I love Camping...

I have to say that this has been a good week. On Friday Brittany, Clay, Eden and I went up to Tanner's Flat to go camping. When I got up there around 3pm to reserve the spot there were still plenty of openings, they first gave me campsite number 27 and we went and checked it out and it seemed pretty nice. I went back to pay but when I did that they said that they made a mistake and that particular site wasn't available as a walk in. So they gave us campsite 31 which was awesome. Lots of rocks and boulders and the firepit was right next to some rocks so that it would block the wind...if there was wind. At this particular campground they told us that as of a few days before there was still two feet of snow on the ground, they had to bring in snow blowers to remove most of it. I had left Clay there at the campground and went back home to pick up Brittany and Eden. When we made it back out to the campground Clay already set up our tents and had the fire going. It was fantastic! Brittany and Clay made hotdogs and Eden brought the s'mores, lots of great food. Once it got dark we got into Brittany and Clay's tent and played some Phase 10...which I lost, until the last hand which we said would take it all...and I won that one. Woo-Hoo! It was getting late and we were getting tired so we went back to our tent and tried to sleep. I had on a t-shirt, a sweatshirt and a snow jacket, jeans, pajama bottoms and two pairs of socks and I was still freezing...I think I slept for about a total of 20 minutes that night, I was just trying to stay warm, which eventually happened but the whole night I was singing songs in my head trying to put myself to sleep but obviously that didn't happen. When it was finally light outside we got up and Clay already had the fire up and going and he didn't even use one match...he was pretty impressed with himself...I was impressed as well. We had cinnamon rolls and muffins and orange juice and mandarin oranges for breakfast...maybe a little bit too much starch but it was good. We figured it was much later than it was and decided to take things down and get ready to go and then on the way out we saw what time it was...only 9:30. It was a lot of fun though and we look forward to the next camping trip, I think we are going to try Moab and this time we will reserve a spot and be more prepared, plus there shouldn't be snow on the ground there. The rest of Saturday was spent sleeping and showering and trying to get rid of the campfire smell from our clothes and blankets.

On Sunday I woke up early and made myself some cornmeal pancakes...mmm and they were good but not as good as Dad's. I wonder if it might have been the oil that I used because all I had was vegetable oil so maybe that's what was different...plus cooking those in a pan isn't exactly the easiest thing, I really need to get a griddle. During church I was trying to think of something to make for dinner...I know I shouldn't have thought about it then but I was getting hungry. We have stuff to make chicken roll ups and mashed potatoes and corn and all that good stuff but when we were in Relief Society one of Eden's visiting teachers asked us to come over for dinner so we were happy to oblige. I said that I'd bring cookies and figured that they would be something fast and easy but I didn't want to take the time to actually dish them out so I decided to make chewy bar instead. It started off great and then it came time to add a few of the dry ingredients and then I saw a snag in my plan. It called for baking powder and I had was baking soda. I went online to research what I could substitute and it said that baking powder is essentially baking soda, cream of tartar and cornstarch...and again all I had was baking soda so that's what I used albeit not as much as it called for. I was surprised they actually turned out pretty well and were a big hit at dinner. We then made our way home and decided to watch a Bollywood movie. Eden had one called Dil Chahta Hai, it was pretty entertaining and a little confusing but all around it was pretty good.

And Monday was pretty much spent reading and relaxing. There wasn't a whole lot that could be done outside since it was pouring outside and come to find out that there was a leak in our laundry room, nothing too serious but still it was enough where I noticed it. I put a pan down there to see how much it would collect and it stopped shortly after that. I've been reading a book called "Daniel Deronda" by George Elliot lately and it's pretty good but it's really long and the first one hundred pages or so are hard to get into but it's starting to pick up now. I look forward to seeing the movie though, it's only $10 at Amazon so maybe I'll make a purchase sometime in the near future. Well I think that is all I have for now, this coming Sunday I have to teach the temple prep class so I've got to prepare for that. I hope that everyone had a great Memorial Day weekend and I'll talk to you all later...

What do a leaky hose, IHOP, wiffle ball, picnics and football have in common...just my last week

Well, it's been about a week so I figured that I would update you all on what had happened with the carpet and everything. Monday night I called our landlord, Marty, and told him about the flooding that had happened. He came over and took a look at it, he thinks that when we turned on the water the hose had leaked and made it's way down to the bottom of the foundation and seeped in through some cracks. He went out and bought us two box fans and set them up and told me that I should rotate them throughout the room and he'll come back on Thursday to check on the status of it. Well by Wednesday night the whole room was dry but it still smells kind of funny. On Thursday he came by and said that if I notice anything to let him know and he'll have someone come out and clean the carpet. I've been spraying Fabreeze every night on the floor so hopefully that will help out. I'll let you know.

