30 by 30 - #6, #9, & #10 - Updates

#6 Get Lasik - Update: Done! I got Lasik last Friday and now I am recovering (as in putting in eye drops a lot). Currently my left eye feels like something is in it, but it may just be the dried up eye drops or something. I can't rub my eyes which sucks, but I'll survive. Being able to see without corrective lenses is amazing! I'd recommend LASIK to anyone who is interested and eligible. Make sure you get a good doctor though.

Some of you voted on the poll on the right so I'll give you updates on those that won the poll as well.

#9 Have a Child (if possible): We're trying. No news yet. I'll leave it at that.

#10 Read/study "Preach My Gospel." -I haven't started yet. I wanted to finish The Book of Mormon again before I restarted this one. It will probably be sometime next year by the time that happens though so I may just start it without.

In other 30 by 30 news I've started my lists for my 30 books, 30 old movies, and 30 new movies. I am kind of at a stand still with them right now, but I'll try to finish them and post them soon. Some of the movies/books may be finished by the time I post the lists. Speaking of posting I'm still trying to figure out if I can somehow post them (along with my 30 by 30 list) somewher permanetly on this blog or if I'll have to link to a google document or something. Anyone know anything about blog design and can help me with that (the permanent posting aspect?) Please continue to give me book and movie suggestions though as I need to fill these lists up. I may or may not take your suggestion, but most likely will.

Also we are hoping to go to MOAB this Thanksgiving weekend to do #20 See Arches National Park (preferably hike to the arches).

Please continue to offer your comments, etc. Hopefully we'll have a non 30 by 30 post on this blog sometime soon (that's up to Heather). Maybe we'll even put up some pictures of me accomplishing my first item on the list.

30 by 30 - #6 Get Lasik - Update

Thanks everyone for your input on my 30 by 30 list. I made some comments about your comments (if you commented, if you didn't do!) in the comments section on that post, so be sure to check that out. Feel free to continue to offer comments and suggestions on this list as it gets closer to my 30th birthday which is still around 1 year 8 months away.

I just want to quickly address the poll I had setup on the side before moving on to the update on number 6.  Thanks for voting on the poll. I"ve set up a new poll to gauge what exact number of 6-10 you wanted me to emphasize. If it's #6 Get LASIK I'm kind of emphasizing it in this post so I also left open the option for you to vote for "Some other number." Please vote!

So I went in for a before LASIK eye appointment. I have a LASIK procedure scheduled for Friday. They say I am eligible for LASIK, PRK, or ICL. I'll do my best to explain each of these.

LASIK they lift an eye flap and laser your cornea as I understand it. This helps you have better eye sight. It has a one day recovery period. The cons to this are I may not have enough cornea left to get re-LASIKed if my eyes eventually get worse. However I probably will have enough corena left for at least one touchup and if not I can get PRK as a touch up.

PRK is where they just lazer your outer eye. I think the doctor described the irritation to be like someone scratched up your outer eye. It has the longest recovery period (at least 4 days), but they don't take away any of your cornea and it still gives you super eye sight.

ICL is where they basically put a permanent contact lense in your eye. It's more expensive, but if my eyes get worse apparently they can perform LASIK through the ICL to improve my eye.

I was leaning toward ICL before I found out that with the LASIK I would probably have enough left for a retreatment and that they could perform PRK on my eye if there is not enough cornea left. Also the follow up retreatments/PRK wouldn't cost any more than what I am already paying versus the LASIK eventually after ICL which would cost money to have done after getting the ICL. So now I'm leaning slightly more toward LASIK. My 30 by 30 does say "Get Lasik" not PRK or ICL, but that's not really a consideration for me.

Any opinions or anyone with experience with any of these procedures that want to offer their comments/suggestions? Please do so soon because the LASIK procedure is scheduled for Friday.

30 by 30

Sorry in advance for the length of this however I really hope you read this though and help me out with this on-going project. Also sorry for the lack of pictures. I tried putting some in here but it just messed all the spacing up and I couldn't get the pictures in the right places.

Although there is tons to blog about and I am way behind in my new year's resolution (sorry I broke that one I guess) I'm deciding to blog about something that isn't chronicling one of our many travels this year (and believe me there are a lot). If you want a taste of those (hopefully we'll blog about them someday) you can go here or here or basically read Amy and Ryan's blog about what occurred during our outstanding road trip with them (look in their late July/August posts).

