to zion with my girlfriends

well, hello again. long time eh? that is ok, good things are worth waiting for. although, whether this blog is a good thing, or this post is worth waiting for, i'm not sure.

i just returned from a week long vacation with my girlfriends. just my girlfriends. now, not to sound like a 50's housewife, but i have never gone on a trip without kaleb. sure we've been separated, while he worked in alaska i was here, and he's left for weeks and weekends to climb routes that are out of my range...and there's always that occasional quibble that leads to nights spent at the parents house (omg! we are an interwebbualar couple that is not perfect). but, never have i left him, and never for seven days in a row. well girls, mama's spreading her wings.

my girlfriends kristen and adrienne have parents who have a house in zion. since i've been friends with these two gorgeous and amazing girls for my whole life, they invite me along, they also invite a gaggle of our other friends, so zion turns into quite a party.

when kaleb and i go together things are very serious. kaleb studies the climbing zion book, and marks every climb he may potentially want to do ever. we wake up early and climb throughout the day. the evenings are spent laughing, with small amounts of drinking, but the climbing is on.

that is not what happened this week.

we started the week out with good intentions, waking early and running 5 miles through cougar invested forest, then doing yoga on the deck in the sunlight. then we painted our nails, then we poured cocktails. to begin drinking at 11am and continuing until the wee hours of the morning is totally acceptable vacation behavior, and it turns out we are really good at it. so that is basically how the week went, wake, run, small bits of exercise, and then cocktails. we did venture out a bit. we went hiking in the park, and to a beautiful alpine lake, we even found a shoe tree. but, for the most part, our eco-friendly cups were filled with vodka tonics, and we required a dd.
  

late nights, early morning, and copious amount of alcohol kinda took a toll there in the end.
7 days, 4 bottles of vodka, and 5 pounds later, i came home. i think i could live with those girls forever, laughing and being totally inappropriate. my liver on the other hand is glad that i'm back to drinking water.

add a hobby to the list

one night, a couple of years ago, my brother-in-law and his friends came for a ski trip. we were all chatting, people with the same hobbies tend to get along. one of them said "do you mountain bike?" i, being a total opinionated child (even at 27) said "no." i had never had good experiences on a mountain bike. i was terrified. i snowboarded and climbed, back off. he said "you should, it is the perfect trifecta."

 k and i got mountain bikes.it is the perfect trifecta.

i'm beginning to think the problem was not me, it was my old, rusty, horrible mountain bike. because like everything else i do, i am a pretty amazing mountain biker. i love it. also, it could not have come at a more perfect time. ogden, being an outdoor mecca, is not particularly known for its climbing. k and i have climbed every available surface ogden has to offer, and after climbing in yosemite, zion, city of rocks, indian creek.....ogden just doesn't do it anymore. like a bag of pot in high school, sure it seemed awesome, but then you grew up, and realized that it was mostly just seeds and stems and you much prefer the blueberry chronic. i'm just trying to relate, i have no bases for such matters, i'm outdoorsy. nevertheless, we will still climb in ogden mostly because we don't live in indian creek or zion, but mountain biking has opened up the mountain in ways i never thought.

in the evenings after work, during the weekend, in a few spare hours you can mountain bike all over the place. we can also go from our house,  people ogden is awesome. so, with perfectly matching his and hers bikes and helmets kaleb and i make quite a pair. if you are married to kaleb you would know he is good at everything, you would also have to watch your back as i would hunt you down and fork you. he can rock a bike, and looks super sexy doing so.

also, the doggies are happy we can finally keep up with them.  which makes this happen at the end of the day, and that's nice too.

birthday week

so, as i get older, and it becomes more and more traumatic, i've decided to make my birthdays last longer. a transition period if you will. also, i really like when people hang around and tell me i'm beautiful and amazing and give me presents. so, i've slowly grown over time from having a single birthday day, into a couple of days, then a handful and now a week. my sisters graduation on saturday is putting a damper on the weekend. but, since it is her college graduation, i guess i can let it slide this year. although, i'm pretty sure she scheduled it simply to fuck with my birthday week...attention hog.
so to kick off the celebrations last weekend k, richard and i went to indian creek. i'm beginning to think i have some pretty good karma, totally undeserved of course, because indian creek was once again ours for the taking. i was slightly depressed, as any woman turning 27 can rightfully be. i'm getting old fool. but, nothing kicks a depression like fingers and hands in a crack, and two good-looking men. because my camera is now, officially, unusable there are no pictures.
then with my real and actual birthday falling on a tuesday (that was may 1st for any of you trying to do the math) i had dinner with my dearest family. i like that very much, and as a interesting side note, i am now part of the kindle crowd. i am aware if you know me at all in real life, you have heard my long winded rampages about how the kindle is killing books, and i like the feel of a real book in my hands, and so on. but, i like trees, and books are made from trees, and fuck it, i like the kindle so back off.

