What We've Been Up To

I've discovered that we're just not good bloggers. This realization came to us when a few friends told us that we're terrible bloggers, and we're good at picking up on those kinds of hints. The huge question that's on everybody's mind, now that we know who the next president will be, is "What has Jon and Lori been up to for the past few months?" I think a picture would say a lot here, so here you go.......

Excited Yet??










That's right, a baby is on the way. Before you start looking for my long gangly legs or Lori's huge feet, I should say that this isn't actually a picture of our baby. I found this little guys picture on the internet but the resemblence is uncanny, except that I think you can already see that our little guy is going to have a monsterous unibrow. No surprises there. I'll put one of ours on when I get a chance. But anway, it's a going to be a boy. We're pretty gitty at this point. Lori's gaining respect for the whole pregnancy ordeal. She doesn't think April will come soon enough, our due date is April 1. As far as other stuff, we've been working a lot and playing a lot.

I finished my first 100 mile race, the Bear.  It was an amazing experience and I'm already looking forward to my next 100.  The race started in Providence and ended at Bear Lake.  I ended up having some crazy stomach issues and vomited about 10 times between miles 25-50.  I ended up finishing slower than I had planned, but I guess I'll be satisfied with just a finish.   Here's some pictures.....

Here's my dad and I at the start.  If I look a little upset in the picture, it's because I blame him for getting me into this whole running thing.

A sunrise, a sunset, and a lot of vomiting later.  Here's Brian and I coming into The Franklin Basin aid station.  I ended up tagging along with Brian and his pacers, Rich and Dave, for 25 miles.  They helped me out with a huge morale boost after having been so sick and depressed for hours.

Brad Lewis, my pacer from 75-100, and I finishing off the last 50 yards in Fish Haven.

I wouldn't be standing in this picture if it wasn't for being able to just hang onto Lori.

A small taste of the scenery along the course.  This is looking across Tony Grove Lake at mile 50.  The aid station is on the other side of the lake.

Nothing Special, Just an Update

I'm doing an update to further procrastinate some paperwork I should probably get done for work, oh well. We're doing well. I (Jon) started work at another clinic about 3 weeks ago. I miss some of the kids I was working with quite a bit, but I think the new place is a better fit for me overall. I'm in an orthopedic clinic, which is much more along the lines of what I'm interested in. I also spend a couple hours a week in home health and at an extended care center. The big downside is that Lori and I have to go 10 hours at a time without seeing each other. Needless to say, we both get a little emotional with each time we kiss each other good-bye every morning. There are some long, heart-wrenching embraces before we have to both go our separate ways. Lunches often involve tears. On the flip side, there is a precious reunion each evening when we both get home. It's all tender, I guess we'll just have to get used to it.
I think the huge news is that we finally got our couches. We were told we'd need to wait 2 weeks for them and got them a little over 9 weeks later. They aren't the most comfortable things in the world but they fit the living room pretty well.

Tank likes that they provide an excellent vantage point to make sure all is good in the neighborhood.

Lori completed the Sawtooth Relay a couple weeks ago for the second straight year. That's Suzie in the picture, she works over at the other clinic. She begged to be put on our blog. She said it would make her feel like a movie star. Here you go Suzie, you owe us big time. I think she already misses working with me.

This was at Squaw Peak, the toughest run I've done to date. You can't see the rain, but it was there.


Lots of mud and snow on top of the already rocky, steep course. I couldn't believe the snow coming down that morning. June isn't supposed to be like that. All that having been said, it was a very fun time. Almost 51 miles with over 14000 feet of ascent. I'm looking forward to going back next year.