Inspired by our friend Michelle we've been working on our 30 by 30 list (in Heather's case 31 by 31 on the 31st (her golden birthday)). If you haven't heard of something like this before it's basically a set of 30 goals to accomplish by the time you are age 30. I'm blogging about this and will probably in the future add polls, a countdown, the list, etc. to the sides of this blog, and continue to blog about this as it gets closer and closer to my 30th birthday (which is still a little less than 2 years away). I'm blogging these to at least a.) Write down my goals and b.) have you all keep me accountable to this list (which I hope you do and hope you help me with this list (by offering suggestions, encouragement, etc.)

Anyway, here is my 30 by 30 list. Heather is still working on her 31 by 31 list and who knows she may or may not also blog about hers. I've done my best to categorize this list:

Personal Development (These are goals that will development me personally, either physically, emotionally, personality, or in some other sense:

1.) Read 30 books. This may not seem like a lot...but it is for me. As a side to this I want to read at least one classic fiction, one non-fiction, one biography or autobiography, one LDS fiction, and at least one LDS non-fiction. All of those being separate books and not counting in more than one of those categories. Any suggestions? Hopefully eventually I will put on this blog a virtual book shelf (as in a list) of books I'll read, and maybe your suggestions will be on there...so start suggesting.

2.) Be in a play or at least try out 3 times for one(s). I did a lot of plays in High School and Middle School and really enjoyed it. It makes me super nervous to think about memorizing a script again for one. I think this will be a good personal development project though (as it will build confidence and acting ability and get me out of the house) and we'll see how it goes. If you know of any play tryouts in the North Salt Lake area where the play doesn't conflict with my busy season let me know.

3.) Give at least $30 in at least $1 increments to 30 new charitable organizations (as in ones I've not heard of before or donated to before). This is a personal development goal because I will get to find out about new interesting organizations that I can help even if its in a small way. It also helps as a tax write-off, but I'm not doing this one for that reason. Just an added benefit of it.

4.) Get my CPA. This one shouldn't be too hard as I'm almost there, but I'm not there yet and I needed more than just "Just for Fun" goals.

5.) Work out at least once a week for at least once a month. This goal is important because I don't currently work out, and I'm probably very unhealthy in the inside. Know of any good workout routines or good suggestions to get this one going?

6.) Get LASIK (this one I'm already on my way toward so is kind of a filler item. I've always wanted to have perfect/near to perfect vision without any aid (contacts, glasses, etc.) I go into the doctor in about a week to ensure that I am well qualified to receive LASIK. If I'm not....well I may need to have a replacement goal...any suggestions?

7.) Jump from a high dive. This is in personal development because I've never done it before, and it sounds really scary to me. This will hopefully increase my bravery, thus a personal development item. Preferably this would be done into a body of water (is there even any other way?). It doesn't necessarily have to be off an actual high dive, I suppose it could be from a high cliff or something like that.

8.) Do something semi-dangerous (yet to be determined). Something Heather doesn't immediately approve of like flying a plane or helicopter, sky diving, bungee jumping, hiking angel's landing. Also Amy Fitzgibbons has to approve it thus making Heather approve of it (also a new year's resolution). This should probably be in another category, but it will strengthen my relationship with Heather and make me a braver, better, well-rounded person. Any suggestions here? Help?

Spiritual Development(goals that will develop me spiritually):

9.) Have a child (if possible). The if possible portion is on there because we are trying and it hasn't happened yet. I put this as a spiritual goal and not something else because I think having a child would really increase me spiritually because it would probably motivate me to be a better person, etc. Really it could go in all the categories though.

10.) Read/study "Preach My Gospel." I won't even count this as one of the books in #1. I was a missionary before this came out and I still haven't completely read/studied it. I've started to at least once, but never quite studied it completely.

11.) Bare my testimony in fast and testimony meeting while successfully fasting at least once. This is on here because I honestly can't remember the last time I've done this and it was at the least sometime before I was married. I add the successfully fasting part to this goal because I have trouble fasting as well (although I've been 100X better about that than I have been with bearing my testimony).

12.) Write in my journal at least once a week for at least once month in a row. This is also something I haven't done since before I got married. I don't even think Heather is mentioned in my personal journal which is quite unfortunate....hopefully blogging has been a type of journaling, but I really need to write in my personal journal.

