Edward Abbey would be proud

The Desert. yes, Desert spelled with a capital 'D'. Because it deserves such respect. i have a new, healthy respect for the desert b/c the last 5 days i have spent more time than i like to think there. last weekend i went down to zion nat'l park to do a little canyoneering. except that it was a lot of canyoneering. 9 miles of canyoneering to be exact. and i loved it. and i disliked part of it too. first of all, it is flaming hot in zion right now. oh, say, about the 110's. hot. HOT. hotter than i was in canyonlands in may. which was really hot then. even the breeze at night was hot in zion. like 95 degrees hot. so we camped out with a few friends (well, try 8 other people) and saturday morning we woke bright and early to do a hike called 'the subway'. many people have heard of the zion narrows. this is a long hike (16 miles) that is rarely done in its entirety, but invovles a narrow slot canyon with steep walls that people can walk inbetween. the subway is better than that though. it requires a permit to hike the subway. and only 40 people are allowed in its canyons on the weekends. i was one of the lucky 40 last weekend. and the freinds i went with had tried the subway lottery system 3 years ina row to get the permit. so i felt pretty lucky. it was beautiful. we hiked through what felt like california, only it was utah. and then we went down down down into this itty bitty slow canyon filled with water most of the time. and the water was cold cold cold. like take your breath away and try to swim as fast as you can even in 110 degree heat cold. mostly it was a hike through knee to thigh to ankle deep water, but for a couple of hundred feet we actually had to swim-= yes we couldn ot touch the bottom! it was fantastic, amazing- not enough cool words to describe it. i have some really great pics. but i have to wait until we get internet into the new house to post those. itw as one of hte best hikes i've ever done. it was nice and cool down in the canyon and walking through the water was so much fun. plus it was with some really great friends and we just had good times all around. we camped again that night, and we were all very sore and tired. and camping did not feel good b/c the ground was hard and again, you guessed it, it was hot. the breeze was hot. i was happy to ge thome to my bed and the coolness of our shaded new house. it was one great trip. i'd do it again in a heart beat, except that it'd be so hard to get the permit. the hike out of the canyon wasn't so pleasant however. still great scenery, but it was really long and we didn't know when we were supposed to be cutting up out of the canyon so it was mentally taxing. when you are hiking and you do'ntknow the end point you begin to wonder with eveyr step where the end is and when you will get there and why int he world did you ever start this hike in the first place and where is the car etc etc. we finally found the turn up hill and hiked straight up hill for about a quarter of a mile. i'd like to say that that was the end of my desert fun, but i got home sunday night, slept a good nights sleep and then monday morning i struck out again.

coby, my climbing partner, and i decided we wanted to climb this really remote alpine wall back in the wasatch range. it is called lone peak. and it is beautiful. it looks like patagonia, pure granite spires. but for my friends who don't climb, that woulnd't really mean too much. basically, it is one of the most breathtaking, beautiful places i can imagine to climb. and it is remote. very remote. well, we started off monday morning landen down with packs weighing at least 40 lbs. and that's b/c not only did we have to carry a tent, sleeping bag, food, etc for camping, we also had to carry rope, a climbing rack (that is our protection devices for the climb itself), shoes, harnesses, etc. it was heavy. the heaviest pack i've ever carried. and it hurt. well we'd heard the approach (the hike to the wall) was bad, but i never thought it'd be this bad. it was horrific. i don't have words to describe how bad it was. and the worst part is, we weren't on the exact right trail, and what usually takes ppl 6 hours took us 9 and we didn't get to climb at all in the end.!!! what a bummer. we hiked straight up hill for 7 hours, it was the worse pain i've ever endured. and then we found this great meadow, called hamongog- german for meadow. but they are all called hamongogs in the wasatch. i guess that's b/c it sounds a lot cooler. so we found this beautiful hamongog and called it a night and struck camp. we found a really nifty outlaw cabin up there too, which come to find out once saved a family's life froma terrible blizzard. but that's beside the point b/c it did not save my knees or calf muscles or back from our terrible hike. we got up tuesday morning and decided we were going to find that cirque (mountain circle) if it took all we had. we hiked up more and more and more and finally came out exactly across form the wall we wanted to be at the base of. and ther ewas ahuge snow covered bowl between us and it, and a big cliff, and a bunch of boulders and too much more hiking. we came up the wrong canyon. we had taken the wrong trial. and we didn't get to climb. all that pain and no climbing. well, we started back down our stupid trial and i thought it had been bad on the way up. it was nothing campred to the way down. my knees felt like they were being operated on without being put to sleep. i wanted a total knee replacement when we got down. which i thought was never going to happen. we hiked down for 5 hours. now, you tell me that that trail was only 6 miles long. ha! no way. i can hike down hill at a pace of at least, the mimimum 2 miles an hour. that would put it at a minimum of 8 miles in. but i think it was more like 10. and added to that, we gained 6,000 feet of elevation gain at that. that is 1000 feet per mile if it was 6 miles. and that's like alaska straight up hill. and straight down hill. so, at the top of the mountain the temperature was pleaseant. enjyable even. but at hte bottom, for the last half of the hike, we were gain in desert. sage, scrubs, dirt, and heat that radiated off the groun and bounced on your face till you were dripping in sweat. and i was dripping in this anti-humid environment.

so hopefully i have discouraged any one from wanting to climb beautiful granite spires far far away. the even sadder thing is, coby and i are planning on going back in the next 2 weeks. now that we've seen the cirque, it's all we can do to not think about it all the time. it's awe inspiring. one of God's best moments in modest utah anyway. and despite all that heart ache and leg ache and back ache, it's worth doing the hike again. i can't wait to post pictures from the top. i've got a few from our horrible hike, one in particualr taken right afterward that i will post when we get the internet up. it's funny. we look awful and it's great. today my calves hurt worse than ever before. and i've been dead tired. we didn't have enough calories in food with us to do that kind of hike and face that mental anguish. we didn't know where we were exactly and how long the hike was and that wears on your mind more than your body. that is what is more exhausting that the physical aspect of hiking. still, i've never been so sore and tired before. and now i am doing a night shift. my body is just sacked! i'm ready to just sleep. a lot.

and now eric is gone. he went to arkansas for a reunion with his old bible study. it's so hard to have him gone. it's like missing a half of your life. nobody there to greet me when i get home early in the morning. nobody to make my side of the bed warm. nobody to eat dinner/breakfast with. nobody to have a hug. nobody to complain to about how much i hate night shift. nobody to just love on and be loved by. i guess we are still very much in that honeymoon phase. but i am certain deep down that eric and i will always bein that honeymoon phase. i don't ever want to have him leave me for trips and i hate leaving him for trips. it's a bitter sweet feeling. b/c you are happy that you or he is getting to experience something grand and fun. but at the same time you are doing it sans the other. and that makes the experience only half as grand or half as fun. it's so wonderful to be married!

i have been reading the princess bride. it's great. it's hilarious. anyone who enjooys the movie should read the book. only it's way different. but twice as funny. if you can believe that. it's actually the abridged version, not the same original by S. Morgenstern. Morgenstern actually wrote a terribly long novel as a political satire between Guilder and Florin back in the day. so this other guy, i can't remember his name, wrote an abridged version of the princess bride and took out all hte policital mumbo-jumbo and told just hte exciting part. i haven't been able to put it down b/c it's so great. defnitely recommended. i also started john krakaours (spelled that wrong sorry) book 'into the wild'. so far it's great. i really enjoy his books and his writing style.

the house. wow. i can't say enough good things about the house. i simply love it. i planted an herb garden last week and some mint behind the house. but my mint is dying b/c id doens't have enough sun light i think. it's sad b/c i love mint plants. an di love the clothes line. my towels and sheets smell so fresh and clean. hurray! and everything has a wonderful place in our basement with all the gear hanging up just so. it makes my heart happy to have a real house. an dmy oven actually works! the last oven was wack-o. i couldn't ever tell exactly what degree setting i was putting it at so all the food had different times than what the recipe suggested. htis oven rocks though and it's gas so it heats more evenly. enough about ovens. i am really happy and feel god has really blessed us and answered our prayers for ahouse.

june has been a really fun month. in fact, if i stop and think about it, every month since february has had a great trip, whether climbing or hiking, invovled and they have all been memorable. next month for our anniversary (eric was sjupposed to surprise me but with the move and all and needing to know what things to really pack an dwhat things to leave out he had to tell me where we were going) we are going to rocky mountain nat'l park for sme backpakcing, hopefully a sumit of long's peak, and then some climbing ona nearby mountain called Lumpy. nice name huh? i am way excited about that. and then in august we have a couple of friends from back home coming to visit (ben casey and brian hirschy) i can't wait to show them our play ground. seriously you guys, you all need to move to utah!! whohoo!!

house, yard, garden, dog

oh the joy of newness! i couldn't be any more pleased today. last evening we signed the papers to rent a house downtown. it's so perfect. such a God-send. we've been looking for a month now, which isn't that long. and our current lease isn't actually up until the end of july. but we found IT. sometimes you just know. it's a cute, little house at the end of a small street near the middle of downtown, 3 miles from work (but we can ride our above ground subway system for free to the U). it has a yard. let me repeat: it has a yard!! it's a two bedroom 'bungalow' (prolly the best terms for it) with a washer and dryer (praise god, that was the hardest thing to find) and a basement for all our gear to be stored in. a wonderful new kitchen (a must!) and a yard!! whohoo! it is fenced in, with a clothes line. double whoohoo! i think though, that one of the best things about this place is that now i can have a small garden. i want to grow herbs mostly, but also a few tomato plants. i want to have oregano, thyme, basil, mint, dill, and lavender. it's perfect for that. and we met the neighbors last night- cute young couple with a little son. the realtors said they listed the place on friday. we signed on tuesday. they also had a whole big stack of applications to choose from. but as soon as they saw our application, they gave it to us, without even a credit check. i think being a nurse helps that out. they see my employment (and a PhD grad student isn't too bad either!) and think we will be at least fairly responsible. i happen to think we are every property owners best dream: we ar excellent renters. we take care of things, keep them clean, and now i am even going to put in a garden. another HUGE bonus of this place: fenced in yard. that translates: dog!!! or, for those of you who know me, wootie. (i call dogs, at least small ones, wooties) we won't get one just yet, but a dog does mean more money, time, and kennels when we go climbing. but still, now we have the possibility whereas before we couldn't even think of it. so we will start moving soon. we have a month and a half to move though, cuz we can't break the lease in the other place. so we will have a nice leisurely move. that's kinda nice. not worth this much money, but this place was too perfect to pass up. it suits us wonderfully. i am really excited about it. i've ben thinking about my little garden all day. i can't wait to go outside and pick my herbs to cook with. and have a nice kitchen to move around in. it's great. it's totally god. we've been praying for this for 6 months now, knowing we wanted tomove and not knowing where. and the hunt has been pretty frustrating with so many pros and cons to each place. and eric having different opinioins on what is nice and what is acceptable. (he could live in a tent mind you..) so we finally found someting perfect and i've been thanking god all day. i can't wait to spend my first night there.

other developements in my life: climbing. mostly just climbing. and it's been a blast. i lead what in my mind was my best lead yet yesterday. Little cottonwood canyon is famous for it's alpine granite, and sandbagged ratings :(meaning that the climbing is actually harder than what the rating says it is- often this is b/c it was rated back in the day when a 9 was the hardest climb ever. today the hardest climb ever is a 16. so go figure) it was a tricky pitch about 300 feet up, with barely anything to put y our feet on and a very thin crack that only my finger tips fit in. i have to admit: very often while climbing the thoughts that go through my head go something like this: 'i hate rock climbing, why do i rock climb? this sucks! oh my gosh this is so scary. i hate rock climbing...whew, that was a hard pitch. man the view is awesome up here, i love rock climbing. it feels so good to see an obstacle in front of you and get over it. rock climbing is so cool..." i've never felt stronger on the rock, i am climbing things now that i thought i'd be climbing by the end of thes ummer. i'ts been a lot o fun. sure, my apartment is a wreck though. it looks awful, i haven't cleaned in 3 weeks, and it needs it. but i can say that i've been climbing! :) tha'ts how it goes though. eric doesn't mind after all! june in salt lake is beautiful. the weather isn't too heinous yet, quite pleasant actually. we are reaching higher temps though- the 90s are upon us, yet the heat is dry so it is so bearable. plus, you can always go up in the canyons and the temp will be 10-20 degrees lower. i love these mountains. i love them. i really do. everybody should come see my mountains. they are good for my soul.

The List

number of times i asked people if they have passed gas: 5
number of regular heart rhythms i have listened to: 4
number of irregular heart rhythms: 0
amount of pooh i have emptied: approximately 1 liter
number of times i have talked to a pharmacist today: 0 (that's a record!)
number of times the word "gross" has been said: 6
how many antibiotics i have given a patient: 3
number of stool softners i have given: 9
what i have eaten so far today: 1 scrambled egg, 1/2 bowl cereal, 8 oz skim milk, handful of mixed nuts, 1 glass of water, 1 slice cantaloupe
what i will eat for lunch today: meat sandwich, yogurt (yoplait thick n creamy- the only way to go!), carrots, apple, fig newtons
hours before i am off work: 8
hours i have been at work: 4.5
how many compliments on my red scrubs: 2
nmber of times i have applied cutical cream in vain attempt to save my nails from the drying agent in climbing chalk: 3
how many days i have worked straight: 4
number of days i have off: 3
number of times i have seen the sun out the hospital windows: 0 - it is snowing/sleeting/raining with a high of 53 today in SLC yeehaw!
number of trauma cases i have seen this weekend: 6 so far...
number of times i have signed PDacus RN 05/28/06: too many to count
how many LDS temple workers to walk by offering their sacrament: 3
how many movies i want to see right now: 5 (X men, super man, pirates of the caribbean 2, cars, mission impossible 3)
number of movies i have seen recently: 2 ( indiana jones and the last crusade and The Davinci code- good movie, very close to the book)
how many bible studies i will miss the next month: 4 ( i work every wednesday!)
number of sundays i will miss next month: 2 ( grrr weekend working!)
what i had for dinner last night: left over spanish noodles
what i will have for dinner tonight: frozen pizza (i swear i don't usually eat this bad...)
i just had to up the number or times i have heard/said "stool"...gotta go, b/c someone else has "gotta go"....

in the heat of it all

canyonlands. hot. really hot. very very very hot. and not the good kind of hot-t. it was incredibly good to see my family again. i can't believe every one made it. let me start from the beginning and attempt at making this brief so it's not another marathon blog. my birthday was great. we went to a japanese grill called benihanas- a national chain where the asian chef grills everything from fried rice to your entree right in front of you. they sang a very bad rendition of happy birthday to me, which made me very nervous. i hate being sung at- but it is always worth it for the free desert. in this case it was only ice cream. i've had better birthday deserts, but at least it was something. at this point, eric lost his credit card. it has still not been found, although apparently no one has been using it. it might be lost in our apartment, but it's not that big, so there aren't that man yplaces to hide. eric still hasn't found it yet. eric gave me a nano for my birthday! it's the coolest litle gadget i've ever seen, and i am very proud of it. i put it in my purse to go grocery shopping with- which has its pros and cons. con b/c then i can't talk to the employees (but if i shop at walmart this isn't a problem since there aren't any employ ees around to help you anyway!) but a big pro of listening to your own music while shopping. eric even got it inscribed on the back: "Polly's cosmic soundtrack". that's the super human power i've always wanted- to hear the right theme song at the right time in my life. now i can! he bought a bunch of extremely cool soundtracks to go on it- including the theme from the new pride and prejudice. i am super happy about it. so, sunday we are driving around and our little 1988 honda overheats. we make it back home and park it b/c we are leaving that afternoon for canyonlands. so we can't do anything about it fora week. so i leave for vacation for a week with eric's credit card missing and a broken down car in the parking lot. but i forgot all about these things with the excitement of seeing my family. gosh, it was so good. and canyon lands truly is beautiful, however i will never recommend it in may to anyone. we were desperate for water, and were filtering our water out of scum holes. it was disgusting- shoving aside the algea and tadpoles so we didn't drink them.. ugh! and it was too hot to want to move, but we had several miles a day to hike. and we ha my 18 month nephew with us. he was great when he was in the baby carrier, but as soon as we put him down he wante to run everywhere, and ther eare cactus, and cliffs, and all sorts of awful things out there for him to get into. so it wasn't relaxing at all b/c we all had to constantly watch him. but it was the kind of hot that all you wanted to do was sit in the shade and drink wter, any kind of water, even that filtered from a super scum hole. so i was super low energy the whole time. i am very affected by my environment. maybe too much so. if i am cold it is hard for me to concentrate and i am mostly unhappy and can only think about warm things. but if ia m hot i get really lethargic and my brain slows way down and you still can't get a descent conversation out of me b/c i am so hot. that is the way i was the whole time. my mom thought iw as having a horrible time, but i was just hot! we ended up coming out a day eraly b/c we ran out of water and the water source was a 4 mile round trip away. and none of us wanted to hiek more! so we spent a day in arches nat'l park and the fischer towers (which made me want to climb b/c it's a great place for it) we got in some good conversations, but my concensus is if you want a relaxing vacation with your family in which you get good , quality time and conversations in, you need ab ase camp. likea cabin, or a beach or something. b/c as soon as we had the tents up and had eaten what little dniner we felt like eating, we all went to bed. eric and i played cards in thet ent, but we couldn't talk with any one else. so it was kinda lame that way. and then during the day we were too hot to talk. so i missed the deep conversations we usually have together. still, it was a great trip and it made me wish once again that all my family could live together somewhere. we came home with my sister and bro in alw and then adrian (my nephew) got the flu and barfed all day saturday and sunday mroning. talk about more stress. we only have carpet in our apartment so it kept getting dirty, and hwe didn't have enough rags to clean him and us and the carpet up and so every one ewas stressed out. plus, he's a cute little kid who cant' tell you what's wrong, he just can cry and look really sad. so it breaks your heart! miranda went skiing with us on saturday mornhing (yeah from hot moab to snow covered little cotton wood canyon!) but the snow was mediocre for sure and tiring skiing. she left sunday morning to visit some friends in boise, and ended up havingt to rent a car instead of borrowing ours b/c turns out the honda's head gasget was blown. and that's going to cost us 800+$ to fix. the car is only worth 1200 max. go figure. eric wants to keep a second car though, so i guess we'll have to fix it. we keep an "oh crap" fund int he bank for this sort of thing so we're not going t broke. but the 'oh crap' fund comes out of our house savings. so it still kinda hurts. then miranda calls from idaho and says she is sick too. what a bummer. she came back to slc on wednesday and i took her to the airport. so we got to hang out a little more. all in all, it was a very stressful vacation, but still good to see my family again.
the patagonia outlet had a sale yesterday, and i had some money to spend, but i coudln't believe it: i coudlnt' find anything. everything i thought i wanted i realized i already had something kinda like it, or it was too expensive or i just didn't like it. i can't believe it. i thought i would always be able to buy something ther. i am actually to ap oint where i feel i have enough clothes/gear. wow. i still love the 'less is more' concept and decided that's what i am finally livign subconsciously. i can't even buy s omething when i try! it'sw a good problem to have. i finally figured out what to do with my bday money- i bought some sunglasses, some climbing pants, and a windproof climbing shirt. and ia m very happy with the purchases. plus, i used someof my money to get eric some pants too. life is back to normal now- working, having a few days off next week. however, the apartment quest 2006 is in full effect now. we are desperately searchign for an apartment close to work and the U so we can ride oru bikes to work or ride the bus. it's stinking hard! i look on craig's list (a very efficient local to anywhere classified online thing- if you are looking for anything in your area check out craig's list- it's great) an di call a bout 10 ppl a day trying to find a place that is new, clean, and has washer/dryer hookups. i am finally coming to the concl usiong we will have to sell our old washer, and store our dryer some way. like put a sheet and plants over it or something. it's a nice dryer and i'll want it in 4 years when we buy a house so it's not worth getting rid of. anyway, it's my daily quest to find an apartment. i have found a couple so far, but now they are 100$ more expensive per month than i wanted. i am figuring though, if we really don't have to use our cars more than absolutely n ecessary we can probably afford the extra rent. $800 a month plus utilities. kinda expensive huh? more than i want to pay, but i think we can affrod it. all the ones in our price range don't have washers, are super old, and really ugly and very dirty. i can't stand dirty. it's frustrating looking for a place. i want it to be fun,but all the money and time and all the bad places i've lookied at so far have deterred me a bit.
that's the update! if you want to see pictures from the trip see eric's blog at dacus.blogspot.com. he's got some good ones!

a problem with money

tomorrow is my birthday. hurray! i am traveling down to moab utah with my sister, brother in law, and nephew, and eric to spend the week with the rest of my family. so, i get to see my mom on mother's day plus be with my family onmy birthday! i'm excited. one nice thing about birthdays is that you get presents from family members. most of the time it is money, which is great. but i have this slight problem. b/c i live most of my life under the influence of ' no money, you can't spend it...only sale items!" when i actually do have some money to spend, i can't. b/c iwant to get the most for my money, the best deal, the lowest price, the most things, make my money go the farthest, get the thing i have wanted the most. so i get erally scared and can't spend it at all. so it just sits there, and i think, i'll use it in a couple of months when i have it nailed down exactly wha ti want. then i remember something. i've wnated new sun glasses for a cuople of months now. so i went to REI yesterday and bought a pair. they were expensive though and i freaked out. i want to take them back today. even though i love them. they are the best sun glasses i've ever seen. but i am afraid of them. i don't want to wear them b/c i will scratch them. and ten i found this great windproof climbing shirt that i would love- i'd use it all the time. but i keep thinking, maybe i nee dsomething else more though...and i get all scasred to actually spend the money. eric doens't have this problem at all. he told me he liked helping me spend my money. and he encouraged me to get the sun glasses and shirt. maybe i am putting too much emphasis on THINGS, but the THING is, i never do. i dont' ususally anyway. so when i actually get to,k actually spend a lot of money on something i want and don't necessarily need, i freak out and think it must be something i need and not just a whim. so, are my sunglasses a whim? is the shirt a whim? ohi hope not. so today i got online and googled the shirt to see if i could find ti cheaper somewhere else. and i did. so that means i can now spend the rest of the money that i saved on the shirt. so i found a pair of pants i really want. and nwo ia m freaking out about those and thinking that i should buy somethign else. something like jeans that i need or something. it's scary spending money. it's b/c it's the little money that i get once a year to just spend, and i have to make sur ei spend it wisely. i have a new mantra: buy only clothes or things that you will almost literally LIVE in. nothing that is just a once in an occasion shirt or skirt anymore. i want something that i wear weekly. that way i can get rid of all the other superfluous clothing i have, or superfluous stuff. i don't like stuff. it gets in the way. ia m not a pack rat at all. i go through my closet all the time and get rid of things. eric is a pack rat. it's hard to live with a pack rat sometimes. i just threw out christmas cards he was keeping. it's not liek we scrap book so what do you do with those thing? you enjoy them for aweek or so after they come, revel in the thought that the person had for you, adn then move on, knowing you meant something to someone. so i want to keep living by this, 'live in it' mantra for clothes. i also want to live by another mantra, "if patagonia doesn't make it, i don't need it". ha! i lov epatagonia. it's the best clothing company. we call it "patagucci" b/c it's so expensive. ridiculously expensive. but it fits like nohting else. unfortuantly the shirt i bought is made by anther company. but patagonia doens't make anythi like it. i suppose i should then say i don't need it. except that i know i'll use this shirt all the time. sorry patagonia. you missed out there. i am buying the pants from them though. if i had a ton of money i wouldn't perseverate over this so much. but i've got to make my money stretch as far as humanly possible. and then i still worry i didn't stretch it far enough. just let it go polly. i need to just enjoy what i have bought, use it al the time, and i will feel my money well spent.

in recent news...

today in moab, utah a famous rock climber named Dean Potter climbed Delicate Arch in Arches National Park. he actually climbed it sunday morning before park officials could stop him. i am not sure how the news and everyone got pictures and movies of him doing it, unless he took his photographer out there with him to make a point or something. it's been known for quite some time that arches are off limits to climbers. the park has set aside specific rock formations in the park for climbers to climb. climbers are, at times, at odds with the people and officials who own the land they climb on. it's always been a touchy subject, especially in recent years as rock climbing has picked up in popularity. for example, indian creek- in southern utah with a plethra of crack climbing (see my pics), is famous for the feuds between climbers and a woman named heidi who owns a lot of the land with the buttresses we climb. climbers have left her cattle gates open, accidentally burned down her barn, and leave their bathroom messes everywhere. BLM owns some of the land as well, but heidi has been not getting along with the climbers in recent years and it's only getting worse. so we, as climbers, attempt to keep the peace with those who own the crags and mountains we frequent. not that climbing necessarily damages rocks. sometimes there are metal bolts that get drilled into the rock, but they are hardly big enough to truly offend anyone. we do use white chalk for our hands, but that too can be easily over looked. for the most part, many climbers respect nature and the rock they climb and wish to keep it looking natural. after all, who goes into the wild to climb what looks like it came froma gym? but we must keep the peace, and that means appeasing certain people of power, whether we like it or not, it keeps the crags open. now, arches are obviously a natural attraction- to climbers and to tourists in general. even though there wasn't a written statment saying'no climbing on delicate arch' , it has been passed that there is no climbing on arches in general. for dean potter to waltz in and think he is too good for rules or for obvious sense kinda irks me. granted, he did nothing to the rock. he really didn't. perhaps a couple of white chalk marks were left. no harm done. no physical harm that is. but, now, climbers everywhere will think, i want to climb delicate arch! that's so cool, dean potter did it, why can't it? and then we would have a bazaar of climbers on delicate arch all the time. and i mean all the time. it's senic, it's public, and it looks cool. you would not be able to visit delicate arch during any time of the year without a climber on it. and who wants some random climber in their souveneir photograph? not me! when i visited arches lasat february, all of the climbers in the group (which was 3 of us) talked about climbing the arch. it's so pretty, and would be so fun to stand on top of. but i had more respect for the arch than that. it is delicate. not that a climber could ruin an arch- not a single climber at least. but multiple climbers over several years, and yep, we wouldn't have delicate arch anymore. then what would utahn's put on their license plates?! so, my opinion is, good for you mr dean potter, yeah you can climb that. everyone knows you can climb anything you want (dean potter is like..mr climber. he is the equivalent to brad pitt of the climbing world- really famous) but take a little time to consider what y our actions will do for the future since you are such an icon. he's got park officials pretty mad, and now they are going to write a specific clasuse about climbing delicate arch. good for then. duh, you shouldn't go climbing something that BIG. not tall big, just big in culture big. everyone knows what delicate arch is! if you don't, i have a picture of it on my blog. it's beautiful and needs to stay that way. no longer is it a virgin arch. oh well. just my opinion.

recommendations please

i am in need of entertaining, 'beach' books for my night shifts. please send me any recommendations you might have for the latest and greatest good book you've read. it can't be too deep, and it can't really be very spiritual b/c i get lost at night trying to get deep with books. so if you have a highly exciting, fun book to read send me the title and author so ican read it during my night shifts. it's the best way to pass the time. the harry potter books rocked (if that gives you any idea for how highly educated and exotic the books are that i read during these shifts...)

i stand corrected

i have been put in my place. but not in a mean or demeaning way. simply by the encouragement and faith of a friend. i wasn't too happy last night when i wrote on my blog. there were, uh, certain extenuating circumstances though: it was my first of 3 night shifts, which is always the hardest b/c i am up for over 24 hours and answering 6 other ppl's needs and desires. cindy left a comment with a bible verse that was the complete opposite of my post last night. while the verse is encouragement on a good night like tonight (i slept 6 hours today, i feel better) it is definitely hard to live it day to day. so here's the verse: Col 1:9-12 i ask that you may be filled with the knowldge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so that yoyu may walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing the knowldge of god. may you be strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might for all endurance and patience with joy, giving tahnks to the father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. " so yeah, that was not so much me last night. 'fully pleasing...bearing fruit in every good work.." i have so much opportnity for that here at work. so many timesi come in contact with ppl and have the chance to be full yp leasing not only to god but for god int he form of my patient. jesus had a thankless job. i can understand that part of his life. but he overcame where i cannot: he gave thanks for his thankless job. good thing i'm not jesus. thanks cindy, for passing along the verse. you have, as always, had a very great and positive influence on part of my life.

on other things: i am deciding that i have a knack for not knowing or picking up on the subtle politics of jobs. i was just in the break room, where particularly on night shift, the juiciest gossip comes out about co-workers. however, it is always, always news to me. i never seem to pick up on the subtle hatred many ppl share for our manager, or how so-n-so looked at so-n-so, or what somebody said to someone... i think that perhaps i see them happen, notice things, but don't put two and two together in my head to mean something. actually, ia m kind of happy about thsi knack. i would rather float through my work place minding my own business and not knowing what other ppl thinkof my manger. as long as i know what i think -that's what is really importnat. actually, my curent manager is leaving. her last day is monday. i have no beefs with her. she's always been nice to me. but then, i also have not been through a review with her yet to recieve a raise. maybe that's when ppl start not liking their authorities. however, every authority is placed by God and is therefore worthy of our respect. we don't have to like them. just respect them. my theory is like this: everyone loves me today, but tomorrow if i become your manger you will find a million reasons to sincerely dislike me. it doens't matter how cool you are as a co worker. beocme managment and suddenly everone is against you. i dno't know if i ever want to be a manger in anything. it seems really hard b/c you can't please everyone and your budget too. i don't envy my manger her job. i just wonder who will be my next manager and what they will be like. i also wonder what my raise willb e like. geez, i've never had a raise. it'll be kinda cool. but you knwo what? i thought that professional ppl int eh "real world" got raises in the forms of DOLLARS. nope, it is isn the form of CENTS. pennies actually. if i am good, and do everyting i was usposed to do (which i have no way of knowing since we only get reviewed once a year and noboby has told me if i doint things right yet or not...) i might get a raise of 50 cents. CENTS. wow, that does not definitely keep up with inflation. welcome to the real world yet again Polly.

9 days and counting until my birthday. may 14th. isn't it funny how the day you were born will always sound special to you? i mean, it could have been october 14th, but nothing sounds special about october 14th to me. but the syllables of may 14th-ahhh, now that brings back childhood memories of cupcakes for the home room, slipnslide bday parties, big cakes, lots of barbie doll birthday presents, and getting to leave school to go have lunch with my mom at my favorite mexican restaurant in harrison arkansas (which was miquel's by the way. i don't know if it is stil going or not..)ahhh, the lovely sound of may 14th. alas, it has lost some of its luster in latter days. now it is kinda awkard. like, i wish i could have a slip n slide party, but i am too old for that. or i don't have a yard with a slip n slide to even have one. or, what do you do about your new friends who don't know your bday? do you tell them? or do you just sweetly pretend like the words "may 14th" don't have a nastalgic, magic ring to your ear? may 14th also marks the beginning of my family's canyonlands backpacking trip. miranda and darin are arriving the friday before, i work all day saturday and then sunday, "MAY 14TH", we drive down past moab to the free BLM camping in indian creek (my crack climbing mecca-see pics). we are also backpacking with my newphew of a grand 18 months. let me tell you, i will have some good baby stories when i get back. just imagine...backpacking with a baby. now imagine packing dirty diapers out 25 miles...ummmmm.. looking forward to that one. but ti's better to have us all together than leave someone watching adrian at home. i am super excited to be with my family again. plus, it's nothing boring either. we are backpakcing. i love my family. so i've been trying to guess what eric got me for my bday. i found one present accidentally already. he got a new laptop and was showing me how cool it was that the CD covers of the songs he purchases from itunes shows up as a desktop. well, i saw the jewel cover from the new movie pride and prejudice (which was fantastic- even eric really liked it!) and i said, 'you got a song from that movie??!!' and eric turned red. he bought me the theme song for my bday. isn't that sweet?! i love it. it's a beautiful song. so here's my guess as to what he got me for my bday: an ipod nano. at least that is what i am secretly hopeing. however it is no long secret b/c eric reads this blog too. don't say anythign eric- just let me pretend that you don't know what i am guessing about. i wno't be disappointed if it's not that. i can still always borrow your's! :) besides, you give wonderful presents. am i allowed to be talking to eric on my blog? since i live with the guy it doens't make much sense. but then, he is leaving for a week and i wno't have him around... :) i'll stop talking to eric now and address only my blog.

