The Life of RY: A Night of Firsts

In this life, there is a first for everything.

Friday was the first time I really hung out with Ryan Skousen.

Friday was the first time I was high-centered, in a canyon, in a river, in the middle of the night.

Friday was the first time I witnessed a mountain crumble, as boulders the size of cars fell on the street.

Our night started out pretty normal. We went to the Grove Theater to watch Ryan's friend Patrick perform at a benefit concert along with Allred, The Neighbors, and some dude named Spencer. It was the first time I unintentionally popped a balloon, the first time I heard a singer who sounded like a sheep, the first time I made a duct tape ring,vand the first time I made up 2 handshakes in one night.

Allred did awesome! He was kind of depressed, but it made for a great show. He talked about the disaster in Japan, how selfish suicide is, and about being truly happy; it really made you think! It was the first time I have seen a performer cry on stage! You could tell that he was passionate about the things he was discussing and it definitely carried through to his music. Especially this song: Hallelujah.

I got free cotton candy, and smashed Ryan's nose on a drinking fountain. (Sorry!)

Both firsts.

It was my first time seeing the view from Mile High Drive, and my first time hearing someone add money to their bank account over the phone. Not the first time I've aimlessly driven around Provo.

Vivian Park in Provo Canyon seemed to be calling our name so that's where we ended up.

First time knowing someone paid to be a creep.

(Ryan worked on the Heber Creeper and made kids cry. Some job...)

We had been driving for quite some time so we decided it was best to turn back before we ended up on the equestrian trail. That would be a first for sure; I'm allergic to horses! Ryan threw the car in reverse, started backing up and disaster struck. The same time we heard sounds that aren't normal for driving, we felt the car sink down. We hopped out to see was going on, and lucky us, we were high-centered with the back wheels in a little river. We made a few noble attempts to get out...nothing worked.

Ryan pushed, I drove. No luck.

Ryan jacked the car, I stood there clueless. Fail-the car slides down even more!

Ryan calls friends for help, I don't have service.

The friends said they had a car that could pull us out, but no cable so they would try calling this kid who they thought would have one, and call us back. While we were waiting we talked, and talked-mostly about our encounters with the opposite gender. The first headlights that we saw, Ryan jumped out of the car to flag them down, buuuutt....they just kept driving. We figured what goes up must come down so we knew they would be back at some point. The mystery truck finally came back and stopped to help us. Or not. Apparently the policy for Utah County just been changed and they are no longer allowed to tow people. On a scale of 1 to Lame, it was LAME. We finally decided that we might need to call his parents despite the assumptions they would make. Ryan called his friends one last time to see if they had any luck, and as it turns out, they were only 10 minutes away from us!

If I said I saw cars this big every day, I'd be lying. It was another first.

That thing was massive...

Brycen rolled up in a giant Jeep that had some fancy shmancy tow chain built into the front that ran by remote. Pretty neat if you ask me! The boys set it all up and we were out just like that! Needless to say Ryan got (and is probably still getting) so much crap from his friends. It takes a special kid to high center his truck! With all of those firsts out of the way, we started the trek back down the canyon. Right before the main parking lot and entrance to the highway, our way was blocked by boulders in the street! We backed up, parked, and got out to inspect the damage. Right as we got to the rocks, more started falling! This was my first rock slide! It was the most insane experience. I witnessed a mountain crumble, and just fall down. That doesn't happen-mountains are supposed to be immovable! I've always wanted to call 911, but Seth got the honor. Still a first-it was a real life emergency! While Seth was talking to the 911 people on the phone, I yelled over to him:

"Tell them the boulders are the size of baby cars!"

Um...what? Did I just say that? Huh. I couldn't tell you what I meant. A smart car maybe? Those are small, babies are small, it works right? I wish I could say it was the first time I've said something stupid! Anyway, we still needed to get out so we morphed into a rock moving clean up crew. And when I say "we," I mean the boys. I mostly just stood there and took pictures :) They decided that if we moved the biggest rocks on the side farthest from the mountain, we could make it out alive-no casualties.They scouted it out, braved the dirt and ice, and got work done. My friends are so buff.