the new space, the new place.

what a difference a year makes! i look back to what i was doing this time last year and i barely even recognize it. so many amazing things have happened and i am so grateful for each and every one of them:)

with all of these changes and new fantastic things going on it is time to find this new home on a clean slate. i realize i should have made this move quite some time ago, hindsight is 20/20 you know, but now is just as good a time as any. last weekend i crossed a finish line that changed my life (yes it will be detailed to no end in a post soon:)) and i have been floating on cloud nine ever since! this time just 1 week ago i became a marathoner. i joined an elite club of only 1% of the world that i hold incredibly dear to my heart:) its still a little hard to believe i actually did it. that i went four years ago from the girl who hadnt run a mile to the girl who had just completed her 1st 1/2 marathon and said she would never, ever run a full marathon to the girl who crossed the finish line of her very 1st full marathon. its moments like these that makes 1 year ago almost unrecognizable. 


in a new site also comes some new things! i have added a few pages to the top.
   *hi y'all! is a little bit more about me and my story. 
check it out when you have time:)
   *runner girl is the tale of how i became a runner if 
you havent heard it already!
   *coaching is my newest endeavor! 
let me be part of your running story:)

enjoy the new site and share with your friends. and get ready for new posts! sooo as the title above says...
see where my running and life adventures take me next!! 

the big, big news!!

hey y'all!!! i swear i am still alive, just writing to from a very different part of the country now...statesboro, ga to be exact!! now let me do some explaining.

after finishing my masters in january i started job searching all over the us. and after quite a few rejection letters i finally got the email i was waiting for, an offer for an interview in georgia! so while in boise i was making plans to return home sunday of memorial day weekend, shop monday for a new suit, and then hop on another plane down south for what i was hoping would be the start of an amazing new adventure. after a whirlwind of interviewing i was back home waiting/crossing every limb i have for the good news phone call. on wednesday, june 5th while on lunch at whole foods i got that fantastic phone call witht the job offer!!! i accepted the job friday morning and started a whole nother whirlwind of my own. there is A LOT more to the craziness of the story but i dont want to bore you with all the details:)

literally the moment after my new boss
offered me the job:)

so i turned in my notice the following wednesday, the 12th, making june 21st my last day of work, and then planning to leave monday the 24th for georgia for a start on july 1st!! told ya it was a whirlwind:) i was lucky to have a great boss that opted to let me make that monday, the 17th my actual last day so i could get ready for the big cross-country move. it was amazing to have a few more days at home to get things figured out, uhaul trucks rented, goodbye parties planned, running in there, and time with the family.

my fantastic parents!

a quick change of plans happened and we actually ended up leaving sunday the 23rd to go stay the night in flagstaff on our way! my bff jessica lives in phoenix, she and my mom came up with a plan to stay that sunday night there so i could see her before leaving! theyre the best:) so my mom and i bid farewell to my dad sunday afternoon and piled into the uhaul for a very slow trek up to 7000 feet flagstaff. it was during the 1st day that we realized a 30 hour gps drive time was going to be a little unrealistic haha. we didnt really take into account a uhaul truck pulling a dolly with my car on it!

my dad giving last minute instructions:)

our route!

of course a stop for late for the train!

after a great night of visiting mom and i headed out to the 40 for the next few days of our adventure. we decided on the way to collect state signs to help pass the time! plus ive never driven cross-country and i needed something to remember it all by:) instead of capturing the arizona sign we opted for a famous one instead...

and so began a crazy 3 day long trek across the us, literally from one coast to the other. i still cant believe my mom put up with that long in a truck! it was incredibly bumpy but the landscape getting greener and greener on our drive across was kind of awesome. we were super lucky to not hit any substantially bad weather. it was however windy from the moment we left vegas consistently until we got to oklahoma city! that was kind of awful i wont lie.

we were only in tennessee for about 2.5 seconds
there wasnt even a good sign for us to stop at!

finally, finally, finally wednesday afternoon we crossed into georgia!! made our way through atlanta to statesboro pulling in around 1030p. 1st thing we did after checking into our hotel was get my poor car off that damn dolly! plus we were so happy to be in something that didnt feel ever rock/crack/pebble/bump when we went over it to go find dinner that night, which unfortunately meant another night of fast food:/ thursday though we actually got to sleep in and spent the day house hunting! i had a few leads on things it was just a matter of physically seeing them and then making a decision. after seeing a few great ones, and a few not so great things, i decided on a 3 bedroom house with a roommate! she amazingly let me move in the next day-well to the living room at least. she had just started roommate hunting and didnt know they would find someone so quick so they still needed to paint etc. which was ok because we had plans to spend the weekend in savannah with my great aunt and uncle anyway before my mom went home.

my new digs:)

my fantastic mama!

that sunday i had to put her on a plane back to vegas and it was very sad to be honest:( we are super close and she was so amazing to drive all that way with me and help me move in. it was nice that she was on summer vacation! last monday the 1st i began my job. let me tell you, working a full week after being off for 2 was rough lol. and i am no longer living in the living room! i spent just about all last week moving in and getting settled. my new comforter arrived monday, the last big piece to my new room.

oh, i forgot to tell you what im doing! i am working in admissions, running the campus visit program, advising the volunteer tour group, and coordinating different recruiting events on and off campus! it is so seriously right up my alley and has already been a great adventure! i am almost done with week 2 already. i have met some amazing people and everyone here is sooo super nice, welcoming, and just darn excited im here:) i have been waiting for an opportunity like this for a really long time and am so excited its finally here!! its the start of a grand new adventure in life both professionally and professionally:) did i mention i was really, really excited about it all??!! i cant thank everyone enough for their love and support these last few months in helping me get here:) so follow me along this new adventure of working, running, and living in the south. i cant wait to experience and share it all!!

