Hello my friends.  It has been an eventful and satisfying week for us.  

Bad news story: On Thursday, I dropped off MyKel for class and then was on my up to the free parking lot near the temple.  Suddenly, I heard a siren and I was pulled over.  AHH!!  MyKel and I were in a hurry that morning, so I scraped a large hole out of the frost on the front windshield and rolled down my window.  Everything seemed to be fine, until I got a fine.  $85.  As it turns out, ALL of your windows must be scraped and clean in order to be on the road.  I learned my lesson...the hard way.   

Good news story: The geology museum on campus receives many of its rocks and minerals from a couple  that lives in Colorado Springs.  They wanted to make another donation, and the geology department was trying to figure out how they could transport all of the samples back to the school.  Somehow they found out that MyKel is from Monument (right next to CO Springs), so they asked us to pick them up.  They are letting us take a school vehicle out to Colorado, paying for the gas, and paying us $$ on top of that!! Aw ya...talk about blessings.  We are very grateful to have been given this opportunity. As Bishop Wrightson would say, "oh, the blessings of being a full tithe payer."  :)

We are excited for Christmas this year...and a break from school! We had an amazing ward Christmas party last night, complete with waiters, delicious food, ballroom dancing, and live music.  The funniest part of the night was when the fire alarm went off during the elegant dinner.  

Here is a random picture with Santa Claus that we got on campus Thursday afternoon:

Merry Christmas!! From the Hazards and Santa Claus 

  

Giving Thanks

It has been an exciting 2 weeks for us.  Sorry for not posting last week.  We had Wednesday through Friday off from school last week, and hitched a ride up to Helena, Montana for the break to hang out with Grandpa and Grandma Sager, Bobo, Jaren, Braden, Krystalee, Sierra, Hannah, Monica and some of Jaren's and Braden's friends.  It was a lot of fun, and a lot of food!  Grandma made 2 turkeys!!  To keep with tradition, we went to see Twilight.  We also played football on Thanksgiving and on Saturday. We had an awesome dance party with DJ Braden, soaked in the hot tub, read books, did some homework, and played Super Smash Brothers on the Wii.  Overall, it was a great break from school and we all had a lot of fun.

Fun with Family and Friends!

Time to Eat!!

This week just flew by.  Besides the normal schoolwork, we went to a play on Tuesday night entitled "The Drowsy Chaperone."  It was very funny and I feel like the school always does an awesome job on their plays.  One of the main actors, the drowsy chaperone herself, happens to be in our ward.

Thursday afternoon, Grandma and Grandpa Sager came down to our apartment.  Krista, Hannah and Monica all played in an orchestra concert that evening, so we celebrated by going to Taco Bell before the show and G's Dairy afterwards.  They all play the violin.  Then, we all played "Werewolf."  It was a lot of fun.  Grandma and Grandpa stayed the night at our apartment, and they brought the biggest cinnamon roles I have ever seen in my life...as big as a dinner plate!!

Today I gave the lesson in Priesthood meeting on being a righteous husband and father.  For men, this is truly our greatest duty, and it is the only calling that we will have forever.

Spider Woman

Well, this has been a pretty uneventful week for us here in Rexburg, but I have committed to keeping a blog, so I will write a few words.

Friday night, I took a remote sensing test and then we drove to Costa Vida (Cafe Rio) for boy Taylor's birthday party. The line was so long that by the time we got our food, everyone else was already done eating.  So we took our food to Taylor and Crystal's house to eat and party.  We had a good time hanging out and playing games.

MyKel woke up Saturday morning with a tingling on her second little toe.  She went to the bathroom to get a better look, and upon examining her toe, she discovered a small bite mark.  She promptly marched back into the bedroom and threw all the blankets off the bed in an attempt to discover the culprit.  A shocked Colby awoke wondering what was going on, only to be recruited in an all out effort to locate and destroy whatever had bitten her.  We did not have any success, and instead began to try to figure what had bitten her.  After a few hours, we came to the conclusion that it was a spider bite that didn't hurt.  We continued to check on it throughout the day to make sure it did not swell or anything.  Unfortunately, she did not gain any superpowers.

