Summer lessons: Sailing

I wanted to give an update about our Sailboat and some of the many adventures that we have been having this summer.  We have grown a lot since the last time that I wrote about our boat.  I remember quite a few terrifying times on the water, and I also remember quite a few times I was angry because Brent wanted to go around the lake one more time real quick before we were going in and then the wind would die and we would be stuck on the opposite side of the lake as the dock.  That seemed to happen on many different occasions unfortunately! I think we eventually learned our lesson and turned in before we were exhausted so it made for an easier time getting to the dock. 

Not only have I learned how to sail a boat (kinda) I also learned a great deal about communication.  I remember one experience in particular that I was so irritated with Brent.  As we were learning about sailing there were a few different times that I got yelled at, because there was no time to be a pansy when there were things that needed to be done.  I am not the best at raising and lowering the sails, but it seemed like that was always my job.  From my view Brent was just giving commands while I had to do everything.  He likes to call that skippering and steering :).  This is one of those times when we had a fantastic time sailing.  We were able to launch successfully and the wind was just perfect. When it came time to going back in to the dock we decided that we were going to sail into the dock.  Normally we take the sails down and row in, but we were feeling better about our skills and decided to sail in.  Well we missed the dock so in a panic I had to take the sails down, and catch the dock before we went past it with the wind.  I was not a fan of the situation at hand. I was so angry and ticked at Brent, because clearly he was playing the part of Skipper and he didn’t take my advice to take the sails down earlier and I had to correct our situation.  Blah blah blah drama drama drama.  I was pretty upset.  We got the boat out without too much trouble (thanks to my mad skills) and as we were driving back home Brent made a comment how that was our best sailing experience yet.  Hearing him say that made me stop and think. It really was our best sail, even if we had a bit of a mishap at the end.  It was up to me to be upset about the finish and let that ruin my whole trip or I could remember the awesome sailing trip that we had.  I chose to enjoy the whole trip instead of focus on how angry Brent made me.

 I have thought a lot about the different things that Brent and I do together.  We do challenging things; things that challenge us physically, but also things that challenge us together as a couple.  It is a great opportunity for us to grow and work together as a team. As I have thought about this, it seems like every summer is a new adventure and a new opportunity for growth.  Two years ago was rock climbing, last year was getting married and this year has been our sail boat.  I really have come to love sailing.  I am not a champ, by any stretch of the imagination, but I love to see how far we have come.  We have learned how to sail, but there is so much more than that.  We have learned to trust, communicate, and so much more. 

Back to Life!

There have been many things that I have wanted to blog about recently but two months ago my 3 year old, ghetto laptop made a weird clicking sound, went black and was not turned on again since…or at least that was until today.  It has been on its death bed for quite some time, so this came as no surprise to us. I asked Brent to look at it, but it fell in the same category as the broken car, dryer, and probably a few other things I have tried to put in the back of my mind. I finally got frustrated and tried to resurrect my computer today while I was listening to General Conference, because I miss my laptop.  Brent has an Ipad, but it is not the same, and you definitely cannot type on it to save your life!! We tried to turn it on before we opened it up, but nothing happened, so before Brent let me throw it off of the balcony he said we should open it because if might be a simple fix.  He did not think it would be, but it was worth a shot anyways.  Well we know the story ends well because here I am typing away on my long lost friend that is so slow and has a black blob of dead pixels that is slowly taking over the screen where Brent attempted to grab the laptop that he knocked off the table (didn’t work J). We opened up my laptop and didn’t see any burn marks.  That was the first thing we looked for because it often over heats, but there were no marks to be seen.  Everything looked okay so we re-hooked all the important parts (I call them parts because I don’t even know what they are…) and viola it worked! I have no idea what happened, but that doesn't matter anymore because I now have my laptop back and I have so many things to write about.

My personal roadtrip

In the beginning of June I had the opportunity to go to Utah to go with Dynae to the temple.  What a amazing weekend!! Unfortunately Brent was not able to come with me because I went down Thursday night.  I was sad he couldn't come, but jumped on the opportunity to do whatever I wanted for the whole weekend woot woot! I got to catch up with some friends that are still in Utah and it was nice to not have to worry about how incredibly bored Brent was while I was reminiscing with my friends.

I took Lizzie and Abby down with me and dropped them off at their Aunt Carrie's house and it was nice to have company in the car.  I always get a rental car if we are going on any trip over 4 hours because it saves on gas to get an economical car and it save on the wear and tear (and because my car is sick, that was my only option.) I got a brand new Hyundai accent that only had 8 miles on it when I got it. I don't know if I will ever drive that new of a car again so it was fun for the weekend.

I stayed with Michelle and Derrick while I was down there and we went to Lagoon.  I have never been to Lagoon before and Brent hates roller coasters and all sorts of rides so I had a blast without him!  So scary too!! I somehow managed to be in the front of every single rollercoaster/ride that I went on.  By the end of the night I was a little terrified, but at least I can say I have been to Lagoon.

Big Scary ride

My excited face (this was before any rides...it might have been different after my screaming)

I was able to see lots of people while I was away, but I had a few minutes of down time to myself too.  After going to the temple with Dynae I hung out for a while and took some pictures of the Timpanogos temple.  Michelle and Derrick live in Bountiful now so I stopped and took some pictures of the Bountiful temple too.  The last time I was there was for Jenn and Kasey's wedding but the weather was much better this time of year.

What a wonderful weekend to visit the temples!!