Once in a Lifetime

One month ago, Seth and I were proud to be able to attend the wedding of our two good friends, Ramona and Gabe. This was not your typical walk down the aisle and say "I do" wedding. No. This was a traditional Navajo wedding. A traditional Navajo wedding on the Navajo reservation near Monument Valley. With the ceremony taking place in an honest-to-goodness hogan. How's that for awesome?

Seth and I were both super excited when Ramona told us that they'd decided on a traditional Navajo wedding and that they wanted us to come. There was no decision to be made. We were going.

Ramona and I have been friends for over 10 years. Seems weird it's been so long. She and Gabe have been together for longer than that so it was only fitting they seal the deal. Seth and I are so happy for them. What a great couple.

Now I won't go into a ton of detail because pictures say it better, but I wanted to show a few pictures of the preceding activities and the wedding day itself. What a cool experience.

The inside of the hogan. I love being in there.

Ramona's family butchered a few goats and sheep for the festivities so Seth got in on the action.

At Goulding filling up the water tank.

Ramona's sister, Joann. Best basket weaver in the West!

Hanging out in the shade house to get out of the heat.

After the ceremony. Aren't their wedding clothes amazing? I think that was my favorite part! (that's the hogan in the background)

Ramona and Sylvie. Best buddies.

Me and Joann. She's such a cool lady.

The amazing wedding cake Ramona's cousins got for her. No I didn't make it... I just got to do the final touch-ups!

My dad got to come along as the wedding photographer. Not a bad gig, eh?

 

 

There were a few baby goats around so they got some cute pictures with them (this is one of my dad's pics)

Ramona's mom making some dry bread. (another of my dad's pics).

 Those are just a few of the pictures I have. You can see a bunch more from my dad on his Flickr page. It was such a neat experience and I was so glad to have been invited to be a part of it. Ramona even let us participate in the ceremony which meant a lot. She has always been such a good friend to me. What an honor to be a part of something so special. Congratulations you two! We wish you the best in your new life together!

Like an Olive Garden Commercial, but Cool

Seth and I decided Easter weekend was the perfect time to make a trip up to Boise to see some friends. My wonderful "animated" friend, Heidi and her witty husband, Paul were generous enough to less us crash at their place. Because of our trip up there last year, Heidi and Paul have also become friends with Seth's childhood friend, Cory, whom we also had the pleasure of hanging out with during this eventful weekend. Got all that?

Friday evening we all met together at Heidi and Paul's house where we were graced with the culinary genius that is Chef Paul. He made some amazing lasagna and avocado salad after which his apprentice (aka aspiring pastry chef), Heidi served up some deliciously rich brownies with whipped cream. Yes, it was as tasty as it looks.

Saturday morning Seth and I got up early (despite staying up way past our 9:00 pm bedtime) and headed out to do some fly-fishing on the Boise River. If you haven't already heard about the awesomeness that ensued, click here. As if we didn't already have enough reason to love Boise!

When we got back from fishing, Chef Paul cooked up another masterpiece for breakfast. I'm not exactly sure what you'd call this... a bit of a quiche of sorts. But who cares? It was so good!

So after breakfast Cory came over and Seth and I went with him to the Home Depot because he needed to get a saw to hack apart some tungsten. Don't ask. And in case you're wondering, the employees at Home Depot not only know about saws, but good medical t.v. shows as well. Did you see the one where the guy got his hand chopped off by the street sign when he tried to save that little girl? It was bloody but totally awesome.

After our successful trip to Home Depot we all jumped in the car and headed over to Caldwell for a tour of the wine country. It was incredibly beautiful there with rolling hills full of fruit orchards and grape vines. You'd think I would have taken some pictures, but somehow.... no.

We were all pretty hungry by the time we got back to Boise so we stopped into Heidi and Paul's favorite Thai restaurant, Siam. We got to try several dishes including Pad Woonsen with Tofu, Spicy Noodles with Beef, Combination Fried Rice, Cha Gior, Sweet & Sour Chicken and Heidi got a Som Tum (Papaya Salad) which we were all too wussy to try. I recommend the Cha Gior. Mmmm. (Uh... still no pictures). Oh, this is the place with the magical retro-active fortune cookies.

