Game Time

Caitlin has been working like crazy for the last couple weeks to fulfill the Seven Peaks' Jazz ticket promotion, and it finally paid off--for me, at least--with free Utah Jazz tickets!  (No, Caitlin enjoyed it too.  It was the first time she could associate the words 'Utah Jazz' with anything other than crazy people yelling at her.)  We had really good seats too!

It was Utah versus the Oklahoma City Thunder, so despite the fact we cheered for the Jazz, the most exciting part for me (other than trying to find parking) was probably seeing Kevin Durant.  Caitlin's favorite part was seeing Little Bear--the miniature sidekick of the Jazz Bear mascot.

We had a great time and the Jazz won!

Work, School, PLAY!

Although work and school have been going pretty well, we still prefer the "play," so here is an update on our recent playing...

(Matthew's post-publish inserts will be in blue.)   :) 

Times Square!

We went to New York for Kirsten and Wil's wedding! It was a little rainy at times, but beautiful! (It rained the entire morning of the wedding, and then stopped exactly before we left to go to the Temple.  Rained during the sealing, and then stopped again for pictures.  It was such amazing timing the whole day!) Also, there were 7 girls in one tiny apartment all getting ready for a WEDDING at the same time. The power went out in the middle of blow-drying hair and we almost lost it. Oh, and apparently sleeping on an air mattress that is slowly deflating all night is not comfortable...especially when you wake up and your body is literally in the shape of a "V". Sorry Mary and Gretchen! Good times though!

Super creepy Pooh Bear.  (Agreed.)

Gretchen took this for us and said, "I got Pooh's back side in it for you." Thanks G-Dawg! (Yes, my wife thinks she is gangster. You are not the only one who thinks it's weird.) 

Matthew was overjoyed that he spotted the Montana State flag at Rockefeller Center. ("It was a corner flag. Very important positioning!")  (Like 100 flags and only 4 corners...big deal, right? Montana is the only thing keeping this nation together!)

We stopped for lunch at Pronto Pizza and Beef! I promise it doesn't say 'beer'... Seriously, the best pizza I have ever had! (It was pretty amazing.) And it had the nicest owner- Dad got a free refill of soda which totally made his trip. Not even joking, he was SOOO happy! (PS- the owner said rent for this little place was like $24,000 a month, or something crazy like that! And he said it is double that if you are closer to Times Square! How many pizzas does it take to break even?)

Pronto Pizza!

We found Kitty Paw Paw! Who knew she would make it all the way to stardom as the Poster Kitty for American Girl on 5th Avenue? (If you are not a Dekker, just move along. It would take too long to bring you up to speed!)

Had to stop at the Apple Store! It was super crowded, but we got to play with the new iPhone so it was totally worth it :) Matthew was in heaven. (Giant glass cube with a glass spiral staircase going down to a completely underground cutting-edge electronics cathedral...everyone was in heaven!)

Don't worry, we have like 400 pictures of tall buildings. Matthew really likes tall buildings. (Believe it or not, there are only like five 3+ story buildings in Bozeman, Montana, okay?)

Central Park was gorgeous! Such a beautiful day! Shortly after this we watched some sweet street performers break dance. 

And finally, we made it to the one thing Matthew had been waiting for allllll day...the Empire State Building! It is very tall and very difficult to take pictures of (especially at night). Here is one of our better shots:

The sky looks pretty awesome. We finished the day off with some coffee-free drinks from the Starbucks inside the ginormous Macy's. (PS- I then rode the subway back to upper Manhattan all by myself...I'm pretty cool.) And then we had to fly back to Provo. It was so fun to be in New York with the WHOLE Dekker clan, but it went by way too fast! Let's do it again next summer, ok guys? 

Super fun!!

The Hike from Heck

 Forgive us, this post is a little overdue.  While home in Montana for our second wedding reception, Mom convinced us that we should all go on a fun little day hike... 

(Caitlin's comments are in green..)

The weather report assured a warm, sunny day in the 70's.  (Who needs a jacket or long pants in the Montana summer heat?) (Warm is clearly a relative term. I was cold before we got out of the car with the heater on.) We drove to the trail head, just the 6 of us--3 people and 3 dogs.  The morning was gorgeous!  We saw 4 or so waterfalls in the first 2 miles, hadn't run out of candy yet, Caitlin hadn't tripped or anything, all was truly going perfectly!

We even stopped and took some time to add our own little rock formation to the sea of balancing acts!  It was a fun Montana-y adventure for Caitlin! (Except my rock formation was awful! I have zero architectural skills, unless it is building sand castles.)

There are no more pictures from this hike.

Let me tell you exactly why there are no more pictures. (This is where the "heck" part comes in! haha) There are no more pictures because we decided we wanted to hike off the main trail--on a very steep, narrow single-track--to see a waterfall to which we had never before ventured.  (Totally not my idea!) We had made it almost to the top of this mountain side (we could hear the waterfall somewhere near the top), when the weather conspired against us!  Out of nowhere, the hardest, coldest rain ever began pelting us!  We sought shelter under a small pine tree, but the broad (yeah right!) pine needles just weren't getting the protective job done for us!  

Drenched to our undergarments, we decide we have to move down the mountain, despite the rain, when we see the mud sliding down the mountain side above us.  Just as we begin moving, however, it begins hailing.  At this point you think I am embellishing the story, but I assure you there have been zero exaggerations so far! (I can confirm this. He is not exaggerating, unfortunately.) Next, the mountain lion dropped on Caitlin from the ridge above, snarling viciously!  (Okay, that part was fabricated.)  The dogs are now utterly uneasy though from the hail and water, and we try to collect them all under another tree.  The hail was breaking off small branches at this point, diminishing the overhead coverage, and leaving us as the unimpeded destination for the icy bullets.

We were wet, welted, and freezing after over a half hour of this!  There was no visible end in sight for the weather, and I know that at least one of us was beginning to really not enjoy the hike (and legitimately worry for our safety as well, as the entire mountain surface was sliding down around our feet).  Finally, Mom suggested that we say a prayer for help. (Moms always know what to do!) Within 5 minutes of the prayer, the weather calmed enough for us to slide back down to the main trail (after crossing several shallow rivers that did not exist on the way up).  Relieved, we hiked the 3 or so miles back down to the car (thank goodness we still had some of those chewy peanut butter candies or I would not have made it) , toweled off the disgusting puppies, and drove home.

Caitlin will never go hiking again.  :)

(Truth.)