moab trip #1

i went to moab last week with one of my friends, cliff. it was SO amazing. the first night we backpacked into the needles district of the canyonlands to a place called chesler park. we got into our campsite right after sunset so the rocks were silhouetted against the sky.... SOOOOOOO pretty! then we hiked to a place called druid arch. that was a really cool arch. while there, we went out to this little mound view-point thing that really wasn't easy to get on... in one of the pictures you might see how exposed the side we scrambled up was.... yes, i did it too... i'll admit, i got a little scared! then we hiked out of the canyonlands and drove to castle valley. castle valley is most known for castleton tower (castle rock). if you've seen mission impossible 2, it's the one tom cruise is "climbing" at the beginning. we climbed 2 of the 4 pitches to get to the top. we decided not to keep going because a) we were no longer on the sunny side of the tower, b) sarah was getting cold... 2 pairs of pants and three long sleeve layers were actually not enough.... c) cliff didn't have the right size cam. BUT don't you worry- we both decided we will be climbing to the top of castleton tower SOMEDAY!! that night we camped at the fisher towers area. those things are HUGE! went climbing on "lizard rock" then decided to drive back to salt lake. the best part of this trip- getting into our canyonlands campsite after dinner.... sarah was hungry and MIGHT have been a little angry about not eating... i complained that the top ramen appetizer cliff had made us was watered down and would be disgusting.... after eating that, two reeses, some granola bars, dried fruit, and two mountain house meals, i could laugh at my predictability. that was the joke the rest of the trip "IT'S WATERED DOWN!!!" the worst part of this trip- matrimoney springs found contaminants in it... the best watering hold in the world has been shut down! i cried a little...

31 reasons my sister is cooler than yours

it was maria's 31st birthday on wednesday. in her honor- i've listed 31 reasons why my sister is cooler than your sister!!
1-she's beautiful
2-her kid angie is the coolest kid in the entire world
3-she's the funnest person in the world to play duets with
4-her kid emma is the coolest kid in the entire world
5-she's a great example
6-her kid keller is the coolest kid in the entire world
7-who needs cliff notes when you're got maria?
8-her mom mary is the coolest mom in the entire world
9-she's a health food nut
10-her dad roger is the coolest dad in the entire world
11-she has a cool truck
12-her brother clark is the coolest brother in the entire world
13-she's a great mom
14-her brother ned is the coolest brother in the entire world
15-she's a great teacher
16-she helps anyone in a pickle
17-she learned spanish from a friend
18-she's a rockin' karaoke QUEEN!
19-she's gonna be a lawyer
20-she's hiked borah
21-she can organize anything
22-she lets you use her garage for storage
23-she's stylish
24-she can sing
25-she composes music
26-she also plays the recorder, violin, viola, organ, and guitar (what did i miss?)
27-she's gonna bike the white rim in march
28-she's a good loser to set
29-she has impecable dental hygiene
30-she's the best pinochle partner EVER
31-SHE'S MY SISTER!!!
i hope you had an awesome birthday, maria! i love you!!

a scare...

my brother, clark, called me at 3:30 in the morning last week. whenever ANYONE calls you a 3:30 in the morning, what's your first reaction? well, knowing clark and his accident prone-ness my first reaction was "oh shit, what'd he break now, and am i going to have to call in sick to work and drive to vegas to make sure he's ok? (clark was in vegas at the time)"
so after having prepped myself for bad news, and a little terrified of what might have happened (remember- 3:30AM) i hear clark, rather perky on the other line: "what was the name of the hike you went on this weekend?"

me- *awkward pause* "what?"

clark (perky)- "the name of the hike! what was it called?"

me- "the wave."

clark (perky)- "because i'm trying to find pictures online and i can't find anything. did i wake you up? some buddies and i want to go hike it today. how long was it? where is it? can you tell me how to get there?"

me- "it's in southern utah. *pause, pause as i try to find the correct words, it's still 3:30, mind you* look up pariah canyon or buckskin gulch. the trailhead starts there. but the wave breaks off from it and the cairns don't help. get a book."

clark (still perky)- "can you email me directions? i'm playing blackjack right now!"

me- "not right now. i will when i wake up"

clark (really disappointed)- "oh. ok."
so after laying in bed for about 15 minutes, my mind still hadn't slowed down from the scare i had of my accident-prone brother who was apparantly jazzed up on many a redbull... i emailed him directions to the wave and called him back

me- "clark- i emailed you directions to the wave. good luck."

clark (perky)- "hey thanks!! blah blah blah- something about vegas and blackjack"

me- "clark- i work in 3 1/2 hours. DON'T call me again."

clark (annoyingly perky)- "ok! sorry!"

*click*

an hour later (no joke) i get a text message. "sorry for waking you up. i'm a little high on pain meds and redbull. i can't hike tomorrow anyway. love you!"

aren't brothers great???

the freezing point of eggs

gen and i went snowshoeing yesterday, and stayed overnight at dog lake in big cottonwood canyon. it was a blast!! we packed a tent (snow was too soft for a snow cave) and food and lots of cold-weather gear. this morning, however, we had planned a very nice breakfast of oatmeal and scrambled eggs. we pulled the eggs out of the pack and lo-and-behold they were frozen!! so it made me wonder... how cold was it in the tent last night? well, i researched the freezing point of eggs (yolk and white are different values... fyi...) and it is -.57C which is 31F. at 9:45 last night, outside the tent, i knew it was 15-20F. i could tell because when i inhaled, my nose hairs stuck together, but i didn't start coughing... we think it got in the single digits where we slept... sweet!!
our timing last night was incredible, as it was apparantly the largest full moon of the year because it's closer to the earth, blah blah blah, and the stars were properly aligned for such adventurous chics.
we woke up this morning with frost around the hoods of our sleeping bags (i used my beanie as a nose gaurd so the tip of my nose didn't freeze, as it was the only appendage allowed out of my sleeping bag...
squatting in the snow with snowpants, gloves, and snowshoes on, was an all-new adventure to me... try balancing THAT, boys!

Winter ROCKS!!!

thanksgiving came and left- i went home and we went bowling.... bowling is perhaps the greatest white-trash "sport" out there! i love the combination of groups you get whenever you go! but it's great fun with the kids! i have very vivid memories of going as a child and having the ball knock down some pins after bouncing off the bumpers at a ridiculously SLOW pace...
december is fun since we finally got snow! i went boarding some time ago with my friends and had a great time being the first in some powder (still not good at powder, mind you)
christmas was awesome! ned and rachael flew in so we got to have christmas with them! i got a ski rack in the form of an rei giftcard from santa and some dressy leather boots! they will have their virgin outing on sunday... anyways, while in idaho falls my family went sledding. going down on the tube was my favorite! (is it inter-tube or inner-tube?)
and just now, i have gotten back from snowshoeing up to donut falls with genevieve, as she is in town for a few more weeks!
last night i celebrated the new year at a low-key party with some amazing girls. we highlighted our favorite moment from 2008 and biggest goal for 2009... mine were shocking... favorite moment from 2008- standing on top of mount whitney. biggest goal for 2009- nationals. what are yours? it's always fun to hear!!
HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

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!!