The Osmond's

Coming Soon

2008-12-02T19:58:00.003-09:00

Cambodia, Ankor Temple

2008-12-02T19:21:00.012-09:00

We went to the 8th Wonder of the World Ankor Temples. They were absolutely beautiful but I only have 10 mins left so I will add text later, you can just enjoy the pics.

Ko Samui

2008-12-02T18:23:00.011-09:00

After many days in Krabi we decided to jump over to the other side of Thailand and visit the main know islands, Ko Samui was first on our list. To tell you the truth it was not as fun (by fun I mean sunny) therefore we stayed indoors alot because of the Monsoons. But when we did get sun we rented a scooter and toured the Island.

We found a beautiful waterfall which is the size we were looking for, something with a swimming lagoon and even some cliffs for Kelsey to

Jump off of.

We even got to see the famous "Grandfathers Rock"
and I could not resist.

Our Freakish Friends

2008-11-29T03:42:00.004-09:00

The title is because of our new friends that we met on our Rock climbing adventure. They are from California and are Professional Entertainers. Now I know what your thinking, "Hot Strippers" well not strippers but they were hot. "Professional Fire dancers" We look forward to visiting them one day but on with the story.

We decided that we must go rock climbing because Krabi where we are at is the worlds mecca for Climbers. Over 700 runs in lest than a 1/2 a mile. And all over the most beautiful scenery. Kelsey of course did a full day and I was planning a half day which was a wise decision on my part because after 5 climbs of 50 feet I was shaking. Kelsey on the other hand was looking for more. We were stationed on Railey East which had another 30 climbers and I stayed to that. Kelsey after the morning climb went off with her guide and a few others to try another wall or so I thought. They actually went spelunking in a cave and ended up on the other side of the mountain and repelled 60 ft down to the next beach.

After lunch I was done and her group went to another mountain. I decided to explore more over the area.

There is a the most beautiful beach on the south tip that had monkey's and caves and powder white sand, and crystal water. I will let the pictures speak for them selves.

We finished the night with our new fiend and the Rock bar which was featuring a fire dancer. He was ok but luckily, like professional Erin had brought her "poie balls" with her and asked if she could give as a show. She was AMAZING and her husband showed us how to properly EAT fire. The night ended late and we took a midnight boat ride back to our beach. It was a good day!

New Day, New Adventure.

2008-11-13T16:12:00.003-09:00

We had found a nice beach but the place we were staying was not. We had a bad experience with the staff when we first arrived. They came to pick us up at the main downtown site and we got in and they said we are still waiting for one more person, then as we waited they continued to walk the streets handing out brochures and trying to persuade people to get in. This made me a little questionable about the place we were going. I gave they a look, WHEN. They got the clue and jumped in we drove slowly so they could continue calling out the any white person around, and then we went to some side street and the ladies said just 5 minutes and left. 25 minutes later the 2 ladies and the driver were still MIA and we just got out and left, finding our own way there. Making a long story short, too late, we found out that the pick up was some of the staff at the place we were staying and I told the manager I was upset for being left, he said he would do something about it but every time I got close to him he would turn and walk away to avoid me. So we left early the next day to another bungalow, which was another story.

Bed Bugs! Yes I slept with bed bug and got eaten all night. Their are more details but the picture will suffice.

We then broke out of our budget to get a nice place for a night or two. We found it just a couple of doors down. It was the place that we had been eating almost everyday. Good found and a fun staff. We had the place to ourselves because it was still being built. We even had a beach side pool. This is the view from our room. YEAH.

Unfortunately the weather did not work for us that next day but it was ok because we spent the day watching movies that were still in the theaters. Thanks Black Market! The day before though we did rent a scooter and drove the Island (P.S. we were on the Island of Ko Lanta) I got lost and had a flat tire but things ended up working out. We went to the south of the Island to hike to a waterfall the was on the map. It was a short 30 min hike through a fresh water stream which was perfect temp. and found a cave which I started to go into but quickly turned around for fear that I would not survive the next corner. We even saw our first elephant up close. (elephant poo is huge) When we got there we found a tiny rush of water over the rocks but that was ok by us we jumped right in to cool off, which was nice.