The beginnings of spider woman!

Another big event of the week was when it snowed yesterday.  I went into the plasma center at around 11am.  There was not a flake of snow to be seen anywhere.  About an hour later, I walked out of the plasma center into a flurry of snow with about 3-4 inches of snow on the ground!  We spent about 45 minutes shoveling snow with non-snowshovels after the snow slowed down.

Last night, we played games with boy Taylor, Crystal, Denton, and girl Taylor.  Denton and I were roommates last fall at the same time that MyKel and girl Taylor were roommates.  Crystal (MyKel's sister) and boy Taylor were also in the ward.  None of us were engaged last fall, and now all of us are married.  Around this time last year, we all went sledding together at the sand dunes.  It is hard to believe that a year has passed since that night at the dunes.  It has been a great year!  We had a great time last night just being together again.

Today and last night was stake conference.  We heard some great messages and felt the spirit and our leaders instructed us from the scriptures.  We have a great stake presidency and great leaders, and they shared some powerful stories and we realized, once again, how very blessed we are to have the gospel.

We had dinner at boy Taylor and Crystal's basement apartment tonight.  We were joined by Felicia, Rachel, and Heather.  Afterwards, we played a game called Farkle and then looked at pictures from Crystal's wedding for a while. This was the first time that we didn't go to Greg and Nancy's house for dinner in a long time.  Right now, MyKel is making pumpkin spice cookies.  They smell good!

YUM!

I didn't write about anything else this week.  It seems that all of the event's worth mentioning occurred over the weekend.  The rest of the week was spent working hard at school and enjoying each other's company.  I am also reading a book right now called "In the Heart of the Sea."  It is a novel based on the journals of men working on a whaling ship that was attacked by a monstrous sperm whale in 1820. Overall, we are loving life and loving each other.

A Hazardous Halloween...

Sorry we didn't post anything last week.  I worked on a new post for about an hour, and then saved it, or so I thought.  As it turns out, everything was lost. After that, I just gave up and figured I would just write a blog for this week instead.  I will start with a quick summary of last week (of what I can remember):


We served for about 4 hours at the cannery in Idaho Falls canning chicken noodle soup for people in need around the world.  We were there from about 4:20-8:30pm.  It was a lot of fun.  MyKel and I were in charge of making the broth.  I can still remember the ingredients: 42 pounds of chicken soup base, 12 pounds of salt, all poured into a 60 gallon pot of water.  I was in charge of putting together the ingredients and dumping them in the pot, while MyKel controlled all of the buttons and levers (the complicated stuff).

On Saturday night, we went to a ward activity.  MyKel was Dorothy and I was the tin man (wrapped up in tin foil) from the Wizard of Oz.  It was a lot of fun.  Later that night, we went to Greg and Nancy's to carve pumpkins.  I carved a cyclops pumpkin, and MyKel cleaned a big pumpkin out for the pumpkin soup that Nancy would make for Sunday dinner (which was SUPER GOOD!).  MyKel was mostly just excited about baking the pumpkin seeds.

Follow the Yellow Brick Road! 

Halloween was a good day for us.  We went up to the Hazard's again and took some of their candy.  Then I tried to scare some of the little kids, but I wasn't very successful, so I just put a wig over my entire head and made weird noises at the door while passing out candy.  

Cyclops Pumpkin!

Yesterday we worked for a few hours in the geology lab.  We both have jobs reorganizing the entire lab and a ton of geology publications.  I actually enjoy it, but I am not sure MyKel does.  She isn't as interested in all the articles and pictures that we stumble across as I am.  Later on, we went to the temple and then attended the Golden Dragon Acrobats show, which was completely and utterly incredible!  We couldn't believe some of the stuff that they did.  Our hearts were pounding the whole time, and we were hoping that nobody would die. Thankfully nobody did, so in the end, we really enjoyed the show.  

