My Christmas present to myself.

So I decided that it was finally time to treat myself to a really nice camera. Actually it was a combination birthday present, 'good job in Florida... you've survived' present and Christmas present. So I got myself a Nikon D60 digital SLR camera! I'm so excited to start taking pictures with it... so when I do I'll be sure to share them. (and I'm sure there will be a lot, so this is just a warning)

A wonderful start

So I started out my Christmas break the best way that I know how. I went through the Newport Beach Temple to take out my endowment. It was an amazing experience and I'm so glad that I was able to be there with my parents and brother and sister.

An amazing concert

So the Friday that I got back from Florida, Michelle picked me up from the airport and we went straight to Gilbert for a Jon Schmidt concert. This year Jon was joined by one of his friends Steven Sharp Nelson. He is an amazing cellist. Actually I thought this year was really good to see the way they played off of each other. I think that it actually made for a better concert seeing them play together. It was highly enjoyable. If you ever get the chance to see him (or them together) I would highly recommend it.

Up close and personal....with the aligators.

So now that I'm back home in Phoenix and have time to share some of my adventure. So the second Sunday that I was in Florida I made my way down to Everglades National Park. I enjoyed my drive through the park so much last time that I had to stop and see it. The first place that I went was one of the visitor's centers that is just off the road. This is where I got my first glimpse of an alligator.They were a lot larger than I thought that they would be. Keep in mind though that I have never seen an alligator. I had no problem looking at the alligators from above... little did I know that I would soon be closer than I ever wanted to be to the alligators. So as I continued down the road I made another stop at one entrance to the Everglades National Park. So I decided to get out of the car and take a little walk down the road. Well I didn't get very far down the path when this is what I found. Not only that but there was one of the alligators that wanted to show off. I got close enough to take a picture, but that was close enough for me. I really didn't want to be any closer. As I continued on down the road I got to the main part of the National Park. I stopped at the main visitor's center at the National Park and learned a little bit about the park from the ranger there. I didn't know that there were different sections of the National Park. There are three main sections, and the elevation change between the the three different areas is 4 feet. The pine forest is at the highest level of the National Park. But when I heard pine forest this is not what I imagined. These don't seem like pine trees to me, but they're Everglade pine trees.The other section of the National Park is more what I imagined. Boardwalks over water and grass lands. There are sections were the water is only a few inches deep and other sections where it is really deep. The last part of Everglades National Park is down on the tip of Florida. So the area is more coastal and there are keys. I was actually down at the end of the park by the time it was time for sunset. It was another beautiful sunset in Florida.Overall I'm glad that I've been able to get out and see a little bit of Florida and the alligators.

Key West

So Sundays I don't have to worry about work at all (thank goodness). So Sunday morning I finally got to wake up when I wanted to... no to an alarm. Then I headed off to a local ward here. The Bonita Springs ward... it's not really large, but it was a ward. That's actually one thing that I really like about the church no matter where you go you can find a ward and it's the same as church. After church I decided to take a little drive. Actually it wasn't all that little of a drive. I decided to drive down to Key West. It's about a 5 hour drive, but it was definitely worth it. First I took US-41 west. It travels across the Cypress National Preserve and Everglades National Park. It was a really cool... and had it not been for the fact that I wanted to get to Key West before the sunset I drove through. (Maybe I'll have to go back to see more.) Then I took US-997 south. It traveled through a whole bunch of nurseries. I think you could probably find any plant you wanted. Then I finally reached US-1. It was only 124 miles to Key West. The drive was actually really cool, but since I was driving I couldn't take very many pictures of the trip down. It's a really cool drive and some day I'll have to go back when I can take more pictures. When I got down to Key West I drove around the island for a little bit until I found a place to park close to the water.The water was that amazing color of blue. It was so pretty.Then I drove around the island some more until I found a parking spot next to a beach that I could walk out onto. I was even able to take a picture of myself (to prove I was there). Thank goodness for the self timer feature on the camera.Then I waited on the beach until the sun almost went down. It was very picturesque. I didn't stay until sunset though, because I had a long drive back.But while I was driving away with Key West and sun in the rear view mirror I decided that I had to stop to take a picture cause it would just be so sad to miss the beautiful colors.The rest of the drive wasn't too bad. A little long, but definitely worth it. I'm so glad that I've have the opportunity to be down in in Florida. Not only for the opportunities that I've had at work, but also for the things that I've been able to see.

