Atkin Planet

Sunday, August 1, 2010

Skydiving

Jake's birthday is today and he decided friday that we should celebrate his birthday by jumping out of an airplane. I of course agreed to join him and yesterday we drove to Toole and made it happen. I thought it would be so much fun that it might become a regular, new hobby for the two of us. No, it won't. Besides the fact that it wasn't cheap, it was also fairly terrifying and surprisingly uncomfortable. The harness was by fair my least favorite part. If I had more comfortable gear or dressed more appropriately I might have felt different, but I don't think so. The most scary part was looking down as we flew up in the plane 13,000 feet. It was actually more frightening to see the small ground than it was when we arrived and could really only see clouds. I didn't look down as I jumped so that was actually less frightening, plus the tandem guy basically pushes you out so you don't really have to jump. And he pulls the cord, so that part isn't a big deal. If I go again, I would get to do that part. The first time all they expect you to do is breath and not pass out. I did that. While I was decending and for hours up until I watched it on video I decided I would definitely never do it again. The video makes it look fun and clouds my memory. The more time that passes since my jump the more I think I would consider going again. In that way it's kind of like having a baby.

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Cruisin

We had the time of our lives. Neither of us realized how overdue it was for us to get away from it all. The cruise ship was a great medium for relaxation and adventure. We would plan our day and then do next to none of it and it was great. The only thing we could possibly be late for was a meal and even that gave us a three hour window. Too bad we never missed one. I suppose it is a small kind of accomplishment that in eight days on a cruise ship I only gained seven pounds but thankfully it's coming right off as I return to eating like a normal, sane human being. Eating dessert three times a day in addition to about four meals a day is not sane and who knows the effects of such a lifestyle long term, but it was yummy and thank goodness it has come to an end.

We went to the Virgin Islands (St. Martin and St. Thomas). The beaches in St. Thomas were amazing. In St. Martin we mostly shopped and that was a fun and new experience, because we bought some nice jewelry which is something we've never had or wanted before. We had a short stop in Puerto Rico, there we shopped and we tried the local food as someone advised us to do. We had plantane soup, giant avacado filled with steak, and mango juice. We bought some hand carved bowels to decorate our table. In Haiti we set a course for adventure and tried three different excursions. 40% of the excursion money went directly to the Haiti people, so it was also a good cause. We did the zip line (the longest in the world) that is 400 feet high, then we went parasailing, and finally we had a boat take us out to a nice location for snorkeling. A Haitian man was selling coconuts to drink and we bought two of those from him. It was weird stuff, but we were all about trying new things and spending money that week so why not.

Finally we finished the trip with an airboat and alligator zoo excursion in Florida. Our camera battery died before got to the alligator zoo. It's really too bad because our son especially would have appreciated a picture of the self proclaimed alligator wrestler doing tricks with an alligator including sticking his head into the alligators mouth.

Monday, January 25, 2010

Girls Weekend Getaway

Last weekend was my first girls weekend getaway. Amy and Kathleen joined me in Park City for the Sundance Film Festival and we stayed at the Inn on the Creek. They both had super professional cameras and photography skills, so they took most of the pictures. I have a point and shoot Nikon that I can barely use, but I will post what I have and wait for them to send me some good ones with all of us in them. I don't even have any pictures of Kathleen because once she arrived the fancy cameras came out and mine stayed tucked away, except for the one I took of Amy sleeping (because she's always been the last one to get up) and the one I had taken of me an the Yetti in Park City. I realized after that I was supposed to give him some money, but oh well. I'm sure he did not expect such miserable weather when he came up with that bright money making scheme.

Our adventure began with the airport. Amy's brother and sister in law (Myron and Maggie Nilsson) work there bringing celebrity's in and getting them around town. I will post my very fuzzy picture of Myron and Amy looking very proffessional. Amy and Kathleen tried out their papparazzi skills and got several shots of big stars, namely Kareem Abdul Jabar, Adrien Brody (from King Kong), Dakato Fanning, and several people who looked like they might be someone and were not.

Our second adventure was had in trying to get home from the airport. The weather was insane and we thought we could die many times during this three day period. We tried waiting out the weather during dinner but it was not going away. Luckily I had a 4x4 and new windshield wipers, but the wipers were still in the box (it took us at least a half hour to get them on) and figuring out how to use my 4 wheel drive took a couple of days.

