Biking the Butte 2:17 AM

so today i woke up early this morning to finally do some downhill biking with my new bike. now i dont have a solid downhill setup for my bike but it is a good setup nonetheless and i've been itching to do some good downhill biking. i went with some buddies up to the Butte and we hiked up it with our bikes in hand. going up it was pretty gnarly looking and i was really thinking that i was gonna have to do a lot of walking down but when we got to the top they told me that we were gonna bike down the other side not the side we hiked up. i was relieved and i became ready to push off. but no joke after pushing off like not even 10 seconds later i had fallen off my bike into the bushes. the trail got a little technical in the drop in point but i got it down by the second try and by the third time that we hiked up the mountain i was able to go down the whole mountain without crashing once. now i call that an accomplishment. it was way fun. and after a bunch of endo's and brake skidding i'm still alive and am making plans for the next riding adventure.no way is this photo of me but it is of my friend dan.

sending it away 2:55 PM

well as of this morning i am laptopless for the next couple of weeks. my laptop has been in need of repairs for awhile now and i figured that since the warranty ends next month i would send it off this month for it to get fixed. so my laptop along with other things in my life have left me, but i hope to receive the laptop soon. i had to wake up early this morning to get it all packaged up. i had to remove the hard drive and battery last night. so i am laptopless meaning there wont be too many posts here for the next couple of weeks but i'll try to keep you posted.

so i've decided... 7:15 PM

So since this week is coming to an end i thought i would blog for a little bit. this week hasn't been one of the best weeks of my life but im gettin through it day by day. things have happened that im still not sure why or how they happened but they did, but as the Kenyans really do say "hakuna matata" meaning "no worries." So I've decided there is more to life and i gotta go find it.
one thing for sure is that I've found a new friend in my life. these last three weeks have been a blast for me. I've had my family up here from Calgary and Provo, and it was fun to be with them every night and to see how we've all grown up remembering different stories from out childhood. but one highlight of their visit was this monster.This is 2-year old Gavin chowing down on some sushi with us. he is probably the first child that i've gotten along with really well. since being the youngest in my family I'm not to experienced with how to act with kids but this kid taught me a lot. we would play cars together or go flying around the house together. and he has a stomach like mine where me and him could eat anything. here he is trying out the flavor of japan.He really is a good kid.
another thing I've decided is that being up here in Alaska is quite a change for me. its been 4 years since i lived lived up here going to high school so a lot of my friends have moved on or have gotten married. most of my friends now are either in Utah or are scattered over the globe. we are with each other during the college days but in the summer i seem to come up here guaranteed. i love it up here i can do anything i want, but i do miss all my friends. so if there are any of you stallions that read this you can be assured that the stallions are being strongly represented here in Alaska but that i do miss all you guys. So I've decided that i am up here this summer to work. i have an ace job and i enjoy it, but i can't wait for the fall to come so i can be at the Stallion Stables once again.

a good bike sesh 10:21 PM

well today i went to work on a weird shift; 10am-6pm. it was pretty lame becuase i came in right after the busy time in the morning and i left during the busy shift at night. i also had to pay for all 8 hours of parking today which normally i only have to pay for 3-4 hours of parking. but it did allow me to enjoy the last part of the day. since the sun stays up till about 10:30p here in alaska right now i got a good riding sesh today. i rode down at the chugiak ski trails. the trails are starting to dry out but there are still some mud bogs at the bottom of hills. i enjoy the mud and judging by the photo you'll see the proof.

a good spring day 12:46 AM

today i was able to accomplish many things. i woke up this morning to get a good invite to go skiing up in arctic valley with Dan Hill. we hiked up the face of the mountain and had a good day skiing. we ended up taking only one run due to the time limit we were on and the quality of snow wasn't at its prime. so we ended up taking one food run on the face. i skied on straight skis which i havent skied for 5 years and i was quickly reminded of the hardness of turning with straight skis do to the lack of the parabolic shape.
once i got home i was able to finally track down a really good deal on craigslist.com for a mountain bike. i found a 2006 kona cowan which is a dirt jumping bike/mountain bike. it can be used on all trails from calm to rugged. it is a very good bike, good quality and it has some very nice components. i'm very excited to go out and use it. i rode around all day in my yard with it and even tonight my dad was able to take it for a spin on the road. i dont think i've seen my dad on a bike since i was a kid. i could tell it reminded him of being a kid again and biking the west oregan coast. today was a good day and i'm excited for this weekend. i want to take my bike to the lake and see if i can find some trails down there. tomorrow i start work at the marriott and we'll see how it goes.

Ninilchik Clamming 4:08 PM

well monday lat night we decided to drive down to ninilchick, a 3.5-4 hour drive, to hit a -5.5 tide on tuesday morning. this is one of the largest low-tides for the month of may and we thought it would be fun to go clamming. we arrived at the cabin at 2am and stayed up till 6am playing risk. the beach was perfect for clamming, there was a lot of people there for the clams. clamming is an art, and i was able to master this art within the firsts two or three digs of the day. the clam gun was the perfect way to dig for a clam. first you locate the clams by looking for small breathing holes, then you use the gun. with the first layer of sand out of the way you dive into the sand with your hand and you can normally find the tongue of the clam. it is with skill and precision that you start the pulling process. you have to pull the clam out and when you do you get to finally see the size of the clam that you got.
this was a way fun day. it was warm and sunny and it was a great time.

Cabin Breaking 2:08 AM

every spring my family and i find ourselves making the good trip to the cabin to break it in for the summer and to prepare it for use. we have to make sure the water is working and make sure the heater still works and most of all we just need to check whether or not there was any vandalism over the last winter. one year we actually had someone break into the cabin, i think it was just for shelter sake not for stealing purposes. this year we went down with jared and lacie. it was a mighty good trip.
something i have noticed and jared as well is that no matter what the outing is, if there is a fire they usually always will call upon an alaskan to build this fire. at school my roomate and i built many fires and everybody always assumes that since i'm alaskan i can build a fire. i'm not sure why this assumption is but here is evidence that once again alaskans can build fires.