So we all head on back to Heidi and Paul's house after dinner and just hang out for a little while. Seth and I had never seen Cory's house so we went over there for a bit to check it out. We weren't surprised to find the place filled with dead hobos. Ok ok, it was nice and clean and was filled with the wonderful smells of his Indian roommate cooking dinner. Hard life, Cory. Hard life. A little disappointed there weren't any hobos though. Just being honest.

Somehow Seth and I made it back to Heidi and Paul's house in the dark without getting lost. I was even driving because you all know how cold this weekend was and the driver's seat in Blackie is the only one with a butt warmer. To our delight Heidi had made a fabulous cherry topped cheesecake which was waiting for us on the kitchen table when we got back. I told you she was an aspiring pastry chef. Again we stayed up way past our bedtime chatting and it was wonderful.

In the morning we were surprised and thrilled that the Easter bunny had found us all the way in Boise. Ok, it was Heidi and Paul but the baskets they gave us were so adorable and fun! We found them filled with various candy, tea selections and a jar of Mango jam made in Swaziland! I totally forgot about taking a picture of them until we'd already eaten half of the goods, but you get the gist.

 

After breakfast we talked for a bit more and then it was time to head home. We're always sad to leave Boise and our amazing friends and hope to get to see them all again soon. Thanks again guys, you're the greatest!

Pete's Hole

That's the name of a lake for those of you who are wondering what kind of crazy antics I'm up to now. More specifically, that's the name of the lake Seth and I went fishing at last weekend with Ramona and Gabe. It was just a quick overnighter, but it was fun and I have some pictures, so I'll post about it.

For the record, Seth and I got up at a decent time and made it all the way to Pete's Hole by early afternoon. That's pretty good for us. I drove the whole way and we didn't die or crash or anything! (not that I have a record for that sort of thing, I'm just sayin'). I even drove on bumpy dirt mountain roads and everything. Oh, for those of you who don't know where Pete's Hole is, it's up off of Skyline Drive. I can't go into any more details than that because Seth doesn't want me to give away all our good fishing spots.

Seth with a fish on his line... that's Ramona and Gabe laughing in the background

We lucked out and ended up getting a nice camping spot right on the lake. Of course Seth had to stalk a group of campers for the entire afternoon to make sure we got their spot when they left, but still.

Ramona and Gabe setting up their tent

Seth and I mainly caught Tiger trout with our flies and Ramona and Gabe mostly caught Rainbows with their bling. We could see a gigantic fish in the water which swam by us periodically, but sadly no one caught him. We'll have to go back another time to see if we can capture the elusive lake monster.

There were a lot of fish jumping and rising for almost the entire day. You'd think that would mean we caught a lot, but those little buggers were too smart! We did fool a few though.

Evening fish rising at Pete's Hole

On our way out of camp the next morning Seth and I stopped at a little lake called Soup Bowl, which is just below Pete's Hole. The fishing was actually pretty good and nobody else was there!

Heinz 57

Last weekend Seth and I got to go fishing with some friends of ours. Ramona and her boyfriend, Gabe invited us to go with them up to Washington Lake in the Uintas. We were actually just in that area a couple weeks ago for our backpacking trip, so we were excited to get to go back so soon.

Our fishing route

I called this post Heinz 57 because that's what Seth and I have taken to calling lakes that have a lot of different kinds of fish. Washington Lake was definitely a Heinz 57. I ended up catching Rainbows, Brookies, Tiger trout, and Grayling and there were also some albino Rainbows in there as well. It was pretty cool.

Seth and I mainly used flies including: Royal Wulff, Madame X and beetles. The beetle was definitely the super fly of the day. It's what I hooked the Grayling on (my first Grayling ever!). Ramona and Gabe used what we call "the Bling," which is a gold or silver Jake's spin-a-lure with red dots.

We ended up hiking to a couple other lakes and catching a few more fish, but none of them were as good as Washington. Seth and I even hiked up to Rock Lake and Azure Lake hoping to find some bigger fish, but to no avail. All we found was a giant boulder field and mosquitoes. At least there weren't any salamanders.

My biggest fish of the day, a Tiger trout... who proceeded to break off the line with my last Madame X.



