Love it When Family Comes to Town

Ben n Jess and their kids came to visit from Germany for a month. We did about everything. Jet ski at Canyon Lake, watch a play at Hales, went swimming, played games, watched movies, chatted the nights away, hit a pinata, and played with nieces and nephew. A month that went by way too fast.

Devils Canyon

I've never been to this place but had some friends tell me they wanted to go. After looking on some online forums I found directions and some tidbits to help know what I was getting myself into. At the beginning all I knew was that the hike was a little over 2 miles before you got to the water falls and it was all at the bottom of a canyon in or near the river bed. Then you get to the 5 water falls, the first is about 15 feet, the second is a small pond, the 3rd is about 12 feet, the 4th is 60-70 feet and the 5th is about 40-50 feet. The hike was really hard going, not real trail, it was more of find your own route as you go whether going up/down rocks, crossing the river bed (mostly dry out river bed) or through bushes. To hike 2.2 miles it took us a good 2.5-3 hrs at a pretty good pace and little to no breaks. Along the way we made a pretty big rattle snake mad.

We finally got to the 1st waterfall which was good because we were about ready to turn around. Some jumped off the cliff others used a rope and climbed down. For the 3rd pool most didn't want to get back in the semi-cold water (the wind was blowing which made it a little colder) so Tyson and I created a zip-line so the others didn't have to get that wet. Finally we were to the 4th pool. We set-up the rope and rappelled the 60 foot fall. Unforunately the water level was not that high so the water fall was not really a waterfall. But there was a big pool at the bottom. After chillin for a bit in the 4th pool we got ready to leave but ended up having problems with the rope and at first since we couldn't climb out the only way out was to jump into the 5th pool which wasn't a good idea. After some time we found a way we could rock climb our way out back to the top of the 4th pool. Some were in bare feet and some in the group havent gone rock climbing before. Which made it very interesting.

It was a fun place to go to but for how long and hard the hike was don't think I'll be doing this one anytime soon. The scenery was gorgeous though. Didn't think I would say that while living in the desert.

Fam Campout

I haven't done one of these for a while but we as a family took a lot of family camp outs while in Utah but then life happened and we did other fun stuff. It was good to get out of the heat and enjoy nice mountain weather. Despite Walmart nor any other store (Payson doesn't know what a camping store is) having a dutch-oven.

White Germany Christmas with Ben n Jess Fam

Last minute decision and not having much time off left I left for Germany for a quick 5 day trip during the Christmas season to visit Ben n Jess and their Fam. ERSTAUNLICH!!! I had a blast, went to the Christmas market, ate Quark and many other delicious delights, played games, played house, neighborhood party, enjoyed evening conversations with each other, bought a Christmas tree in the middle of a forest (which is only a 10 min drive), ice skated, went off-roading in the snow , watched Charlies Brown Christmas with another American family, played Basketball, went to Primary, visited ruins of a castle covered in snow, Threw snow balls in the water and watched ducks, watched and joined with nieces dancing, nite tyme story - prayer - go through the days events before putting nieces to bed. You want a picture perfect feel on top of the world experience. I got it every night for those 5 days!!!

Las Vegas Trip with Fam

Knowing my family (especially Dad, Greg, & Bryan) we enjoy going to airshows. It was a fun airshow and after wards we went to see the Las Vegas Temple and went on the new Hoover Dam bridge.

Salome Jug

It was finally time to take a break. Enough with work, work, and studying. I saw a video of some of my friends going to Salome Jug and had to go, short hike with lots of water and waterfalls. Only 2.5 hrs away and after a 2 mile hike with Roosevelt Lake in view, you enter the Gorge. Once in, the only way out is back. The water was low and although it was not the most ideal time to go we still had a lot of fun. Once in the gorge, you either waded through the water, jumped rocks in the river bed and swam through the river. The video is me going down the rock slide. We saw spiders the size of a man's fist, moss everywhere, a dead dog floating in the pool below a 30' water fall. It was interesting how seeing the dead dog changed so much. When we first got in the gorge the water was not the clearest but didn't bother us. Once we saw the dog anything but clear water we tried to stay away. Our luck, we were going downstream and only at the end we saw the dog.

Asia Trip

One of my good friends takes a big trip once a year and I decided to go along this time. We flew into Singapore and went to Krabi, Cambodia, and Indonesia. In Singapore we paid to have small fish eat the dead skin off our feet. It was quite interesting. We then slept in the airport and the next morning since our first flight was canceled we took the next one but because our connecting flight only flew once a day we had to get rerouted to Bangkok and with the help of flight attendants and running with all our luggage through an entire airport we made it to our flight, good thing they held the flight for us too:) Throughout the trip it was very hot and humid but lots of fun.

Once we got to Krabi we had to take a boat and climb many many stairs up a mountain to get to our hotel. We went scuba diving (with very large jelly-fish and saw a nurse shark), road elephants, went to the market, and toured some monuments and Buddhist places.

Then it was off to Ankorwat, Cambodia to see the temples. The taxi driver we were with told us about a crocodile farm and when we got there a young girl asked if we wanted to feed the crocs. Of course we did, but what I didn't know was how. We had the choice of Duck or chicken, I chose duck because it sounded interesting but instead of getting a bucket of cut up duck meat, the young girl went and well you'll have to see the video.

Finally it was off to Bali, Indonesia. We didn't have much time there but went to a water fall and did some scuba diving.

All in all it was a fun trip.