thank goodness for thanksgiving!!

what other holiday is greater? seriously? i get to eat ALL day long! (i know... i do that anyway... but this day makes me look less strange...)

i have to work a 15h tomorrow on thanksgiving which means i go in at 1500 and stay for 8 hours. i get holiday pay. the hospital is feeding all employees thanksgiving dinner and i still get my mom's thanksgiving dinner (ultimately MUCH more important) on saturday when i go home. ooh. plus i get holiday pay for tomorrow. not too shabby!

tonight, i'm not feeling all too well (sore throat... pity me) but i've invited myself to my friend's house where i mentioned the fact that i'll be staying the night because i don't want to be alone on thanksgiving eve! so i'm off to a slumber party (really, i'm sure i'll crash in about an hour...) then i'll be having breakfast and lunch at my friend's house then off to work, then back home for a quick bite of sleep then back to work on friday then drive home to idaho!! yay devilled eggs!!!

i know... i know...

ok, so i know it's been ages since i last updated you on everything... what can i say, either i've kept myself busy, or i'm lazy... i'll let you take your pick!! =o) so! let's get down to business:

1- school is going great! i have one week left in my second class. we have been discussing nursing roles as they were in the past and what we predict they will be in the future. i believe i am the youngest nurse in my class. it's really fun discussing all the issues with people i've never met, but are CLEARLY much more experienced than myself.

2- ultimate season is over. we won our section in an amazing game against missoula. but we tanked at regionals. didn't make it to nationals... IT'S SO FRUSTRATING!! missoula won nationals. we beat them at sectionals!! argh!! next year. i swear i'm going to make it to nationals if it's the last thing i do!!

3- climbing. i've been climbing a lot, though not as much as i'd like to! funny how you get a taste of something and you always want more!! last month i went climbing with lisa (a girl on my frisbee team) several times and conor (a very nice/cute boy) once. i love living so close to things i love doing!! two of these pictures are at the upper s curve in big cottonwood canyon and the other is tingey's terror in little cottonwood.


4- my nephew pearce is SO cute!! clark and chelsea came down from alaska last month to go to moab. it was regionals that weekend so i couldn't go (sorry family...) it's so great that chelsea has a blog and keeps us family in the loop so i can still be "aunt sissy" from thousands of miles away!! the more children my siblings have, the more i want one too! (don't worry... i'm not about to get myself knocked up... i'm on a three-step plan. step one: get a date. step two: marry. step 3: start family... ) while here, clark and chelsea's brother taught me the art of slack-lining. it's pretty addicting. i'm sure i was outside for at least 3 hours. my feet were bruised the next day, but as most things i partake in, well worth the pain!! clark and chelsea's brother could do a "jumpstart" on the slack-line... i could only stand up while bracing myself on clark's head. i did take about 5 steps without guiding hands and without falling though!! not bad for only three hours!! =o) what can i say... i'm a slow learner...

5- work is going great. recently i was co-in-charge-of-work-retreat. it was a fun party. (at least that's what i think...) we did team building games and as nerdy as it sounds, it was fun to watch people work together on a dumb project like "build the tallest tower out of these suppplies." we also played jeopardy, me and sandra (the other party-planner) came up with the questions. my favorite topic was "chitty butts"... it was so fun. oh and people were divided into random groups by animal stickers so to "buzz in" on jeopardy, you had to make your animal noise (that was my idea) it was HILARIOUS!! all these nurses who are so highly admirable as people and in their profession making monkey sounds, standing up to roar loudly, and cock-a-doodle-dooing... good times... also, we got our boss to jump out of a styrofoam ginormous cake and do a little dance.

6- my annual trip with scooter. every year about early novemberish, scooter and i go on a trip. 2 years ago it was moab for my first time. last year we went to zion. this year it was buckskin gulch. buckskin gulch is a 20-mile slot canyon in southern utah. it was absolutely beautiful! we did the canyon in one day. it was kinda long and my feet were very tired at the end, plus i was hungry and well... me and hunger don't get along... have i always been like that or is it just something i've been noticing more recently? anyway- here are some shots of buckskin gulch and roaming around the area the day after. who knows where we're going next year, but i know it'll be just as great if not better!!

