Homemade

This past Christmas Charly built and designed something we've needed for quite awhile- a snowboard thingy majigger to hold all our stuff after we get back from a day on the mountain. We do have a place for all this stuff to go now, but it was getting rather inconvenient because we could only put our stuff away once it had dried. Basically what was happening was that we would get back from our trips and then proceed to lay out three layers of clothes, hats, gloves, goggles, and boots to dry out. Then said stuff would take up all the space in our house for the next week as we would rarely get around to putting it away. I mean, if you put it off for a couple of days, you might as well just put it off a couple of more days since you'll just have to pack it all up again for the next weekend.

Now we have the perfect place to hang our wet apparel. The bottom shelf looks a little empty right now, but I image we'll end up storing our beacons there. I'm pretty impressed and absolutely love it. Charly worked on it in his spare time for days, keeping me from going into the garage while he did and then putting it in his truck during the day when he went to work. He really did design it perfectly for our needs- from making sure that the cubbies would be the right size for the baskets to taking into account how many pairs of gloves we can go through in a day to accounting for the fact that it'd be nice to have a place to put our avy books and magazines on the side. I think we can all agree that homemade presents are some of the best ones.

Just Like that, the Weekend is Over

Did some of this:

this weekend, and I have just a few more photos to post of a sailboat we found half sunk in the Banana River while in FL. Just a quick note on how Targhee was: pretty awful. Crusty snow that previous riders had seriously chopped up. I rode a new DC board though, and I was really surprised by how well I took to it. I thought for sure it'd take me a moment to get the hang of a new board, but instead I flowed with ease as I made turns on the worst snow I've ever ridden on in my life.

Kyle and I scrambled up onto the boat while Charly manned the canoe and kayak. The water was only calf deep and it made me wish I had my 4x5 with me. Why is it that the trips to Florida that I take all my gear are the trips that I don't snap a single photo, and then the exact opposite when I only bring some gear? Anyways, that's the end of our trip to Florida...till next time.

Christmas in Florida Part 2

A photo of the fish fry we had the first night that I forgot to throw in.
The second day the boys left dark and early for a full day on the water. I vaguely remember Charly saying goodbye as I rolled over to his side of the bed. He had clearly scoped out which pillow was better and left me with the lumpy one all night. When I finally rolled out of bed, well after the sun rose, I took my kindle down to the beach and re-picked up "The Fault in Our Stars" by John Greene. After an hour my mom came down to say that she checked us out and they said we had to leave the premises. After driving around for a bit we ultimately decided to go to what was voted the nation's best beach in the early nineties for an hour and then go on a biplane ride. You guys, this beach was five feet wide and covered with seaweed. You couldn't walk down it without walking in the water to get around people who were laying out. It was easily the worst beach I have ever see with my own eyes, but I situated my bright yellow towel in the only sandy spot left and continued to read my book while my mother snorkeled.

Then we made our way back across seven mile bridge and stopped to eat at a hole in the wall cuban restaurant, something I had never had before. As we sat down my mother began to speak Spanish to the other customers who were locals and made their way in life through the fishing trade while some music played in the background. For a second, in the humid heat and laughter amongst strangers, I think I experienced what a glorified version of Cuba is like. Just a taste.

The Biplane ride was both hilarious and gorgeous. When I wasn't looking at the backs of manatees in the water and little houses on stilts from above, I was slowly sticking my head and arm out the open pit in the 200 mile per hour winds and watching my skin flubber and flabber. Just like the cartoons when the characters are falling. We finished the day off with Pina Coladas that were topped with real whip cream, strolling the dock and waiting for the men to arrive from their day on the open seas. When they did, their faces grinned easily and stories of how they staved off sea sickness and their catches moved from their lips. Nothing that I can write can correctly portray the mood I'm thinking of. It's one where everyone is at ease, laughter is flowing from person to person as we watch the Captain prepare each fish, and each of our individual cares is set aside to actually just enjoy where we are.

