Thanksgiving 2013 and 10 Year Reunion

Ryan and I had a really great time visiting family and friends in Ohio last month.

Our friend Jaron picked us up and dropped us off at the Salt Lake airport.  We had a connection in O'Hare.  We landed in some bad water in Pittsburgh, but we were glad to hope into a warm car with my mom and Greg, who picked us up.  They even had Antones salads and no-bake cookies for us for the way home!

The next morning we had a nice breakfast with my grandparents before driving out to see Baba in Niles.  We had lunch at Panera before meeting Ryan's dad at a cemetery (strange, I know) so that he could take Ryan back up to Gates Mills.  My mom, Greg, and I had dinner at a new sushi buffet in Boardman.  It was really good, I'd go back. I tried to review it in TripAdvisor but couldn't find the listing.

The next day was Thanksgiving.  We all gathered at Aunt Cindy's house (except for Ryan) and enjoyed a delicious turkey dinner complete with creme brûlée for dessert.  She even had s'mores martinis.

Friday my mom had to work, so Greg and I hung out, and he dropped me off at Gabriel Brothers so I could buy some workout clothes and new Zumba shoes while he went to a fish store.

I started getting ready for my reunion when we got home.  Callie's mom picked me up, we picked Callie up and then there we were at the Holliday in Boardman.  It was surreal at first.  He are all these people I see on Facebook all the time, except now they are breathing and moving.

It was really fun.  Everyone was really nice and it didn't feel clique-y at all.  Dinner was fun.  No one really danced, but it was ok.  It was fun to reconnect with people who rode my bus, had lockers near mine, and were in my homeroom.

We went to "The Pour House" in Canfield and then to Stonebridge to continue the party.  I didn't get home tip 3 am!  I haven't been out that late since undergrad.  I switched to water early in the evening so I woke up feeling fine, but due to shouting over crowds and music all night, my voice sounded like I was lake for my nebulizer treatment.

Later that morning, Greg dropped me off halfway to Gates Mills, where Ryan and his Dad met us.  We had fun playing with Josh, catching up with Nicole and Scott, and spending time with his parents and grandmother.  We had a really good dinner with cherries jubilee (my favorite) for dessert.  It was a short stay, we left Sunday morning for Canfield, as our flight back to Salt Lake was Monday.  Ryans Dad dropped us off while on his was to take Ryan's grandma back to Pennsylvania.

We had deer meat for dinner with my parents, and taught Greg a few things about YouTube before it was already time to leave.  It went really fast, and it made us wish we were coming back for Christmas.  Thanks for a wonderful stay, Fam!  And thanks to Ryan's friend Russell for picking us up when we landed in SLC.

Snow

A few weeks ago Ryan and I rented some skiis for the season.  The weekend before last we took them out for a spin.  We met Brian, another resident from the GPR program, at Brighton.  He is a pretty advanced skiier, but he hung out on the beginner hill with us for a while.

We did alright.  I had skied a couple of times as a middle schooler, and Ryan had snowboard experience. My hips were sore the next day.

The following weekend we had a chance to get some Pho soup and vermicilli at Oh Mai Vietnamese restaurant in Holladay.  We also used our ice skating Groupon, and skiied our first time at SOlitude Resort.  We met up with Brian again, and Ryan somehow became a much better skier since last time.  He and Brian felt very confident on a steeper, longer run.  I, on the other hand, wiped out and got a mouthful of snow on our first time down.  After that I tried a couple more times but never felt quite comfortable.

I went back to the bunny hill while he and Brian went on the steeper one a few more times.

It was an ultra-short week this week.  We both worked on Monday, and on Tuesday (after Zumba and breakfast at the waffle joint) Jaron picked us up and dropped us off at the airport for our flight home.

It feels great to be back in Ohio for Thanksgiving!

A fun Utah weekend

Last weekend Ryan and I used a gift card that my parents sent him for his birthday to go to our favorite restaurant - Mazza.  We hadn't been there since moving here when we went with our parents.

We ordered hot tea and hummus, a pureed lava bean dish, a fattosh salad, and a a delicious dip made with pomegranate.  We finished it off with some baklava for dessert - it was so good!  And we have enough left on the gift card for another meal :)

The next morning we woke up to snow covered mountains.  Its really neat to watch the Wasatch as the weather gets cooler.  There will be snow all the way down to the homes on the foot of the mountains, but the snow line will be way up at the up by afternoon.