Sanibel Island

Thank goodness for Saturdays. After working long hours during the week its nice to get the opportunity to get out and see some of Florida while I'm here. This Saturday I decided to head up the cost to Sanibel Island. It's up north of where I'm staying. One of the reasons that I decided to head up to Sanibel is that there is a lighthouse out at the one end. I originally thought that it would be a larger lighthouse then the one that was there. The lighthouse was actually decorated for Christmas.
Another reason that I wanted to head out to Sanibel was that it's beaches are not only know for their beautiful white sands, but for all the shells that create this sand. It's hard to tell from the picture but there are large sections of the beach that are entirely covered with shells. I spent some time digging around to find some nice ones. It' amazes me how many beautiful shells there are. I would find one that I like... then look around and find one that was even more beautiful. I think that I ended up bringing a handful home with me. It's amazing, because I know they definitely won't be missed off the beach there are so many. I stuck around the beach until sunset. There is something so relaxing to me about the beach. Hearing the waves crash, feeling the sand on my toes, and feeling the warmth of the sun. The weather right now is actually really beautiful... I almost forget that its December! It was so nice to be outside... it didn't really even cool off until when the sun was going down. Well if I'm going to be working so hard during the week, at least I can get outside and see things around me on the weekends. It kind of makes all the hard work worth it.

Zion is beautiful

Saturday we decided to take a little trip out to Zion National Park to go for a hike. It was a beautiful day to be outside hiking. And I love all the red rocks at Zion.

We decided to do the Angel's landing hike at Zions.

I love the view from the hike, plus the hike accross the ridge.

I love hiking with Chris and Rob, because they make it so enjoyable.

Rob looking out over the lay of the land.

The boys at the highest point of the hike.

Chris dangling over the edge of the cliff.

Here's the group at the top... Shelly, Chris, Rob, Melissa & Mark.

I love the craziness...

...That is Thanksgiving!!!

A little football...

A lot of food...

Some craziness...

And tons of family!

So overall Thanksgiving was tons of fun this year.

Really cool pictures

So because I haven't already written enough today there is one last thing that I want to post. My dad sent me this link to some tilk photography. It's a really cool photography technique that makes normal shots look like minatures. It's amazing how much like minatures all the pictures look... but they are all real pictues just using a different lens. Maybe someday I'll get to take some of these pictures.

The GRAND Canyon

So if hiking on Friday wasn't enough we went up to the Grand Canyon on Saturday. It always amazes me, but Grand Canyon National Park is only a 3 hour drive. My National Parks pass had expired, so I was in need of a new one. I love having the pass, because I love having a reason to be outside.
It was Austins first time at the Grand Canyon (actually it was his first time in Arizona). My roommate Michelle has never been to the Grand Canyon either, so we dragged her along. We decided to hike down part of the Kaibab Trail. We decided to hike down the 1.5 miles (2000 feet elevation) to Ceder Ridge. We saw a ton of animals along the way. We saw two California condors, squirrels, and eagle, big horn sheep, deer, and a blue bird. I don't think that I've ever seen so many animals along the trail. The weather was also beautiful day to be outside hiking. I think that the temperature outside during the day was in the 60s. Now normally that would be cold to me (compared to Phoenix) but it was a beautiful temperature to be out hiking around in. It was kind of funny though, because almost everyone at the Grand Canyon was wearing long sleeves, coats, jackets, scarfs or gloves... except for Austin. He only had his shorts and tee shirt. Crazy!
After hiking back out of the canyon which is harder than the hiking in we drove down to the Desert View overlook and watch tower to watch the sunset. Unfortunately we got to the tower just a few minutes after they closed it to people. So we got to enjoy the outside of the tower and the view, but we didn't get to go inside.
I love dramatic lighting... it always seems to accentuate the colors. Since the Grand Canyon has so many beautiful colors I love to take pictures with the strong lighting. I think I probably have tons of pictures of the Grand Canyon, cause I take so many every time I go. So the weekend was fun. I loved being outside hiking around. My legs were a little shore form all the hiking around, but it was definitely worth it. So for anyone else interested in coming to the Arizona to see the Grand Canyon just let me know... I'm always up for taking a trip up there.

So if you have any more interest in seeing more pictures click here... keep in mind that Austin took some of the pictures as well.

Romero Pools near Tuscon

So Friday afternoon we headed down to the Santa Catalina Mountains near Tuscon. We decided to hike out to Romero Pools. I've only been down to Tucson a couple times, so once again it was nice to be getting out to see stuff. The mountains around Tuscon are really pretty. Pretty in a desert way.

The hike out to Romero Pools wasn't too bad. It's a 2.8 mile hike out to the pools with a 960 feet elevation change. We haven't really had a lot of rain lately, so I was kind of surprised to see that there was water in the pools.

I'll admit that I got a little tired on the way out to the pools, but one of the things that kept me going was the fact that there was water. There is something about hiking out to water that I love. There was actually enough water in the pools that Austin decided to go wading.

