Pacific Steel and Recycling

This weekend Laura and I went to Twin Falls to visit the family. On the way into town we decided to stop by my dad's office and check out the facility. He works for Pacific Steel and Recycling. My dad gave us a tour and let us play around on the equipment. We had a really fun time and it was really interesting. We were suprised at how much junk people had. It was also fun to watch things get crushed, dumped, chopped and moved around.

This is in the steel sales part of the facility. Safety first. Orders are placed, separated, custom cut, bundled together and shipped in this facility.

Welding steel for customers.

Check out all of the cans. 28 cans make a pound. Can you guess how many pounds are in one of those squares of crushed cans? I have no idea. You get 55 cents per pound for recycling cans. It is well worth it...I think.

This was the best part of the day. This all part of the recycling facility. Cars line up down the road to drop off of their junk. This is a huge sorting crane with a magnet that can be turned on and off with a switch.

I think the best part of the tour was watching cars get dropped off, moved around, cut in half with the schears, and then crushed into a square box. The cars then get sold and shipped to a company the melts them down and made into new cars...that we of course rebuy.  Enjoy the pictures.

Abducted by Aliens

This may look like some sort of alien abduction but its Laura getting her teeth bleached at her dental office. They got a new bleaching system that is supposed to make it so your teeth don't hurt after they get bleached and the dentist wanted to try it out. He gave all of his employees a free bleach to see if it was true. There is mild sensitivity in some patients so it worked good. Its just a fun picture so I had to post it.

Off the beaten path

This last Saturday we decided to join David and Suzie for a little hike. We wanted to get out and enjoy the nice weather and maybe start a tan. I was unaware of David's famous trails that he always finds that turn out to be trails that don't actually exist or that lead to nothing. And thats exactly what our hike turned out to be. We first stopped at a place where David thought there was a trail. It turned out to be an empty, dried out riverbed. A quarter mile later we turned around because it just took us to the base of some cliffs. He then drove to another spot where he thought that the trail would take us to the edge of Snow Canyon. We all knew that wasn't going to happen but entertained the idea anyway. We kept walking and walking. There was nothing to see except trees and rocks. It was fun to be together though and we laughed about our pointless hike. The funny thing is yesterday David took his motorbike back to this same trail and said it was ten miles to Snow Canyon. We are glad we turned around when we did. We might have ended up camping out all night.

This is where we stopped hiking and stopped to take a break.

Laura and Suzie enjoying the sun

Can you spot the lizard? David spent some time trying to catch it.

Suzie was talking and not paying attention and stepped on a cactus...ouch! I didn't think they were that hard to miss.

Our Engagement Story

Well since it has been a while since we last updated our blog, I finally decided on something to post. We have just been so busy that taking pictures has not been a top priority. Furthermore, I thought it would be a good idea to take one day of the week to share a personal story of some sort and hopefully fill people in on our lives prior to meeting and also together. The stories may be in random order but we will do our best to make sure that the time lines are well understood.


So...This is the story of our engagement. Laura and I had been dating for about four months before we started talking about a future together. We had been on trips to see each others families and both knew that we had met the "right" person. So the next step was obviously to get engaged and we set out to find the perfect ring. We spent a lot time on the internet trying to figure out what ring to get and how much to spend. I had already secretly purchased a diamond before we even started looking for a setting. We spent a couple of weeks without luck trying to find the perfect setting. We eventually found a style that we liked from Tacori:(This is not the exact style because I couldn't find the original picture, but this one is similar. Also there are two band, the engagement band and the wedding band. Both have the same design.)

The ring from Tacori was way out of my price range so I went to the nearest jeweler to see if I could have it made. Luckily, I found one that at one point worked for Tacori and knew how to do all the details. This was encouraging and so Laura and I ordered the ring. On the way out of the ring shop, as sly and anxious as most of you know Laura is, she quizzes the salesman on how long it will take him to make and asks him to call her with any questions or problems and to let her know when its going to be done. Not paying attention to me shaking my head frantically indicating silently to not give out any information because it would ruin any surprise that I could have planned, the idiotic salesperson tells her the exact date and time that we can pick up the ring. I was so mad. Now , I knew I was in trouble because I would either have to lie (for my first time ever...lol) or there would be no cute engagement story and no surprise. For the next two weeks we waited and I obviously chose to lie. I couldn't be the only loser in the world who didn't put any thought into how they were going to ask their soul mate if they wanted to get hitched. So after the guy called to tell us the ring was done, I told Laura they needed a couple of extra days. She didn't believe me...at first. And in fact, she kept checking my pockets, in my car and everywhere to see if I had hidden the ring. She was so anxious to just have it, I don't even think she cared if I did anything cute to surprise her (just so all of you know and especially for those of you who don't know her well, Laura always knows what she is getting for Christmas and her birthday before it comes. She makes it really hard to surprise her). Anyway, we had scheduled to go out to dinner and to Smart Cookie with our friends Garrett and Megan. Before we met up, I was able to pick up some flowers and devise a plan to get Laura out to her sisters house in Springville where I would make the proposal. Since I had led on that I didn't have the ring and she thought that I did, she was disappointed throughout the night when I never popped the question and eventually gave up pestering me about it. While we were at Smart Cookie, Saundra, Laura's sister set up the flowers and ordered cake from PF Changs. She hid the ring on the flowers somewhere (She forget to tell me that part, so when I went to propose there was no ring in the box):
After setting everything up, Saun called Laura to have her bring something out to the house that she needed that night anyway. So it made it easy to convince Laura, unsuspectingly. So we headed out to Saun's and Laura expressed to me how sad she was that her ring was not done. At that time, I knew she had fell for it and that I would actually get to surprise her.