Sunday morning it was really, really snowy up there so we decided to drive up into the canyon and hike around a bit.  We brought our travel mugs with tea and went up a mile or so on a snowy trail.  it felt like a holiday card!  We were the first ones on the trail as evidenced by no other footprints.

That evening we went to a painting class at The Paint Mixer in Sugarhouse.  We (and a group of children) followed the instructor as we painted pictures of dogs sitting down and looking off into the distance.  They both came out really good!  I was impressed with Ryan's first painting attempt.

It was a fun weekend  In the next couple of weeks we are going to ice skating at the Olympic rink!

San Rafael and Green River

Ryan and I decided a while back to take a trip to Zion National Park. the weekend of October 12.

Well the government really put the kibosh on that one.  We headed to the San Rafael Swell near Green River, Utah instead.  *Note: Utah opened it's national parks that Friday, but it was a little too late at that point.

We stayed at Robbers Roost Motel, and ate at the dinky restaurants in Green River.  We bought a watermelon from a stand near a gas station.  It so happens that Green River is known for their watermelons.  It was really good!  We used Ryan's pocket knife to cut off the top and ate from the melon like a bowl, finishing it by Sunday.  We had dry bison burgers at the "Tamarisk" restaurant a few blocks from our motel.

The highlight of the trip was canyoneering in Little Wild Horse Canyon.

We had to take off our socks and shoes at a few places and wade through some pools of muddy water.  It was a long canyon and actually looped through a second one.  I really enjoyed it.  It was challenging, but it was also fun so that you forgot you were working hard.

We stopped at Goblin Valley State Park and walked around the "Goblins" for a while.  This was about a week before the now infamous video of those guys pushing over a rock formation came out.  I will say, some of those rocks look like they are about to fall, but it also looked like those guys had to put a lot of effort into pushing that one over.  Anyway...

We hiked "Crack Canyon" on Sunday and drove back to Salt Lake Sunday.  It was a really long drive back because we took a detour though now-open Capital Reef National Park.  By the time we got there we were parked-out and just bought our magnet at the gift shop and headed on.

We stopped in Bicknell to attempt and sweet-talk a few piece of pie out of a diner/motel that is closed on Sundays, but we couldn't find any employees.

By the time we got to the city we were starving as it was 8pm.  We stopped in Provo, but everything but Applebees-type joints were closed.  We ended up at the Belgian Waffle and Omelette Inn - the 24 breakfast joint right by our apartment.  It was really good and hit the spot.

The pictures of Ryan haven't been uploaded to the computer yet, but here are a few of me:

uh oh...

Almost knee deep in cold muddy water

Goblin Valley

Belated anniversary weekend

Since we weren't together on the actual day of our anniversary, we decided to celebrate this weekend. Saturday we had pancakes at home and cleaned the whole apartment and I think we finally got some mysterious spots off of the carpet. 

We went to Sports Den and rented some skis for winter. They were a good price! And now we just have to find the best price on a pass. We walked the pipeline trail in Mill Creek afterwards. It was pretty crowded due to the nice weather and changing colors. 

When we got home I carved a pumpkin while Ryan made dinner. Then we (he) watched the Buckeye game and went to bed. 

This morning we used our gift card from Mom and Dad Williams to go to The Foundry Grill for brunch at the Sundance resort. 

Wow. The Foundry did not disappoint. The spread was full of delicious offerings. We enjoyed smoked salmon, huevos rancheros, french toast, pancakes, bacon, sausage, potatoes, veggies, beet salad, granola, berry crisp, bread pudding, cheeses, olives, salads, and that wasn't even everything!  We really enjoyed it. We are going to go back maybe in the spring some time. 

We drove the scenic route home through really nice aspen changing colors. Then we did some grocery shopping, went on a small hike, and now we are in for the night. Really great weekend. 

The Foundry

Egor the pumpkin

Aspen grove

Passed this sign on the way out :-/

Our rentals

Weekend Trip to Yellowstone and Tetons

Last weekend Ryan came home from Blanding and we almost immediately headed up to Yellowstone National Park.

