March Madness

March has been a great month. Spring weather makes everyone feel a little more chipper, except for the fact that it means no more skiing. i am so excited that i started to learn to telemark ski- in fact i can't wait for next season!

i got great news this month- i am going on a medical mission trip to El Salvador this may. Through the university of utah and a charity organization named Operation Walk we are taking a team of about 25 medical professionals. the other half of our team will come from the los angelos chapter of operation walk. we plan on replacing about 50+ joints for the locals in a town called sonsonate. this is an incredible opportunity as i have always wanted to be invovled in these types of things and have been looking for opportunities ever since i started nursing. i heard about operation walk about 2 months ago and tried to get on the team but they told me they were all full. i think it's b/c of my spanish that they decided to take me. they let me know about a week ago that they opened one more spot on the team for a nurse and i got in. i am by far the youngest team member, all the other nurses being some sort of manager. i am so happy that i am able to start this pattern as a young nurse, and not wait 15 years before finding experiences like this one. working at this orthopedic clinic has really opened a lot of doors for me to make connections and learn different things- like the ski clinic i have been working at since february. i've never had so much fun before and it's work!

i've had the itch to travel too for the past several months. one absolute plus of this trip is that it is completely paid for. i will be working with the patients after their surgeries and making sure they recover well. not only will i be practicing REAL nursing- not just paperwork, but i will get to use my spanish, experience a new culture, and visit a place i've never been. the only bad part is that i will be gone during the week of my birthday. it's a small price to pay.

there is also a new dynamic in this group that i have never traveled under before- we are not a christian organization. we are out there simply to help and there is no religious obligation. i felt it already in one of our meetings- no prayers, no mention of a religious reason why we are going, no mention of a strict dress code so that we always appear to be christians. we are simply helping. i love that. not that christians don't also simply help, but that there seems to be a driving force to also explain the gospel and have a number at the end of the day. i have no doubt of how to answer why i live the way i do or why i help. it's just that this time i am going alone with only God. yet another example of living life outside of arkansas and the known bible belt.

in other news- we just returned from a great Indian Creek climbing trip. it's eric's spring break and we went down to our favorite desert spot outside Moab and met up with a few friends for several days. it was really hard! i haven't climbed in over 2 months and i had a very hard time struggling up the rock faces. but i think it was also one of the most fun trips we've had- so many good friends and good conversations. it didn't matter that i couldn't climb, it only mattered that i had friendship to offer.


Eric and I playing with headlamps and open shutters


me on a climb called Spaghetti Western, 5.11


the group trying to catch some shade- it was hot already down there!


Liz and I at the belay


Katie and I enjoying our turkey burgers after climbing


Tracy and I with a desert feature called Six Shooter Peak in the background


Example of a splitter hand crack in Indian Creek. Mark leading Pente, 5.11

the winter boots gave me blisters

winter boots

alright, i've had it with wet feet, and snow drifts up to my knees. i've had it with slushy parking lots and my really lame, baby pink, rubberized kid's on-sale north face boots. i picked up an extra shift this week and guess what i'm using that money for? WINTER BOOTS! i've been on a quest for the past, oh month, looking for attractive, cheap-er/ish boots that i can wear through all our wetness and still look good with jeans and skirts. you wouldn't believe how hard that is. and why in the world have i not owned winter boots before now? what did i do in the past? i am really baffled (that's a good word, makes me think of waffles-i must be hungry). zappos.com and i have become quite close. if anyone is interested in any particular boot on that website i bet i can tell you what page it is on and how much it is. you may even get free overnight delivery!

i am a particular fan of Camper shoes. they originated in Spain, and that's where i discovered them and fell in love in 2003. i stumbled into a camper store in spain and thought they were the coolest shoes ever. i didn't know that anyone else knew anything about them(that they have the potential to be as big as Uggs- heaven forbid). but then i thought that i discovered Coldplay too. i was just listening to what i thought was a way ocean band(thank you gennie!) aka- a band that nobody knows about really, and i really liked them. i even first listened to them on a bus in london. theni found out they did international tours and everyone and their mom knows who coldplay is -duh polly! anyway, more and more ppl actually know what camper brand shoes are. they make really cute shoes-mismatched on purpose. i love 'em. well, zappos sells campers. there, now you know weveryone knows about them. but i found a pair of campers in an outlet store in salt lake- i couldn't believe my eyes! campers, in salt lake city? we ARE hot! and i have a friend here who owns a pair (lacy, i love your shoes- we can almost be twins now!) i looked and looked for affordable cute winter boots and coudln't find them anywhere online. i finally broke down and bought this pair from the outlet store (sundance outlet-whoever heard of the store sundance??!) i now am the proud owner of a pair of cute, if not really affordable, winter boots.

sometimes, you just need to spend money.

yeah, that'll take me far in life.

watch out eric!

back by popular demand

alright, i know everyone thinks they have a cute dog/puppy. and they probably do. but so do i!! :)





PILSNER THE AIREDALE!!!





i am a little obsessed with his ears. airedales are supposed to have really cute, floppy ears- like the way pilsner's ears are in the first picture. the second picture is what he does with his ears most of the time. one is correct and the other is 'flying' away. i always try to correct it with my hands every time i pet him and he hates it. i even thought about super glueing his ears so they would stand up straight. i hope it's just a teething thing and they will both stand up correctly in the end. he is about 4 and a half months at this point and quite the handful. he is 90% house trained, but we still have to watch him. sometimes eric and i ask each other why we wanted a dog? i guess a dog is okay, it's the puppy that is too much. next time maybe we'll just adopt a dog. but sometimes, when he is really chill and just likes to lay around, we really like him. and i like that he makes us take walks and it's time to get out and talk to each other, when we aren't yelling at him to 'heel!'. he actually does down-stay and sit-stay quite well, especially when there is a treat involved.....

we have discovered that i am alpha dog. there is always one dog that is the head of the pack, and all the other dogs obey that dog. well, i'm it. i think it's all the obedience t raining i've done with him. eric just plays with him, therefore eric is a playmate ande fellow litter mate. during dinner time, pilsner leaves me cconpletely alone but runs up against eric the whole time wanting to play, or asking him to throw the ball etc. he never touches me. all i have to do is look at him the wrong way and he'll stop doing something wrong. eric is trying to rise in rank and become alpha dog 2 by growling at pilsner's throat every time he does something annoying, but i think secretly pilsner will always see him as a playmate. we are both ready for pilsner to become dog and stop being puppy. looks likewe have a long 9 and a half months ahead of us!!! we love him!

Lindsey- this one's for you!

LINDSEY LYTLE/MARCH!! that was so awesome to hear from you!! i am making this a special post b/c i don't know if you would check the comments section for a reply from me. :) how great that you found my blog. it looked like you don't have a blog though cuz i clicked on your name- or maybe you just didn't have a profile. you are a very brave women, with Drew being gone for so long. i'm sorry to hear about his absence but will look forward to his return with you!

okay, hope this wasn't too weird sending out a post just for one person- i was just pretty excited to hear from you! :)

"in sickeness and in health..."

i returned just last night from visiting my friend Lindsay Porter in colorado.