When we pulled up, Jackson, Saundra's little boy came running outside all excited. I thought that he was for sure going to blurt out the secret. Apparently, Saun gave him a really good lecture because even though he acted like there was a present for "Lulu", he didn't say a word what it was. He kept studdering and fumbling over the words "Lulu, Lulu, come downstairs Lulu. Come see downstairs Lulu!"
It was so cute and actually worked out perfect. Here are some pictures from the rest of that night.

Mountain Biking by Elephant Rock

We had a really good time biking just outside the house in St. George. Laura and I have been going to spin classes and I think it really helped with the riding skills. Some of the terrain is pretty tough and really rocky. These pictures are taken by elephant rock and the turtle wall. David was our tour guide and we look forward to doing a lot more riding.

They must be related, check out the helmets!

Like father,

Like daughter!

I should be wearing a helmet as well, but since there were only two I was kind enough to risk my life for the safety of my family.

Riding Southeast of St. George

A couple of weeks ago David took me out for a ride. I haven't had the time to post anything until today. We had a really fun ride. Sorry the pictures aren't that great. I took them with my camera phone because I forgot to bring the camera.




Why I like riding:
1. You get out of the house.
2. You cover a long distance and get to see a lot of great scenery.
3. Make you feel like a man especially when you ride difficult terrain.
4. You get dirty.
5. Diet pepsi.
6. The women make food while you play and its ready by the time you get home and always extra tasty...or you just go out to eat afterwards.
7. Hot tubs and hot shower.
8. TV and movie after a long hard day.
9. Relax
10. BED!!!

Dinosaur Tracks (The nerdiest post I have ever done...I apologize)

While out riding we came across some dinosaur tracks. Here is some information about the dinosaurs tracks if you are interested. We found them in a one of the many sandy washes found in the area. This is what the sign said about it: Exposed in the wash are dinosaur trackways which document the passage of at least two different types of dinosaurs. The trackways are exposed in the Moenave Formation, a floodplain deposit more than 200 million years old. These trackways are some of the best examples of their age found in western North America. Although the exact identity of the dinosaurs which made these footrints may never be known (no skeletal remains are found in association), both types walked erect. The larger tracks were probable left by a large herbivore (such as a prosouropod) believed to be 20 feet long and weighing 8-10 tons. The smaller dinosaur, likely a carnivore (coelurosaur), was estimated at 10 feet long and 100 pounds. Scientific Study is continuing on these footprints and the surrounding rocks to learn as much as possible about the prehistoric event recorded here.

The Coelurosaur

Coelurosauria is a diverse group of theropod dinosaurs that include tyrannosaurs, ornithomimosaurs, and maniraptors; Maniraptora includes birds, the only coelurosaurs alive today. All feathered dinosaurs discovered so far have been coelurosaurs; in fact, some scientists believe that most members of coelurosauria bore some kind of feathers. Fossil range is middle Jurassic to late Cretaceous.

The Prosauropoda

Prosauropoda were a group of early herbivorous dinosaurs that lived during the Triassic and early Jurassic periods. They were frequently the predominant herbivore in their environment, and quickly reached large size. All prosauropods had a long neck and a small head, forelimbs shorter than hindlimbs, and a very large thumb claw for defense. Most were semibipedal, although at least one large form was fully quadrupedal. They were originally thought to be the ancestors of the sauropods, but are now considered parallel lineage.

Sunset at Red Cliffs in St. George

Here are some really cheesy pictures that Laura and I took while out hiking in St. George. There are always really pretty sunsets here. I won't comment much because there is nothing to say. Just enjoy.

More Hiking Pictures from the Red Cliffs

The TRUTH about the previous post by Laura

I am actually not blogging in the picture. I don't know why she thinks that...lol...but now I know why she was sneaking around with the camera taking random pictures!

So I haven't told a lot of people this but I guess now is as good a time as ever. I have been applying to medical schools. This is a recent decision and so I have spent a lot of time on the computer researching schools, filing out applications and getting things sent. As for medical school things are looking really good. I have already had two interviews and have two more next week. I am hoping to get a couple more just to make sure I have options. Wish me luck.

The truth about our blog

I thought Bryan needed a pat on the back for the hard work he has done so I want to tell you the truth and here is the picture to prove it. He is in the background working on our blog. Bryan has created our blog and this is the first thing I have ever put on here, Bryan even has to show me how to do this. He is awesome as you can see since our blog is up and running and is very cute... I am bragging now, but I can't help it because I love our blog. Bryan is the best husband.

LAS VEGAS!

Last weekend we made a trip to Las Vegas to visit some of our friends. We forgot to take pictures while we were there...guess we didn't do anything worth photographing. Anyway a few things we like to do in Vegas:
1. Go to Cheesecake Factory (for some reason we cannot get away).
2. Ride the Roller coasters and hangout at the Bellagio.
3. Eat at the buffets and see a show (haven't done much of that though).
4. Go to wedding receptions?...For some reason everyone we know lately is getting married in Vegas and not just at the "Little White Chapel".
5. Hang out with our friends.Here we are at Cheesecake Factory!!! Limoncello is the best desert there. We saw it at Costco. We don't dare buy it because we would eat it all in one sitting.

Recently, we have gotten into the habit of eating sunflower seeds on long trips. It helps with keeping us awake. Anyway there was no place to throw our seeds and they were overflowing and it was getting gross as you can see. We figured that they were natural so we dumped them out. Why am I posting this?