After 4 nights in Ko Lanta we travelled to Krabi and the beach of Ao Nang which has been very nice. We arrived on Wed. the 12th which happens to be the annual Lovers Festival (Nude people everywhere) no just kidding, it was actually very nice. Couple would first have to buy a floating flower arrangement, which meant negotiating the cost of our love, I thought it was only worth 50 baht ($1.70) but the women selling thought is should be 150 baht ($4.50) we disagree and the price settled at 80 baht ($2.40). We would then light the candle that would blow out within 1 min. and light the incense and send it out to sea. If the sea took it out then your relationship would have good luck if it came back to shore then you would have bad luck. Ours held true and went faithfully out to sea. Not the same with the balloon. Same concept but with a waxed paper candle attached to a tissue paper balloon. Ours first almost caught fire which must equal our burning passion for one another or symbolize Kelsey's burning rage when she is mad, one or the other, I can't tell. Then as it took flight it hit a few trees (we know there are always obstacles to overcome) and then it finally took and went higher and farther then most other balloons (so we like to believe).

The next day we (mostly my desire) got to go scuba diving at Ko Phi Phi, which is where "The Beach" was filmed. That beach is not so empty now. There were close to 50 boats and tons of people there, we went diving on the outside of the lagoon. I loved it. Kelsey not so much, but she did both dives, the trooper. And she didn't have to throw up till after it all. Too bad we spent $1.50 on that only baked potato we found so far and now its in the ocean. We saw Moray eels and scorpion fish and all different kinds of bright colored fish. I got down to 13 meters which I was not supposed to, I was proud of myself. All in all I had a blast and Kelsey Survived never to dive again.

We are going over to Rai Ley Beach today which is said to be on of the most beautiful in all of Thailand. We will see.

Finally the Beach

2008-11-05T21:35:00.010-09:00

After the time in Malaka we decided to jump a bus to the north of Malasia to the Island of Penang, to the town of Batu Ferringhi, which is the north side of the island. And we found beautiful beaches and warm (85 degree) water.
The ride thier was alittle long but the views were unbelieveable.

We have been spending our days on the sand so there is not much to say but we got burned. Alaskan are not ment to spent 15min on the beach. A day and a bottle of Aloe Vera latter I feel good but I can't say the same for Kelsey. We will survive.

Yesterday, we found a beach all to ourselves and just soaked it all in.

Some of the many random things, I went jogging on the beach in the morning and saw that is were the dogs go to die, I saw a guy draging a dead dog across the beach to the trash and then saw about 5 other dogs on the verg of death. Well it is a beautiful place to die.

The Before and After Pics of Kelsey's Tan

2 Countries and Counting

2008-11-03T00:43:00.017-09:00

So it is almost one week and we have found ourselves in BEAUTIFUL Malaysia. We did the big city life of Bangkok and didn't really like it. TOO MANY TOURISTS. That's funny because all summer long we have to work on the receiving end and now that we are on the other side we look at the way other tourists behave and fill with disgust.
To move things on a more proper view I will try to move chronological, if my memory serves.
We survived a 26 hour flight, (not as bad as the 31 hour I took to Africa) I blame the personal TVs, who would have thought economy class was so special? 4 movies later we were in Soul Korea and then Bangkok, Thailand. We saw some white people that looked lost and took a cab together to T. Khoe San Rd. which is where the party is at, it was 1:00am and the crowd was just getting started, loud music, side-street food and everyone was drinking. We felt like it was Mari Gras and we were on Bourbon St. We ran into another group of Canadians that we met in Soul and they seemed as dazed. Kelsey and I walked the full street once and decided we were ready to sleep. We followed the book and found a gem called the New Siam Inn. For $10 a night we got a double bed, fan and shared the bathroom with the rest of the floor so we could not complain.
The next day we walked around, tried some wired fruit (the lady said it was mango but I think not), and saw the more dirtier side of Bangkok.