then last night, we went to see the black keys! my eardrums are burst, i danced for 2 hours, and they rocked my ass off. i'm a huge fan of live music. kaleb isn't a huge fan of crowds, so rarely we go to see live music. i hemmed and hawed over buying the tickets. i heavily hinted i wanted to go. then exactly 2 hours before the doors opened i bought tickets, and i am oh so happy i did. i would like to point out one tiny thing i noticed last night. people were sitting during the concert, particularly the people sitting right below us. now, i am not one to judge. ok, i may judge sometimes, but, in my humble and always correct opinion sitting during a concert is lame. live music is an interactive experience. dancing is almost always required. i mean really, at least stand up, tap your foot, and sway slightly. i may have bashed them in the back of the head once or twice while i was rocking out. but, i say that is their fault, had they been standing, as proper concert etiquette states, they would have been slapped in the ass, and everyone likes a cute stranger slapping their ass.

babies, and the reason i don't have one

i'm beginning to feel some pressure. who is applying this pressure? i'm not quite sure. but, i feel it, and i don't appreciate it. i don't have a baby. i don't even have a concept or thought of a baby. some people are baby people. some people feel like having children is the best, most wonderful thing they could ever in their lives do. i don't have that gene. here is the gene i do have, i have the take off for the weekend without a second thought gene. i have the spend my afternoons moving every piece of furniture in my house up and down the stairs, and six inches to the left gene. i have the drive to climb a 5.12, and hold a handstand this year. i have a river in my backyard, which i think should automatically disqualify me for children for safety reasons. i have commitment issues, i have only been with my husband for 8 years, everyday of that i have wanted to be with him. children are there, always, whether you want them to be or not. i have two dogs. i tend to be anal, controlling, and anxiety ridden, these are not good traits in a parent. i want nice things, and i have a husband and two dogs, throw a child in there and nice things will never, ever happen. i have a hard enough time getting myself, and my husband showered on a regular basis. i have just barely, finally, kind of, figured out who i am, and what i want.-- i simply do not think i will be a good parent.

kaleb, on the other hand, would be spectacular. but, since the having of the children is a two person job, and the birthing of the children falls solely on my shoulders, i decide. so, as for right now, and the near and foreseeable future, i will remain childless.
so...back off

4 years and counting

i have been married to this gorgeous hunk of man-meat for 4 years.




4 years people, that's pretty impressive in this day and age.
guess what else? i still even like him. like a lot.
--oh my gosh, so romantic, i could just throw up.--

now, i will tell you the secrets of our very successful marriage.

1. he makes fun of me...seriously all the time. whenever i'm feeling a bit hormonal, angry or in a raging mood to fight, he laughs at me. while this may seem annoying at the time, and while i want to pray mantis his head off, it makes me laugh, and laughing and yelling don't belong together.

2. we go on lots of trips together. pretty much every weekend. we've done this since the beginning, and we continue it. i like hanging out with him. crazy.

3. he does sweet and loving things for me. like taking out the garbage, bringing me coffee, making dinner, carrying me to the bathroom when i'm drunk and need to throw up.

4. i do sweet and loving things for him. i wash his underwear, and clean his car, and carry him to the bathroom when he's drunk and needs to throw up. equality is key.

5. he leads climbs, i top-rope them. this is important

6. when i really, really want to kill him and dump his body in the desert, i don't.

7. same-same for him. (this is a bigger accomplishment for him)

8. we talk, about everything. even the dark, ugliness of our personalities.

9. we balance each other. i am selfish, demanding, and a black hole of need. he is caring, laid back, and forgiving.

10. when all else fails, he is so so cute, i love him from a place deep within myself, and i need a belay.

happy anniversary husband.

so i have this dog

have you ever noticed how you can simultaneously love something, and want kill it too? of course you do. look who i'm talking too. every person who has ever been in a relationship knows this. lilly invokes both emotions in me, almost everyday, and within very short distances of each other. let me give you an example.
she hates edward cullen, now i cannot blame her for this, it's the way she shows her disdain i do not approve of. my sister and i went to the premier of twilight: breaking dawn. don't you judge me. i like my train wreck of a book, turned into a train wreck of a movie as much as the next 12 year old girl. to document this glorious time we had our picture taken with edward and jacob (lookalikes) they were creepy, and they were from byu which made them double creepy. so to make them really uncomfortable we hung all over them like crazed fans. nothing funnier than uncomfortable byu coeds. anyway, i have the picture, last night lilly decided she liked neither the lookalikes nor the picture, and shredded it into the tiniest pieces you could imagine. all except jacob who she left surprisingly unmamed. i guess edward is hated by all dogs. (twilight pun!)
i woke up to find offending picture all over my bedroom, and when i went to find and question her she looked like this.......

not guilty.

as a post script i would like to say: sorry for the bad phone pictures. my anniversary is coming up, and i have hinted heavily that i would like a new camera. we shall see.

i went to zion

and i climbed.

two years ago, k and i climbed led by sheep. it was pretty easy climbing. the view was amazing. when we came down from the climb we were sitting under a juniper that had been struck by lighting, drinking heineken, and that is when we decided that selling our house, moving into a trailer, and living on the road was a good idea. when you're in a position like that, and you don't want to go home, you make other arrangements.

i did not take pictures. i didn't stop to take document what was around me but, i did climb. i love zion in a way that is hard to explain.

i may be ready to do it all again.