7- my dad got a triple date. my parents, and my sister and brother-in-law came down for the transiberian orchestra concert on thursday. i went to their concert last year and the whole time i was thinking "my parent's would LOVE this!!" so as my mom's belated birthday present, i got her tickets to the show. (as a side note, she also brought me down a shopping list of goodies, including, of course, chocolate milk) sure enough, they LOVED the show! my dad was busy figuring out the engineering behind the stage design, light show and pyrotechnics. mom was busy conducting in her chair. maria and john, i believe, loved the performance as well. i took the same date i took to the concert last year. he called me several weeks ago and mentioned something about the orchestra being in town again. i mentioned that i had tickets and asked if he wanted to go. oh by the way, it'll be a date with my entire family... hope that's not too weird... =o) it was an AWESOME concert!! can't wait for next year! my parents stayed in a hotel that night and i joined them for continental breakfast in the morning. i love my family!!

8- my most recent adventure was climbing in joshua tree, california over the weekend. it was amazingly fun. my friend cliff called me a while ago and asked if i was up for a long drive. i said "of course. where to and when?" we decided on joshua tree and went climbing all weekend! i've concluded that i need to get more into shape before climbing for an entire weekend. my muscles are incredibly sore, my legs, especially knees look like they were mauled by about 20 cats and my nose is a little red, but as mentioned earlier- well worth the pain!! i was fortunate enough to have several of my friends drive down with me! it was me, scooter, lisa, baker, conor, and his friend max. we piled into my dad's red truck (don't worry dad... i'll post another red truck adventure for ya) and drove 9-10 hours there. camped all three nights, had campfires, music around the campfire, smores, climbing, hide-and-seeking, friendshipping... honestly, it couldn't have been any better! it was great to see cliff again (both he and gen moved around the same time. stupid people... moving away and whatnot... who cares about advancing your career or education... honestly... people these days) there was a free climber soloing on the multi-pitch route we were on... not sure i understand the stupidness behind THAT plan... but to each his own... he was about 100 feet up with about 80 feet left to go. on the way back from joshua tree we stopped at in-n-out burger in las vegas. conor came up with this great idea of an eating competition. me and him against lisa and max. lisa and max won... word of advice- when participating in SPEED competitions of the food nature, have someone on your team who doesn't meticulously chew their food... he still had hamburger in his cheeks 2 minutes after the competition had ended! but we have it all on video somewhere... oh, and we got 2 other tables in on the cheering action.

9- congratulations. you have successfully caught up to the last month and a half of my life... it's been fun!!

climbing on tuesdays

what with school starting, work being really busy and frisbee in full swing... i've been climbing almost every tuesday with my friend/teammate lisa and some of her friends. it's a lot of pictures, but i like showing off my muscles, so i hope you enjoy! there are some pretty cool sequences in here too...
may i just add, i love where i live! this is all my backyard!

i didn't die!

i went horseback riding on friday! i didn't die!! i'm still alive and i didn't break anything! so i had this really big fear i would get bucked off and break my butt, much like what happened to my friend a few years ago... but i didnt! a nurse at my work has a few horses so i invited myself to go horseback riding with her. we went up american fork canyon (by provo) to silver lake. there was a great view of mount timpanogos along the trail. it was so fun! i rode chico the mule first, then jim, a horse that didn't do a thing i wanted it to, then charlie, a horse with a.d.d.. we got along splendidly! here are a few pictures from this adventure:

making mom and dad proud

i believe it all started on monday. i had the day off and had kept myself busy in the usual ways: hiking, cleaning, taking a long shower, watching a movie and driving around with no particular destination. so by noon, when i had already done all that, (seriously, my life is like that guy in rocketman who does everything to keep himself entertained and the elapsed time is 1 day) i started looking at schools. just one of those random thoughts that linger... and linger.... and linger... well, this one had been lingering since my dad put it there 2 1/2 years ago. thanks dad. so anyway, i looked up a bunch of schools, then checked out the university of phoenix where my mom graduated from. about 1/2 hour later, i had applied to the school and had submitted my fafsa. about 2 days later, i got the call confirming i'd been accepted and i'm registered to start sept 30 to get my bachelor's degree! it's a 2 year program, i'm doing it all on-line, i take one class at a time, i don't have to do clinicals and my work will pay back a total of $6000 if i contract to work with them full-time for 2 years... big deal!
so what is the lesson learned here? boredom does not suit the harshbarger children...

city of rocks

i went to city of rocks last week! it was SO much fun!!! we had just played a frisbee tournament in boise and went climbing on monday on the way home. it was SO great!! i'm definitely going back! i kept thinking to myself how dumb it was that i lived an hour away for 3 years and never made it there... better late than never! this is my first time using the "slide" application, so hopefully it works!

as for today, i slept in, showered, and made myself a ham and cheese sandwich... later i will be going to the bank and grocery store... i'd rather be climbing!!!

who is jack schitt?

