{ Sudden Impact }

(This is not the actual truck -- it's just to aid in visualzation)

So...yesterday, my friend Dave and I went for a 22 mile (road) bike ride. Towards the end of our ride, we were on the home stretch, cruising down 900 east in Provo at about 25 miles an hour. I had just passed the BYU creamery when I realized that a truck in front of me was making a right into the BYU law library. I quickly started to slow down, which in turn quickly caused my back tire to start skidding out, and I realized there was no way I was coming to a stop before I got to that truck. Then SMACK! I had sped right past Dave (who had effectively stopped) and abruptly clobbered into the back end of the truck. I took the brunt of the blow in my left shoulder, and surprisingly (and gratefully) left the accident with no more than a sore shoulder and a small bruise on my right knee. Holy cow! My bike even sustained no injuries -- I rode it home. It was seriously a miracle.

When I got to work this morning and told all my coworkers about the accident, they started telling me all these gnarley stories about friends and family members skidding out and losing skin and flipping over cars and stuff while biking. Sick. Let me just tell you, I feel like one lucky cookie right about now. Lesson learned. No more speeding down ninth east. And no more running into cars.

{ The great glasses debate }

Who looks better in these glasses? Nicki or Scott? (This is very important).
Please state your first-impression vote in the comments section.

{ Yes Please }

As I was going through stock photos today, I deemed this the desired spot to be for the day. It got my vote for two reasons:

1. My bathing suit happens to be my favorite outfit, and
2. I am sure it is warm and beautiful there, and I would love to be somewhere warm and beautiful.

Plus, cave exploring via kayak! How fun is that?!


This one comes in a close second. Look how peaceful that looks...

{ First trip to Southern Utah }

I have lived in Utah for more than seven years and I have never been down to Southern Utah (home of Zion's National Park, Arches, Moab, etc) -- lame, I know. So, when my friend Suzanne invited me to go down for a day trip, there was no way I was missing out. We visited goblin valley (as you may recognize from the movie Galaxy Quest) and also did the Little Wild Horse/Bell Canyon hike -- an 8 mile loop that takes you through a slotted canyon. I think it was a nice little treat of a trip, and I'm looking forward to more.


Me with Goblin Valley in the background. All of those little rock formations really did look like little goblins.


A view from down among the goblins.


We did a little bit of free climbing and took this shot at the top of one of the formations we climbed.


Me and Missy hiked up pretty far. I forgot how much I love rock scrambling and climbing.




I think this shot came out sweet.


Inside the slotted canyon hike -- it was seriously so beautiful.


The narrow paths through the slotted canyon


Part of our group on the Little Wild Horse side of the loop


Ashley, Suzanne and John passing underneath me on the hike.

{ Back row in general conference }

I try to go to at least one session of the LDS General Conference each time it is held (in October and April of each year) because I figure I won't live in Utah forever and I should take advantage of being able to go while I can. This time I ended up going with my guitar-jamming friend, Jon Turner. We went to the Sunday morning session, and we got seated in the very last row of the upper most balcony in the conference center. To my astonishment, it really didn't seem that far away. And the choir still sounded beautiful. And honestly, I loved just being able to be there. What a blessing.


Me and Jon at the Sunday morning session of general conference. This is the view from the very last row in the upper balcony.

{ Festival of Colors }

Each year, the Hare Krishna temple in Spanish Fork Utah hosts a Holi Festival in the spring. The best part of the festival comes toward the end when all attendees explosively throw flour-based, brilliantly colored powders (pinks, reds, greens, blues, purples, oranges and yellows) at each other. My friend Douglas says the throwing of colors is to celebrate love and life and happiness. I say that whatever its reason, it's messy, fun, and pretty.

Hundreds of people attended this year. The colors got in my eyes, ears, and mouth, and they turned my boogers purple. The color throwing lasted about 20 minutes while people finish up using their colors. Me and my friends got hit with a lot of greens and yellows, so we looked kind of sickly in the end, but the people who got a ton of pink, red and orange looked so brilliant. Definitely amazing and definitely worth the seven dollars I spent on color-powder.


Me and Jen before the festival as we were walking up to the temple (as pictured in the background).


As the color-throwing chaos began


Me and Jen still fairly clean at the beginning


A little more powdery towards the middle of the color throwing


Legs and festively colored ground


Good friend Matt. I love the yellow on his face.


My eyes at the end. You can see that my eyes had been watering from when the powder had gotten into them.

{ Pay What You Like Restaurants }

How cool is this idea!? Looks like rather than charging set rates for meals, some restaurants are taking on the philosophy of letting patrons pay whatever amount they feel the food they consume was worth, no questions asked. In an article I was reading, one of the pay-what-you-want restaurant owners in Australia said this: "When it comes down to it, we just want to promote the very underutilized concept of trust." How rad is that! I fell in love with that phrase -- "the undertuilized concept of trust" -- and I decided I want to do more things in my life to promote this relationship of trust between me and everyone else. Just let go. Have a little faith. Sure I might get taken advantage of every now and again (as I'm sure some of the restaurant owners get stiffed by patrons who see these restaurants as a free for all) but in the end, I think the idea of people putting trust in one another will promote more good than it would produce bad. It's funny because a philosophy like this can be seen as completely foolish or completely brilliant. I choose to go with the brilliant thought :)

Here's a link to one in Salt Lake City.