13.) Attend the temple at least once a month for at least 3 months in a row. I've actually been back to the temple a number of times since being married, but I really need to get in a better habit of going.

14.) Volunteer at least 30 hours in a year to some good organization. If I accomplish this in the year before my 29th birthday, do it again in the year before my 30th birthday. If I don't get it done in a year at least get 30 hours in before I'm 30.

Just For Fun (self explanatory, but probably the biggest portion of this 30 by 30 list):

15.) Get a set of golf clubs and go golfing 3 times (9 holes) or 1.5 times (an 18 hole time and a 9 hole time) or 6 times (driving range), or 12 times (mini-golfing) or a combination of these counting up to the equivalent of going golfing 3 times at a 9 hole course. If I accomplish this before I'm 29, do it again before 30 (the golfing part not the buying the clubs part). Hopefully the clubs will be a set that fit me but if I am rapidly approaching 30 I may need to get a junky goodwill pair.

16.) Watch 30 new films and 30 old films (from the time I've posted this blog). This could be considered in the personal development portion as I would like to watch some "good classic" films. Any good suggestions? Maybe I'll put up a list of the movies I decide on eventually here as well (See explanation of #1 if you don't know what I mean).

17.) Go sailing. I've been trying to do this since I married Heather as my father-in-law Joseph does have a small sail boat I've been wanting to go on.

18.) Go to Cherry Hill Water Park. I've been trying to do this since I've known about Heather's trips to Cherry Hill as a kid with the Registers. So in order for me to accomplish this goal it has to be with the Registers and with Heather. 2 summers left!

19.) Go on a wave-runner. I've been wanting to go again for a long time...since like I got off my mission.

20.) See Arches National Park (preferably hike to the arches).

21.) Travel abroad (as in internationally). I've gone international twice in the last two years, but I really love to travel outside of the U.S.A. and see everything there is to see. I figure I can see more of America (which I do want to see) when I have kids and less money. :-)

22.) Take Heather to Hawaii. One of those things that we've been meaning to do...but instead we go to Australia and New Zealand.

23.) Go to club 33. I think that to accomplish this goal Ryan Fitzgibbons has to be there or it just won't be as magical for me.

24.) Eat something that's cool that's fried (like a fried snickers bar, Twinkie, a Smore, or something like that).

25.) Have an 11/11/11 party. Save the date, you are all invited.

Financial Goals:

26.) Buy life insurance. I think this one won't happen until #9 happens or until at least Heather quits her job. Anyone know what type? How much, etc. would be good?

27.) Pay off a student loan.

28.) Invest short and long term. I'm kind of already investing long-term by having a 401k plan, but want to have some more personal short and long term savings/investments. Any suggestions on what would work best?

General Goals (goals that don't quite fit elsewhere):

29.) Help a hitchhiker. I think this should be under another category but Heather said to put it here as I think she's afraid I'll be murdered or something. Really it's helping another person so I think it should be like Spiritual or something, but I'll just leave it here.

30.) Successfully grow tomatoes. Should be easy right? Well we planted a garden this year (solely in my opinion) to grow tomatoes....well other than the strawberries that's the one thing that didn't grow completely this year. Squash, flowers, and spinach grew just fine, but not tomatoes. If this doesn't work next summer than I might have to get one of those indoor things as I might not trust my 3rd summer trying to grow tomatoes.

So please offer your help, check the sidebars of this blog (in the future) for polls, etc. Any suggestions, comments, encouragements, etc. are more than appreciated.

Word of advice: This will take some time

Welcome to the coast of Australia.

Pretty, huh? So after a horrible first night in Melbourne (driving in circles in a big city on the wrong side of the road with very strange driving rules + not having our room ready at 2:30 am + not being able to find a parking space = very tired and a little bit grumpy Heather and Royce). But after a good night's rest (sleeping in until 11 never hurt anyone) we were ready to head out to the Australian coast to enjoy the Great Ocean Road, one of the most scenic ocean drives in the world. Other than the windy roads terrifying me a bit, it was pretty fantastic.

Our destination was The Twelve Apostles (the Great Ocean Road goes for a very long time, so you've got to stop somewhere). Unfortunately, due to our sleeping in so late, we didn't arrive until the sun was setting. We did a lot of experimenting with our camera before we got a couple of good shots.