Here's a laugh for the day...

For some time many of us have wondered just who is Jack Schitt? We find ourselves at a loss when someone says, 'You don't know Jack Schitt'! Well, thanks to my genealogy efforts, you can now respond in an intellectual way.

Jack Schitt is the only son of Awe Schitt. Awe Schitt, the fertilizer magnate, who married O. Schitt, the owner of Needeep N. Schitt, Inc. They had one son, Jack.

In turn, Jack Schitt married Noe Schitt. The deeply religious couple produced six children: Holie Schitt, Giva Schitt, Fulla Schitt, Bull Schitt, and the twins Deep Schitt and Dip Schitt. Against her parents' objections, Deep Schitt married Dumb Schitt, a high school dropout.

After being married 15 years, Jack and Noe Schitt divorced. Noe Schitt later married Ted Sherlock , and because her kids were living with them, she wanted to keep her previous name. She was then known as Noe Schitt Sherlock.

Meanwhile, Dip Schitt married Loda Schitt , and they produced a son with a rather nervous disposition named Chicken Schitt.

Two of the other six children, Fulla Schitt and Giva Schitt, were inseparable throughout childhood and subsequently married the Happens brothers in a dual ceremony. The wedding announcement in the newspaper announced the Schitt-Happens nuptials. The Schitt-Happens children were Dawg, Byrd , and Horse.

Bull Schitt, the prodigal son, left home to tour the world. He recently returned from Italy with his new Italian bride, Pisa Schitt.

Now when someone says, 'You don't know Jack Schitt ', you can correct them.

Sincerely,

Crock O. Schitt

day 3

this is what happened on day 3 of the very long car ride...

HOLY CRAP!!!! either crap is getting to be holy, or i'm just plum crazy

so i've been busy! the last thing i remember is waking up to my alarm clock sometime in june... it's all been a flutter since then! i'm pretty sure i went hiking with genevieve one, maybe two weeks ago... i have some pictures to prove it. we went to donut falls, played in the water, played around, then went to twin lake. twin lake was nice as it was reminscent of our first hike where i "opened up" to gen... that was the start of our friendship and it was all a big adventure after that! here are some pics of our hiking:





Then i'm pretty sure i went to a tournament in jackson hole... we didn't play that great on saturday, but we stepped it up on sunday and lost to missoula in the finals 11-15. i skied skyla, their wnba super athlete woman, to catch the disc in our endzone and score!! i also laid out (going for a defensive block) ONTO her one time... what can i say, she got in my way! the drunk sidelines loved it... i'm a crowd pleaser, apparantly! it was a way fun tournament! mom fed me and several of my teammates on the drive back through IF. which reminds me, i'm supposed to thank you a million more times mom. a million... hopefully this'll do!!



Then i wasn't even home for 8 hours from this jackson tournament before i needed to repack up and move genevieve to virginia! i took my camera with me on this trip, but i did not take any photos... go me... suffice it to say: wyoming is boring, nebraska is long and smelly, missouri is hot but more entertaining than nebraska, plus they have st louis, yes we stopped at the arch, kentucky is pretty and green, oh, indiana was fun, virginia is gorgeous but has NO mountains... day 1: 13 hours drive time. we listened to all of my ipod turned up really loud because we had the windows down most of the day so as to drown out the very whiny cat... that was fun... day 2: 12 hours drive time. fyi- 4 pringles, terrible duck impersonations and random people passed can keep 2 girls entertained for 2 hours. we thought we were hilarious! day 3: 7 hours drive time. sarah's starting to go crazy... i braided my hair... all of it... for 3 hours... i may post a picture later... day 4: 3 hours drive time. i meowed back at the cat for about an hour... that was fun... helped gen move in to her cute little house! day 5: 45 minutes drive time, 7 hour flight time, 2 hour layover time. left gen in virginia, flew home. bye gen!! it's been fun! good luck in school!
coached my highschool frisbee team. they call me coach! it's so cool!! came home, sat down on my bed and haven't moved since.
so that's my life up to date! hope you kept up!