Chilling at Vivian Park after a day of running. On a different note, does anybody else think it's high time for us to have a baby. We treat Tank far too well, he basically runs our house. Anyway, that's it for now......Later

Our Vacation........in Twin Falls

We took this last week off from the stresses of work and shaving. I guess Lori shaved, just not me. It was nice. We were thinking of traveling a bit more than we did, perhaps back out to the coast, but decided to try to get some things done around the homestead. We ended up putting in 4 trees around the yard, and we feel that at least 2 of those are going to make it through the summer. We also did some house cleaning and organizing. As I put some blinds up on the windows upstairs, I had one of those harsh realizations that I am getting way too old and even a bit mature. We did end up having some fun though and made it out camping Friday night. We went on a loop out through Oakley, City of Rocks, Almo, and then back into Burley. It was beautiful down there. We'll add pictures, of course.

Looking for mischief in Oakley Idaho.....very pretty and quiet town.

Lori loves it when I have her set up camp in the dark while I practice my killer photography skills. We found out in the morning that we were camping on private property. Ya, we're basically outlaws.

Sexy

City of Rocks

Castle Rocks, it's got the same look as City of Rocks but with a big grass field in the middle.

Weekend at the Cabin and the Long Way Home

No news regarding my progress towards doing the Bushman thing, still only dreams. We've had some good times lately. My Grandma celebrated her 90th birthday this last weekend. We went to a surprise birthday party for her in Boise. It was great to see everybody. We spent the weekend up at the cabin with Will and his family, along with my parents, at the cabin. It was great being up there in the spring. It was very green and there was water everywhere.
On Monday, we drove the long way back to Twin Falls. We went up through Loman, Stanley, and then down through Sun Valley. We were going to camp and divide the drive up, but weather wasn't cooperating.

Little Lexie keeping an eye on Tank at the cabin.

Kirkham Hot Springs, just outside of Loman. The water was great.

Our little pool was a little shallow, but real nice.

Chillin' like a couple of Villains, with the Sawtooth's in the background.

Stanley Lake

Just chilling at the beach at Redfish Lake. The sign said that pets were not allowed on the beach, it's a good thing tank is more of a guard dog than a pet.

Enjoying the view from Galena's Summit.

Cool little town of Ketchum.

This loop was one of the most beautiful drives I've seen. I look forward to going back up and exploring some more this summer.

Possible Career Change

I think I've found what I really want to do with the rest of my life. I certainly love working as a physical therapist, but I always knew I could only practice therapy until I found something that fit me better. I always thought I'd make the switch once my ninja career took off, but then I came across The Bushman in San Francisco. Check out the video.......that's what I want to do. Talk about living the dream, it doesn't get any better than scaring the crap out of people, old and young alike, all day long.
YouTube - San Francisco Bush Man by Sam Sweeney
We watched this guy for an hour while eating and were thoroughly entertained.


We had a lot of fun in San Francisco last weekend. We really can't get enough of that city. Lori had a conference for three days at Fort Mason, and I thought the good-husband thing to do would be to accompany her and take advantage of the available rental car and hotel room that she had already paid for. We flew in Thursday night and left on Sunday afternoon. We stayed right on Fisherman's Warf. We enjoyed being able to see my cousins and Grandparents Saturday night. For the most part, I was able to explore a lot while Lori was in her classes. After she got out, I got to explore a lot more. Here are a few more photos.

This is Lori up on Telegraph Hill overlooking Alcatraz.

Here's Lori modeling with the Goldengate Bridge Sunset Scene in the background.....breathtaking.

That's me just chillin' like a villain with the big city in the background.

Of course I had to take advantage of the hills close by in Marin County. I went on a beautiful run overlooking the coast. It's part of the Miwok 100 race, I'll definitely be wanting to run the race someday. It was a beautiful run.

Another picture from the hills. Running in the Columbia River Gorge one weekend and then in the Marin Headlands the next weekend; needless to say, it was difficult coming back down to reality.
More about the Bushman career aspirations. I'm going to see what I can do on the streets of Twin Falls. We'll see how it goes, I'll keep everybody posted. Later.......Jon

Continueing Education....or something like that

I'm chilling alone on a Friday night here in Portland. I woke up at 3:00 this morning to catch a flight out of Boise to Portland. I'm attending a conference on low back pain starting tomorrow. I'll fly home late Sunday night. The flight early this morning was the cheapest I could find, and it worked great because it gave me a day to play a little bit. I was very excited to head back up the gorge and look around a little more than we were able to do at the end of December. I ended up running one of the most scenic stretch of trail I've ever seen, all while Lori was putting in a good day at work back at home. I highly recommend the Eagle Creek Trail if any of you ever have a chance. It was snowing last time we were in the gorge, so I guess I shouldn't have been surprised when it snowed today for several hours.

