Leap Frog

A few years ago my now brother-in-law, but then sister's boyfriend, tried to give me some advice about a boy I was dating. 'Come on Em, just take a leap of faith.'  That's what he said, trying to convince me to marry the guy.  I remember he was on the phone with her. We were at the beach.  I had brought my boyfriend on our family trip, but I knew things wouldn't go anywhere.  I'm happy I didn't take his advice then.  It would have been a leap, but not a faithful one.  Fast forward to now.  Now it's my sister saying, 'why not? just see what happens.' - take a leap of faith, but not in the exact words.  I can't believe the leaps I'm taking in faith.  It's not one big leap like jumping into marriage, but a bunch of little leaps, kind of like leap frog.  And they are all full of faith.

But then again, isn't that what I've been doing all along?  That's what my life is made up of - many leaps of faith - leaps of faith that brought me out to Utah, leaps of faith that made me stay in Utah, and leaps of faith that will take me who knows where next!

Anyway.  That's what I was thinking about tonight.  Taking a leap of faith.

Recap

I'm back from my most recent trip to Toronto, which means I've been home for one of the last five weeks.  I'm not sick of my hotel room yet.  I think it's the wonderful down pillows on the bed and the fabulous restaurants around the corner.

So remember that great deal on got on my newspaper subscription?  It's kinda resulted in a bunch of piled up newspapers that I haven't read because I haven't really been home.  I will be looking for the Sunday paper coupons before they go to the recycle bin.

I had a great time in Toronto, also took a jaunt down to New York a couple times.  Here are some pictures...

The CN Tower

A power substation in the middle of downtown. 

 The view of downtown from Toronto Island - took bikes on the ferry this night. 

Went down to Buffalo for the weekend - at at Anchor Bar, home of the ORIGINAL buffalo wing. 

Celebrated Veterans Day by touring some decommissioned Navy ships and a submarine. 

View of the lighthouse in the bay. 

Toronto Temple

Entering the states again. 

View of Niagara Falls from Niagara Gorge.  Looking at Rainbow Bridge.

On Goat Island, looking at Horseshoe Falls on the Canadian side.

A Few Numbers

I have four trips planned at the moment between now and the end of the year. Three will take me through Atlanta.  One will keep me there for a week.  And that's not including any plans for Thanksgiving!  In the next five weeks, I'll be home one.  I will be living out of a hotel the other four.  One is also the number of days I've known about the two week trip I'm taking on Monday.

Two is the number of times I've now been to Yellowstone and the Tetons.  And I couldn't find my camera before I left, so I don't have pictures yet.  I had a fun roadtrip with my mom while she was out here visiting.  We canned pears, ate Papa Murphy's pizza, and ate real Belgium crepes.  I even made bread again - new recipe - and it was perfect!  So easy and delicious.

Six is the number of days it took me to read Saving CeeCee Honeycutt.  It was awesome.  Do you get addicted to books like I do.  It's sad but true - I might have declined an offer for dinner at a REALLY nice hotel in downtown Atlanta one time because I was so engrossed in a book.  I'm serious.  Luckily for me I tend to do most of my reading the week I'm on vacation at the beach.  I don't have to worry about anything serious coming up that will make me put down my book.  I had another one of those things happen this week.  I woke up Sunday morning and picked up my book (well, picked up my Kindle) and it's a good thing I already decided to go to afternoon church because I couldn't put the book down.  I think I read for over 3 hours.  And it's a good thing church was good because even so I was wishing I had brought my book to read.  And it's a good thing I didn't bring my Kindle to work to read during lunch or else I would never have ended my lunch break.  But it was the first thing I did when I got home.  I couldn't wait to get home and read even though I knew I had a big meeting the next day I needed to prepare for.  It was almost like turning down a date.  I read and kept reading.  Knowing all along I might be setting myself up for a disaster by not spending time preparing for this meeting.  I was addicted.  I had to finish it.  No matter how many times I told myself I needed to stop, I couldn't.  I even had to call my sister to ask how many pages I had left because my Kindle just shows the percentage completed.  I decided I could finish it in the next hour and I kept reading so I could finish it even though it's one of those things that you kinda hope won't end, but you really want it to so you can move on with your life.  Really - is it just me or does this happen to anyone else?  

