My 11,749 foot nap.

Last summer I hiked Timpanogos in the middle of the night and got lost (thanks to a few "we know the way" boys who didn't actually "know the way" and in fact had never done it before) We planned on hiking through the night and making it to the top to see the sun rise. None of that happened. The four hour hike took us six hours and we only made it to the saddle of the mountain (about an hour from the top) We did however manage to use up all the batteries in all but one flashlight (and accidentaly drop the few spare batteries we did have down the cliff), drink all of our water, and forget to bring any food with us and thus had no energy for the hike back down the mountain. It was one of the single worst nights/days of my life. I was so hungry/tired/thirsty that when I got home I couldn't eat, sleep, or drink anything. I remember thinking to myself after the experience "I don't like hiking, it is not fun" but I conviently forgot making that statement and so I tried again. I was finally going to slap that mountain in the face. I wish I could say that was what happened but the truth is: you can't really slap a mountain in the face. Lets just say that if a mountain could "theoretically" hurt a person, then I was body slammed by the Mountain Timpanogos. I remember now why I do not like hiking: because it is hard. It took us 4 1/2 hours to get to the top which is about average and then we ate and took naps on the cliff and finally headed back down. This is where it gets bad. I don't remember a lot about the way down on my last Timp hike except that we ran most of the way. Not because we had energy and strength to run but because it took more energy and strength to go slow due to the downward momentum. I did not run this time. Instead we took it one slow painful step at a time. The first part of the descent is so steep and covered in gravel and boulders that one wrong step will send you down one of many sheer verticle cliffs and so by the time you finish that part and the trail turns to meadow and dirt, your entire lower body is shaking (or at least mine was). I also realized that I had a gnarly blister on the back of my foot that I hadn't noticed before then but could do nothing about. Then there was some kind of time/space continuum after that and it is all a painful blur. Remember in hiking that the way up is harder on your mind and the way down is harder on your body. At any point on the way up you can say, "I quit. I'm done." Turn around and you're done. But you don't have any options on the way down except to get it over with. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad I did it, I'll just never do it again. (Oh wait, didn't I say that last year?)

You Stay Classy, San Diego

Its time to talk about some things that I love. The first is road trips and the second is San Diego. Something I like even more than those two things is when you combine them. That is what I did this summer thanks to my generous San Diegon roommate. We began around 10 in the morning and of course we stopped in Vegas for In n Out but other than that, we went straight for So Cal. (and by "we", I mean, Jack and I. Our richer roommates took a plane) My roommate Lexi's family lives in Escondido but we went straight past it to Coronado and straight into the water. Some people may have been surprised by two underwear-clad girls playing in the moonlit waves but if they had known that it had been way too long since this California girl had played in any ocean, they would have understood and so would you.
Over the next two days we went body surfing at the beach, saw the Star of India in the harbor (and Jack Sparrow), went shopping downtown, ate real Mexican food, fish tacos, In n Out (duh), and swam in Lexi's backyard. Agoodtimewashadbyall. In life, people ask what you are going to do after you graduate college and such. Here is an example of one of these conversations: Are you staying in Provo? No. Are you going back to Bakersfield? No. Well, where are you going to go? I usually answer, I don't know, I guess anywhere... as long as its San Diego.

