A Fun Hike and Super Awesome Friends

We love our friends! Joe and I have been so blessed with great friends throughout our years in Provo. We are so happy that our friend Jared has moved back to Salt Lake; so happy in fact, that we had to go hiking up Cottonwood Canyon to celebrate; pics to follow (of course . . . anyone who has spent more that a day with me is sure to know that I take way too many pictures).

The hikers


It was so green and beautiful!

A geography/water hydraulics lesson

They made fun of me for taking this pic . . . "you want a picture of me standing on a rock?" I think it turned our pretty good though. The sky looked so beautiful.

One of the bitter sweet things about college is that you make so many wonderful friends and then they all move away (all ya'll guilty people--you know who you are . . . most recently Melissa and Jeff: our scuba diving, dirt bike riding, church attending, mustache wearing, super awesome friends moved to Texas . . . we will miss you guys!) We have so many amazing friends living in so many different places; friendships that all started here. And, most recently, Joe and I learned that if you hang around long enough your friends might actually start moving back. I guess Jared just couldn't do without us :)

Confessions . . .

When Joe is out of town and I am really lonely for him, I wear his clothes. . . sweatshirts, sweatpants, etc. etc. It always seems to make me feel a little better.

What do you do when you are missing someone?

San Antonio

I had my first ever business trip, to San Antonio, TX and I felt ever so special. I stayed at a Marriott on The Riverwalk (which makes San Antonio famous and a popular honeymoon spot) and attended an oncology nursing conference. My mother-in-law lives only 3 hours away, in Houston, and she came to stay with me. It was pretty fun, but there was definitely something missing . . . oh ya, . . . Joe wasn't there. Anyway, here are a couple of pics from the trip:

The beautiful Alamo


The Riverwalk


Cathi at The Riverwalk




Feeding ducks while eating dinner . . . pretty awesome.


San Antonio from our balcony. Notice the church about half way down, to the right side of the picture (surrounded on 3 sides by a commercial building). A company wanted to buy the land and tear down the church, but the church refused to sell, forcing the company to be a little creative with their building design.


A very peaceful section of The Riverwalk, near my hotel and me =)

GO ROCKETS!

I'm guessing that most of you who actually read this blog will not care, but I (Joe this time) must post this since it is quite important to me. Since I have been working like crazy the last few weeks, I've had no time to watch one of the more lauded NBA Playoff series in recent memory: Chicago vs. Boston, though I have made it home in time for the final minute or so 3 or 4 of the games. I have however, had the opportunity to watch two games of the Houston Rockets vs. Portland Trailblazers series, including the deciding 6th game last night (well, at least the majority of the 2nd half, anyway). Both of the games I watched were Houston blowouts (108-81 and 92-76), which proves to me that as long as I watch all of the remaining games, we will not suffer another loss.

I invite all caring individuals who read this blog: Help me convince Steffany and my professor that my missing any of the remaining Houston Rocket playoff games would affect irreparable harm on the world as a whole, and that nothing should stand in the way of my service to mankind, not even finding a job or completing my Master's Degree.

Also, GO ROCKETS! and BEAT L.A.!