Who am I, sir?

A Utah man am I A Utah man, sir, and will be till I die; Ki!Yi!

As many people know- especially my roommates last year who were sport fanatics- I have never been much of a sports person. Though I went to most of my high school games I went purely for the social aspect of it! But this year I joined the MUSS (mighty university student section) and I must say I have enjoyed it- and I even watched the games! (unlike most of my friends in high school these people actually watch the games- crazy!) It has been fun- and each game I received fewer weird

looks as I learned the rules!

Before the game at the tailgating party- red robin provided the food...the other reason I go :o)

Getting ready for the blackout game on Halloween...

Victory!!!

This picture is kind of dark- but here is the stadium on a regular game day- everything is red- it's great!

Black out game!

My friend Jon came down from Washington and went to the New Mexico game with me...it was fun! I thought I converted him to the 'U' until he turned traitor during the BYU-Utah game...Rrr...

Where did fall go?

Holy Cow!! What the heck happened to this fall? I can't believe how fast it has all gone! As always I have neglected my blog... so here I am trying to catch up!! Lucky for you the majority of my fall I don't have pictures of so you don't have to look at pictures of me studying or at my internship counseling with troubled teenage druggies! Let see...I figure a picture says a thousand words so here are 11,000 words of my fall!

Powderpuff football!! So much fun.... I even played a few times!

Chalk scavenger hunt! Go Utes!!

We found Big Bertha at the fair... she was HUGE!!

Lake Powell trip during fall break...

So much fun to get away from the school and internship...

Night time swimming...brrr

Barnyard dance-with a caller and everything!

Beta retreat! Yes-we played Nertz for the first time in way to long and Yes it was my idea!

Catch a Cougar! We went down to the 'Y' all decked out in our 'U' attire and took a bunch of cougars out to ice cream.... ya we got a lot of weird looks!

Battle of the Chapters...

Yes...we won! Collecting 1/4 of all of the canned food donated!

Shout out to Missionaries

So today I went to an old roommates farewell and was thinking about all my amazing friends and family who are off serving the Lord on missions. They are great examples to me and I miss them all very much!! So I decided I would do a small tribute to all of them... here goes!!

Chaz!! My cute brother! He is 2 years younger than me- he's great! I miss his big hugs and quoting Mash with him! He still has a stinkin year to go! Serving in Texas and says y'all every other word!
Denise!! The first of my high school friends to leave! She lived just down the street, but was always at my house! She is on her mission in Australia- I can't wait to hear her accent! She comes home in March! Can't wait!
Jessica!! My fellow soprano 2 in Mads- she moved into my ward in 9th grade and we've been great friends ever since! Love her!! She is serving in England- I am excited to hear her accent also!

Summer!! Love this girl! We have been close friends since elementary school also. We have spent many hours hanging out and laughing about one thing or another- her letters are all so up beat and optimistic- love it! She is doing awesome in Argentina!

Emily! A great friend from both high school- we were in Mads together, and college-we roomed together- its fun having a friend who can relate to both high school and college life! Love her! She left for Brazil in July.
I didn't have a picture of just Megs (far right) - so I figured this would have to do, yes, all the girls in this picture are on missions except for me!! We have had years of choir together. She is in Finland- dang- I'm glad I don't have to learn that language!

Carlee- the first of last years roommates to leave-we seemed to get in a lot of water fights! She is currently serving in Ohio...

Shalyn! Another roommate this past year-we met on Project Inspire. She flies off to Chile this Tuesday! Good luck!!

The last of my last years roommates to leave-Natalie. Shannell and her husband came down for her farewell. Natalie did great! It was way fun catching up with both of them after! She is going to Brazil- leaves on Wednesday.

Happy Halloween!!

Yet again- I am so behind in posting! But I figured I would jump to the present for Halloween- I will eventually catch up on the rest! My Halloween was fun- unfortunately I didn't take any pictures so I have to depend on other people posting them on Facebook!

This was taken on Friday at the sky box at the gateway... there was a huge institute party! It was great! I was the swine flu. The night before we had a dance with the special needs ward- it was fun! If any of those pictures show up I will post them!Halloween we had a blackout game against Wyoming- it was weird seeing the stadium in black instead of red- it was fun! I am waiting on some other pictures- some people got way into it! (as you can probably tell from Jocelyn's face!

Summer at a Glance!

So- since I have been such a total slacker at posts this summer, I figured I may as well just post it all at once! So here goes!

Tosh and I had a bunch of friends come up to our cabin- it was way fun! We went 4-wheeling, had a camp fire, games, zip line etc... and not one person got injured...well, no serious injuries anyway! This was on our way home- we stopped by Dairy Keen in Heber City, so of course we had to eat on the trains!
Sadly- I think this is the only roommate picture of all of us! My roommate Shannell got married, so the rest of us decided to make the road trip to the middle of no where for her reception- it was in some small town by Twin Falls. It was fun! Since this picture Shalyn and Carlee are on missions and Natalie leaves in November! I don't know what it is about me that makes everyone I know go on missions...hmmm.... I should look into that!
Chaci and her cute, cute boys came to visit! I am holding Makett, Chaci is holding Tanzen...Dang I miss these boys and Chaci of course- but Chaci does a better job of talking on the phone... It was so good to see them all!