Multnomah Falls, pretty impressive and you don't even have to hike to it.

It was so green, I felt like I was running through the jungle.

This was looking down from one of the footbridges. The picture doesn't do the place justice, the bridge is actually about 100 feet above the river and the canyon is very narrow right there. I had to lean out over the bridge a bit in order to capture the amazing shot you see above; that's right, I'm Mr. Dangerman.

This is Tunnel Falls, my turnaround point. I'm guessing the name comes from the tunnel you can go through behind the falls.
After the run, I came back to Portland and drove around for over an hour trying to find my hotel. The streets around here are a mess. Anyway, I'm planning on heading out to the coast and I'll have to post more pictures later. I love the conineuing education thing; if only all my education could have had these kind of perks.

updates

So I hear that we are supposed to keep up on these blog pages. Given that Jon has done all the blogs (as you have read these..., see what I live with....), I figure it is my turn to learn how to do this crazy thing. Since we have last written we have gone snow shoeing and ran some races.




When we got our dog many of our friends (Sarah!) said we would not be able to take him with us to do the outdoor things we like. Although our dog is 5lbs dripping wet he can still run with me up to 4 miles (and still beat me), go hiking/camping, and now we know he can snowshoe.



We just recently spent our Easter weekend running ourselves into the ground. I, with the encouragement of my crazy husband, ran my first trail race, a 25K run. My goal was not to be last and overall I was not; however, in my age group I was 6th out of 7, wahoo (that was a close one). Now a 25K (15 miles) sounds like alot (and IT WAS!!!) I cannot feel too bad for myself jon ran 50 miles he left 3 hours before me and came in 2 1/2 after me. All in all, it was a fun race, beautiful scenery, and we were not charged by the buffalo. The best part of the race is watching jon try to run, let alone walk, the day after.
Hope all is going well with everyone else.

Gambling.....a confession

I know there are a lot of people who are hooked on gambling for money. They think that a fortune awaits them with the next lottery ticket, roll of the dice, or pull of that lever thing on the slot machine. I'm actually not tempted to gamble for money, not since the Flaming Gorge trip of '98 at least. I felt good about losing money there because I knew my buddies were going to put it towards good causes.....suits, white shirts, ties, etc.
My problem is laying my dignity on the line. I'm not sure when it began, I believe it was at Bear Lake when Randy had to spend the night shivering on the cold ground without a blanket, pillow, or shirt. Since then, the gambling has been an ongoing theme whenever I get together some of the fellow bobcats. The gambling has taken Justin for a night jog in sub-zero temperatures down main street in Logan....twice. It has taken me skiing down the longest run at Beaver Mountain in just my swimsuit. It has also sent me into a convenience store in tight pink jeans and cowboy boots for a hot chocolate. Some other honorable mentions include Justin's climb of shame, Randy's swimming attire at raging waters, and Bruce having to sleep the night on a 3x5 coffee table up at Ricks.
I could go on about the other good times but my main purpose in writing the post is to get a list of some of the bets that haven't been cleared up as of yet. None of us would feel good about not paying up after losing a bet.
Here's the ones I can think of right away:
1. I've got to wear a handlebar mustache for 5 days. (that will have to wait until a vacation)
2. My Gateway Race for Humiliation run.
3. Justin and Randy have got to ski down Harry's dream in shorts and no shirt on a powder day.
4. Justin has got to ride the lift with a stranger without a shirt.

I'm sure I'm forgetting some....let me know.

