Snachta.

It has been snowing all morning.

It is September 29.

Whoa.

THIS WEEKEND!

This weekend is the Mountain to Metro Games and Harvest Moon Festival!

Check out the events below- come to some or all of them! If you want to volunteer let me know, or if you plan to come and want more info, let me know too! Come support Ogden and enjoy this event! This is your chance to get involved with your community at large!

Friday, September 28

4:30 PM

Flowrider Competition
Location: The Salomon Center Plaza

Exposition style at the Flowrider in the Salomon Center.

4:30 PM

Amatuer Climbing Competition
Location: The Salomon Center

Come and test your skills on Utah's largest indoor climbing wall.

7:00 PM - 9:30 PM

Ogden’s High Adventure Mountain Film Festival

Sponsored and produced by Ogden Climbing Parks

Location: Ogden Amphitheater, Historic 25th Street

Two and a half hours of programming including the 84 minute feature: “Higher Ground”; A Mountain Culture Film which documents a yearlong journey as seen through the eyes of a selection of world-class climbers. Other films include a variety of other high adventure mountain sports. These films will focus on the importance of exploration, passion for the mountains, care for the environment, and those who pursue the high adventure lifestyle. Donation of $10/pp or $20 per family. (All donations automatically enter you into a drawing for a grand prize of a week in Puerto Vallarta). For more information please contact Ogden Climbing Parks 399-1130 or jeplowe@netscape.com www.jefflowe.info

Saturday, September 29

Bike Corral sponsored by UTA

A bike corral will be provided throughout the event so festival attendees will be encouraged to ride their bikes downtown where they can be securely stored. Similar to coat check or valet parking.

8:00 AM -11:00 AM
“Show Us Your Rack” Gear Swap
Location: Court Parking Lot at 26th and Lincoln

This is two events in one. First, it’s a competition for the most loaded-up Yakima or Thule rack. We want to see bikes, kayaks, gear, etc. Attendees can buy, sell, barter or beg whatever outdoor gear they want. Everyone is welcome! Just show up for some of the best deals of the year. Court Parking Lot at 26th and Lincoln.

11:00 AM -1:00 PM

Bouldering Clinic
Sponsored by Ogden Climbing Parks

Entry Level Climbers can learn the basics of this climbing technique that doesn’t require excessive gear. Shoes, boulder pads, and instruction provided. For more information contact Ogden Climbing Parks 399-1130 or jeplowe@netscape.com www.jefflowe.info

10:30 AM

EddyFlower Ogden Downriver Slalom Race

Kayakers will compete to have the fastest time down a technical river slalom course. There will also be an entertaining boatercross event where an 'rogue' kayaker will attempt to cause mayhem during the race by blocking the other boaters. Lacated at the 24th street kayak park (west of the railroad tracks) For more information please contact Nathan Packham (801) 394-4251, npack@hotmail. www.eddyflower.com

1:00 PM - 7:00 PM

Harvest Moon Criterium

Sponsored by Bingham's Cyclery & Wadman Corporation

4th Annual Harvest Moon Crit moves back to its original location around the Ogden City Municipal block. This year's bike race will be a fast four-corner race that will allow riders to demonstrate their end of year fitness. Come watch racers burn up the street at speeds in excess of 30 mph! Races all day starting at 1:00 and ending at 7:00. Free kids race will be held at 5:00. See www.sportsbaseonline.com for registration information.

3:30 PM - 5:30 PM

Striders7
Location: 29th Street Trailhead (top of 29th)

The Striders7 (mile) Mountain to Metro trail run gives runners the opportunity to race on the historic Bonneville Shoreline Trail and experience the scenic beauty of Ogden River's Parkway trail. Striders7 starts on the 29th Street trail head at 3:30pm and ends on Historic 25th in downtown Ogden; just in time for the Harvest Moon Celebration. Runners will be bused to the trail head from 25th Street. Registration is available in-person at the Striders running store in Layton or online at www.stridersrunning.com and at www.runnercard.com. For more information please call Striders at 801-728-9121.

