Rock Crawling in Moab!!!

I went jeeping in Moab with Tye, Brian, Kristy, Curtis, Ryan, Kolbie, etc, etc!!! It was sooo fun!! We went on Pritchett canyon the first day, about a quarter of the way in, Tye broke the drive shaft on his jeep so we had only 2-wheel drive. We drove out, he got it fixed the next day, but we still went out with Brian and Kristy in their truck on Fins and Things. Tres fun.

Curtis, Kristy's dad, and owner of this fine white truck, decided to try to jump this 3-foot ledge in 2-wheel drive. He got going pretty fast, the front end went up into the air about 5 feet, and when it dropped, the rim of the rt front tire split in half, circumferentially! Amazing! They changed the tire right there on the side of the mountain. A bit precarious don't you think?!

That's right, you're seeing correctly, that's me on 2 wheels! 

Again, Curtis doing all kinds of crazy things with his truck. He was trying to roll it, but couldn't get the darn thing to go over, this was as close as he came... Again, he was trying to do Moab rim in 2-wheel drive, so at this point he had to be pulled out of the hole, made a nice oil puddle.

Juan had the best rock crawler there, he could get up pretty much anything, very fun.

A fabulous trip all-in-all. Thanks so much!

Highlight

To my adoring public, I have decided to finally grace you with some of the latest happenings in my life. Starting with the highlight of my trip, seeing Buzzy at the airport with Heidi and Kierstin!! He's just returned from 2 fabulous years as a missionary in Columbia, South Carolina. I can't believe it's been that long. Buzz, hope you're not too weird for too long! ;-)

So, as an update, I'm presently in Utah, visiting friends and family, attempting to get a little more medical training/guidance/information, before I head off to AZ to spend some time with Hans, Holly and baby Kelsie. I'm thinking a stop by Zions, maybe Goblin valley, maybe the Grand Canyon might be warranted on my drive down.  I'm waiting to hear back from PA schools, hoping to start in the spring. Besides that, not really sure what's going to happen next, a little nerve wracking, but very exciting too!! Love you all and thank you for your patience! =)

PS, if you didn't notice, I chopped my hair for locks of love! I like it a lot, but am still getting used to not having it there. Connie cut 12-15 inches off, depending on which layer you're looking at! WOAH!!! Yeah, going for sassy, what d'you think??!!

Exodus

Charise and I loaded up the Element with gas, here she's strapping them down, for the long drive down the Alcan. We made good time, leaving on the evening of Saturday the 27th, arriving in Rexburg to visit Heidi and Kierstin about 3am, Tues the 30th. We then drove down to Utah after meeting some of Heidi's friends and chatting for a bit with Aunt Karen and Rachel.

Jeff and Allison have been fabulous hosts! And, Jack as well of course!

Fjords tour -- 09/24/08

Reece and I went on my very first Kenai Fjords Tour in Seward. It was awesome!! Granted it was raining and cold, but it was still great! We saw Sea Otters

Sea lions and seals

Calving Glaciers


I couldn't capture it on my camera, but the beautiful porpoise swam and jumped along side our boat, the humpback whale breeched (which we were told is something they rarely do in AK, this is usually reserved for their mating season down in Hawaii. Maybe our boat was looking like a good catch... an unlikely match I'm afraid). We also saw this little black bear swimming off-shore. There was only 1 puffin that flew over. I guess they've all traveled away for the season. An awesome trip!

Homecoming 2008

I went with Kammi and Daniel to chaperone their homecoming. Funny. I went out and danced with them for several songs, got mistaken for one of the students many times, and got to act my age for a little bit when I encouraged the young chillins' to show a little respect for themselves and their dates while dancing. Everyone I had to talk with was pretty responsive. My friend recommended I take squirt guns, use it to "cool them off". HA!

Flowers from Monsieur Leon

So, Leon welded this amazing flower for me out of steel just after we first met about a month ago due to an old case of bursitis...funny story, I'll have to tell you about it sometime. Anyway, he's awesome in a plethera of ways. "Do you know what a 'plethera' eez?" Rufus is also wicked awesome (that's his alter-ego that comes out on occasion, if you're really lucky!)

Grandma's bear

This little bear was hanging around Grandma McCubbins house for a couple of days. Coco, grandma's dog was defending her home quite well. Uncle Mike ended up having to put him down because he was dangerous, he'd been relocated twice before he showed up there. CRAZY!!!

Summer fun

Dreamie with Billy Bob, aka Princess Kitty ba-ba boo-boo. Dreamie was the stylist.

Dan Pascucci (with short hair!), Katie, and Chrispepper.

Sylvia?, myself and Skyla at the Kenai river.

YSA in Soldotna stake. Good times!

10 years since Hight School...WHAT?!!

We had a bonfire the first night, dinner at Paradisos the second night, and a family picnic Sunday afternoon. So great to see everyone who was there and sad to miss everyone who couldn't make it. Also, so interesting seeing how people got back into the same groups as 10 years ago.

Harmony and myself.

Back: Mandy, Jenny, Allison, Front: Ashley, moi, Makenzie

Zack, Prescott, moi, Josh

Me and Mak. 

Kammi's B-day

Kammi wanted a tea party for her b-day, so Becca and Lacey worked their magic and Kammi had her wish granted, complete with tea (orange juice) and crumpets (scones). Aug 6th.

Court and Tess's baptism

So, I don't have any pics of Court and Tess...yet, but here are pics of my fam who were there.  Regardless, congratulations my cousins!!!

Adventures to Seward

So, we were going to go sea kayaking in Seward, but we have to put that off to another day. Instead, I had a maud foto shut...
One of the cruise liners w/ the beautiful mountains of Seward in the background.

Lisa and Eric, Grammie Wooster's step-son and his wife, came up on their motorcycles, we went with Becca, Lacey, Reece, and Jacob out to Exit glacier. So fun!

Beautiful...the glacier that is...or maybe Lacey's teeth...?

Overlook from Princess Lodge. A girl who was working here got mauled by a brown bear while out hiking by herself 2 days before we were there. The bears are all over the place! I'll have to post some pictures from Lisa of the bear Michael shot at Grandma McCubbins!

The transformation

And the people did cry unto Daniel saying "Cut thy hair, for it is long, and the swinging of thy head causes much eye woes (see picture below)." Therefore the sisters of the crown did go forth and shave the hair of the head and did shape it anew. And all people did stand in awe and wonderment at the beauty thereof.

Dave and Heather Saltzgiver's wedding

Congrats Dave!


Staci Pault and Randi Marie at Dave's wedding. Hans, they say hi and hope you guys are doing well!

Missionary Mary

My good friend, Mary Hall, is now Sister Mary Hall of the Guatemalan Mission! This was at her going away party. She's going to be an AMAZING missionary!

Midnight Sun Half-marathun

Charise and I ran the half-marathon yesterday!!! I finished it in 2 hours and 22 minutes! So deciding!

Connie ran the Full marathon in just over 5 hours.

Unfortunately, I got a bit of a blood blister on my pinky toe. Eew!

Heidi made me this sweet poster, look at it closely. I told her that I would probably be taking about 3 hours, so she took a little nap and slept through my finish. Tee-hee. Thanks so much for coming Heids!!

Took this picture just after midnight last night. I went to bed around 1:30 and it was still light! Welcome back to Alaska!

PS, finished my chem class (yeah!!!), I'll find out later this week how I did.

AZ airport rendezvous

Hans, Holly, and baby Kelsie brought me Cafe Rio dinner for my brief (very brief) layover in AZ. Kelsie said my name!!!! You are soooo great!!! I love you!

Provo friends

Tye Viehweg and I hung out pretty much every day over the last two weeks. We went off-roading in his Jeep up American Fork Canyon, got totally muddy! I have a couple of pictures I took with my phone, but I can't get them to upload. I'll try again later. We also went to a Secondhand Serenade concert 2 Wednesday's ago, went wakeboarding a couple of times with some of his friends, who are also great, but my camera battery was dead! He also has a sweet sport touring motorcycle, we went up to Sundance a few days ago. So fun! He is awesome!

Me and my roommate Ashlie Stitt from NY...crazy girl!

Mindy Skousen and I totally hit it off. Incredible girl, we had so much fun..."Say that into the microphone..." My mommy really liked her too. =)

This is why we're hot...

I went to visit Anna and Matthew several weeks ago, and am just now putting the picture on. Oops. Anna and Matthew came to visit me a couple of weeks ago...so great! Banana, I'm glad you're feeling better.