We decided to move to a Hostel that was recommended by a friend called the Shanti Lodge, we came to find that it really was a Shanti, the bed was a rock and the walls were made of bamboo paper so when anyone in the house moved we all heard. The showers were downstairs, and the toilet, so when I had to go the bathroom @ 2:00am everyone in the house heard it. Between the jet lag and heat we slept most of the first day.
The next day we decided to go Downtown to the Mall (I thinking that it would be small or poor was shocked), the Siam Center. To put it this way, think of the most elaborate mall in, lets say Vegas, then add 10 x bigger and 10 x more elaborate. I have never seen anything like this in my life. We plan to go back and get pictures at the end because it would take up a full role just on one of the 10 floors. Not only did it have 10 floors they were the lenght of 3 football fields. The top floor had a huge convention ballroom, 2 Imax screens, 16 movie screens, 3D screen, bowling ally and a large Karaoke bar. All the stores located in the mall were AX, Channel, Boss, Lacoste, Gucci, and any other HIGH-end store you can think of. Oh and I can't forget the electronics stores, anything and everything. And last but not least Asia largest Aquarium in the basement. (More pictures when I return home)
Then the MBK mall across the street. Can you say black market. Anything and everything. I bet if I tried hard I could find a new Kidney. Movies, Music, Designer clothes, Electronics, I even found a Canada Goose parka that I bought for Alaska Excursions for $575 wholesale, selling at $100 and that was before I bartered. I will definitely be back there before Christmas. (send us a list and wire lots of money!)

After all that we decided we have had enough of the big city and decide to head south to Malaysia. I told Kelsey that it would be worth paying for the flight just to get here faster, so we flew to Kuala Lumpur and found the people to be a little more laid back, at least outside of Chinatown; That's another thing, no wonder there are 5 billion Chinese, every major city has a
Chinatown to house them.

The first day there we went to the Batu Caves just outside town, WOW. It is a Hindu worshiping sight where they still practice Mastication and gather for worship. The cave is up 243 stairs and has a 130ft statue that guards the enterance. With the heat it was pretty intense. Once we got to the top of the stairs we then entered a chamber that had a 300ft ceiling and is 100 yds long only to have more stairs at the end into another open sky chamber.

With bats and monkey's I couldn't have asked for a better excursion.
PS the Monkey's were very mean and warnings are placed everywhere that they bite.

The next morning we went to the Downtown of Kuala Lumpur and went to the world famous Petronas Tower's (yes the ones in Entrapment). We had to wait in a line of over 200 people for tickets but it was ok because they were free. They only let guest go to the 41st floor of the sky bridge but that was enough to get your ears to pop twice. Beautiful views all around.

After we took a 2 hour bus ride south to Malaka (a cute little historical dutch town) Still no beach but the City has so much personality it doesn't need it.

We took a rickshaw ride that was lit-up and playing music, decorated with silk flowers it was quite romantic.

Even Chinatown was smooth, No one haggling and you could even walk without bumping into everyone and everything. We liked it so much we decide to stay one more day.

Party on the Cruise Ship

2008-09-14T16:14:00.015-08:00

Kelsey and I got on the Norwegian Sun to have an end-of-season party. We had free drinks and and all the food we could eat. It was also nice because Willem (the Shore Excursions Manager)had the ships entertainment group, "The Cats Pajamas" which is an Accapella group. They even had the ship's magician there to show us some tricks.

Kelsey and I with Rosie. The Pina colada's were Awesome!

It was held on the 12th deck in the Observatory Lounge, with the rope, by Professor Plum.

This is Alex, She is from Romania, defiantly one of our favorite. We might be taking a cruise with this one.