Overall it was a beautiful hike. Friday night Austin and I went to his cousin's house in Tuscon for dinner. We enjoyed dinner and games with their adorable family.

Squaw Peak

So this weekend my friend Austin came down to visit... I love to have people visit, because it gets me out to see things around the city. Squaw peak is located in downtown Phoenix. It's one kind of cool thing about Phoenix are the "mountains" that are located in the middle of the city. The hike to the top was 1.2 miles but it was you gain more than 1,200 feet on the trail.

Since there is so much elevation gained on the trail you can usually see a good view of the valley. Unfortunately Friday wasn't really a clear day in the valley. It's always nice to see a layer of haze laying over the valley.

Actually there were tons of people on the trail on Friday. I was actually a little surprised at the number of people that we were passing. I think that along the 1.2 mile hike we saw more than 150 people. When we got to the top we discovered why. There was actually a Phoenix City challenge. The challenge was the seven summit challenge. Basically in the one day your suppose to seven peaks in the valley. I think maybe next year I'll look into it.

Florida... round one

Just in case any of you were concerned I am still around. Actually I'm now back in Phoenix trying to get some stuff done here before the holidays come.

My trip to Florida went so fast, because of the long hours that I was working. (69 hours in a week is more than I've ever put in). It seems all I did was wake up... go to work and then go back to the hotel at night. There were some days when I don't think that I even saw the sun. Thank goodness those aren't my regular working hours, cause I don't think that I could do it.

So the beach was only about 2 miles from the office. It was funny, because every day the guys there would ask if I'd gone down to the beach yet. Of course not... all my time was spent in the office when there was any sunlight. Finally on Saturday we ended up working only half a day (8 hours... but that's not much compared to the others). Since I had the afternoon off I headed down to at least see the beach with one of my co-workers.

It was an absolutely beautiful afternoon. The sun was shining and the weather was in the 80s. Which isn't much different than Phoenix at this time of year. But the humidity was pretty low... which anywhere that's humid is more humid than Phoenix.

The beach was littered with sea shells... it makes for beautiful white sand, but it's not so friendly on the feet. I honestly don't think I've seen that many shells at one time. I even grabbed a few to bring home for my bathroom... now I can say that I have some real sea shells.

I ended up walking up and back down the beach for probably 5 miles. It was just so nice to be outside and walking around. It's amazing how relaxing the sand and the waves can be.

Well it was a beautiful day at the beach and at least I can say that I've seen it now. I can't really say that I got out to see much more of Naples. Like I said busy working. Maybe next time I'll get out to see some more. If I do I will definitely post pictures.

So I'm off...

On Sunday I'm heading out to Florida (Napels) for work. I will be working on a project located in Abu Dhabi, so it should be a good experience. But it only gets more exciting. I will be in Florida for a couple of weeks. Then I'll be here in Phoenix for a week, with just enough time to complete a submittal for a project here. (Actually I'm hoping that it's enough time). Then it's off to St. George for Thanksgiving. Then I will promptly be returning to Florida for three more weeks to complete the improvement plans. When I return to Arizona I will have enough time to unpack my stuff before I head home to California for Christmas. So there goes the next two months of my life. I'll definately have to keep you posted on stuff... and I'm sure I'll try to get some pictures of the Gulf Coast since it's only a couple miles from the office there. It's going to be fun.

It will sure make the 13 weeks of waiting go faster.

So I'm done and the verdict is...

... I'll let you know how I did in 13 weeks when I get my results back.

So for any of you who didn't know I took my Professional Engineering (PE) Exam this past weekend. I drove out to California with a friend on Thursday. Friday morning I headed down to Del Mar way to early to be ready to take the Civil portion of the PE exam. I've decided that it's hard for me to sit for a 8 hour exam. I just don't have the patience any more. But honestly when it was all done on Friday I felt okay (much more relaxed than I'd been on Thursday). Needless to say I was exhausted on Friday night. I think I barely made it home before I was ready to crash in my bed. Saturday morning was round 2 the Seismic portion of the exam (specific only to California). It was probably the hardest of the test. Fortunately it was only 2 1/2 hours long (still a long time for a test). Saturday afternoon was the last portion of the test the Survey portion (specific only to California). It was only a 2 1/2 hour test, so not too bad, and I think that I did okay on it as well. So overall not a horrible experience, a little anticlimactic... but I'll just have to wait the 13 weeks until I get my responses back.

A Break...

So thanks to a good friend at work I got tickets to the Sun's Basketball game last night. The Sun's played the Charlotte Bobcats (I don't think I've ever heard of the team). The game wasn't really all the exciting until near the end when the Sun's almost lost it. We ended up going into two over times and the Sun's were finally able to put it away 111 to 108. It made for an enjoyable evening and a nice break from the studying that I've been doing lately.