Don't Reach!

During our recent family trip to New York, we stayed a few days in Rochester. Our first full day there, all the boys went fishing on Lake Ontario. It was fun catching a fish 10 times the size of anything I have caught before, but the real fun was Captain Len. We got an early start and as soon as we had a fish on the line, Len jumped into action.


As it turns out, there are a set of unwritten rules when charter fishing. Somehow, each of us managed to break one or more of these rules. When that happened the captain was not happy and he made no effort to hide it. Well, it turns out that my offense was reaching. Yes, I reached. I can hear the collective gasp of all you experienced fishers, and I bow my head in shame.


Obviously, Captain Len was emphasizing the importance of this rule when he put the above picture on his website. I was working the net on a catch and I made the fatal error of reaching for the fish with the net. Len, screamed: "DON'T REACH! DON'T REACH!!!" and quickly snatched the net from my hands and proceeded to reach over the boat for the fish. I am obviously new at this since I noticed no difference in our net handling. After the trip was over, Len apologized to my Dad for getting a little upset with us, so I have to give him credit for that. So if you find yourself in Rochester, look up Captain Len of Bullseye Charter Fishing, you are guaranteed a good time.

The End of Summer

The end of Summer is upon us and we are scrambling to pack in as much fun as we can. Kate and I both start school tomorrow, so today we went tubing down the Provo River as our last hurrah. We went biking Saturday and had a fun time running over the helpless pedestrians perusing up the Provo River Trail. We've had a fun summer and although it is never easy to settle back into a "normal" schedule, we are ready to hit the books and all that good stuff. Besides, fall is a really nice time of year. Here are some pictures of recent summer events:

Camp Mia Shalom

Making Happy Factory Toys

The Girl's Camp crew

Ariel view of Lake Powell

A run down the famous Lake Powell Slide


Landing with no injuries!


Bike ride up to Vivian Park


Before entering the frigid waters of the Provo River

Tubing was a lot of fun, until we got to the end and I realized that I didn't bring my keys with me. Luckily, a nice fisherman took me up to the top of the river while Kate patiently waited at the car.

Ice Cream Man and Scientist

Ok, so here is another story from my childhood. For those of you unfamiliar with this classic, most of you are Kate's family, enjoy.
If you ever talk to one of my siblings or parents and ask them what I wanted to be when I grew up, they will all give you the exact same answer: "An ice cream man and a scientist." Now, the scientist part can be explained. Back in my early years I was a regular viewer of Mr. Wizard's World on nickelodeon. Mr. Wizard was a sort of prelude to Bill Nye the Science Guy. Through his many experiments using ordinary household items, Mr. Wizard helped me develop a great interest in the laws of nature and the way things work. So, being a scientist was a natural choice for me.


My desire to be an ice cream man is not as clear-cut as the scientist part. I don't recall any particular catalyst that made me want to pursue a career in frozen dairy sales, other than the obvious perk of having ice cream available to me at any moment. But regardless, I was adamant that I would be an ice cream man in the summer, and a scientist in the winter. Currently, I am not really shooting for either career, but it still sounds like a lot of fun. I think the picture at the top pretty much sums it up.

About Kate

Kate is gone to Girl's Camp for the week, without a computer or phone, so now is the perfect time to do a post all about her. In typical bachelor style, I have not been eating well and the house is a mess, making her absence even more obvious. Anyways, Here are some pictures and details about Kate that some of you may not know.

Kate used to be an avid traveler, until she got married. Her dad works for Skywest and the flying benefits allowed them to travel all over the world. The picture above was taken in Krabi, Thailand with Laura the resident elephant at the hotel. When she married me, her flying benefits were terminated.

Kate is the only person in my family, besides Arie, that never knew Domino, our immortal Labrador. Kate also dislikes cats, so it goes without saying that she was not too pleased with my kitty cat dance post earlier this month.

Kate is hilarious. I would have to say that 99% of what makes me laugh each day is attributable to her. She cracks me up like nobody else.

Kate loves to camp. This comes in handy because she is camping all this week. This is a picture of her at the Johnson Family reunion a few weeks after our wedding. If we could, we would go camping a lot more since we have such amazing mountains right in our back yard.

Kate is an academic whiz kid. She earned straight A's through high school and was a regional sterling scholar. She spent a year on the exec council at Dixie College, was voted outstanding freshman of the year, and through scholarships she never had to pay for any of her college costs. Ok, I am bragging, I know.

And finally, Kate is a Skier, not a snowboarder. She refuses to strap on a board and see what it's like, but we get along despite this. As a bonus, you can see that she also has a pretty good scowl.

Moab + Scouts + July + Bikes = ?

For scout camp this year we went mountain biking in Moab. This was my first visit to the area and I was pretty impressed.


I was ready for a disappointment when we hiked up to delicate arch. I mean, it's just an arch. Anyways, I was totally amazed. Pictures do not do this place justice, it is just incredible.

The Gemini Bridges trail was pretty much all downhill, so it was a lot of fun. The bridges are pretty cool too.


Slickrock was a lot harder than I thought it would be. Up and down and up and down, over and over for 12 miles I think. It was a fun, hard ride.

This is Dead Horse Point, famous because it was used as a natural corral back in the wild west days.

The trip was a success, only a few of us were injured at all and even those were minor. I think we will go the more traditional route for scout camp next year, but this was a pretty fun alternative camp.

Kitty Cat Dance

This video has been around for awhile, but it still cracks me up.

Welcome Home

Spencer returned from his mission in Singapore last night so Kate and I surprised him at the Salt Lake airport. He was connecting to a flight to St. George so, with Jim's help, we were able to see him as he got off the plane. He was pretty confused, but considering the 2 days of traveling and 2 years away, he did pretty well.