Tis the season to snowshoe

Yes! It is official it's time to snowshoe. Saturday I went out for the first time this season and it was a beautiful start to a great snowshoeing season.
My friends Cody and Adam and their significant others and I headed up Lamb's Canyon. Adam and Tacy had to leave early and Cody and Margi were late so I spent some time hiking on my own, which was very pleasant (I like me).

Yes that is ice forming on my hair.

Most of the hike is along a stream and you are surrounded by beautiful aspens and pines. Unfortunately, I forgot my camera in the car. I took some photos with my camera phone, but I have no idea how to get the pics off except to text them. So if anyone knows how to do it give me a call.
The trail is a 1.75 mile hike to the Lamb's Canyon pass which then drops you into Millcreek Canyon on the Salt Lake side. The first half of the trail was well traveled from what looked like boarders hiking up for some good snow. The second half, well let's just say I think I was following moose tracks for awhile. I finally came to a spot where the tracks completely stopped. I followed some deer tracks left until those ended, then made a trail to the right to see if I could find a trail. By this point Adam and Tacy had left and I was alone waiting for Cody and Margi to follow my tracks up to me. I started to go up, but heard what I thought were some mini slides. Luckily Cody and Margi reached me and assured me that the avalanche conditions were ok.

Here is where it gets interesting. It was probably only another 50 yards to the pass. It took us another 2 hours to reach the pass/summit. The trail was straight up. We had to bushwhack our way up, weaving side to side trying to make the climb easier.
We reached the summit at 12pm. It was amazing. The canyon was so beautiful and of course at this perspective we could see so many easier ways up to the pass. Oh well. At least we were slow enough to look around and notice the 2 moose on the ridge line to our right. I am grateful they were far away because Margi kept calling them to come over.

Cody at the top

The hike down was remarkably fast which is typical. I thoroughly enjoyed myself. I could have stayed up there longer. This is a new favorite trail despite the fact that we had to bushwhack the longest 50 yards (really with the weaving it was probably a half mile).

Yes, I found out how to get the pictures...Thanks Jake.

Bad Joke Christmas Letter

Sorry it has been awhile since my last post, but hopefully this makes up for it.


Season’s Greetings to all of our wonderful family and friends from the Bad Joke Girls (blonde, brunette, and a redhead). 2009 has been a busy year with many blessings. Though no one made the honor roll, no one’s soccer team won a tournament, and no one’s choir made it to the state sing off this year, we still had a lot of fun and have been very blessed along the way.

As roommates, we really enjoy each other’s company and try to have as many adventures as possible. This year we competed in a triathlon, each taking a different leg of the race. Ashley swam, Annie biked, and Talena ran. Even though a team of 14-year-olds beat us (oh wait, nope they were 11) we still had fun. We also enjoyed many camping and hiking trips (just can’t get enough of being outside).


Talena’s heart is so full with her cat family continuing to grow. She just added a new kitten to the crew. Snickerdoodle joins Mittens, Snowball Jr., Fluffy III, Ginger, Mrs. Whiskerson, Bubbles, Tiger, Pumpkin, Nub Nubs, and Friskers, and the late Snowball, Fluffy, Fluffy Jr., Blackie, Bucky, Sandy, Felix, Garfield, and Mopsy.

Talena didn’t win any races by being slow and steady, but we still think she’s a champion. She ran two 5Ks, two 10Ks, two half-marathons, and one full marathon. Wonder what she’s running from… She also scored a great job at Black Diamond, an outdoor equipment manufacturer, and can’t wait to try out all the equipment and stop being teased for being an outdoor pansy.


Annie’s had a rough year with medical bills, but her wart removal treatment went really well. She had 16 warts removed from behind her knee and 4 from her right wrist. Dr. Shamatu is truly skilled in his specialty and we’ll be forever grateful for his service to our family.

Annie’s ambition continues to amaze us. She swam, biked, and ran her first triathlon and did it all by herself. When she gets bored of the old U.S. of A. she takes trips to see other places of the world. This year she traveled to visit the kiwis, wombats, and koala bears in New Zealand and Australia. Good on ya’ Annie.


