From Finding An Angel to Visiting Angel's Landing

Exactly one week ago today, I had the blessed opportunity of taking my sweetheart to the Oquirrh Mountain Temple to be sealed for time and all eternity. Words honestly cannot describe the extreme feelings of joy that were felt on that special day. To make a sacred event even more special, we were surrounded by family and friends, and that added another special spirit to it all. After being sealed on the afternoon of the 20th, we joined everyone at the C.R. Hamilton Indoor Pavilion in Riverton to enjoy a great lunch. Shortly after the luncheon we had a reception at the same location. It was so much fun to see so many familiar faces come to wish Ruth and I good luck on our new endeavors together. The next day we journeyed to Blanding for another reception. Do to a few bumps in the road we weren't able to make it to our own reception on time, so sorry to those who left before we could make it. Once again it was great to have so many people come and wish us well. We were so blessed at all the festivities of the weekend to have so many people that sacrificed their time to make it special for Ruth and I, so a big thank you to all those who contributed in any way. The weekend would have been special just given the fact that I was able to marry the greatest girl in the world, but all the volunteers helped make it memorable for everyone.

After all the festivities of the weekend were over, Ruth and I headed to Zions for our honeymoon. We had a great time of hiking, eating some first class food, relaxing, and just plain enjoying our time together. We stayed at a place called Flanigan's Inn, and it was a great choice. We were right by a shuttle stop that could take us into the park, there was a very nice restaurant on the property, and the grounds were very nice too. As far as the hiking went, we got to do a couple of fun hikes while we were there. The first day we hiked to all three of the Emerald Pools. I hate to say it, but my camera was dead on that first day, so sadly we didn't get any pictures from that. The best part of that hike though, was the awesome waterfalls. The falls at the first pool come almost right down on the trail itself, so it gives you a very refreshing boost to move onward and upward. At the second pool, we found a bunch of frogs that were cool to watch and listen too. They were really hard to spot unless you were looking really hard to find them. Ruth was great at spotting them, she had to find and point them all out to me. The third pool was nice because it had a big enough area to rest for a while and enjoy the scenery before heading back down the trail. After a fun day in the park we had a very delicious and fancy dinner at the hotel restaurant called the Spotted Dog. Hopefully Ruth won't kill me for saying this, but toward the end of our meal, we got joking around and for some reason we decided it was a good idea for me to eat the flower that was garnishing Ruths plate. As if that weren't random enough, Ruth then proceeded to ask the waiter what kind of flowers they used to garnish her plate. After learning it was an orchid, she calmly suggested that they consider using a daisy because the orchid didn't taste that good. The poor waiter didn't quite know what to say, so he sort half smiled and kindly said they were mostly just for decoration and walked away awkwardly. It was a weird but memorable way to end our "elegant" meal.
On the second day, we didn't go into the park. We stayed closer to home and explored our hotel more and the surrounding area. One of the cool aspects of our hotel was all the lizards we found, they were everywhere. After spending a really relaxing day together, we had dinner at Zions Pizza and Noodle Company. It was very good food once again, and the setting was pretty unique too. We read that the building it was in was once a mormon church. I kept wondering about the history of the building because it seemed like it would have been a very historic site, and I couldn't figure out how it changed hands and wound up being a restaurant and store. I guess if there are any readers who are history gurus, you will have to let me know about that one.
On our third and final day, we got checked out of our room and headed into the park for one last hike before heading home. We had been really trying hard to decide what we would do with our final hours in the park, and I'm still trying to figure out who stole all of our reasoning and logic, but we decided to hike Angels Landing. For those who have never heard of, or are not familiar with Angels Landing, here are a few interesting points about it. Just looking at the trail information before the hike wouldn't make it seem too difficult because it is a 5.4 mile round trip hike that should take about 4 hours. Then would learn that in about a 2.5 mile stretch, the trail rises approximately 1,500 feet, that bugger was steep. If that wasn't enough to deter us, we learned on the shuttle ride to the trail head that it was named Angels Landing by a minister because he thought it could only be accessible to angels. He could have been right. Finally, we were told by several people that this particular trail had one of the highest mortality rates. I never heard weather it was one of the highest in Utah, among national parks, in the nation, or whatever, but still.......gulp! So the first two miles of the hike consists mostly of very steep switchbacks. Sadly though, that is the easy part of the trail. The last half mile or so you have to venture out on to a very narrow ridge to reach the landing. There are chains a good portion of the way to help you either pull yourself up rock faces, or help you slide down them. Even though there were chains, it was still really nerve racking. At some points, the ridge gets down to only a few feet wide, the phrase "don't look down" took on a whole new meaning that day. We did eventually make it to the landing. I was glad we did it, and now we have the bragging rights, and we NEVER have to do that again! The only problem at that point was getting back down the trail. I was hoping for a giant escalator or an elevator once you reached the top, but there was no such luck. By this time, my nerves were shot, and my knees weren't far behind, so it took us a little longer to get down. I have decided that Ruth is part mountain goat though. If it hadn't been for me slowing her down, she would have finished the trail in half the time it took me to do it. As always after I have blabbed on for long enough, I get to the part that most people are interested in, the pictures. Enjoy:

The Grounds / Hotel

Our hotel had a cement labyrinth on top of the lookout point.

The prettiest thing I saw the whole trip, and the flower looks good too!

Home Sweet Home

Zions / Angels Landing

The blissful ignorance before the hike.

Some of the switchbacks we had to climb.

Only half a mile, that should be a piece of cake.....


THATS THE LAST HALF MILE!??!

Don't look down


Seriously, don't look down!

One view from Angels Landing


The conquerors pose!

The survivors pose.

Oops.... The Victory Kiss.... How did that get in here?


Almost halfway down...... if only we could... reach!


A proud onlooker.


Neither myself or the bagel can believe what we just endured.

Can you believe it????

One last note, today happens to be the birthday of my beautiful wife. She is so awesome and I love her very much! Thanks for being so great babe, love ya!

RING out the bells on Christmas Day

This holiday season was definitely a different, but exciting one. I was unable to go home for Christmas due to my work schedule at walmart, but I still managed to spread a little Christmas cheer. I had to work the morning of the 24th, but after my shift was over, I hopped in my car and headed north. After driving for a few hours in some pretty intense fog, I made it to the Salt Lake valley. I spent Christmas eve with Kathy. We went to dinner at Applebees, which was having a Hawaiian night. Then we went to a movie, which was surprisingly packed for a Christmas Eve. I spent the night at Kathys (Thanks again Kath) and then made my way over to the Allred home in South Jordan. There I set up a surprise scavenger hunt for Ruth with the help of her mom. Here is a picture of most of the items from the hunt.

At the final stage of the hunt, Ruth had to follow a trail of roses to the Christmas tree in her living room.

When she arrived, a very surprised Ruth found me waiting next to the tree to give her another gift.

Thats right everyone, Ruth and I are now engaged!!! Before we get too many questions about it, we know it will be in May, but we aren't sure about the exact date yet. We will let you know soon though! Here are a couple more pictures of the ring. Enjoy!


Also, here is us spreading the news!

