Fun in the Sun Valley

Last week, Katie, Grace, and I made our first trek up to the Utah State Bar convention in Sun Valley, Idaho. We love Sun Valley, and I got the firm to pay for enough of the trip to make it worth it to go. We had a great time. I spent the mornings in classes that were mostly boring, but I need to attend a certain number of continuing education classes to stay licensed. While I was in classes, Katie and Grace got to lounge around the hotel. When I got back from classes, we walked around town, went on some runs, ate good food, and bought some ice cream. The weather was great, and we had a great time. We had to come home a little early so that we could go to Nuavoo with Katie's family (watch for a forthcoming post on that), but we had such a fun time, we'll have to go back.

First Fruits

We planted a little vegetable garden this year, and it has really done well. I didn't expect much because I just dug up some irises that were being overgrown by grass to make the garden. I thought it would take a while to bring the soil along. I just worked in a few bags of fertilizer at the beginning of the year and have been watering with miracle grow regularly, and the vegetables have really taken off. The tomatoes are going crazy, and the zucchini is huge. The pepper plants are still a little small, but they're starting to bear fruit. We picked the first ripe cherry tomatoes yesterday, and they taste great. Can't wait to eat all the fresh summer vegetables picked fresh from our garden.

Odes to Chuck

One of the highlights of Youth Conference was hiking around the Double Arch and telling Chuck Norris facts. I heard some that I hadn't heard before, and we were all laughing pretty hard. I am guessing that you all have been enlightened by at least a few Chuck Norris fact, but just in case you haven't, I decided to dedicate a post to it. Chuck Norris facts have become an online rage and are pretty pervasive now. There are thousands and thousands of "facts" about Chuck Norris all over the internet, but I think this is the main site for them. Here are some of my favorites:

There is no chin under Chuck Norris' beard. There is only another fist.
Chuck Norris doesn't read books. He stares them down until he gets the information he wants.
Ninjas want to grow up to be just like Chuck Norris. But usually they grow up just to be killed by Chuck Norris.
Most people have 23 pairs of chromosomes. Chuck Norris has 72... and they're all poisonous.
Someone once tried to tell Chuck Norris that roundhouse kicks aren't the best way to kick someone. This has been recorded by historians as the worst mistake anyone has ever made.
Chuck Norris is the only human being to display the Heisenberg uncertainty principle -- you can never know both exactly where and how quickly he will roundhouse-kick you in the face.
When Chuck Norris falls in water, Chuck Norris doesn't get wet. Water gets Chuck Norris.
Chuck Norris ordered a Big Mac at Burger King, and got one.
Hellen Keller's favorite color is Chuck Norris.
Chuck Norris eats beef jerky and craps gunpowder. Then, he uses that gunpowder to make a bullet, which he uses to kill a cow and make more beef jerky. Some people refer to this as the "Circle of Life."
Along with his black belt, Chuck Norris often chooses to wear brown shoes. No one has DARED call him on it. Ever.
Chuck Norris can set ants on fire with a magnifying glass. At night.

And my favorite: Chuck Norris has counted to infinity. Twice.

There are tons of them and most are pretty entertaining. What are your favorites?

The Strength of Youth

I spent last weekend in south eastern Utah with the youth in our ward for Youth Conference (I am the secretary of our ward's Young Mens organization). We camped in Green River State Park, which is right on the Green River in Green River, UT. It was a nice campground. We spend one day rafting the Green (the rapids were pretty wimpy, but its always fun to spend a day on the river). And on Saturday, we drove down to Arches National Park and did an early morning hike to Delicate Arch, followed by quick hikes to Double Arch and Devils Playground.

Everyone had a great time, and I was yet again amazed at how good these kids are. All the kids got along really well with each other, they stuck together, they were grateful and helpful, and they happily did everything we asked them to do. We never had to get on them for staying up too late, for being too loud, for texting or listening to iPods while we were talking, for straying too far from the group, etc. Basically, they made it really easy on us leaders. One night, some Young Women leaders from another camp came up to us and said that they had found out that their girls were planning a midnight rendevous with some boys from another camp. We didn't even sweat it because we knew our boys wouldn't do that. And they didn't. I love being in Young Mens because I am consistently blown away by how good these kids are. They're smart, they work hard, they are kind, and they are very sensitive to spiritual things. I love it. They're great examples for me.