But it was awesome to see! Maybe next time we'll shell out the money for the helicopter view. The drive back to Melbourne was pretty interesting--probably as close to the Outback as we would get in Australia. Totally deserted roads, pitch black, foggy, and overall just a little bit spooky. It really felt like a wombat or something might scurry across the road at any moment. Thank goodness we didn't have any incidents.

The next day we went to sacrament meeting in Melbourne. We didn't get a chance to mingle with the local members, but it was pretty awesome to hear the hymns sung with an Australian accent. After sacrament meeting we headed over to the Melbourne temple. I think the Stake Center it shared a parking lot with was bigger, but it was still neat to see it.

After all that churchiness we were pretty hungry, so we headed to Hungry Jacks (you can judge us if you want).
Do you think Burger King ought to sue? Well, as far as we can tell they are one and the same (at least the menu would lead you to that conclusion). I think the US should change the name to the Australian version and then they can get rid of those lame commercials they've been using as of late.

That afternoon we headed to Phillip Island for an awesome experience: the return home of the fairy penguins. Each day a group of them come in with the waves and hesitantly scurry across the beach to their burrows to be reunited with their families. The fairy penguins are the smallest species of penguin and they are very scared when they get to the beaches. So naturally pictures are not allowed. But here is a picture of the beach.

After they came across the beach, you could go to the boardwalk and see their families welcoming them home (they had been gone for like 2 weeks). Anyway, it was awesome, even if we didn't get pictures!

On our third day, we decided to explore Melbourne since we had seen nothing of it other than some food joints and our hotel. They've got a free tour bus that goes to 12 different destinations, so it's very convenient.
This is a war memorial near the botanical gardens.

The Melbourne skyline.

The Arts Center.

Unfortunately we didn't get to spend a lot of time at each of these places, because we had a plane to catch.

Next stop: Cairns, aka the door to the Great Barrier Reef.

This was one of the most amazing parts of the trip, albeit a little terrifying at moments. But how cool that we got to snorkel in the Great Barrier Reef!

Unfortunately the underwater camera doesn't quite capture just how awesome it was (plus it's hard to take pictures as the current is moving you back and forth in the water).

Despite the fact that I don't like getting ocean water in my mouth, it was such a cool experience. We also got the chance to try SCUBA--without going into too much detail, suffice it to say that it was not a good experience for me. Royce had a slightly better, albeit brief, experience, but we were both fairly terrified.

Since there's not much to do in Cairns itself, the next day we headed into the rain forest. Here are some views from the gondola ride.

Here we are in the rain forest.
And here we are at a village in the rain forest. Can you see the aboriginal children? I just loved them!
We went to this pretty great park (some of the animal pictures came from here) where we got to ride a real army duck boat (goes on land and water) from WWII! Our guide told the best stories!

At the end of the duck boat ride we were treated to an Aboriginal cultural experience. Unfortunately, none of the dancers were real aboriginals. Totally disappointing, though still entertaining.

They showed us how aboriginals hunt, but they didn't let us try.
But they did let me try the digeridoo! It was hard, but I managed to make a few sounds.
They also let us try to throw a boomerang--Royce and I were horrible, but it was fun to try.
After all those adventures, we took a train ride back through the rain forest instead of the gondola. It was beautiful, but made us a little sleepy.
I managed to grab this shot before the train passed by.
This was the curviest part of the track.
Most people got off at an earlier stop, so we could grab this shot.
Also in Cairns, we got $15 massages from some Chinese ladies and saw The Karate Kid (we had some time to kill)--sorry, no pics.

A little sadly we headed to our last stop: Sydney! We were super excited to go to Sydney, but we were sad that our trip was almost over.

Our first day in Sydney looked to be a rainy day, but it only lasted for the morning. At least it made for some fun pictures.

Royce in front of the famous Sydney Harbour Bridge, aka "The Hanger."
Me in front of the opera house. Wahoo!

We are attractive, no?
The opera house up close.

The concert hall inside the opera house.

Mrs. Mcquarie's chair (famous for its views of the harbour).
Some sandstone stairs along the harbour.

We also went up in the Sydney tower, ate some good food, went to some museums, and went to a great zoo. And that's it for the trip we took in late July/early August. Hopefully now you'll hear about some more recent going-ons.

Good times. Good times!

Animals on our Trip!

Ready for more pictures from our New Zealand/Australia trip? Well here you go.

