I didn't plan anything...what!?

CAKE!

It is so not like me to have no plans for the weekend, especially not a holiday weekend.  But with planning our ward Moab trip and having my knees all banged up, I didn't/couldn't plan anything for Memorial Day weekend.  And oh what a great thing it was. 
I love people.  I love being around people.  I think I would hate living alone.  I love being busy.  I love planning lots of things to do.  So it was weird not to have the entire weekend planned out.  The good news is that I have great friends who are also planners and who saved me from a weekend without people.
Friday night I hung out at home and fell asleep on the couch reading.  Fourteen hours later I was ready for a weekend I didn't have to plan.
Saturday:

• Delicious egg tomato breakfast bagel (yes I made it)
• Clean my room
• Finished reading "Believing Christ"
• IKEA with the sis
• SL Real soccer game (Real Won! And I won a Whopper!)

Rio Tinto Stadium

New soccer friends

Sunday:

• Sleep in
• Church (It was great!)
• Drive in the canyon
• Dinner at Jessica (It was delicious!)

Monday: - YEAH! for holidays and no work

• Woke up at 4AM to watch sunrise at Silver Lake
• Eggs Benedict at Blue Plate Diner (my fav)
• Make a cake
• Nap
• Frost a cake
• Bacon BBQ
• Eat cake
• Finish cleaning/organizing room
• Drive-in double header - Iron Man 2 & Date Night

snow = foot rest

We cuddle to stay warm

So what do you think?  Not too bad for not planning anything.  Thanks to Heidi, Jessica, Ashley and Erika for planning cool stuff to do.

Sunrise friends

Sun, Sand, ER, Moab

Do you like how I just slipped the word ER into the title all sly like.  Haha, just seeing if you are awake.
Thursday night we headed south to Moab for our annual ward campout.  After a late evening of shopping and loading trailers we arrived in Moab at 2AM.  The ward came down Friday, but I wanted a few hours Friday morning to play in the sun before I went into "hostess" mode.   We camped on a tarp under the stars.  It was a beautiful evening and the stars were amazing.

Hiking Bill - Dan isn't fast, Matt is just really slow

Friday we headed to Negro Bill canyon and hiked to Morning Glory Bridge.  I got back to camp and went  mountain  biking with the ward.  We biked Klondike Bluffs which I had done a month earlier with friends.  I was doing so much better than the first time we did that trail.  I kept up with everyone really well and I was more confident on the bike.  Maybe too confident.  Never get cocky, you will be humbled.  Coming down I had to stop (I was following too close behind one rider).  I decided I was doing so well I would jump on my bike on a steep hill instead of walking down to a more level area before getting back on my bike.  I should have listened to the little voice because I quickly stumbled and after an unsuccessful recovery I fell, landing hard on my knees.   There is something funny that happens when your body has an impact like that.  I had already been feeling dehydrated and needing some food, but after I fell I was immediately sick.  I had a headache and my stomach was literally eating itself.  I crashed in the car until we got food at the Moab Brewery (delicious Jack Daniels Burger).  Burgers always revitalize me.  Back at camp Bro Buie got me all cleaned up and had my knees wrapped in ice within 20 minutes.

Knees all bandaged up

Saturday was rafting day.  I wasn't able to do any hiking the rest of the weekend so there was no way I was missing rafting.  We had a great day on the river despite the fact that the wind was so strong and the sun hid behind clouds all morning.  As far as I know no one died. (What I meant to say was everyone survived even though a few people ended up in the river and we all had fun.)

Rapids are fun

Don't be fooled, Buie is mean and mothering

Bro Buie can be very mothering when he wants to be.  After a day of rafting Buie and I headed to the ER for some xrays.  Four xrays, tetanus shot and an ice pack later I was back at camp with no broken bones, just a lot of swelling and bruising.

