Let the good times roll!

The 5th Annual J Tree Good Times Havin' Trip lived up to its name! It was stinking fantastic!!!

It got off to a great start when I got to spend time with one of my favorite people, Karen! I am lucky enough to have her for a cousin and I miss hanging out with her more often. But.... we spent lots of time talking until the wee hours of the morning to try and catch up on our lives!!!






The next day, I was off to Joshua Tree National Park. Long drive, but sooo worth it! We pulled in around 5pm and set up camp. That night, I think a tornado was circling the camp. The gale-force winds were enough to blow everything around. It was too dangerous to even get close to the fire to get warm for fear of catching a rogue flame! At a couple points, I swear the tent was about to take flight!
Having survived the windy night, the next morning we went climbing. Super fun, but still cold.
I must admit that at this point, I was worried about the trip fulfilling the "good times" name due to the weather. BUT, by the next morning, the weather turned for the better. Game on!
We took a day off from climbing and went for a hike out to the Lost Horse Mine. We found the mine, and saw beautiful scenery. I think the desert is unique, but until this trip I didn't appreciate its beauty. The trees and wildflowers were in bloom and I loved it! This picture doesn't even do it justice.



We then went outside the park to take showers (gotta love those!) After the shower, I was looking across the dirt road, and I found something the world has been needing... the Worlds Famous Crochet Museum. That's right, you read that right. Its placement in the middle of a dirt road and double-wides made me convinced... NOT!



But, I digress from the climbing....

The next three days were full of climbing, climbing, climbing. Yahoo! I was in heaven. I climbed easy stuff and even a couple of insanely challenging routes (this is a 5.11a, if you know the lingo...Yeah!!).




I came home dirty, scraped up, tired, and happy. There is something so therapeutic for me about nature, a physical challenge and leaving all this technology behind. I returned with a clear head, cramped muscles, an appreciation for my bed, and a need to go climbing again real soon!

Thank you Easter Bunny... bock bock!

Those Cadbury commercials still crack me up!

But, since I didn't see the cabury bunny commercial this year, let me talk about what I did see....
Stinkin' cute niece and nephews!


Nathan and Audrey did the traditional Easter egg hunt, and then the big kids had an egg hunt too. My favorite! I love that my Dad didn't just forget about us big kids. He is so creative is making different versions of egg hunts each year (must be exhausting to keep thinking of new ideas!). This year, we each had a color egg, and when we found one, we would open it up. When we found all the eggs, we unscrambled the letters to find Easter messages. So fun!! (Thanks Dad!)

Such cute family photos!



Nothing like a great family day!

Pretty Princesses

Life with Rini-Roo is just one long Princess party. Even the stores have crowns for her to wear! So fun to be your aunt, cute girl! You are a princess to me.

Happy Birthday to me!!!

Last weekend I had a fantastic birthday weekend!
For starters, I have wonderfully deceitful and lying friends who planned a surprise party for me on Friday! (Sneaky buggers talk about me behind my back too!) They had me totally fooled until the day of, and I started to catch on because of actions of others. But I wanted to enjoy it, so I pretended not to notice! We had great food, beautiful and delicious cakes, and RockBand!!! Thanks friends! You are the greatest!



Then on Saturday, my family organized a rousing round of Bocce Ball. Have you ever played? It was so much fun! Who knew a version of lawn bowling could be so exciting and competitive... There is a place nearby that is a restaurant/bocce ball place (great food too!) We are sooo going back there soon!



Get rollin' ladies!


Alli and Nathan cheesin' it up for the camera

Happy Birthday Mormor

Happy birthday to a beautiful woman!
Love you and miss you.


Remember the time I decided we should go mini golfing for our birthdays.... you were hilarious. I love that you never acted your age!

Run...Drive...Sleep...Repeat!

12 people....
2 vans...
28 hours...
and 182 miles!!!