Patience

It was another great week for the newest Hazard family!  We were very busy and right now I can't really remember anything that we did.  I took two tests this week and MyKel took one.  She is working on a lot of busy projects right now and was with a girl from her class on Friday night until 10:00pm!  However, on the happy side of things, MyKel and I got jobs! We went into the geology office on Wednesday and were hired to clean the geology museum and organize the millions of publications! I know..sounds like a lot of fun, but we're just happy to have some income (besides plasma)! On Saturday I donated plasma in the morning and then did calculus for about 3 hours.  The rest of the day was spent washing clothes with MyKel and preparing the Marriage and Family Relations Sunday School lesson and our talk.  

Sunday:  We finished putting our talks together.  It is kind of nice to not start church until 1:00pm sometimes because it gives us extra time to be ready for church.  Before Sunday School started, MyKel and I went up to get everything ready, but someone else already had all of their materials out to teach.  So it turns out that MyKel and I didn't even have to teach today!  We just kind of wish that they would have told us earlier because we spent a lot of time preparing the lesson when we could have been preparing our talks more.  Nevertheless, we still got the benefits of studying the lesson, and learned a lot about raising kids. :)  

Next was Sacrament meeting!  MyKel and I gave talks on patience today, hence the title of our blog.  We were both nervous and neither of us had given talks for over 3 years.  MyKel was first.  She did a great job speaking on having patience with others.  Then, I gave my talk on having patience with yourself.  It was a great experience for us, but we are both glad that it is over.  MyKel was so stressed out about it this morning!  Let's just say that she is now in a much better mood.  

MyKel, Colby, and Felicia after Dessert and games

Tonight, since Greg and Nancy went to Utah for the weekend, we cooked dinner at our apartment!  I think that this is the first time that we have ever had Sunday dinner at our apartment.  It was a lot of fun, and MyKel's sister Felicia (Feli) came over and had sweet and sour stir-fry with us.  We have a great recipe for the sauce that we love, and we just bought a big new bag of rice yesterday.  At 7pm, Nathan and Talia from the ward came over to eat cake-batter cookies and play games with us.  We played Bananagrams and Monopoly deal.  Now it is time for bed.  MyKel is on the phone right now with Cambria.  

Hope you all are well.  Thanks for reading!

Summer 2011

Here is a brief summary of what we did over our 7 week break from school, complete with pictures!!  As Jaren would say, we "had 13 weeks worth of trips planned for the 7 week break," which is probably true, but, as you guessed, we could only do 7 weeks of fun.  So here it is:

• July 22: School is out for the summer!
• July 26-29: Hell's Canyon of the Snake River rafting trip.  MyKel's first multi-day whitewater adventure!!
• August 1-6: Lower Salmon River rafting trip, complete with 63 people (mostly Boy Scouts). Colby lost his camera after this trip so we have no pictures from the last two river trips. Sad.
• August 8-13: Wedding prep for Crystal in Colorado, including a front yard makeover.  Crystal is married on the 13th.  

The whole family on Crystals and Taylor's wedding day

• August 14-21: More fun with the John's in Colorado, including Halo, hiking Pike's Peak, and a 3 day camping trip to Mesa Verde National Park in SW Colorado!  

Colby, Spencer and my dad hiking Pikes Peak! 13 Miles to the top.

Almost to the top of Pikes Peak 14,110 ft. 

  

Tight spaces that the Anasazi squeezed into



Cliff Palace. One of the largest preserved places of the Anasazi

The Anasazi had to scale cliffs to get anywhere! Scary.

My dad coming out of the ruins through a tunnel of the Anasazi. It was a tight squeeze for everyone :)



• August 21-24: MyKel and I visit 4 corners, Moab, and Arches National Park in Utah, and Al and Jorinne in Burley, Idaho.  We do a ton of shopping in Twin Falls for the Middle Fork trip, then head up to Stanley.  

Colby at the four corners :)



Stopped on our way to Moab. Almost there!



Finally made it!

