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

Updates......finally

So, I guess you could say that I have been really really bad with updating my blog lately. I don't have internet at my house and I don't have the extra time at my new job to update my blog at work like I used to. Enough with the excuses though......Summer and fall have finally wrapped up in Jackson and we are getting ready for winter. Although the summer was absolutely amazing, surprisingly, I did greatly miss the warmth and humidity of the south. Most of you know that I have been dating a Wyoming boy since May and things have been going really well. The first weekend in November we flew to Atlanta to surprise my mom and to go to the Wyoming versus Tennessee football game in Knoxville, TN. It was a super short visit but was a ton of fun. I was back in Jackson for less then 2 weeks before I flew back to Atlanta for Thanksgiving, a good friends wedding, and the Georgia/Georgia Tech game. I flew in on Wednesday and Allen came down on that Saturday and spent the entire week in Atlanta and Athens with my family and friends. Below are a few pictures from our two trips.

Allen and me at the Tennessee/Wyoming game.

Allen and me at the Atlanta Aquarium

Allen's 'surprise' birthday dinner at Calico in Jackson

Allen's birthday cake....yes, I made it

Allen and I at my parents house after the Georgia versus Tech game
The girls at Jackie and Cleve's wedding reception
Allen & I in Athens, GA during our 'tour' of campus
Allen and I at the Georgia vs. GA Tech game
The view of the Teton's right before I came home for Thanksgiving......fall is gone and winter is well on it's way

TYLER'S VISIT TO JACKSON!

My brother finally got to come out to visit me in Jackson a couple weeks ago. He flew for the first time by himself and even had a non-stop flight from Atlanta to Jackson. I'm kinda pissed about that because I've flown out of Jackson a few times now and I have yet to have a non-stop flight either leaving or coming to Jackson. Regardless, he made it to Jackson with no problems and we had a great week. Yellowstone, Grand Teton, white water rafting, hiking, and "buffalo hunting" were just a few of the things we did. Luckily I was able to take off the whole time he was here which allowed for some great time together.....probably the most time we have ever spent together actually.

Also while Tyler was here Megan, Jenny, and I went paragliding in Teton Village. Basically we took the Gondola up to the top of the mountain, strapped on a parachute, and then ran and jumped off the side of the mountain. It was a pretty cool experience to just be hanging out in the air looking down at the Village but was way too short. Supposedly people that go paragliding on their own (not on a paid for trip) can stay up in the air for upwards of 5 hours and travel hundreds of miles.

Tyler and I at Lower Falls in Yellowstone National Park

Tyler really loved seeing all the buffalo up close. I took him on multiple nights to an area that is a known feeding grounds for some of the buffalo herds in town and each night we were treated to seeing hundreds of buffalo right off the road. A ton of them actually crossed the road less then 10-20 feet from my car. I'm not going to lie there were a couple buffalo that did get to close for comfort.

Tyler and I hiking on the Ridgeline Trail

The wildflowers on the Ridgeline Trail hike

Me right before I went paragliding

I took this picture of Jenny when we were paragliding. She was just flying just below me.

Jenny just after she took off on her paragliding trip. She was the first one to leave the ground so I was able to take a couple pictures of her.

One of the geysers at Yellowstone National Park. I couldn't get over how clear the water was.