We went up to our cabin over the 24th of July- I love Ketty's smile here!!

Mini reunion! Megan came back from her mission-it was so fun seeing some old friends from good ol' Birch Plaza-BYU-Idaho! I love these girls! Many good memories with them! Crazy to think what has happened in the last few years!
Remember how I said all of my friends go on missions? Well it is good to know that they come home from missions also! Dani came back from her mission in Russia in July and came to visit Utah! It was SO good to see her again!
Can anyone guess what we were doing here? Yes...we take our Harry Potter seriously! Midnight showing of Harry Potter- it was way fun- some people got way into it- we saw Lord Voldemort (with nylon over his face), the womping willow, and some lady brought a real owl! It was fun! To bad I had to get up way early for a week long class- I figured out it cost me over a dollar a minute!
In February we gained a new family member! Gabi came to us from the Foster care system. I was so excited when she decided to be baptized! It was fun to be with her on this special day!
Opetero was at our house visiting when I got back from work- it was fun seeing him again- I think it is funny to see how incredibly dirty I am after 8 days hiking with no shower! They were very hesitant to stand this close to me! I will say I did get a nice tan after being in the sun all summer- but the dirt definitely helped too!

Lake Powell!! SO MUCH FUN! Going anywhere with 40 college kids is definitely quite the party! We were parked within walking/swimming distance of a sweet sand dune hill- we wanted to go to the top to watch the sunset- it was sweet...though the sunset was blocked by the rocks!

After building a slip-n-slid with a giant water hose of course a mud fight was bound to happen!

Mario Cart- scooter style! Hahaha- I'm not sure who thought of it- but it was awesome! We got 3 balloons and tied them to our waist- than rode around trying to pop each others balloons with our keys- it was way fun!

The Peak...

It may just look like a big ugly desert but from the top...its amazing!! This is on the top of Red Pine elevation 8,495. No, it's not the highest mountain in Utah, but hiking up it with a bunch of teenagers can still be quite the feat...

At the top we have bottles full of letters, mostly of past outbackians, expressing their feelings of their experiences. Its fun to read through them!!

There was an amazing view from the top! It was so cool!!

This picture was taken on my last week of work- on top of Indian- it was quite the long hike but way cool... the west side looks like a desert ocean...

This picture is for Chaz... can you tell which state it is supposed to be?

One of the traditions at Outback is trail names.. They are given to you by a group once they get to know you. They generally choose a noun and an adjective that they feel describes you... I was given the name "Compassionate Sunflower" it was a great ceremony! After the ceremony they paint your face... The boys that gave me my name were trying to make me into a sunflower.... the yellow is the pedals, the line down my nose and my mouth is the stem, but than a boy decided to paint a heart on my check so it turned into half a sunflower!

This is a Boraground which means 'sacred ground'. It is a place of honor. This is the one I was given my token in- 'peace walker'. It is a circle with an opening pointing east- to the rising sun. (you can see indian- the mountain I peaked earlier in the background) The one where I received my trail name was awesome! It was made out of smaller rocks stacked high with a design made out of flowers in the middle- it was cool!

Outback Adventures!!

This summer I have been working at Outback Therapeutic Expeditions...a fancy name for a wilderness treatment center. I have absolutely loved it!! I work 8 days and am off 6... (I once made the mistake of saying I worked 8 days a week- I was going to continue saying I was off 6 but didn't get that far before I got teased for it...if the Beatles can do it why can't I?) I have loved getting to know the students (both girls and boys- but the groups are separated), hiking and camping! The wilderness can be so healing- I have learned so much! I love it!!

This picture was taken the day after a huge rain storm! It started raining when we were still hiking and we didn't get into camp until 11:30...it was great fun setting up camp in the dark and pouring rain! The next morning on our way to find dry bark so that we could make a fire we found this horny toad on the side of the road...I was about to release him when it was decided he really wanted to ride on my head...he actually made it back to camp like this!

This is busting! With a top rock, spindle, fire board, bow and cordage- you too can bust a coal! With that coal you put it in a nest and ta-da! Fire!! Definitely a lot harder than it looks!

This picture was taken by a awesome sunset but you can't see it- The dots around my eyes were given to me by the girls group- they are 'dots of womanhood'

This is our lovely shelter- one of many that we make each night! Its made out of a Tarp and cordage tied to trees and rocks!

Yes, this isn't the best picture (well-none of them are good). It was a pretty intense hike for having full packs. You can't see it to well but that is my backpack- its made out of leather straps and sticks- not the most comfortable thing in the world but it does what its made for! Inside the tarp is my mat, clothes, sleeping bag and food...fun huh! The mountain in the background is Red Pine I peaked in the last picture.

On my birthday I was finally able "peak"- it was great! This is near the top of Red Pine. Luckily when we peak most of the time we don't do it with our 50 pound backpacks!