Happy Birthday to Me

Check out what I got for my birthday



I love it!

It has Google Maps so you can ride anywhere in the world. The bike tilts with the incline/decline of the road. It's great. And most importantly, my feet will tolerate biking better than any other exercise.

The past several years have been rough for me in the exercise department. Plantar faciitis has pretty much debilitated me. I had surgery to correct it over a year ago, but I still cannot be on my feet for very long. They are slowly getting better, but the inability to exercise has taken its toll both emotionally and physically.

This was the solution. I am happy.

The goal is to ride 2-3 times per week and xc ski on the weekends. (We finally have snow in the forecast-knock on wood.) Interestingly, my feet can tolerate skiing better than anything. I don't know if its because my weight stays mostly on my toes, or that the movement is constantly stretching my feet, but it seems to work. My feet will hurt a bit while I ski, but the pain doesn't linger for days like when I do other physical activities on my feet. Yoga has even caused too much pain. My feet have felt surprisingly good since the ski trip last week, so I'm hoping it's therapeutic in some way, and the more I ski, the better they will feel.

I'm looking forward to a fun winter.

Annual XC Trip

Last year, Rick and I started a winter tradition by spending a long weekend cross-country skiing at Bryce National Park. It was lovely and we decided we needed a yearly ski get-a-way.

Rick got a new ski set-up for his birthday this year, and since there is NO SNOW here in Utah, we headed North to find some. After contemplating several spots, Jackson was our chosen destination. It was lovely!

Day 1: We arrived by 11AM and were pleased that the hotel let us check in early. We made a sandwich for lunch and headed out for a short ski before it got dark.

We headed over to Moose Wilson road into Grand Teton National Park (the annual National Park pass has served us well this year!). With no new snow for several days, the main trail was pretty torn up, but once we got off on a side trail, it was wonderful. We skied to Phelps Lake and had the trail almost to ourselves. The temps were below freezing, but with the air perfectly still, we were unzipping our coats and taking off our scarves once we got moving.

Some of it was pretty steep, but we managed. I admit, I'm very out of shape, so after a couple of hours of skiing, I was ready to be done.


Day 2: We headed up to Colter Bay. It was completely frozen and we enjoyed skiing across the snow covered ice. We left the ice and skied around one of the peninsulas for a bit, but came back across the water when we realized we were heading in the opposite direction as the trail we had planned. (Also, we had to ditch two other skiers who were following our trail. Hello? We are the only ones out in this huge area- go a different direction! Can you tell I like the solitude of xc skiing? :) ) We ended by finding a trail on the shore and skiing around the back of the lodge to the car.

Self portrait: us, Colter Bay, Tetons, my finger.


Skiing across the bay.



Tetons across the frozen bay. Breathtaking. The snow was sparkling in the sunlight and my hilarious hubby said, "Look, the ground is made of vampire skin."



On our drive back we had to stop and snap a couple of photos of the sunset.


Day 3: Since the town shops closed early evening, we spent Saturday morning walking around town. The last time we were in Jackson was just before we got engaged. That trip was when we both knew we'd get married and started making plans. It was fun to go back into the jewelry stores where we had looked at rings. We also enjoyed some art galleries. Neither of us are really into Western Art, which is typical of the Jackson galleries, but we fell in love with these guys.


Tim Cotterill is known as the Frogman. He makes bronze frogs that come in various sizes, colors, and styles. We decided we'd love to start a collection. This guy would be our first piece.

After another pb&j in the hotel for lunch, we headed out to ski. With our late start and the longest ski planned, we were a little concerned about time and light.

We skied to Jenny Lake, which was our favorite ski of the trip. The trail was pretty flat and, again, once we were off the main trail, the snow was great.

Over the river and through the woods.



Sorry for the bad photo. I just wanted to show that the snow was deep! Rick is in to his thigh and not touching the ground. Nice to know that there is snow somewhere.



Rick with Tetons in background. That little cloud stuck around the peak all day.

This day turned out to be more of an adventure than we planned. For part of the route we skied on the frozen river- at least we thought it was frozen. We could see some water on the ice up ahead so we decided to move onto the shoreline. Just as I was about to side-step up the bank, my ski fell through the ice. Because it was so cold outside, the water immediately froze around my ski when I pulled it out. (Yay for waterproof boots so my feet didn't get wet.) It took us a while to get all the ice off so I could ski again. Brrrr.

Darkness fell about halfway back to the car. It turned out to be perfect as the full moon came out early and bright. It was a beautiful ski back with the snow glistening in the moonlight. Rather romantic.

Sunday we went to church then headed home. We stopped in Randolf to have dinner with Aaron and Crystalyn and to see the new baby, Olivia. I love old friends! It was so fun to catch up and see their cute family.

I can't think of anything I'd change about the weekend. It was perfect!

Back Again

I was reading some old posts and decided it's time to recommit to the blog. I've had these good intentions before. We'll see how it turns out this time around.

I stopped because I was feeling the need for more privacy, as well as a bit overwhelmed with all the changes in my life- marriage, step-kids, moving, hubby starting school, etc. I think I'm in a place now where I am ready to re-engage.

It's been an eventful year since I last posted. Perhaps when I'm looking for something to post about I'll catch up on some vacation pics, etc. Perhaps not. We'll see. :)

The goal is to blog once a week. I just updated the list on the right with my latest movie and book reviews.

It's a start.

Christmas via photos

Happy Holidays! Here's a recap of Christmas via some photos.

We decided for an inexpensive Christmas this year and used the tree I used to put up in my condo. It filled the space beautifully in the small condo, but looked pretty puny in our house. So we decided, instead of just a tree, we would have a Christmas Area. We made some snowflakes and sprayed them sparkly silver. The blank wall on the right ended up displaying the Christmas cards from our friends.

Here's the fam on Christmas Eve at my parent's house.

Isaac playing one of his Christmas songs

Zane has been taking singing this year. Here is his Christmas piece.

Isaac wanted to take before (Santa) and after shots of the tree. Here is before

Zane and Isaac got the traditional Christmas pj's from grandma. Zane likes to be different and root for the "other team", so grandma obliged.

School/sibling rivalry.

Isaac's post-Santa shot on Christmas morning.

...and that would be the end of the shots. We were having too much fun playing nerf guns and new video games to take any photos.

Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night.

Where Oh Where is Baby Bear?

A couple of weeks ago, I was pretty sick. I got feeling mostly better after a couple of days, but I had a fever that hung on for two weeks. I finally went to the doctor yesterday. When they took my temperature, it was normal. After checking for various infections (sinus, etc), the doctor asked me what type of thermometer I used. I told her the ear kind. She told me those were unreliable and concluded that I never really had a lingering fever.

I have a hard time believing that my thermometer was that off every time I took my temperature. I actually had Rick take his temperature a couple of times over the last two weeks to check our thermometer and his temp was normal. However, I decided to take the doctor's advice and buy a new thermometer. She said the oral kind were most accurate. I came home and took my temp and it came out.... LOWER than normal. What's the deal? One is too high, one is too low. I need the one that is just right!

THEN...

I'm having foot surgery tomorrow. I had the same surgery on my other foot a few weeks ago. I learned from that surgery that my foot will be too sore to put any weight on it for a couple of days. So I decided to borrow some crutches. I have tracked down two pair. It turns out one is for people 5'10" or taller, and one is for people 5'2" and shorter. I am 5'5"!! Too high, too low- I need the one that is just right.