B.A.G. it

When I was an undergrad at BYU I took a Marriage Prep. course. Okay, okay. Laugh it up, fuzzballs. Don't judge me. I *HAD* to take either that class or Marriage Enhancement as one of my major--Home Economics Education--requirements. At the time, I didn't have anything to enhance, so I opted for the preparation version and see how that panned out? I am, like, THE BEST wife ev-ah. Well, maybe not but I certainly employed exceptional charater judgement when choosing a spouse, n'est pas?

Anywhoo, on to the point of this post. I can't remember the context in which my Marriage Prep. professor suggested that we keep a B.A.G.s journal but I loved the idea then and have since encouraged several of my therapy clients to keep such a log. For my blog post today, I've provided a small sample of my Blessings, Accomplishments, and Goals journal entries:

Blessings are God-given, un-earned, benedictions.
A few of my blessings:
My siblings. Stories of disagreements that lead to limited or no contact among family members make me truly sad.What a blessing it is love and like my family members.

My parents. They are good, good people. Funny, human, caring, lovely. I thank Heavenly Father that I lined up in front of the right chute when it was time to make the trip down here.

My kids. I feel so awfully inadequate to be a parent most days. I am grateful that my three sun spots grow and learn so beautifully regardless of my many mistakes.

My Brenty. When I look back on our short introduction, acquaintance, friendship, and courtship path, I know I wasn't thinking logically when I agreed to his on-the-spot marriage proposal. So blessed I said yes to this guy. Love him.

Accomplishments are achievements earned through hard work and dedication.
Two of my accomplishments:
I graduated from college. Twice! My Bachelor's degree in Home Economics Education and my Master's degree in School Counseling/School Psychology have brought me much fulfillment and many opportunities for service.

I live with and manage significant Anxiety and Depression. This is a difficult thing for me to announce to the world and even to admit to myself. Often I feel guilty for having these disordered symptoms amidst a relatively easy life. Sometimes I feel weak that I require medication and a significant exercise of deliberate and difficult self-control strategies to cope. I can only grant this as personal success by admiring others whom I know that trudge with similar burdens to bear.

Goals are plans for the future that one is working toward on some level.
Some of my goals:
Have all four bathrooms clean at the same time! I know, hard, right?!

Train for and run the 2013 Ogden Half Marathon in May. ENJOY myself while doing it.

Become a Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC) by providing 4,000 supervised hours of evaluation and therapy. I am currently working on this as an employee at the Neuropsychology Center of Utah.

Accept myself. Compassionately tolerate and address faults and failures. Acknowledge and do not dismiss strengths and honorable qualities. This is a toughy and will probably be on my goal list forever! 

What are your B.A.G.s?

The On-Track System

As part of my attempt to qualify for the Boston Marathon, I've gotten very interested in fitness and weight loss. I have realized that the critical part of a diet isn't the diet, it's the self-discipline to follow the diet. Almost any diet will work if you follow it. It's been my experience and observation that you quit a diet because you get discouraged or distracted, not because you decide not to diet. At the same time, I've been reading a book called Self-Discipline in 10 days. Using some of the ideas from the book, plus other ideas from my father, I formed a self-discipline routine. It focuses on self-evaluation, self-discipline, habit formation, and positive self-talk. I explained it to Rita and she thought it was really good. She thought of a name for the program and encouraged me to write a formal description of it and then have her and other friends and family follow it. Thus the On-Track System was born.

The On-Track System is not a diet or exercise program. It is a system for applying self-discipline to reach and maintain a healthy body weight. It helps you stay on your chosen diet, no matter what that diet might be. I've mentioned the system to a few other people and everyone has seemed interested. The system hasn't been completely formed yet, but it is to the point where others can try it and give me feedback. Hopefully I'll be able to improve the system and document it enough that anyone will be able to follow it.

If it sounds interesting to you, and you are willing to give me feedback, I will send you what I have so far. For now, I have just an outline of the system, plus some daily checklists and other workbook-like materials. In the future I will supplement this with detailed instructions and tips.

Email me or leave a comment below if you want to give it a try.