Back to the numbers. I started getting the newspaper and I saved $21 at the store the other day - $14 in coupon savings.

If you have restaurant recommendations or know of anything to do on the weekends in Toronto, let me know.

Near Disaster

I was making my bread this morning and I was doing so well.  I thought I had done everything right - even starting the yeast in warm water.  Well, I put the bowl of dough in the fridge to rise (odd, but that's why they're called refrigerator rolls) and then looked at the counter to clean it and realized there was a bowl of eggs that I neglected to put in with the wet ingredients!  I took the dough out of the fridge, poured the eggs in and tried to stir them in.  Well.  It didn't work very well.  So I turned the mixer on.  And it was a little better, but not really.  I added some flour.  And what do you know!  It started to look like real dough!

Anyway.  I put it in the fridge - it rose to double in size (good because it was a cool day and I didn't want to turn on our little furnace) and I pinched off some dough balls and baked some rolls!

And they were delicious!  And very tasty.  Full of flavor.  I was quite proud of myself for averting an almost disaster of 8 cups of flour and two yeast packets and 4 eggs!  It would have been a big waste. And now I'm going to make some cinnamon rolls with the rest of it.  mmm....

Happy Dayz

Wow.  What a great weekend so far and I still have a day ahead of me!  After a long Friday at work, a friend and I had some shopping therapy at the mall.  She was looking for jeans - so we headed to Nordstrom where they have Sevens (or so we thought - N now doesn't carry Sevens because they are not as good quality as Citizens, so no one was buying them) and Citizens. News flash for me since I just bought some a few months ago.  Oh well.  I like them and they look good on me.  The employees at N's are so helpful - shopping assistants really - that they always have us (I had to at least try on a pair) try on things they suggest.  And her suggestion was Paige jeans.  I had never heard of them.  But apparently Paige was the jean model for Citizens and then she went off and made her own line (I am recounting all of this for you because I'm thinking that you're like me and you had no clue about Paige or her new jeans line).  Well, these are the MOST COMFORTABLE jeans in the whole world (and they cost less than Citizens).  Seriously.  They fit perfectly, they are higher in the waist - don't create love handles - and they are stretchy, so you can squat down and no feel the back pull.  I am definitely going to buy some.  Someday.  You should too.  They will make you look good and feel happy.  And I'm not getting paid a cent for promoting this.  My friend got the Paiges.

#2 good thing that happened at the mall.  Banana Republic (where I buy 95% of my clothes) had a 40% off all tops and pants (so basically everything except scarves because the hand bags and jewelry were also 40% off) in the whole store.  And they had a pair of 6L (my size) black dress pants which never go on sale online- and are never in the store unless someone ordered them online and returned them to the store (that was the case here) - were 40% off.  That's a good deal!  I also needed shoes -  I really need to revamp my shoe wardrode - but there were no sales on the shoes I liked.  Darn.

Saturday morning - I was going to go on a bike ride up Emigration Canyon - haven't done that ride yet and I was excited to do it.  But we had a lot of rain Friday night and the roads were still kinda wet.  So thanks to Facebook, I saw my friend posted that she was up here at Sugarhouse Park doing a 5K run/walk for the American Heart Association.  So I high-tailed it up there and joined them in the run and then for the heart walk after.  It was so fun to be outside early on such a beautiful day!  Really the weather was perfect.  It was fun to see her and catch up and to see her at work with the teens from the Boys and Girls Club.

I didn't have plans for the afternoon, so I came home and did some seriously cleaning and organizing.  I threw out a lot of old papers and odds and ends that I don't need.  I think I need to do another run through to get rid of more stuff.  I just don't need the stuff.  I'm trying to be like my Paige jeans friend.  She has very little that clutters her house.  I admire her for it.  That's not to say I don't like having my tent, backpack, frisbee, camping chair, holiday decorations, ice cream churn, extra pillows, books, basketball, rollerblades and such. I think she has a lot of that stuff, it's just still at her parent's house.  So I don't feel so bad.  But I still think I can be better organized.  And through my cleaning up I found several things that I had been missing, so I was thrilled - one was quite important and contained highly confidential things in it.

