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.....