CATAPULTED!!

Okay, so river rafting has been really fun because it's OUTSIDE and I meet new PEOPLE everyday. Some people are SO fun that it feels like hanging out with friends all day laughing hard, playing, getting into major water fights . . . And then there are some people who are a drag and you just sit there spouting out random facts about the surroundings (like 10-13 year old boys who are CONSTANTLY asking every 30 seconds - When's the rapid? Are we almost at the rapid?? Was that a rapid??? How many rapids are there????; And old geological men who are fascinated with the soil age, name, colors, rock era, etc. So they throw out all kinds of random questions. I actually had someone get in my boat one time and say to me - before he'd even give me his name, "Now all the details you can give us on the geological facts on our surroundings would be very nice during this trip." Greeaaaaat.) Not that I don't like rocks - I wear one on my finger! Okay, I don't care about rocks.

Whoa - tangent, sorry. Back to my story. So I'm really enjoying my job, the "fear-factor" has slowly ebbed away until I don't have butterflies anymore when I see particular rapids and wonder quietly in my head . . . Are we going to make it?! Oh man, I hope we make it! (Ha, ha now you know what goes through a river guides head - never try to read their faces, it won't show you how they REALLY feel in those climactic moments.) So I feel good, I feel great, I feel wonderful (and quickly I find I'm way too confident).

I don't have pic's of this so you'll have to do with these really cool drawings.

A couple days ago I'm taking a group of people down river and we're approaching the last one in the trip. The water's pretty high so this rapid - Rocky Rapid, has some great hits on the lefts side with large waves. It looks great so we're going in! (See, that's me sitting on the back end of the boat.)




After 3 really big waves and lots of splashing we're laughing and I'm maneuvering the boat to get ready to make a sharp 90 degree turn to the left, when out of nowhere I suddenly find myself FLYING through the air (Yep, that's me AIRBORNE)





I almost speared myself in the leg with my oar handle and finally landed on one of my guest's lap. Uh, Hi . . . Matt. Thanks for holding onto me. Everyone stops paddling and stares before asking "Are you okay?", "What happened?", "What WAS that??" I had taken us over a pour-over that I didn't see and while the front end of the boat went down, my end flung up and threw me out of my seat. That was . . . enlightening. Now I'm scared of that rapid ALL over again. DANG IT.



Oh yeah, and I've received a colorful souvenir from that adventure. See how pretty?

Le Chateau De Mike Et Fawn A Moab

Some people are asking - the rest are wondering . . .
What does our house look like? Well, have a look!

Here is the front of our house.
I grew those roses myself! K, not really.

The Living Room!

The Kitchen!

The . . . Hallway?

The Laundry Room!

The Bathroom! (We don't have a shower,
we have to use the river on our trips.)
J/K!! Come and visit us, you can take a shower,
it's just hiding behind the door.

The Bedroom! Messy, messy.

Our Awesome Backyard!

Oh, I almost forgot - The Storage Room! (Not our stuff - pic was taken before we moved in) This room was the selling point for Mike. It's built-in and attached to the side of the house. The perfect place to keep ALLLLLLL our toys and then some- the kayaks, snowshoes, rock climbing/ice climbing/camping/hiking gear, cataraft, numchucks (sp) yeah - he has them, kiteboard, snowboards, etc. We did a good job filling it. Plus, I had room for food storage!

Le fin du tour du chateau! Hope you liked it :)
Au revior!

Guess who came to visit Moab!

My mom, sister, and youngest brother came to visit us last week. I think we kept them busy the whole time they were here! They were able to see our little house and experience "A day in the life of . . ." Mike and I, with extra activities on the side like hiking the trails and rock climbing. Yes, they ALL climbed.

Mike & I took them to Wall Street just outside of Moab. Meghan is getting the 4-1-1 on how to harness yourself properly. She was the first to do the 5.6 climb in the area called "School Room".










Here's Meghan doin' the walk on solid rock. She was so nervous, You Can DO it!








Meghan reaching the summit of School Room. Mike was belaying her and the rest of us were just holding our breath . . . not really, we were actually making her laugh half the time which didn't help.


Dustin was next and unfortunately we didn't have any climbing shoes his size! He had quite the challenge climbing the rock wall in ordinary street shoes. Amazingly he actually did a great job and made it all the way to the top!



Next was MOM! She did a GREAT job, especially considering she's afraid of heights!! After a few minor adjustments on the harness and she was ready to go.

It was quite the challenge, but she made it all the way to the very top!

The first day of whitewater rafting, Dustin got a REALLY bad sunburn and had to stay in all day the next day. So . . . we left him with a bottle of Aloe Vera, ice cubes and lots of movies and went on a 4.5 mile hike up Negro Bill Canyon.






















We spent a couple days in arches and hiked out to Delicate Arch. Lots of great scenery and a beautiful sunset. Mom got grumpy near the end of the hike (Drink more water!) But it was all worth it in the end, right Mom?











What else happened . . . Oh yeah, our dishwasher broke. Meghan is the greatest helper. I know, Right Meghan?









We didn't get any pic's of us all whitewater rafting, but it was really fun. I took Mom, Meg, and Dustin out on the Colorado River all day and Mike took them out on the Green River a few days after that. Meg and Dustin both rafted the rivers in kayaks most of the way too. I take credit for any skill they had in that. :) They did so awesome.

After all the hiking, whitewater rafting, visiting national parks, and rock climbing all the fun had to eventually come to an end. I miss you guys. I miss you especially Dad, since you didn't get to join us on this one. I love you. And Happy Father's Day.

Congrats Mike!!

So he's finished all the pre-req. classes and last month turned in all the paper work for the application to our first choice in an accelerated nursing program in Denver, Co. and he was ACCEPTED! Out of over 300 hundred applicants the program only accepted 90 students this year. Nice job Michael! Yeah, I'm pretty proud of him :)

Welcome!

I've wanted to post blogs for awhile, but who wants to hear about the daily life a work-aholic?? Ever since Mike and I met, life's been way more interesting and fun!