Lindsay and I on the slopes


i had a blast- except that the night i arrived i started to come down with a horrible sore throat which worked itself over the course of the few days i was there, into a full blown cold. all this, and i was still taking antibiotics from my strep throat just last weekend! poor eric has had his hands full taking care of sick polly ever since we moved to utah. i don't know if it's just getting used to new bugs or working in a hospital or what, but i've never been so sick before!

colorado was perfect! we snowboarded at Breckenridge ski resort on sunday, meeting up with eric's best friend Sam Higby in the afternoon. Sam showed us some really fun places to ride.

that masked pirate is Sam Higby

it was snowing the whole day so we got some actual real powder during the afternoon. i haven't snowboarded in over 2 months and i can tell b/c i haven't been this sore in two months! boarding uses different muscles than skiing does, especially falling and getting back up- you have to use your arms so much more. i was having a hard time opening doors and putting on my coat after sunday. we spent monday in ft collins, where lindsay lives now in the old part of downtown. that's a really cool city with a lot of culture and personality. we would have toured the breweries there, but my sore throat was begging to not be exploited by my brain's desire to taste 'non-utah, real" beer. i am so proud of my friendship with lindsay. we actually haven't lived in the same state since 2001- when we were freshmen in college. we became fast friends during that one year however and have kept up the friendship basically through phone calls and brief visits here and there. it's like something out of a movie, the older we get the better and deeper our friendship gets and the more sure we are of being "friends forever".

traveling is actually exhausting. i have a deep desire to 'travel'- you know, the cool sense of the word. like when you have conversations with people you've just met and you're getting to know them you'll ask, "well what did you do after that job?" and they will say, "i traveled". and you'll think inside, "ooooooo, i want to travel like that- just wherever the wind blows or decides to take me...i wonder if i can take off work, i wonder how much that plane ticket would cost? should i use a lonely planet guide? who would i travel with? what do i want to see the most? is it safe for americans to travel there these days?...." well that sort of travel is cool, fun, discovery, and uncomfortable, eye-opening and an opportunity to grow. traveling within the united states is exhausting! it is still cool, and it is still a growing experience, but it isn't that exotic kind of travel where you've packed your swim suit, travel towel, and warm jacket just in case. i'm exhuasted after traveling twice in the month of february- first to ohio and then to colorado. the airports were tiring, such a feeling of urgency there and people always pushing and shoving to get in lines first. sitting in airports waiting to go home is exhausting, you can only people watch alone for so long. then there's the inside feelings, of anticipation of your up coming trip, or of saying goodbye to family or friends, not knowing when you will see them next. traveling with eric is way better b/c i can voice some of my feelings, or talk about that strange person i just saw. but traveling alone....my sense of adventure is a little tweaked being out there alone. if i had never married i might look at it differently- a time of independence and adventure. but now, no adventure is complete without eric, so traveling alone becomes simply time away from him, and not so adventurous. plus, i was just sick this time. so maybe i was a little skewed, i was really tired and just wanted to relax at home, not in that uncomfortable chair.

i believe our trip to indian creek has been put on hold. utah has received 30+inches of snow in the past week, and the powder is full on. how can we leave that?


after a long day of riding, Lindsay and i took time out to play our snowboards. i wonder if anyone else has ever done that....

Travels and trinkets

For all of you who have posted in the past two months- thanks! i just realized that i had enabled the comment moderator, but had no clue how to use it. i just enabled all the comments so they have finally shown up! i was sorta wondering... i mean, usually someone has something to say!! it was kinda fun though, getting all those comments at once! it felt like i almost had a conversation with some of you!!

it's been a busy february. i haven't gotten out too much due to this nifty brace i have been wearing on my thumb. who knew that sprains take, um, forever to heal? my thumb still hurts and i sprained it at the beginning of january. i wear my brace religiously though and it is healing, just slowly. i will continue to wear it until the beginning of march when we are planning a trip to southern utah (indian creek of course) for a weekend of climbing with our friends katie and mark (and anyone else who wants to come- lacy??!!! pleeeeeeeease!!)

i recently returned from Lima, Ohio where my sister, brother in law and now TWO nephews live, as well as my grandparents. miranda, my sister, had an emergency C section on friday february 9th and my newest nephew, Elliot, was born. i arrived less than 12 hours before she began labor, and it was a good thing. she was scheduled for the operation on monday, but friday morning she began some intense labor that resulted in the C section occuring that afternoon. i had no clue. i mean, aren't laboring women always making it up? :) (j/k to all my friends who have recently labored!!) but it does seem that all too often labor is false- or just not close enough together, or not regular enough. but you have to go into the doctor's b/c what if it is real? it just seems like most of the time they are sent home to rest, relax and let that baby come when he/she wants to. well miranda wasn't faking it. i took her to the hospital and went home with my 2 year old nephew Adrian. we had a grand ole time athome, playing trains, hide n go seek, watching thomas the tank engine. well a few hours later what had happened? miranda had gone into surgery and we hadn't a clue! i got a call in the evening saying, baby elliot was born! everyone was very healthy and the baby was soo beautifully perfect. it was a good thing i had arrived when i did b/c who else would have endlessly pushed that swing for Adrian?!


Miranda, Me and Baby Elliot

my mom arrived saturday evening and sunday afternoon my grandfather went to the ER with his lungs filling up with fluid and heart irregularities. i mean, as if one hospital wasn't enough, now my grandpa was in a different hospital across town fighting for his life! it was very stressful, between taking care of Adrian at home, going to the hospital to see miranda and elliot and then going across tgown to see grandpa. miranda came home on monday and my grandpa started doing better too. he is still in the hospital but it looks like he will pull through.

i was supposed to leave on wednesday and tuesday morning the blizzard of the century started in ohio and chicago- both of the places i had to fly out of. it snowed alllll day. that's more snow that even utah has gotten in the entire month (we have a pathetic excuse of a snow base here this year) i really started to worry as all the flights from ohio and chicago started to get cancelled. and we were stuck inside all day from the blowing wind and snow which just adds to the pent up feeling. wednesday mroning as beautiful and clear and the flights began resuming, mostly. Thank God my flights were all actually on time(which is awesome, chicago airport seems to always always always be delayed for some reason). i arrived home wedneday night and started work the next morning.

friday afternoon i started to get that tickle in the back of your throat that means a cold is coming. great a cold- after all that i've been through this week? friday evening was spent in the hot tub with our friends katie and mark and mark's roomate's blind, deaf husky named Mookie. i had the worst time sleeping b/c every time i swallowed it woke me up from pain. i took a look at my tonsils saturday morning and was horrified at the site. we went to an ugent care clinic and lo' and behold i have strep throat. i've never had strep throat before. i have gotten more maladies and horrible diseases in the last year and a half in utah than my entire life in arkansas. they grow 'em mean here i guess. anyway, i was stuck in the bed all day yesterday and today and have started my antibiotics. if you havne't had strep throat you are lucky. it is extremely painful and uncomfortable and your tonsils look like some sort of alien life form. it is a 3 day weekend too b/c of presidents day, the slopes have a little bit of fresh snow on them and it's completely clear and blue out and what am i doing??? in bed feeling horrible. eric and i were supposed to go touring, or at least to the resort or at least on a long snowshoe with Pilsner or something!!! i was so looking forward to it after being gone for a week and working on either end.

i am leaving again this next saturday for Ft, Collins, Colorado to visit my dear friend Lindsay Porter for 4 days. i am really lookingn forward to it as i haven't seen her in a year and a half. Ft collins is an extremely cool town if you've never been there, and a ton of breweries are located there ! :) (by the way, try to say the word "breweries" out loud, it's a very awkward word)

This week eric and i ( and a bunch of our friends ) are going to see the Banff Film Festival (it's here in salt lake, not in banff) but it is an independent outdoor film festival. we went last year and it is extremely fun! anybody can enter, but usually the people are experienced and put together great films. they can be any length and be about anything- as long as it is outdoor-ish. last year we saw a couple climbing films, kayaking films, base jumping and para-gliding films, and a film about two french guys living in a small village and how their life basically hasn't changed at all with the times. so you never know what you are going to get, but it's always great. it runs for two nights and i can't wait to view the films!

before all of this crazy stuff in february started a bunch of girl friends and i drove down south about an hour and a half to my favorite natural hot springs called Diamond Fork. they are incredible, and the girls i went with have become some of my best friends. it was pilsner's first experience with snow hiking too. we went on a day when the snow was still everywhere around and the springs were steaming- i just love this place!



Diamond Fork Hot Springs. you can just see the waterfall above tracy's head- the springs are beautiful. from left to right: me, tracy, cassie, lacy


alright, so this isn't quite as long as my posts used to be, and i used the enter key so no one can get upset with me! :) i was asking eric the other day how ever did i used to post so long? i'm not sure what i used to write about, but i think i have significantly improved.

on my plane flights to and from ohio i read the book, Life of Pi. it is a quick and good read if anyone is looking for an entertaining book.

FYI- if any of you are looking for really good, easy, and fairly quick recipes for dinners my sister and i keep a recipe blog where we post our menus and good recipes we've found. if i don't know what to make some night i can just get on there and find some good stuff. just wanted to help all those other cooks and families out there. it is linked off my main blog site as "recipes and more" or it is frickenscookin.blogspot.com

alright, i'm out.

a generous orthodoxy

the small group that i meet with every wednesday (composed of 8 people) began reading a book this week. a book- how boring is that right? imean, every small group reads a book, does a study, talks about things that normally don't really show the inner thoughts and desires, hopes of the person reading the book. normally book studies are polite, easy, PR, correct and boring. every one agrees, nods politely, may go home and think, "so n so was so out in left field tonight, they are weird" or they may go home and not think about it at all. they showed up to a study, isn't that enough?

for many years now i have deeply desired a study/group that would open my heart, speak to my deepest desires, and bring forth that love and joy of life that i so desperately long for. but in this quest, i have basically forgotten my mind. what about the fundamental issues that make me a christian, or not one? how is my mind developing over the past years? what about the mental connection to christianity?

the book : a Generous orthodoxy by Brian McLaren. i've only read the first chapter and i am deeply and mentally involved. the cover of the book heralds the following chapters to explain, "why i am a missional, evangelical, post/protestant, liberal/conservative, mystical/poetic, biblical, charismatic/contemplative, fundamentalist/calvinist, anabaptist/anglican, methodist, catholic, green, incarnational, depressed-yet-hopeful, emergent, unfinished christian".

this is intriguing enough. i feel that i am finally getting down to the bones of my religion. ami a fundamentalist? am i liberal? can i be both? am i conservative? i certainly was raised mostly so. yet, what gives me the biggest picture of christ? and modern daychristians- what about them. what are they exactly? am i one of them? do i actutally live out my religion? or is it just nice. hmmm.

somewhere in chapter one McLaren talks about an old friend telling him this, "Scratch the paint of a liberal, and you'll find an alienated fundamentalist underneath". perhaps this is what i identify with most.

you know how everyonce in a while ch ristians will get around to talking about why modern day miracles don't happen? here is McLaren's view point on that. i agree.
"while i believe that actual miralces ca and do happen(though i notice they sometimes create nearly as many problems as they solve, and so i see why they aren't given "on demand"), i am sympathetic wqith those who blieve otherwise, and i applaud their desire to live out the meaning of the miracle stories even when they don't believe the stories really happened as written. (i find it harder to be sympathetic with those who take pride in believing the miracles really happened but dont' seek to live out their meaning)."

i fall into that latter category- i believe these miracles literally took place, yet do not live my life as though their meaning was real.

needless to say, i am very excited about this book, about the food for thought it has already given me,a nd to see what else this man has to say. he is just a man, htis book is only his thoughts, not even exactly scrpture based. as with all chrsitian books you must look back to the source to fully examine your heart and mind- the bible. i would recommend ths book to anyone however- it will make you at the very least think about the way you live and why.

10 Uses of the Thumb

1. blow drying your hair
2. typing
3. cutting chicken for dinner
4. peeling a kiwi
5. holding your dog's leash
6. opening doors
7. brushing your teeth
8. pushing buttons on your cell phone
9. lighting a candle
10. holding a dad gum ski pole


so why the 10 uses of a thumb? b/c my thumb is currently sprained, andyou'd never know how much you use a thumb until you don't have one! i was so excited this weekend to start using my new christmas telemark skis. telemark skiing is where your heel is free, kinda like cross country skiing but you are going downhill. it takes a special kind of turn down the hill, gives your quad muscles a burn you never even got on 16,000 steps of the stair master, and is super duper fun! eric has been tele skiing since last year when i attempted snowboarding. i never truly enjoyed snowboarding, but did it b/c my knees are so bad (a tightened IT band and tight patellar-femoral tendon). i figured out some Physical ntherapy exercises to do to help my bknees, took a free tele lesson, and got hooked for life! i used some christmas money bto purchase boots and skis and got out this weekend. it was such a blast. but i had to give my quads a rest every5 turns or so b/c they were getting such a work out. it's like doing leg presses down the hill! anyway, i took a lousy little fall and forgot all about poles (snowboarderrs don't use poles!) and the pole pushed my bthumb all the wayb ack, now the entire right side of myb right hand is swollen and myb thumb is taped with a popsicle stick and tape, which also hits the 'b' key every btime i reach for a letter on the top row. so please disregard the 'b's in front of other letters. it hurts like a mother too! i never knew sprains could hurt so badly! i am kinda bummed b/c this means no climbing and no yoga and probably no skiing for a little while. i don't know how long these things take to heal, i'll have to ask one of the ortho residents i work with tomorrow. writing is a challenge though, as is typing. however, skiing is still way more fun than snowboarding! i am so excited to own skis. i can't believe i own skis. i mean, i feel like i actually live here now!!! :)

pilsner is doing great- last night he slept all night until 8:30 am!! how great is that? it's been freezing, no colder than that, here. the low in park cityb (where we ski) last night as -14. yep, NEGATIVE 14!! the high on the ski mountain yesterday was 6.buuurrrrrr!! i was pretty cold! but in salt lake the highs have been around 15 too, so pilsner doesn't like to go outside. he peed on the mat right outside the door the other night so he wouldn't have to step on the snow. that's kinda annoying. puppies are hard work! they have so much energy, and take constant watching. he knows now that he is supposed to pee when we take him out, but he doesn't knwo that he isn't supposed to pee inside. it'll come. he's 12 weeks this wednesday. i am becoming attached, he's so darn cute!

we've been trying a new church down in salt lake (instead of park city) our friends tyler and alyssa go to this church, called Capital- church in the city. it's got a satruday bevening jazz service we've gone to twice, kinda a coffee bar/jazz worship with a message thing. it was great. plus, it's saturday bnight which means sundayb feels like a whole another day bto the weekend and it's laid back. i am excited about this service. in the s ummer it will be very nice to go to church in slat lake instaead of driving up the hill to park city. it's been reallyb hard finding a church in salt lake. combing from the grove in fayetteville which we really liked almost everything about- it's hard to find a church and not compare. i htink we've finally stopped comparing churches to the grove and are trying to just find soenmthing that fits for us now. capital seems like a good one to give a try. we've meet the pastor and associate pastor. i think it's impressive when a pastor of a church will come and meet you personally bb/c he's noticed a new face int eh crowd. that means a lot to us, after having gone to so many churches and not met anyone. having the pastor connect with you and have a chat means you are that much more liekly bto come back b/c yo've met someone. it's a good idea.

Artists recently added to my iPod

Clap Your Hands and Say Yeah
Devotchka
Gillian Welch
Mason Jennings
Patty Griffin
Sufjan Stevens
The Wailin' Jennys

New Years Events 2007

Katie and Alex (Alyssa's Baby boy), Alyssa, Me, and Liz at New Year's Sushi Party

Bridget and i enjoying that sushi!

