Stressful but worth it in the end...

Well, Ben is doing amazing through his school as always but the poor boy is dealing with a lot of hard classes that seem to be getting increasingly difficult as the year comes to an end. Thank goodness the end is getting closer and closer, Ben graduates in just 6 short weeks! Then it will be both of us working and feeling like we can move past this limbo of education and questions and turn to the development of our future... whatever that may hold.

Aside from this, I must say I'm so excited that spring break is next week! This week has been terrible for Ben, he's basically been putting in over 10 hours/day at school every day. It's seriously nuts and I can see how it's wearing on him even though he tries not to show it. He still takes time out of his crazy schedule to show me that he loves me and to help me with my few chores around the house. Needless to say it'll be so nice to just leave tomorrow to Wisconsin where we can spend a week with his sister, her husband and their new baby!!! We'll finally have the time to unwind, relax and just have a good time as a family! I can't wait. Not to mention we're already planning to go to the weekly fish fry out there and have a great celebration for St. Patrick's day with corned beef and cabbage of course!!! (for those who don't know, that is basically one of my very favorite meals when it's done right and Ben and I definitely have it figured out!!!)

Hosting Nevi

So I randomly decided to enter a small essay contest on the Friends of Hu-Friedy website. Yes, that is a website for dental hygiene instruments... I'm a nerd, you all knew that already I hope, if not... well, Surprise! This essay contest was to convince them that you and your town would be a fun place for "Nevi" the stuffed scaler to come visit while on his tour of all 50 states. Well guess what... they picked me. When the package actually came, this is what I saw come out of the odd triangular-shaped box:


And apparently my assignment was to take this rather interesting stuffed scaler around Ogden with me and take as many cool pictures of/with it as I could in a week. So of course I tried, in the limited (due to family events) time that I had, to show the Hu-Friedy folk and those who happen to be following the tour on Facebook all of "Ogden's Finest". Now what would that entail when your audience is a large group of dentally minded people across the country? Well, I did my best.
I showed them my yard and how amazing the mountains are... who doesn't love mountains?!

I brought him to my dental office... duh!
I of course had to throw a bit of brand recognition in there with the set up of hu-friedy instruments.
I enlisted the assistance of my wonderfully cooperative husband.
I took him to the WSU clinic and campus... what else is little old Ogden well known for in the dental world? ...exceptionally white teeth?
The professors and staff helped out as always.

Gotta love second year students and their stressed out confidence that only comes from being about a week away from the BOARD EXAMS! Dunh Dunh Dunh!
Showed him the football stadium...

You better believe I'd throw a cheesy snowboarding picture in there with the help of our buddy Brandon.
And then, while on the outdoor adventure kick... why not throw in a fake kayaking picture that is obviously not intense nor on a river. ...especially since I myself have never actually taken this kind of kayak on any kind of moving body of water.
And there we have it, weird, but true. Yes, I did go around town with this kind of creepy looking doll under my arm a few different places. Those who know what a Nevi actually is, however, understand completely! Ta!

It's Official, I'm an aunt!!!

Today around 11:00AM, I became an aunt to a 9lb 4oz, 22 inch baby boy named Wesley! Ben and I are so excited to have a nephew for the first time ever, the only sad part is they live in Milwakee, Wisconsin. We for sure booked flights already to go out and see them!Baby Wes, it's crazy that even on his very first day he's so big and looks at least a few weeks old already!

My cute sister-in-law Jessica and her husband Mike and their new baby!

The proud dad!!!

Another family pic!

Martin Luther King Jr. Day

I'm grateful for all the work this amazing man did to extend civil rights to all American citizens and for how that changed the entire face of this country. I hope what we have done as a nation since his untimely death is enough to make him proud and still feel the impact that he has made on all of us.

On the lighter side, I'm also very glad that because of him, Ben got the day off of school to go out on a great three day weekend trip with the Outdoor Programs. He was working and therefore it wasn't all fun and games but when your job is to ensure that everyone is safe and has a good time it usually isn't too bad :)

Saturday we all woke up early, made breakfast and geared up for a great day of touring. As our usual safety regimen mandates, we skied to the bottom of the slope we were hoping to shred all day and dug a pit to test the stability of the snow. The pit showed us through both the isolated column and extended column that the snow was very weak and unstable meaning that we needed to stay on the mellow, low, protected slopes to avoid any avalanche danger.
These pictures are all out of order but here it goes:

This is the beginning of the extended column test in which we see at what force we see cracking, propagation, and eventually shearing of the snow at any weak layers.

Me, goofing off while they dig the pit...

Tim and Chase watching the digging of the pit.

This would be Ben's usual craziness, we was thinking he could jump from where he's standing (in the blue coat) onto the little jellybean snow clump in the middle of the stream. He finally decided it was a bad idea because if he missed he'd land in the stream and be soaked and it was only the first day of the trip... therefore, not worth it!

