Most Exciting Part of the Day

Who knew packing could be so fun.  Twas the most exciting part of the day.  I walked into the water heater room aka storage and my dresses room and got a dress. I walked out. I walked back in 30 seconds later and stepped on something soft, smooth, and cold. I recoiled, looked down and it was a MOUSE!

Unfortunately, it wasn't this excited to see me, nor I him. It was dead, and I looked like this

I ran upstairs screaming and thrashing into the kitchen where my family was curious to see what had happened.  I leapt to the counter and stuck my foot in the sink and begged for it to be washed.  2 clorox wipes, a hot soapy scrub, hot rinse, and sprayed with lysol later I'm ok.

Picnic, Parade, and Magesty

So on Friday I thought it might be nice to do something fun for Derek and I....

As I drove home I called my Partner in Crime, Mum of course, and we plotted. 

Plot: Picnic

Place: Oquirrh Lake (Day Break)

Mode of Transportation: Bikes

I was really excited.  It was a beautiful day, and everything was packed seconds before Derek got home.  So we set off and here is where the adventure begins.  We'd made it almost 2 miles (it's a 4.3 mile ride each way) when I asked why it was so hard to ride Lisa's bike.  "Well, the front tire is flat."  So we pulled over to fix it and the valve burst.  (I know it would.  I have horrid luck with bike tires lately.  I was on her bike because my tire is flat....again...)

After squabbling over what to do because I'm scared of being pumped, my legs are too short to ride Derek's bike, and riding on the handle bars scares me almost as much as snakes, I sent Derek home to go get the truck.  (For I would NOT let a flat tire ruin the picnic)

To make the epic story short...we got to the Lake.  We had a loverly and delicious dinner, accompanied by Japanese lantern and candle light from my Mother Dearest.  It was awesome!

Saturday morning was the South Jordan City Parade!  We went.  It was amazing.

My balloon popped.  I was very sad, it was the best part of the parade...

Monday after work, Derek and I went on a hike to Rocky Mouth Falls.  Less than 10 minutes and you're at the falls. 

Gorgeous.  We climbed up a ravine just down and to the left of the picture and got to a big rock outcropping at the top.  It was adventurous because, "Adventure is out there!"  And we scrambled and scaled.  It was an amazing view of the valley.  (No picture because again, no luck with the cameras, this one was dead.  Boo.  We charged them ALL when we got home).

4th Year Cisco

This would have been my 4th year on the river.  Unfortunately, I am not in Moab this summer.  I do have an AWESOME internship though.  It actually allowed me to go down and be a guide for a few days.  We were supposed to take some of our girls backpacking, but everything was still covered in snow, so we (I) quickly pulled some strings and put together a little river trip for our girls.  It was awesome and overwhelming.

I cannot express how wonderful it felt to be back on the Colorado.  Even though it was only from Dewey Bridge to Big Bend.  I don't care, I miss it so badly.  I can't believe I ever complained about doing that stretch so many times.  To just sit on a boat and look at the majesty that I had the chance to be in every day for 3 years is incredible.  Not to mention, I got to be there with my best friends, and I got paid for it.

Anyway, it made me really miss guiding.  But it was harder and much more exhausting than a regular cisco.  I was in charge of these girls always, I couldn't dump them onto their leaders once we were in camp.  On the river I was guide and guardian.  In camp i was guardian.  It was exhausting work.  I cannot give details due to confidentiality.  But we'll just say they had to ask before they could do anything, and it got to the point they were asking if they could fill their water bottles.  i thought they were going to start asking if they could breathe soon.  i think the worst part was that i got woken up in the middle of the night, twice a night, to take girls to the bathroom.  boo.  but i love my girls, so i put a smile on my face, crawled out of my sleeping bag and took them.