Ashley, our youngest, is a handful, but adds much joy to our lives. Having been just released from prison, Ashley is setting her sights high at keeping her life on track. She just got a job as a food preparer at McDonald’s and there is already talk of promoting her to cashier (keep your fingers crossed).

Ashley’s illustration work keeps her very busy. She’s already traveled to New York a couple of times promoting Shailie and also wishing that those cute little dress-up fashions would fit her too. Too bad you’re not shorter Ash. She’s also been using her talents in the religious side of things painting for a Book of Mormon Mania game and also Bible story illustrations for the Mennonites.

We are truly blessed to have each of you in our lives. You have touched our hearts this year and we’re grateful for your love and support. It has been our pleasure to know you or whatever. You and your kind hearts brighten our lives and enrich our souls. Merry Christmas everyone

Loves,
Bad Joke Girls
Talena, Ashley & Annie

Magic Bus

No, I wasn't on drugs. Yes, I took a ride on the magic bus. The bus is an old school bus converted to a magic bus with the removal of the seats and lined with old couches and speakers. We rocked out to 80s classic as we drove up to Antelope Island for a ward hike. Oh and yes the party was in the back of the bus.

My bus buddies rocking out to the 80s.

Back of the bus peeps.

The hike was beautiful. We started about an hour before the sunset to watch the sunset from the top of the mountain. Of course when my friend Dan and I saw rocks off in the distance we had to climb them. And jump them. And injure ourselves (this was just Dan).
The sunset was beautiful. Antelope Island is the best. I think this trip should be a yearly tradition, except any injuries.

Party on Antelope Island

Rocks must be climbed

And jumped

I have always wanted to do this

New Adventures

I must be reading too many mountaineering books because I am craving a new adventure. I have to admit sometimes I get ideas that I run with for only a few weeks, but this is not one of those ideas. Putting my money where my mouth is I have started to acquire the gear and sign up for classes to start my new adventures, alpine mountaineering & ice climbing.
Thanks to my super awesome roommate, I have a shinny new pair of Black Diamond Sabretooth crampons. I am so excited to try them out. They look awesome and scary at the same time (sounds like awesomely scary to me).

As of yesterday I will be taking an ice climbing class from the U of U. The class is a basic skills class with a weekend field trip to Ouray, CO in February.
I am also super lucky to have cool friends that are willing to help teach me. My buddy Levi has a few summer trips planned that I hope to jump on and with some weekend adventures I will learn important mountaineering skills. He has already helped me with my orienteering skills (which proved very useful in the corn mazes).
I know that there is a lot to learn and I will have to prepare my body and mind for the demands of this type of adventure, but I also know that the rewards will be worth the pain and cold. I love the mountains and have a healthy respect for them. I am excited and nervous for this new challenge. Life is an adventure.
So if you ever want to go hiking, snowshoeing, cross country skiing, climbing, winter camping or anything else that will help me prepare you know my number (at least you should if you are reading this because really who wants to read some crazy red head ramble on about her adventures unless we were friends.)

What could be better...dancing, guns and slacklines

I have to say I was very happy with my weekend. Friday night my super sexy awesome friend Carrie came to hang out. She used to be a roommate, but now lives near Millcreek and sadly we don't see her very often. Carrie is an amazing person and is so much fun to be around. We went to dinner with friends for a weekly DC (diner club) at the Royal India in Bountiful. I love this place. Dinner was fabulous. The company was great and the food was perfect. After dinner we went over to Chris's warehouse/place of residency to watch an old horror movie, Carnival of Souls.

Check out a trailer on youtube.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dkTz0EvfEiY

The movie was so funny mostly because Talena was the only one getting scared and she jumped every few minutes. After the movie we explored the warehouse. There was some interesting items stored in the warehouse. We found old building letters and proceeded to reenact some Sesame Street reading games. After exploring an impromptu dance party exploded full on with fog and lights. Have to say it was a rocking party for only having 6 people.

We did a little graffiti (we are so wild)

D..D O..DO..DO G..DOG

Saturday started out early with Talena and I heading to REI for the garage sale. This is where all the equipment returned over the last few months is resold to members at reduced prices. REI's return policy is very open, return anything, at anytime, for any reason. So basically if I just don't like it, return it. Which means the garage sales have some pretty awesome gear for cheap. I bought hiking boots and a pair of Chaco's for only $70 (I know I already have chacos but you can never have too many...right?).