We headed out on Friday morning and realized that we forgot our french press to make coffee.  We stopped at a Marshall's about an hour away and bought a personal sized one so we could have our coffee in the mornings.

We stopped again in Pocatello, ID for lunch.  TripAdvisors number one pick was closed, so we ended up at Cafe Rio. It was kind of a clown show and the staff didn't really know what they were doing.  I ended up getting my salad for free because they overcharged me for it initially (all I wanted was for them to fix the price, but they just took it off completely).

We finally were almost to the park.  On one of the final stretches of road before reaching West Yellowstone, we went over a small bridge and Ryan notices two moose in the water.  We turned around and went back to get some pictures, a few other cars did the same thing.  We werent even in the park yet and already saw two moose!

Can you spot the moose?

We drove into the park to our campsite.  Yes you read that correctly.  The lady at the check in desk said "Oh you're brave" when we said no RV, just a tent.  There turned out to be lots of other tent campers, but ours looked like the smallest one.

We set up our tent and and some chili that I had made the night before.  We cooked some vermicelli rice noodles in Ryan's jet boil to have with it.  We ate at the picnic table by our tent.  Ryan very considerately requested the site closest to the bathroom, it was also convenient for getting water for cooking.  

Our tent

We had a little daylight left so we went to Artist's Paint Pots trail.  Its a short loop through some really neat geysers, fumaroles, and a really neat mudpot.  The whole area is steaming and smokey looking.   

A mudpot

We came back, layered up, and got ready for bed.  Here is something I learned:  Do not being a memory foam pillow to camp when the forecast is 22 degrees.  My pillow was like a block of wood.  Luckily I had a small travel pillow in the car.  Anyway, we got into the tent and Ryan helped me get zipped up into our mummy style sleeping bags.  

I found the whole process of getting in and getting comfortable very cumbersome.  It was like a scene out of a movie.  Ryan is laying back all nestled in and reading a book.  I am squirming around trying to get an arm free to reach my water, then being unable to get my arm back in through the tiny face hole, while wriggling and making plenty of annoyed noises.

A few minutes after we go to sleep I hear Ryan said "I think I'm losing air."  I try to plug my nose, but can't get my elbow bent that far.  Just kidding.  He was losing air in his sleeping pad.

I laid in my sleeping bag half-trapped and half not wanting to go out in the cold while Ryan went tent-to-tent asking for duct tape.  He found a piece that patched the hole and we went to bed.  He later said the fix only lasted an hour or two before he was on the ground again.

Not our best night's sleep.  We were up at 6 making breakfast and coffee as the sun came up.  It was so cold that our mugs and the french press were freezing cold.  We had to boil water in Ryan's jet-boil.  Over.  And Over.  The thing barely makes a cup of water at a time and it takes a good 10 minutes to boil it.  Eventually we had our coffee and oatmeal. 

Still dark starting breakfast

We drove all around the park.  The terraces at Mammoth Hot Springs were really colorful and steamy.  We saw elk right near the parking lot.  After that we headed into Lamar Valley.  It had really pretty views especially since the leaves were changing.  We saw a pronghorn, a marmot, and a bunch of bison.

Mammoth Hot Springs

Lamar Valley

We had lunch in the car in Lamar Valley.  We made sandwiches and had some tortilla chips.  On our way to "The Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone" we saw a bunch of cars backed up.  Usually this means a wildlife sighting.  We asked a guy walking by what was up, and he said there was a grizzly ahead.  We didn't see it front he road, but we parked down a ways and walked back to the crowd.

We got a great view of the bear when we walked back.  It crossed the street right in front of us and up a hill past the "grizzly lake" sign.  

Bear Crossing

Earlier in the day we saw an osprey in the trees near a river, and a black bear cub climbing up a hill near the road.

We stopped at Yellowstone's Grand Canyon for a look at the falls before heading out of the park to West Yellowstone.

We decided that we'd had enough of the tent situation.  Since our internet service wasn't very good, we called my mom to book a hotel for us after finding on online.  What a life saver!  We had some bison burgers at a cafe across the street, then enjoyed a hot shower and great night's sleep at the Stagecoach Inn.

The lower falls

The next morning was rainy and cold.  We headed back into the park and toured around some really neat hydrothermal features.  The hot springs are really pretty shades of blue.