Seth showed me his amazing fly casting skills and caught this little guy at least 20 yards out.

Seth with an albino Rainbow at Washington Lake

We took a break and grilled up some hamburgers and hot dogs for lunch before heading back out. Ramona was the designated griller.



Ramona and Gabe

Gabe's brother, Darren with the spoils. I think this was Shadow Lake.

Boulder field around Rock Lake (aptly named)

Azure Lake... there were a few mosquitoes...

The City of Trees

For Memorial Day Seth and I drove up to Boise. Who do we know in Boise? Well, a couple people actually, but specifically we went to see our new friends, Heidi and Paul.

Paul & Heidi

I met Heidi because of this blog actually. She's the one who leaves me deliciously long comments. What's not to like about that? Heidi knows Collette, Seth's wonderful older sister and has been friends with her since they went to Albertson's together (the college, not the grocery store). They are both phenomenal piano players. So anyway, Heidi began reading my blog because she loves everything "Hanson" and originally was interested in learning about Seth. Long story short, we've been emailing and calling each other for the past few months.

Isn't she cute?

We eventually decided it would be fun to meet in person so Seth and I found some free time over Memorial Day weekend to drive up to Boise. We got to Heidi and Paul's house just after noon on Saturday and immediately felt welcome. It seemed like we'd known Heidi and Paul for years. We all have so much in common with each other from liking Psychology, cooking, and gardening to fancy cheese and hiking.

Me & my new gooder friend

The first night in Boise Heidi and Paul had a BBQ. It was so much fun! Paul made us tuna steaks, brats, fruit salad and potato salad. It was so good! He's an aspiring chef like me! Seth and I invited Cory, one of Seth's old friends to the BBQ as well (don't worry, Heidi and Paul approved first). He lives in Boise too and we thought it'd be a good way for Seth to spend some time with him while we were in town. Heidi and Paul invited Grandpa Dave, an amazing 90 year old man who has been taking piano lessons from Heidi for the last couple years. That's right, he's 90. And he fit in perfectly with our group of 5 30ish year olds. Grandpa Dave is an artist and he has a great singing voice and is one of the most interesting people I've ever met. We all talked about everything from Star Trek to obscure scientists and philosophers. (Ok so they were telling jokes about scientists and philosophers and I had no idea who the people were so I just laughed really hard so it would look like I knew what was going on.) Later on Heidi gave us a short piano recital and she and Dave did a piano/singing performance of "What a Wonderful World." It was so cute. Oh and before I forget, we had the BBQ out on the patio and Paul's garden was amazing! Seth was sitting out in the yard on a bench earlier in the day and said he was pretending like he was in a mental institution and the yard was his sanctuary where he could just go and sit everyday. Anyway, it made us really want a house.



The next day we went walking around this shopping district by BSU (Heidi and Paul live like 2 blocks away from BSU). We looked in a couple stores and then who did we run into? Cory! It was kind of weird. Seth's other childhood buddy Nick was with him too, so we stopped and talked to them for a while before heading off to eat some Mexican food. After dinner we stopped off at this little icecream/candy store and got some chocolates for dessert. Then Heidi and Paul took us on a driving tour of Boise and we looked at all the cute houses. Boise is such a beautiful city. We really liked it there. That night we just hung out at the house and talked and ate fancy cheese and chocolates. It's a hard life, huh?


On Monday morning Cory came over to the house again and we had a nice big breakfast, after which it was time for Seth and I to go back home. We took some pictures together with our new friends and then said goodbye. Heidi and Paul are the most amazing people. Seth and I are both glad to have met them and really enjoy having them as friends.



On our way home we ended up stopping at Shoshone Falls in Twin Falls. It's the Niagara of the West! Actually, Shoshone Falls are taller than Niagara, which I didn't believe at first but it's true. The Internets said so.

Scofie

So last weekend we went on yet ANOTHER adventure. Can you believe it? We've been trying to take advantage of the times when we have an extra long weekend. Plus, camping season is only so long (unless you want to freeze your butt off in the snow! Psht, yeah right).

We'd been wanting to get up to Scofield Reservoir as the ice was coming off because the fishing is supposed to be really good around that time. Unfortunately, the ice was already gone when we got there, but we still did ok.

