Thanksgiving!!

Brian's family (Allison, Sarah and Matt) along with Lindsey (my sis) all came down for Thanksgiving! We were joined by Pete and Jacqueline (Brian's friend from Grand Canyon and his wife). We hiked in the Fiery Furnace in Arches, hiked the Lathrop trail in Canyonlands, made a KILLER thanksgiving dinner, read Lincoln's thanksgiving address, cut down a Christmas tree in the mountains, played games, sang, and played Ninja Destruction (you have to ask B about that. It's his new favorite game). I LOVE FAMILY!! What would the holidays be without them?

Matt-- is brian's younger Brother. Believes life is an experiment, reminds me a lot of my Dad for those of you who know him. For example, Matt makes his own yogurt, deodorant and sprouts. He is currently testing the freezing threshold of flowering peas at his BYU apartment. Matt is also like Indiana Jones-- teaching us how to fight Ninjas (in the game Ninja Destruction), hunt down the perfect Christmas tree and find every good deal known to man. There is much more to Matt. He's still available and at BYU for all you ladies.


This is Brian's Mom, Allison. She never fails to bring us the best food, all the things we forgot to buy or don't have (including a keyboard and folder of Christmas music this year) only because she "understands our Spartan lifestyle" being an Park Service mom for so many years. Doesn't mind following her crazy sons and daughters up mountains and through narrow canyons. Plus, what a bonus for me that my mother-in-law doesn't mind having thanksgiving in a shed?


Sarah is Brian's younger sister; freshman at BYU this year and has the biggest "lexicon" of any 18 year old I know (who uses the word "nonsequiter" in a sentence)? Amazing. She is just as outdoorsy as her bros, but unlike them can bake the meanest apple pie in all of ISKY (and the surrounding 5 counties of course). Speaks German, sings beautiful and boosts the moral (and self-esteem) of any group by always laughing at their jokes and winning the "most happy camper" (yes, staying at our house is basically camping) award.

$3 dollar award to anyone who can accurately guess the shadow line-up below:


Lindsey is my younger sister; also known as Deaner (which Sarah informed me also means "servant" in German. . .how fitting). Lindsey comes to visit me to borrow my clothes and compliment my wife skills. Lindsey thinks she's Asian (as seen in the photo below) and frequently says "Nee-how" to inanimate objects. She is always making us laugh and adds to every group she's in.



Everyone in front of our thanksgiving shed:

This is not a photoshoped picture. Just a strategically placed chock stone in the Fiery Furnace.

celebrating TWO

10 pairs of running shoes now worn out

9 moves

8 rock towers

7 new jobs

6 days with no cell phone or internet (until now)

5 kids waiting in Heaven (wink, wink)

4 breakdowns (good ol' 286,000 mile Jeep)

3 States we've lived in

2 years

1 happy couple.

Happy Anniversary to me and B!

I love living somewhere where fall is actually as long as it's supposed to be.

Not a cloud in the sky. . .

I came into the library after a day of canyoneering. I was feeling so happy. We had two friends from Rocky Mountain come in and stay with us and I had a GREAT time playing the "Red Rock Guide" to all that is abrasive and up high. But when I got here, I saw on display a book with "Mormon" in the title. It caught my attention and I read a few pages in it. I detailed the experience of a "Mormon" girl in New York City and basically how she lost her faith. I wandered around a little more, loosing myself for moments at a time as I scanned pages of a few other books; jewish thief, how to make kids eat tahi food and not just grilled cheese etc. I sat down and started to read my email. After a few minutes I stopped and thought to myself, "Man. I feel so weird. I feel sad. Why am I in this mini-funk?" And it hit me! Those few pages that I had read about the girl in NYC were completely devoid of light and truth. It sucked it right out of me and left me feeling dry and helpless. In short, it made the spirit leave and I felt it. It wasn't because it challenged an illusion I was living in, it wasn't because it was written well-- my soul ached because her actions were so clearly off and all that is good within me knew it! Then, I noticed a letter from Mary Hall. Mary Grace is on her mission in Guate-- and as I read her letter I was overwhelmed with the contrast. It changed my insides in a few seconds. After reading her short letter, I was beaming. It was pure truth, and truth is light. It was 15 minute lesson to re-affirm all that I already know.

Feeling American . . .

Nothing like spending time in one of America's most historic cities to leave you feeling patriotic-- corn fields, waving flags, historic sites, apple picking, Amish country and family fun. I spent about five days in Philadelphia (although my trip was over a week with driving and time w/ Deaner in P-town. . .the other P-town). Catherine and I even found ourselves singing "I'm proud to be an American" while grocery shopping (for Mexican food ironically). Here are a few photos:

The first day we went to Independence-- the most historic 1/4 mile in all of the US. Both the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution were written and signed here. We saw the liberty bell, Congress Hall and the quill that was used to sign the document.

Cath and I pledging allegiance to our country in Indy hall.

I must admit that all of my current knowledge came from the stellar Disney flick, National Treasure" and it's hero Nicholas Cage (oh dear). Yes, we rented it following our downtown tour.

Another highlight was getting to meet my adorable nephew Spencer and niece Allyson. They are SOOOOO cute and so much fun. Emily is five years older than me and has been the heart and spunk of our family for as long as I can remember. She's tiny, but packs a punch (and makes the best cinnamon roles ever), has a lot of energy (but always denies it) and is so much fun!

Catherine also came up to meet us in Philly. Catherine loves fun (as do I) and we can be equally as intense. Sometimes good, sometimes bad. Cath is hilarious, gracious and an incredibly happy person. She doesn't like to miss out on anything and lives life to the fullest. It was so sweet to get to see both of them!

At the arboretum.

Apple pickin'!

Allyson discovering the bad apple in the bunch.

Amish country, Lancaster, PA

The old barn was full of birds including two peacocks! It was on a dairy farm where we ate the best ice cream EVER-- maple walnut. It was run by an Amish family.

Ally and I sitting on the hay. How cute (and posed).

Cath, Ally and I spent time playing the corn fields while em fed Spencer. The perfect chance for cheesy photos.

I had a great time! If there was one thing I could change, it would be to have Brian come with me. For those of you who don't know, B and I moved back to Moab about three weeks ago. I love being here. It felt like coming home. I love this place. Seriously. And it is so nice to have friends in the area! Alvin and Laura came down last week and so we all got together (with Clay and Leslie too). Big thanks to Clay and Les for the awesome meals and teaching me how to boulder. It was SO fun!

Ignore my buck teeth and the next photo is pretty cool:

GO Phillies!!

Apple picking in Pennsylvania


Last week I went to Philidelphia to visit my sister Emily and her family that live there. Catherine flew up from NC and we had a great time! I forgot to bring my camera down to Moab, so this is the only picture I have from when I was there-- more to come!

What's a vacation?

Brian and I have a problem. We don't know how to relax. We had a conversation recently where we jokingly questioned whether our mutual intensity was a benifit to our realtionship. We were kind of worn out and exhausted after our season at Rocky and so we decided we wanted a vacation. My stipulations were that it had to be 1)warm and 2)beachy (after wearing my puffy in every week of every month of the year I wanted at least a short stint of being down rigtht hot). We decided on Hawaii b/c it met my request and we could also visit Brian's dad in Oahu. Here's the breakdown in photos:

The first couple are just scenery shots:

We went kayaking with Brian's dad out to a sandbar. It was beautiful!

After two days in Oahu, we flew to Kauai. It's a much smaller island and has a totally different feel. It is very polynesian and called the "garden island" b/c it is a straight up jungle. Seriously. Complete with thousands of feral chickens and goats. I really loved it.

We wanted to hike the Na Pali coast (several movies were filmed here including South Pacific). 22 miles of up and downs (5,000ft one way-- the same as hiking out of the Grand Canyon), but in 100% humidity. It was actually tons of fun. The trail follows the cliffs and you're in and out of the jungle, crossing streams, lots of waterfalls, jungle vegetation, turquoise water crashing below, the smell of rotting guavas all around, torrential rains, red mud and beautiful beaches.

The beginning.

Brian show-casing beads of sweat. I was soaked too. I haven't sweat like that since I was trying to mow lawns in North Carolina in July. Wow.

The trees and plants were incredible! They were all huge and looked like something you'd find in a Dr. Suess book.

Part of the trail.

This is a photo of Kalalau beach-- our destination. It was honestly the most beautiful beach I have ever seen! On the cliff side there was a really tall waterfall (which you'll see in a few photos) and towering cliffs above the beach. So cool. We camped right on the beach in the photo below:

we've arrived!

So the next morning when we woke up, Bry and I were walking along the shoreline and found this coconut that had washed up on the shore. It had an adress label with illegible scrawl and on the bottom was a hole that had been glued shut. We were determined to open it-- expecting to find goodies from a new Japanese pen-pal or something. Scroll down to find out the real contents.

Yeah, so we finally got it open and realized that they were creamated remains! YIKES! Brian freaked out and chucked it back into the ocean. Ha!

We also found this amazing fresh-water cave right on the beach. I'm imitating Ariel.

We snorkeled several times and saw the COOLEST fish! They were all so brightly colored. This was the least colorful of all the fish I saw, but the only one I could photograph b/c it had died on the sand. I still think it's quite pretty. I even got to see sea turtles swimming while I snorkeled.

This is our shower. Pretty sweet, ey? Someone even carved a soap dish holder in the rock. It was 30 seconds from the beach where we camped and so tall you could see it from anywhere!

After we got off the Na Pali coast, we headed to Queen's bath. It is a lava bench with these amazing pools that you can swim and snorkel in. The surf was really big and the waves were crashing over the pools, but Brian was brave and jumped in while everyone else just watched! Eventually me and several others jumped in too. It was one of our favorite parts! You can see the Napali coast in the background of this photo.

This is the pool behind me. It was also full of tropical fish so we borrowed someone's snorkel mask to check them out for a bit.

Brian and I attempted to surf with the locals. Brian acutally did pretty good-- but the waves were pretty darn big and intimidating! I tried several times, but couldn't get up. I think my board was a little short.

We hiked to the bottom of this 170ft. waterfall. It was soo cool. Plus we were the only ones down there. For the Full House fans out there, this is the waterfall that Jesse "jumps" off of when the family goes to Hawaii on vacation. They say locals jump off to prove their man-hood, but Brian wussed out (just kidding. I would never let him do that).

Feel free to make fun of this last picture. Haha!