Zion's, Durbins, Valentine's, and Dating

This is kind of a late update! President's day weekend I went to Zion's National Park with Briana Barkdull, her roommate Karina, and Karina's friend Josh. (I know two?)  We had a great time!!

We hiked Observation Point, we ate out at a Thai restaurant (one of Briana's favorite foods), we saw Karina's old mission companion, and Briana and I talked and decided to start "officially" dating. Yes it was Valentine's day. No, I didn't plan it that way. It just seemed like the right time, and it was Valentine's. (shrug) What can a guy do?

Here is the view from the top!!

A couple of mountain goats that we saw as we were driving in the park.

I went for a run that morning. Here are a couple of pictures that I took on the run.

I also happened to run by a garage sale and I found... a nice pair of cowboy boots!! They are sweet! And the best part... Only for $3.

On the way home, we stopped at the Durbin's house in Nephi. Using the knowledge that Mom had proportioned just recently in an email, I knew that I could expect a warm welcome. Briana and I talked with Angie and Mitch. It was fun to play with and get to know their kids. It was also fun to hear the tales of the ranch. Mitch had gone to North Dakota to buy some bulls for the ranch. Apparently the lead bull at the sale went for 650,000 dollars... for 2/3 share. Right!? But he said that they leave the bull at the ranch and then just collect semen for the artificial insemination, and that the people who bought that bull can expect to make about 10 million off of it during its lifetime. But as we all know, life on the ranch is a constant excitement. While Mitch was gone, one of the cows delivered twins. Angie, Vanessa, and Mason were out there trying to pull them and Mitch was directing them via videocall on the phone. At the most critical moment the phone dies, so Mitch is left in darkness for a bit while Angie and the kids are frantically trying to work it all out without his direction. They ended up getting the calves delivered, (don't forget that Angie has a little 4 month old girl, Harley, as well) and Mitch called and sent one of the other workers out there to check on the calves, but that guy didn't do what Mitch had asked him, so the calves didn't get the care they needed, and they both died. :(
After staying up all night, Mitch went to the auction and then drove home through a blizzard where there was 6-8 inches of drifting snow covering the road and he couldn't see ten feet in front of him.... We got there about 30 min after he got back. Wow!! Briana liked hearing about the welfare system and the purpose of the ranch. She was impressed by Mitch and Angie and the system. (If anyone wants to call them, I have their numbers now!)

When Briana got home, she was surprised to see that I had "heart attacked" her room. I wrote cheesy pick up lines on a bunch of paper hearts and I wrote a letter. Then I left them at her house (she barely missed seeing me and spoiling the surprise). I got her other roommate's, Alyssa, number when I took a picture using her phone. Then I texted her roommate and asked her to put up the hearts. Her roommate also got some chocolate to go with it. It was funny and it turned out so well. Haha! She liked it.


Below is a snowman that I found on a morning run in Provo. Now there is no snow in Provo except on the mountains. It has been really warm here lately.

On President's day we went for a hike up to Stewart Falls (up Provo Canyon). The trail was packed down by all the snowshoers, but if you stepped off the trail you would sink in. One time I stepped off to let some people by and I sank in up to my upper thigh. I just sat there as the people walked by, "How's it going up there?" 

:)

We went with two other couples that we knew from the ward.

And at last, a picture of us together!!

So last weekend (a week of dating) we tried to go to a Mormon Tabernacle Choir concert and wait in the standby line, but we didn't get in, so we walked in the north visitor's center and talked and walked around. After that, we met Grandpa Stratford at Leatherby's Creamery where he proceeded to treat us to some delicious ice cream. Briana was full, so I was helping her eat hers, and Grandpa asked her if she would consider going on another date with me seeing as I was stealing her ice cream... :) Ice cream is serious business for the Stratfords (and the Ericksons). No Stealing!

This week I experimented with some "Country Style Ribs" in my freezer. It was one of those packages of meat that I got from Mom and Dad and I just wasn't sure what to do with it. I rubbed the meat with salt, pepper, garlic, and brown sugar and cooked it in the oven in tin foil. Then I made some home made barbecue sauce and put that on top. 

It turned out surprisingly tasty (speaking as someone who has no experience with making sauce or ribs). I put some cayenne pepper in it, so it was warm, but Briana, who doesn't like spicy food, opted for some honey bbq sauce that I had in the fridge.


Yesterday I made breakfast for my roommates. Breakfast cake and bacon. We were supposed to make it together, but it turned into a "Joshua treat" breakfast. I didn't mind. It was good. I messed up on the baking powder and baking soda. I reversed the two adding 2 tsp of soda and 1/2 tsp of powder... so I added 1/2 tsp of cornstarch and 1 1/2 more tsp of powder. It turned out great, but I am still not sure which is more essential or how the soda and the powder interact.

And last night we went to the basketball game where BYU narrowly lost to Gonzaga 71-68. We sure cheered loudly for the last 3 minutes and we had a pretty good look at taking the lead, but it didn't shake out... :/