Here's Bruce turning in for the night at Justin's place at Ricks. The card's just didn't care for him that night.

This was the attire (minus the shirt) I had to wear into a convenience store after the Utes lost a close one to BYU last year in overtime. I couldn't believe the looks I got, it was like nobody had seen a guy with pink pants go into a crowded gas station for a hot chocolate without a shirt in freezing-cold weather. Some lucky girls even got pictures of me as they drove off, I'm sure it was because I was looking just plain sexy.

What makes a guy tough as nails?

I had an epiphany while shaving this evening. Guys that look tough don't just always have handlebar mustaches, but rather handlebar mustaches always can make guys look tough. It only just dawned on me tonight. I was going through the normal routine with the MACH 3 and the Barry Manilow's "Mandy" blasting in the background, when that thought came to me. I consider myself a very tough guy, those that are close to me know that I basically live in the weight room, but I had no idea what a few strokes of the the mach 3 could do for me. I scared myself just looking in the mirror, needless to say I didn't leave it on. I work with kids and figured the over-the-top tough look isn't appropriate for my current line of work. The only question that remains is whether the glasses made me look even tougher or not. Either way, we're talking a level of toughness that nobody has ever seen in me as of yet.

Less Effective Parenting Styles

Lori and I are not parents as of yet; however, we do have opportunities often to observe how parents care for their children. In our jobs, we are exposed to a wide spectrum of parenting competency. Recently, we had some family visit us for the weekend and Lori's brother demonstrated some parenting styles that we have discussed and have determined to be less effective. See the pictures below.

Here is Nate's daughter Ellie exploring the cliffs around Shoshone Falls. We told him she could possibly hurt herself, his only remark was "I'm hungry, when are we going to eat?"


So then we are over at the bridge and the little guy crawls up over the safety wall. When we pointed it out to him that it didn't seem safe that she was that close to the canyon, he only replied, "ya whatever but let me explain to you the engineering principles that go into throwing together a bridge like that."
So next thing we know.......

You can't see her very well, but that's little Ellie shortly after her first base jump off the bridge. She cried when he tossed her, but he said she'd thank him for the killer rush. Surprisingly, she stuck the landing like a pro.
So....I know it's not our place to say what's the best way to raise a child but when the kids come we're going to implement the "what wouldn't Nate do approach." In his own defense, I think he may have not shown such poor judgment if his wife had come for the weekend so we can hope she doesn't trust him with his daughter often.
Anybody who wants to comment about his parenting can call him directly. His name is Nate Porter and is in the phonebook in Tremonton, Utah.

Running Foolishness

It all started when I decided to try to get ready for a marathon a little over a year ago. I was talking to a friend up at school who has a real passion for running crazy distances, like 100 miles. I got him talking about his runs every chance I could get, it was incredibly fascinating for me. He suggested I try a 50k that he and his wife were going to do down in Goblin Valley in October. He said that I would probably do fine in it, given the mileage I was already putting in for the marathon thing. Well, I finished it and have done several others since. I'm still planning on doing a road marathon but I'm all about getting out on the trails these days. The ultra crowd consists of some of the greatest people. Each run ends up being a very different and distinct adventure. I would almost call it an addiction; of course my wife has no problem calling it an addiction. She's incredibly supportive. I hit incredible lows as well as highs with each long run. I ask myself why I do it when I'm hurting, but then I'm already excited for the next race just minutes after coming across the finish line. I'm looking forward to doing several more races this year. I'm shooting for the Bear 100, back in my old stomping grounds in September, we'll see what happens.

More Seattle

Chilling out in front of the Pike's Place Market

More chilling, this time with the dog, along the waterfront.


A mess of a meal at The Crab Pot. It was an incredible meal.

Lori got weak but I was able to stay strong and finish the meal for the both of us.

Precious sunset on The Puget Sound

Enjoying the nightlife in Seattle.

The crowds in the street watching the fireworks were impressive. Fireworks were great
We loved Seattle and hope to make it back soon to see more.