Green Jello

Sup ya'll - so I owe you guys a report on my week in Utah. Look, I know it's "Zion" and all, but if it weren't for all you friends and family out there, I can't say there'd be much to go out there for. I guess that's a little harsh. I am pictured off-roading at one of the peaks on the point of the mountain - that was pretty cool. I have to say - the mountains were a wonder to look at. Very nice. Oh - and the whole bad Utah attitude is not serious......I mean, I heard it's great for skiing.

So I spent my first day with my old companion from the mish - Trevor, we had a gay ol' time and he showed me around his part of town. I enjoyed a scrumpcious Crown Burger, shared some laughs over Flight of the Conchords, and checked out Park City - it was fun.

Then it was off to the High Uintas for a 4 day camp/hike trip with the brothers-in-law minus Ryan plus Justin. Can't say I enjoyed that very much, seeing as my idea of camping is a place where you're not freezing wearing anything less than 5 layers, and you're not sweating profusely, sticking to the polyester sleeping bag during a night's rest. Did I mention that no one seem to bring up the fact that mosquitos are EVERYWHERE? Sure, I'm just a city-boy...I can't handle it...Well - if you don't mind hundreds of mosquitos swarming your face and flying into your eyes constantly - be my guest - you handle it. As for me and my house, we will stay away.

I did catch my first real fish though. And I say real because this was the first time I wasn't using my 2 and a half foot blue and red Snoopy fishing rod. Man those were frustrating times. Memories of caught lines, slimey worms, and zero fish. My impressions of fishing were not good. But amazingly enough, Garrett's first three casts caught fish - then it was bliss from that point on. This was my first guy...not bad for an amateur eh? I then had the pleasure of helping Garrett cut up and clean the next 20+ fish we caught the next hour and a half for dinner - delish.

I felt like a Cambodian again, eating fish right off the coals and getting to stare the little guy right in his lifeless eyes as he fed me his nutrients. (Sorry vegetarians.) Jimmy and Me. The father of the cute kids you'll see below.

I failed to mention, to make the trip even more fun, we decided to throw out this new way of hiking and go old school - no trails. Yeah - it wasn't on purpose. We got lost and ended up hiking an extra 2 hours or so up and over the mountain as oppose to around it. That took longer? You ask...Well - when it's nothing but thick brush, boggy marshes, boulders, and howling coyotes - you tend to be careful where you take your steps.

This was a cool picture of a lone tree that survived a pretty powerful avalanche - the path is pretty obvious, but I couldn't get a shot of the whole avalanche, it was at least a mile long. Sometimes I feel like this tree - standing up and fighting the forces that want to push it down - but I hold firm and true to my foundation. Okay, not really, but maybe someone out there does feel this way. Maybe we all do sometimes....

Some Utah scenery on the way to our mountain. Pretty cool.

My favorite part of the trip was coming across little lakes and ponds; places where it seemed unscathed by human contact. It was really cool to see nature just the way it was.

Upon our survival we headed up to Kaysville where Jimmy and his family live. I spent a couple of days with them. They literally are the coolest bunch of kids - their knowledge of good music is beyond 95% of the people I talk music with - and definitely of anyone within twice their age...lil' Stu on the right enjoyed The Bravery and Smashing Pumpkins not too long ago. Autographed tickets too. "Do you have Highly Suspicious?" - The first question Jonah (on the left) asked me when he saw my ipod. When I told him I didn't, he then asked if I had any My Morning Jacket. The guy was checking out my stuff. I failed miserably.

For dinner one night we had tacos. Of course, all Max wanted was the shredded cheese. Holly being a good mother made sure to feed him something a little more nutritous after we were all done. So Max had a bowl of oatmeal, as you can probably see. With a little cheese left in the bowl, I offered Max what was left, instead of putting it straight in his mouth like he had been doing all night, he decided to sprinkle it on his oatmeal. "Brrrrrrrng" So, with such limited time I wasn't able to catch up with our great friends the Stahelis and team Oyler. I was very disappointed - for some reason I thought everyone was so close - but I guess Logan and Spanish Fork are a little ways from Kaysville. I got home, and our awesome friends, the Probst family, joined us up in Chicago from Nashville. It was great - seeing as we are the only ones really far from everyone else's friends and family, it was great to have some visitors. We had to share our Wrigley Field, our Chicago style deep dish pizza, a great authentic Mexican meal in Pilsen, and everything else we love about Chicago.
Here is Jenny and Heather as we made our way to Joy-Yee down in Chinatown. Dave loved it - for good reason too, Joy-Yee is the real deal. We love Chinatown.
Thanks to Jenny's good friend, Anthony, we scored some southside tickets. The game was a blowout, but it's always fun to get out to the ballpark every summer. Thanks to the Probst for giving us a reason to get out and see the sights again - Chicago never gets old. You guys are awesome.
Well, that was our week - Heather heads out to Utah to drive with her mom out to California for the biannual family camp out. That's whats in store for us...check back in a week with new and exciting updates coming your way from the Patin Palace!