So Monday, Zach and I go to the gym. He plays his basketball, I go for a swim. Instead of my usually mile straight routine I switched it up and did some sprints and even kicked a few laps. Lame. As always I get out before Zach does and go cool down while coming up with some ideas for our next website project. Zach comes out twenty minutes later and we make to leave. Just than a tall gangly fellow comes in asking for a wired magazine. We had been parousing a different magazine and replied that we had not seen a wired magazine. To which he proceeds to tell us he is a computer programmer and that "we are going to take over the world." Not finding what he was looking for he starts to leave the room and turns and blurts out "come here, let me get you guys some free stuff," striking at Zach and mine heart strings instantly. We follow him out to his bag and he pulls out some ski gogles. Holds them out to us and tells us to go put them on outside. Zach had just finished his third or fourth game of basketball and I had just swam a good distance, needless to say we were sweaty and after pointing that out to the gnarly dude he would just say, put them on, now stare into the sun. It was kinda bright. Meanwhile he goes inside the building and talks to the receptionist for about 5 seconds before coming back out. He is wearing a pair of Ray Bans and has another set of glasses on his head. Comes over and starts with how he has worked for Audi, Disney, Lamborgini, and now is the third man for Zeal Optics, something about how cool zeal optics are and then "See these ray Bans.... all crap!" and then tosses them onto the sidewalk and slides the zeal optics down over his eyes, real cool like. I pick up the Ray Bans and start checking for scratches before he asks for them back. This is were I failed. I should have remarked about how crappy they were and how I was going to give them to my cat or something. But as I was lacking in the clever at the moment I let the Ray Bans slip out of my fingers. Zach of course saw the opportunity to jump on the goggles and after some minor comments the salesman gave us an email address chicken scratched on a ripped piece of paper, we made loaded up our goggles and left. Getting back to the house we immediately did our research to find the goggles each running about 150 big ones online. I have a feeling we both made out winners of the situation. Dude won in the sense that we are now loyal promoters of Zeal Optics and their unbeatably awesome goggles. And we came out winners having walked away with some sweat new goggles that Zach and Kristy had already made plans to go get before the first snow fall. That was monday. Crazy.
Wednesday I managed to jump back in the pool and pull out a hundred laps straight. Counting laps with every breath as I was to insure accurate swimming. Its more a challenge of mind as it is of body. Around 30 thrity you go through this breathing struggles where you pull in small amounts of water that require coughing during underwater exhale. That problem runs on for about 5 laps. About lap forty you can start thinking, well if I am going to eighty I am halfway there, which is nice to consider. Fifty to sixty you consider each arm movement and reasure yourself that anything you are feeling will soon be done as you are almost to seventy. Seventy laps measures out to be a mile in a yard pool as is the usual goal. Upon reaching seventy I just made a choice to do another flip turn. Whats one more... the wall is coming up quick, time to flip, or do I stop....I will have to do another one just to get back to this side of the pool and end on an even number of laps.....flipped. Started swimming, than it came to me... whats 30 more. 30 breath... 30 ....breath....30. And so the counting down began. All the twenties took forever, the teens went quicker and bam I was done. 100 laps.
Work was slow as I search for a new web designer. No one really replies to many of my emails. Our old web designer is MIA in romania. Kinda sucks. The show must go on.
Friday night involved an interesting singles ward campout. I could go on all night, but in interest of my sleep, ill give the abreveated version.....
drive up: almost died,
food: only if its off a hot dog roaster over flame,
night hike: scaring foreigners and light time photo fun, fireside: spiritual message that led into communism jokes leading to cheesy jokes leading to everything was funny leading to a true canadian blood melting fat telling stories with fire glow lit face,
sleep: frosty starlit sleep in a happy face sleeping bag on a bright pink tarp,
breakfast: yesterdays frosted watermellon slash black bear food,
morning activities: dont matter what we play our team old men won it all,
And like that it was done. If you want the extended version, let me know.
Puerto Rico for five saturday night, doubloons please...
