Lobster Huntin'

Hey all,

We just thought we'd share a few pics from the scuba trip that we went on with Travis this last weekend. It was a ton of fun and lots and lots of scuba diving. (And a VERY long ride in both directions!)

Day 1 - Wednesday

We left at 11 am and drove all the way to Santa Barbara, CA by 10 or 11 pm. This all happened in an 11 seater van filled with 10 people and all of their scuba gear. Let's just say that we got very friendly!

Day 2 - Thursday

The boat took us out to the first of the dive sites. I was sick as a dog for the first half of the day until the second dose of Dramamine kicked in. Jared did about five dives and I did two that first day. We both had the opportunity to try night diving for the first time and decided that it's pretty cool. (This night dive was also Jared's first Lobster catch!!! - We were sooo excited!)

Day 3 - Friday

I felt much better. Thurday night I put on a motion sickness patch that Jason Thelin gave me, so Friday was miraculously sickness free - Yeah!!!

We both did five dives. Jared caught Lobster numbers 2 and 3 this day. Jared's great at spotting the lobster and not afraid to go in after them. I didn't catch any lobster the whole trip, but I figure I was Jared's moral support so his success is my success.

Day 4 - Saturday

We were able to dive just for the first half of the day. I was able to get in two more dives before deciding that I had officially worn myself out. Jared got in three dives and caught Lobster number 4. The boat took a while to get back to the docks and then we still had to unload the boat and pack up the van. We left CA around 6:30 (UT time) and made a couple of stops along the way. We also got stuck in traffic somewhere in NV because of an accident ahead of us - which added about an hour more drive time. We drove through the night - those of us that felt alert enough rotated until we arrived home at about 8:30 am this morning. Talk about a hard night!

Throughout our dives of the few days we were there we also saw seals, manta rays, star fish, sea urchins, octopus, and of course a whole bunch of different types of fish.

Anyway, we really enjoyed ourselves! Thanks to Travis for the invite and for putting up with us - we really enjoyed having a little more time to spend with you!

Take a look at our latest pics!

love,

Allyson & Jared

Burnin' in the Grand Canyon

Well, we finally did it! With lots of Jared's encouragement, we hiked the Grand Canyon last Saturday. It was REALLY hard but still lots of fun!

So here's a quick rundown of our trip:

We pulled out of Utah county on Friday at about 1 pm and drove the eight hours to the South Rim of the Grand Canyon. We pitched our tent in the dark and crashed at about 11 pm. Boy was it cold that night!!! The temperature dropped to about 36 degrees - luckily we are the snuggly type, so we were okay. The next morning we broke camp in the dark (before dawn) and threw everything into the car, drove to the parking lot where the hike would end and quickly assembled our snacks and lunch (mmm - yummy PB&H).

We took a shuttle bus to the trail head and began our hike at about 7:30 (Arizona time). We hiked down the South Kaibab trail. The temperature was still super cold at the beginning of the hike, but after trotting for about half an hour we were warm enough that we could shed our sweatshirts. We made it to the bottom of the canyon in about 2 1/2 hours. It was so pretty and a really nice clear day. We enjoyed resting at the bottom for about an hour and had a super early lunch while there. At this point in time we thought that this hike was a pretty easy one - little did we know what hiking back up the Bright Angel trail was going to be like.

It took us four grueling, painful, sweaty, aching hours to hike back up to the top. Boy are we feeling muscle soreness and tightness still two days later. Talk about BURNIN' BUNS! All told it was 17 miles round trip. We hung around for about another hour and then started our journey back home.

At first we hoped we could make it home Saturday night, but by the time we made it to Kanab we were EXHAUSTED. Kanab didn't have any vacancies at their hotel/motels, so we had to drive on to Panguich were we found a hotel and after a quick shower fell into bed. (It was much warmer than sleeping in the tent the night before.) We finished our drive home early Sunday morning in time to get ready and be at church for Allyson's sharing time in primary.

Overall it was a fun trip, but Allyson's not sure she wants to ever do it again. (We'll see!)