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?!

my new ice cream

I've been loving Honey Nut Cheerios this week and I've been eating it like ice cream.

I am loved

Yesterday I was telling my sister Liza about the package I sent to her kids and what they were getting for their birthdays.  Luckily they don't read blogs yet, so I'm going to tell you some details about their gifts.  First some backstory.  Last weekend my family was all together for Mother's Day in Atlanta (minus me and sister Carrie).  We like Skype in my family, and I had signed up for a 7-day trial of group skype, so sister Carrie, family in Atlanta, and I could all be on Skype together.  So we had a big video chat - even had the grandparents on (my grandparents).  Due to some technical difficulties (i.e., the NINE people trying to talk in Atlanta), I couldn't hear eveything that was said on that end (I also had my own technical difficulties and they couldn't hear me for part of the time).  So fast forward to last night when I was telling sister Liza about the awesome books I bought for her kids for their birthdays because that's how I bond with them - we read books over Skype.  So she tells me that last week amidst all the commotion my precious niece had asked her if I would read a book to her!  Everything was so busy - we were watching sister Carrie's kid crawl all over the place - and she wanted to read a book with me!  I was so touched and felt so loved.

My nephew on the other hand could care less I exist.  But for his uncle...he screams bloody murder when he leaves.  Maybe someday he'll love me too.

You don't even notice

I made banana bread yesterday and with my sister's suggestion, I left out a 1/2 cup of sugar and used applesauce instead of butter and you don't even notice it's missing.

Update about my volunteer service yesterday.  Because I was volunteering in the middle of the day, I was going to forgo my run/bike ride for the day because I needed to shower earlier in the day.  Well, I drove ALL THE WAY to the U where the thing was and AS I"M WALKING in the door I got a text that says they don't need any more volunteers, don't come.  WHAT?  I started to get a little upset that I had given up so much of my day to do something nice for other people and I didn't even get to do the nice things.  Boo.  I still walked inside to show the guy that I had come and was there, but I couldn't find him.  Boo again.  Was he even there?

Feels so good

This week I acquired a backpack, a mess kit and a TENT!!!  I'm ALL SET to go camping!  At REI last night, the sales associates were so helpful.  One guy asked when I was going to use my new tent.  Hopefully in two weeks if I can muster up some friends to join me on an adventure.  But I actually set it up in the family room last night and might have sat in it while I watched part of a movie...and no I didn't get out my thermarest and sleeping bag and camping pillow...but I did think about it...can you tell I am really really excited?  In a couple weeks, I will be the new owner of a little spiffy campstove so I can eat some yummy Mountain House dinners and fry up some fish!  (That is if I can learn how to put together my little travel fishing rod.)  I'm telling you I am going to be very mobile this summer.

It's a little two man tent with a full rain fly.

Another purchase I made last night was a camelbak cleaning kit.  I have had my camelbak for over 10 years and have never had to clean out the tube.  Well, I guess the last time I used my camelbak I left some water in it and the tube was pretty much completely black down the whole length.  I tried soaking it in some lemon juice, and almost tried some bleach, but I really needed to scrub it out.  And oh my gosh that is an amazing little brush!!!  And the big brush will be helpful for the 5 thin aluminum water bottles I got from work.

I cleaned the bathroom, replaced the lightbulbs in the hallway, vacuumed, made some gifts for my sweet niece and nephew (they might be wrapped in Christmas paper - the ornaments really look a lot like balloons) all before 10 AM!!  I think there is something that does not go well with me and cold cloudy weather because until last Saturday, the previous 4 Saturdays (at least as far as I can remember) I did not get out of bed until 10:00.  Last week and this week now that the weather is better, I'm up by 7:00.  Last week I woke up at 6:30 and even went into work for 3 hours before my friend came down and we went up to Park City for some shopping  and a bike ride.  It was a wonderful day and reminded me of why I like waking up early - unless it's cold and I need to stay snuggled up in my cozy bed.

I am also volunteering today at a church thing and I'm telling you.  Service feels good.  I need to do it more.  I had the chance to donate a few things to a homeless shelter this week and I gave away some good things and it just felt really good.  I'm going to check into how to do this at work, but my work is supposed to match charity contributions up to a certain amount - $500 I think- and I was thinking this morning that I'll set that up to donate to this shelter.  It was spotlighted on the news the other night and I just think they are doing a really good job with helping people.  It's called The Road Home.

Finally!

Last night I dried my clothes in a dryer!  A real dryer with heat and I used a dryer sheet!  It was the first time I dried my clothes in a dryer since January.  Seriously.  I've been air drying all my clothes and towels since then.  But you know it hasn't been a big deal because my washing machine that I bought is so awesome that it gets so much water out in the spin cycle that my clothes are dry within a few hours, definitely by the next day.  So someone asked why I even bought a dryer and I think it's a valid question.  I almost didn't, but I'm trying to get another roommate to move in and I think it's just a basic thing that you have in an apartment.  And if there are three of us, then we won't have so much room for three people to air dry all our sheets and towels.

Now I will have soft warm towels out of the dryer, yay!