Happy New Years, and Here's to Puking Your Guts Out!

The actual clock striking midnight part of new year's happened just like last year. Charly and I returned home from our activities of the day, turned on some random t.v. show to await 2014 (having popped and sipped the fake bubbly hours ago), and chilled. Then I checked the time to notice a few minutes past midnight had already happened, gave Charly a kiss, finished the episode, and went to bed. You can tell we go all night;)


Charly went sledding with some friends and Joe took a digger to his hip...

Now here's the part where I tell you that I spent a chunk of time writing about us being sick and how we handle it and then our detail oriented goals that we've actually been working on for the past year and basically nothing too exciting. It was probably the longest post I had ever written, even Chuck glanced over and commented on how long it was when it was only half finished. What I did was open a window of the draft when I had only written a paragraph, then opened another window and finished it in that window where I saved it. Then exited out that window, the one paragraph window pops up, I click save because I am a save button addict, even when I don't realize what it yet is, and it deletes the rest of my post. Since I'm not writing it again, here's a recap:

We got sick, the stomach flu, and I whimpered out and got a shot of Zofran straight to the butt at Community Care, but it made me feel so much better and was so worth it.

New Years we spent with family before they drove back to California.

Our goals: Kristin- Clean eating and a more spirit conducive life. I.E., I don't wanna have to to kneel down in prayer to feel the promptings of the spirit, I want to be able to feel them whenever need be. While driving, snowboarding, or on a plane. Charly- to keep up on the Tuesday night bike rides this summer.

Christmas in Florida Part 1

These past couple of weeks/months have been a bit of a whirlwind. First of all, I graduated from BYU-I alongside my brother in law Joe. Then Charly and I headed straight to Florida the following Sunday for eight days in the warmest state of America. Seriously- it was in the high seventies and low eighties the whole time. The water was warm enough to go surfing in and our week was packed with adventures. I actually used my big fancy camera this time and so I'll be splitting this trip into two blog posts because there are just way too many photos for one.

The trip from Idaho to Florida was pretty exciting because we took a direct flight from SLC to Orlando on a brand new 737. The new plane looked fancy, came with charging outlets, usb inputs, and your own personal screen with dozens of free movies and shows, and good ones at that. The first couple of days we spent in Florida we went surfing and had our traditional bonfire on the beach, then celebrated Christmas Eve and Christmas day with family the next two days. The day after Christmas we woke up before sunrise to go meet our friends and drive five hours down to Marathon Key for a two day deep sea fishing trip. Fishing aint really my thang, so the first day my dad and I stayed on land and we went jet skiing. It was my first time and I don't know if I was all that impressed, but at least I can say I did it, and I'd be willing to do it again. I'm just surprised we got to do it at all. I didn't bring any photo i.d. and the first place we stopped at said that people under 26 needed a photo i.d. and had to take a boating test. The lady behind the desk said this was state law and that everyone around here would require the same. So we drove down the road a bit and found a place that didn't care. Hoorah!

On Christmas Eve afternoon, our neighbors came running over to tell us they had found a dead mama manatee and its baby was following it around as it floated down the canals. We quickly jumped into our kayaks/canoe and paddled over there. Charly and Kyle roped up the dead mama manatee while Jared circled the waters to make sure we didn't scare off the baby. We hoped that we could could drag the mama-tee to our dock and tie it there and that the baby would follow it. That way we wouldn't lose it while we waited for marine biologists to come rescue it. So that was our plan, and it mostly worked until the marine biologists came and said that the cute baby manatee that would swim and push itself up on top of the mama-tee was actually a small male wanting to get some action. Ha!

Ok, so that's not the most informative collection of pictures from the Keys, but there will be much more tomorrow since the first day was only a half day and I didn't dare bring my camera on the jet ski. Look at that sunset though. Pink and purple clouds billowing around the lighthouse. How can you look at it without pondering deep life thoughts and feel all sentimental nature loving ish?

Also, here are some photos of the bonfire we had: