That place where our ancestors suffered...

We also went camping to Whitney Pockets! In the dead of summer it's not a nice place to be, but in early spring it's beautiful. There are these cool rock formations that jut out from the ground and we usually camp right near one. Sometimes while we're out there we visit Devil's Throat (big sink-hole), and some petroglyphs. This time I hiked up a hill with Jesse and watched my dad and brother hold a flag retiring ceremony and sat around the fire and roasted everything imaginable. Chris and Shawn and their kids were able to make it and it was awesome seeing them. I wish Ben & Tasha could have come too! It was Ailee's first camping trip, and she slept all through the night. I wish she'd do that at home! She was all snugly when she woke up.

camping

So I think I'm gonna post some stuff...

Maddie turned 7!

We had a big party with friends for her at Pirate Island. I had a blast making her cake. I have to explain that one of our family's favorite shows to watch together is Cake Boss. I love the creativity and the family dynamics, Maddie loves the colorful cakes, and Dave just likes the sweets. So when I set out to make Maddie's birthday cake it was hard not to go overboard. I actually planned it well and wasn't in a crunch to get it done (whaaaat!?). Yeah. Maddie helped me put on the little sea-star flowers and the pirate. It was awesome when Maddie saw it all finished.



It was Maddie's first party with friends too, we usually just do a family get-together, so that was special. Her friend Michael came. Maddie informs us she is going to marry him.

Yeaaah, that was purdy.

The past few months have been eventful to say the least, between camping trip upon camping trip and house shopping (thanks Tay!) and buying, and painting, and moving....(oy!) time has been scarce.

Last month I got to go backpacking up and over Pine Valley Mountain, the lush mountain island in the middle of the hot, hot dessert. I got to hike it with the twins, who both entertained me and provided me with freeze dried goods from the storage room of mom and dads house before we left. You guys we have to go again soon! There were loads of pretty places to stop and take pics along Mill Canyon, Whipple Valley, and all trails in between.

Let it Snow X 3

Snow three days in a row--ROCK No work today because of it even, and school was cancelled. I drove to my mommies house to visit the twins and jump on their beds and yell "snowday!" but they were already out playing in it. Go figure.

There hasn't been much happening around here besides hustle and bustle (mostly bustle) for the holidays and hiking and web-developing (that one's dave's) however I did make a thing for the wall.



I call it "rippy bits"! No actually I don't because it's cut not ripped, but I am shameless when it comes to spongebob squarepants references.

We went to an Aquabats concert at the electric theater recently. It wasn't quite as fun as the one we went to in salt lake when then had concertgoers racing inflatable rafts crowd-surf style across the venue and back, but it was still fun. We dressed up in obscenely colorful tracksuits in honor of Ricky Fitness once again.

I went hiking with Maddie, Amanda, and Sara last Saturday to Camelback out by Gunlock. It was too cold for any froggies to be out, but the weather was beautiful. Perfect for shadow pictures and running around in the vortex.

The year...in pictures

Que the cheesy montage music! Actually we may not have music, but cheesy and montage we can do. Since I'm so good (and by "good" I mean "bad") at updating there will be a lot of stuff you haven't seen!

Feb: For my b-day/valentines day we went to San Fransisco. Ate good sushi, wandered the pier, and china town, discovered art galleries and an awesome deli.





March: Family camping trip to Whitney Pockets...campfire, dad reading stories about our ancestors who settled the area, monkeying up rocks...good times.






Also in March: Maddie turned 4, thus making her eligible to say "I'm four, I sleep in a drawer".



July: Dave planned river rafting in Montana for our anniversary. "Duuuude, wetsuits!"



August: Spencer and Taylor got married! (see Laura's blog for pics)

Also in August: Hiking on Pine Valley, picking wild raspberries, conducting "secret trail" maintenance, getting our picture on the old boiler.



October: Marathon for me, rainy, not as fun as last time, but I got boston qualifying time which was my goal. (can't find my marathon pics, curse me and my orginizational skills)

Also October: Hawaii. Maddie made up a Hawaii song, we were beach bums for days, petted dolphins, had yummy crab, body surfed in the dark. Yesssssss.







Holidays I left out, just they're all "we ate some turkey and stuff" (sorry Chris, Shawn & munchkins, we missed you at Thanksgibbing though, and are excited to see you at Christmas!)

Oh! Hi blog. (and happy happy hair stuff)

So I know I haven't exactly been all updatey lately. Forgive me?

We're all good, Dave is still dying to quit SkyWest to do freelance full time. He finished his bachelor's since last I wrote (more than a year ago!? that's sad). But, we want to squeeze in a trip to Ukraine (his mission area) before he gives up his flight benefits (P.S. my passport came yesterday). I'm still guiding hikes. It's still fun. Maddie still loves playing with her friends at pre-school more than helping me clean house. Figures.



A while ago I got clip in color extensions for my hair. They're human hair so they can be curled or straightened along with my own. They were relatively cheap considering that having my own hair colored or having extensions weaved in would cost around $75-$100 and only last a few weeks. The clips are easy to put in and can be taken out at night. Probably the best thing about them is that I can put in a different color every day if I want without the trouble of bleaching my dark hair to ruination.

I got mine from this site: Extensions.com, but I have also seen similar extensions on ebay. A search for "color extension clips" should yield some good finds.

I loves me my snacks.

I also loves me my skinny jeans.

If you're like me then you must visit the Hungry Girl site. It rocks.

Friends, Hungry Girl. Hungry Girl, Friends. You'll get along just peachy.

Hungry Girl's Fruity Fantastic Summer treats

Like a popsicle. Or maybe more like a hot dog.

Thus far the summer has proved summerriffic. I only work three days a week, and I get home around 10:30 a.m. when I do, so by the time I’m all showered and dressed it’s like I didn’t work at all. ‘course, if I wasn’t working I’d probably be sleeping in till around 9:00 and then mulling around in my jammies until about 10:30 , so it all evens out. I love my early morning work schedule. If I didn’t have work to get me up early every other weekday I’d pout about how I never get up early enough to enjoy the cool mornings. The heat kinda depresses me.

WOO! We went out to Sand Hollow reservoir last Saturday for the FR employee pick nick. It was shenanigans. Living up to her title of “drama queen” Maddie had a grand old time decked out in her floaties and tube kicking out beyond the shallow water towards the bigger kids and calling “heeow me! Heeow heeow!” (heeow= help). They totally fell for it and offered to tug her back to shore. Little did they know she just wanted free rides. All three of us took a ride on the wave runner. It was windy and the water was choppy, but we didn’t tip luckily, then we sent Dave out on his own so he could be all stunt-tastic without us. I got sunburned because I didn’t put on sunblock, though I made sure Maddie and Dave did. I hung out with Laura later and she put aloe vera stuff on me a whole bunch.

Apparently the effects of the lake trip wore Maddie out for two whole days afterward. Here’s her trying to stay awake in the car (this one’s for you Spence-O)



Ah, I can’t believe I’m already tired of summer. Even the forf of Juwy isn’t making me all giddy with anticipation like it usually does. I kinda just want school to start again and make it cool off. C’ept then I remember that I don’t have any creative classes going on, just Spanish, and then after that Spanish 2. Maybe I’ll have to try and wedge Intro to Illustrator in there somewhere just to keep me sane. Until then artsy fartsy projects’ll just have to hold me over. I’m currently making a rainforest-y depiction for Maddie's room. Check it out, I get to use mod-podge. I KNOW!

In closing, I can't believe my last post had snow in it. *tear*