Its a classic cruise ship pose. Thanks Leo.

This is the Excursions crew from the ship.

The Ladies couldn't get enough of OZ.

The last day of Sun.

2008-09-05T17:49:00.000-08:00

Kelsey thought that we should take a helicopter flight before the season is officially over. It looked bad in Skagway but as soon as we got of the water it turned out to be a gorgeous day.

It Mt. Fairweather! 15,325 ft

How cute.

The comment was made that Mulans would be the best place to hide a body. This one was at least 300 ft.

Looking in to the Mulan. We dropped a boulder down it and it fell for 17 seconds before it hit bottom.

Yum, Glacier Ice.

Mines bigger.

The crew.

Skagway is somewhere below that mess.

Ah, beautiful Skagway.

Going To The Yukon for Batman.

2008-08-09T17:53:00.000-08:00

This is how the day started, Fog and rain. But it was only up hill and the clouds were going to break.

Our only theater is a 2 hour drive for us, so when Batman came out we had to make the drive!

Rachel trying to to reach the top of the Yukon.

Almost to the Top.

Emerald Lake.

The air must be thinner up here in the 60th degree latitude. The perfect jump picture.

Miles Canyon. I hadn't taken Kelsey there since 2005, It was a beautiful day and It was worth stopping by.

One More Jump for the Road.

This was the Canadian summers games swimming complex. It comes with a lazy river, hot-tub, Olympic size pool, water slide, sauna, steam room, rope swing, and the kiddy pool with all the fountains.

As we returned back to Tormented Valley the clouds had lifted up and gave us some beautiful scenes. I love the Yukon.

The Bear Necessities.

2008-07-13T16:19:00.000-08:00

We have two brothers that I have been visiting our camp every year for the last 4 years. I watched them as cubs and now they will be hitting 5 years old this summer. I can't wait for the pictures that I get this year because I now have a camera that is worth the opportunity. I have a good zoom and a high res. which means I don't have to get to close to the Grizzly's this year. Mom that should make you happy. Matt you should enjoys these.

Looking for the Fish Buffet

The two brothers.

Me being a good good safe tour guide with my group in front of me for protection.

They are sparing (bear playing)

Time with our baby.

2008-07-13T15:38:00.000-08:00

We took our scooter out to Dyea the other day for the company party. It was a beautiful night and the views were nice. I absolutely love our scooter it has held up through the times to last multiple runs from Layton to Logan and then my favorite the drives Kelsey and I took up Logan Canyon.

Here in Skagway it is the perfect mode of transportation in this 1-mile town but its not limited to just that.

The other day we drove from sea level to 3300 ft and in the corse of 12 miles. I am so proud of the scooter it held the speed limit the whole way. Upon reaching the summit we then entered OH CANADA!

This is the actual border "International Falls"

Along the way my beautiful wife wanted to stop at bridal vail falls.

Skagway Parade

2008-07-05T19:19:00.000-08:00

In a town that is only a mile ling and has only 700 people, the 4th of July you would think that the parade would be small and simple, but in reality the parade is so big they show it twice. First from 7th ave. to 1st then spin around and back again. Always a classic.

Bring on the Mounties

Even President George W. Bush shows up for a Skagway Parade.

Some of the Local Floats.

I'm in the Guinness Book of World Records.

2008-07-05T15:10:00.000-08:00

We had the Tug of war and the Skagway Fire Dept. beat everyone in town.

We had the 4th of July in Skagway and with that comes the annual Egg Toss. The town found out that the world record for an individual egg toss was held by Wrangell AK. at 338 participants. So we had beat that every year but had never documented it, until now. After the parade we killed the previous record with 1,100 participants! Kelsey and I tossed the length of the street, but thats when our egg met it end. Over all the 4th of July was great.

It was a fun day.

