Thanksgiving in Zion

Tricia and I enjoyed spending Thanksgiving day in Zion National Park in southern Utah. We hiked Angel's Landing, which has turned into somewhat of an annual Newman (Tricia's maiden name) family tradition.

This was a great hike! 2 miles to the summit, a very steep vertical climb, and chains in the near cliff-like terrain for the final half mile.



My little brother Michael, age 12, is starting to get excited about hiking as part of his enthusiasm for Scouts. At the beginning of this climb I was really looking forward to bringing him along next time, but after I got to the chain parts and looked around me to see steep drop-offs on both sides, I realized I would need to wait a bit before bringing him. I can control my fear of heights in general, but when I have a child around me whom I feel responsible for, I get scared that he will get too close to the edge.

My most lasting memory of the hike was to see my white-haired mother-in-law charging ahead on the trail on the way down at a near gallop, and all of her kids scampering behind her to try to keep up.

Thanksgiving

Trish, I'll go ahead and finish this off for us:

V: Violet. Trish, isn't that one of our favorite colors?

W: Warren Sederberg, my grandpa. Some people know a little about a lot, my grandpa knows a lot about a lot. I love talking with him.

X: C "X" O. One of my coworkers likes to joke that if we gave him a title, he would choose Chief eXtreme Officer, CXO. I've learned a lot from this coworker, Tom Finnigan, both about computers and life.

Y: Yellowstone. Can the country's first national park also be one of the most underrated? Yellowstone is amazing, from wildlife sightings, to geyser walks, to raging waterfalls, to seeing the new, strong growth emerging from the devastating fires of the 1990s, to the venerable Old Faithful Lodge. I'd hoped to take Tricia here for our honeymoon, but hopefully we can go together soon.

Z: Zim's crafts in Salt Lake City. Every time my siblings and I played the alphabet game to pass the time on trips to points north, we always knew we could bag a hard-to-find "Z" when we passed the big Zim's sign by the freeway.

благодарность

P: Prayer. I spent an hour or two yesterday looking for a little notebook with important information. I put in a very sincere prayer this morning and found it. If God cares about helping me find a notebook, how much more does he care about my greater pleas?

Q: Quik. Chocolate milk is the best at any meal.

R: Roux. Who doesn't like a thick and creamy sauce? (Hmmm, I'm thinking a lot about food.)

S: Sunshine. The sun can make many things (including me) perk up.

T: Tide. I love the cleanliness and I love the smell of cleanliness.

U: Understanding. The ability to have someone understand you is perhaps one of the most fulfilling sensations.

agradecimiento

G: Google...and google skills. It's amazing what you can find and learn about using a computer and the internet.

H: Husband. My husband shows me he loves me through his words and actions--every day, all day. I love him.

I: "Ignominious." It is a fascinating word. Fascinating. We are grateful for the richness of language.

J: Jesus Christ. He is the whole reason and purpose for our existence.

K: Knowledge. Matt and I thoroughly enjoy opportunities to learn about and experience new things.

L: Love, meaning the deep, sincere love described as charity in the scriptures.

M: Moms. We both have moms that are GREAT! We are so grateful for what they've taught us and how they continue to support us.

N: Newspapers. We like that feeling of connection with the world.

O: Optimism. What better way to confront life's challenges?

gratitude

'Tis the season to be grateful, and Matt and I have embarked on a little fun adventure to engage fully in Thanksgiving gratitude. We are participating in "Pay it Forward: What are you Grateful For?" The idea came from Matt's sister Bec, and we are paying it forward, too. This is what to do--each day of this month make a list of things you are thankful for that start with each letter of the alphabet.

A: Apples. I have made two fresh apple pies so far, and I have enough for a third. Yummy!

B: Bible. We are learning a lot from studying the New Testament this year, and we have loved the teachings of those ancient prophets in the Bible.

C: Clocks. They help us be more efficient with our time.

D: Dirty laundry helps us appreciate clean laundry that much more.

E: Exercise. Matt and I try to exercise every morning to get a fresh and invigorating start on the day.

F: Fall, especially fall colors in Utah.

Here's the Pay It Forward Idea: I will send a handmade gift to the first three (3) people who leave a comment on my blog requesting to join this PIF exchange. You may not receive it tomorrow or next week, but you will receive it within 365 days! The only thing you have to do in return is pay it forward by making the same promise on your blog. (So, you must have a blog to participate.) I can't wait to see who I will be giving to. To join, just cut and paste this on your blog and comment away. So get posting.

the 1st twelve months

I met Tricia 365 days ago yesterday when she opened her door to greet me on a blind date. To note our first year in review, I made a Powerpoint on my Mac full of pictures from each month (using Keynote, some Apple software that I highly recommend for constructing your .ppt presentations) and set to two of our favorite songs: Rhapsody on a Theme by Paganini by Rachmaninoff, and Home, by (Trish, help me out here!)

Anyway, I had so much fun making it that I made Trish watch it twice in a row when I presented it to her, then I showed it to whomever would watch at my parents' house that night. I think I'll do a powerpoint year-in-review for us every year!

4.5 pounds of spinach

In an effort to be necessarily conservative (and healthy!) with our monetary resources, Matt and I have worked on making smart food purchases. The other day, when at Costco, Matt noticed that a 3-pound bag of spinach only cost $3.00. Falling in line with our food purchasing goals, Matt bought the bag and brought it home. What he didn't realize, is that the day before I had found a 1.5-pound bag of spinach on sale, and so we now had 4.5 pounds of spinach on our hands.

I have since been scrambling to find recipes with spinach. So far, we've had a spinach salad every night (although the toppings have changed from almonds and mandarin oranges to mozzarella cheese and mushrooms), and I cooked up some "spinach and eggs" for breakfast the other day. I always send Matt to work with some spinach salad (while I eat some at home), and we are planning on lasagna (with spinach) and a spinach salad for this weekend.

I hope this means we are getting enough "dark greens" in our diet.

Sederberg family weight loss secret

Trish got us a nice digital scale a few weeks back with some of our gift certificate money at Bed, Bath, & Beyond. Since we don't have any reading material in the bathroom, when I think "bathroom," the only item that keeps "boring!" from popping into my mind is our scale. It really is the only interesting thing to do in there, so I've gotten in the habit of weighing myself at nearly every opportunity.

After a few weeks of weighing myself at night, in the morning, after a shower, and other times, I'd like to share a secret. The best way to lose weight is to sleep!

That's right! Last night, I weighed 198 (unfortunately, my all time high). I went to bed, woke up, went for a very short wake up jog, and weighed myself again. I was down to 192.5! That is 5.5 lbs of weight loss from basically just sleeping. Trish didn't go for a jog this morning, and she weighed 3 lbs less than when she went to bed.

So anyway, maybe we should be a little more skeptical of what all those so-called experts tell us to do: eat healthy, exercise, etc. From now on, I'm just going to hit the hay when I'd like to "lighten up."

PS This works! Go ahead and try it yourself, then feel free to report on our blog below!
PPS After talking with Trish last night, I realized that this is a rather deadpan post, and since we just sent our our thank you notes from our wedding with a link to our blog in it, this may be a little confusing if people outside the normal traffic are reading. While all the "facts" inside this post are true, my conclusions are a bit tongue-in-cheek.