And now back to the pit, this is Phil and Eric watching the pit as well.

Mike watching while Ben and Daniel dig the pit and isolate the column.

After a huge chunk popped out on our extended column test, we felt the snow on top of the fracture line and there it was: the "surface hoar." Basically, it's like dry, crystal like, sugar snow that doesn't adhere to anything else and makes the snow unstable and quite dangerous!

Ben writing down notes about the isolated column while Daniel prepares the extended column.

And finally, the first photo, Ben and Daniel preparing the isolated column test.

On Saturday night it snowed all night and continued on through all day Sunday and into the night. Sunday we were stoked about the 12 new inches of soft but wet snow. We skinned up and out, dug a pit again (expecting it to be even more unstable than the previous day) and to our surprise it was a lot more stable. We were feeling pretty good about our route, we were on about a 28 degree slope that flattened out and became very thick with trees above us so we were set to shred. We skied the best run of the season in these soft squishy pillows of powder and it was amazing! We were so excited to do it again so we quickly changed our skis back and started skinning up the hill again. On one of the switchbacks near the top of our trail, we saw a horrifically scary sight... A huge 2-4 foot deep avalanche had ripped out about 600 yards long just to the right of our trail! We instantly switched directions and went straight down that hill and took off to go find a new slope with a different directional aspect and less risk. We went to the hill directly across the river from where the avalanche had ripped out and we saw exactly why it happened. There was a huge open narrow chute that went from the peak all the way to the river. No wonder it slid! The scary part to me was that we were just there, we skied right by it and we didn't even hear it happen!!! How do you explain that?!

It continued to snow all night until the very early AM on Monday when it changed to rain! The rain made the snow so thick and heavy that none of us even wanted to go ski so we just had breakfast, geared up and headed home. We Made it home nice and early enough to clean up, hot tub, de-rig, and still have time to enjoy the amazing sunset from our patio.

What a great weekend!!!

...And a Happy New Year!

Oh my, 2010 really did end with a bang! 2011 isn't starting out too slowly either. It was an awesome year with graduation, wedding, honeymoon, moving (to the basement, yes, but it still counts!), great parties, starting work, and awesome family and friends.

For Christmas, as usual I went with my family to Manzanillo, Mexico but this year was extra special... Ben was there! It's always just been us 4 Allens there for Christmas for the past 10 years but this year I got to bring someone (of course he had to marry in to the family in order to get the official invite:) It was so much fun to show him this place that means so much to me. He loved it to I believe. He rode with us every day and rode really well too. He joked with the cowboys and played on the beach and ran and ate delicious food and even helped me with the annual christmas puzzle! My sister and I also really loved that we were spared the cat calling and whistles when he was around making our time that much more peaceful. I didn't get as tan as I usually do down there because we really didn't take the time to lay out, instead we were playing and going constantly. We even went to the sea turtle/iguana/crocodile refuge and got to hold a baby sea turtle as well as see all different sizes of turtles and iguanas. They even had a pretty big croc! However, their croc was not quite as impressive as the 3 1/2 meter wild crocodile we saw from about 25 ft away as we rode by the lagoon. It was so crazy!!!

New years was also a blast, we stayed out partying until 3AM and we were dancing and singing and just having a great time with a room full of strangers. The next day, of course we rode again at 8AM and we were able to find 2 little branches where a bunch of butterflies were sleeping so we shook it to wake them up and it was like a slow motion explosion of fluttering colors.

On the 2nd of January we were supposed to fly home but the flight was overbooked so they bumped Ben and I until the next day. To make up for the inconvenience they put us up in a 5 star hotel, with free taxi and food and two $400.00 vouchers for future flights! Holy freakin cow what a great deal. And they flew us home first class (on the first of our 2 flights home 1st class doesn't exist... but on the 2nd it was free movies and endless drinks and pretzels in the wider comfier seats.

'Tis the Season

The weather outside has been a bit frightful so far this season but I, for one, am very grateful for it. Bad weather means fresh snow in the mountains for me to enjoy! I love the snow and I love the feeling of floating through the freshly fallen powder. We have been trying to save money by not going to the resorts and instead we "skin" up to the slopes and then after hours of leg tiring hiking we get to ski the most amazing untouched powder on the most varied terrain I have ever seen! It sure took me a long time to be okay with the hiking part but now I really am starting to love it all. Another amazing bonus is that I'm actually doing a good deal of exercise and getting stronger and healthier without really noticing it. I feel so good and I'm always ridiculously sore afterward (like today) but I am slowly getting stronger and each time I go gets that much easier.

A New Addiction... Of the Best Kind???