But other than those things, which the bathroom really wasn't a big deal, and some things i can't say on a blog, it was great.  i was just happy to be down there again.  I also ran my first really good group.  John (my supervisor) even complimented me on it!  made me feel good, because running group and processing it (hardest part for me) is not an easy task.  to keep 17 girls in line, and give them some type of therapeutic treatment from a simple game is not always easy.  but i did it!  yay!  i am on my way to being a real rec. therapist!

ps: i'd show pictures, but again, confidentiality.

Singing in the Rain

If you are currently a Utah resident, you are blissfully aware of the loverly springtime weather we had this weekend.  AKA rain.  We couldn't even escape it in St. George.  But that's ok, we didn't let the rain Rain on our parade.

On friday night, Derek and I headed down to St. George where we met up with his dad.  We had a blast.  We climbed - Dave's stubby finger and all.  I told him fingers were overrated, and he got up the climb just as easy and Derek and I.  I was proud to see him overcome the finger/grip barrier.  It was pretty neat.  In a way, it was TR in action....

Anyway, we took Dave up to the Red Cliffs Recreation Area.  (unfortunately, our camera was broken, so i have no pictures.  and google let me down for the first time today.  they had no pictures too).
Anyway, we hiked up to the first pool, climbed up and around it and down through and over big red rocks to a second pool.  up that was a third pool where you had to use a rope and steps cut into the rock to get above it.  and onward to a fourth pool.  we then skirted along the shoreline of the creek until we could go no further and were forced to scale up the rock.  It was gorgeous.  Red sandstone canyon with this tiny creek running through and all these big slabs of rock, one in which i found myself 3/4 the way up when i realized i had no clue how i was going to get down....i do that a lot.  luckily for me, i have an awesome husband that came to my rescue.  twice.  once then, another when i was climbing back down the the creek and my short legs couldn't reach the ground.  He is great.

Although, i did get some nasty looking raspberries on my upper thigh when i took a slight tumble one time.  and i did fall into the 2nd pool...come down from a slanted slope, had too much velocity and kept going forward, i jumped to a rock to try and save myself and just kept going.  right into the freezing water up to my bellybutton.  if it'd been hot, i wouldn't have cared...but as soon as i got out, it started to rain.  so we hustled out of there and then rain the mile or mile and a half back to the car.  (i forgot to mention the road to red cliffs was closed due to construction.  what a surprise.  welcome to utah). 

It rained so hard, the roads flooded and we feared they may become impassable.  But the storm didn't hit st. george until derek and i were in the temple.  in which, if you have not been to the st george temple, go.  it is awesome!  We met up with Megan and Brandon Valantine and Dave's friend/family for dinner and to go see Molly in Cats.  She rocked it.  It was a really good production of Cats.  (believe me, I'd know, i was OBSESSED with the broadway when i was little).

Next morning was home again home again.  What an exciting life we lead.

Oh yeah, the cleaning lady threw derek's chacos and t-shirt away.  they were super muddy from our run in the rain, so he'd wrapped them up and set them on the ground (by the garbage can) so when she came to clean, she assumed they were garbage....and she dumpster dived to get them back!  Thanks Yolanda!

An Unexpected Surprise...

An unexpected surprise came earlier this week...

No, I'm not pregnant.  HA!  FOOLED YOU!

Anyway,  earlier this week Derek got a message on FB about a reunion sha-bang with his old azz band from high school.  (there conductor dude got offered a job at Dixie College so it was a last hurrah for him)

They had a little practice yesterday morning.  And tonight Derek played swingin' jazz music on his trumpet for the first time in 6 years.  It was rad!  It was an hour of jazz and swing in some guy's backyard.  epic.

Memorial Day Weekend

It was nice to have a break this past weekend.  When Derek asked me what my favorite part of the trip was I replied, "Not having to think about work." 

It was fun. 

On Friday Mum, Dad, Lisa, Derek, Addie, and I set forth for St. George, UT.  (We took A because Beth got double knee surgery on Friday.  She is a trooper, and doing so well.  But we gave her a little break for the weekend.)