I had to go to a wedding reception yesterday evening up in Midway, so I decided to leave early and hit up the outlets on my way.  Again - Banana had many items 40% off, but I didn't want any of them.  I did find a really cute sweater for just $20, so I bought it.

Then I headed over to Midway and I was just guided to the house.  Seriously.  I don't know how I got there. It was a new subdivision, so it wasn't on google maps or my gps.  I was a little early, so I just turned into this subdivision to look at the houses (I thought the place I was supposed to go was still a few miles down the road).  As I drove through the neighborhood, I started seeing street names that started with 'Dutch'.  The house I was going to was on Dutch Fields Pkwy.  So I knew I was actually close to where I needed to be.  I thought I had passed the street my reception was on (still trying to kill time) and drove around more thinking I'd come back to it.  Well, then not paying attention to the street names anymore, I drove right up to a bunch of parked cars, saw a beautiful young lady in a wedding dress and decided since it was exactly 6:00 and I was exactly at the house for the reception, I would get out and go on in.  This family has the most beautiful house.  The dinner party was in the back yard.,  There was a tent with a dance floor and  dinner tables set up all around.  Since I was by myself, I was a little self-conscious.   But this nice couple came up to me and started chatting.  Everyone was so nice there - my friends have really good friends.  It was just such a happy and comfortable group.  I left thinking that's exactly how I want my wedding reception to be.  I want to marry into a fabulous and fun family like Anne did (I already know my family is as fabulous as Anne's, so no work needed there).  I'm so happy for her.

Then the night ended watching BYU LOSE BIG to Utah.  What a sad game.  I feel bad for the players who must have gotten really chewed out after the game.  But it really was unbelievable.  Darn turnovers.  But what was even better was the Utah fans I was watching the game with weren't overjoyed for the win because they knew the high score was mainly due to just really bad mistakes on BYU's part, not because Utah was playing exceptionally well.  It's not much fun to see your team win a sloppy game.

Thank goodness football games don't have a lot of control on my emotions.  I went to bed last night just really fulfilled and happy.  And now I'm going to attempt to make bread.

Garden of the Gods

Our visit to Colorado Springs was just like being in southern Utah (and they are pretty close geographically so I don't know why I was so surprised!).

I did really enjoy Old Colorado City afterwards as well. We had some fabulous peaches from the farmer's market and delicious greek food at Jake and Telly's.

Nevada road blocks

This was a road block I encountered on after leaving one of our sites in July. They were in the middle of a cattle drive and had to clear the way for me.

The second one of the haul truck was on the main street in Elko. They were doing road construction and had to move all the cones for the wide truck to get through. That was a first-time excuse for being late. These trucks are typically just seen at the mine sites- not in the city!

And more Canada

The CN tower is the structure that looks like the Seattle Space Needle. This picture was taken from the conference room I was in for a few days - 38th floor. Lake Ontario is the wide open blue space beyond the buildings. 

I went to a Jays game - sat on the 4th row just beyond first base!

Proof that there were Canadians there

And the Hockey Hall of Fame was in the food court below my building.  I didn't go inside, but I looked at the entrance and felt like that was sufficient for me!

More Toronto

Sorry for the random pictures, but I'm trying out posting from my phone.  And it works!  And I can even send two pictures to be in the same post.  Perhaps I'm a little behind the times, but at least I'm progressing with my technology know-how.  

The glass floor at the CN tower.   My two compadres were too scared to stand on it, so I took pictures with their phones for them.  It's about 145 stories high - to where I'm standing I think.

The downtown financial district

That pesto jar I was so excited about...

Lake Ontario

The view of Lake Ontario from the top of the CN Tower.

