Allison Graduates

My sister, Allison, graduated from BYU-Idaho this week so my brother, my parents, and I all went up to celebrate. She is not normally in a wheel chair but decided to try to learn how to skateboard right before we got there and broke her foot.

Among the many things we did were wander campus and put hipster glasses on a statue of Joseph Smith, eat at the Rexburg's finest restaurant--the taco bus, and deep clean Allison's apartment for her move. I also locked my keys in my car for the first time in my life which was a blast.

Montana and Back Again

My friends, the Bryner-Feltis Family, invited me up to Montana for the weekend to hit Yellowstone and the Tetons. I accepted.

We met up at Grandparent's house in Bozeman, Montana. It was a great little area that I'm sure would be considerably less great in the Winter. After a late breakfast I sat on the porch and contemplated retirement while we waited for the rest of our party to arrive from Billings.

When they arrived we headed into Yellowstone and found a great little section of a river where everyone was swimming. Many people were fighting the rapids upstream in order to float down the quick waters. It was reasonably deep which made this possible but incredibly frightening to do with two small children. We did it anyway--the kids did fine in their life jackets but Jon and I almost drowned as we swam with him. It was a blast.

We hit some hot pots after  as well as Old Faithful (which was as impressive as I hoped) and we had dinner at the cafeteria overlooking the geyser. We then headed into Jackson Hole for supper and ice cream before driving to Teton Village to check into our Hostel.

This was the coolest place to sleep.

There was a great common area for everyone to hang out in since the rooms were so sparse and there was even pets wandering around. It was refreshing to stay in a place with such personality. There were even signatures on the wall in the common room dating back to the 60s.

The next day we headed into Grand Teton National Park and instantly saw a bear some thirty feet from the road which of course everyone got out of their cars to look. The kids really wanted to swim so we drove to Lake Jenny and waded around a peninsula while skipping rocks.

We wanted to be back in Provo by dinner so said farewell to the great West and headed home. The little computer told us there were three possible ways to get home with minutes difference in travel time so we took the back roads. It was such a long drive.

Thanks Bryner-Feltis Family  for inviting me and for taking pictures. Most of the above pictures were taken by them.

Maeser Patriotism

Its a running joke how much I love living in Provo--especially the neighborhood I'm in. The walkability and community cohesiveness has made for a living experience so grand that if possible I would be glad to settle here permanently. An example of how great the neighborhood is comes every Independence Day (or days really).

The night before July 4, we neighborhood closes down the street I live on for a massive block party. The party includes food, games, and dancing under the glow of fireworks. The whole neighborhood turns out including people who have since moved away. My dear friends from Pittsburgh, the Bryner-Feltis family, even flew out because you simply do not want to miss it.

Losing the balloon toss.

On the actual day of Independence, Provo has a great parade. It's so great that you have to start saving your seats prior to the Sunrise. I drew the short straw this year and woke up at four in the morning with my friend Miffy to save the park strip outside my friends' house. While it was tiring it was worth the effort of getting a nice shady spot.

The rest of the Fourth includes neighbor provided free scones with honey butter (tips appreciated) and all you can eat watermelon. Usually there is a nap somewhere in there along with dinner at the carnival just two blocks away. We end the night watching the fireworks from Stadium of Fire to which our street gives a perfectly straight view.

I've never known this holiday to be so wonderful--now I live for it.

Bike Woes

Last week I was riding my cousin's bike to my calling when I looked down to see that the once faint crack in the frame had grown considerably. I told myself that I should probably check that out once I got home. After I finished with my appointments I headed home and humored the idea of the bike falling apart as I rode it.

Then it fall apart.

The bike collapsed on itself. I skillfully pulled off a sweet roll which kept (in order of importance) my clothes and body unscathed. My friend Courtney was driving by just as it happened and after she flipped around she rolled down her window and we shared the moment of astonishment at what just went down. I folded the bike in half and she drove me home.

My cousin didn't want the corpse so I was going to donate it for parts when my friend asked for them and in exchange he equipped me with a brand new (used) bike. There are a couple things I need to fix but it's a beauty. Her name is Brittany (so the stickers on the bike tell me).

I need a bell.

Bob Ross

The above is my attempt at following a Bob Ross video at a Home Evening activity. Each of us were armed with a set of dollar-store water colors and the goal was to find the "Joy of Painting" through Bob's hypnotic voice. It was quite shocking then when he started speaking Swedish and we realized that the plan wouldn't work. Instead we found clips of his show on YouTube and tried to follow along as best we could. This is the clip I expanded on:

The clip ends after three minutes but I got that there are trees and (if the title is to be believed) a pond somewhere. I'm okay with my results. Sorry to would be art collectors; I've already given the original to my nine-year-old neighbor.

Yard Projects

In the home where I live I do some work on the yard. Recently we have been working on the north-west corner. This is our progress thus-far.

Provo had a historic home tour this past weekend. While it was cool to see the old houses what I really noticed is how my experience working on houses has changed how I look at the bones. Last night I was on a date and as she showed me her house I was going over in my mind how I would update it and show up the great 60s architecture.

The summer heat is kicking in but its still that perfect temperature where its hot enough to feel lazy and tired but not enough to be uncomfortable. This has resulted in many naps on the front porch including one today that lasted about three hours.

I made cookies tonight--ginger molasses. They were for a ward activity so I put brandy in them.

I'm going to bed (and in September I'll be going to Comic-Con)

Escape from Alcatraz

Daily Herald

In order to commemorate the start of direct flights to San Francisco, Provo had a small contest to win a free weekend on Fisherman's Warf called "Escape From Alcatraz." The event was simple--be one of the first fifty people there and you get a key and of all the keys given out one would unlock a "prison door" which held the prize. Furthermore, if you dressed up like a prisoner, fisherman, or trolley car operator you would get an extra key and thus an extra chance. You had to come to the event packed though since if you won you would be boarding the flight just an hour or so later.

Instagram: @ProvoMayor (I'm easy to spot)

Naturally I told my boss that I would be at work late and possibly not at all. My cousin already had a prisoner outfit from Halloween a few years ago so I figured it was worth a shot.

I was nervous about how many people would show up and eventually decided that showing up two hours early would be sufficient to make sure I was in the first fifty. Sure enough it was, in fact we didn't fill to fifty until maybe thirty minutes before the drawing.

I was the most theatrically dressed attendee which had its perks. I was able to chat with Mayor John Curtis, the new Miss Provo, and three different journalists which means once again I got a quote in the Daily Herald.

Christian Otting, of Provo, came to the contest dressed in a full-length black and white striped prisoner's costume, excited about the chance to win the tickets. "Any excuse to dress up in public is valid by me," Otting said. "And I love Provo and participating in Provo events."

Instagram: @HeraldExtra

I even scored a TV interview but it was just for the city channel which means no one will ever see it. If they post it online I'll throw it on here. They kept asking me where my partner was since the grand prize was two tickets but I had to tell them all my friends were lame and weren't able to schedule their weekend around maybe going to San Francisco.

Ultimately the only thing I won was a pen from KSL but it was a lot of fun and its always nice to make the newspaper.