this is quickly becoming another bohemoth. i suppose i'll stop it now. see, the thing is, i have developed this amazing skill at fast typing. as you can see, i make several mistakes. but for the most part i do alright. it came from AOL in high school. that was so cool back then, and it's what you did from the time you got home from school till you went to bed. you chatted it up. an itw as fun. so you have to get fast to keep up a converstaion on that thing. otherweise there are these long awkward pauses and you get impatient to know what the ppl are thinking. so ig ot really fast at typing, even if somewhat inaccurate. i can get the piont across. so even though my blgos are really long, it doesn't take me that long to actually type them out. enjoy!! sorry for the typo-s. i know that can be horrible to try and read. i can understand it perfectly enough but i suppose other ppl can't. i used to write eric long letters from idaho when i lived there for a summer. my writing would get really fast too and he wouln't be able to decipher what in the world i wrote. i could figure it out sometimes though b/c it was my own thought and i could finish it without having the letter in front of me. but eric used to make bad words too and he couldn't figure out what in the world he had been talking about. we are all guilty. i am jsut more guilty of fast typing and bad typos. i'd rather be fast though.

have i mentioned yet how much i hate night shifts?

i am so grumpy right now i don't even want to blog. i don't want to type, i don't want to talk to anyone, and i have the hiccups. i hate night shift. i hate night shift. but it doesn't get any better by me typing that a hundred times. so i'll just continue to hiccup, be grumpy, not like anyone i talk to, and wish i was warm and cuddled deep inside the soft blankets of my bed. grrrrr. this is it. i can't even type on the blog. i thought i'd try, but there's no way i can be creative enough to even spell a word bigger than...'creative'. whoa, that was pretty big at 2 in the morning. i hate night shift.

Voldemort the Wart

the weather simply couldn't be nicer here. i used to think arkansas got wonderful spring days. then i moved to SLC. wow, it's like 65 or 70 degrees, and absolutely NO HUMIDITY!! my hair loves it. i've never had so many good hair days in a row. we still have the snow capped mountains nearby to look at and enjoy, yet spring weather. it would be incredibly perfect if it weren't for one thing: voldemort the wart. i've had a plantar wart on the 3 digit of my left foot for some 3 months now. when i first got the wart, i didn't know what it was. i felt something hurting on the bottom of my toe, and saw this little speck, and knew i had seen something like it, somewhere else before. but i just couldn't put my finger on what! so it went on like that for a month. then i talked to my sister and described what it was and she said, "silly, it's a wart!". i was like, oh, duh. so i started using that liquid wart remover (but i got the off-brand from our super target- yeah, the west has super targets. they have everything walmart has but it's way swankier) anyway, maybe that's why the liquid stuff just wouldn't stay on. or maybe it's the fact that the wart is on the bottom corner of my toe and is a really hard place to keep anything on. well, that just wasn't working so i tried the wart removal patches. they were really starting to work, but then i went climbing for 4 days and the patch fell off on day 1 and voldemort returned with vengeance. so, right about this time in my wart's history, i desided that such a seemingly permanent fixture of my foot deserved a name, so that i could refer to it as more than 'it' or 'the wart'. so indecent! eric actually came up with the name: voldemort. shout out to all the other harry potter fans. thanks to night shift i read all 6 of the books in like, 6 weeks. and then i watched the movies. which, by the way, are much different than the books. good movies, but sometimes a completely different story line. i was thinking the other day that i was really ahppy i wasn't a movie producer. how can you take a book, written so eloquently and elaborately, and diminish it down to a screen play? and then direct it. produce it. process it. edit it. that seems really hard. i'm glad i am not a movie producer/director/editor. but, back to voldemort. today, i decided i had had enough. after the climbing-patch-falling-off-incident i tried to use the patches again, but to no avail. he had returned and decided that no such little patch could daunt his efforts to take over my entire foot. right about this time i grew afraid that they would have to remove my entire toe in order to get rid of the wart. i deal with a lot of diabetics at work, and when a diabetic gets a sore or something on their foot, theywill almost certainly lose that toe and quite possibly lose the entire foot. so i begin to have nightmares about losing my whole toe. so i made an appt with a dermatologist. i waited over an hour this mroning for a 5 minute appointment. doens't that stink? why is it always like that in the dr office? i just don't see where they get so off schedule. if i ever work in a dr office, i will make sure that all patient's are seen in a timely way. yes, you can all come to my Dr's office. it will be very punctual. punctual polly. yes. anyway, i waited forever. then he came in with the liquid nitro. ouch! it really hurt. at first you're like okay, i can take this, but then the aftershock sets in , and that pain is worse than the pain while they are actually freezing it. the Dr gave me this scary looking loopy instrument and told me in 7-10 days i should scrape/cut off the top of voldemort. he's not happy about it. he's been complaining all day. so this took like 5 minutes and was a whole days worth of pain. and thte worse part is, i was going climbing with coby this afternoon. and then the Dr told me i couldn't climb for 10 days!! 1O DAYS! doesn't he know it's prime climbing season?! geez, why didn't i get rid of volde back in january when there was nothing to do but snowboard?! anywya, i talked to coby, who freaked out b/c i am leaving for a backpacking trip in 13 days, which means she won't get to climb for the 13 days plus the 12 i am gone on the trip. poor coby. and her old boyfriend is coming to visit and she wants to be on top of her game so badly. i am her only climbing partner, which kinda stinks b/c i f i become out of commission, so does she. she told me that ppl climb with sprained wrists b/c they don't want to get out of shape. i was thinking, "what are you trying to say? i should climb with the ex-voldemort half frozen half trying to come back alive and kicking?!" so i am going to play it by ear. if it hurts too much i wn't climb. but if he doesn't, then i will c limb. i can't not climb for 10 days. that would be bad right now cuz we are just gettin gon top of everything. literally. but then, smart me, goes to the mall to get a mothers day card and use a gift cert i had and then i had to go to the grocery store and now volde is really mad. he's complaining and i'm not even moving. my whole foot is throbbing. this is awful! and all for such a little guy. sooo, it's one of the loveliest days yet, and i have to stay inside and try to be nice to my dying wart. warts are over rated. this sucks!

i have been reading a good book on esther yang's recommendation. called the red tent. interesting take on an old bible story about jacob and his wives and sons and t hen about Dinah, the daughter who got raped or something like that. i dno't remember the bible story exacly and haven' gotten that far int eh book yet. but it is an entertaining book. not good literature per se, but a good entertaining book. a 'beach book' as my old high school english teacher would say. nothing to explicate or write an AP essay on.