Big Spender

After three weeks of eating out at restaurants for every meal or gorging myself with delicious family meals on the weekends, I finally went to the grocery store.  I think I thought I was still cooking for my weekend companions because I found a lot of good recipes and bought a lot of good food. I know the only reason I went to the grocery store the week before my traveling started was to get a couple items for my excursion to the cabin.  Then the week before that I think the only time I went to the grocery store was to get things again for the cabin and campout with my dad.  The week before that I think I went grocery shopping just for my weekend trip to Zions (see a trend here?).  The week before that I was in Nevada most of the week.

And so it's been a while since I've been home long enough to actually look for some recipes and plan meals to cook without the food going bad before I eat it.  So today started off with a trip to the Salt Lake Farmer's Market.  I was in search of peaches.  And I bought a lot of good ones.  And raspberries from Cache Valley.  And a couple tomatoes and zucchini.  Then I came home, looked up recipes to use these things with and started making a grocery list of the missing items.  The list kept growing - thanks in part to some delicious sounding recipes like risotto and herb-butter shrimp pasta.  After searching through this week's grocery ads, I had my plan of attack set up to get the best deals.

Off I went to Smiths.  Then home to put everything in the freezer and fridge.  Then off I went to Sunflower Market.  Wow did I have fun there!  I'm going back much more often.  I'm happy I forgot the pesto at Smith's because I got a huge jar at Sunflower for the same price.  Shrimp were on sale so I got some to freeze.  And raspberries were 2/$3 for a small carton that's usally $3.50 or $4.00.  They have a bulk section, so I got some rice flour to use with my zucchini fries (Tami inspired) and what's that healthy stuff - qinuoa.  That was on sale too in bulk, so I got some of that to try.  They even have a  bulk spice section so you can get just a touch of something instead of buying a whole jar of a spice you'll use just once.  They just had all sorts of great stuff at some really good prices.  It was a lot of fun.

So after my three food stops, I ended up spending more in one day than I usually do in a month on food.  (which also equals to about what I was spending on two days of food when I was traveling.)

So I made the delicious herb-butter shrimp pasta linguine.  It was really good.  You know it's good when you take a bite and think - yep.  I would buy this in a restaurant.  That's what I thought.  It was good.  But I got so caught up in making it that I forgot about the zucchini fries, so I'll have to do those another time.  And then I was pretty full and satisfied, so I put off making my fruit dessert.  Because I kinda want to eat it when it's super fresh.

Three choices for tomorrow's dessert:
peach gallete
raspberry lemon tart
peach-almond crisp

I think I'll make them all at some point - it's just a matter of which one to make first.

how does it work?

Are there simple, everyday things that you don't know anything about?  Last night I sent a pair of slacks down for laundry service.  They were dry cleaned.  I take clothes to the dry cleaners all the time.  I grew up with my mom picking up my dad's shirts at the cleaner's each week.  Shouldn't I know how this common process works?  And yet it's still a mystery to me.  The clothes are cleaned by steam (hence they stay dry).  Are there any soap or chemicals involved?  How does steam alone clean clothes?  And how does the really hot press get my old pant creases out so only the new one shows without burning the pants?  I think I need to take a tour of a cleaners operation.  But what is there to tour?  The only thing in the building is a large conveyor system of plastic hanging bags.  And I think they just hang up clothes to make it look like they get a lot of business.  Anyone else with me?  How are there always so many people that don't pick up their clothes?

And why is it so expensive?  I paid last night to clean a pair of slacks what I would spend on 3 big bottles of detergent that could last me a year.  Who can answer these questions?

Thank you Carrie for letting me do my laundry at your house! 

Judgment Failure

Had an experience over the past few days that seriously called into question my judgment.  I'm so embarrassed I even let the situation go on for as long as I did.  I knew full well all along that he was weird.  Lots of weird things about him, but he was an OK nice guy and I went along with it.  Please stop me next time.  I have to think - if he wasn't tall, would I still give him the time of day?  No.  Ok.  there's my answer.  I'm a sucker for tall guys.  If he was shorter, I wouldn't think twice about him.  Please make him go out of my life forever.  I'm smart.  I knew better.  I am stronger than that.