Balancing Rock in Arches National Park



Shoshone Falls by Twin Falls, ID

The double arches. These are our favorite!
They are the highest in the park!



 

• August 25-31: Middle Fork of the Salmon River trip, one of the best multi-day trips in the world.  Had a great time and caught lots of fish. Not to mention the great hot hot-springs! We also stopped at Red Fish Lake, and Stanley Lake to look around with Donny and Alyssa. We did not have a waterproof camera for the, but here are some pictures from others.                          

Pistol Creek Rapid

Just some of the many beautiful Hot-springs!

Colby caught so many fish! I think this trip alone was about 66 fish

Emily (sweet girl on the trip) and I

• September 1-2: We stay with Jaren in Moscow, Idaho and visit the University of Idaho campus.  Then, we head up to Cour d' Alene for some rock climbing and fun with Logan and Rachel Hazard and their 3 kids.  We really had fun, but did not take any pictures which is a shame because it was beautiful!
• September 3-5: We stay with Grandpa and Grandma Sager in Helena, then drive back to Rexburg on Monday evening. Grandma took us Sapphire hunting. It was fun and we found some!

• September 6-11: We spend the week at home, working on resumes, researching graduate schools, and hanging out.  We go camping with our friends Denton and Taylor on Friday night. 

Our First Post

MyKel and I on one of our adventures this summer

Hello fans, 

This has been a great week for the newest Hazard family around. The only bad part about this week is that MyKel left me for the weekend to go to Utah. Her little cousin got baptized and she got to spend time with Grandma Laura (who Laura MyKel was named after). Grandma Laura is having surgery on her hip this week, so she will be in our prayers. On Friday night, Troy, Krista, Monica and I all went to the ice caves! It was a lot of fun. There were a lot of big puddles that Troy blasted through in his Jeep, and we almost got stuck once. That's when Troy informed us that he wasn't in 4-wheel drive. I have sad news for all ice-cave fans...it is now filled with graffiti! I don't know why people would go and ruin such a beautiful and fun place with spray paint. And it wasn't even cool graffiti, it was really ugly. Anyways, we still had a fun time and it was nice to spend time with my brother and 2 cousins. On the way home we stopped at the sand dunes and made a fire with wood that we found by the North Fork of the Teton River. Troy also showed me how to make a toilet bomb, which was pretty cool. 

Yesterday Greg invited me to go golfing. The last time I went golfing was just over 3 years ago, at the end of my mission, at the highest golf course in the world! It was not very well maintained, but it was still a lot of fun. So Troy, Courtney, Greg and I all went golfing at the Heise golf course. It was really a fun course. We played 9 holes, and I did better than I can ever remember doing in the past. I always remember golf being a very frustrating game for me, just like bowling. I don't think I've ever thrown a golf club yet, but I know I've wanted to. Yesterday was different. Most of the balls I hit went in the general direction that I was trying to hit them, and I ended the day not wanting to throw my club in the bushes. 

After golf, Greg rushed me to the plasma center, where I was just on time. I earned my $30 while reading a book for my Oceanography class entitled "In the Heart of the Sea." It is a pretty good book so far and I think I will enjoy it. The remainder of the night was spent studying Physics and Calculus II all by my lonesome in our apartment. However, it was less lonely than it could have been, due to the fact that before she left, MyKel placed sticky star notes all over the apartment with little sweet messages on them for me. She really is a sweetheart and is always doing sweet things like that for me. She also baked me a ton of cookies and left them for me to eat!

Today I was set apart at church as first counselor in the Elder's quorum. This calling came as a shock to me, especially since I didn't even know that we were getting a new Elder's quorum president or anything. I am quite nervous, but the president and second counselor are really great guys. I think this will be good for me to get out of my comfort zone and go to work. I am going to do my best and I know that the Lord will help me if I am faithful and seek His guidance. 

I can't wait to see MyKel tonight! She is the best wife ever! We are giving talks next week on patience, so we will let you know how it goes. Stay tuned...