Sunday was nice and relaxing, got caught sleeping during priest quorum, everyone was looking at me as I was to give the closing prayer. It was a good prayer. A little linger longer and next thing you know I was wrestling in the part with the nephs. Have a good week everybody.
t.
und the motherlode of awesome old parent pictures. Motherlode studios that is. Family friend Bob Calkins has been taking pictures of my par
ents since before any of us kids came along. Each one is a classic. Especially the one of my fathers old VW bug. Only recently did I hear stories of the bug driving down main street in Placerville with its wooden bumper smoking next to the heat of the exhaust. The famous happy valley with my mother playing some kind of instrument.
Holy guacamole this took forever to get here, but here they are after two trips and copies from BYU's library a month an a half apart, from tif file to print screen function, to cropping in word to copying it into a spreadsheet, saving that as a web page, opening that and saving those as individual files in jpg form. Minus a few steps in between. Needless to say these are awesome pictures. From wence we came and where we are headed. The past holds important keys to the future.
Crazy fast trip. Nothing but good times. Only almost died three times. Once leaving Colorado, big truck getting over into the lane next to me pushing the person next to me into my lane. All good. Again while driving up to Placerville, traffic stopped and I didnt, so i went into the lane on the left side of the freeway and went up another two car lengths before stopping. No 
biggy. Lastly on 80 towards Reno, a big truck decided to get in my lane and push me off the freeway a bit. Side of the freeway dirt and little fish tailing. All good we were protected big time on that one. I had to get off and think for a second after that one. But the real f
un was had in the good company of the trip. Plenty of good music and car talk as the three almost strangers shared their love to be in California with one another for a good 8 hour drive. Maybe 9. Quick visits Friday night, a lovely lap around Natomas on bikes saturday morning followed by Placerville and Cache Calkins day. Even enjoyed a movie in the theatres with me pa. Eagle Eye, really good. Cour
se when your watching a movie next to the old man its always a blast. Late night of dominoes with comrads. Sunday church followed by the return drive back to Utah and Colorado. Awesome trip. And I turned 25 too.
Whelp I guess my summer vacation has come to a close as I have left the bustle and good times of Folsom to return to the basement of my brothers Colorado sweatshop. We came to the conclusion that in the upcoming months as the weather takes a hard turn to colder weather, our business relationship will more and more resemble that of Ebenezer Scrooge and his assistant Bob Cratchit. Only without those ridiculous accents. Sacramento was a blast. I enjoyed every minute of it. A weekend trip to Half Dome was also very thrilling. There are few places where you can find the boost that you receive from all the hikers making there way toward the top. The comradery that is found on the trail to Half Dome rivals that of Olympic events. An 85 year old gentlemen started his trek to t
he top at three am while we in our youth waited till 630 to begin our accent. His presence was a great example to all on the trail that day of a great man. And after a memorable trip to Yosemite, what better way to finish it than with a tasty burger from a locals only bar in Oakdale called Shively's. One of those places with double swinging doors and where you walk in the door and the music stops as everyone looks at you. The embarrassment was well worth it as we enjoyed the yummiest burgers and service that included the waitress/owner squeezing our own lemons into our waters. Real hometown feel to it. 
ed mini cooper that came at an enjoyably fair price for the evening. Logan and Jennilee were happy to join the ride as we enjoyed again yummy burgers from the hometown folks of Placerville (which is also my hometown). We were fortunate to have celebrity country singer Christy Riley agree to come with us as well. Who happens to be singing / competing this upcoming labor day weekend at the California state fair.
mp back into the sweatshop and working on the online projects we are trying to get started. So I drove to Salt Lake on Wednesday where I met with my parents and Sierra and Art for Arts graduation. Good family fun mixed with good food. Cant beat that. Another highlight of the weekend in Utah was working for my old roommates mechanical bull business. I went with him on two separate gigs, one was nestled in the hills behind Park City on a sprawling ranch with horses. Needless to say we were the main attraction at the event as the other inflatable fun had little to no use throughout the evening. The event was a young single adult activity for a group of lively folk out of Bountiful. The other was a birthday party in Sandy where the people were thrilled by our interaction with them and our relentlessness to keep them from staying on the bull for too long. No old people were maimed during the evening however i did manage to make a young girl cry, i mean the bull managed to make a young girl cry. The girl was however the best rider of the evening. So it was after a long eventful weekend and a random church attendance that I got back in the car and made the final leg of my journey through the night to Colorado's northern gem, Boulder.
