new coats

Out with the old. . . Oh! I feel like a traitor saying that.

In with the new. . .
Brian and I went for it and retired the our bright red and royal blue North Face puffies. We finally decided to invest in two new Montbell (the buy one get one free sealed the deal) ones since mine came from the little boys section and was more of a 3/4 sleeve deal (and I threw up in it four times on our flight over flagstaff. . it's never really felt the same since then) and he inherited his from his dad's closet. Granted the vintage North Face from the 70's was slick, my dental floss sewing job and years of use made it less than puffy. So here's to the new addition to the Hays Family.

PLB

We forgot our camera, so this isn't me but it's Binous Crack

Also not me, but this is Chocolate corner.

PLB is the acronym for Personal Locater Beacon. It is a device that people use in the backcountry if they are lost or injured. You push one little button and every government protection agency (airforce, military, nps etc) is notified. Well, i have a bonefied personal locater service: The Gerharts; but instead of finding me, they find my lost stuff. Within the past month I have misplaced my Paragon Falcon notebook (every piece of information for my life right now) and my cell phone. I lost my phone at Indian Creek and my notebook at the post office. Both times someone found it and called Sarah. Both times, Sarah called me somewhat confused and told me where to pick up my lost item. Uhhh, thanks (sheepish tone necessary).

So aside from leaving my phone at Indian Creek, I had an amazing time there this weekend! I led three 5.9 cracks (Chocolate corner, binous crack and split pinnacle). Brian climbed afterward and cleaned them for me-- according to him my pieces were "solid." Good news, but no falls yet! I'm applying for a GS 7 climbing ranger job at Rocky Mountain that I really want. I just talked to T-berry from the rivershop here (I got the job as a River Ranger this year through Canyonlands which is a sweet gig in itself, but it looks like we'll most likely be moving to Rocky). I'll keep ya'll posted. Afterall that's what a blog if for, right?

watercolor moab

I found some cards painted by an artist in Moab. I liked them, so this is my re-creation of what I saw. One is a slot canyon and the other is Park Avenue in Arches.

The most optimistic person I know.

Nicki Preece came to visit at the end of this week. It was pretty much the best birthday present ever. I took a Wilderness First Responder course this entire week and found out that our mutual friend (Emma-- blond and also with us) was also taking the WFR course. I texted Nicki with an invite and we had an awesome weekend. Nothing gets this girl down. She's the biggest upper I know and so fun to have around. We talked (a lot), played games, painted, hiked, ate and laughed. . .