Adventure Photo Contest sponsored by Out of Bounds Creative

Contestants will take photos of various high adventure activities around Ogden and Mountain to Metro/Harvest Moon events throughout the weekend and submit them for judging in the afternoon. As the sun sets on 25th Street, a slide show of all the day’s photos will be projected for all to see behind the ongoing live music. Winners will receive cash and/or prizes. Photos are now being accepted at contest@outofboundscreative.com. Please submit a medium resolution jpeg (emailable) no larger than 5 MB.

2:00 PM - into the night
Harvest Moon Celebration

Join the hundreds of fully loaded racks parked around town with hundreds of exhausted paddlers, climbers, trail runners, mountain bikers and cyclists all sitting on Historic 25th Street as the sun sets while they enjoy a beer, free quality family activities and live music in an incredible mountain/metro environment. For more information check out http://www.harvestmooncelebration.com/

Hope to see some of you there!

Hooray for...

1-The Office, my new favorite show.

2-Ham.

3-FALL WEATHER!

4-Sweaters!

5-Changing leaves!

6-Good friends joining the blogging world! (yay Rileys!!!)

7-Flexible Job.

8-Cooking Shows.

9-Ina Garten, my hero.

10-Potatoes.

11-Waffles.

12-Coffee!

13-Thursday night TV in General.

14-My Cat, The Hermann.

15-Anniversaries.

16-Birfdays.

17-Church!

18-Mountains!

19-Paper products.

20-Active community.

21-A cool new planner, a non-college one- I'm so fancy!

22-Only ONE man in my life going to war (that should be first- and its hooray that Gavin is safe, NOT that Matthew isn't, for the record....)

23-God's sovereignty-- man would I mess things up if I were in charge!

24-HEAT the book... Loved it. Probably tops my list of 5 faves.

25-Softy Blankets to cuddle up in.

26-Forgiving friends who don't fault your craziness and understand your perpetual absence from the phone or...gasp....sending cards and presents on special events :)

27-A pretty dang cool hometown. Check it out this weekend....more to come on that.

28-Mac.

29-Fall fashion.

30-Sleeping under warm blankets in a cold room.


and so on....

just a few things that come to mind right this second I thought I'd jot down.

Pretty Ugly.

You have to know you're pretty to enjoy being this....well..... you know.

A pictorial ode to you, dear sister-in-law :)











I was looking for a nice picture of whit, but don't have any of just her. So, I promise when I can I'll post one so you can be assured of her beauty.

Happy Friday Everyone!

Lunch Thief!

So on Sunday night Matthew and I went out to dinner to celebrate my parents and their 31st anniversary (which was yesterday- and Gavin and Kelley's 3 year anniversary was yesterday too! aww!). We went to this fabulously delicious place called Flemmings- a steakhouse in SLC.

I got a nice big filet mignon and saved half of it to eat the next day for lunch (we had appetizers, salad, bread... so I was plenty full... but still.... I sacrificed delicious warm tasty beef for my lunch the next day....)

So I brought the filet and a tasty spinach salad to work in a nice little bag and put it in the mini fridge. This fridge sits about 5 feet inside the door of the office on the same wall as the door, if that makes sense. I'd draw you a picture, but, alas, I have not the ability in more ways that one.

Anyway... So I'm working in the main office which is kind of tucked in to a corner- I'm the only one in the office M, W, F- and I hear the distinct sound of the fridge door opening. We always keep lots of bottled water in there, so I figured it was a board member or committee member coming in to say hi, and snagging a nice cold bottle. Then I realized they didn't say anything, and usually I'd hear them walking towards the office where I am, or would holler "hey Claire" and then come see me. But....none of this occured.

Then I remembered my location. Beautiful, pleasant, lovely, beloved downtown Ogden. For all of its' charms..... there are some flaws. Not the issue of the people, so much, but the issue of their actions... see the following....

And what did I see? When I finally decided to peek around the corner of the office door and look at the fridge? A person hustling out the door with... you guessed it, my bag full of delicious leftovers. I stared at the gaping hole in the fridge where my lunch used to be.