February brought another Book of Mormon adventure as father, son(myself), and family friend David Reese, returned to supposed sight of first hill cumorah: hill vigia. Meeting each other in Los Angeles a
irport we continued on our to Mexico City, with connecting flight to Veracruz, and an hour long drive, thanks to Hertz, we found that we had traveled a considerable length into the past upon reaching destined Santiago Tuxtla. A quaint town nestled in a valley just off the gulf south of Veracruz, Santiago played home to the greatest of people; those who would gather to play instruments in the park
nightly, to those who ran hill ward for their soccer team, and to those who's utmost concern was that of the well being of their family. Surprisingly our week long trip coincided with that of their annual festival of witches and witchcraft. To which many came not to practice or participate but more so out of curiosity and good food and dance. Their were nightly performances from a wide variety of sorts. One night the whole town gathered for local performers, and the resulting show resembled that of our roadshows. It was quite entertaining however. Youth came out in their best
look and strolled the town nightly with or without the company of parents it didn't really matter. Friendly and curious people who definitely were not accustomed to seeing tourists or Americans strolling the town. Santiago's town square features the largest found Olmec head. Most famed sight near the little town is that of the waterfall used in Mel Gibson's Apocalypto. Its truly a wonder how much water is springs forth from this hill and all the surrounding areas. We
came across a doctors house that had been built near a 30 foot deep ravine was cut into the ground by a spring. He had built pools and patios to accompany a good stretch of this spring where the water would flow and fall through his pools. He even built a suspension bridge to cross the ravine that would sway and scare any who dared cross it. After a day or two getting a good understanding of roads around the hill and road up to the hill we began closer studies and began asking locals what they knew about the hill. We would then go into detail about the history that we knew of the mountain and explain that is the reason why this hill is of interest to us. 
That two civilizations battled to the death here and only one walked away. We found a small town nestled high on the hill name El Mirador, which translates to The Lookout. They told us that on clear days you were able to see the ocean a good 30 40 miles off. Locals there knew of old Olmec ruins and waterfalls that few knew of or traveled to. So we made arrangements for them to guild us to such places. Whether it be through jest or superstition they told stories of weird creatures spotted on the mountain and of caves opening up to those passing by and even told of those that had lived there before and their deep connection and understanding 
with the heavens. They were a truly humble people. They cooked on wood flame ten feet from a gas stove because any meal tastes better on flame and the gas is their for emergencies only such as the wood being wet. We arranged to eat with them and learned the traditional way of making corn tortillas by hand. And a stack of 30 or so would easily be consumed every meal. Even by hand each tortilla came out to be about the same size. And the kitchen would be ran by three generations of cooks. Grandma and grand daughter side by side in the kitchen mean
zero mistakes and knowledge is passed down the generations. Beautiful thing. In exploring the area we also came across a small village who had put common knowledge to us into sign form for all to learn as they went about daily chores or as they went to school or anywhere in the town. Signs that discouraged alcohol and tobacco while promoting good eating and exercise. Brush your teeth three times a day while others read wash your fruits and vegetables before you eat them. All home made and fashioned from wood and paint. We also found a cool spot on the side of the road that quickly became a favorite spot for finding bits and pieces of old pottery and obsidian. Upon review from experts some pieces were dated with 400 A.D., around the end of the Book of M
ormon, and others at 1000 B.C., known as Olmec or better understood as Jaredite times. We were also led to an Olmec monolith about five or so feet tall that had fallen over through the years, but once stood with a face that looked into the sun. Good eats, good times had, good practice of spanish, and good to learn more about the Book of Mormon in its homeland. Tell next time good night.