Katie and i are at the top of Summit Park in Park city

Garrett and Mark rolling the sushi at our new years party

Lacy, Annie and Sahale, Bridget and me at new years

Our friends Tyler and Alyssa and i touring up Summit Park New years Eve

Eric and i in Summit park New years eve



The past few days have gone by very quickly with the advent of pilsner, seeing friends, touring in the backcountry, and trying to sleep somewhere in there. I had the best new years i've ever had with a bunch of well loved and enjoyed friends here in Salt lake. What a difference a year can make! New years eve we spent with our good friends Tyler and Alyssa touring in Summit Park near Park City. They recently had a baby (6 wks!) and Alyssa was already out pushing herself up the hillside. New Years Eve was spent at our house rolling Sushi. Just about everyone dear to me in Salt Lake was there which made for a very wonderful evening. Today (new years) Lacy and i are touring up Little cottonwood canyon- hopefully it will become a tradition! I've had plenty of time to be out in the snow and powder of utah, however i am still learning how to keep my snowboard above the powder. it is much more like surfing than it is skiing or anything else. i usually fall a lot and it takes a lot of effort to get out of the 3 foot powder hole i create by falling. i am learning however. this will hopefully be the last season i am snowboarding though as i want to buy a telemark set up. i've never truly enjoyed snowboarding, it was just easiest on my knees. but next year i am going for the ultimate backcountry set up by using a telemark (free heel) ski. eric already skis this way, and i am looking forward to it.

i hope you all have a wonderful New Year- it's a new beginning!

Our Puppy Pilsner

well we did it! today we woke up at 2:30 (ark time), left little rock, flew to st louis, and arrived in salt lake to drive an hour and pick up our airedale puppy. His name is Pilsner and he is adorable!! i've read so many books on raising a puppy, but now that he is actually here i don't know what to do with him! after he looked around the house and got sleepy we decided we would introduce him to his crate. he ate his supper inside the crate and both eric and i were trying to get him to come up the stairs on his own to go outside to 'do his business' when he squatted right there. i was farther away and cuoldn't see but all eric did was say, "uh oh". i said "uh oh? uh oh? UH OH??!! ERIC you can't just stand there and say uh oh you have to grab him and stop it!!!" it was so classic!!! puppy just ate and needed to pee. owners have NO CLUE. anyway, accidents will happen, even to us perfectionists who own dogs. he is going to be a real joy i think, and i am looking forward to the relationship i will develop with him.

i can't figure out how to change these pictures around so they'll be right side up. eric's at the gym climbing so my tech guy was unavailable. :)

thanksgiving pictures

These are some pictures from our thanksgiving climbing trip. they are all out of order and backwards b/c i can't quite figure out blogger's picture upload-er just yet.

Birchler- this one's for you! katie was trying to take a picture of our bivi(i thinki...), but i was also trying to go the bathroom at the same time. It was an experience!

This is the line that we climbed. About 800 feet.


Walking back to the car after the 3 days of climbing.


Mark, Katie, Eric, and i at the top of the climb!!


Zion Canyon, the road runs down this narrow water and wind carved geological wonder. the people in the cars would lean out and yell at us things like, "don't fall". that really helped.


It's a long way down! this is the view to the bottom of the canyon from our overnight ledge (bivi ledge in climbing lingo)


Me leading the first pitch off of the bivi ledge.

Katie, Eric and I at a belay anchor about 200 feet up


Katie and I waking up after a night of sleeping on the port-a-ledge


Me in the early morning, Angel's landing in the background. I look tired. it was a long night b/c i was in the middle of a nasty cold.


Jugging up our fixed lines early on Day 2. "jugging up a fixed line" means, using rope clamps, we haul ourselves up a rope we attached to an anchor the day before. you can see a second group here starting the same climb we are doing.

This is a view of Zion Canyon from our over night ledge at pitch 5- around 600 ft.

Me and Eric at a belay anchor- Angel's Landing is in the background.

First move off the ground- a hook placement! yikes!


I just fell! don't worry mom, the rope caught me!


Mark, Katie, and I before starting Touchstone, Zion Nat'l Park


Katie and I at a belay- you can barely see the scrub bushes at dots in the distance.

Thanksgiving at 453 ft

well, we did it! we spent thanksgiving hanging from a red sandstone wall in Zion Nat'l Park. it was fun! the trip was actually fantastic and un-eventful as you would want a trip like this to be. we had perfect weather (lows in the 20's at night, highs in the 50's during the day) clear, blue skies, and lots of good fellowship between eric, mark, katie and i. pictures will soonfollow. the only thing that wasn't so great for me was a terrible cold i started coming down with on wednesday. sleeping in that cold weather till sunday morning didn't help at all. it progressively got worse as the days passed. i was so weak on saturday that i had to come back down from the pitch i was trying to lead. we spent friday night on the wall at the top of pitch five (around 500 ft up). katie and i slept on the port-a-ledge and eric and mark bivied on the small ledge. the whole thing was such an experience. i'm glad i did it. do i want to do it again? not for another year at least! i think it would be a fun once a year type thing, but it was exhausting. and everything was colored by my cold, which made me weak, tired, and fuzzy-headed. but we all made it up the wall, had lots of tourists taking our pictures and yelling out the windows of their cars, 'don't fall!' as they drove by.

using the bathroom was...interesting! i am sure that my hind side has made an appearance in at least 20 tourist's thanksgiving photos. seriously, they just stand by their car hundreds of feet down and use binoculars or whatever to stare up at the ppl climbing the walls. i felt like an animal in a pet zoo or something. "wow, look at that exotic climber- that one's got a red helmet!". i basically had to moon the world to use the bathroom. not that bad actually.

the wall was just very mentally tiring. everything had to always be clipped in somewhere. and you couldn't ever just let your guard down b/c what if you dropped the lid that goes to the water bottle? and where are your anchors? did anyone move my carabiner? and i need another carabiner to clip in my gloves....on and on. i always wanted to aid climb to learn about gear, anchors, ledges, etc. well i am well on my way to learning that. mark did a fantastic job of basically guiding us up this wall and being patient with all the newbys. we didn't have a clue. really. and no one got hurt or anything. i'm glad i spent my thanksgiving doing something energetic. many times after that huge thanksgiving meal i feel ancy b/c i have sat inside all day and then consumed about 2000 calories. it felt good to actually be needing food on this climb.

we were all glad to be back down on the ground. you can just walk around like a normal person and not worry about falling anywhere. and i can just go use the bathroom like normal! and i dont' have to keep track of every article of my own clothing. i can put soemthing down and walk away. we were just mentally ready to be down on the ground. and some ppl can do this type of climbing for days on end. we only spent one night! saturday evening we poached a hot tub in springville (the itty bitty town outside zion with all the toursity things) mark figured out that all you have to do is walk up outside the hot tub and pretend that y ou had forgot the code and someone inside will come open the door for you. it worked. some part of me still felt like a college kid trying to get something for nothing. here i ama professional nurse- i have a real job now for crying out loud, and i am still trying to find ways to get into hot tubs that i have no business being in for free. anyway, the hot water really felt good. i would do it again in a heartbeat :)

we were welcomed back to winter here in SLC with a foot of snow on the groun monday evening. it is jsut beautiful here now. the resorts are up and running and we are planning on making our debu this weekend. i had to call in sick on tuesday to get over this dang cold. it really kinda put me on the side line. i tried to pretend like it wasn't happening b/c, well, i didn't have a choice. i was hangin in my harness 500 ft up. i couldn't exactly hydrate and take benadryl. it took me a few days to bounce back and i amstill not over it yet.

this weekend is also tree getting weekend. and boy am i excited! i got out all the christmas decorations, bought eric's christmas present, and in general got pretty psyched on christmas. a tradition that my family always did and that i have carried over into my family with eric is advent. every evening you gather around the garland of 4 candles and read a scripture and a devotional about the birth of christ. the four candles all stand for something different to reflect the season. then you take a candle and sing a christmas carol on yoru way to bed. i love doing this b/c it makes you stop and think about the season, plus as a child i always played with the wax while mom tried to relate to us on a spiritual level. it didn't always work. but now that i am the instigator i can't wait to do advent.

our good friends josh and annie just delivered their baby yesterday. a sweet healthy baby girl named Sahale. we are going up to their cabin this weekend to see her.

work's been good this past month. we are having a catered christmas party with an open bar and dancing next weekend. i'm like, wow, there are actually cool employee christmas parties??! i am so glad i have come to work at the ortho surgery center and have the time off that i do. eric and i are really looking forward to being with his parents over the holiday.

monday morning we picked out our little dog!!! i am pretty dang excited. i've got just about everything we could need for the puppy at our house and set up. by the looks of it we already have a dog. but i have some pretty firm beliefs about dogs being just dogs. not children. not uber special. just a dog. there's a place for the dog and some ppl have carred their dog waaaay over into human-dom. he is just a little puppy right now and we will be bringing him home december 29.

if anybody ever needs any outdoor gear made by Patagonia, just let eric and i know. the next big sale is in february but we can be on the look out for you. extra good deals....almost all my christmas presents this year are from that brand. but who wouldn't want something made by them?!

so I Aid Climb...

