So We're 3 Months Behind - So What!

Not posting for 3 months has its benefits – I assure you. On the top of the list is fact that there's plenty to talk about, and buckets o' photos and videos to show off.

With Holly traveling back from Provo right now, I'm gonna have to wing this part. How about I try and do a top 5 list? Sweet.

(Note: this first slideshow is a set of videos, the 2nd are photos)






5 things that have happened since January. 

1.  California
Sam and Kristen are, for lack of a better term, "da bomb". Yes, and old school phrase, but true nevertheless. They rented a huge estate (much bigger and expensiver (my word) than a house) on the coast of Santa Barbara and invited us and other family to go chill for a week. It was quite amazing. Check out the photos for some cold hard proof if that. Two downers from the trip, however: 1. Sam got a tick and ended up contracting Rocky Mtn Spotted Fever -- it knocked him down to a slug for a week!  2. Holly lost her iPhone at the beach – not cool. Fortunately her bro, Jackson, was gracious enough to send her his old iPhone. It was a rough few weeks for her ... not having her Words with Friends games and all :)

2. Thailand ... again. Then San Diego.
I had to take another trip back to Bangkok at the beginning of February. In fact, it cut my time at the luxurious Santa Barbara in half. Holly dropped me off at LAX and as I walked in I saw the sign flashing "Canceled" next to my flight. Turns out someone had died on the plane that was coming to pick us up. My schedule was already so tight that I'd be arriving 5 hours before a very important pitch for some work with a client. I scrambled to find a different flight–and after a few hours finally got on one, but it was scheduled to arrived just 3 hrs before the pitch...and I'd have just traveled for 28 hours. Not cool.
I made it on time and the pitch went as well as we (me and a Thai partner) could manage with so little time to prepare. The rest of my time in Bangkok reminded me of how much more fun traveling is when you're with someone else! I managed to eke by with some stellar Lebanese food and the crazy Chatuchak weekend market.
Less than 48 hrs after my return to Logan, I had to jump back on a plane with a few co-workers to pitch to another prospective client in San Diego. The pitch went well, but jet lag had set in and I realized that I'd be a crappy traveling businessman ... at least if I had to hit opposite sides of the world on a regular basis!

3. Cabin
For my birthday, Holly arranged a surprise trip up to our friend's lush cabin in Bear Lake. She told me Friday afternoon and said we had to leave by 6pm. All the kiddies were coming along of course. One problem: there was a severe winter storm warning starting around 4pm.
Around 6pm when we decided to leave, the snow had nearly stopped and the roads seemed fine. The first half of the canyon was also perfectly fine, but suddenly the storm arrived with fury! The snow was coming down so heavily that within 10 or 15 minutes, we could barely see the road. The snow was piling up so quickly that the car tracks were disappearing at it felt like we were driving through a field of white snow ... but we knew there were steep canyon drop-offs somewhere in the whiteness. It was quite possibly the most terrifying 12 mph experience ever! At times it was a complete white-out and we had to hit the breaks because it was so disorienting. We were sure we were going to have to sleep in the car in the middle of the highway...but somehow we suddenly found ourselves at the canyon summit and made our way down very carefully. Then we turned off onto the sideroad for the cabin and just over the half way point our AWD wagon became NWD - no wheel drive! We were totally stuck! We tried for nearly 30 mins to get out, but it was useless. There was nearly a foot of new snow and slippery snowpack underneath. Suddenly a guy showed up from a cabin nearby -- he noticed us out there in the dark (fortunately!) and grabbed his snowmobile and took 5 trips the rest of the way to the cabin. That man deserves a free ticket to heaven! What a relief and blessing. We left the car right there in the road ... we had no choice.
The next day I had planned to go skiing with friends from Advent at Beaver. I was still determined to go. I packed up my stuff and started hiking the mile or two out to the highway. Holly was happy to hang at the warm, cozy cabin and wait for our friends to come later in the afternoon.
I hitchhiked to Beaver, had a killer day of deep powder and hitched back home with an old railroad worker who skis every day in the winter.
The city plow that does the backroads gave us a ticket for illegal parking -- lame! Holly contested it and we got off -- cool!
Check out the pics and videos from the cabin. We took great advantage of the snow by doing leaps and flips off the upper deck of the cabin into the mountains of snow below. Awesome and momentous birthday thanks to the oh-so-lovely Holly.

4. Provo/Orem
As you've probably noticed by many of our posts over the past year, we take quite a few jaunts down to the Provo/Orem/Alpine area. And it takes a LOT of love to get us down to such an area of Utah!
But with Sam and Kristen AND Marshall and Kristen and Rick all living down there, it's worth it. We love getting down there to chillax.

5. Drew's Birthday
Just wanted to mention that it's been 5 years since Drew died. Time passes so extraordinarily fast. Drew continues to inspire me in my life. His relaxed and animated personality, coupled with his passion for learning, music and simple honesty made him a magnet to all around him. I miss him and hope he's keeping up with the drums in a celestial band. :)

We'll try and stay a tad bit more up to date from here on!