summer updates!!!

Sadly, Carlee had to leave us and moved back to Salt Lake City for a job, family, boyfriend, dog, etc.....but we did have one last great adventure with her on the Snake River the weekend she left. Nothing like season high water, freezing cold water, hail, pouring rain, lightening and thunder to make for an unbelievable white water rafting trip. Despite the conditions it was by far the best river trip I have ever been on and one I'm not going to forget anytime soon.

Carlee, Jenny & I ...... last roommate picture

Couple photos from Arches National Park. Went down to Moab with Carlee and her family for Easter and did a 10 mile hike through Devils Gardens on Easter Sunday...Kinda ironic.

Devils Garden - Arches National Park - Moab, Utah

Me at Delicate Arch in Arches National Park

This summer started off with Megan and Jennifer "moving" back to Jackson for the summer. Was hands down probably the best month I have spent in Jackson over the past two years. The day before Megan flew home we did one last hike up Taylor Mountain. It was a little steep but we were treated with amazing 360 degree views from the top.

video from top of Taylor Mountain

Megan and I on top of Taylor Mountain

View of the Grand from Taylor Mountain. It was a little hazy so the photo doesn't really do the view justice.

Last weekend I did my first big solo hike and climbing Hanging Canyon to the Lake of the Crags. I'd heard that it was really steep but I had no idea just how steep this hike was. Let's just say that it was 5 miles round trip but it took my longer to hike these 5 miles then it typically takes me to hike 10 miles. It was probably one of the top 3 hardest hikes I've done here but it was well worth it once I made it to the lakes. Absolutely beautiful and I was completely alone which was kinda cool. Never been like that in the wilderness before.....not going to lie I was carrying my bear spray in my actual hand instead of my pack cause I was kinda scared.

Looking down out of Hanging Canyon....Jenny Lake in the distance

Ramshead Lake...Lake of the Crags is just over the rock scree

Our first backpacking trip this year was a mellow 12 miles to Green Mountain Lakes. I don't think I will ever get over the reflections of mountains onto the still alpine lakes.

Green Mountain Lakes - I think this is the lower lake

On my way up Green Mountain Lakes for the night - nothing like hiking in snow in the middle of July in shorts and a tank top

Me, Brendan, Trey, Paul, & Megan on our way to Green Mountain Lakes
Trying to hoist the bear bag up in the air so the bears don't get our food.....

Meredith, Jennifer, Megan, and me at Goodwin Lake. Just an easy 6 mile day hike....was hoping to swim when we got there but it was a little chilly.

One of the absolutely best things about the past month is that Michelle Reising and Ashley Hartsook got to come out and visit. The three of us have only been together 3 or 4 times since high school so it was amazing to get to catch up in a place like Jackson. Even though they were only here for 2 days we still had a blast and crammed a weeks worth of activities into those two days and nights.

Michelle, Ashley, and I in Garnet Canyon on our way up to the Meadows....I was super impressed that these two knocked out 10 miles at high elevation on their first day with no problem

Ashley, Michelle, and I on our way up to Garnett canyon....

Michelle, me, & Ashley at the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band concert at the Teton County Fair

Michelle and I rock jumping at Phelps Lake in Grand Teton National Park

I know this isn't the best picture but it sums up the whole weekend perfectly...and Michelle loves this photo

Ashley, me, Jennifer, Michelle, Jenny, and Megan at happy hour before heading to the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band Concert

Michelle, Ashley and I at the signature Jackson Arches

Amy, Me, Jenny, Megan, and Jen before competing in the 4th of July 10K run....I love that Megan and I hadn't ran in months and ran the entire 10k in 70 minutes and were still 3rd to last out of over 200 people....people here are crazy fit!
Did I mention that I've been learning to rock climb???? Here's a photo from Rodeo Wall which is where I had my first outdoor rock climbing experience. I joined the climbing gym here but climbing outside is so much more fun then the gym....now if only I could get some upper body strenghth so I could actually make it to the top!

Melissa, Jennifer, Megan, me, and mallory out on Jackson Lake.

Bike decoration!

So, since spring seems to absolutely refuse to come out, I decided to go ahead and make a little spring for myself and decorated my cruiser bike with flowers.....now if only the rain would let up so I could actually ride my cruiser bike around town!!

Updates......long overdue

So after some hounding by my friends and family here is a condensed overview of what has been going on lately...I guess the best way to sum up the past 4 months is through pictures.... For Christmas Allen bought me some cross country skis that I am absolutely obsessed with. I guess it started a trend b/c shortly afterward Jenny and Carlee both purchased some Nordic skis as well. This past Sunday I put all my winter gear up and was so sad to put them up especially because I don't know when I'll ever get to use them again. At least I know I definitely got my use out of them this winter. I never got to XC ski to Granite Hot Springs though which was one of the big things I wanted to do this winter.

Don't laugh at my pink headband!! A hat is too hot to wear when cross country skiing but I needed something for my ears and this was all I had.....This was taking while out skiing on the dyke by the Snake River. A really popular easy access place to go skiing.

The roommates!! Carlee, Jenny, & I cross county skiing out in Grand Teton National Park....was an absolutely beautiful day and we were down to our t-shirts by the end of the trip.

Allen and I decided one weekend to go on a snowshoeing trip with all the dogs from his house but it failed miserably. It took us longer to get ready and to find a place to go then we spent on actual snowshoes......Francis (the boxer) did NOT like the snow very much so we ended up turning around really quick.....still had amazing views and I thought this picture was really cool.

Shortly after Christmas, Ben (Carlee's boyfriend) came up to visit and we all made a trip to the other side of the Tetons to spend the day skiing at Grand Targhee. Targhee has probably some of the most amazing views of any ski mountain in the U.S. and we were blessed with a perfect bluebird day and warm temperatures.

Jenny, Me, & Cindy on the chair lift...

Ben & me at the top of the mountain with the Grand behind us. We are standing on the West side of the Tetons and we live over on the East side so this is a different view then what we are used too on the East side. The infamous timed "car shot" that seems to be a requirement on any car trip over 30 miles.

Shortly after this trip Allen and I broke up. Not going to go into detail but basically it sucks. Luckily the week we broke up I also had a trip planned to Park City with my roommates and other friends. A girls trip out of town was definitely needed and I couldn't have asked for it at a better time. Carlee's family has a condo in Park City that we rented out and I had a great time with "All My Single Ladies"!

Yet another timed car picture

About five minutes after we arrived in Park City the power in the entire town went out. So we did what any group of girls would do.....we opened a bottle of wine and busted out some food, all under the romantic light of a flashlight hung from the ceiling. We may or may not have spent 45 minutes dancing and singing in the parking lot after a day of skiing at Solitude.....I think we played "All My Single Ladies" about 15 million times that trip.

Goofing off in line.....Solitude is the first place I have skied that had these automatic pass scanners that you had to pass through....You just put your pass in your pocket and it automatically scans at all the lifts...kind of cool

The Roommates!! Goofing off some more at the car.

This year, Snow King Resort (the ski hill right next to our house), hosted the 1st annual Pond Skimming party in which people ski down a hill and try to make it across a man made pond. Lets just say that it was pretty ridiculous some of the stuff that went down. Some people made it but the majority defintely fell in the freezing cold water. See the videos below for a better idea.

For Easter Carlee, Gabe, Travis & I loaded up and drove down to Moab, Utah where we met up with Carlee's family and Ben for the weekend and camped like kings in RV's. There was about 20 of us that went down in 3 RV's and we had a blast. We were planning on doing a good bit of road biking down there but we ended up only riding one day. Gabe and Travis were much better then Carlee and I and the went mountain biking every day. The first full day that we were there we went to this place called Potato Salad Hill where jacked up SUV's attempt to make it up a pretty steep hill. People came out super early to set up their spot and just sat and drank beer all day watching these vehicles. We only stayed for about 30 minutes but what we saw was quite a debacle and we even saw one vehicle flip over a couple times. The video below is from Potato Salad Hill.


After we went to Potato Salad hill we headed up to Arches National Park to see the famous Delicate Arch.....

Carlee & I at Delicate Arch
An old building we passed on the hike to Delicate ArchThe next day, Easter Sunday, we hosted all of Carlee's family at our campsite for an Easter breakfast before everyone packed up and headed back home.

The Jackson crew (plus Ben) on Easter Sunday

Carlee's family chowing down at our campsite. They cooked dinner for us every night so it was nice to be able to make breakfast for all them.
Carlee's mom even planned an Easter Egg hunt for us....You might think that we were too old for an Easter Egg hunt but you'd be surprised how into the egg hunt we all got....and the eggs were very hard to find...they weren't just in plain sight like when I was little. Here's a picture of us opening all the eggs we found.
After Easter breakfast and the Easter egg hunt, everyone packed up to head home. Gabe, Travis & I decided that we had nothing to get back to in Jackson other then rainy/cold weather and opted to tent camp another night in Moab and take advantage of the warm sunny weather. Gabe and Travis opted to go for a long mountain bike ride and I decdied to go back to Arches National Park to do another hike by myself. I was going to go for a bike ride but figured I'd hike instead because who knows when I'd ever make it back to Arches National Park again.

Therefore, I spent the majority of Easter sunday hiking by myself in some of God's most amazing natural creations....oddly enough the hike I did was called Devil's Garden.

Picture of Devil's Garden

Landscape Arch....I guess people used to be able to walk up underneath this arch, but in the late 90's part of the arch collapsed while people were under it so it is no longer deemed safe to go underneath and eventually will collapse all together.

Another view of Devil's Garden

Double O Arch
Parts of the trail were very trechorous and I defintley got on my hands and knees for some parts. This photo is looking straight down off the trail that was about 3 feet wide. The photo doesn't really do it justice but it is pretty much straight down off the side of the trail.

And last but not least of my recent doings was my birthday last week. A group of friends and I went to the Cadillac for 2 for 1 happy hour and then to the Blue Lion where I had an AMAZING steak (yummy!!). Sadly, I didn't really take many pictures from the night.

Below is a picture of a few of us having a glass of wine waiting for our table. The blond girl on your left is actually from Amarillo!! Was kinda fun when I learned that. Not everyday you meet someone from Amarillo, especially in a small town like Jackson!
I think my new goal is to update my blog once a week and to make myself take more pictures. Even though I have been here over a year there are still so many amazing things that I see everyday!

The most exciting news of this blog is that my two girlfriends from high school, Michelle & Ashley, just booked flights out to Jackson for this summer! The 3 of us have all been together only once in the past 8 years and we have talked and talked about doing a reunion trip for years and it's finally happening!! If you can't tell, I'm just a little excited.

Michelle, Ashley & me on July 4th, 2007....the last time all three of us were together

Alot of the wildlife is starting to make it's way out for the summer and there have been alot of sightings lately so this weekend I'm hoping to go out and see some....stayed tuned for more and I promise I'll start posting more frequently.....

St. Baldrick's Day & Christmas

On March 19th, 2009 Allen will once again shave his head to help raise money for kids with cancer. It's a national fundraiser that has raised over $50 million in 9 years. Allen has been growing his hair out since September, which is a couple months longer then what he did last year, so his hair should be the definition of ridiculous by the time March 19th roles around. Below are some pictures from last years event. To learn more about St. Baldrick's day or to donate to Allen's fundraising goal visit http://www.stbaldricks.org/participants/shavee_info.php?ParticipantKey=2009-59664

Allen getting his head shaved

Before shaving his head last year

OTHER HAPPENINGS....

Unfortunately I was unable to go home for Christmas because of financial reasons and because I had just been in Atlanta for two weeks over Thanksgiving. Luckily though a ton of Allen's family came to town so I still got a 'family' Christmas just not with my own personal family. His family was awesome and welcomed me with open arms. Altogether we spent 3 1/2 days filled with good food, scrapbooking, & games with his family. Under the circumstances, I couldn't have asked for a better Christmas.

Soon after Christmas, Megan and Jennifer flew to town to spend a fun filled week acting like tourists....we pretty much just skied, ate, danced, and ate some more. White they were in town we all took our first trip on the new tram. The new tram takes 100 people up 4,100 vertical feet in just 9 minutes.

More photos and stories to come I promise!!! Allen got me an entire cross country ski package for Christmas (skis, bindings, boots, & poles) so I have some fun and beautiful pictures from my cross country skiing adventures.

The new tram on its way down. You can't quite tell buy Jenny is actually riding the car back down and is waving at us from the back window.

Jennifer, Rachael, Megan, and I skiing

New Year's Eve in Teton Village
Sarah, Carissa, Jennifer, Megan, Jenny, & me

Allen and me on New Year's Eve