I am discovering a new kind of climbing. it is called aid climbing and invovles using gear to pull yourself up a wall instead of 'free climbing' which invovles your body- using arms and legs to work your way up a wall. Aid climbing typically means you will be getting very high off the ground. most climbers in yosemite are aid climbing. you have to aid climb rock that is just way too hard for the average (not super human) climber to free climb. when you look at a chunk of rock and it just looks impossible to climb using fingers, toes, etc you can probably get to the top by aiding. you place protective gear in a crack, connect a sort of ladder to that piece of gear and step up the ladder with all your weight. place another piece, move your ladder, etc. it sounds almost easy, until you try it. i 'aided' a 100ft pitch this last week and by the top of it my brain was absolutely frazzled. it was just being 'on' for almost 2 hours- as in my brain was working, thinking, choosing, deciding, doubting, and guessing for 2 hours straight. aid climbing is slow, but it gets you high. aid climbers are the ones that sleep on port-a-ledges- those tarp looking things that people sleep on 1000 ft off the ground. it was fun though- it is systematic, detailed, and interesting. most importantly, it makes you very familiar with the protection we climbers use while free climbing. you learn very quickly which kind of gear is 'good' and which kind will probably pop out of the rock if youf all on it.

why all this about aid climbing?

because we are going to climb a big wall in zion nat'l park over thanksgiving. the wall will be around 1000 ft high, and we will be spending the night somewhere around 600 ft. eric, mark, katie and i are all going and we are pretty excited. mark and i have been practising more than eric and katie b/c we have more time off so we will probably lead more of the routes. the people who follow the leader must 'jug' up the rope- using metal devices called ascenders they slide themselves up a fixed rope. it will be epic. it will be challenging. it will be fun!!!


Thursdays are my favorite day. we meet with several other couples every thursday to share a meal and just talk. if it's about God so much the better. but mostly we are all getting to know each other. mark and lauren, tabetha and brian, garrett and bridget, eric and i. last night we took katie with us too. we didnt' mean for it to only be couples, it's just who we knew at the time. i feel so blessed to have this growing group of friends. last night we all told how we met/dated/got married and we just laughed and laughed. it was so much fun. i felt like i had a lot of community. i look forward to thursday evenings so much now.

this saturday we are going to attempt a backcountry ski run. i say 'attempt' b/c we only have moderate snow right now and i'm not sure we will find enough out there. but it'll be fun. and (i can't believe i am going to say this) we may actually watch an arkansas football game. brian and tabetha are from tennessee and they invited us up to park city for the arkansa/tennessee game. mostly we want to go just to drink some beer, eat chips and salsa, and laugh a lot. i could care less what we are watching. we are even attempting to drag our northwestern friends garret and bridget along with us (and you KNOW they don't care!).

eric and i now have memberships at a climbing gym. i've gone a few days so far and can only last about 1 hour. my hands get torn apart and i have been sore for days now. it's a good sore though.

work has been kinda hard this week. i haven't been able to get all my hours (again) and that creates a certain amount of stress. so to make up the time i have been helping in the pre-op section, making home phone calls to review health histories with patients, doing sort of glorified secretary duties. that is hard for me when i feel trained to do such a different job.

today is friday. hurray! i am looking forward to this weekend, the friends we will hang out with, and the mountains we will enjoy. salt lake is so pretty right now with the snow capped mountains and the blue skies. don't you all want to come visit?! :)

October Pics

Josh and I had a contest to see whose hair was greasier by the end of the trip. It's a close call.



Sam and I digging out the clay road with an ice tool and a plastic avalanche shovel




Leading Dr. Carl 5.10 Indian Creek, Utah

It's been a while

wow, the month of october has flown by. it's been a really busy month for Eric and I. so for a quick (hopefully) update:

it started out with Indian Creek. what a fiasco! for a full account you can read eric's blog, but i'll give a quick rendition. (i should hopefully post some pics a little later) we arrived late wednesday night and got in a few decent climbs on thursday during the day, depsite the sprinkles of rain and dark clouds. however, the rain started sometime that night and continued for the next 24 hours. we got the bright idea friday morning to go into moab for breakfast since we obviously couldn't climb. well, moab's main street flooded while we were in the coffee shop and we started actually thinking for the first time and decided that we might need to get back to camp to see if it was floating or not. somehow we crossed indian creek. but our subaru stalled out half way across, water started flooding in eric's driver's door, and the car started to be swept sideways. the car restarted and surged through the river...then we really started to worry. we still had one more creek to cross to get to our campsite. when we crossed it two days earlier it has been maybe ankle deep and no problem. by the time we arrived however it was at least 5 feet high. sam waded across and brought us the bad news: our camp was literally floating in a pool or water. indian creek is at the bottom of the riverbed, and all streams converge there. there were waterfalls off of every climbinb buttress around and more rain just kept coming. i think that the record was set that day: 1.6 inches. that is moab's YEARLY precipitation in exactly ONE day. it was total flash flood scene. and in the desert with the hard red clay, nothing soaks in, it just all runs off and down. down to indian creek. down to our tents. the boys decided to cross the river (and keep me on the dry side to take video and pictures and stay warm) and get a few dsupplies for going back into moab to sleep in a hostel. (obviously we still werne't thinking- cross the creek that nearly did us in again?! don't ask what we were doing....) anyway, they got some sleeping bags, pasta, spaghetti noodles, and some water. sam's car is stuck on the other side of the uncrossable river with the rest of our gear. we pile back into the subaru, come to indian creek and what do you know- it's risen about 3 feet in the 1 hour we were gone. we can't cross. we are stuck on an island between two creeks, with all our gear in a puddle on the wrong side. it was a long night. a very long night. we made spaghetti on the one stove and ate it with theo nly utensils the boys thought to grab: a spatula, one fork, and thankfully the wendy's plastic spoon i had saved in the glove box from our ride down. sam and josh slept in the back seat (which we couldn't lay down the back seat b/c of the gear piled in the back and, did i forget to mention? it's STILL raining...) and eric slept with the steering wheel in his lap. i was in the front seat. it was such a long night. my hips and knees ached like i needed to have bilateral replacements on everything, and at onepoint i woke up b/c the stench from someone's fart was so bad i coudnl't breathe. but i also coudln't open the window b/c of the rain.. you get the idea. our car still has a funk smell to it. we woke up the next morning to find the second creek had deposited about 35 feet of silt, clay, cow pooh, and muck on either side of the creek. still inpassible, although the water has lowered considerably. we all crossed (sam gave me a piggy back b/c it was so cold - he had hypothermia from the day before it was so cold) and we made a decent breakfast and started the process of waiting. the water finally lowered to a crossable level, but the muck/mud/pooh mess was still inpassable. we had one entrenching tool found at the campsite and sam's ice tool with which we began to dig out the road. if we dug deep enough we could get to gravelly dirt and it would be solid enough to get sam's car over the stream. another dutch climber offered us his two plastic avelanche shovels. and so begant he digging. about 8 hours of digging. with tiny shovels and an ice tool. it was hilarious. the boys were down to their underwear to stay cleaner andwe took turns telling our stories. so it was good company and conversation after all. we spent that night at our campsite with mostly dry gear and a good dinner at least. the next morning the sun was shining and sam made it over the river. we still had indian creek to cross however. and sam's check engine light came on. geez, one more thing. indian creek was in a similar mess, but other bored climbers had dug a ramp into and out of the creek. our subaru just barely made it down the ramp and up the other side. sam's car got stuck. so josh eric and i got behind the car and started shoving with all we had. his car finally broke through and made it out. so, the only sunny bright day was sunday, and we ere exhausted and worried abuut sam's car and getting home. we just left. our entire trip consisted of 3 climbs and then a lot of mud. wow. i have a couple good pics i'll put up when i amposting from my home computer. josh had the best attitude about it. he said that he'd been on enough 'climbing' trips that turn into these sorts of epics and that he didn't go on trips to climb anymore. he went for the adventure. and an adventure it was. josh kept us all in good spirits, and of course seeing our friend sam was delightful as always. it turned out to be pretty fun in the end after all, and i'm still glad we went. i've been trying to get a crew togehter to go back to indian creek ever since, but haven't been able to find ppl with the time off. we left jsut in time i heard though, b/c the next monday and tuesday it flash flooded again. a few people were killed this october in southern utah, on that weekend and on a nother one due to the uncommon amount of rainfall. it's been a very wet fall and wet falls can be fatal in the desert. nobody expects the flash flood to occur in october. all the narrow slot canyons in southern utah, and then the lower elevations such as indian creek and canyonlands make for very dangerous places to be in rainy weather. we learned something about the rain though- next time we'll know better!

