Holy parachute, Batman!

In September I asked a friend in California what he was doing for his birthday. He said he wanted to go skydiving but couldn’t find anyone brave enough to go with him. I thought, “hmmmm…that sounds fun. I have a birthday coming up!” So on October 30, 2010 I went skydiving! I talked to my friend afterwards, he didn’t get to go. Hee hee.

Mom, Dad, Kare, and Nathan went with me. We drove to Tooele and Dad and I went in to watch their instructional video. The video, narrated by a hippy in a suit whose beard would rival Brigham Young’s, told me exactly what to do and warn me that I could not sue the company even if gross negligence occurred. Wow. Bryce, are you cringing now?

Then I suited up and waited. And waited. Finally Kare got out of the car. I wasn’t nervous at all, just excited, but she kept trying to give me reasons why I should be scared, I’m not quite sure why. Then she told me about nightmares she had…needless to say, she did not jump with me.

We got to watch the first round of jumpers go but because it was so windy almost everybody got blown way far away so we had to wait around for them to collect everyone and get back.

When it was finally my turn I hopped in the plane and got sandwiched between my tandem master and the photographer (now THAT would be a sweet job.) My tandem master thought it would be funny to wear this ridiculous mask because it was Utah’s Halloween. Then he confessed he forgot his altimeter that tells him when we reach the right altitude to open the big parachute. The photographer said he would give him a signal. Then the other tandem master taking an older woman, checking an adventure off her bucket list, realized he forgot his hat and goggles. I’m pretty sure these guys drank one too many Monsters before work that morning.

We were the last to exit the plane and I was starting to get a little antsy, I just really didn’t know what to expect. We reached 14,000 ft and it was time to go. Then it all happened pretty fast, we got hooked together, I got shoved into the doorway (that was the scariest part, just hanging out of an airplane facing the ground, but it only lasted a second thankfully), heard “1, 2, 3,” and all of the sudden we were flipping backward and I was facing the ground, very, very high up.

It’s hard to describe how unreal it seemed. Everything looked so fake from that high up. It was amazing to just spin around and watch the world from a point of view you only see from googlearth, but actually seeing it with my naked eyes. It was just crazy. Then the big parachute came out and then came the pain. The harness was so unbelievably uncomfortable that the rest of the way down I just wanted to get on the ground to get it off. Also, it’s so quiet up there that it was a little awkward with this guy strapped to my back. He was trying to make small talk but I just wanted him to go away so I could enjoy the view in peace.

When we landed on the ground and I got that harness off, I was sad it was over. I’m positive I’ll go again. I really want to learn how to go solo. But I think I’ll wait until it gets warmer!

Here's a video of me jumping, if you get carsick easily, beware!

I'm Goin-goin, Back-back, to Cali-cali

My friend Suzanne is the winner who guessed northern California!

I'm going to the California Sacramento Mission speaking Spanish. I go to the MTC on January 19th. I'm getting more and more excited the more I think about it. I think I encouraged someone to choose this area somehow because a couple days before I opened my call I was walking through my school and the 5th graders posted their U.S. map drawings on the wall, labeling each state and its capitol. I thought to myself, "I've never even been to Sacramento and I lived in California for 17 years." It looks like I'll get that chance now. Here is a picture of the mission boundaries. I've never been to northern California, I don't really know anything about any of these cities but I'm anxious to finally live in a place that isn't the desert and see some green!

And the temple.

And that's about all I know so far!

Where in the world is Carmen San Diego?

Time to place your bets. Either pick a state in the U.S. or a foreign country, no need to narrow it down to a city. There's a prize for the winner. Hopefully it'll only be a couple of weeks before I can announce the winner! Click the picture to see where others have already guessed.

How Much Wood Would A Woodchuck Chuck If A Woodchuck Could Chuck Wood?

No sedation.

The Nurse Beat Me Up

My immunization records weren't complete so I had some making up to do. I got four shots and my blood drawn. No lollipop.








I had to go back again today for a tb test. That was gross and painful.

The legend of the beast goes back a long time...

We manly men went for a camping and fishing trip at Ruth Lake this August. And by manly men I of course mean Julianne, Ethan, Kaleb, Jaden, myself, Charles, Curtis, and Brycetopher. We were all very excited to go, some of us even started planning and packing weeks in advance.

Most of us carried our own packs while others loaded up a handcart (wheelbarrow) and hiked about one mile from our cars to the lake.

I had the world’s worst job interview that afternoon so I headed up to the lake a few hours after the others, however, I got to the camp site just as they were putting up the tents. I must have missed A LOT on the journey up. I did hear that each of the little boys took turns carrying Ethan’s heavy pack, they were concerned for how Julianne was going to cross the scary gush of water (6 inches wide) without anyone to help her after she helped everyone else cross, and each took turns reading the map. I hear Kaleb was especially helpful at this. When asked which direction they were heading, Kaleb responded, “the wrong direction.”

When I got to on the trail it was raining and Julianne was supposed to meet me and hike to the site with me, but she wasn’t there and I seriously considered just bailing and going to the cabin with all the girly men and babies for the night.

It rained off and on most of the night but I am glad I stayed because we had lots of fun learning how to set up tents

build fires

pee in the wilderness

eat “food” over a fire

tell scary stories

hike and explore

and we all took turns teaching and learning how to catch fish. Some of us were better teachers than others.

Dad was the real expert (but he was too much of a wuss to spend the night).

Everyone was able to catch a fish

The girly men came and visited us for a few minutes.

I think we ended up with 14 fish.

Ok, what else did I miss?

Training is for sissies.

Dad ran a relay marathon today, September 11, 2010 and he hasn't been running for 3 weeks. Impressive, no? I got to the race just in time to see him run by with about a mile left to go and saw him finish so I don't have a lot of details. You'll have to call him and ask more about it. I do know that he only walked up the hills which is way better than what he did last year. I also know that his cowokers are all jealous of him and hope to still be doing these races when they are as mature and experienced as Dad is.

He ran so fast all I got a picture of was the dust in his tracks!