Yosemite Recap # 3: 2 Person Rafting as Marriage Counseling

I am extremely disappointed to say that I don't have any pictures to go along with this next story. Please bear with me.

Anyhoo - One of the many delightful activities that we partook in....had partaken off...ahhh, however you would say it, was rafting. We rented 2 person rafts and did the little hour and a half float down the river (I can't remember which river it was at this point.) The current was calm and there weren't any rapids to speak of, but it was a beautiful view. No guide was provided so we had to figure out how to navigate our way down the river ourselves. One would think this shouldn't be too difficult, I've been rafting a few times, and Zeb has been before as well. We both have a pretty good feel for the oars. Well let me tell you, it was a struggle. You see...I don't take orders very well from Zeb...and anyone who knows him probably has an idea that he's not the most patient knife in the drawer (don't bother commenting that "thats not how you use the phrase" I can use it any darn way i please) We were paddling in all different directions and getting generally no-where. We could not steer our little raft straight down the river to save our lives. Zeb kept making me switch him places, trying to figure out a way that he could single handedly control the vessel. Finally he told me to sit at the back of the raft and steer, yet he sat at the front maniacally switching off rowing from side to side, I couldn't figure out how to steer against that. My Mom & Ford glided off ahead of us, their raft floating perfectly straight and down center of the river. AGH! Frustrated, I snapped at Zeb, "We are not any good at teamwork!" As I debated in my head which would be the most dramatic way to get my point across A) toss my oar into the river or, B) cack Zeb over the head with it, he defensively quipped back something about how I was doing it all wrong, blah blah blah. At which point we both started laughing. Somewhere along the way after that we started working together instead of against each other, and things got much better. For couples looking for a little team bonding experience I highly recommend it. If you both make it to the end of the trip without being dunked in the river or being beaten with an oar...call it a success.

Here are a few more miscellaneous pictures from the trip:

Counter clockwise starting at the bottom center: Grandma Grant, Mom, Ford, Charles, Jesse, Dan, Aunt Sherri, Uncle Jim, Heather, Zeb, & Grandpa Grant)

Grandpa & Grandma Grant at the tunnel view.

The Fam outside of Yosemite Lodge.

Yosemite Recap # 2: High Class Photography

We all know that Zeb just got a new camera right before we left for the Yosemite trip. He really enjoys photography, and I do think he has a knack for it, but he is still in the beginning phases of becoming an expert photographer. He is still getting the hang of his new camera, and he doesn't have any formal training, so everything he knows about lighting and composition and all the technical aspects of taking a picture is either self taught (much like his golf swing,) or has been learned online. My Uncle on the other hand has several decades of experience under his belt and had quite a wealth of knowledge to share with Zeb when it came to taking pictures. Zeb took the opportunity to really pick his brain, and I think he learned a lot. One thing that he did not pick up from my Uncle however was his natural ability to view a scenic landmark and then determine how to turn it into something silly. I think you'll agree that it is a skill that you just can't teach. Pictured here are some of our favorites:

Bucking Convention

Never ones to completely comply with tradition we thawed out the top of our wedding cake and munched on it for our 2nd anniversary. Take that. It had been safely waiting for us in my Mom's giant freezer (think the kind of freezer that Laef & Aross have in their living room, except she keeps hers outside in the storage shed) for the past 2 years. Probably because we couldn't figure out how to get it to Montana but were also too sentimental to throw it away it lasted this long. And you know what, it tasted just as good as it did on our wedding day, maybe even better, i really can't remember any more at this point. I also went to the storage unit and retrieved the old cakestand/punchbowl (see old debate regarding this doubly useful apparatus) which Zeb had forcefully made me pack away when we got back to Oregon under the pretense that "we never use it." Ohhhhhh, how wrong he was.

I had to work today, so we had decided that we would celebrate our anniversary on Monday but Zeb was grumpy for most of the day because he had contracted a gnarly bout of heartburn from drinking a glass of iced tea at a church BBQ on Sunday. (I don't know why he drank it, iced tea ALWAYS gives him heart burn!) Then we sort of just puttered around for the rest of the day, I did some laundry. That evening Zeb went to Damon's to play Wii (wii would like to play) and I finished off the night watching the Bachelorette alone. Today as I half-way hoped for an anniversary do-over, Zeb went golfing with a buddy and then brought MY CO-WORKER lunch. Yes thats right, on our anniversary, my husband brought lunch (a calzone) to my co-worker, and I had a pepperoni & cheese hot pocket for lunch. HA!

Don't get me wrong, I don't say any of this to complain, in fact I find it hilarious. That's just us. If either one of us really cared about all the pomp and circumstance of the day, we would do something about it. You never know, maybe next year we'll get all gussied up and do a big production for the anniversary, but we'll be just as likely to spend the evening watching Hell's Kitchen. (thats what we're going to do right now)

Happy Anniversary Zeb!

Yosemite Recap #1

Heather, Zeb & Charles at the trail head to Bridalveil Falls.