Seth and I drove down to Scofield on Friday afternoon and found a camping spot way up on top of one of the hills in the national forest area. It was a huge area way back off the road surrounded by quakies and covered in bright green grass.

Oh yeah, the last time we were out camping we realized we needed another table for cooking. We only had one small table that would fit the stove, but nothing else. So, we stopped off at Cabelas on the way down and picked up a Camp Kitchen! We got a flier in the mail saying they were on sale so it was a great time to get one. It fits in the tent really well and isn't as wide as our other table so it saves room. Plus it comes with these shelves that are awesome for organizing all the cooking stuff. I forgot to take a picture of it, but this is the one we got. It folds up into a carrying bag too, so it doesn't take up tons of room.

Seth in his ghillie coat at Cabelas

So now we can use our other table to eat at! And while we're on the cooking tangent, last time we went camping I made pancakes, but I'd bought some Krusteaz Wheat & Honey pancake mix that you just add water to. It worked alright, but I wasn't super impressed with the taste. This time when I went shopping for camping food I found that Bisquick Shake 'n Pour pancake mix that comes in a plastic jug so all you have to do is add water to it and shake it up. It was SO much cleaner and easier and I didn't have to wash any dishes! It still isn't as good as homemade pancakes, but I liked it better than the Krusteaz stuff, it was cheap, and much better for camping. I also liked it because then you have somewhere to store the extra batter. One jug was enough for two days worth of breakfast and it was less than $2.

Ok enough with the cooking stuff. Seth's parents just happened to be down in Huntington that weekend visiting Daddy Hanson's parents so we thought it'd be fun to meet up with them. Mama Hanson ended up staying at the house with Grandma who wasn't feeling too well, but Daddy Hanson, Grandpa and Seth's Aunt Leslie all came out and met us on the East side of the lake. They weren't able to stay for very long, but it was nice to see them anyway.

Seth and I fished by ourselves for another hour or two until our friends, Ramona and Gabe came. They were only able to come for the day, but we had a lot of fun. On the East side of the lake we all caught at least one fish which we all let go. They were pretty small, no more than 10" at the biggest. And we managed to get checked by the Fish and Wildlife Officers, AGAIN. Just about every time we go out fishing with Ramona and Gabe we get checked. I think they're magnets for those guys. We were all legit though so they went away after checking all our licenses.

Gabe showing us how big his fish was.

We fished on the East side until about 4:00 and then decided to head over to the West side to cook up some food on Ramona's new grill. It was a pretty fancy little thing. Seems Cabelas sucked them in on their way down too. Anyway, those guys were nice enough to cook up some hamburgers and brats for all of us after which we took a long walk around a point to fish in a more secluded spot. We all caught a bunch of small pan size trout including a few rainbows, tiger trout, and cutthroat hybrids. We kept a few of them this time around which Seth and I ate for breakfast the next morning with our pancakes.

We saw some cool stuff while fishing over in that spot. Twice, a huge military cargo plane flew really low right over us. I don't know what they were doing, probably some sort of training, but it looked pretty awesome. And on our walk back to the cars we saw a fox running after some geese. He ran away and hid as soon as he saw us, but once we got back to the cars he came out again. Seth had his binoculars so we took turns passing them around to watch it.


On our drive back home the next morning, we took a bit of a detour off the highway in order to get to Strawberry Reservoir. The road wasn't marked very well and we must have made a wrong turn somewhere, because we never did make it. We weren't lost, per se, just weren't exactly on the road we wanted to be on. We ended up coming down Diamond Fork Canyon which was beautiful. We stopped half way down and had a picnic by the river and then thought we'd better break out our fly rods before the trip was over.

It was the first time I'd fished with my fly rod since winter was over and guess what?! I caught a fish! The first fly fish of the year. That story is probably going into my Fishing Blog, so I won't go into details, but that fish made me the happiest of all the fish I caught all weekend. And he was by far the smallest.


So it was a great trip. The weather was perfect for the whole time, not even windy or anything. It was great getting to hang out with Ramona and Gabe again because we don't get to see them as much anymore. Plus we caught some fish. Something that hasn't happened for a few months.