California with Nicole and Jill

On Sunday afternoon Nicole, Jill, and I headed back to the beautiful Table Rock Beach so that Jill and Nicole could experience its glamor as well.

Then we had to say goodbye to Jill so that she could drive back to Phoenix. Nicole and I picked up our rental car and headed back to the beach. We were going to go rollerblading at Huntington Beach, but we had some problems with Nicole's borrowed blades. So instead we walked out onto the pier and admired the sunset.

For our very last day in California, Nicole and I decided to go to Disneyland. We were there for 13 hours of fun. Here we are on the Matterhorn. Nicole is getting ready to face the Abominable Snowman.

We got absolutely soaked on Splash Mountain. I have never gotten that wet on that ride before. This is the "after shot" of Nicole. Even her hair is wet.

On our way into Innoventions Nicole spotted a worker on a Segway, and she almost went over to ask him if she could take it for a ride. She decided not to because Disneyland is all about the rules. But we were thrilled to learn that we could ride a Segway inside. The line was really long, but I think it was worth it. Riding a Segway is cool. Nate and Hyrum were so jealous.

We also ran into fellow BYU teammate, Anika, at Disneyland. She was in California with her whole family. Anika is the best. She was "my freshman" when I was a senior at BYU. Her locker was right next to mine, and we ran the same events so we worked out a lot together. Now Anika has 3 kids. Crazy.

The really funny part about running into Anika is that we saw her in front of the Pizza Port in Tomorrowland, which is also where I ran into teammate Courtney in January.

Nicole and I had a great time at Disneyland. We had a great time in California. I'll sure miss Nicole and Jill. We'll have to meet up again soon.

On to the Main Event

After my fun-filled days with Karen, I met up with Nicole (who traveled from Boise) and Jill (who came from Phoenix) for Sarah's wedding. Below Jill and I wait for the event to begin.

Here are the lovely flower girls. Followed by Sarah and her Dad.

And the lovely bride and handsome groom, Sarah and Colin Kennedy.

Sarah, Nicole, Jill, and I all ran track and cross country together at BYU. During our 4+ years running together we got to be really great friends. We also got to spend some quality time with each others' families so we were excited to see all the Ellis' again. My freshman year we even stayed at Sarah's house during one of our track trips to California. 10 years later here we are back at Sarah's house for her wedding.

After the wedding Nicole, Jill, and I headed to downtown Pasadena for some lunch and shopping. We really enjoyed eating at Louise's.

Then Nicole and I decided it would be really great to decorate Sarah's presents with personalized messages and drawings rather than with wrapping paper. So we found ourselves some markers and got busy. Here I am drawing a really great bride and groom stick figure couple. Below Jill does her part.


Then it was back to the reception for some more celebrating and one last picture with the bride.

California with Karen

This past week I traveled to Southern California for a friend's wedding. I went a little early so that I could spend some time with Karen, who moved away from Kansas City at the end of May. It was great to be reunited. Karen and I spent some time at the beautiful Table Rock Beach. Where I worked on developing my ocean swimming skills. Because I've spent my whole life in Colorado, Utah, and Kansas I have very little ocean experience, but I'm pleased to report that I did ok. Karen was a good teacher.

I brought my rollerblades to California so that Karen and I could go blading on the beach. Here we are on the pier at Newport Beach.

The next day we went to the Getty. The museum was absolutely amazing. It's an entire complex with a fantastic garden and a great view. To get to the museum you have to ride a tram up the hill.
We ate lunch at the museum cafe. Then we went to see the art. First we went to the Bernini exhibition. Below is Bernini's portrait bust of Portrait of Pope Clement X Altieri. We also saw all the paintings from 1600-1875.

Here's a fantastic view of the city. And below is what Karen liked to call our engagement picture because we are standing in such a lush setting.

After our trip to the Getty we went to Hollywood to see Grauman's Chinese Theater and lots of Hollywood stars on the Walk of Fame. Then we had to battle traffic so that we could get home in time to see the Breaking Dawn Concert on the internet. Karen and I both really enjoyed the concert, and we agreed that it made us like the book a little more because Stephenie Meyer answered some of our questions. Breaking Dawn was certainly a hot topic of conversation while I was there.

The next day Karen and I headed back to the beach for a few more hours of fun. Then it was time for me to say goodbye. So sad. Thanks for showing me such a great time in California, Karen and Ed.

Taggart in KC

When Paige, Peter, Nate, and I were ready to leave St. Louis and go back to Kansas City we convinced Taggart to come with us. So we had a really packed car for the four hour drive. On the way we enjoyed listening to Percy Jackson and The Lightning Thief.