My last request of him: Please don't call me again.

A few visuals to go along with the stories

Just a few pictures to go along with all the stories...

These were taken down in Zions.  (Some will be repeats from Bekah's blog)

Famous view from the backyard 

Making zucchini fries

Here are some from this past weekend: 

My little cottage in the woods

What an awesome camping spot!  Seriously

That's the best tent - it kept us dry and warm in all the rain

And I can't wait to go back this weekend!

Signs

Really.  There were so many mosquitoes in the mountains last weekend.  I felt like I was a baseball manager giving signs to the pitcher.

At one point we passed a group of campers with the mosquito hats and netting around their heads.  My dad said he thought they looked really goofy until he realized what he looked like trying to keep them away....

Oh the places you'll go

What a great week it's been!  I spent last weekend in Zion's with my favorite BYU roommates, continued the fun with Jen and Tami, then Bree and Tami, then Brent and Tami, then Nancy....I loved spending time with them.  They really are some of my favorite people.  I respect and admire each of them so much.  

I picked up my dear ol' dad on Friday night from the SLC airport.  After spending some time in the fishing section of Dick's Sporting Goods, we headed over to Biaggi's for dinner.  I totally recommend Biaggis - it's an Italian restaurant at the Gateway and they had the best bread (of course)!  You dip it into this 'cheesy butter' - olive oil with parmesean and Romano cheeses sprinkled in.  I will definitely be going back there again.  It was late when we were about to head up to the cabin, and I might have suggested we could stay in SLC for the night.  Dad said, no let's go on up.  And it's a good thing we did because my cousin Dan was up there waiting for us because we had the key!  It was fun to see him and have some company up there.

We did some hiking on Saturday morning before heading up to Island Lake with our backpacks for the night. The mosquitoes were horrendous.  And I mean the worst I've ever seen.  And I've seen bad mosquitoes.  I tried to take a picture and they were on my camera lens. I like camping with my dad because he likes to have really good food when he camps.  Like shrimp.  Yes, I packed in raw shrimp.  And my dad cooked it up so good!  And I'm sure it wasn't just because everything tastes better when you're camping.  And there's one reason I don't like camping with my dad - it always rains.  ALWAYS.  It hasn't rained on me camping probably since the last time I was with my dad.  Ok, I don't remember for sure, but it has been a while.  And it was a good thing we were in my new super deluxe tent.  We didn't get wet a lick.  It was so comfortable and dry and warm.  We hiked out this morning about 4 miles. I've got some pretty red bruises on my hips from the pack.  My legs are still strong, but my whole body is achy from no sleep for two nights.  I'm not sure why I like camping so much.  I think next time I'll take earplugs.  That way I won't hear the animals around the campsite.  Or my dad's growling stomach.

This evening, I went to visit my old roommate from Atlanta who was here visiting here parents.  We had a delicious dinner, they have a fabulous backyard with lots of gardens and chickens.  Her little boy was the cutest - he sang songs and counted and jumped on the trampoline all evening.

On the way home I noticed that my trip odometer is almost clicked up to 900 miles.  I reset it last Sunday after church when we went to Grafton.  I've driven almost 900 miles in the last week!!  That's crazy.

Potlucked Out

I like the idea of potlucks and they can be really fun.  Kind of like a recipe swap.  You get to try new dishes and eat a little bit of a lot of different things.  I went to two just this weekend alone and I was even out of town Friday night!  One thing I don't like about potlucks is that sometimes I end up spending more money on a 'side dish' than I would for a whole dinner for myself.  I thought potlucks were good because you bring one part of dinner, but you still get to have all the parts.  Does that make sense?  Last night I didn't take anything.  But then nobody else really did either.  Bad potluck.  And everyone just stands around nibbling and trying to chat and they really don't want to be there anyway, but there wasn't anything better to do, besides - it's 'free' food!  Tonight, I took a veggie tray.  And it was inexpensive.  And everyone ate all the veggies.  But still it was a 'BYOM' deal.  Ok.  Let me get this straight.  I bring my own meat and a dish to share and I have to have awkward conversations with weird people and there are no chairs for me to sit on.  Why do I want to go to dinner with you?  I don't even know what is in that pasta salad.  I don't know who made those cookies or whose hands have been in that chip bag.  Why don't I just stay at home?  I remember the potluck linger longers we had after church in Atlanta.  Now there were some people that knew how to cook!  That was really fun trying all that good cookin'.

