A weekend at the Cabin

Last year, my parents bought a cabin up near the Skyline Drive Trail. If you don't know where that is, then it is near Fairview. Now, Fairview is a little town with a population of about 10,000 people, so I bet that not a whole lot of people know where Fairview is. Well, it is about 30 miles north of Manti (another pretty small town) or it is about 30 minutes up Spanish Fork Canyon, take a right at the Thistle exit, and drive another 40 minutes. If you can't guess, it is kind of in the middle of no where, but it is in a prime location as far as cabins go. My parents bought it from a previous owner who had partially built it. The outside of the cabin is finished with logs, and they had done some framing in the inside, and almost had the outside deck up. Well, most of the cabin wasn't up to par with my dad's standard, so we have been taking things done and putting them back up correctly. It still isn't finished, but we make progress every summer. My dad usually goes up every Saturday, but being a Bishop and running a very successful construction business, sometimes Saturdays aren't always free. Last Saturday my parents, me, my brother-in-law (Bryan), and his son (Daxton) made a trek up to the old cabin to do some work. It usually turns out to be a long day. I usually have to wake up at 5:30 on a Saturday morning because my dad like to get a FULL days work in. The progress is slow, but the quality of workmanship is excellent! On Saturday, I help take a heavy wood beam off, then put it back into place. I used the mini-ex to move some concrete pillars, and caulked in between the logs on the inside. Here are some pictures of that eventful Saturday.

Bryan and I taking a wood beam down.

Bryan and I putting the beam back up.

Dax and I moving concrete pillars with the mini-ex.

Our Busy Month

So I know that it has been forever since our last post. I use to hate it when other people wouldn't update their blog, and now we have fallen into the trap. We don't have the Internet at our house, so we have to create a post at work, school, or my parents house. It just sometime doesn't fit into the schedule. We also had a pretty busy July. The first week of July, we went on vacation to Oceanside, CA with Emily's parents. They rented a beach house for an entire week. It was so relaxing and fun. I read a novel for the first time in a long time. It was Deception Point by Dan Brown. It was a pretty good book. Has anyone read it. Em and I also sat by the beach a lot and did some body boarding. I got sunburned the first day which was a miserable experience.
About a week and a half after the California trip, Emily had a big family reunion up at the Zermatt Resort in Midway. I met all her cousins, aunts, and uncles from Arizona. About a week and a half after the reunion, we went up to Bear Lake with my family where again I read another novel Digital Fortress. Em and I also sat by the beach and went waverunning. Emily also adventured out and tried knee boarding!! She gets nervous when it comes to water sports so it was a huge step for her. We also saw the movie Get Smart, which I thought was hilarious! It is definitely a movie to see. Anyway, here are a few pics of our trips.

Some things I hate...

I have been trying to post for at least a week, but my computer wasn't cooperating which leads me to my post today. I don't want to sound like a pessimist, but I have to get just a few things off my chest. Here are a few things in this world that gets me so mad!
First, I hate it when my computer is not cooperating, and when it is slow. Don't get me wrong, I love technology and how it has enhanced my life, but when it runs slow or when you try to post an article on your blog and it won't let you or the computer just turns off in the middle of something important.

Second, I hate going to the dentist! Don't get me wrong, the dentist I have now is probably the best I have had, but I just hate going. Here are a few reasons why. I hate the metal instrument that they use to scrape off the plaque from my teeth. The sound and the feeling is like scratching my nails on a chalkboard. Oh, I can't stand it! And, it doesn't matter how much I brush and floss my teeth, the dentist always finds a cavity. You know what that means, another appointment, a few shots in the mouth, a lot of stuff going on in my little mouth, and half my face is numb for about 2-3 hours. I know that every time I go to the dentist, money is coming out of my pocket even with good insurance.

I hate taking my car to the mechanic! Again, I have nothing against the mechanic, I mean, I have known him for over 20 years. Glenn Mitchell is his name. The Warner’s and Mitchell’s have been on numerous trips and camping outings. We go to Bear Lake every summer, and we still celebrate Halloween together by eating chili and watching a scary movie a couple days before the holiday. I love Glenn; I just know every time I drop off my car, it is going to cost me more than $200. Just the other day, my great little 97 Nissan Maxima wouldn't start, and it had been occasionally misfiring. So I take it in, and I get the dreaded phone call-what the problems are and how much it is going to cost. They told what was wrong and that is was going to cost $825. My chin dropped! I couldn't believe what I was hearing. I knew it was going to be expensive but not $825. There was no way Emily and I could afford that. I told them to do only the important stuff with the cheapest parts which lowered the price quite a bit. I paid the Sav-Mor Auto, and I took my car hoping that I would have to return ever!!

