Halloween 2011

I think Halloween is so fun. This year I decided to party hop, luckily that's what my friends wanted to do too. Mariah came to the Howl at USU and spent the weekend with me. I made a Halloween themed dinner and watched scary movies. Perfect way to celebrate!

I dressed as Rosie the Riveter this year. I loved my costume, it was comfortable and cute!

Wish 100

When I volunteered for LoToJa in September, I came across a flier for an all women's century ride in St. George Utah at the end of October. I didn't think much of it, but a few weeks later, I came across it and decided that I was going to do the ride and that I was going to try and raise money. I was especially interested because the ride was for the Make-A-Wish Foundation which is Chi Omega's national philanthropy.


I asked my sorority sisters, family and friends for donations for the Make-A-Wish foundation and ended up raising over $500. Thank you to everyone who donated!! I asked a friend from work to do the ride with me, so we headed south on Friday!

We picked up our packets, ate a pasta dinner and went to sleep as early as possible. On saturday morning we made our way to Unity Park in Ivins, Ut.

We got dressed, got our bikes ready...

Steph and I, just about ready to start the ride.

This is about 40 miles in. My mom was a great help, she drove ahead of us, and made sure we were on track. She carried our dirty clothes, gu's and extra water. Thanks Mom!!

The Wish 100 volunteers were great, we had wonderful rest stops and couldn't have asked for better weather.

We made it to the finish line with our seats in the saddle for about 6.5 hours.

We made it!! High Fives were in order.

I was excited to represent Chi Omega at the ride!

Me and my mom after the ride - we got to the hotel, jumped in the pool, showered and finished the day off watching Thriller at Tuacahn.

Sunday we drove home and called it a great weekend! Check out the website for more info : http://wish100utah.org/

Death Hollow

23 miles, three days, lost once and a whole lot of fun!

Just an overlook before we got to the trailhead.

Apparently we hiked on the 'old mail trail' and right through the Bolder "airport"...

Beginning of the trail. Or so we thought.

The mile 'detour'. This was a pretty stop right before we realized we were lost and turned around.

My mom and I

Just the landscape.

Cooking dinner, night one was my turn to plan and pack the meal. We had salmon pasta made with orzo pasta, fresh spinach, salmon packets, parmesan cheese and lemon. If you'd like to know more about my dinner visit recipe virgins!

Everyone enjoying dinner!

Doing dishes after it got dark. :(

If you look above my head you'll see a pile of rocks. The pile was bigger, but we pushed them off the side of the mountain...

Just another landscape shot - we were making memories.

Our first view of the canyon after dropping down.

This was our footwear for 2 days. Neoprene socks and chacos.

Just a pretty picture.... plus Jake.

One of the thousands of river crossings

Playing in the water. I fell in the water shortly after this, taking my camera with me. Needless to say, I had to let it dry out before using it again, and by that time we had reached camp for the night. Just imagine some really beautiful photos of me and some red rocks.

Orange pack = mine. I love it.

My family at the Escalante/Death Hollow confluence. Aren't they just so fun.

Escalante Natural Arch - Chalay and I in the last few miles on day three.

We made it to the finish line!

This was a really fun trip. We ate well, hiked a lot, and laughed even more. I wouldn't recommend this hike for the feint of heart seeing as it was a lot of bush whacking and water. We had to crawl under rock outcroppings and swim through chest high water with packs over our heads. I slept great, enjoyed cards, the stars and a full moon. I love to backpack, but I'm always glad to be back in my own bed!

High Creek Lake

I went backpacking to High Creek Lake. It's in Cache Valley, past Richmond and up the canyon. If you didn't know what you were doing, you'd probably get confused. Anyway, its about 5 miles up to the lake 3.5 of which is a nice leisurely climb. After that its death. I'm not even kidding. The climb is up the mountainside, not even switchbacks, and it seems like the destination could be around every corner, but it's not. However, getting there was well worth the climb. It was beautiful, especially with autumn sneaking up on us.

This is me trying to push rocks off of cliffs. It wasn't my idea, but it was fun.

High Creek Lake

Jake and I at the trailhead.

That's me at the trailhead!

Made it to the beaver ponds.

Both of us still looking happy because we don't know what is coming.

Beautiful landscape.

We set up camp, made dinner and hung out before we fell asleep around 10:30. The wind didn't stop blowing through the night, and the morning was no different so we cooked breakfast (omelets) in the floor-less tent. Awesome! Jake convinced me to climb the cliff/mountainside and push rocks off. I know, it seems like something a fifth grader would do right? I can't even tell you how much fun it was! I laughed so hard every time one would fly off the cliff. I hope people on the trail weren't too annoyed with us. We headed down after that and enjoyed a Subway sandwich and called it a day!

Cassidy Arch

With my flexible job I get to play. My dad called me up, saying that he was going on a canyoneering trip and that I was invited. I met up with him in Provo and drove down to Capitol Reef with his class. We did a hike through Sulfur Creek, camped in the park and then did Cassidy Arch. It's named after Butch Cassidy, who was an outlaw in the Wild West.

We had about a mile and half walk to the top of the canyon. Isn't the landscape just awesome? It was great weather in the end of September.

This is the first 150' rapel. You rap down the side of the arch, if you look closely you can see the person in blue rappelling.

Right after the first rap, getting ready for the second 150 footer. There were seven rapels in all.

Probably one of the cooler canyons I've done. It would be ideal with a group of 4-6 instead of 26 but hey, I got to do it so I can't complain.

Friends

My friends came to town!! Core 4 was reunited (how Tyler missed this picture, I will never know). Anyway, it was so much fun, and I love when we all get to be together.

Blair, me and Rachael at Mulligans for our friends 21st birthday. I love my friends.

Logan to Jackson

LoToJa - or as it is otherwise called Logan to Jackson is a 206 mile race done in one day through 3 different states. This year my friend Brad asked if I wanted to volunteer with him and since my weekends are meant for things like this, I of course, said yes!

We spent Friday night helping with registration for the 2000ish participants. Making sure they signed waivers, got their t-shirts and race numbers. We got up around 4 am on Saturday morning to help set up the start line and be line marshals, making sure no one started before they were supposed to. We headed out to follow the race/racers through Northern Utah, into Idaho and finally we stopped in Alpine, WY to help the relay racers transition. We headed to the finish line to help take it down. Finally around midnight, Brad and I headed to our accommodation. Can you say baller?! We stayed at Spring Creek Ranch in Jackson Hole. It was so nice. We had a two bedroom suite, and like a gentleman, Brad let me have the king bed with the fireplace. Needless to say, I slept great.

The next morning we helped with the awards ceremony, cleaning up the finish line and then had a great lunch with the other volunteers. Since I spent so much time helping with the event this year, Brett (the guy in charge) offered me a spot next year. I'm going to do it and I couldn't be more excited or nervous!!

My accommodation at Spring Creek Ranch.

This is our transition zone in Alpine. Look at all those sweet bikes and crazy people!!