Check out the view...only by 4-wheel drive

The highlight of my trip was going 4-wheeling with the Carters and Smiths and listening to some new music (new to me).  After cleaning up camp I hopped in the back of Heidi's jeep for an awesome 4-wheeling trail.  The wind was so crazy that when we jumped out of the jeep to take in the views you had to brace yourself so you didn't get sweeped away into the grand canyon of Moab.  The entire drive home I listened to tones of great music who of course I can't remember the names of, but once I find out I'll share.

Mike's Pathfinder only made it after Heidi showed off her wheeling skills

From what I have been told everyone had a great weekend.  I was a little jealous of all the hiking the ward did, but I'm super happy that everyone enjoyed themselves.  I am grateful I was able to be a part of it, but secretly pray I get released before next year. :)

Sunday service and musical number...amazing.  Who says you can't be spiritual and dirty (camping dirt that is)

Real Mountaineering?

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Views from Mt Superior

This is a few weeks late because I was waiting for pics from the guys.  Still no pics, but I wanted to put this up here. 
Ok maybe it isn't Everest, but I got out on the mountain a couple weeks ago to try out alpine mountaineering.  I got myself a straight axe from REI with my dividend, borrowed some boots and packed my crampons.  The day started early, getting out of bed at 5:30 to pack, eat and hit the road so I could meet Glenn and John at the base of LCC at 6:30AM.
The peak for the day, Mt Superior.  It was a really sunny day which meant 20 minutes into the climb we stopped to strip off some layers.  The snow was really soft and wet (don't laugh yes most snow is wet, but this is different then light fluffy powdery snow). We never even put on our crampons because we posted holed the entire route.  Due to the conditions we only climbed about half way to the summit, but it was enough to expose me to some awesome climbing and allow me to have some internal freak outs.
This was my first time doing this style of mountaineering and I will fully admit I was really scared.  We climbed on steep slopes and scrambled over rocks made more difficult by the large mountaineering boots.  I had a constant vision of myself slipping off the face.  I don't think I would have been as scared if there weren't tons of exposed rock popping out of the snow.  If I was just sliding down on snow or ice I could use my axe to stop myself (although that was freaky too...never done a self arrest before that day).  I was more worried one of the large boulders would stop my fall instead of my axe.
The freakiest moment of the day was climbing the knife edge ridge line.  Glenn and John were nice enough to rope up for this section and place protection along the ridge.  I was nervous every step that the snow would collapse beneath me and I would slide down the 70% slopes to either side of my.  I made it across safely and we enjoyed lunch on the only flat section of snow before hiking and glassading down the bowl.
The entire time we were climbing my thoughts were, "What am I doing? This is crazy." or "Don't fall. Don't fall." or "I'm never doing this again.  I just want to get down and never do this again."  I couldn't look around much.  Whenever I looked down I realized how steep the slopes were and immediately felt like I would fall.  So I kept my eyes on my feet and where were going.  But SURPRISE when I got done I was ready to do it all over again.  Next time I'll be less freaked out, but not too much (that is what makes it fun).
Thanks for John and Glenn. They were great company and really coaches.  And if I get more pics I will post them, until then enjoy what few I took (I was too scared to take out the camera too much).

Glenn & John climbing over some rock

This was when I was not scared...see there is a smile

Glenn forgot his axe, but he had no trouble using a replacement (trekking pole)

This was a typical slope angle

I remember this spot well...scared to get out there.

Glenn getting ready...we were about to cross that ridge line

Just so you understand why I was freaked out...look at that angle!!

Goblins of Death

Sweet Pic of Goblin Valley

Last weekend we headed down to Goblin Valley State Park for some good old fashion clean (or should I say dirty...we were camping you know) fun.  It was a great weekend that ended with DEATH.  Well not real death, but maybe just death of Goblin fun.