Rock Climbing

2008-06-25T11:17:00.000-08:00

We were tourist for a day and decide to go with the Alaska Mountian Guides and go rock climbing. Kelsey as always ran up the rocks and I struggled to keep up. Overall it was a fun trip. for a day and decide to go with the Alaska Mountian Guides and go rock climbing. Kelsey as always ran up the rocks and I struggled to keep up. Overall it was a fun trip.

Dog Sledding via Helicopter

2008-06-25T10:43:00.000-08:00

So Kelsey was able to stop in Juneau for a few hours and we jumped on a helicopter to see what the Mendenhall Glacier has to offer. We had a great time and was given our own dog team and musher. We were up there for 45mins. and went out for a 3 mile run.

Our Mushers camp is still better but we can't compete with the feeling of a Helicopter flight.

I'm King of the World

2008-06-25T10:09:00.000-08:00

So the other day I was working indoors and I got fed up with the weather, it was to nice to be indoor, so I grabbed my bag and started running. I decided to beat A B Mountain. I started at sea level and 2 hours later I was at 5052ft.

I then cried for the next 2 hours going back down. That mountain kicked my trash. The next couple days I walked around like Frankinstien because I was so sore.

Rachel, I thought you might like this post because you always wanted dad to pull over so you could run up the mountain.

Our House

2008-05-16T20:23:00.000-08:00

So we bought a house for Christmas of 2007, I was getting bored and wanted a new project so we found a house 1 block away from Utah State University. It was constructed in 1945 and has the best view in Logan.

We started with the upstairs and redid the wood floors, what we didn't know is how much work it takes to get the floors just right.The worst was we ripped up some carpet just to find out that somewhere in the past someone decided to glue formica floor over the hardwood. We than had to chisel the formica off, 2 full days later and a lot of patience lost we were done.

We also painted the upstairs and finished the plasters walls, redoing all the base and trim. If you want to jump to this website I have loaded the rest of the construction photos.

http://s306.photobucket.com/albums/nn274/osmond1111/House/

You have to start on page 4 and then work your way back to 1.

To catch you up.

2008-04-10T17:05:00.000-08:00

After High School I served a LDS mission

in Paraguay. Upon returning I went to Utah State University and there it took me only 6 years to decide what I wanted to be when I grew up. I Majored in Liberal Arts and Science and Minored in Sociology and Management. During that time I met my wonderful and beautiful wife Kelsey C. Benson, from Blackfoot, ID. (but yet a half hour into the middle of no-where. She is my complete opposite which is good because without her I would never have learned how to farm wheat and potatoes. We were married almost 2 years ago (April 14th, 2006) and are excited to announce that we are still NOT pregnant. I robbed the cradle, she is 6 years my younger. Don't worry mom if your reading this, we do plan on having kids, we just want to enjoy our time.

Currently we work in Skagway, Alaska. Been doing it for the past 5 years, on and off during school. We work the summers only, in tourism (cruise ship season), I manage Alaska Excursions which has 3 operations. The first and biggest: Musher's Camp and Sled-Dog Adventures, second: Chilkoot Horseback Adventures, and last: 60 Degrees North Golf . My wife works for Temsco Helicopter Tours, which defiantly has its perks. It is nice because we work 6 months out of the year and then travel during the off season. The people we meet and the experiences we have in Alaska are the biggest rewards. This off season we plan to backpack South America for 2 1/2 months. Go visit my old stomping ground Paraguay, see the worlds largest waterfalls in Iguazu Falls , and conquer the "Road of Death" in Bolivia. Stay tuned to the blog and I will keep you filled with updated on that Adventure.

We are not complete transits, we did just buy a home in December. It is in Logan, UT. and it sits up on the bench at the mouth of beautiful Logan Canyon. It was a old rambler that needed some TLC so that is what we did. We remodeled 80% of the house and now it's a hot little item. We turned it into a Rental, but we do plan to live in one day. We hope to purchase a couple more rentals before we are done with this Alaskan Adventure we call life.