And then I got mad.

So I walked outside and scoped out the area, looking at the classic bumspots, figuring I'd most assuredly see the man AND my bag out there. But after a few minutes of crinkling my nose in the sunlight, trying to spy my bag of leftover beef, I realized that the person who stole that bag probably needed the food more than I did, and that I was really REALLY stupid to think that I would confront a hungry homeless man if I DID in fact see the bag, knowing what multitude of danger I might face in such a situation.

And so... now the dilemma remains- how do I stay safe in the office? Looks like I'll be locking the door :)

That's the story of my stolen lunch.

Thank You Notes Are Finished!

So that means I can blog again! :)


Well, to be honest, I haven't written the bachelorette thank yous.... still waiting on that list from a dear friend...

So.. where to start? Some pictures maybe?

We're hoping that the FULL wedding pictures will be available soon. I'll let you know when that happens.

Colby and Crystal at the Bachelorette Party.

Kamie and Danielle at the Bachelorette Party!

Me with my awkward face, and two VERY pretty girls, Julie and Allison- both with really awesome short hair that I'm REALLY envying now that I'm not growing my hair out for a wedding...

Brett and Lisa at the Family Party!

Claire and Lisa at the Family part (and a heinous picture of C at that!)
And so we begin the few wedding pictures I took at the wedding! There's the beautiful center piece- I LOVE that florist! And He loves me- as you can see by the berries! :)

And more berries... more table shots.

Yay! Claire and Melissa! That sexy maid o' honor!

Brett and Kelli, both looking hot hot hot! Ow!

Jesse!

Crazy Mel, I think threatening with a picture gesture....and her very cute and wonderful husband, who I think wins the "most helpful" award for wedding week!

Oooo, sexy groom, even with a goofy face!

Oy, scary picture!

Awkward, angle, but just for pretty much everyone who heard it, I believe this was after julie's quite inappropriate comment about on BAT that shocked us all.....

Aw.

And there we go! Off into the sunset! Err.. the night! There we are in the back o' the limo! It was so fun to see everyone as we were leaving!

This is the view as we walked into our room. I'm not going to show the whole thing because somehow that seems creepy. heh. But you get the idea- VERY nice room. In fact, the nicest room I've ever stayed in, bar none!

This is us on our leg from ATL to Jamaica. We had a pretty bad time at the hotel in Atlanta (lets just say our surroundings were not quite as nice as the Grand America the night before... or as sanitary....) so we needed a nice mimosa once we made it to the plane :)

And again....

Aw, how sweet!

We made it! And here's the sunset view from our hotel room!

There we are!

Yay, Honeymoon! This was the night of the "white party" where everyone was supposed to wear white, and then there was a white chocolate buffet at midnight! We had a lot of fun and even did some dancing!

Our plate from the buffet!

Perhaps the oddest thing at the resort- a really large chess set....

Matt was REALLY excited about his sunglasses, I guess.

Another picture from the white party night.

A storm rolling in- it rained just about every day at 4:00 for like 20 minutes.

Boys just don't get the whole getting ready process. Here he is biding his time.

We took lots of close-up pictures of the gorgeous flowers. We want to do what Kio did in the 57th st. apartment on the wall in the living room (for the 2 of you who saw that)- so cool!

Matt found and picked up a starfish! It kind of felt like coral.

Our one day in the ocean (about 10 minutes...) neither of us are really ocean people.

There he is reaching for the lil' guy!

There were all these canals all over the place. We had commented on how it would be lovely to see them full and wondered why they weren't. One day just after the afternoon-ly rain, we realized... THAT'S why the canals are there! To drain the place post-rain!

This is on our way to the spa where we got massages. So nice!

YESSS.... Water Tae Bo!

The view of the main lobby. Man, this resort was gorgeous!

A closing shot. We got home safe, escaped the hurricane and all hurricane side effects (no bad weather!). We had a wonderful time at the resort, and we had a wonderful wedding! Thank you to all of you who celebrated with us!