Top of Utah '08

Last year, Emily and I saw my sister, Kiffin, and her husband, Bryan, run across the finish line at the St. George Marathon. (Well, we didn’t actually see them cross the finish line, and I won’t go into details because it is a long story involving Trina, my mom.) The year before that, my other sister, Kaycee, and her husband, Taylor, ran the Top of Utah, a marathon in Logan, UT. Being the competitor that I am, I decide, along with Emily, that we could not just stand by and let my sisters and their husband show us up, so we decided to join the Warner’s running club. Emily and I are registered to run the Top of Utah Marathon in Logan, UT on September 20th. We both have been training for the past few weeks, and I am having some serious issues. Throughout my entire life, I have been able to get up and run at anytime any distance and have no injuries. Sure, I would have the occasional soreness in my legs but nothing big, but these past few weeks has been brutal! Here is a list of my injuries in the past month and a half. First, my back killed for a week. I could barely stand it hurt so bad. Second, I swear I had a stress fracture on my left foot because it hurt to but any pressure on it, and again, I could barely stand. Third, my calves, actually just my left calf, has tighten into this ball of steel. I tried to massage it, but I stop because I wanted to cry. Forth, my left shin kills! But it only hurts when I run. Halfway through my 3.5 mile run this morning I wanted to hitch a ride home because it hurt so bad. I know that you are all thinking to yourself, “Toughen up TJ,” or in the words of Tuff Hedemen, “Cowboy up!” But seriously, this has never happened to me before. I have never felt like this. I am blaming it on my shoes, but Emily thinks that it is my age. Anyway, I thought it would be kind of fun to track our progress of our running on our blog, and I am going to ask everyone’s advice on how I can prevent these painful injuries.

The Wii

I was introduced to the Wii about a month or so ago at Emily's house. Emily's Mom and Dad decided that this little machine would be great tool to have quality family time with everyone. What they didn't count on is my competitiveness. It has become a tradition now to play tennis on the Wii every time we go up for family dinner. With my natural athletic ability, I soon became the best Wii tennis player at the Staples household. Every one wanted to beat me, even Mark. Then Jordan, Emily's brother, decided to show me up. Holy Freak! I can't win against him! I swear he plays tennis hours a day just so he can watch me suffer defeat in front of the whole family. Those that have played the Wii, then I think you can understand the intense soreness to my entire right arm the following day. Every single time I play it, my arm is so sore. I never thought a Nintendo game and a little white controller could cause so much soreness and pain!

We are Pregnant!!!!

Emily and I shared our 2 year anniversary last month on the 22nd, and it has been a fun and exciting 2 years. Since we have been married the people have been asking us when we are going to have a baby, namely Ashley Quist, Emily’s sister. We keep telling everyone that we are going to start trying next year. Well, today I am letting the whole world know (just the few of you that read this post) that we are going to have a little one running around in 7 ½ months. We went to the doctor yesterday, and we found out that Emily has been pregnant for about 5 weeks. Can you believe it, after two years of marriage we are going to be blessed with a little TJ (we don’t know if it is a boy or a girl yet, but I am guessing it is will be a boy). Now, I hope that I have your attention. Do you know what today is? Well, today is April 1, 2008, or sometimes known as april fools. If you have read this far, then I want to thank for taking time to indulge me in this joke. It has been very satisfying. Sorry it has been so long since our last post, and sorry for the joke. We hope to have some pictures of us on Easter and our little one in the next couple of days. We hope all is well to everyone that reads our blog!

I can't stand Paula

With some of our recent blog post, most of you know that Emily and I occasionally watch a little TV. Sometimes, Emily and I will watch American Idol. We aren’t huge fans that have to watch every episode every week, but we like to watch it once and awhile. And if there is a Mormon on the show, we tend to watch a little more. Go Mormon Pride! Well, we were watching American Idol a little last night, and I cannot stand Paula Abdul. Every time she opens her month I want to stick my head in the TV screen and say, “Shut up Paula!” It is now to the point where she has no creditability in my opinion. She will tell the performer that they did a good job even if it wasn’t. If she ever does say something negative or constructive, she follows it up by 20 compliments to make sure their feelings aren’t hurt. She will then tell them that they have a huge fan base, and they should never give up on singer and to keep following their dreams. Why? It is so annoying! Does anyone else feel that same as Emily and I???