Monday, August 31, 2009

Grandma's Hands

Last week the Hazlett's grandma, Betty Hazlett, died. Ivy wrote this beautiful poem about her:

When I was little, I wondered what happened
to Grandma's withered hands.
They were wrinkled and shaky, and seemed so, so frail
but time helped me understand
that a life full of love takes a toll on one's hands
and wrinkles are merely the signs
of loving support, of change and of work
of lives touched and intertwined.

Those hands soothed a baby time and again,
they created soft blankets and things for a friend.
They were gifted with cooking good things to eat:
Slush, okra, grits, and other tasty treats.
We all loved Thanksgiving at Grandma's place
thought her hands played Shanghai with cunning grace.
She was proud and warm when applauding a child
but cool hands detected a temperature mild.
Those hands finished puzzles 1,000 pieces strong
and helped little fingers put things where they belong.

Now Grandma's hands no longer shake-
her failing body's gone
Now her hands hold those she's missed
for so very long.
Although her wrinkles are smoothed at last,
I know this is for sure:
No one will forget Grandma's hands
and her love that is so pure.
~Ivy Hazlett~

Sunday, August 30, 2009

Conversation with Matthew

The other day Matthew (my 5 year old brother), started talking to me about my birthday (in another 5 months). He said, “Maybe I’ll get you a movie, like Wall-e or Star Wars. How much money is a movie?”
“I dunno, 10 bucks?”
“Oh. Well, Mom can get the movie and I’ll wrap it.”
Joseph chimed in, “You’re not supposed to tell him what you’re going to get him for his birthday Matthew,” Matthew gave me an embarrassed glance and commented, “Oh, yeah. Well, you’ll forget – won’t you Christopher?”
“Uh huh.” I say. A few moments later he asked, “What am I going to get you for your birthday?” I say with mock confusion, “I don’t know…”
“A movie! Remember?”
“You’re not supposed to tell me!”
“Oh yeah, oops.”

Kings Peak


The second day of our backpacking trip, Joe and I decided to climb Kings Peak, the highest peak in Utah at 13,528 ft. From our camp it was 10.5 miles, so we started at 4:45 a.m. the next day. We sped up to Anderson Pass, the base of the mountain, in about 5 hours!



From there to the peak was another 6,348 ft, and the trail disappeared into huge boulders we had to scramble. At the top we rewarded ourselves with a freeze-dried ice cream bar and 2 chocolate Reisens.



On the way back, we were sore and exhausted. Joe's like, "I know how we hiked here so fast. It was the oatmeal we ate for breakfast. I had three packs of that stuff." I looked up and grinned. "I had five." Later we stopped to take a look at Joe's foot, it was killing him (he forgot the insoles to his hiking boots). As he peeled off his sock he yelled in pain. You can see why:


At the end of the video, it's shaking because I'm laughing so hard.

We rolled into camp at around 4:30 p.m. after hiking 21 miles, and I didn't even bother to take off my stinky sweaty clothes. I crashed until it started raining later that night. Despite being very strenuous, it was one of the funnest hikes I've been on.

Sunday, August 23, 2009

Backpacking

The first week of August our priest group went backpacking in the High Uintahs. We hiked about 7 miles to Bear Lake, where we camped.


Logan, me, Toby, Greg, and Joe.


Moon-set and sunrise over Bear Lake.

The fishing was terrible, we only caught 2 "32 oz" trout in 4 days.


The second day Toby and I climbed this. Don't pay attention to the dates on the pictures. :P



I wanted to climb it mostly for the huge snowdrifts at the top.


Sunday, August 16, 2009

Mexico

There is way too much stuff to type about my trip to Mexico, so I'll just post a couple pictures and videos. If you want more info, see my Facebook album.

In Tulum. Gorgeous beach, huh?


Body surfing baby!


Backflipping at a senote. It was 180 ft. deep and had little black catfish swimming around.





Piramide de Luna in Teotihuacan.


This was at the Shrine of Our Lady Guadalupe.

Catching an iguana.

Sunday, June 21, 2009

Camping at Onion Creek

Last week Jed, Jimmy, and I camped out at Onion Creek to keep an eye on 20+ boats for the daily the next day. It started raining, and we didn't have a tent or anything, so Jed came up with a brilliant idea. We leaned two paddle boats on each other, strapped 'em together, and put a tarp over the top!