We are cute

After 2 great hikes thru Little Wild Horse and Ding & Dang we headed into the state park for some romping around in the goblins.  This is where "The Incident" occurred.  Our dear friend Matt slipped and fell while he was trying to climb on a tall goblin.  He fell a total of 20 feet when is fall was finally stopped by his face meeting the red soil.  Luckily he survived (told you there wasn't real death).  He left soon after Tyler cleaned him up and headed to SLC and the hospital for some stitches.  The death part is when after witnessing "the incident" none of us felt much like romping thru the goblins anymore.  We headed back to camp and chatted around the campfire.  The End.  Enjoy the pics from Talena and Mike.

Little scouts, tight canyon, London Bridges

Tbone loves hiking

Little Wild Horse aka Awesome slot canyon

Hiking Ding & Dang (this is Ding)

We think we are funny

Hiking Ding & Dang (this is Dang)

We had to do hardcore stuff like this to climb out of Dang

Valley of the Goblins

Yoga in goblin

Matt getting medical attention

Poor guy but still hardcore

Family photo (minus one of the Mikes)

Mountains - Bikes - Moab

Dan was so excited...can you tell

Tyler showing off his skills...

...all of them

I'm officially a mountain biker (maybe a really bad mountain biker, but a mountain biker just the same), not a marathoner. Yes, this last weekend was the SLC marathon which I had signed up to run. No, I didn't run. After my hamstring issue (that is what I'm calling it because I don't know what it is) I have not been able to run over 5 miles without pain. So after seeing the marathon banners lining the streets of downtown for a week I decided I would have to get out of town for race day. Good thing I have lots of awesome friends that are ready for an adventure with only a weeks notice. We loaded up our cars Friday after work and headed down to Moab for some awesome (and need I say famous) mountain biking.

I will openly admit I am new to mountain biking and really bad (I get freaked out easily). I have been 4 times total before this trip, 3 times on the Pipeline trail and 1 on the Bonneville Shoreline trail near my house (I only did about a mile because the it got dark). Both of these trails have little hill climbing and are nice beginner trails. Not like the stuff they made me do this weekend.

Dan the jumping man!

Excited because check out that view

Saturday we got up and hit the Amasa back trail. It was up hill for 8 miles over what I would have called boulders (but maybe I'm still new at this). I probably spent more time pushing my bike up over the rocks then I did pedaling. (I may have been cursing AJ's name in my head too.) Finally at the top we had a beautiful view of the river and we could even see Corona Arch in the distance. The ride down was better, but I still did some walking. And poor Sterling ended up waiting on the mountain for an hour (thinking I was behind him) while the rest of us rode down to the cars. It really was a sad story.

Mountian biking in heaven

Resting before heading down

After a delicious dinner at the Moab Brewery and getting the much needed nutrients we needed we headed into Arches NP for a evening hike to Sand Dune Arch. The hike was super short (500 yards or so) but we had fun playing around in the sand. We climbed up onto the arch where Tyler and I were totally freaked out when anyone got close to the edge. The fall was probably about 20-30 feet into soft sand so my imagination kept wandering to "what would it feel like to jump? You could totally survive that fall" which just freaked me out more, so we climbed down. Safe at the bottom we played a round of the laughing game. This is a game I learned in college. You get in a circle and lay your head down on someone's stomach, someone lays on your stomach and forth until everyone is laying or being laid on (keep it clean). Then you proceed to tell jokes or funny stories to start the laughter. Once the laughter has begun it doesn't end – because your heads bounce up and down with the shaking of the person you are laying on. I really enjoyed this game even though Sterling wasn't much of a belly laugher. (But AJ had fun because my belly was going crazy.)

Tyler and Dan just chilling after a good climb

I love where my feet take me

Sunday was a short day because I had to get home early. It was also a day for an easier ride not only so I could actually ride, but so we could pick a trail for next months ward Moab trip. We drove out of town to ride Klondike Bluffs. It was a 4 mile hill climb to a short hike into the back side of Arches NP. Luckily it was over smooth slickrock so even though I was super slow I was able to ride instead of walk. The view at the finish was amazing and the ride down was fast and fun. I even ran into a good friend on the trail. All in all a much better day of riding and a great way to end the weekend.

