Junk mail changes

Junk mail is a constant thing in life but I've recently noticed how it can change from time to time. Have you ever noticed that your junk mail changes after you make a purchase of about $200 or more. When you buy a house all of the sudden you get all of these home loan applications and information. What's the point of sending out that stuff after you've already got a loan and bought the house? At lease the home improvement store junk mail makes sense after a home purchase. You've made this major investment and now you naturally want to sink all of your money into fixing it up.

So I flew for the first time in a few years and now instead of just credit card applications they have miraculously changed to flight reward credit card applications. If I buy camping stuff then I get outdoor/sportsman credit card applications. My favorite with the buying camping stuff was when I bought a tarp to put under my tent years ago at Cabellas and the next month I was an official member of the North American Hunting Club. Got an bright orange hunting license holder and everything. When I signed up for that at Cabellas I'm not sure but there must have been a check box I didn't check somewhere.

Then there is the you buy one thing in our store you naturally you are a fan and want to get rewards here forever, right? Yeah, how many of us spend all our spare time at furniture stores or electronic stores. And the stuff they send you is discounts and coupons for what you just bought because naturally you will need another 52" LCD television or a $1,000 digital camera a month after you just purchased one.

"These days are crazy!"

Me trying to be a nature photographer again

So here are my favorite nature pictures from my vacation.

A rain storm from above.

New Jersey the Garden State

Five Mile Point Light

Lighthouse Point Park

stream by Lake Wintergreen

Lake Wintergreen

trail around Lake Wintergreen

Cleveland rocks

Ok so I was on vacation from October 1st until October 18th. Which was has been the longest vacation I've ever taken to date. It used up all of my vacation time so I won't be going very far for a while.

First stop was Skye's in Ohio. We went and checked out West Side Market. Which is like Pike's Place in Seatle without the flying fish. Then mostly just hanging out around the house. Which is totally fine with me as I got to play with Kaelyn and Kylie. I think I read The Pokie Little Puppy about 40 billion times.

We went to the museum of natural history where we saw lots of animals and dinosaurs. Kaelyn and I got to be Blue Footed Bobby Birds. The picture of the actual birds is above me on the right. Apparently this is one of Kaelyn's first things to do at the museum.


After which we had lunch in Cleveland's Little Italy. Which is by Jon's campus. We took a lot of pictures on Jon's campus including some of playing in the fountain but they are on Skye's camera so I don't have them yet. During General Conference we did our hair.









Then I rented my first car and went on a little road trip to visit the Taylor family in Connecticut. It was a nice 8-9 hour drive to get there and cheaper than plane ticket.

I saw my very first in real life lighthouse, Five Mile Point Light.

Being with Elizabeth of course we went for a little hike. However, there aren't any mountains so we hiked, took a long walk, around Lake Wintergreen.
I also got to have lunch with Sarah A. Kandil. Whom I haven't seen since just after high school. I got to meet her husband for the first time and he is pretty cool. Love being able to still hang out with my high school buddies.
Then back to Ohio, where Kyle and Tyler joined us. We went to Kirtland and toured some covered bridges.


A Halloween family tradition that we used to have was that we would go to Grandma Averett's house and decorate the cookies she would pass out for Halloween. Since Grandma's passing we haven't done it very often but I insisted on it for Kaelyn and Kylie. We don't pass them out on Halloween any more but it was still tons of fun to decorate them.

Today in Primary...

we learned how to pray to Heavenly Father. We taught them the opening, "thank Thee, ask Thee" and closing parts of prayer. The kids pretty much got to say what they were thankful for during most of the lesson and then I came home and my roommate Jennifer was on the couch studying her scriptures and listening to piano church music. Well she is asleep now and the piano music has changed from church to just classical. And I was sending out my traditional weekly email and thought I'd check out blogs. While doing all of this I couldn't help but think how greatful I am that I get to have quite moments such as these. Also that email, blogs and Skype exist. I got to talk and see Sonya on Friday because of Skype. It was awesome that even though she is half a world away we could chat like always. It is amazing to me how much the Lord has given us to keep our families strong and close. And yep friends count as family for me. So I'm thankful for it all and most importantly the reason I need this technology, you my family and friends. Love you all!!

Computers are down at work.

Ok well maybe not the computer as I'm obviously using one right now. But the system I use is down so basically I can't do anything. Normally this wouldn't be so boring as everyone in has the same problem so I have a deck of cards in my desk that we can play with while we wait for IT to fix the problem. Since I'm the only one in my office using this new system I am unable to pull out the cards so I thought I'd post a blog about how boring it is to be at work and unable to work. I wonder how long it will take them to fix it.

In other news, my life is boring at the moment. I have decided that I have a lot of unfinished projects, like that cross stitch that I started 8 years ago, sitting around the house so I'm trying to finish them up. Not very social but hey stuff is getting done. I also feel less guilty while watching TV if I'm doing something.

Just Stuff

So Tuesday night a few friends went to April's concert. It was fun to be in that kind of an enviroment and hear her songs. I can't wait until her CD comes out. Probably more excited about the fact that when it does she can once again hang out and go hiking and stuff.

From left to right: Krishna, Mia, Jennifer, April, me and Jessica.

Then on Friday Jessica and I hiked Stewart Falls. I had forgoten how much up and down there is on this trail so I didn't bring my trek poles and paid for it. Well Jess more than me as I made her stop a billion times for me to catch my breath. I love that trail. I has a lot of hike through the forest, shade and grass lands. We saw two doe dear and lots of different birds. Made for a nice day.

Yeah I stopped and didn't get any closer to the upper falls.

Driving in the rain with the windows down

I am loving this summer rain. It doesn't normally rain this much in Utah but I have been loving this. I don't think I'd like it all the time but this has been nice. I once wrote a two page journal entry about how much I love rain. It tends to bring back great memories and fun times. Puddle jumping with friends, friday night football games, playing soccer and just walking in the rain and not caring that you get soaked. I love the smell of rain. My favorite rain smell is in the mountains after weeks of heat then it rains one day. I love that smell. Ever notice that everyone in parking lots and such are all running to get out of the rain. I actually walk slower in the rain enjoying it all. And yes, I drove with the windows down today while it was raining.