to all those smoothie lovers: i have found a good and healthy recipe for smoothies at home! i bough t a back of mixed berries from walmart, a carton of vanilla yogurt and came home to my awesome (and truly it is a beauty) black kitchen aid blender. it rocks. it really does. so i put some yogurt, mixed berries, ice, and a little milk into the beautiful blender and whirled away. it was really yummy. and if you think about it, really healthy. enjoy.

i have to work night shift this week. wed, thurs, and friday night. i'll prolly get around to blogging then, and i bet it's going to be kinda weird. like who blogs at 4 am? not me. except on night shift. i hate night shift. maybe i'll save my complaining for when i am in the moment and i can accurately describe the terrible feelings lack of sleep can give you. they say that driving while tired (ie when i am driving home in the morning after working) is like driving on the quivalent of 4 beers. i believe it. my distance judgement is somewhat impaired when i dirve home. like pulling up behind cars i think i am farther away than i actually am. i haven't hit anythingi yet, and i pray every timei drive home. but it is scary. watch out for night shift nurses on the interstate and stop lights intersections!

eric is leaving this friday for a whole week. that's a long time. he's going to seattle for the MRI conference. i wonder if he will see lots of 'seattle-ish' ppl (again, see gennie's blog. maybe i should copy that post here so eveyone will know what i am talking about. gennie will at least) i am sad that he is leaving for so long. a week is a long time for a spouse to be gone. id id it to him in march when i went back to AR for a wedding. i felt bad for him then, now i feel bad fo rme! fortuantely, i work 3 of those days, and some of the nights. when he leaves i'll be in a drunken stupor from not enough sleep, so i won't really miss him until i wake up that evening and have to make my breakfast on my won. eric makes my breakfast. i make dinner. but he always faithfully pours my cereal, and toasts my cinnamin raisen bread, and pours me some water and makes my tea. that way i can sleep in a little longer and stil get ready at a normal pace. cuz it takes me a bit longer than he to get ready. it's truly a nice thing for a husband to do for his wife.

not that i am in the market for children, (not for 10 years!) i heard a really sweet girl name the other day that i thought i would keep in the back of my head for a girl some day (again, 10 years away at this point!) TRUDY. isn't that sweet? kinda old fashioned like my name, yet imcredibly darling and cute. i can see this cute girl right now with the name of trudy. now, no one else that reads this blog can name any of their future or current offspring trudy. i claim it. you prolly don't like it enough anyway. i wrote it in the back of my bible so i will always have it. someday, some day i'll have a little trudy. :)

i had dinner last sunday night with a doctor and his wife taht eric and i met on the ski lift. random huh? he's really nice though, i recognized his name from it being on our white board to call for questions. he took off his helmet on the lift and i was like, do you work at the U? and he said yes. he ended up skiing with us the rest of the day. it was nice. it was fun to meet his wife. it's pretty incredible that 2 sets of complete strangers can get together for a meal and actually have decent conversation. there weren't even any awkward moments. they are a really nice couple, and they understand where eric is in his life. our newer friends don't quite sympathize with all the studying eric hs to do b/c they are all done with school. so his new couple, phil and erin, understand quite well. it was fun. that's how we've had to make friends here in utah: just put ourselves out there. meet random ppl, get their number, find out if they are christian or LDS, and come up with someting to do. i met jessie for coffee yesterday, and got to share 'ourstories'. it wasf un. girl talk. getting to know another girl. it made me feel connected more to salt lake, and our new friends. jessie is married to matt. and another girl i really like is natalie. she is married to joe, who is 39 and a hoot. he makes me laugh mre than anyone else. he doesn't act 39 at all. it's so fun to have married couple friends. it makes a big differenc in what you talk about and the understanding level between you. like when any of us wants to go home to see their spouse, the rest of us can totally understand. just go. i understand you need to be with your husband for dinner. b/c thats what i would want in return. i really like hanging out with joe and nat, and jessie and matt. on sunday after church we played volleyball in quite possibly the most beautiful volleyball court ever. it was in park city, the weather was like today, and when you looked across the court through the net you saw snw capped moutnains. the court was really ncie with new white sand so we played bare foot. i wish i was good at volleyball. i am terrible. really bad. but i can serve well. i don't know wher ei learned to do that, bu every one of my serves made it over the net on sunday. i was proud of myself. i coudln't hit the ball any other time though. volleyball was never my strong point. but it's one of thse hard core sports where i want to be able to take of fmy shirt and play in a swim suit with a totally ripped set of abs. that's super hard core. hard core like rock climbing is hard core. "cuz you're not hard core, unless yo u live hard core, and the legend of the rent was way hard core" thank you jack black and school of rock. that's a great movie. i hate jack black. he's crude with a kinda of stupid sense of humor(but that's b/c i like dry, witty humor. not the dumb and dumber kinda of humor) but he actually does a good job with this movie. speaking of movies, eric has never seen a princess bride. so we tried to rent it from the library, but it was so scratched that we only made it half way through the fire swamp before having to turn it off. so he sitl hasn't seen it. although i tried to quote it for him line by line (and i almost got it entirely correct) it's just not the same as actually seeing humperdinck and all the rest.

if you have made it this far in my blog, congratulations. this is quite long. i am impressed that you can read that much of my mind's eye. i just kinda sit down and writ eeverything that goes through my head. eric said he could tell. i wonder what that means.....

i am going to go put up my foot, b/c voldemort is being cantankerous. thanks to all who leave comments on my blog. i love comments. :)

this isn't the bible belt

so, one of the nicest things about being a nurse is the time off. i view my job as the thing i do to pay bills, so that i can afford to play. my job is not my life. my job is the avenue through which i afford my life. i just got done with a 5 day-off spree, in which i took no vacation. now, doesn't everyone want to be a nurse?! alas, today i went back to work though. i must say, waking up at 0530 3 days in a row is kind hard. i sleep in on the days i have off (if sleeping in utnil 0800 counts that is..) but my body never gets in a routine. so i'll be really tired on saturday morning when i actually get to sleep in for the first time in 3 days. still, i really enjoy the flexibility of my job. i think that is one of the strongest good points about being a nurse. flexibility. otherwise, being a nurse is just downright hard. (i am always blogging about nursing b/c i am at work when i blog..) when you meet strangers, day to day, they are, in general, nice. right? the person who served you ice cream this afternoon, he/she was nice weren't they? and the person who let you out in traffic this morning- they were probably a nice, amiable person looking out for someone else in the morning rush. and what about the checker at the grocery store? they were cordial, greeted you, and politely told you how much you owed. HOWEVER, put any of those ppl in the hospital and they turn into mean, horrible, hateful, demanding, thankless OGRES! either that, or, people who go to the hospitals are in general meaner than the average joe. i've never met so many mean ppl in my entire life! most ppl i meet outside of my job are nice, but maybe that's b/c the ppl in retial and grocery stores are customer satisfation related. maybe they actually really are mean ppl. but ppl in the hospital are just down right, outright, not-even-trying-to-disguise-it mean. and i know that they are out of their element, uncomfortable, in pain, and in general feeling rather awkard. but if i, or any of my friends, were in the hospital, i garantee they would at least say "please' and 'thank you'. or consider the job of the nurse. or apologize for being a bother. 90% of ppl in thehospital don't even go there. maybe i expect too much. maybe they expect too much. the job of a nurse is full of pre-conceived expectations. they should answer me when i need them right away. they should wait on only me. they should, they should they should etc. if you respond to this post you could tell me what you would expect from a nurse if you were hospitalized tonight from a car wreck. maybe that would help me understand my job better. one area i have for growth is in the spiritual realm. i deeply desire to pray with my patients. but it has been really hard to initate that. sometimes i wonder, what if they are mormon? what will they think or respond? and other times i just don't know how to bring that up. i've been praying about it for months, asking god to show me the correct time to bring up such a desire with a patient. i forget all too often too. b/c i get hungry. or tired. or i want to blog (whoops!) but i think it would be a very poweful and good ministry here in the hospital. i mean, i kind of have victims. they can't get away! they are stuck in their beds, hurting, or unable to walk fast enough to get away from me praying...tha'ts kinda a weird way to think about it though...

