walking next to tall red cliffs and we had to start jumping over the water to stay dry and follow the trail. Eventually, we gave up trying to stay dry or switched to water shoes. It was around this time when we met up with the first other hikers on the trip, a group of about 6 people. Jeff and I both had our tB shirts on and the woman asked what theBRIGADE was and how many of us there were. "There's 3 of us." I think she thought we were trying to be smart with her because when she asked where we were coming from and I said, "Salt Lake City area," she snapped, "NO! What trail head did you come in on?!" Apparently she wasn't have a good day. So we left them alone to be miserable and kept going.

We knew that the first arch, our target for the day, was about 7 miles in. We had gone about 4 miles when we decided to stop for some lunch and a midday nap. After refueling and replenishing, we changed into water gear and stashed our packs and started down the river barefoot to see how far we were from the arch and if we could find any good camping sites for the night. We passed several groups on our way, all of which gawked at us with our shorts and bare feet. It's funny because everyone we passed seemed to be completely covered up from their surroundings as if they didn't want nature to get on them. Pretty stark contrast to the three of us who were soaking everything in. After about an hour, we came around another bend that looked like we'd passed 5 or 6 times when we found a nice sandy beach-like area surrounded by trees. It looked like a prime place to camp for the night. Then we turned around and realized we were at the Jacob Hamlin arch! Haha perfect spot indeed. We felt renewed again and ran almost all the way back to our packs through the warm water. Here's another video:

So we picked up our gear and walked back down to our campsite, still barefoot, and by the time we got there, we were pretty spent. Nothing like a 7 mile hike with a 3 mile run in between. Gnarly. We made dinner and fell asleep pretty early that night.

Day 2: We woke up, ate breakfast, and set out early for the rest of our exploration down the canyon. We passed Jacob Hamlin arch again and the water was fantastic. It was nice and warm with soft sand to walk on so we stayed bare foot. It was just past the arch that we found the most amazing outhouse ever. Seriously it was incredible. The science that went into building that thing was hardcore. It's too much to explain. Just take my word for it that it was excellent. And I watched a lizard jumping and catching flies out of midair while Tim and Jeff did their things. Anyway, we continued down the river and the scenery was incredible. My descriptions probably won't do it justice. Just enjoy the pics.

We estimated that about 3 miles past the first arch, we found a second arch. It was epic. It's just so incredible to think that you're in the middle of this canyon full of water and greenery walking through a hole in a giant rock surrounded by 200 foot tall red rock walls. And outside of that, desert. Barren desert. It was surreal. We had lunch at the arch and I took a fantastic nap. Jeff tried to sleep as well, but the flies wouldn't leave him alone. Haha. Several hikers passed us and one mentioned that there were some pictographs on the walls about a mile ahead so we decided to continue on before we turned back. Well, we never found 'em. We hiked for almost 2 hours more and no dice. Finally, we got tired of walking and decided to play in the river before turning back. Tim showed off his Jedi skills by floating above the water and we enjoyed a great sunny day.

On the way back, my water shoes broke while we were trying to keep to the land instead of the river, so I was stuck to water travel. Tim was walking on the shore next to me and started around a bush when he jumped back suddenly. That's when I heard the "chi-chi-chi-chi-chi" as well. Sure enough, a baby rattler slid out of the bush towards us. We kept our distance, but we saw that it had a large lizard in its mouth! It was gnarly. Definitely got the hair on the back of our necks bristling, but was really cool to see.

Well we made it back to our packs and after doing around 10+ miles barefoot, my feet really started to kill me. We gutted out another 3 miles before stopping for the night and this time we were REALLY spent. We set up a basic camp and we were just wandering around the campsite after eating dinner when I had mentioned how disappointing it was to miss the pictographs. Then Jeff, with his camera out, called our attention to DIRECTLY ABOVE OUR HEADS on the canyon walls. Sure enough, there were pictographs. We tried to make out the figures through Jeff's pictures because they showed up much more vividly with the flash. I noticed the white dots around the figures and began following similar dots down the wall. That's when we stumbled upon more than we could have ever hoped for. The figures were faded, but very defined. I know we had passed this spot 4 times already without noticing them so I wonder if anyone had ever seen them before us at all. The figures depicted warriors in battle and as we studied them closer, I began to fell a very heavy spirit fall around us. Tim felt it as well and it was very eery. It was then that both of us turned behind us at the same time towards the hills and it was as if we had been there to see what happened. You could just tell that the people had been attacked from those hills and many were killed. I crossed the river to look for other signs of what had happened and only a few feet into the trees I had to stop. The feelings were just too much. It was an incredible feeling being there. I can almost guarantee that after what happened, those who survived paid honor to their fallen by drawing these pictures on the walls and then never came back again. It was intense and very powerful.

Day 3: We woke up, ate breakfast, and set out for home. We had about 5 miles out to the trail head and we were all feeling the weekend's miles adding up on our sore legs. It was a little slow going at times, but we made it out. The last stretch was completely different from when we came in. The sun was hot and beat down us relentlessly. The desert definitely is hostile. The truck was a very welcome sight and we changed into comfortable clothes for the journey home. I gotta admit we looked pretty tough and weathered when we pulled in to the gas station at Escalante. The trip home was uneventful and that's how we like it. Made good time and got back in time for dinner. What an epic trip. We did over 30 miles in 3 days. Our crew is legit. That's all I can say. Can't wait for the next adventure!

The Truth Comes Out

There's just so many things right with this picture. Epic.

Softball Game #4

Well, this game was a vicious defeat... I tried to block it from my memory, but I think the final score was like 19 - 6. It wasn't that we played poorly, it's that the other team was that much better than we were. And they were better because all of the men on their team play on a comp team on the weekends and all the women play together in another league as well. So yeah, it was like a AA team playing a team from the Major Leagues. It's pretty bad when I hit a double and their players were like: "Wow, nice hit. Not many people can hit our pitcher." I was like, "Huh?" "Oh, we shouldn't be playing in this league. We all play on a comp team." Lame. Oh well. Still had a good time. Next week should be better.