As some of you may have gathered, Zeb has gotten into a little bit of a kick of blogging some of the pictures he has been taking lately, so I'm going to stick to posting up some of the group pictures from the trip and leave the scenic pics to Zeb. I'm also going to try to break down some of the funny moments and whatnot - although I have a sneaking suspicion that most of it is going to be one of those "you just had to be there type things" We'll see.

I had heard and been informed about the Bears at Yosemite National Park and some of the precautions that were required to ensure that we would not have any visitors during our stay at the camp site, but when we arrived at the park and were briefed by the woman at camp registration, everything somehow seemed a little more serious than I had imagined. (Emily & Gal, remember when we went rafting for the first time, and the guide had us scared shitless before we got into the raft, but it turned out to really not be that bad? Well, thats how I was feeling about the bears, scared shitless) We painstakingly unpacked the cars making sure that we didn't leave any type of food or drink behind that would lure in Bears and tempt them to pry open the Civic's front panel with their paws. Then we carefully locked away all the food in a large metal locker outside of the campsite. Throughout the first day, we went to great lengths to quickly sore away all food, drinks & trash as soon as we were done with it. When it came to bedtime that first night there were several last minute finds of things that needed to be stashed away in the locker, toothpaste, deodorant and other various snacks that had been previously forgotten.

Now you know how sometimes you think of a joke, some clever remark, but you have to wait for the perfect time to unleash said joke? Come on people, don't leave me hanging...we've all done this at one time or another right? Well, anyway, earlier in the evening while playing Apples to Apples I had hatched the perfect joke in my mind. Laying there as we had all finished our last check of forgotten bear magnet goods and had finally gotten cuddled up into our sleeping bags I found the perfect timing for my joke.

Me: Jolted upright from my place on the cot in perfectly planned dramatic fashion. Ummmmmmm....do you think we should put Apples to Apples away in the food locker???

Others (Zeb, Charles, My Mom, Ford): crickets

Me: busts out lauching hysterically

Others: busts out laughing as well

Me: Still laughing hysterically I thought of that earlier, and saved it all this time.

Charles: Wow, I was hoping that had just come to you spontaneously, but really, the fact that you saved it all that time makes it even worse.

Everyone: Everyone now laughing hysterically but more so at the lengths that I had gone to in order to deliver the extremely corny joke rather than the actual humor of said joke.

This was really one for the ages, I EXpecially wish that Damon could have been their to witness it, as I know what a great appreciation he has for my style of humor.

Heather & Zeb at Vernal Falls.

Late, but as promised...

I said I would post up the rest of the Coaches VS Kids baseball game pictures and here they are in no particular order:

Hearty hand claps at the end of the game.

This kid looked to increase his odds of getting walked by Coach Zeb by decreasing the size of his strike zone.

Saaawwwwinnng batter batter.

One of the kids "takes one for the team." Shouldn't the coaches' team have a little more control on the mound? If i remember right, this wasn't the only kid to "wear it."

After making it to first base this kid hams it up for the camera.

A unique catching stance.

Coach Zeb holds down the old six spot. He borrowed this uni from the Boys & Girls Club especially for this occasion. What a specimen.

The coaches' team runs a little short on time and sends their catcher to the plate still wearing the majority of his gear.

With a little extra protection the catcher feels a little more confident on the base paths.

Coach Zeb steps in to take a few hacks, the boys make sure to give him a few helpful pointers.

Looks like this one has been paying attention during practice.

After a nice hit one of the kids makes his way down the first base line.

Umm...Coach Zeb...you might want to spend a little extra time with this guy.

Damon, determined to get on base and provoke the kids to get him in a pickle, takes a wild swing. He used his speed in the first inning to get safely to first with a base hit bunt.

The kids bring it for a conference on the mound after the coaches put together a rally.

Yosemite Pic of the Week!!!

Just got home and thought I would share a pic with you all. I took over 450 photos in Yosemite so I will be using them in the next few weeks.

FYI

Hey all,

We're going on vacation starting tomorrow. Its a Grant/Hughes/Elkinton/Murray Family vacation - a camping trip @ Yosemite National Park in honor of my Grandpa Grant's 80th birthday. Yosemite is the location of some of my Mom's most cherished childhood memories and family vacations. I'm sure that there will be lots of pictures and good stories by the end of the week.

So let this be fair warning to all, I won't be blogging for a while, but its not due to laziness....for once.

Wallpaper of the week!!

This week you get some choices. If you like hummingbirds then choose photo 1. If you like landscape photo's choose picture 2. Enjoy and thanks for supporting ZebPics.

Photo #1



Photo #2

Zeb being Zeb

Zeb officially has a Associates Degree in General Studies with an emphasis in Computer Science! Congratulations Zeb! We had a great time at his graduation with Stan, Nita, My Dad (Tim) and Damon. We all went out and had a tremendous (more on the word tremendous later) dinner and all around celebration.


p.s. Zeb taught me how to resize the pictures so that I can post them on the blog without giving myself an aneurysm, that will be pretty useful. More baseball pics tomorrow!