tonight i am going to bible study again. i am excited about it. i am always excited about it though. when i used to lead a bible study in fayetteville, i kinda dreaded it. it was awkward, and not many ppl talked. and only a certain few talk at this new bible study, but i can tell more ppl will start to open up with some time. i am still so interested in seeing what they have to say about studies i have done personally or corporately over the past few years. maybe ppl in utah were taught differently...after all, this isn't the bible belt.

eshter's stay went fabulously! she went skiing one day, and then got on my snowboard at the end of the day and did really well. the next day i took her rock climbing. i msut say i am quite proud of myself for getting her as sore as she is now. i don't think she can get herself out of bed without groaning. only, she lives alone so no one wil know. we explored some new parts of salt lake/park city yesterday. we went to the DI or Deseret Industry. which is a mormon owned thrift store. and it rocked! there were tons of good name brand clothes! i found a north face denali vest(for men) and bought it for 4$!! then we went to nordstrom rack- a discount store from the original store. it was super cheap and had super cute things! i got a fun pair of mary jane shoes that look totally 'seattle' (see my comment on gennie davis' blog here ) then we went to park city and check out the factory outlet stores. the banana republic was quite good considering in recent months they have upped their prices by almost 75% and have decided to beome more "boutiquish" and not sell as many of the same thing and just make what htey do sell mor expesive. the ann taylor was great. i bough t acardigan for 10$. only thing is when i go shopping these days, i don't need anything anymore. cuz where do i wear it??! i wear scrubs most of the time, and then when i am not at work i wear my patagonia climbing clothes or just comfy stuff around. but summer is here which mean si can wear my skirts again , so pershaps i'll start ot wear allt hose cute clothes i have from being in the south and needing to live up to southern belle par. then we went to the gap outlet. it was alright. not spectactular. but the thing with outlets and thrift sotres is you have to go often to get the best deals.

well, it is approximately 1900, and that means i get to give report on my patietns and go home. whooppeee!!!!

Esther and i riding at Snowbird, April 2006--sooooo fun!!! More pics of Esther's outdoor adventures on her blog.

Skiing in POWDER at the end of April

so Esther Yang is here visiting me this week. It's been a blast so far. today we went skiing/snowboarding at Snowbird in Little Cottonwood Canyon. She did quite well as it had been a full decade since she had last touched a pair of skis. unfortunately, snowbird is quite steep, with virtually no green runs. so she was thrust out into the world of blue-rated runs far too quickly. but at the end of the day we retired to the bunny slope(the easiest run on the mountain) and switched gear- she put on my snowboard and i used her skiis. it was so fun! she did very well, for the first time. if you have never tried to snowboarding, it is super hard- it feels nearly impossible when you first begin. so we started her with "falling leaf' which is the movement you make to first get down the hill when you have no idea which way is up or down on the snowboard. she did really well with it. i have more pictures i'll post later (by the way, i just really discovered thsi whole picture thing- can you tell?! i've posted like 10 pictures in the last day. but now you all can see what i actualy do out here and what it really looks like!) but what is the craziest thing about today is that snowbird probably will recieve around 3-5 inches of snow by the end of the day. it's april for crying out loud!! how can there be snow?! but there is- we still have a base depth of 150 inches and the snow is still falling. so, not only did esther get to ski at the end of april (when it is like 95 degrees in arkansas) but she got some powder to boot. that's utah for you- everybody should live here (except that then it would be too crowded and i'd wish that everyone would leave). so, hurray for snow in april and a good day of riding!!!

Beautiful Utah

Ahhh, yes! a classic Indian Creek climb: Scarface, 5.11 with a beautiful view in the backgroun. i can't believe i live here!!!!

Me and Eric on top of the same tower near the Fischer Towers, March 2006.

Sam Higby and I on top of a random tower near the Fischer Towers, Southern Utah, March 2006. We went to climb Ancient Art, but there were so many parties climbing that day that we decided to climb this little 30 ft tower near the parking lot. It was fun!

Me in Monument Valley, Arizona, March 2006. you can't do much in monument valley except drive through it. but still, it's an impressive sight. there is no rock climbing in monument valley b/c it is navajo reservation land, and is considered sacred by the tribe.

Eric and I in Arches National Park, Delicate Arch, February 2006. We stopped by Arches Nat'l Park on our way to climb in Indian Creek- a crack climbing mecca in southern utah, about 45 minutes from Moab.

Leading Binou's Crack, 5.9, Indian Creek, Utah. February 2006

Leading a random 5.8 in Red Rocks, Nevada, April 2006

Climbing in St. George, Utah February 2006. Coby is my new climbing partner!

Snowboarding at Snowbird, Little Cottonwood Canyon, Salt Lake, Utah, December 2005. I had just gotten off the bunny slope, and i think i fell right after this picture was taken! Learning to snowboard was one of the hardest things i've ever done. But snowbird is an uncommonly steep resort with 2800 vertical feet from base to top. i now can ride much better! :)

Bridal Veil Falls, Provo Canyon, Utah. January 2006. Ice climbing-YIKES!! so fun, but scary with 28 pointy things all with lethal potential (two ice axes, one pair of crampons)

Backcountry snowboarding in Big Cottonwood Canyon, the Wasatch Range, Salt Lake City, Utah. February 2006. The hike up kills, but the smooth, fresh powder on the way down is worth every bit of effort.