Baseball with the nephews

My brother Lane came down to Utah and wanted to go see the UofU vs. SDSU baseball game up at Lindquist Field in Ogden because SDSU has the best pitcher in college baseball. I met them up in Ogden and Lane promptly asked the boys if they wanted to get a hot dog with Aunt LeAnn. Sure, I'll take them to get hot dogs. We stood in line for over 40 minutes because they didn't have full concessions and they weren't prepared for the crowd. The boys actually were really good and patient despite the long wait. Lane even gathered up all of our stuff to come check on us - after watching several innings and a home run he started to wonder if something bad happened or if he was on candid camera to see how long it would take for him to go looking for his kids! I was unsuccessful in convincing them to get a hamburger instead of a hot dog because those were ready while the hot dogs were frozen. So we continued to wait. Luckily they were only $2.50 each and we still got to watch the last couple of innings! SDSU beat the UofU 11-2 and even though we weren't able to get any autographs from the pitcher or the coach Tony Gwinn after the game, it was fun just to be hanging out with the boys!

I Just Want to Fly

One of my good friends Ann (front left) wanted to go indoor skydiving for her birthday. You know that I'm always game for a good adventure so I didn't even think twice about joining the group (Darren M, Ann G, Steve G, Tracie E, and Darci A)! I was issued the bright yellow and purple L.A. Lakers jumpsuit - apparently the dark slimming jumpsuits are only available to shorter people! Indoor skydiving is quite a different experience from outdoor skydiving but ironically, our instructor Dusty was the same guy that was tandem with a friend when I went outdoor skydiving several years ago. We had two rules: 1) Chin up and 2) Hold still. If you have a neck or shoulder injury, no flying for you. If you weighed over 250 pounds, no flying for you. If you don't pay the fee, no flying for you. Luckily I was able to pass the restrictions and fly. Check out the website for a demo (http://www.iflyutah.com/). I wasn't able to get live action photos - didn't have the camera setting on "action" so they turned out kind of blurry. We did two 1 minute flight experiences and the air flow surprisingly sucked you up from the top of the tunnel room rather than blew you up from the bottom. One minute actually is a very long time when you're trying to hold still with a HUGE grin on your face while you fly. I definitely recommend this experience - it was truly a BLAST!!!

Sushi! This is the way I roll!

As my birthday treat to myself, I decided to sign up for a sushi making 101 class through the UofU Continuing Education. It was held at Orson Gygi on April 6th and it was so much fun. I learned that my mom taught me to cook rice like the sushi chef - wash and rinse the rice a few times until the water is clear and then add water by placing your hand on the flattened rice and fill up to where your wrist bends. Works great for sticky rice! I learned how to make a california roll and a spicy tuna roll. Here's some pictures of a salmon nigri and a couple of rolls I made on my own - one with crab and avocado with salmon on top and a tuna roll. I am definitely not a very good roller! But the best part of being able to eat/take home everything you made! I discovered that I really like fresh tuna! I also learned how to make various dipping sauces but I'm definitely NOT a master sushi roller! So I can't perpetuate the stereotype that all Japanese know how to make sushi! I better stick to my favorite gyoza!

Yurting is fun!

This past weekend I went on my first yurting trip. It was fantastic fun but I realized that I'm not really in good shape. I guess you have to exercise regularly to really claim to be in good shape. I snowshoed in with a few other sisters from my ward with the late departure group. So we trekked in to the yurt in the dark. The stars were incredible and even though it was kind of cold and we had to rely on our headlamps, it was so much fun. My RS President goes on several of these trips every winter but this was my first experience and I thought it was great fun. We stayed at the East Fork yurt near Evanston, Wyoming. The next day I snowshoed up to Lily Lake - some cross-country skied. Despite my blisters on my heels, my sore legs and arms, I would definitely go again. We had a really fun group - 10 women in total. We had assigned meals and carried in our own gear. At night we fluctuated between very hot sauna-like experience for those on the top bunks and freezing cold after someone didn't close the door all the way when they came back from using the outhouse. Luckily it was just one night as far as sleeping goes - but it was the first time in a very long time that I actually remembered my dreams! I only wish I had remembered to take my camera with me. Luckily I can probably get some from my friends.

First Attempt

Okay, so I'm new to this blogging stuff and have succumbed to the pressure of family and friends. Perhaps I'll make it part of my new year's resolutions! My brother recently sent a fun link to a make believe Disney announcement and I wanted to send it to my staff since one of them is going to Disneyland over Christmas but I couldn't get it to send. So I'm going to try to link it to my blog and see if they can access it from here! I hope everyone has a safe and wonderful Christmas! It's been snowing the big flakes that I LOVE in Salt Lake City! I've been dreaming of a white Christmas!