Hot spring

We had a really neat view of bison grazing in front of a large hot spring and around several steam vents.  Afterwards we headed to Old Faithful.  She wasn't due to erupt for another hour, so we had some tea and cookies in the lodge while we waited.  

Ryan braved the cold and stood outside waiting, while I watched from the visitors center.  It was really neat to see, and the predicted time was really close.  

Old Faithful

After Old Faithful we headed out of Yellowstone and on to Grand Teton National Park.  We didn't get a very good view of the Tetons due to the weather.  Our cabin was in Driggs, Idaho.  It was really cozy and we had a tiny kitchen area where we heated our frozen veggie burgers and boiled some potato.  

The next morning was a little nicer and we headed back into the park.  We walked around Jenny Lake for a while and the weather cleared a little more.  We had a great view of a rainbow over the lake.  On our way back to the parking lot some deer crossed our path.

On our way back to the cabin we stopped in Jackson Hole, WY for some ice cream.  We also stopped in a thrift store and bought a pair of ski pants and a ski mask for me.  

More veggie burgers and a "Breaking Bad" finale later, we were in bed.  

The next morning we headed home just after hearing that the government shut down and all National Parks were closed.  We just made it!  

We had a really good time.  I can see why Yellowstone is such a popular park.  We didn't have the best weather for either one, but they are both really beautiful and we highly recommend them!

 

Not so Bland in Blanding

On Thursday after work I headed down to Blanding in southern Utah to reunite with Ryan. He is down there for the whole month of September on a clinic rotation. Thursday was the day after our 3 year anniversary, so at least we got to see each other within 24 hours of the day :)

The drive is about 5 hours. It took me a little longer because of lots of construction and a little rain along the way. The drive was so scenic, sweeping views of mountains, plateaus, mono lines, mesas, buttes, spires... Rock changing from gray to brown to orange and red. 

I was so happy to pull into the driveway of Ryan's home for the month. It's a 70s style brick home with a garden kept by the neighbors who live in the basement-turned-apartment. Ryan had dinner ready which was great because I was starving. 

We didn't do much else that night, but got up early to head to some petroglyphs and then onto Monument Valley. We stopped for breakfast at a coffee shop in Bluff. This is the landscape I've wanted to see in person ever since enjoying Wile E. Coyote chase the roadrunner all around the buttes and mesas of the southwest. We put the Fit to the test, and thankfully it made it all around the unimproved road through Monument Valley. 

Goosenecks State Park also had a really neat lookout into one of the worlds "best examples of an entrenched meander" according to the sign. It was one of my favorite lookouts.   

We had some ice cream that evening and watched a thunderstorm for a while before starting one of the puzzles in the apartment. 

Saturdays plans were changed a little due to Friday nights rain closing some trails. We headed to the House on Fire ruins which has us repeatedly crossing a stream using stepping stones we threw in ourselves. 

Ryan even took his socks off at one point in anticipation of me going ankle deep in water. He was going to give me his socks to change into. Fortunately it wasn't necessary and we both made it across each time. 

We drove through natural bridges monument and enjoyed more scenery before heading back in. 

We made popcorn and brought it with us to watch another storm. Afterwards we finished the 500 piece puzzle (one piece missing of course) and went to bed. 

Sunday morning after breakfast I followed Ryan in my car to Arches National Park. Time flew as we hiked around a bit looking at all the rock formations.

Soon it was time to head out of the park for lunch. We had some soup and wraps at a small cafe in Moab before we parted ways and I began the (now an hour shorter) drive home. I got a few new reviews done for TripAdvisor and some neat pictures of our adventures. 

It was a really nice weekend, hard to see it end!

Coffee shop breakfast

Arches national park

Over 500 pieces!

Thunder storm

House on fire

Arches

And there I saw a field of cans...

September is the month in which Ryan was assigned to go down to Blanding, Utah and work in a community health clinic.  He will be there the whole month, and I plan on visiting him next weekend.  

It worked out alright, because I came home to Canfield to spend time with family and celebrate my grandparents' 60th wedding anniversary. 

I flew home with my iPod full of new music and my carry on full of more clothing than necessary.  I left my car at long term parking.  Thankfully the Salt Lake airport and the Denver airport both have free wifi, so I was kept occupied during my layover.  Southwest also had a promo going with a cable company and I was able to watch live tv on the iPad without purchasing the in-flight wifi. 