I was invited to another potluck this week.  What happened to the good ol' days when someone had a party and you didn't have to bring your own dessert?  I love a good BBQ, but I'm just potlucked out.  

Must be a Joke

This was posted on the wall for an event on Facebook with over 2,000 invitees:

The event costs $5.  I have no idea who the guy is.  But really.  Don't tell the whole world.

My First Ragnar Race

I finally gave in and ran in a Ragnar relay race - the Wasatch Back!  I've heard about this race for several years and finally joined a team for 2011.  I was runner #2 and ran 13.2 miles on the backside of the Wasatch mountains from Logan to Park City with 11 other runners.  The weather was perfect.  The scenery was some of the most breathtakingly beautiful countryside I've seen.  I think I found a new place for some cycling routes.  I didn't know some of these places existed (and I guess for most of the year they virtually don't because of the snow and sub-zero temps) and that they're so close to where I live.

I was a little unsure of the whole race thing since there's so much hype and I still didn't know what I was getting myself into.  It turned out to a lot of fun and I really enjoyed getting to know the other people in my van.  Everyone was so flexible and positive and nice.  I think I was the most negative critical person.  I really need to be nicer - they were good examples.  We slept in a high school in Oakley on Friday night, despite the guy with the angry bullfrog snore.  I might have asked the guy next to him to wake him up. about 10 times. finally he did and I went back to sleep.  We had our fill of gatorade, bagels, gogurts, granola bars, sweedish fish and bananas.  I thought I would have a safety violation by the end because there were so many rules - wear a reflective vest anytime you get out of the car between 7:30 p.m. and 6:30 a.m., always use the orange flag to cross the street, never exit your vehicle on the driver's side...but I did well and everyone was safe!

I had a few friends that ran in the race also and it was fun seeing them at some of the exchanges as well!  I never had my camera with me, darn. no proof.

our awesome van!

at the starting line...

just before Bree's nighttime run

both vans at the finish line (my van got the wig memo too late)

So yeah, I'd probably do it again.  Yay Team Leap Frog!!!

My pantry shelf

I was talking to some friends today about food storage.  I live in an apartment with roommates and there's not a lot of extra space for food you're not going to eat in a month let alone a year.  I used to cook a lot and have a lot of food 'options' on hand, but have since resorted to a more minimalist mentality. And people don't believe me when I say I have only sugar and paper towels on my self.  So here it is...

THE LIST.

a new box of cliff bars from costco
2  boxes of raisin bran, one box of Honey Nut Cherrios and a box of Rice Krispies
craisins
graham crackers
2 boxes of spaghetti noodles (used a coupon. got them for free!)
jar of homemade salsa
jar of Georgia honey
box of matches
box of plastic utensils
shortening
flour
sugar
almost finished bag of trail mix
can of almonds
vinegar
oatmeal
peanut butter
freezer bags
paper pates
powdered milk
cooking oil spray
hot chocolate
popcorn
2 cans of cream of chicken soup
1 can of green beans

Freezer: 2 lbs. of strawberries, 1 gallon bag of pecans, 1 bag of mixed vegetables.

Fridge: cheese, eggs, spinach, green onions, yogurt, applesauce, mayo, butter and salad dressing

So there's some good stuff there.  But nothing I can do much with.  I can't even make a PBJ sandwich.  I don't have jelly or bread.  No chocolate chip cookies because I don't have choco chips. I can't make any spaghetti because I don't have canned tomatoes or even sauce in a jar. For some people, what I listed above could be a list for a single trip to the grocery store.  I could survive over a week with what I currently have.  I'm sure I'd still be alive - probably all thanks to the 24 cliff bars I bought yesterday.