Before we tell you about our day-to-day adventures in Australia, we thought we'd show you pictures of all the animals we saw, and some that we were able to touch, in both New Zealand and Australia.

This was not on our list of animals to see, but when we saw them in the middle of the Auckland museum we couldn't resist snapping a photo.

Remember that awesome aquarium bus? Well here are some of the other great things we experienced at the Kelly Tarlton Aquarium.

Say "Aaaaaahhh."

Here are some of our penguin friends I told you about. I think we were invading bath time for these guys:

You may not be able to tell, but there's fish in there with Royce. We should have more moving walkways in the world, don't you think?

In Hobbiton, we saw this guy relieved of his winter coat (too bad for him it was winter).

And then we got to feed some of his younger friends.

Aren't they cute?! (And they were so soft--all that lanolin.)

If you know us at all, then you know that we love a good deal. So when we chose from the many Maori Cultural Evening packages available, we chose the one we did because it included free tickets to the Paradise Valley Springs Wildlife Park. Where you can feed and pet the animals.

This guy was probably overfed because he would not eat--he was only interested in charging at us with his antlers.

I don't think he was too hungry either, but isn't he cute?

Royce and this guy had a special bond.

I love this picture, just because both of their eyes look so creepy.

Now, what's that animal that Royce is petting?

And is biting his arm?

Oh yeah, it's a lion cub. And you could pet it. For no extra charge! And it was awesome.

I didn't venture quite as close as Royce. He was surprisingly not as soft as I would expect. But he sure was cute.

Later we got to see his mom and dad (or brothers and sisters?) eating lunch. Mmmm, raw horse meat.

Kind of glad we weren't on the same side of the fence as them (though I did want to touch the electric fence to see how electric it was. Royce totally didn't understand the impulse).

Lots of animals for a country whose only native mammal is the bat, huh! There was one native New Zealander that we didn't get to see. It would have cost too much extra, and would have been iffy whether or not we would actually even seen it had we paid the entrance fee.

Moment of silence for the kiwi bird. What a funny, little, nocturnal, flightless bird. Maybe we'll catch up with you next time.

Now time for animals actually native to the country where we saw them. Ready for some kangaroos and wallabies and koalas? Here we go!

This is a wallaby. It kind of looks like a kangaroo, but it's much smaller. See the little baby? We saw him crawl into his mother's pouch. It was awesome. And these guys were just wandering around free. They could go into a fenced off area if they wanted to get away from the people, but they were kind of like peacocks in American zoos--free as a bird.

Ok, so he's actually native to Italy. This is a replica of a famous statue in front of a hospital in Italy (although, the picture was taken in Sydney--confused yet?). Rubbing his nose is supposed to bring good luck.

Ok, so that's a bit more Australian, eh? Yup, a real kangaroo.
As is this.

And this. These species, whatever they are, are very docile. Kind of like deer, except more used to humans because they're in zoos.

One more kanga, or is that roo?

Now let's not forget about our reptile friends. This is at an Aboriginal "village" where we had an Aboriginal "experience". More about that to come.

These guys were not free as a bird, thank goodness!

But here are a few birds.

In the Australian rain forest we met a friendly turkey. Hullo there little guy.

We were not a big fan of this guy. It's an emu. They are not shy and they are very pecky. He was trying to eat Royce's shoe here. And then he suddenly sprang up and was almost as tall as Royce. I didn't stick around for another picture.

I bet you've never seen one of these. It's called a cassowary and it's one of the most important birds in Australia (and very endangered). Want to know why it's important? Because when it eats food in the rain forest it doesn't digest the seed completely, so it poops them out and thus acts as a planter of the rain forest. There you go, things you never knew but wish you had.

I don't like birds. Then why on earth am I petting this one? Because, it's a kookaburra! You know the old song: "Kookaburra sits in the old gum tree, eating all the gum drops that he can see . . . " Classic. There were a few in cages, and a few roaming around free like this guy. And you can bet that I sang that song every single time I saw one! And Royce loved every minute of that, I'm pretty sure.

Ok, enough birds.

Can you tell what that is? Peer closely into the darkness and you'll see a real Tasmanian devil. Also not free to roam around.

Ok, last but not least.

Can you see the baby! Sooooooo tiny! Makes me giddy inside.

Have you bought your plane tickets yet? It was all pretty darn amazing.