I was kind of strange being alone in the airport.  I'm used to being with Ryan so that oner of us can watch bags while the other one uses the restroom, I had to keep lugging all my stuff in there with me. 

I arrived in Pittsburgh around 11:30pm and my mom and Greg were there to pick me up.  Complete with White House Fruit Farm peaches and no-bake cookies in the back seat for me.

The next day we had breakfast at home and met Aunt Noreen and Jen at the fair.  Mom and I got a caricature drawn while we waited for them to arrive.  It was fun, but the drawing ended up looking pretty generic.  We walked around with them, took a few pictures, Jen had some nachos, and I got an Antone's salad.  It was nice to be at the fair, as its been about 5 years since I've gone.  

Saturday was the anniversary dinner at The Lake Club, aunt Noreen's boyfriend is a member. It was a really nice dinner. We had a long table with a nice view, there was a large floral display in the middle of the table, biscotti favors, and a pretty cake.  I even (barely) got everyone together for a family picture. 

The food was good and everyone had a good time, we even sat outside for a bit before leaving.  

Sunday we met Baba at a Croatian home in Youngstown.  Her band played, a kids group sang and danced, and the headlining act, a band on tour from Croatia, performed.  Their name is Drako, Djako or something like that.  They were nice to listen to, and we had some snacks while we sat with Baba.

Sunday night Train played at the fair, and my mom bought tickets for us.  It was really fun, and Train played a lot of songs that I knew.  We sat in the very last row (intentionally) and had plenty of room and a nice view.  

Aunt Cindy and Kaleigh were there too, but right in front of the stage.  Before the encore, we managed to get down there and see them, and talk a little at the end of the show.  You should have seen the young girls begging for guitar picks and drumsticks after the band threw a few from the stage.  

Monday morning Grandma and Grandpa had everyone meet for a thank you breakfast at Thano's restaurant in Canfield.  It was nice and the food was good.  

The rest of the week was spent Zumba-ing, running in the park, meeting Kaleigh and Jen for dinner, meeting Baba for dinner, meeting grandma and grandpa for lunch, doing a little shopping in Boardman, and heading down to Columbus to visit Ang and Stef, and say hi to Trillium.  

Stef and I ate lunch at Cafe Mimi's just outside Polaris mall.  We met a friend of hers to try on some bridesmaid dresses at a shop in Worthington.  The favorite of the 3 or 4 we tried is really pretty.

After the dress shop, my mom picked me up and dropped me off at Trillium to visit with some of my former residents for a bit.  It was really nice to say hello and update a few of them on how things are in Salt Lake.

Ang picked me up at the hotel and we got caught up over sushi in Westerville before walking around Polaris for a bit.  

Sunday morning we met Billy at Bob Evans for some breakfast and had a chance to see his apartment, which is a lot more spacious thanI anticipated for a one bedroom.

We stopped at Cabella's before heading back to Canfield.  

Endless Summer

Im looking forward to flying home tomorrow to celebrate my grandparents 60th wedding anniversary on Saturday.  I'm going going to catch up with friends and other family for a good 10 days! Hopefully my elderly dog Winston is up to the visit.

These past few weeks Ryan and I have been enjoying breakfast (and occasionally dinner) on our patio, and going on at least one hike every weekend.  We also stop at City Cakes about once a week for cookies, and a taco truck often as well.  They are so good and dirt cheap!  I've been hitting the gym quite a bit and really enjoying the Zumba, Barre, and Lift classes that are offered.  I've also started dabbling in alcohol inks as an art form.  See pictures below.

 Last weekend we crossed the valley and went to the other side - to the other mountain range who's name escapes me.  We hiked right next to the copper mines.  There were a lot of atvs going up and down the dirt road to the trail head, once hiking we saw several hunters with guns and crossbows which made me kind of nervous.  Good thing I had my rainbow scarf around my shoulders, not many elk wearing those this season.

Work has picked up just a little.  I've been asked to be on the SPinal Cord Injury Team - which is a new initiative the company is starting with the U.  It's still in its infancy, but it sounds like it will be really interesting and I'll learn a lot.

I also got my hair cut!  Bangs!  There's a picture on facebook.