After REI I drove up Parley's canyon to the police shooting range for our Relief Society shooting activity. By far this was the best RS activity I have been to (even better than Gilgal which was pretty awesome). One of the guys from our ward is a firearms instructor and was nice enough to do some training with us and let us shot his super awesome guns. We got to shoot 5 hand guns including a 2 revolvers, shotgun and a 3 rifles.

(For those who know guns, this will make me even cooler)
Smith & Wesson 422, .22 LR
Glock G19, 9mm Para
Kimber 1911 Custom Classic, .45 ACP
Smith & Wesson 586, .38 Special
Smith & Wesson 617, .22 LR
Ruger 10-22, .22 LR
Colt AR-15, .223
Rock River AR-15, .223
Remington 870, 12 gauge

That was powerful (and I liked it)

I would just warn the boys to watch out. Don't be messing with my sisters cause they can shoot.

But wait the day continues. After shooting and a crazy hail storm I went slacklining. The weather cleared up long enough to go out for a couple hours. It was awesome and yes I am now ready to check off another goal on my list 26 for 26. Boo yeah! I walked all the way across the line, turned, walked back to the beginning and even got another turn in before falling off. So far this is one of my favorite goals to accomplish. I heart slacklining.

Never a bad time for standing tree pose even on a slackline.

Lastly, I was able to go to the Grizzlies game. It was opening weekend and we got tickets on the 3rd row right next to the team. There were some insane fights, helmet and gloves off type of fights. But the best part was the goalie's gold helmet. Every time he walked into the locker I screamed through the glass, "I like your helmet!" Sadly he didn't acknowledge my love for his helmet.

This fight was amazing, no gloves, no helmets.

And that my friends is this weekends adventures in a nutshell.

The Red Light Inch

I was reminded this morning of an unexplainable phenomena...the red light inch. The red light inch is a situation in which a vehicle is stopped at a red light and yet the driver proceeds to inch their way forward.
Note: If you are stopped at a red light what good does it do to inch forward when the light is clearly still red. YOU CAN'T GO ANYWHERE! Does it some how make you feel better to think you are still moving. Do you have somewhere to be and you think by inching forward the light will recognize your urgency and miraculously change to allow you to get to that place 30 seconds earlier. You will soon have to stop anyway when you have realized your vehicle has crawled into the intersection and traffic in the opposite direction starts to honk at you for blocking the intersection while your light is clearly still red. Look around, no one else is going anywhere!
It has always annoyed me when I was a passenger and made me roll my eyes as the car next to you overanxious drivers. I can completely understand the roll if you can see the traffic light in the opposite direction has just turned red or even yellow, but when it is STILL GREEN what are you doing? Maybe You don't know that you can look at the opposite traffic light to indicate when your traffic light is about to change. In which case I considerable questions your lack or reason completely.
I'm not sure if one or all of these are true, but for heaven's sake and my driving sanity PLEASE STOP!

Thank you for your time. This has been a sanity message from the National Office of Real Exasperated Drivers. (aka NORED)

Ingrid Post Hot Chocolate

Last weekend we have a marvelous time with our good friend Ingrid Michaelson. I say "good" not because we personally know her, but because her music is just so good. Arranged as a girls night out we have about 10ish ladies ready for some awesome music and we were not disappointed. Opening was Matthew Perryman Jones. He was awesome. Just a dude (a cute dude to boot) and a guitar makes some good tones. I think we all became big fans (and yes it was more than his long dark hair and facial hair that I loved).

After a pretty short transition Ingrid came on. She never disappointed. Her music is great and her stories were a crack-up. It is time for a shinny new doll (if you know what I mean). And even though I can't sing, I sang along to every song.

Yes that is red hair (but I don't think it is always that color but I think we could be friends anyway). Red heads forever!

Sadly the music had to come to an end. Even more sad was that it was a Saturday night and the concert got over at 10pm. So what better to do then to go to our favorite hot chocolate place, Nostalgia. A game of chess ensued even with the distractions of Jannifer's tower of murdered chess pieces. Sadly the game ended and all went home, but we had a great night of music, friends, hot chocolate and chess...how much better could it get.