Then we slid two duckies in there, deflated them a little bit and slept in them.

We slept high and dry, and very comfortable!

Memorial Day

It rained so hard Memorial Day that Ivy and I floated a duckie down 400 North! Later Jed and I went speeding through huge puddles in a truck. :D


Sunday, May 31, 2009

Talent Show

Ivy and I put together a really funny "skit-sync"! Sorry about the poor video quality :P

Sunday, May 17, 2009

Sunset Hike in Castle Valley

The other week Ivy and I drove out to Clinton's house and we all hiked out to a rock with petroglyphs all over it! My favorite one looks like Buddha, that's me rubbing his tummy for good luck. :P


Here's another strange one:





Yeah Chacos!

All of us, minus Sunny the dog.


I love sunsets; so vibrant! ;)


Me sticking my head in a pack-rat's nest. :D

Wednesday, May 13, 2009

Latter-Day Voices

We had a group from USU Logan come to Moab and do an amazing performance and morningside. Unfortunately, Joseph and I went to the temple that night, so we couldn't go to their show, but we were able to attend the morningside.


Kacee and Jackie, the two students that stayed at our house, with my some of my siblings and I.


And Joe, he's amazing at beatboxing!

Saturday, May 9, 2009

Delicate Arch at Night

Last night we went on a moon-lit hike to Delicate Arch. It was pretty cool, the moon was really bright and we had a lot of people come.


All sixteen of us.


Under the Arch.

Monday, May 4, 2009

I AM LEGEND

I often think about how cool it would be if everybody just disappeared. I could do anything! Drive any car I wanted, break laws (mainly speed limits), live anywhere I wanted, etc etc. Then there would also be the downside: no electricity, no family, no friends, no internet, having to find or grow my own food... I think I like my life the way it is! :P

Monday, April 27, 2009

Stupied Hurts

Haha, here's a funny poster I saw at the Middle School in Nephi. Apparently ATVing there without the right protection is a problem.

I can spot four misspellings or misuse of words here.

Stupid DOES hurt :P

State Drama

Our Drama team went to State! We all did very well, and a lot of us got all three superior ratings!

Jed and I with our superior medals for our pantomime we did, called "River Trip".


Saren, Derek, and Russel with their superior medals for their one-act called "Star-Spangled Girl".


The dance was awesome, one of the best I've ever been too.

This is the pantomime Jed and I did:



And Braden and Monty did a hilarious one where Braden is an uncoordinated waiter and Monty is a celebrity that walks into Braden's restaurant.


Sunday, April 26, 2009

Mudding!

Last week we had a weird phenomenon: it rained mud! First the wind kicked up a huge dust storm, and then it rained. The result: mudding, or mud raining! :P (None of these photos were changed in any way)



Sandstorm, before then rain.



And after it rained.


Mud on the roof of our playhouse in our backyard.

My Sweet Pelican Case


My phone and camera are already waterproof, it's just my iPod that I need to protect.  So I had a lot of room in my Pelican Case, and I decided to put a little portable speaker system into it.


Haha, now I can blast my awesome music in the wild!

Sunday, April 12, 2009

Hidden Valley

The last day of spring break we decided to go hiking (surprise surprise, right?) to Hidden Valley. As we were walking along the trail, Ivy pointed up to the rock face and said, "I bet we could climb up that crack and get on top...", so we did. It was awesome, we could see for miles!

Rainbows sure are tasty!

And here's another scorpion we found.

Spring Break

With confilicting school and college schedules, my spring break was kinda short, but it was fun! On Tuesday it was warm enough to go on a water hike, so we went to Negro Bill. After soaking everybody and catching some minnows, we headed to the Hazlett's to eat homemade pizza and play ultimate frisbee.

On Thursday we went with a group from out of town to Delicate Arch in the full moon.


Here's a cool Wind Scorpion I found on the slickrock!


Then on Friday I "helped" with the Boy Scout BBQ. Like my shirt? :D

Hi Ho Cherry-O!

We had the games out last week, so I showed my sister how to stick the little cherries up her nose. And then I demonstrated how to plug one nostril and shoot them out! It was funny.

Sunday, April 5, 2009

Moab Track Meet

This was my first track meet ever. It was alright, pretty windy but the sun was shining :) I ran the 2mi, 1mi, and then the 800 medley.

I PRed my mile at 5:55.


Jed said he thought he was going to die.