Work Trip

About a month ago my boss asked me to book myself to attend a conference in Irvine, California for a 3 day class called "By Referral Only". I booked my flight and found that the cheapest hotel was where the class would be held because of a group discount they were offering. It was a 4-star hotel that looked amazing. They mentioned that Doug should join me and I was on it! When I approached Doug, he reminded me that he is in grad school and missing 2 full days off class wouldn't work. Well, the next week 2 of his 4 classes were cancelled. Yup, I won! I must have done something right because we bought his ticket and he joined me for the trip. The best part was going up to our hotel room on breaks or for lunch and seeing Doug there. I told him that I finally got my wish--he came to work with me.

We went to Newport Beach with Ron and John (my boss and his brother--a colleague). I couldn't help going down and putting my feet in the water while the guys just standed watching the surfer next to me.

It was a beautiful night and the water was so calm. There is something about a beach...

This is our hotel pool. Doug had it rough for 3 days--doing homework and hanging out around the pool until I got out of class.


This is on my lunch break--just chillin' by the pool. Wow...love warm weather in October. Too bad we came home to Utah Thursday night and it snowed on Saturday.

Go Utes!

Doug's sister, Jenn, is in grad school at the University of Utah and just so happens Doug and I are big Utes fans. So, Jenn has been kind enough to take us to some games this season. Doug and Jenn to the Sept 13th game against Utah State.

Then Doug and I both went to the Oregon State game--they won by a field goal with 1 second left. Still undefeated...GO UTES!!

We did it!

Doug and I started training for a half marathon and ran September 6th in Spanish Fork. It was so much fun! We met up with Doug's brother, Kyle, unexpectedly. We had no idea he would be running. Kyle is a speed demon. Doug is still fast himself though--he finished in 1 hour and 49 minutes.

I set off with a goal to finish in under 2 hours and was off to a great start. I ran the first 9 miles and was on pace with a few minutes to spare. That was until I needed a porta-potty and there was none to be found. So, yup--didn't make the 2 hour mark. That little issue cost me about 10 minutes of slow-down time. I finished in 2 hours 6 minutes. Still felt great about it though.

Doug finished before me and caught of photo of me coming down the stretch. By mile 12, I felt better about not having a porta-potty and was able to run the last mile pretty well.

Doug is hooked--he said he wants to do a marathon and run more half marathons! Woo hoo--glad I married my running partner. Now I have one for life.

Marchant Madness

Doug went up hiking with his sisters--Natalie and Jenn. Natalie's family came and they had a great time hiking to Lake Solitude and took some great photos I thought I would share. I had to work, so was unable to join them on this fun adventure.


Doug and his two of his favorite sisters, Jenn (left) and Natalie (right).

The group--Doug, Jenn, Natalie & Dave Gordon
Spencer, Amanda and Maren Gordon

Spencer found a curious pathway as they were having a picnic. He repeated his course about a dozen times!

Shamu Rocks!

Sea World had a night show called Shamu Rocks that was amazing. It's a summer show and we loved it.


Doug was feeling adventurous and suggested we go on Atlantis at night. May not sound to adventurous--except that it was freezing outside! So, I was thinking I would be miserable. But, being so adventurous together made me laugh too hard to be that cold.



The sad part about the next two photos is that we're standing in front of the ride--but you cannot see it in the photos. Just goes to show that...you had to be there.



I kept this in here because it is so funny to see my face with nothing behind me. Gotta love flash photography.

Sea World Happiness

The best way to tell this story is with lots of photos. We went to Sea World in San Diego on Monday August 11th and found this cool feeding area for the Dolphins. They had already been fed that day, so trying to get them to come play with you was difficult. We tried everything.

About 15 minutes later, we noticed that one girl was getting dolphins to come up to her over and over. We watched her closely and started doing what she did--pretending she had food and closing her fist and tapping it against her hand. The dolphin came straight over to Doug. He looked up at me and said, "This is the coolest thing I have ever done." He looked like a 6-year-old boy. It was adorable.

I tried to get a photo of him looking at me and petting the dolphin and this is the closest I have...apparently these dolpins leave when you aren't looking at them.

So, Doug had me give it a try--worked like a charm.


Look at that face of complete delight!

Notice that we were the only ones with a dolphin by us. Everyone was crowding around us to touch them. It was so fun!

Notice I never opened my fist...once I did, they swim away. So, I kept if tightly closed.

For a while...


Then it let me know that it was on to my game and spit a whole bunch of water at me! Everyone around the whole pool laughed.

Afternoon with the Kellers

Sunday afternoon, my whole family hit the road for home after the wedding. Doug and I were the only ones hanging around for a few days after. The Kellers missed their flight and we got the spend the afternoon with them. We had a great time.


I found this pink and purple house and told Ellie to take a look at it. She couldn't stop, even for a photo. She is 100% cuteness.

We posed for a quick photo before Doug took them back to the airport in our little civic to avoid a $30 taxi fare for them. I sat with all of our luggage at the park--literally sitting on it, until Doug came back. I was sitting there for 90 minutes. Got a taste of what it's like to be homeless and not leaving your stuff for fear of someone taking something. But, knowing me, I made friends...a little boy playing soccer with his grandparents, a man and his huge fluffy dog, and a lady reading a book at the beach. Never mind meeting new people.

David's Wedding

David and Chelsea were married in the Los Angeles Temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints on August 8, 2008. It was a beautiful day...and it's a good thing, because they took a very long time to come out of the temple! We were waiting and trying to entertain the kids by taking their photos. It was pretty fun. These are the Beckstrand grandchildren. We are getting really old!


We were really glad to see them come out of the temple. It was a long wait--probably almost 2 hours or so.

Look how happy they are.