Djembe (JEM-be)

Brent and I find ourselves in lecture mode with Todd more and more often as the teenage years take a toll on our patience. One day’s topic centered on Brent’s opinion that Todd needed to get a worthwhile hobby—you know, one that didn’t require an electronic controller and over-priced, mind-numbing games. The talk went something like this:

Brent: “Todd, you need a hobby. When I was your age, I had lots of great hobbies. I loved bird-watching, participated in chess tournaments, collected stamps, and did lots of other stuff.”

I grimaced and gave a neck sawing motion to indicate Brent should arrest his speech outlining the varied and "exciting" hobby options before Todd died of a mocking spasm. Todd wasn’t paying very detailed attention (no duh) to the offered possibilities list and announced, “Okay. I want to do the djembe.” 

My puzzled and half-frightened look that djembe was code for some illicit drug cued Todd to explain a little further. “The djembe is a drum from West Africa made from a hollowed out section of a tree and a spine section of goatskin stretched over the top.” Figuring he was trying to get our goat (our goat…see what I did there?) and wasn’t serious, we called his bluff and negotiated the reward of djembe lessons based on improved school performance. Well, Todd called *our* bluff and hit the goal. Brent googled djembe lessons and found a teacher in Salt Lake. That was two years ago and the hobby has stuck. To say that Todd plays the djembe is to under speak. Todd breaths the djembe. It is a true blessing that he found a talent that he loves.

Here is a sample of Todd playing with his teacher at a Gala held in Davis County. (The group was playing during dinner so you can hear a lot of conversational back noise.) My favorite part happens around 1:40 when Todd and his teacher do a section of call and response. Andy, his teacher, plays a rhythm phrase and Todd immediately echos it back. These are impromptu, unrehearsed phrases. Cool stuff.

Todd's Home Run

Imagine a baseball player enters a close game in the bottom of the ninth inning. Now imagine that instead of the player coming off the bench, the coach calls a young spectator from the crowd and inserts him in the lineup in place of the team superstar. Now imagine that the spectator thrills the crowd by hitting a home run. That pretty much describes what Todd did at the Fara Tolno show last night.

Fara Tolno is a master drummer from Guinea. He played lead djembe for the national performance troupe of Guinea, called Les Merveilles de Guinea. He currently travels the US teaching and performing. He put on two shows this weekend at the Eccles Community Art Center in Ogden. Rita got tickets to last night's show for her, Todd, and Alec. (Kenna and I were at the Lights concert.)

Fara doesn't travel with a large group, so he asked some of the local drummers to play for his show. One of the people he asked was Todd's drum teacher, Andy Jones. When Andy does a show he will often ask Todd to play, but this wasn't Andy's show so nothing was mentioned to Todd. With no expectation to play, Todd didn't take his drum to the class, nor did he wear his traditional West African clothes.

The first half of the show featured Fara on the djembe. Needless to say, he was amazing. For the second half of the show, Fara performed West African dance. He went backstage between the two halves so that he could change into his dance clothes. He asked Andy and the rest of the drummers to perform without him while he changed.

Before Andy and the others played, Andy pointed to the far side of the audience where Todd was sitting. Todd looked around to see where Andy was pointing. Then he realized that Andy was pointing at him and wanted him to go on stage to play. Todd got out of his seat, walked across the stage, grabbed Andy's spare djembe and started to play. There were three men dressed in traditional clothes, and Todd wearing basketball shorts and a T-shirt.

They played the traditional West African rhythm known as Kuku. Each of the men took turns playing a solo part while Todd and the others played the standard rhythm parts. After the last one was done with his solo, Todd leaned to him and said "Should I solo?" The man gave Todd a little shrug that said "Sure."

That was when Todd hit one out of the park.

He started to improvise like only Todd can. Andy's drum is not like Todd's, and Todd had only played it once before. It's a different size than Todd's, but that isn't the main difference. What sets it apart from Todd's djembe is that around the head it has sege-sege, which are metal shakers. Todd didn't let that slow him down for a second. In fact, he incorporate the shakers into his solo routine, occasionally hitting them with his hands. I've never seen that done and I don't know where he got the idea.

Todd's hands were a blur he was going so fast, incorporation different solo phrases that he'd learned. During his routine someone in the back of the crowd let out a yelp and soon everyone was applauding. There was another round of applause once Todd's solo was finished. They were the only two times the crowd applauded during the middle of a song.

Todd and Fara Tolno

After the show, twenty different people came up to Todd to tell him how well he'd done. They didn't carry him off the field on their shoulders, but that's about how it felt.

Lights Concert with Kenna

Kenna and I just got back from the Lights concert. No, not the laser light show; the concert performed by  the music artist called Lights. Her music style is electro-rock and she is from Toronto. I had never heard of her when Kenna requested I take her to the show, but I went ahead and purchased tickets anyway.

Allow me to go off on a tangent for a minute. If you would ever like to learn to enjoy a certain activity, spend money on it. Ideally you would spend a lot of money. As any psychologist can explain, your sub-conscious mind will respond to your actions by formulating a reason why you would spend your hard-earned money. The only logical explanation is that you enjoy the activity.

With that in mind, it won't surprise you to learn that even though I purchased Lights tickets without having ever heard a single note of her music, I totally enjoyed the show. It also won't surprise you to learn that Kenna made the concert loads of fun. *Everything* is fun if you do it with Kenna.

I won the lottery!!

This year, the Ogden Marathon and Half Marathon went to a lottery system. I guess the number of people who want to risk injury, get frostbite in winter training and heatstroke during the race, and set high-only-to-be-dashed expectations of their running performance outweighs the amount of saps the race sponsors can morally accept money from to do so. After running the Utah Grand Slam in 2010, my brain, self-confidence, and aged body was spent. I haven't done much running since but analogous to "forgetting" the pain of childbirth to brave more hardship with the faith that the second child will turn out better--oh, sorry--I mean, faith that more kids will bring more life joy, I am going back for more. Yep, I "WON" the lottery and will be running the 1/2 marathon in May. I am almost excited.

Let's get this 30 day party-that-feels-more-like-a-headache started!

My lovely sister-in-law, Andrea Paxman challenged the Zimmerman family to a 30 blog posts in 30 days challenge and because I looooove her, I accepted. Brent accepted too so you're in for a LOT of Zimmerman news this month.

My first post is a little bit of a cheat since it is a recent update I wrote for my own family's website on MyFamily.com but, knowing that it's going to be difficult to come up with enough material for 30 days, I'm using it. Here's what's going on with us:

Brent is fabulous. He is being super nice to me lately and I'm not just writing that because I know he's checking the site more often. (Well, maybe I am doing it for that reason but it's still true.) He is working on a cool new healthy behaviors/weight management program that is different and great. If you are interested in being a test subject, let us know. Since I gained back 6lbs in 10 days of the 10lbs it took 6 weeks to lose, I think I am a prime candidate ;<

I am going to GREECE in May. Yep, Greece. My super fun, sweet neighbor who works for an airline asked if I wanted to go with her and I jumped at the chance. I'm saving up jokes and conversation bits and stockpiling headache meds for her so she doesn't regret inviting me on the week-long excursion.

I just finished sewing some more African dance skirts and jackets for an instructor who knows Todd and Todd's drum teacher well. She is darling. Sewing for other people is a little nerve-wracking. That said, any sewing project lately has given me a joyful feeling of productivity. I'll save one of my posts for more on this.

Todd bore a very nice testimony at our church a few weeks ago. Many mothers of young women were swooning. Hahaha. I guess won't flash them his report card. It is easier to be patient with his lack of organization and seeming ambivalence toward school when I think of what a good, good boy he is.

Todd got his driver's license today!! To clarify, he has his license but is still restricted from using it until completes the paperwork for his Eagle Scout award. Could be a long time. Will one of you give him a ride to my funeral? Oh thanks.

Kenna does not hate Jr. High. She does not hate bass lessons and she does not hate me. Halle-freaking-lujah! Her grades are up and despite some typical Jr. High girl insecurities, she is generally a happy girl. I love her.

She just got her hair cut. BANGS. So. Dang. Cute. She and Brent are going to a "Lights" concert next weekend. She is some Canadian (all the best ones are!!) singer that Kenna loves. Brent will do anything for baby Kenna. I don't blame him.

Today Alec is wearing the Calgary Flames hoodie that I got for Todd a million years ago. Crazy. My kids are getting so old. He is a happy, toothless boy. When kids start losing their teeth, they look like little trolls and he's no different. The fact that he never wants to shower is not helping. Gross. He just told me that he wants to sing in the Christmas Primary choir. Cute. When I try to pay him a compliment, he fills in anything I missed.
For example:
ME:"Alec. You are good at so many things. I am glad you want to start singing too."
ALEC: "I know, right? I am can dribble with both hands. I am like, THE BEST, at Math in my class. Plus, I am super nice to everyone. AND, I am killer on Minecraft."
ME: "Yes you are." Uh...healthy ego too.

I'm OUT. See you for the next 30 days.

Update on New Year's Resolutions

I set some pretty aggressive New Year's resolutions for myself in 2012. I had intended to revisit them around the middle of the year. Is November close enough to the middle?

• Qualify for the Boston Marathon. This goal won't happen this year, and it won't be for lack of trying. Over the winter I ran every day but one. I did a long run of at least 18 miles every week. I then followed that up with a nearly flawless training cycle in the spring. The result was a personal best at the Ogden Marathon in May, but my best wasn't good enough. I'll try again for a BQ in 2014 when I reach the older age group.
• Create and follow a set of value statements. Done. I have nine sentences that define who I aspire to be. I read them every other day.
• Keep a daily tracker. Done. I certainly haven't kept it every day, but the majority of days I faithfully check off my list of to-do items.
• Read 12 books. I've read 10 books so far, so I'm right on target to complete this goal. The books I read are: Mockingjay, They Never Came Home, Alien Hand Syndrome, Locked in Time, Design Patterns, The Clockwork Three, The 5,000 Year Leap, How to Sell Every Magazine Article You Write, Training for Endurance, and No They Can't.
• Post to my blog 26 times in the year. I've posted 14 times so far, including this post. I'm hoping to do a lot of posts during National Blog Posting Month, starting today. I should easily make my goal.
• Be more patient with my kids. I've been more patient, but I definitely could do better. The kids have been great this year, so being patient has come easily.
• Pay off our home equity loan. Done. We met this goal three months early. It is a great feeling to have that weight off our shoulders.
• Earn a promotion at work. This isn't looking very promising. We had a company-wide reorganization and I was assigned to a new team with a new manager. This would have been bad enough, but I was then asked to keep working on my old team until the project I was working on was finished. This meant that I spent almost half the year working on one team, but answering to the manager of another team. I was also in Africa for three weeks. When I got back it felt like no one knew who I was.

It looks like I'll get six of the eight goals. Not bad. The two that I probably won't get have been put on hold, but I intend to reach them eventually.

Hiking in Zion

When my cousin Jami Quesenberry invited me to go hiking in Zion with her and her family I didn't think it'd work out. But when she said they were hiking The Narrows, I knew I had to make it work out. The Narrows isn't simply a hike I had wanted to do, it was the most glaring uncompleted item on my bucket list.

I have been to Zion regularly and hiked the Riverside Walk Trail numerous times. Unfortunately, I had never had the time or equipment to continue on into the Narrows. Each time I would reach the end of the paved section and gaze up the canyon into the Narrows and say to myself "Some day." Well, yesterday was "the day" and the hike was well worth the wait.

The plan was to drive to Zion on Friday and hike Angels Landing, then hike The Narrows on Saturday morning. So, around lunchtime on Friday I ended my workday early and headed to my uncle Glen's house in Pleasant Grove. He and I then drove to Jami's house in Salem where we were going to meet the rest of the group. Unfortunately, Jami was unable to go. However, there were still ten of us that went, including Jami's husband Steve, four of their children (Leigh, Grace, Daniel, and Timmy), their niece Jill, plus Jill's friend Chris and Daniel's friend Tyler.

With only a short stop in Nephi for lunch, we drove directly to Zion Nation Park and arrived before 5:00. We checked into our campground and then immediately got on the shuttle bus up Zion Canyon. Twenty minutes later, the bus dropped us off at the Angels Landing trailhead and our hiking was underway.

Angels Landing is a 1,200-foot high rocky peak that overlooks my second-favorite place on Earth: The Big Bend area of Zion Canyon. (My favorite place is Dead Horse Point.) This one spot features great views of the Great White Throne, Observation Point, the Organ, Cable Mountain, and the Virgin River.

As far as hikes go, Angels Landing is nowhere near the most strenuous or dangerous. However, when it comes to hikes that are sponsored by the National Park Service this one is easily the roughest I have ever seen. Most hikes that a park shuttle will take you to are flat, paved, and about a half a mile long...and they still tell you to "consult a physician" before going on the hike. For the Angels Landing hike, the tour guide doesn't mention anything about your physician. He just says "Fatalities have occurred."

The hike is five miles, round trip, and quite steep with a lot of switchbacks. The last half mile has chains for you to hold on to and notches carved in the rocks for you to get a toe-hold. I had hoped to get a bit of a workout on the hike...but I got a lot more than just a bit. I was breathing hard most of the way up.

Glen, Chris, and Jill ascend Angels Landing

This was the second or third time I'd done this hike, but the view from the top was every bit as breathtaking as the first hike. My photographs certainly don't do it justice, but I got a few good ones.

The view of Big Bend from Angels Landing

While on the top of Angels Landing I witnessed one of the grossest things I can remember. There are dozens of chipmunks scurrying around on the peak feasting on crumbs that have been left behind by hikers, and there was a lady there that accidentally stepped on one. She screamed as she realized she'd crushed its poor little skull. It started twitching and flopping around and making a big scene. Blood was gushing out of its head and soon everyone was grossed out. Things really got gross when it flopped all the way over to me and landed on my backpack. It was flipping blood all over my stuff. I tried to kick it out of the way, but it flopped so high that my foot went clean underneath it. I finally landed a glancing blow and knocked it down into the crack of some rocks and out of sight.

We spent a few minutes on top enjoying the view and taking pictures before heading back down. After a quick descent we took one of the last shuttles down the canyon. We got back to our campground as the sun was going down. We quickly pitched our tents and fixed dinner before it got totally dark. After dinner we relaxed for a minute before going to sleep early, anticipating a long day.

On Saturday morning we were awakened at 7:00 by Glen who had fixed us all a hot breakfast of pancakes, eggs and bacon. After breakfast we packed up and checked out of the campground. We then got on the shuttle bus and headed up the canyon again. This time we went all the way to the last stop at Temple of Sinawava. That is where the Riverside Walk Trail begins, which is an easy paved walk up the canyon for a mile. At that point the pavement ends and the section of the canyon known as the Narrows begins.

There isn't a trail in the Narrows. You mostly walk in the river itself, and any trails that might develop on the short areas of dry land get washed out by flash floods. The river is low this year, so most of the water was only ankle deep with the deep sections reaching up to my chest. The low water didn't make the hiking significantly easier for us because we still had to step and climb over rocks and boulders most of the way. When I learned that Steve and his kids only had time to hike up for an hour I was a bit disappointed. It didn't feel right to rush when I was checking an item off my bucket list. However, it was pointed out to me that they were all in a different vehicle from us and we could take as long as we wanted. We decided to hike up at least as high as the section called "Wall Street." This is the most narrow section of the canyon and the part that I'd most wanted to see.

So, for the first hour we had a large group and there was a lot of talking and stopping for pictures. Then after that there four of us--Glen, Jill, Chris, and I--and the hiking got more focused as we pushed toward our goal of reaching Wall Street. The canyon gets narrow very gradually and we found ourselves walking less and less on land and more and more in the water. We also were getting less sun and finding more of a breeze through the canyon. The result was that by the time we reached Wall Street it actually started getting cold despite the 104 degree temperatures elsewhere in the park.


Brent at "Wall Street"

The Wall Street section of the hike wasn't as narrow as I had envisioned it, but the canyon walls were every bit as high. The canyon winds back and forth and each new bend seemed to offer a new, more narrow view. I found myself repeatedly thinking to myself "this is the best part of the hike."

After a while we reached a point where there is a fork in the canyon. One of the forks led to a small canyon that was significantly more narrow. I think this is the canyon I was thinking of when I thought of Wall Street. It was narrow enough that I could nearly reach across and touch both sides at the same time.


Narrow side canyon

We ventured up the small canyon just far enough to get some good pictures, then returned to the main canyon. We pushed ahead for maybe another half mile and the canyon seemed to be widening. We concluded that we had probably passed the best parts of the canyon and decided to turn back.

I found the hiking was nearly as difficult going down as it was coming up. There wasn't really an elevation change or a strong current that had slowed us on the way up. However, we didn't stop on our way down to admire the scenery or take pictures, so we made good time going back out. We got back to the shuttle bus just over four hours after we had started hiking. I think it was my longest hike in about seven years.

The shuttle took us back to our car and we left right away. We had to take Chris to St. George, and then we drove the 250 miles to Salem without stopping. We dropped Jill off there and then we had to go to Glen's house to get my car. I didn't get home until 10:00pm, completely worn out.

It was a great weekend and I can't thank Glen, Steve, and family enough for their hospitality.

Adams Canyon Hike

Despite living in Layton, I had never hiked Adams Canyon until yesterday. I had heard a lot about it--Rita and Todd had each hiked it separately--but I hadn't ever gotten around to doing it. The trailhead is within Layton city limits, so there really was no excuse for why I hadn't done it.

I started hiking at 7:40, which seemed pretty early to me. I thought it'd be cool at that time of day and that there wouldn't be many other hikers. I was wrong on both counts. The trail is considerably steeper than I thought it would be, climbing 1,400 feet in two miles. The first leg of the hike has little shade. I was in a full sweat within just a few minutes. The hike is evidently very popular among several different groups. I passed trail runners, dog walkers, couples, single hikers like myself, families and scouts. It felt like half of Davis County was there.

I can see why the hike is so popular. The trail offers a variety of breathtaking scenery. The first scene is just 15 minutes into the hike when the trail meets up with the Bonneville Shoreline Trail. From there, the view of the valley is spectacular.

Brent, with Layton, the Great Salt Lake, and Antelope Island in the background.

After following the Bonneville Shoreline Trail for just a couple of minutes, the hike enters the heart of Adams Canyon. The scenery at that point turns to thick forest as you follow the north fork of Holmes Creek. The hike is just difficult enough to make it interesting, with a lot of boulders and a few steep parts. The highlight of the hike is at the end of the trail when you reach the waterfall.

Brent poses beside the waterfall.

The hike took me two hours, which seemed like the perfect duration for a hike. It was long enough that it felt like an accomplishment, but short enough that I didn't have to make a day of it. I think if I went early enough I could do it on a weekday and still make it to work on time.

School Events

I took the day off of work today to visit Todd's and Alec's schools. First was Todd's school. I went there to attend the school Awards Ceremony. Todd was presented with the President's Award. There was a bit of confusion as to how you qualify for this award, but I believe you need to earn a 3.5 GPA and also score at least 80% on the End of Level tests. They gave him a certificate and a really nice key chain.

Next I went to Alec's school to watch the First Grade Program. Alec had been sick during the night and missed the first part of school, including their final practice for the program. You could tell he had a rough night because his eyes were drooping and he yawned a few times. Despite running a fever and nearly throwing up at the end of the program, he did a really good job. I hadn't realized before now how much he takes after his older brother in that he can be a real performer. During his solo he wasn't nervous at all. He smiled big, moved to the rhythm, and at one point even looked over at Rita and flashed her a little wink.

I was glad I was able to get the day off and go to these events because they both gave me a chance to be a proud father.

Musical Performances

Each of our three kids gave musical performances within a couple of weeks of each other. First was Todd, who played the djembe drum at St. Marguerite School in Tooele on April 26. It was part of an African cultural event that the school used as a fundraiser. Both my parents drove from Orem to watch him. Todd earned a small amount of money for his services, so now he's a real professional.

Next was Kenna who played double bass at the Northern Davis County Monster Concert on May 1. It was called a "Monster Concert" because all the orchestra students from surrounding schools all played at the same time. Unfortunately, they put her and the other bass players way in the back where you can't see her, but we promise she played well. ;)

Last, but not least, was Alec who played the recorder for his 1st grade class for show-and-tell on May 11. His teacher heard that he was learning and requested he give a performance. I wasn't able to attend, but I got his skills on film at our house later that day.

We're proud of our kids and their decision to play musical instruments. We look forward to many more performances in the future.

Eclipse Trip

We had a fun, event-filled weekend this past week. The events started early Saturday morning with the Ogden Marathon. I got a best-ever time of 3:29. You can read my race report here.

After the marathon, Rita and I went to lunch at my favorite restaurant, Winger's. Then we packed the kids into the car and headed to St. George for a relaxing evening in the warmth of Southern Utah. On Sunday afternoon we drove to Parowan Gap to watch the solar eclipse with the Ogden Astronomical Society. The event was a private gathering for the members of the society, so we expected about 10-20 people. To our amazement there were about 100 people there.

Eclipse observers just outside the Parowan Gap

The gap is about 12 miles from I-15, half way between Parowan and Cedar City. Its claim to fame is a set of sophisticated petroglyphs that include detailed astronomical observations made by the Sevier-Fremont people starting about 1,500 years ago. We parked about 200 yards from the gap in a grassy area that would provide good viewing of the eclipse. We then walked up the rode to the petroglyphs.

BLM Lecture

We when arrived, there was a lecture in progress being hosted by the BLM. As we learned, the largest, most sophisticated petroglyph is called the Zipper Glyph that is a detailed map of the surrounding foothills. The glyph details the location of several gatherings of rocks called cairns, which are located at various spots in the nearby hills. Each cairn is positioned such that the sun, moon, or planets are just visible in the gap during significant astronomical events (e.g. during the summer or winter solstice).

The Zipper Glyph

After the lecture, we walked back to the car and got settled in to watch the eclipse. It wasn't a total eclipse, but rather an annular eclipse, which means the moon was directly in front of the sun but too small to block it out entirely. Instead, it formed a "ring of fire" by blocking out all but a thin ring of sunlight. Our observational equipment consisted of eclipse glasses and my telescope. It would be much too bright to look through the telescopes eyepiece, so we instead projected the image of the eclipse onto a piece of paper. This provided a surprisingly detailed view of the sun, along with a couple of prominent sun spots that just happened to be visible. A side benefit of this technique was that I was able to get good pictures of the event. Here you can see me looking at the eclipse when the sun was only about a fourth the way obscured.

Brent checking out the partially-obscured sun

Here are the eclipse glasses in action:

Kenna, Alec, Rita, and Todd kick back and watch the eclipse

This is what the eclipse looked like at its peak:

The Ring of Fire

After the eclipse, we drove home to Layton, arriving after 1:00am. It made for a difficult Monday morning, but it was a very unique event and everyone in the family enjoyed it.

Hunger Games Premiere

As you may know, Kenna and I read the three Hunger Games books together. (Read my review of the first book here.) While I liked them, Kenna loved them. When she learned that they had made the first book into a movie, she started counting down the days until its release. She also made it clear that she wanted to go to the midnight premiere. That sounded like fun to me, and I purchased tickets for her and me almost a month before the event.

Knowing the popularity of the books, we anticipated the premiere would a popular event. Wanting to join in on the excitement of the moment, Kenna thought it would be fun to dress up like characters for the movie. I initially agreed to join her in costume, but then got cold feet as the day got nearer. I had always thought that dressing up like a character is the height of nerdiness. However, a coworker of mine convinced me that I should do it for Kenna because it would make it a memorable moment. I'm glad I listened to him, because he was exactly correct.

Kenna dressed up like Effie Trinket and I dressed up like Seneca Crane. Kenna's costume consisted of a wig, fake eyelashes and tons of makeup. My costume involved growing my hair and beard long and applying a lot of hair dye to both.

As far as I could tell, we were the only ones at the premiere in costume. While at first this made me feel a bit self conscious, that feeling quickly faded as we were basically treated like celebrities by the many Hunger Games fans that were there. In the theater lobby, people were telling us that we looked great and even asked to take their picture with us. When we entered the theater, we drew the attention of the fans in their seats and they actually started applauding us! A large group of fans invited us to sit with them and took several pictures.

We enjoyed the movie a lot, and the events surrounding it even more. Kenna always knows how to make things fun. Now, if she just knew how to get the dye out of my hair!

Growing Up Fast

Todd participated in "Zion's Camp" last week. The typical Zion's Camp calls for camping, but this year was different. All the young men in the stake spent three days on a pretend mission. They slept at their own homes, but the rest of the time they were at the stake center participating in activities that approximated life as a missionary. Todd was "called" to Denmark. He needed to wear a suit, but didn't have one that fit. So Rita took him to Mr. Mac and got a nice black one. He looked about three years older with it on.

On Friday Todd finally got his braces off. The final results of all those years of discomfort were pretty good. He's got a great smile now. Again, he looks a lot older now that he has them off.

We sure think Todd is a great kid...or should I say "man"? He looks a lot older now.