While Taggart was in Kansas City I took him to see the church sites. We went to the Independence Visitor's Center, Liberty Jail, and Far West. Here's Taggart seated in front of the Historic Liberty Jail and standing at Far West. At Liberty Jail we saw my old cross country trainer from BYU, Kodi. She was in town for a PT conference. It was pretty amazing to just run into her like that.


Taggart and I had a great time hanging out together. We watched a couple movies. He really liked the Smoothie King. He did tricks with the Big Z. Then we had to send him back to Colorado Springs.

Bodies Revealed

This weekend JoLee and I visited the Bodies Revealed exhibit in the newly renovated basement of Union Station. The tickets were pricey, but I think the experience was worth it. You have to turn on your brain when you go to something like this because you end up learning a lot. I think the highlights for me were:

• The blood vessels suspended in water (see below)
  
• The exposed spinal cord (not the vertebrae, but the actual nerves)
  
• The fetuses (yep, there were a lot of them)
  
• The small intestine (which is much more fascinating than you might think)
  
• The brain (also see below)
  

Unfortunately they wouldn't allow cameras in the exhibit (or gum chewing), so I snagged what images I could off the internet (and swallowed the gum).

Note: The business of acquiring human bodies is one that can lend itself to dodgy business practices. In February, 20/20 ran an expose on the dubious sources of the bodies in some of these exhibits. In particular, it focused on "Bodies…The Exhibition” which is run by the same group as "Bodies Revealed", and a competing exhibition, “Body Worlds". Reportedly, "Bodies...The Exhibition" is made up of unclaimed specimens from China, whereas the show we saw, "Bodies Revealed", is made up of people who have donated their bodies to science. Whew! I feel better now that I got that off my chest.



There were three exploded bodies that were cut in all three planes of dimension. This cross section showed what an MRI looks at--thin cross sections of the human body.


There were a number of full body displays as well. Some featured the nervous system, the skeletal system, or the muscular system as shown here.


There were numerous brains, all of different sizes and healthiness. The one on the left features one of the sacks that surrounds the brain. I thought it was particularly fascinating. The brain needs an enormous amount of fluid to expel waste and impurities. The sack keeps the fluid in the skull. Sometimes the fluid gets blocked and accumulates resulting in a condition known as water on the brain.


One of the most fascinating rooms of the exhibit displayed the blood vessels surrounding various body parts. These blood vessels were colored, suspended in fluid, and lit up. They were simply amazing.

Feeding the Birds

Our bird feeders have become quite the popular hangout spot. We are visited daily by many birds. They are too wary to let me take their pictures, but here they are as captured by others:

The Most Frequent Visitor: The House Finch


The Bossiest Visitor: The House Sparrow


The Flashiest Visitor: The Northern Cardinal


The Youngest Visitor (as far as we can tell): The Juvenile Northern Cardinal


The Laziest Visitor: The Brown-headed Cowbird
(He gets the award for the laziest bird because the cowbird is the only bird in our area that lays his eggs in other birds nest, leaving his chicks to be raised by other birds.)


The Largest Visitor: The Blue Jay
(We haven't seen too many of these guys at the feeder. They look awfully awkward when they try to perch up there with the little birds.)


The Smallest Visitor: The Gold Finch


The Strangest Visitor: The Downy Woodpecker
(We weren't expecting to see any woodpeckers at our feeder, but our bird book says these tiny woodpeckers are fans.)

The Shyest Visitor: The Tufted Titmouse
(It's a real coup when I actually get a chance to gaze at these timid birds for any length of time at all.)


The Cutest Visitor: The Black-capped Chickadee
(I don't know why I am so partial to these birds, but I just think it's so cute how they put the seeds in between their toes and then pry them open. They are also really small birds too, about the same size as the goldfinch. And they were the first birds to find our bird feeder. Plus, I think their cuteness is greatly enhanced by their precious-sounding name.)


The Most Unwelcome Visitor: The Squirrel
(So having our bird feeder up three flights deterred the squirrels for a long time, but they finally figured out that we had food up here. Every time I see one I bang on the window and then they jump off the feeder. They seem kind of suicidal to me. I keep wondering if they fall all the way to the ground. Zephyr sure thinks the squirrels are interesting. And, this is a picture of our bird feeder. I actually got a picture because the squirrels never see me as quickly as the birds do. Many mammals don't have eyes that are as sharps as a bird's.)