TOP 10 Highlights of the trip
1. It was warm!  The sun was out!  High 80's low 90's every day!
2. Cotton Cove Park = the all time COOLEST PARK EVER!  It blows every park i've ever seen out of the water.  (pictures will come later)
3. Red Rocks Recreation Area = AWESOMENESS!  (natural waterslides, cliff jumping, and only a 5-10 min walk.) (We had a 5 yr. old)
4. Climbing at Chuckawalla Wall
5. Pioneer Park - exploring and climbing red rocks
6. Oak Grove Recreation Area = Beautiful hiking in mountains (it felt SO GOOD to be in mountains again (without snow), it felt like we were up north
7. Setting off Back in the USSR (our model rocket), very successful launch
8. Getting all my music backed up onto our hard drive (my ipod died.  yes, my ghetto age of the dinosaurs, worth $10 million on antique roadshow, 6 yr. old ipod finally bit the dust.  I didn't care about the ipod, but that music is NOT backed up at all.  Matt Fuller and his dad were able to some how get it off and we now have it all backed up.  HOORAY!)
9. Eating the twisty bread stick at the Pizza Factory
10. Facing my fears and playing raquetball with Derek
*BONUS* Making friends with little kids in the hot tub (the pool was FREEZING)

Life of a married working couple

Is busy.

I work 40-45 (occasionally +) hours a week.  Derek works roughly 30-35 hours a week.  It is all well and good, because we are mostly at work during the same time.  But there have been some changes....

First of all, there has been a new addition to our family.
We bought our first car.  Literally a car.  I know, i own a car.  (my whole life i've been taught cars are evil death traps), nevertheless, we own a honda civic.  It's great!  it gets 40 mpg on the highway and is a manual.  What more could i ask for?  it has cloth seats, a cd player that works, nice trunk space, a new engine, the benefits of this car go on and on.  But i still drive the truck cuz my work is closer.  yay!  Her name is Rosie.  (She is a lesbian.  Her former owner striped her down and drove her like a race car, hence the new engine etc.  so she's been used and abused by men, and has racing pedals (manish) so we decided she's a lesbian.  and is named after Rosie O'donnal.)

Other changes.  These haven't been to the marriage, but in my work.
I am doing an internship at Westridge Academy.  It is a residential treatment center for at risk youth.  It is really great.  This past week (Monday morning-10 pm last night (thurs)) we went on Parent Retreat.  It is a chance for the parents and kids to reconnect and have fun together.

Schedule of events:
Monday: leave Westridge at 9 - 9:30 am, arrive in Green River around 2 pm, set up camp etc.

(the scheduling for the groups is the same.  We did the same thing 3 times in a row)

4 pm: students and parents begin to arrive, get to know them etc. 5:30 pm dinner.  6:30 pm therapeutic games - this is where what we do best kicks in.  We played games and used them as therapy and there were some major break throughs with the parents and the kids (esp. the girls).  The kids felt how the parents feel/felt, and understood their actions affect more than just themselves, the parents started learning to trust their children.  it was awesome!
After that was campfire/dessert/games (big booty, screaming viking, and ninja)

Next morning - breakfast and rafting the daily section of the green river!  it was awesome!  it felt SO GOOD to be back on the water in a raft again.  oh my goodness.  it was so cold the first day and i didn't care.  Next day nice and warm.  last day beautiful.  perfect.  i was on an open faced kayak and then we did another run just the staff and eli's family once all the kiddies left.  1 man duckie baby!  so fun!

then we went home.  it took an abnormally long time because....the trailer popped off the hitch whilest we were driving.  popped off going over a cattle guard.  luckily, we were only going around 35 mpg.  few.  practically no damage.  don't ask me how.  but we got that all fixed - creatively.  we were feeling blessed.  so i worked 84.5 hours this week and john gave me today off.  yay!