So my husband has recently acquired a new and rather bizarre addiction: buying me stuff, especially ski and climbing gear. In all honesty, it's the best kind of addiction for a husband to get. He's constantly trying to spoil me or buy the things we need to go out and have a ridiculous amount of fun and be safe and warm while doing so. I let him buy me a set of skis, bindings, skins, and poles that all in all would have retailed for over $700.00 but since we bought it off KSL.com and the woman really didn't know what she had since it was given to her by a friend it was only $200.00! Pretty freakin amazing! Anyway, that has instilled in him a new bug to find the best deals on all the rest of the gear we need to go skiing without the resort passes. (which actually is still turning out to be cheaper than to get a season pass for both of us and just use the skiis we already have. It's cute and funny how much I can tease him now because I can almost always catch him on the internet searching KSL for the next piece of equipment he's decided we need. He's so funny about it too. Last night, I was reading my book, waiting for him to come to bed and I asked him what he was doing. I knew he was on the computer and he knew he was busted so he said "I'm on Facebook." Which just made me bust up laughing because that is the very last site he would be on late at night. First choice would be KSL, then weather, then the daily avalanche report. Always looking for the next ski trip!!! I just love that amazing yet silly guy!

The talent of the Allen girls!

Allen girls have musical and theatrical talent, it's just in the blood. My sister got the lead parts in a lot of plays and musicals all through junior high and high school. My cousin Taun was an amazing star of the BHS drum line in her day, and now her little sister, Kirsten, is performing the lead role in the musical Hello Dolly. I, however am not to be included in this since all I ever did as far as the performing arts goes is score some great background and chorus roles. I'm not a solo girl, they had me sing a solo for one acts in high school and I nearly passed out although it didn't go as horribly as I expected I just have a very strong case of stage fright when it comes to singing. Anyway, the point of this post is to tell the world, by which I mean the few people who actually read my random banter, that my cousin is amazing! The play was great as is expected of a Bonneville High production although they don't have as strong of a chorus this year during the ensemble pieces (see, I did play a very important role!). The leads were all amazing and very energetic and in tune with the mood of their parts. My cousin as Mrs. Dolly Levi was just incredible. She was able to adapt her singing and talking voice to fit the time period the musical was set in and she was just so funny. I have been very impressed with how much my younger cousins are accomplishing nowadays. It's crazy to see her on stage in the spotlight. Go Kirsten!!!

A lighter note

We had a very good weekend! It was so much fun to play with our friends and family the entire weekend. On Saturday we went to see Inception which was a mind-blowing must-see movie. Sunday was the usual: Breakfast with Jeremiah (gourmet belgian waffles this week), followed by disc golf in Riverdale and showing JJ how to trim his hair. and then climbing at the Ramp Routes with Andy and Emily, stopping by the Bauters' house to visit and see Grandma Henderson's new 9 week old french bulldog puppy. We finished out the weekend by coming back home to let Ben study and then we cuddled up on the couch to watch a movie on Netflix.

Today I'm very excited because my Dad invited us to see my amazing cousin Kirsten perform in Bonneville High's production of Hello Dolly. She got a lead role and I'm stoked to see her!

The deeper side of things.

I watched the movie Charles Darwin: Creation today while working on my painting and christmas presents for Ben's mom. That movie was so interesting and not at all what I was expecting. I was worried that it would bash on belief in God but that's not even close to the message it was trying to send. Charles Darwin was a very smart scientist who was not trying to disprove God, in fact quite the opposite: he and his wife were a very loving, religious family. Darwin was actually quite afraid of his own research because he did not want to alter his belief in God. He also didn't want anything to damage the relationship between he and his wife. When he was working on his research he tried at every opportunity to end it and to just continue living his normal quiet life. In fact, when he finished his book "The Origin of Species" he didn't honestly know what to do with it. He wanted to have it reviewed from a more religious perspective so he gave it to his wife and said he'd do whatever she wanted him to do with it as long as she read it first. His wife was very opposed to his work as well but after reading it she said it had to be published. The struggles caused such a strain in their marriage that Charles said it may have been a mistake for them to get married in the first place. I was left in awe of her final statement: "Knowing what I know now, I'd still marry you tomorrow." They continued to be happily married through the remainder of their lives. I feel like that is the key thing to be learned from this: no matter how big the differences and struggles may be as you go throughout marriage, it can still work, and the love doesn't have to waiver. I love my husband and yes, he is very different than me, we don't always see everything in exactly the same ways but that is what makes us work. We are best friends and fit so well because of our differences and I love that he keeps me well rounded in everything by opening my eyes to another view on this same big world. With those differences also come a lot of very fundamental similarities that also help us to connect and have fun growing together every day. It doesn't matter to me whether you believe in God or not, the key is to always see the beauty in life and love and the situations that come about due to both.