She was so cool the entire game

Are you sure you want to do that?

OH NO...Her masterpiece destroyed.

Dang you Julia!

Corny Halloween Fun

It has been awhile since I posted. I must be actually working. Here is a snap shot of the last few weeks.

Ashley loves what I fear?

A few weeks ago we went to a corn maze in West Jordan. Because we are chicken we opted for the non-haunted corn maze. We split into 2 teams and raced throughout the maze to find 10 markers, take our pictures by each and then make it out first. Heidi and I are really good at mazes (Is that a trumpet I hear?) so we would run to each post and yell out the "code" word for each number which included, whiskey, slurpees, and sauerkraut. Numbers 1-3 were a little tricky and I don't think we were really in the race mode when we started, but by 4 Heidi and I in full sprint. In the end we lost, but we had the most fun a losing team could have.

Our sweet team

Last week I had a sleep over with my good friend Lindsey. We did the usual sleep over activities; dinner, movie, sleeping bag and taking our photo in a sweet Halloween cut out.

Yes, Lindsey and I are 5

Check, Check & Half-Check

3 days away from "Happy Half-Birthday" which means only 6 months until 27 and the end of 26 for 26. But the good news is I'm checking things off my list.
On Tuesday I went bouldering in Little Cottonwood Canyon with 2 of my oldest climbing friends, Adam and Cody. It was a lot of fun and actually the first time I have bouldered outdoors. I am kind of scared of falling when not attached to a rope. Although this was not on my list we did do something that was. Last week I borrowed my roommates longboard and played around on it during my lunch break in my work parking lot. So since Cody and Adam are boarders, we drove downtown to longboard around the city. Starting at the library we rode to 300 South then down to State Street, then Main Street catching Trax and riding down to the Gateway. We road around for an hour and a half and I never fell. I would say that it counts for learning how to longboard fairly well, but don't worry it was a lot of fun and there will be more of it to come.

Learn to skateboard...Check.
Sorry no photos of the longboarding, but here is the joy of bouldering.

Wednesday for Relief Society we visited Gilgal garden. The amazingness of Gilgal is legendary. Ever since I heard there was a garden in the SLC that had a Sphinx with the head of Joseph Smith I had to go. After raining earlier in the day it was freezing cold, but that would not kill my spirit. I have never explored a more interesting garden which in a weird way shares a man's testimony of God and the gospel.
Check it out sometime...http://www.gilgalgarden.org/

You know you love a Joseph Smith Sphinx

Lastly, I finished reading the April Conference Ensign last week. This is the first time I have ever read the conference Ensign from cover to cover and it will not be the last (particularly because my goal is to read both the April and Oct. Conference talks). So I give myself a half check as I have accomplish half of this goal.
Conference is a great event and luckily we get to enjoy it again this weekend. Here are some of my favorite things from April and I look forward to more in Oct.
THANKS CONFERENCE!

Promised blessing from President Packer recounted by Margaret S Lifferth
"While we may not see an immediate, miraculous transformation, as surely as the Lord lives, a quiet one will take place...The Lord will pour out his Spirit upon us more abundantly. We will be less troubled, less confused. We will find revealed answers to personal and family problems."

I loved President Eryings' statement, "The Lord always suits the relief to the person in need to best strengthen and purify him or her." Trials can be blessings even if we don't realize it at the time.

President Uchtdorf said, "We have to stay with it. We don't acquire eternal life in a sprint -- this is a race of endurance."
And
"Start where you are."

Probably my favorite talk was Elder Holland's "None Were with Him." I remember listening to this talk in April and I still remember the awe I felt hearing his words. His talk teaches the doctrine of the atonement with a focus on the moments Christ suffered on the cross and the Spirit of His Heavenly Father departed from Him. He was left to feel the loneliness that so many of us feel throughout our lives so that He would be able to succor us when we feel "totally, abjectly, hopelessly alone." I had never thought about that moment before, but as Elder Holland teaches, "It was required, indeed it was central to the significance of the Atonement, that this perfect Son who had never spoken ill nor done wrong nor touched an unclean thing had to know how the rest of humandkind would feel when we did commit such sins."