i worked the next 3 days after indian creek and then that saturday we were out climbing in little cottonwwood canyon with a couple of friends. well, there was a team of 3 people ahead of us on a climb we really wanted to do. we should have just left the area and found another place to climb, but we were all content waiting and talking. eventually we started talking to the 3 climbers ahead of us and came to discover they were from vancouver, british colombia. i asked them where they were staying b/c there isn't good camping around our canyons. they were paying to camp in a KOA on the shady side of town right next to the train tracks. they said it was pretty rough. well, i just went ahead and offered our house to them. they were climbers. from canada. and seemed very decent. and had a bad place to camp. we have a great little house (although a very awkward bathroom accessed only off the master bedroom) and God blessed us with it, we have a little extra bedroom....it only made sense. so sunday evening, Team Canada came to stay! it was so much fun. they were a great group of people! unfortunately for them, it rained the next 3 days and they didn't get to climb again. two of them (guy and girl) were on a 7 week road trip to climb, and one of their friends had just come down the salt lake for a few days to climb with them. i hung out with them during the days b/c i didn't have to work, and we stayed up late every evening talking. they were very liberal, which was really fun to talk about and hear their thoughts and feelings about the united states. Derreck, Bruce, and Gabby. we called them Team Canada. they stayed until thursdaymorning and then headed to el paso, TX to climb in hueco tanks. they even left us some real canadian maple syrup for letting them stay with us. i had such a good time with them- although every one who stays with us feels bad about going to the bathroom int he middle of the night b/c you have to walk by our bed... :) i think they really appreciated the house too b/c camping int he rain (as i should know!) is no fun. vancouver is relatively close to a world class climbing area in B.C. called Squamish and they offered their houses to us in return. eric and i are seriously thinking of a road trip up there this summer. it seems that God would have us opening our house to many people. we've been married a little over a year and already we have had manymany people stay with us. we are only too happyto open our house to anyone who needs a place to stay/live for a while!

after Team Canada left, it was work for a little bit. then the next saturday we went to the Black Diamond Gear Swap. Black diamond is an excellent manufacturer of outdoor gear- everything from skies, to bindings, to climbing gear to gloves. they make it all and it is very expensive. well twice a year they open their parking lot to any and all and people bring things to swap and sell. i even saw a guy trying to sell his super beat up old truck with a camper on it for $2,000 cash. mostly it is gear though. eric helped a cuople of our good friends here get set up with telemark skies. we bought a couple of things at the swap for exgtremely good prices. i got a pair of beat up climbing shoes to use int he gym for 10$. we also got a rain shelter for $50- normally a $180 dollar item. the atmosphere was delicious. so many down puffy jackets, outdoorsy people, and dogs.... along with a few of the super hot to trot snow bunnies in UGG boots from park city. butmostly it was dirtbag climbers and skiers. it was so much fun. we hung out in a cafe for hours afterwards talking with good friends.

that evening i decided it would be good to seam seal the seams on our new tent. but i used my hands with no gloves. and loe and behold my fingers got stuck together. so eric and i piled into the car and ran to lowes. i sneakily snuck down the chemical/handwashing isle trying all the different cleansers to figure out which one would work. the whole process took quite some time and my fingers were getting really nasty with all the glue and whatnot that i was putting on it. nothing worked! not even washing my hands with acetone! finally i found some pumice soap that got the stuff off,a lthough i am still pulling the sticky glue out of my fingernails.

and lastly the big news is..... we are getting a puppy!! it was a very long process and lots of talking and considering has gone into it. i won't go into it on my blog b/c it would just take toolong. but eric and i have thought about it a TON. it's a lifestyle change for sure. and especially the first year will be harder due to it being a puppy. but after that it should work out fairly well. i will certainly enjoy the company on the days where i can't find anyone to climb and eric is gone all day. plus, we've had at least 5 people say they will dog watch for us when we go out of town. i am extremely happy about this, while eric is only moderately happy. but he's also been really stressed out this week with work and he only wants a husky dog which we can't really provide for at this stage in our lives. huskies require an immense maount of work, walking, and space. we only have a small fenced back yard and have to be away from the house for too long for a dog like a husky to work. so we are getting an airdale. if i was savy at all with computers (if i only had eric's little pinky worth amount of computer saviness i 'd be better off) i'd attach a cool picutre of an airedale right here. but as it is you'll have to google images airedale terrier. they are really cute, about 50 lbs. i grew up with airedales and then we got wirefox terriers later on. they are a similar dog, airedales are just bigger. we are still coming up with the name. one of the good things about an airedale is there is a breeder in salt lake city and we will be pikcing up our puppy straight from them on decebmer 29th- the day we fly back from arkansas for christmas. i am so happy about this! the puppy stage will be trying for sure, ia m reading several books on raising a puppy now. but the dog stage will be wonderful. and i have lots of plans for obedience training etc. i'd like to be able tot ake the dog climbing with me, and have him stick around the climb where i am at, not run away or bother other people and avoid the climbing gear.

eric has been having a pretty hard time with school recently. i think every semester has a real low point and eric is there right now. he's looked pretty stressed out recently and it hasn't helped that so much has gone on during the month of october. it seems that a lot of days i am goign out to play or spend time with my friends and he has to go to work. so he has to watch us all drive away smiling while he heads to the lab with a heavy head. plus added stressors of getting things accomplished in the lab.

we had a get together with our new friends mark and lauren kimble last night. we went on a blind date with them (we got emails from jordan greenwald) and they turned out to be just great. lauren works for an environmental agency and mark works for Scott (bikes, ski goggles, etc) anyway, we've had dinner with them a few times and last night we got together with another couple from park city (but really from tennessee). we also invited our brand new friends (as of yesterday ) brdiget and garrett grove. we met bridget and garrett through josh and annie (as in josh that went to the indian creek fiasco with us) they just moved here from washington and i spent all day with them yesterday trying to find a decent apartment in salt lake. i am excited that they will be living in salt lake and not park city (as the rest of oru community lives in park city). they are, of course, outdoorsy people and i know we will get along just great. we had a good time yesterday. it seems that our community has really grown during the month of october as well. i've gone climbing witha girl named Katie. i met her through mark and i think katie is fantastic. i've also climbed with Lacy- another nurse working in the pediatric ED. Lacy is also friends with Tracy, whom i have hung out with a bit more and absolutely love as well. isn't this amazing? 3 girls i have found climbing.... i am so excited about this!

work has been very stressful for me as well this october. we had one man code and pass away in our hallway that first week, last week i had a very difficult patient to deal with and try to set up some home health for, and this week is the same. october feels like it's lasted about 5 months. but here we are on the verge of november. and basically that means holidays. i do love this time of year. when i am in october the sound of 'june' just feels icky in my mouth. it is certainly crisp here, and the snow has fallen. we are predicted to open our resort on november 18th. we have season passes again this year, only to a different resort up in park city.

salt lake seems friendlier than ever. at least, i have met many people with whom i can spend the time with at different times. there are still days when i am off in the middle of the week and no one else is off. i spend that day alone. that is why i am excited about a dog for those days. the weekends are marvelous now that i am off all the time. i've gotten to spend some more time with eric- wich makes for some interesting times. on saturdays we can get so excited about our time off together that we will neglect important chores (taking care of cars, house, etc) to spend time together. or we will get to excited to do so many things that we try to do too much or else can't decide what to do at all. and then of course eric willa lways have the nagging thing in the back of his mind saying, 'go work in the lab...'.

we have also purchased this fall backcountry skiing gear. we are fully equipped to hike up any hill we fancy and ride back down. of course we lack the knowledge to escape avalanches, but that will come with a couple of classes and some time int he backcountry. cassie and i have madea goal to backcountry tour at least once a week this winter. eric and i will probably be out there ever saturday it isn't dumping snow (when it dumps the risk of avalanches is highly increased b/c of the loose powder..but a couple days after the dump...ahhhhh powder. )

well, this is a throw back to the old polly-length posts. but so much has happened recently- both good things and hard. we are officially coming back to arkansas for christmas- december 24-29th. we'd love to see anyone we can...

the new job

well, my first week of the new job is done and i am currently starting my second. it's been....interesting. i moved from the main university of utah hospital to an orthopedic center about 2 miles away. we do mostly elective surgeries here, with some total knee/hip replacements as long as they are easy cases with minimal potential of complications. i work on the inpatient unit. on any given day i have about half the load of patients that i used to have on 6 North, and they are all extremely nice and easy to take care of. last week i probably sat down more than the whole year before hand. this might sound good, but it isn't really. i like to be going, to have things to do, to keep busy. and this place is just, well, slow. really slow. boring infact. however, i really like the people i work with, and i enjoy the days schedule immensely. i actuallyw ent to church two sundays in a row, which hasn't happened in a year. i spent two whole days ina row with eric this weekend. that was awesome! i am waking up at 6.30 am and getting to sleep at 9-10pm every night! i feel normal! i haven't been nauseous in over 2 weeks. i have energy. i don't think i am pregnant all the time. there are so many pluses over here. i am having a bit of trouble with the scheduling. it is very difficult to get my full 36 hrs a week here due to the constant flex of patients. some days we get pts some days all thepts we have go home. some days the surgeons simply don't operate and we don't get any admits at all. today, i only have 2 patients. and they cuold go home tomorrow. or the next day. so you see, we can't schedule our nurses very well b/c it is so changing allt he time. this week i won't be able to get 36 hrs in. but last week i got over 40. and i don't have to work anything around the holidays b/c we are closed. that is great on one hand, but on the other, we still need my income during those weeks. so i am going to have to really plan ahead and pick up shifts back at the main hospital, or just figure somethingout. i talked to a couple of management today and let them know hwo muchi have to have 36 hrs a week and they said don't worry, it'llw ork out. i don't realy know how. so it's been slightly stressful this weekt rying to figure out if i will really be able to afford working here. it'd be a great job for a wife whose husband makes bank and this would just be play money. however, i am the bread winner and thsu have been having breadwinner complexes this past week wanting to be sure we can be provided for. eric hates that i have to go through this, but it's only for a time. so, one week has gone by and i know i need t just give thsi job a little more time. hopefully things will work out one way or the other. and i can always try to go back to 6 north for acouple of days a month and get some extra money. some of this really slow down time is hard for me to swallow though. i haven't really done anything here for a couple of hours now. i don't even feel like a nurse b/c this place is so laid back. i feel like God brought me this job in a way though,a nd so i can wait to see what He might have in mind for it. there are so many positives about taking this job and i know that anything i might go to next back at the main hospital will put me back working nights again. i just don't think i can ever stomach that again. it was one of the hardest things about my first year here.

this past weekend was really good. eric andi met up with an arkanasa alum and her husband friday night for a mexican dinner. jordan greenwald gave us her emamil and we got in contact. it was like a double blind date. we didn't even know who we were supposed to meet at the restaurant. we've done that a couple of times here in salt lake b/c that's just he way you meet friends here. anyway, lauren and mark turned out to be just great. they are really active, christians, interesting, and a lot of funt o talk with. we sat and talked until 10:30 before we realized what time it was. i am rejoicing that God brought us some more friends.

i was also able to go climbing with two other girls on friday. it was one of the best climbing days i can remember. we laughed the entire time andi ended that day rejoicing that god had given me a couple of girls with whom to bond, climb, and shre life with for a time.

we are preparing for a climbing trip over the weekend. eric's fall break is thursday through sunday and we are headed to indian creek, utah. a climbing mecca just outside of moab. we are meeting sam higby and our good friend josh is coming from park city as well. it's goign to be just fabulous. not to mention that for the first time i'll be able to contribute leading in indian creek. we went 3 times last weekand every time sam had to lead everything. so i am very excited about climbing down there. it's one of the most beautiful places i can think of to be climbing.

well, that's a good update for the weekend and up coming week. i am anxiously awaiting to become accustomed to my new job, see that my hours get filled, and become comfortable here. we are comging back to arkansas for christmas. we will be in the little rock/batesville area decebmer 23-29th---anyone else going to be around that area??! i'd love to see anyone we can.

Springs and Things

Last weekend eric and i hiked out to a hot springs with our friends, joe and natlie and cassie. these hot srings are the coolest thing ever-they are totally natural. people who visit them have moved around rocks to make natural dams and pool up the water. a cold stream runs right by the hot springs, so with just the right mixture you can create the perfect temperature. it takes about an hour to hike to the springs. this day was a great temperature.if you look closely you can see a red line on my legs from the hot water. we are sitting on a rock here trying to get out of the scalding water. most of the time there are people skinny dipping in the springs. cassie and i snowshoed into these springs last winter on a day when the high was 9 degrees F. my hankerchief froze in my pocket during the hike out. i just love doing things like this!




the hike out to the springs. note the changing colors of the aspen trees in the background. it was beautiful!

did i miss fall?

salt lake city skipped fall this year and went straight to winter. we now have a 15 inch base on the ski slopes, and the snow line has descended to the city line. our mountains are again white! it's been raining/hailing/sleeting in the city for the past 3 days. in a city where we get 350 days of sunshine, i have to admit that every once in a while i really enjoy these rainy days. it's not rainy very often, and it thunders even less. it's done everything the past two days though. i've been able to sleep in a couple of the mornings of the storm and it was delicious!

my last day of work on 6 North was last wednesday. it was anti-climatic. in fact, i don't think anybody really noticed or cared. it was a little hard to swallow. i guess it's such a big place and nurses come and go so frequently that it's not that big of a deal when someone leaves. and to tell the truth, i didn't really have any friends on the floor. i mean, they were nice co workers but i never once saw any one outside of work. i am mostly glad to have left the hospital though. several nurses have left recently, leaving the floor down 6 nurses. even more reason to be happy i am gone! i am really looking forward to checking into my new job on monday morning at 10 am. it's a weird time for a nurse, but maybe i have to do some orientation.

today has been a low-key day. it's raining, so no climbing, besides i couldn't find anyone to go climbing with me anyway. yesterday, i drove up the canyon to my friend cassie's cabin. it was wonderful. we sipped tea by the log fire and watched the snow fall. our discussions were very inspiring as well.