These are all on 6x6 inch ceramic tiles:

Be Well Utah

Ryan is on call this weekend, so our Friday night was spent just hanging at home.  It worked out since we were up early for the Be Well Utah 5k for A-fib.  Apparently Dr. Oz was there kicking it off, but I didn't see him.  The run was good, and we ran together.  There were hills and it was pretty warm, but I took advantage of the downhills to make up time.

Afterward, Ryan volunteered at the Dental booth of the health fair while I walked around.  I painted my nails at the sun safety booth (the nail polish changes color in the sun!) I got a freehand massage, blood pressure reading, memory assessment, had my freckles looked at by a dermatologist, free common allergy test (dust mites and grass are not my friends).  I also grabbed a lot of loot, jar openers, magnets, pens, temporary tattoos, pencil cases, stress balls, lip balm, bag clips, aromatherapy spray, and snacks like carrot sticks, almonds and fruit cups.  The reason I went all out is because Ryan put in about 4.5 hours at his booth, which was 2.5 more than expected.  By the end of the day the vendors were looking at me like "what is this chick still doing here?!"

We had lunch at the Red Iguana, a popular Mexican restaurant in Salt Lake.  We both ordered from the "Mexican Marvel" section of the menu and really enjoyed our meals.  

Ryan had to report to the ER from 7-11 as part of his call, so I made a grocery list, watched a move and went to bed.  The movie was "Divorce Invitation" and I give it one star.  

This morning. We had pancakes on the porch, got the grocery shopping done and watch a little gymnastics on tv.  

Not a bad weekend :) 

Sun reactive nail polish and a temporary tattoo 

Ryan at his dental booth talking to kids about their teeth 

Ready for the 5k to start

Shooting Stars and Sizzling Maseca

I can't believe it's the middle of August already.

I really enjoyed the health screening clinic for one week.  The pay was good and the work was easy, and I got to meet a lot of people. The room we were in had a really nice view of the mountains.  Unfortunately these screening clinics arent on any kind of regular schedule, so quien sabe (who knows)  when the next one will be.

I finally received a job offer from a home care agency with which I interviewed last month.  I've started training and should be out on my own within the week.  I'm happy to start working with some regularity.

Ryan has really been enjoying the GPR.  He's learning a lot and really just enjoying dentistry and getting more efficient at his procedures.  He is on call again starting Wednesday for one week.  He's also been listening to spanish lessons in the car on his way to and from the clinic.  I listen when I'm in the car with him and I'm getting a little better with it too!

We hiked to Lake Blanche on Saturday and came back down in time to see The Tour of Utah road bike racers go by, flying down Big Cottonwood Canyon.  It was really neat to see.  We finished off our day with gluten free pizza from The Pie near the U Campus.

Sunday morning found us waking with the nighcrawlers.  We got up at 4 and made it up to Guardsman Pass by about 4:45.   We were looking for shooting stars/meteors.  Ryan got an excellent shot of one with our camera.  We each saw about 4 or 5 go by over about an hour period.  We came home and got back in bed for a couple hours.

I've been making tortillas and arepas with the masa (maseca) flour I picked up a couple weeks ago.  Both recipes are basically just corn flour and water with maybe a little lime juice or salt and tossed onto a frying pan.  I use very little oil and we always have home made tortillas now, the arepas make a good bun substitute for burgers or sandwiches.

I've started dabbling in alcohol inks on yupo paper as well as ceramic tiles.  I'm still learning how to use them, but I'm having fun doing a little art work.

Ryan will be headed off to Montezuma, Utah in a couple of weeks for the entire month of September.  I'll be visiting Canfield for the first week he's gone, and I plan on meeting him half-way one weekend while he's down there.  He's bringing his bike and is looking forward to mountain biking is that area.

I'm looking forward to seeing everyone back home, including celebrating my grandparents 60th wedding anniversary.  I'll also be going to se Train in concert at the Canfield Fair with mom  :)  Fun times ahead!

We've spent quite a bit of time in the Wasatch since moving here

Mint Limeade at the Pioneer park farmers market

Ferguson Canyon

Check out that meteor!

Hike up to Lake Blanch

Lake Blanch

The Tour of Utah bike racers

Alcohol ink on tiles, nevermind the TP!