I just did an insanely fabulous relay race last weekend in and around Phoenix! Wow! I was exhausted but happy at the end of the 28 hours.


above: Team "Unnatural Selection - fighting DNA every step of the way!"

below: Van #2


I ran 11 of the miles (I was the wimpy girl in the group. others did up to 20!)
It was great....there were about 170 teams. The place was swarming with 15 passenger vans full of crazy runners. Some were dressed in costumes, but all of them were supportive and cheering everyone on, no matter what team they were on!
I must admit that running with a reflective vest and a headlamp at night was awkward, but who cares! What an adventure! I think I am just enjoying finding out what I am made of. Apparently, I can run crazy races!

I loved the challenge enough to sign up for another race next year. Anyone else up for an adventure???


The tattoo sleeve package said "will fool your friends 8 and up". What do you think?


What I got to look at while running. Gorgeous!!!

Wordy Wednesday

So, my cousin sometimes has wordless Wednesdays, so I thougt I would do the opposite! (well kinda)
I love quotes. I think it is a talent when people can say profound things in a simple way. So, thought I would share a couple of my latest favorites:

1. "Sadness, disappointment, and severe challenge are events in life, not life itself. Men are that they might have joy." Richard G. Scott

2. "Don't confuse temporary cloud cover with utter darkness." Neal A. Maxwell

3. "The good works that really matter require the help of heaven. And the help of heaven requires working past the point of fatigue so far that only the meek and lowly will keep going long enough. The Lord doesn't put us through this test just to give us a grade, He does it because the process will change us." Henry B. Eyring


Hope these give you a little lift and encouragement too!

Do you Tattoo?

So, what do grown ups do when they get together? That's right, they do fake tattoos! So, in the last couple of weeks, a friend of mine was so excited about the new rock climbing muscles in her forearms, that she picked up some tattoos to help show them off. You know.... like Popeye and the anchor on the forearm.

So we did them one night. The next day, I went to work with this dragon on my forearm. And, wouldn't you know that a 3 year old girl came in with the exact same one on her arm! Well, who says I have to act my age!?!

So the other night we went out to dinner and decided to use up the last tattoos in the pack. We were quite the sight, rubbing on tattoos and posing for pictures... Classic craziness with friends!


That snarl doesn't fool me my friend!


Those tattoos are painful, right Alan?


Matching snake tattoos on our forearms.... yikes! (mine didn't last long, since snakes creep me out!)


Go tough girl!


What is that? A treasure chest? What a silly idea for such a serious tattoo! :)

And the reviews are in...

Okay, so I thought I would give a couple of recommendations for those of you looking for new books to read or movies worth watching.
Books
1. 3 Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson. This is an intriguing book about one man making a difference, and it also gives insight into life in the Middle East.
2. An American Life by Ronald Reagan. I actually listened to this book on tape actually read by him. (I still call audiobooks 'books on tape'. Does that date me or what???) It was great to hear him tell his story from childhood to President.
3. The Travelers Gift by Andy Andrews. A great story about what qualities we should acquire and what is really important in life.

Movies
1. 27 Dresses. Cute, pretty predicatable chick flick, but a few good laughs to make it entertaining.
2. Touching the Void. A harrowing true story of 2 guys ice climbing in Peru and barely living to tell the story. So well done that I was getting anxiety just watching it!


Just a couple ideas.... I will keep you posted if anything else fantastic comes my way. I have a few books here waiting to be read, so hopefully they will be worthwhile! Such a challenge to fill your spare time with things that are worthwhile and not just a space filler.

Let the good times roll...

So I met this new guy. He is strong, and of few words, but hey...who am I to be picky? We have so much in common; he climbs trees and I climb rocks... The only problem is that he only wants to go out to the Rainforest Cafe for dinner. That's okay, I'm sure I can change him and make him broaden his horizons as he learns that he can't live without me! Ah, the joy of new love...



But really, we had a great time celebrating Dad's birthday. We went to San Francisco and enjoyed the Exploratorium and then dinner at the Rainforest Cafe. After Audrey got over the scary monkeys that would move every-so-often, it was hard to keep her and Nathan in their chairs long enough to eat anything. I think it was a successful birthday party! Let's be honest, it was great because we were all together, and most importantly the grandkids were there!
Happy birthday Dad!



Nathan had a blast at the Exploratorium... I love this picture!