On Friday night Eden had arranged with her sister to have a sleepover with her nephew Zachary. I was happy to come along when she told me that we were going to IHOP (I love that place), we didn't get there until about 7:30 so I think that might be the best time to go since there wasn't anyone there. I got the usual...french toast with a side of hash browns...I'm sorry Kevin, I almost branched out and got the corn cakes but the french toast sounded so good. And on Saturday morning we went to a park in Murray across the street from the high school to play some Wiffle Ball and soccer so that was fun. And on Saturday night I went with Eden to see Iron Man with a friend of hers that unexpectedly brought his three other roommates along with him so she wanted me to come to even it out. I thought that it was a good movie, I really liked the music in it but the strangest thing about the movie theater we were at was that it was reserved seating only. I have never been to a movie theater that told you to pick your seat before you go in the theater, but it was pretty cool. After leaving the theater Eden and I came back home and watched PS I LOVE YOU, it was alright but I don't remember crying or anything...sorry Brittany.

On Sunday we had invited Brittany and Clay over for a picnic and it turned out rather well. We had bought croissants and made our own chicken salad to put in it with grapes, lemon rotisserie chicken, almond slivers and mayo. And we had chips, pasta salad, and orange soda and Brittany had brought cake mix cookies for dessert. We went to the same park we went to on Saturday and surprisingly there were more people there on Sunday than there were on Saturday. After eating we decided to play a little wiffle ball but the bat that I had bought was too flimsy and when Clay got up to bat he bent it...but he straightened it out again. Then the next time he swung he broke the ball in half...so there was the end of that game. I had bought a set of six just in case this happened but for some reason I didn't have it with me. After we got home we watched Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade...I love that movie and I'm looking forward to seeing the one that comes out this weekend.

Last night we went to FHE which was a Stake BBQ and there were so many people there that it was hard to meet people. We had just eaten and were on our way out when we were stopped by someone in our ward and he introduced us to someone else that was walking by...I don't think he knew him but we all had to wear name tags so it was easy to know peoples names. After talking to them they wanted us to toss the football around with them. They brought out a real size football which I'm not use to throwing, I prefer the nerf balls because I can through them farther. I think my family would be surprised to learn that I actually caught the ball nearly every time...but the throwing was the hard part. We were all probably 15-20 ft away but I should take a picture of my right wrist, there are a bunch of red marks all over, it's interesting looking. And my thumb feels like it's out of place but it will heal.

Well, I don't think I have anything else to report, I've had a huge headache since last night so I worry that my sentences in this blog aren't making any sense. This weekend we were thinking of going camping with Brittany and Clay but now I'm not so sure since there will be so many people on the road...maybe we could just camp out in the backyard or something. I'll let you know, I'll talk to you all later...

And why is the carpet wet Todd?

Saturday Eden and I drove down to Orem to spend some time with Brittany and Clay. We had a nice time eating Krispy Kream Doughnuts and chips and salsa and watching Batman Begins. In fact, we had such a good time that we decided to down to visit them again yesterday...well, Sunday dinner was planned last week but still...it was nice. They made a bunch of fried food: Fried Jalapenos, French Fries, BBQ Chicken Wings, Fried Chicken, Corn Dogs, Onion Rings...all tasted great. And for dessert I brought one of those no bake Oreo pies...mmm...We ate and played a few games, I lost playing PIT...and I lost bad! Somehow I always ended up with either the Bull or the Bear or sometimes both, I wish we hadn't kept score, it would have made me feel better about myself.

When we got home we walked down the stairs and Eden said that she thought it smelt kind of musty down there. I didn't really think anything of it, I just wanted to go to bed. I walked into my room and took my shoes off and went to put something away and I thought I had stepped onto something that was wet, maybe my water bottle had leaked. I took another step in the area and yep that spot was wet too...I kept feeling around the carpet and everywhere I stepped near the wall it was wet. I wasn't sure what had happened but we were thinking maybe that there was a leak coming in through the walls, so we checked around the walls and they were perfectly dry. I walked upstairs and asked one of my roommates if they had turned on the water to water the lawn and she said that they had done it earlier but didn't notice anything wrong, no leaking spicket or anything that would cause that to happen. My bedroom is right below that spicket so we are thinking that maybe there is a leak in the pipe or something. Eden checked her bedroom and it's perfectly dry. I moved out some stuff into the family room last night like my computer and a few other things here and there and I thought that would be sufficient. I didn't realize quite how far the water had spread by that time. Eden and I stuck our feet under the bed to see how far under the bed it went and It went all the way from my computer desk all the way to the end of my bed and into my closet. I was too tired to move the rest of the furniture last night so I waited until this morning to do that...what a mistake! I started with moving my dresser thinking that would probably be easiest. The bottom of it was still wet but luckily the backboard is fine. Then I went and emptied my bookcase and moved it to the living room. This one isn't in that great of shape...since it's particle board the sides are peeling up and the backboard is a little warped. I'm glad it didn't eat through anymore of my books (Last night I found one of my books laying on the floor and the last 100 pages or so were wet). Then I went to work emptying my computer desk and disconnecting all the parts and when I got that cleared off I moved the desk and it's in the same shape as the bookcase, the backboard is warped and the bottom shelves are wet...which leaked through and started to soak through some of my cookbooks. You can tell looking at the back of it how far up the water spread through the furniture but I hope that they dry out soon so I can put my room back together. The only thing that I haven't moved it my bed, since it's so huge I can't move it by myself but I'm hoping that the water didn't cause any damage to the headboard. So that's been my morning so far. One of my roommates said that she'll call Marty (Our landlord) this morning but I don't know if she's done that or not and I don't have his phone number so hopefully someone can come out and fix it so that it doesn't happen again...I'll take pictures when I can and keep you updated.