What's in your pantry?

Creativity that I don't have

or the kid either, but I thought this lady has such a great imagination!

Artsy Annie Blog

And the Rain Came Down

It is raining.  Big surprise.  Other than a few glimmers of sunshine and warm weather since last summer, it's been cold, rainy, or snowy - or a combination of any of the three  EVERY DAY.  Memorial Day weekend is here.  The pools should be open now, not the ski lifts.  Luckily I opted to go to Moab again where is was dry, warm and sunny!  But even Sunday and Monday, being back in Salt Lake with the cold and rain is depressing.  It's not even warm rain.  I'm cozied up in my bed with a huge blanket on top of my down comforter.  This is definitely a day to stay inside and read a book (which I was doing earlier).  Not to mention, I'm exhausted from a super busy awesome weekend.  Highlights from my trip - 23 miles on the mountain bike, a little hike up Negro Bill Canyon, I now know where all of the BLM campgrounds are and how full they get on Memorial Day weekend, didn't have to use all the sweatshirts, jackets and beanie hats I brought, got to fall asleep looking up at the stars inside my fabulous new tent, and ate lots of yummy cookies.  It was so nice to wear a t-shirt and coat for a few days.  But sleeping on the ground for two nights and several hours on a rocky bike path definitely wore my body out.

Pictures from the trip! Notice the blue skies - oh and the sunshine!

Overflow group campsite  - no fires allowed, so it was a good thing I had the fixins for sandwiches, or else we would have only had cookies for dinner.  

view from our campsite

We became very familiar with this sign after seeing it at the first 58 campgrounds we went to.  The BLM campgrounds down there are mostly first-come first-served, and many people came before us...

Out on our ride of the Bar M trail

This was my first time mountain biking in Moab.  People who come here 

to ride are really good because there aren't a lot of trails for my beginner skill level. 

Hiking up Negro Bill Canyon

We were crazy to want to hike after riding 23 miles.  I opted to turn around and go back to the 

campsite to take a nap, good thing Em was up for it as well!

New Happenings

Lots to be grateful for...

This upcoming weekend marks the one year anniversary of my horse accident when the horse landed on me.  I am so grateful to be healed and not have any serious lasting injuries from it.  I am also grateful that I have overcome any fear of horses I could have had.  I'm probably more scared of rollercoasters.  I look back on the experience and am so grateful for all of the wonderful people that helped me in any and every way.  

This is the famous horse that bucked me off and landed on me. 

I have a stable job and have kept it for almost a year - contrast that to this time last year when I was changing jobs every two weeks....

This is the wall of one of our open pit mines

This time a year ago, I moved in with a fabulous roommate who is now one of my dearest friends.  

A lot has happened in the last year.  A lot has happened in the last week...

I went to MOAB!  For a day.  A fast day trip to hike around Arches.  I wore sunscreen this time thank goodness or else I would be a lobster with my third serious sunburn of the season and it's not even summer here yet - I wore my winter jacket today.  

I now have a road bike!!  An awesome spiffy road bike that I can now ride with friends and not be the straggler with big fat tires.  

The cool pedals and shiny shoes are on their way

I am the new owner of a fancy tent and backpack and mess kit!  (It's important to have shelter, a place for your clothing, and a means to eat - 3 essentials)

I facilitated a donation to The Road Home - the homeless shelter I said I wanted to donate to - after talking with a lady at work, I now have a big check from my wonderful company to give to this great organization.  

My niece and nephew both had birthdays and I got to go to BOTH parties from across the country - thanks to Skype.  They loved their presents from me.  I could see it in their big smiles. 

I rode my mountain bike on the Rail Trail up in Park City and had an adventure - even saw some rock chuck. 

 Check out the cool tan line from the week before.  This bike trip gave me a new 

sunburn and hence a new tan line.  My friend said I looked like a candy corn. 

This was a cool fence made out of skis for every other fence post.

We saw several rock chucks - they look like beaver - and also a few dead deer on the side of the trail. 

The Park City ride might have happened two weeks ago, but who's counting?!