It was a little crazy to see David kiss a girl--I told him when they were engaged that I had never seen his kiss a girl and he went to kiss her and I said, "no". It was pretty weird.

Nasty Hollywood

Doug has never been to Hollywood. I have been once and thought we should make a pit-stop on our way to the hotel to meet my family for David's wedding. Can I just say, they must roll out a red carpet and put a backdrop up? It's dirty and run-down. Doug was disappointed and I guess I felt justified...fame and Hollywood is definately not all it's cracked up to be.

We did find the one part I enjoyed. The Chinese Theatre. There are handprints and footprints decades old and people signed into concrete. Pretty cool. Doug and I are in front of it here in this photo.

Conference Center Rock Concert

The Conference Center in Salt Lake City was built to hold the General Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. It was also built to host concerts and uplifting music. Well, I never thought I would see grown women crying watching Donny Osmond take the stage. When he started singing "Puppy Love", I started laughing because people were trying not to scream because, "this is the conference center." They were so excited. That was the highlight of the concert for me. There were disco lights and everything--it was awesome. President Thomas S. Monson was in the front row too...giving them a standing ovation. Can you image a standing ovation from the Prophet?

Playing Dress up

We went to Wyoming and dressed up like pioneers and pulled hand carts. Just something you do everyday, right? Well, I thought it would be fun to show you how I would've looked as a pioneer (in a blouse from Target).

This is my rustic man Doug looking studly in those suspenders--I actually loved the suspenders. It made the outfit!

We did some good old fashioned square dancing with a missionary calling the moves. It was so fun! I loved it and thought it was so great to do it in my skirt and bonnet!

Our campfire to get warm--it was almost 90 degrees during the day and close to freezing at night. Talk about some crazy temperature shifts. This was only June--can't imagine what it was like coming through this area without shoes in October like some handcart pioneers did. It was amazing to think of it in my sleeping bag with socks and pants on and unable to sleep because I was too cold.


We took a hike to Martin's Cove when we had a break (just Doug and I) and saw this antelope just chillin' and not caring that we were there.


Here I am posing with me my bug spray--we carried it with us everywhere. The mosquitos were so bad. We had a great time seeing the areas where the handcart companies came through and where so many were buried. It was sad and get peaceful...they gave their all for what they knew was true. They knew they gave their lives because of their faith.

Roughin' It

After Trek, we were ready for a chill Girl's Camp. We had an intense 24 hour girl's camp at a cabin in Fairview, Utah. Everyone was up all night...except the leaders who had to be alert enough for the 1.5 hour drive home the next morning. I went to bed at 3am and woke up at 4am to "lay down the law" on the herd of buffalo I thought were running through the cabin. Those of you that know me well, know that I have never dyed my hair or done anything outrageous to it. I have always had a soft head and would cry when my mom tugged too hard to do those french braids I loved. Well, this me getting my hair ratted (is that how it is spelled) for the first time in my life and everyone called me a "cute little puppy dog". I think they thought that was a compliment.

The Young Women thought it would be so deck us out on Friday night. We were feeling ready to go out on the town and that our husbands would want to take us out! Yikes!

Is this not the craziest come-over on Dena? Those are some serious bangs she has going on!

Backpacking Adventure

Doug took me on my second ever backpacking adventure last weekend over the Fourth of July weekend to Capitol Reef National Park. He had checked the weather and made all the arrangements--mostly because I refused. I had been on Trek, and to Girl's Camp two weeks in a row. The idea of a sleeping in a sleeping bag again didn't get me excited. So, we packed up and headed south.

I have an odd-shaped head and have never found a baseball hat that fit. Well, I THOUGHT that this one fit me perfectly until I downloaded these photos to look at them. HELLO! Look at that crooked hat! Doug said he never noticed. So, every photo of me with this hat on is completely crooked...embarassing.

We set up camp only 1/2 mile in Friday night because there were some clouds threatening rain and we were about go to through a slot canyon. We made dinner and woke up the next morning to more rain clouds. We tried to wait it out with a game of uno, but by 10:30 am, we said, "forget it" to the slot canyon and hiked out to our car to try a different hike.

So, we took this hike. This was on the way to Navajo Nobbs. This was an arch in the background. The sun peaked through the clouds on this hike for about 2 hours. We loved that part!

At the top of Navajo Nobbs, we took a few photos and headed down as fast as we could--running most of the way. There were more rain clouds again and we were in some lightening and flood danger. It was a little intense, but my Doug is a mountain man. I never was really nervous because he knew what to do...my boy scout.


Us on the top of Navajo Nobbs with those clouds looming in the background.



We decided to give it another go (after spending our second night of the "backpacking" trip in a hotel outside the Park). We backpacked in 1.5 miles and set up camp. This is Doug making our dinner looking like he is doing yoga. I had been so excited to try this meal--a powdered mix with really healthy ingredients for veggie burgers. Well, I didn't get to eat them at this time. See the clouds in the distance behind Doug? About 3 minutes after I took this photo--we almost blew away with our tent and everything inside it. There were some intense gusts of wind. Mostly, we laughed our way through it. Every once in a while Doug would say, "the forecast said clear skies the whole weekend!" He was pretty bummed.

This is me trying to cheer him up as we packed up our tent and our dinner had sand all in it, so we through it in a garbage bag and headed to the campground.

We cleaned up camp the next morning and headed home...after our 2 miles of backpacking and 9 miles of hiking to Navajo Nobbs (instead of the 20 or so miles we had planned on).

Doug did like going to church, however, in this really cool OLD chapel. It was the last Sunday the people were meeting in it because they were tearing it down to build a new one. I think it was built in the 1920's.

I included this photo because I learned on this trip that Doug doesn't like it when I take photos in the car of him driving. Like his half smile? That's why.