David Beckham...

This weekend wasn't a very good one in some respects. On Friday night around 9:30 Eden and I were heading out to go catch a movie at the Dollar theater and while I was backing up and talking to her I didn't notice how close I was to Eden's car parked across the street...and I backed into it. I didn't hit it very hard but we just thought maybe it was a scratch and went to see the movie. Saturday morning Eden went outside to check out the damage and it was worse than we had thought. In the front drivers side wheel well there is a noticeable dent. So she called her insurance and I called mine to report the claim. Her car is still driveable but still...I can't believe that I did that, my first accident in my car and then what do I do..I was backing out of the driveway not paying attention. So she has forgiven me but the claims adjuster wants to come out and inspect the damage today. My car is perfectly fine though, no dent, just a scratch on my rear right bumper.

So that took most of the afternoon to get taken care of and that evening we had decided that we are going to go to our first professional soccer game. Salt Lake Real vs LA Galaxy...which has a certain celebrity on their team, David Beckham. We didn't have tickets so we needed to go to the ticket office to purchase first. We got to Rice Eccles Stadium (University of Utah stadium) and drove around for awhile trying to find a place to park. We found free parking and parked there but had to walk the rest of the way to the stadium. When we got to the ticket office there were still tickets left and we were relieved to hear it...and we got tickets to the bleacher section. We hadn't eaten anything yet so we thought we'd try to walk around to find something to eat off campus that would be cheaper. We didn't find anything after walking a few blocks so we turned around and decided to just go in and look at the food in the stadium. On our way to our seats we found one that was serving hamburgers and chips for $5 so we went with that. Once we got our food we were walking around trying to find our seats only to find that we were in the very last row of that section and in the middle. Oh well, it wasn't too high up on that side so we were ok. There were a few people practicing on the field and we were curious but decided to get some water first. When we came back all the members of LA Galaxy were out there practicing so we ran down to the bottom level so we could be right next to the field and took quite a few pictures and a video. I am so glad that I have a good zoom on my camera, otherwise you wouldn't be able to tell that it was him in the pictures,,,

We like to think that he was looking at us in this picture...

So there you have it, my first encounter with a celebrity. Unfortunately the game was tied 2-2 so a lot of people were upset but it was still a lot of fun. And though parked far away from the stadium we didn't have to worry about bumper to bumper traffic so that was wonderful...

New toys...

Well my new purchases finally came this week and I'm very excited about it. The laptop comes in handy when the internet goes down all the time on my desktop computer so then I can just run upstairs and use the laptop. I'm not going to lie, I've already had a few problems with the laptop since I got it on Tuesday. One of the programs that was pre-installed on it wasn't done properly and then I couldn't uninstall it because it was stuck. I talked to Trend Micro, the company that made the program, and they told me something to do and I did it but it didn't change anything. And then I called Dell...and I was on the phone with them for over an hour trying to figure out what was wrong with it. Eventually we just had to reformat it and uninstall the program then. Luckily I hadn't really added anything on to it then so I didn't mind...just as long as it was working. Then today I got an error message saying that the version of Trend Micro that was intalled on the computer wasn't compatible with Windows Vista the way it's current set up so I had to install an update and now it works just fine. Here's a picture of the beauty...

And remember I also bought a bed last week, well that came this morning and it's HUGE! I've never had a queen size bed before...well other than the air mattress I've been sleeping on but it's wonderful. They came and delivered it this morning and got it all set up for me and everything...however, the hard part was trying to put the bed skirt on without having to take the mattress off the box spring. I did get it all done and set up and think it looks rather nice. It's a little taller than I expected it would be so that means I'll have to wait until June or July or even August when hopefully I can get the rest of my furniture from home including my nightstand that will be taller than the dresser I currently have set up next to the bed. I'll post a picture of what it looked like before...and then after...and the last picture is of the dent in the side that made the headboard $600 cheaper...

And I also need to figure out what to do with my Venice picture...there just isn't enough room on the walls I guess...
See the dent isn't too bad, I'll just buy a wood marker and cover up the discoloration. Anyway, I also heard back from one of the job interviews that I went in for last week...and I'm going in for a working interview today at 5:30-7pm. It will be interesting I'm sure it's with Mountainland Rehab and the hours are MWF 7-3 and TTH from 11-7. So I hope that I get the job but we'll have to wait and see. Anyway, I think that's it for now. It's snowing pretty hard outside right now and it's May...isn't this supposed to be the month of May Flowers? Oh well...hopefully the snow goes away soon. And I don't think that I have anything else to update you on but just wanted to post some pictures of the new stuff...I'll talk to you all later!