California Getaway

Last weekend I had the opportunity of going to California with the Allred's. After tackling two tests on Friday morning, Ruth and I got in the car and headed for the airport in Las Vegas. We made pretty good time in getting to Vegas, so we had a while to wait in the airport. We were flying standby on JetBlue, so we were a little worried about making it on to the plane. Unfortunately we didn't get to sit by each other, but we both made it on the plane to Long Beach. Shortly after landing we met up with Ruth's family and enjoyed the evening with them. We got up bright and early the next morning and headed for Disneyland! Our hotel provided a shuttle to the park, so we got there just after the park opened, and it was a blast. The crowds were pretty small all morning, so we could just walk straight up to any ride and get on. It was so nice, especially considering the last time I went to Disney, we had to wait in really long lines all day. The only bump in the morning plans was that Ruth's parents weren't able to be in the park with us because they wound up going to a funeral for an uncle of Ruth's mom. They weren't planning on going, but since they were in the area when it happened, they figured they had better go. They did meet up with us in the afternoon for lunch, and then we revisited all the rides we went on in the morning and hit up a few we missed. We stayed in the park until 10:30 that night. We all had a lot of fun, but by the end of the day we were ready for some quality time with a pillow. We got up on Sunday morning with intentions of attending church, but after running into a laundry list of problems, we were too late to get there. So after getting checked out of the hotel we spent a couple of hours at the beach. Ruth's dad had to take off for a while to take Betsy and Chris to the airport, but he made it back in time to enjoy a nap on the beach. We went for a really nice mexican dinner before heading to the airport. This time the worry came for the crew heading back to Salt Lake. Their plane was really full so it was very up in the air for a while if they would make it home or not. Luckily, everyone made it on to the plane and left Ruth and I to wait for our flight back to Vegas. Our airplane had almost nobody on it, so we actually got to sit by each other on the way back. We didn't get back into Cedar City until about 2:00 in the morning. It was a short and busy trip, but it was definitely worth it. I had a blast being with Ruth away from the pressures of work and school. It was also fun getting to know Ruth's family a little better. As always, her are a few pictures. Enjoy!

Ruth at the "phone bank" at the airport.

The Allred girls at the entrance of Disneyland.

Ruth and I entering the magic kingdom.

Betsy and Chris psyched for a day with Mickey.

Taking a spin on the tea cups.

Could this be where I am from?

Ruth getting ready for Autopia.

Ruth behind the wheel.

I think Ruth may have had a little road rage?

Rachel and Hannah approach the finish line.

Chris and Betsy stuck in traffic. Crazy California drivers!

Making a big splash!

Space mountain survivors.

You never know what kind of beach bums you will find in Cali.

Watching the tide roll in.

A game or a bird trap?

It isn't a trip to the beach without making a sand castle.

So sad to head back to the real world.

Our near empty plane on the way back.

At least we got to sit by each other this time!

Targeted at Work

To the excited surprise of many walmart employees, we were given the green light to dress up for Halloween on Saturday and Sunday of this week. Not wanting to pass up on the opportunity to be my sarcastic self, I decided to dress up as a target employee. I don't think the majority of the customers I helped today even noticed, but it got a lot of good laughs out of my co-workers. I was a little worried that management might not be too excited about my idea, but I couldn't pass up the idea. So I altered my walmart badge to look like a target badge, and to make it an even bigger shot to the ribs I still left the walmart slogan on the bottom of the badge. Then I just added in a red polo to complete the look, and it made for a fun day at work. Here are a couple of pictures to show what it looked like. I thought the badge looked ok, but several people asked if it was real, so I must have done a pretty good job.

Weekend Visit

This last weekend, Ruth got to come back to Cedar City for the first time since moving home. I was super excited to be able to be with her again. Sadly, I had to work quite a bit while she was here, but we did get to spend some time together, and we did get to go on a couple adventures. Thursday night we went out to Three Peaks to roast marshmallows with some old friends. It was fun getting the crew back together to hang out for a bit. Then on Friday afternoon Ruth and I took a drive up the canyon to go to Cedar Breaks. We had been up there once before with some friends, but it was night and we couldn't really see anything. I was really glad we went back up there, because it had some really nice scenery. The view was really nice, and we even saw a little wildlife. We watched a little chipmunk for about five minutes that was just below the lookout point. Then as we were driving back down the canyon we decided to take a side road to see where it went. Just as we turned off the main road, there was just a single lamb laying on the side of the road. We knew that there were a lot of sheep raised in the area, but it was really surprising to see one all by itself that high up in the canyon. The side road adventure didn't last too long because the road dead ended at some type of utilities plant. It was a lot of fun just to get out and go enjoy some more of the area around Cedar City, and it was all made better because Ruth was with me! Well, here are a few pictures from Cedar Breaks. Enjoy!