I love the gospel. I know that my Savior atoned for my sins and that it is through Him that we can return to our Heavenly Father.

Flightless Birds

The Kiwi bird is New Zealand's national bird. It is flightless, almost completely blind and endangered. It is not as majestic as our Bald Eagle. Doug was not a big fan of the choice thus allowing me a glimpse of what we may have felt if Benjamin Franklin had gotten his way and our national bird were the wild turkey.
From the moment our plane landed in New Zealand (NZ) I was in love. After a week in the country I was ready to pack up my life and move down. There are tons of hills and mountains and everything is beautifully green. The roads are narrow and wind through the mountains. It takes forever to drive anywhere because there are no straight roads. Nothing is open late. That was interesting to discover as we traveled and found very few people roaming the streets at night (even on weekends) and most places closed up at 6pm. Time just doesn't travel the same in NZ which is probably why we traveled back in time returning to the United States. (Literally, we left NZ at 7pm and got back to LA at 12pm the same day, saved 7 hours.)
I wish we could have spent more time in NZ. Because we only had 7 days, we only saw the north of the north island. We spent 2 days in Auckland, 2 days in Rotorua, 1 day caving in Waitomo and 2 days in Hamilton (but we stayed in Raglan).

Auckland

For sure the highlights of the trip were caving and the All Blacks game. A friend, Adam, who is currently living in Wellington, NZ recommended going to the glow worm caves. As soon as I heard about it I was sold. We booked a black water rafting adventure. Black water rafting is what they call floating down a river underground. It was amazing. Our guides Andrew and Vash were fun and the rest of our group were cool. In preparation for our adventure we were outfitted into wetsuits. Here is how this went: first we put on our swimming suits, next came a potato sack like sweater to keep us insulated, next booties, then the wetsuit (bib style), then a wetsuit jacket. No, we are not done. Then we had boots, shorts and helmet with headlamp. We even had a cover for our hair so that it didn't get caught in the ropes. Basically everything had some layer except our hands which we would discover we wish we had.
Once we finally got all our gear on and we were trained on the equipment we headed out to the caves. We abseiled (repelled) 120 ft down into the cave. Then hiked through the water further into the cave. A quick zip line in the dark (very freaky because you didn't know where the end was) and we jumped off a 15 ft cliff into our tubes to float around the caves. We finished our trip with a quick visit from our friend the eel and then climbed out a series of 3 waterfalls. Basically it rocked!

Repelling into darkness

Check out our sexy suits

The only thing that came close to it was the All Blacks rugby game. So here is a quick background. One of the reasons for the trip to NZ was my sister Kelly served her mission in NZ. Doug was an elder from my her mission. Doug studied at BYU and has family in Utah so I have hung out with him a few times. So I consider him my friend. Anyway background done. When we were planning our trip I noticed that the All Blacks would be playing, but I couldn't figure out how to get tickets. So I emailed Doug and man did he come through. He was able to get us tickets to the SOLD OUT game. It was awesome. I got all decked out with a jersey, beanie and scarf. The last thing I needed for the game was to understand anything about rugby. Lucky for us Doug's cousins went to the game with us so between Doug and his cousins these 3 Americans figured out what was going on enough to cheer and boo at the right spots.

All geared up...GO ALL BLACKS!

Overall the trip was a huge success. We learned to draw penguins (of course we saw some too), we hiked a volcano (dormant...for now), covered ourselves with mud in a mud bath, hiked where wild pigs could have killed us, ate fried mars bars, saw the tallest Maori carving, drove on the wrong side of the road (no one died and no accidents), saw kiwi birds (even if they couldn't see me), had a brother in the Hamilton temple forget my name after every baptism, ate the most delicious burgers you could imagine (seriously so great), enjoyed a delicious Maori meal and watched the haka up close and personal.

Exploring the volcano turned military fort

See I can draw

Enough said

There is always time for a merry-go-round

Hell's Gate Thermal Reserve... it stinks (trust me)

Oh it Burns!...Just Kidding

Dinner...

...and a show

Proof

Hamilton Temple

Hiking

Being one with the falls

Fried Mars Bars... you know you want one

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