These are a few of my FLAVORITE things

little miracles

I was watched a movie or a TV show one time and someone said "Everyday we're alive can be a miracle." I've had a few examples of everyday miracles in my recent life. The first miracle was Sunday night when I was able to witness the annual Perseid meteor shower when Earth passes through a cosmic river of debris following the Swift-Tuttle comet. My roommate, Alexis and I and some other friends drove to the hills south of Utah Lake to get away from city lights and spend quality time with Amazon-sized mosquitoes. It took 20 minutes and some 4X4-ing up some really steep hills to get there. The meteors were amazing and we saw everything from tiny faint streaks across the sky to huge, brilliant, softball-sized shooting stars. There was even one that, instead of shooting across the sky, slowly and gently fell towards the earth and then broke up into hundreds of tiny points of light. They were beautiful. We had fun passing the time by listening to friends play the guitar and laughing about Bryan Reagan. It was one of those celestial events that inspires unanswerable questions and reminds us how truly small we are in this universe. That leads me to my second miracle of the week. I woke up the next morning and could not find my cell phone. I wish I could say that it had no effect on my life and I didn't really miss it that much but that would be a lie. I just got a new job and was waiting to hear from them about when to come in for training and my mom was here visiting so we were coordinating airport trips and so on. If it had been any other week this summer, a missing cell phone would have gone mostly unnoticed. So I of course asked myself the inevitable question "Where did I last have my phone?" I remembered getting a call right before we went to Utah Lake and then putting it back in my purse before we left. That was the last time I saw it. My purse, like so many other purses, is full and items tend to fall out... a lot. So I recounted my activities after leaving the house so I could retrace my steps and hopefully recover my phone. First we took a load of blankets down and I sat in the grass waiting for Alexis to bring her truck around. Then we stopped at 7-11 for slurpees (duh). Then we picked up some friends at their house. It could have fallen out at any of these places for all I knew which would have been ok because people live around these areas and would likely see it and return it. The one place we went that night where people don't live and probably doesn't have a lot of visitors is the top of the hill where we watched the stars. Now, I'm a religious person and when I have a problem, I ask for help. So of course I prayed, and this is kinda how my prayer went: Father in Heaven, I've lost my phone. I know my cell phone is not essential to my eternal salvation or anything but it is kind of necessary in my life right now. Please help me find it. Please let it be somewhere that I will be able to find it and let it not be lying in the fields south of Utah Lake playing Imogen Heap Hide and Seek for all the mosquitoes to hear every time my mom calls. Amen. So I went about my day sans cell phone and when I got home, there was a post-it note on the table saying: "Robert (408) 567-blah blah blah. He has Sar's phone!!" I of course freaked out and called the number (using a roommates phone) This guy Robert explained that he had casually driven out by Utah Lake to do a little recreational shooting early Monday morning and had seen a black phone just sitting in the dirt. My phone was in the one place I had prayed it wouldn't be!! but this guy just happened to see it and called the last person I had called on my phone, which was my roommate Jackie. So, to conclude my really long explanation of my recent not-so-everyday miracles, I got my phone back. The Church is true. Robert: if by another miracle you happen to see this blog, THANK YOU for being in right place at the right time, for me.

Tagged?

I guess I'm "IT" in this online blog-version of tag and that means I have to list some mortally important details of my life such as "things I hate" and "things I love."


Things I love:
1) Family
2) happy weather
3) Peanut Butter
4) New (to me) Clothes
5) Interesting names that do not sound made up
6) Laughing
7) laughing babies
8) whole milk, dark chocolate, wheat bread,

Things I HATE:
1) Being cold
2) When people ignore/are mean to other people
3) TV (except so you think you can dance...and grey's anatomy, crap)
4) wasting food/money
5) anything made by Hostess, little debbie. (or any food that comes sealed in a clear, plastic wrapper, excluding graham crackers)

Places I want to visit: (In order of desire, sort of)
1) Costa Rica
2) Thailand
3) Spain
4) New Zealand

Books
Currently: The Great Divorce. wow
1) True Love, All I need to know I learned in Kindergarten
2) Twilight & New Moon (guilty pleasure)
3) Tuesdays with Morrie
4) LOTR

MovieS:
1) Forrest Gump, Meet Joe Black, Reality Bites, The Pallbearer, Anchorman, LOTR
2) Phantom of the Opera
3) Notebook
4) Gladiator
5) Amelie

I'm not very good at:
1) getting the oil changed in my car
2) saving money
3) being outgoing/brave
4) relationships
5) studying
6) Drawing conclusions
7) Sleeping

I am good at:
1) shaving my legs
2) reading people
3) being patient
4) eating
5) cuddle/snuggling

Thinking about:
1) why am I not cuddling or snuggling right now?
2) preparing my winter wardrobe
3) Thai food
4)http://health.discovery.com/convergence/duggars/jennifer.html

hoping:
I can find a warm pair of boots to wear this winter *sniff*