Coaches VS. Kids

Zeb's team played their first annual Coaches VS Kids game today & it was a blast. A picture says 1000 words, so I'm busy working on figuring how to upload a slideshow. Stay tuned!!

later: wow. am so aggravated. just spend gazillion hours trying to upload all these huge pictures from the new camera into this slide show....and it posts up these tiny pictures! what!? anyway, i'll fix it tomorrow and put it up in way that allows you to actually see whats going on in the pictures :(

Thursday Morning: Okaaay. Got a few more up. Something has got to change here, I think that these pictures from the new camera are soooo big that they take forever to upload. I can't blog like this!!! Anyway, here are a few more good ones now & I'll keep on throwing up a few more here and there for you guys to check out.

Damon

Coach Zeb talks to the team

The old guys stretch it out

Wallpaper of the week!!

I'm going to start something that we can all take part in. I will post a picture of the week that I have taken for you guys to download and keep as a background for a week. If you don't enjoy the background you can always ask for a replacement. So here you go Week 1: A picture of a unique bird house that had quite a few things going on.

Who needs babies when you have Electronics

Here's a nice story that I don't think I've told before. This year Zeb and I ended up having to pay in for federal taxes. We were a bit perplexed as we definitely had a nice little chunk of our paychecks each month taken out for taxes, all year long. The very nice man (sarcasm) at H&R Block informed us that the reason we were going to have to pay in was because taxes had been taken out of our paychecks all year at the standard "married rate," but we didn't have any of the deductions that would by typical for your average married couple. Like say owning a home or having kids. Well thank you Mr. H&R Block man, but I don't need you pressuring me to have kids, I get it enough from my Mom.

Anyhow, today I decided that for now at least our electronics are the closest thing we have to kids. Both Robinson (the beta fish) and Fenway (the plant) are long gone. Our first born, the TV, however is doing very well. Then there is our middle child, Zeb's Computer. Although, I sort of think of the computer as more of a foster child, or maybe Zeb's illegitimate child? I definetely don't love it as much as I love the rest of our electronics. Then there is our youngest. Our new camera! We've been wanting to get this for a long time and we decided to dedicate our stimulus check toward this purchase. Check it out!

The total package: Canon XSi with an 18-55 mm image stability infrared microprocess mirror recorder (I don't know if thats an actual term, actually I'm fairly certain that at least half of that was bullshit, but thats what Zeb just told me right now, so if that makes no sense and isn't actually the features of a camera lense, forgive me) and also a 55-250 mm ISAF lense, giant cannon camera bag, 2 gig fastspeed memory SD card, 2 batteries, battery charger - and a neck strap - according to Zeb that's all you need to know.

Closer look at the camera.

A look inside the worlds largest camera bag.

One of Zeb's first shots with the new camera.

Me blogging it out:
So we used some fancy features of the camera to capture an image of me "blogging it out" notice the incredible typing that is obviously going on here. Lately whenever we get into a "discussion" about something Zeb likes to use the term "Blog it Out" to make fun of me. For example, say I disagree with something Zeb and Damon are saying they would turn to me and say "Why don't you just blog it out" it's equivalent to saying "Shove it" or "Why don't you stick it where the sun don't shine" Really charming. The term originates from the day that Zeb and Damon were making fun of me for not knowing what "5 Hole" means. Used as a verb the term has also come to mean to take an issue to the blog for unbiased opinions or to be solved. i.e. "Fine, I'm just going to Blog it Out then" I'm working on possibly starting a new feature entitled "Blog it Out" We'll see.

Happy Birthday A-Ross!!!

Even though you hijacked my idea...you still get a birtday post! Happy Birthday!

Pink Berry

Working for a rocket scientist

Top Chef

UO Softball (Yeah Laef! I just googled UO Softball, and this came up!)

California

Tall men who enjoy playing the clarinette and being in the marching band

Introducing...

Phil

Meet Phil. Phil is my Dad's new dog. He's pretty cute; I prefer to call him Phil Hughes, but my Dad kind of ignored me when I do that. Interestingly enough, meeting Phil this past weekend taught me something that I never knew about Zeb. Zeb has some serious psychological issues associated with weiner dogs. Apparently an Aunt & Uncle of his had a pair of Weiner dogs that tormented Zeb in his youth. Well, things didn't go much better with Phil, I'm thinking we need to call in Cesar Milan for some Dog Whisperer intervention.

Phil Hughes

Congratulations! You Did It! World's Best Link!!!

Introducing the newest recipent of the most highly regarded honor that any link can recieve:

Twisted Jules

This blog belongs to Julie, my mom's BFF from way back. She is a talented jewelery designer, one hilarious lady, and just all around "good people."

If you like what you see on her blog, you can check out the rest of her designs at http://twistedjules.etsy.com.