this afternoon is in celebration of all things pumpkin. i got on better homes and gardens website and found a plethra of pumpkin recipes. currently iam backing pumpkin spice loaves, with chocolate chip pumpkin cookies waiting to go in. i looked for a good pumpkin candle too, but couldn't find one at the supermarket. it'll have to wait for a trip to the mall or something.

i found a new good tea: the republic of tea- Tea of Inquiry. it is green tea with toasted rice. it's really good. but then, most republic of tea is really good. and really expensive. but certainly the best tea i've had.

new favorite CD: KT tunstall- eye to the telescope.

new favorite DVD: Pilates for Dummies. don't belittle this DVD. i thought it was kinda silly when i was doing it, but then i was sore the next day. pilates is great!

we watched the royal tenebaums last night. i am not sure i quite get that movie. but a lot of ppl i know have said that is one of their favorites. it reminded me of an american Amelie. it was just kinda weird. and we didn't really get the point. i did laugh a couple of times though.

two movies that have been recommended to me recently: I heart Hucabees. and What the bleep do you know? they are both independent films and may be kinda hard to find. but supposedly really good movies.

this past week i climbed the climb that was my goal for the summer. it felt really good to have reached a personal goal and a personal max in climbing. i looked at this climb at the beginning of this summer and thought, wow, i don't know if i'll ever be able to do that. and i did it last week. it was fun, and within my ability and wasn't even that scary. i've come a long way. the climb is called Green Adjective and was featured on the front of Climbing magazine a year or so ago mislabled as the serenity crack in yosemite valley.

i have been having real dog lust recently. it seems everywhere i look someone has a dog. man, i want a dog. we have agreed to wait until at least this spring/summer to look into getting one. we can't figure out how we would potty train a puppy with us both being gone for 12 hours a day when i work. eric would have to come home int he middle of hte day and play with it. we are thinking more along the lines of rescuing a husky. or at least trying to get a well behaved, chilled out one from a sled dog racing breeding place in park city. we have a couple of friends who got one from this place and their dog is a real joy. i think it might be hard to find a chilled out husky though. and our fence in the back yard is definitely not dog-digging proof. we'll just have to see. in my meantime, every dog i see gets a loving pet on the head b/c i want one of my own. i wouldn't be so lonely then on these long days off.

only a couple more hours before eric gets home. then my day can really start.

Cozy Saturday Evening

Leading some .10a in Big Cottonwood Canyon. Smooth quartzite sport climb- fun!



Sunrise in Little Cottonwood Canyon- early morning climbing whohoo! I tried a simple off-width/chimney pitch that pitched me off twice. it wasn't so simple. but i watched my partner sail right through it. then, having seen the moves, i sailed right through it. i love that feeling of getting up early and doing something you are proud of- whether it be a run, a quiet time, a great, hard climb, or making a wonderful breakfast.


Saturday evening: Taboo, popcorn, ice cream, tea, and chocolate zucchini bread. Our friend Brian came over for a little chill out session. We like to play board games together. our friend mark says that we are 'square'. but we did succeed in pulling mark into a game of scrabble. i love playing board games. we were talking tonight about how everyone our age seems to NEED a TV, or alcohol or video game to 'hang out' on the weekends. i am glad we found 'square brian' who likes to play scrabble, taboo, and balderdash on the weekends. he is eric's friend from grad school - so he can understand where eric comes from with school and the stress from it.

today we went to the farmer's market. we bought tomatos, peaches, and some wonderful foccacia bread. then we walked over to the greek festival. and wow, what a festival. we stayed for the lunch served (a bit expensive...but we are contributing to a local thing so it's okay) and it was good. the best baklava i've ever had. we didnt' stay for the dances etc that the greeks do. eric had to do some school work this afternoon. but it was really fun to go and see all the people, and taste all the greek food. i love living in salt lake where we have unique activities like this one to experience.

while eric worked on an MRI scan, i.....watched anne of green gables. oh yeah. i laughed. i cried. i loved every bit of it! after i finished the first movie, i ran to the library and checked out the sequel. i am half way through that one now. gosh, anne of green gables is so great. my heart just beats with her's, and i feel so... invovled when i watch these movies. i want what she wants, become indignant when she does, and cry when she does. it has to be in my top 5 favorite movies of all time. not exactly a guy movie, in fact eric opted to fix my blog last night rather than be drug into watching the movie. he's a great husband, but not even he can get into anne of green gables. i mean, come on, doesn't every guy want to be gilbert? every girl wants to be anne.....

tomorrow we are going to church, and then a good mountain bike ride with brian. he's impossible to keep up with. our only hope is that he is going for a 26 mile mtn bike ride tomorrow mornig. so by the afternoon he'll actually be down to our pace. i love not working on the weekends!

favorite coffee drink: (besides anything pumpkin-spice related which is only seasonal. so this is my favorite can-get-it-anytime-anywhere drink) Americano with half'n'half and hazelnut syrup. starbucks makes a killer one. but here's the key: you have to put in the half'n'half first. have them put in a little halfnhalf, add the americano (which is an espresso shot with water) and a couple pumps of hazelnut syrup. yuumm. you can add the half n half after the drink is made, but coby (my starbuck's barista friend) figured out you only have 13 seconds to add the half n half to decrease the bitterness of the coffee. anything longer than 13 seconds and it just won't taste as right. enjoy!

Feels like Fall

Salt lake is enjoying the first tendrils of fall. i have been riding my bike home from night shifts this week, and brrrr has it been cold! every day i have realized i must add a nother layer to my clothing to stay warm against the chill breeze of my alldownhill ride. it is absolutely delicious! the nights are so enjoyable...the middle of the day is still sorta hot though, still not longsleeve weather just yet. but it is fleece weather at night.i love this time of the year. short sleeves during the day and whatever kind of warm coat you've been longing to bust out all summer at night. i must say i can't wait to wear that down coat again- i love that coat. and that vest. and that fleece. and that hat.....etc.

our patagonia outlet just had 50% off sale this week. 50% off everything already marked down in the store. i bought a few things to replentish my climbing clothes supply (they wear out quickly against that rock!). i just love that sale. there are a million people and the place is really small. i waited in line for 2 hours just to check out. but the deals are worth it.

i finally received a call from the ortho center. my start date is september 25. i am very excited about it, although i still have many questions- do i still have to bring my own scrubs? what about holidays? what will be my exact schedule? i want to work every wed, thurs, fri. b/c that will work out best with the other climber's schedules that i know. i have been trying to give up my anxiety to God though, b/c my owrrying about it for a month won't help. but i like to know RIGHT NOW. and god doens't always work like that huh?

i have been reading the Mark of the Lion series by francine rivers during this bout of night shifts. i apoligize ahead of time to all you francine rivers fans.....but these books are terrible. they are like 3rd rate romance novels begging to be accepted by secular society, but totally aimed at christians who would otherwise feel guilty reading a 'secular romance novel'. i know, those may be some harsh words, but seriously... her writing style is poor and hardly near classic. i thought i had heard that they were a good series to read, so i pickedup the first one. the only good thing i can say about it, is that it has kept me awake at night b/c it does have an element of thrill to it, of which i am ashamed to ad mit b/c i wish i could just put the book down and walk away. but alas, at nighttime, this trashy type of book is exactly what i need to keep me awake. i don't have to think reading this book, i just read and imagine. no thought whatsoever. and maybe that is why i don't like it. i have always enjoyed books that make you really think, analyze, explicate. so i'll give it a 5/10 simply b/c it will keep you hooked, but won't make you any better of a person, or any deeper of a thinker. beach novels is what my advanced placement english teacher used to call them. i guess you could say that i am not a francine rivers fan.

i am reading Rock Warrior's Way- a mental training book for climbers. it is almost religious which is scary in a way, but one of the most useful books i've ever picked up. i think it will change my climbing forever.

i am not feeling very creative tonight. it's the last of 3 nights in a row and i am all 'night-shifted out'. can't think. feel nauseated. hungry. but full. tired. emotionless. guess i'll go read francine rivers.....:)