AJ and Halee staying far away from the edge

The view at the end of Klondike Bluffs

New List to Rock 27

I love lists as you have seen and yes I have created a new list for year 27. I am going about it a little different. This year I picked a theme and all my goals are centered around that theme. My goals are less concrete so they can evolve as the year progresses and my life changes, which it always does. 

Year 27 Theme = KNOWLEDGE

So maybe I developed a chip on my shoulder from having to go to resource as a child or maybe it is the fact that it never seems to be the right time for graduate school or maybe it is because I am surrounded by uber intelligent people who drove me to pick a knowledge theme.  But truthfully it is because I feel that we should always be striving to improve ourselves and to gain wisdom (and come on everything can be twisted to sound like it is in pursuit of knowledge).
So here it is.  The list that will rule my life or the next 12 months. 

1. Learn a new “mommy” skill
2. Take a class in a subject that interests me
3. Develop a relationship with the library
4. Design a personal scripture study program and use it
5. Learn about nature
6. Learn about my family 
7. Gain a personal testimony of the temple & temple work
8. Experience a different culture
9. Teach someone a skill
10. Pick up a new outdoor skill
11. Understand the body and how it functions
12. Expand a passion
13. Research a topic that confuses me til I understand
14. Be creative
15. Improve grammar and spelling
16. Acquire a new resume skill
17. Expand a talent
18. Learn from the past
19. Develop a Christ like characteristic
20. Explore my surroundings
21. Challenge myself physically
22. Participate in my community
23. Share the gospel
24. Record my experiences, thoughts and feelings
25. Discover an old friend
26. Serve in secret
27. Develop a healthy habit

Crazy Capitol Hill

Performance art performing at the capitol

I love where I live.  There is always something going on.  Last night on our way to dinner with friends Ashley, Talena and I noticed a large group of people at the capitol dressed all in white.  We thought it was a little weird and wondered if it was some sort of protest (that seems to happen a lot on the capitol).  While at dinner someone told us they had heard it was a performance art piece and it would be going all night.  So of course we had to check it out.  After dinner we went home to get in warm clothes and meet our friends on the capitol steps where we discovered the art of Ernesto Pujol in progress.  The piece called "Awaiting" went from sunset Thursday evening to sunrise Friday morning.  The actors (or do you call them artists) were dressed head-to-toe in white and walked around the steps of the capitol in what we were told was not random patterns.  It was a little crazy and more then a little weird.  We were there long enough to hear some creepy music play on the hour and my friend Matt had his soul stolen (ok that was a joke, there was no soul stealing going on).

Article in the Trib about the performance http://www.sltrib.com/ci_14815557

That crazy pink board

The event made me think about modern art.  I'm sorry I just don't get it.  It if is cool looking, I like it, but really what is the purpose of some of it.  A few years ago I visited the MoMA in New York.  It was really cool and there was some good art, but then there was some stuff I wanted to shake my head at and say "WTF."  Modern artists always seem to have some hidden meaning behind their art that I just don't think they express very well (maybe they are bad communicators).  They try to share their opinion about the political system by creating a tall pink board leaning against a wall (I made up that interruption).  I wonder if it isn't more logical that they just seat around saying "If I splattered some paint on a canvas without any pattern or purpose, how long would people stand in front of it and discuss its deeper meaning?  Wouldn't that be funny.  Even better, how much do you think I could get those lunatics to pay for it?"  Seriously Jackson Pollock I am on to you. 

Just some art from Jackson Pollock that is probably work a billion dollars

But really, life would be far less interesting without the work of artists.  And athough I came off skeptical of how artist express themselves, I love art.  Art in all its different forms is intriguing and beautiful. 

Side note really

On our way to the capitol we passed a house down the street from us where they were filming a movie.  The movie is based on the life of Aron Ralston who had to cut off his arm when he was trapped by a boulder hiking in southern Utah.  We took a picture of the set.

The bright light on a crane is a dead give away of their location