The next day Jason Kirks made us a super yummy breakfast and gave us the official tour of his town of Midway. We saw hot pots and a herd of a dozen Elk, Giant Frozen sprinkler water, Very big trees, and century old swiss style houses. Next, we headed to Park City to experience the festival festivities. All parking is on the outskirts of town during the festival and free shuttles take everyone from place to place. I haven't been on a city bus in so long, I forgot that it takes forever to get anywhere and it's so crowded. Most shuttles were crammed full of standing people and every stop had dozens of people getting off and on.

We had no tickets to any shows and getting them last minute is nearly impossible without serious connections. We met a lady on the bus that sold us some tickets that she wasn't going to use and by the time the bus got us back to the car and we considered the weather and the traffic, we realized there was no possible way to make it to the showing on time, so we did some outlet shopping instead. I got a great deal on boots and jeans.

We got very little sleep every night, which was just like old times and I would have it no other way. Hanging out with these two girls has always meant loads of great conversation, continual spontaneity, and next to no sleep. We had a very cute room and a great view but we spent most of our time out and about with no regard to the hazardous weather.

I loved my time away and my reunion with old friends, but I also loved returning to my very adorable and adoring family. Going away reminds a person how much it's good to be back. I think we plan to make these getaway's a regular thing and I truly hope so because I loved every part of it. Not even deathly winter weather could mess it up for me. And that's saying a lot.

Saturday, January 9, 2010

A Bit Overwhelmed

Usually a long stint of not posting means that nothing interesting is going on. But if you have a blog I think you know that the opposite it also true. So much, so fast, where to begin, and the answer can easily be just don't begin.

Our holliday season was a lot of fun this year starting with halloween and straight through to new year's eve. It seems like there was plenty I should have documented here, including pictures, but the time zipped by and my camera battery was lost, so I just didn't. I bought myself a new camera during the black friday door busters and I have a few pictures to show for it, although learning to use it did result in accidentally deleted quite a few. We have some from Christmas that look very similar to last years pictures and a few of Jake's short experience wearing a goatee.

During Christmas break most of my family got the flu, followed by strep throat and bronchitis, so it did get a little fuzzy there for a while. We had to miss out on some holliday visitors and my efforts to deliver homemade baked goods was half done and ended in the garbage..Sorry neighbors. We celebrated several birthdays, attended three business christmas parties, I threw the ward christmas party complete with dinner and santa, and Lydia was our first child to get baptized. All of that happened within a couple of weeks, so that too is kind of a blur.

Now that the new year has started, we are going to make an effort to plan our trips, activities, and celebrations one at a time and I plan to do a much better job documenting them here. This can be one of my many new years resolutions. But I think these pictures are pretty cute and I'm going with the better late than never defense.

Sunday, September 6, 2009

Twinkle Toes

It was my turn to choose our date night activity. I decided for a change we should go get a pedicure together. The asian ladies using a knife, took about an inch of callouse off of Jake's feet. In the end, I chose french manicure and Jake let the ladies choose for him. They could not stop laughing, even as we were leaving.

I'm not really a fan of my big, wide feet. But if I'm going to post his, I should at least be willing to post mine as well.

Monday, August 24, 2009

A Very Merry Un-Birthday

Because my bday is in Dec., I have empathy for my children who are also all winter babies and I give them an option for a summer bday party. Caleb's bday this year was Aug. 18th. (A date pulled out of the air.) It gave us a chance to use our yard instead of trying to entertain 10-six year old boys in my not that big of a house. He was so excited for it this year and doing it in the summer allows some space between the excitement of Christmas and a bday party.

I made him a special cake that was supposed to look like a dirt mound covered in creepy crawly things. I got the idea online. I also got some good ideas for games online, but the boys only had the attention span for one and then they wanted to swing and climb, which was a lot easier for me. I kept coming in and out of the house with pizza, soda, cake, ice cream, napkins. I was glad Jake was there to run things because I was just a gopher.

Our present to him was a new bike, which he needed desperately because his old one was way too small and had a bent front wheel and missing spokes. I gave it to him by way of a scavenger hunt which the kids really enjoyed. And of course, the traditional pinata filled with more candy than it should be.

Overall the party was a great experience. The down side is that now Caleb is a little confused about exactly how old he is, but no system is perfect.