welcome to the south.
we have margaritas in mason jars here:)

the f-word, runner style.

in the process of all things new on this little blog of mine, i should probably tell you one of the new big things i finally committed too. its something that has terrified me to my very core for a long time as a runner and something i swore up/down/left/right/center i would never ever do. its a scary, scary word that starts with an f. ladies and gentlemen this last week i signed up for a full marathon. thats right, 26.2 miles of pure full craziness!

now i didnt go into this lightly. i had been thinking about it for many months, consulted a few experts that gave great personal encouragement, did research-a lot actually, and even a little bit of a test run with the back to back 1/2 marathons last year in october-sneaky i know. and while signing up was a big decision for me, where i would go was no question. i knew instantly when i wanted to sign up i would be traveling to washington dc to run the marine corps marathon!

first it is known as the peoples marathon and does not have a half attached to it. i knew for my own psychy i would not want to be tempted in going down the half course on race day! it would also allow me to check off another place i have raced in and the marines hold a very special place in my heart:) i never knew how true it was when someone said when one member joins the corp, the whole family does, until i was in that family. plus i figured that of anybody that could coordinate a race, the marines would do a kickass job. 

source

so 2 weeks ago i sat down at the computer on my desk at work and watched the clock countdown to 9a pst, then waited a good 2 minutes before logging onto the active.com website to sign up. last year the race sold out in 2 hours and 46 minutes so i knew i needed to hop on fairly quickly when it opened. and then the site crashed from overload. then kicked me off halfway through registration. and finally after 2 hours and 27 minutes of refreshing the race was sold out. now what was i going to do?

there were many apologies by the marathon of all the people that had countless problems and frustrations, trust me there were tons of us. but that still left me without a bib. so back to my research i went in what to do next. i considered the bib transfer option in which over the summer someone that signed up no longer wants their bib can give it to someone waiting desperately for one. but that meant i would have to find an actual person and with all the people that got shut out, i wasnt sure that was the safest option. see i didnt have a back up plan if i didnt get in. the marine corp marathon is my only choice for my 1st full marathon. that meant i was heading down the road of a charity option.

i hesitated quite i bit, ill be honest. i didnt want to pick one just because it was my only option. i wanted to pick one that i was passionate about. but then i started to really look into the amazing organizations and was phenomenally impressed with what they do! i narrowed it down to two places after chatting with my brother. can you tell i dont make big, big decisions quickly haha.

after waiting a few days for response and confirmation i am incredibly proud to tell you that this year i will be fundraising and running the 38th marine corps marathon with.......

source

you may have heard of them before, if not please check out their website! they are doing truly amazing things with the incredibly brave men and women that have served our country:) i am sooo proud to be able to help raise money for such a fantastic organization!

alright now its time to start the fundraising, today my friends! my firm goal is $500 by october 1st. but i would love, love, love to blow that goal out of the water before then and continue to raise money all the way through race day! you will see these links a lot and i will talk about it tons for the next few months:) it so super easy to donate. you simply enter the donation amount, click on the next button and enter the credit card information. no amount is too big or too small, everything adds up! thank you so, so, so much in advance:)

https://support.woundedwarriorproject.org/individual-fundraising/curlyrunnerbugtakesonmcm/

the graduate.

so its been just over a month since i finished school and for some reason i havent been able to write about it all yet. i have tried a few times, mostly ending with me staring at a blank page. its almost a little unreal to be done. and to say that i have a masters degree. plus i will have no more homework ever again! it was kind of awesome getiing ready for surf city and not having to worry about what was due or finishing up things before i left. the other free days during the week are friggin sweet as well:)

the crazy thing is it was right about 2 years ago, almost exactly that i made the decision to go back to school. (read all about it here!) there were definitely some naysayers, actually quite a few that told me there would a lot of things i would have to give up. for example, i probably wouldnt run as much. i most likely wouldnt travel very often. i really wouldnt have much of a life at all with working full time. even with all those scary thoughts i embarked anyway!

the life of a runner and a grad student.

it was hard, i cant even lie. and there were many a days i thought it wasnt ever going to end or that i could just stop. but then as the classes started to tick off and the months started flying by i realized how fast this was really going to go. so i bucked up, figured out a schedule that finally worked, and became determined to finish! i pushed out the people that told me it was too much work or that it was a silly thing to even be doing. i focused and relied on the people that were crazy supportive instead, luckily there were a lot more of those than the other:)

as my last class finally came to a close it all started getting real, really real. and after staying up until 2am on a saturday night to finish my nightmareishly long 30 page paper because i just couldnt look at it anymore, i was done. all i had to do was read over it and turn it in. i had really finished! i told my mom that once the paper was done all i wanted was a cupcake from the cupcakery to celebrate. so as i came bouncing downstairs that sunday-at about 2 in the afternoon-i was finally able to tell her it was time for cupcakes! it was the first of many celebrations:)

that monday i turned in my monster paper-that wasnt actually due till wednesday, yay me-and waited for my final grade. i had about 30 points to play with and still keep my a in the class. and i waited. and waited. and waited some more. and waited. then, on friday morning that week when i was off and we were leaving that afternoon for my grandpas birthday i got my official grade on the paper...and 88%!! which added up meant i got a 95% in the class! which really meant i had completed my masters program with a 4.0!!

to continue the celebration i did when any normal runner does, i ran a 1/2 marathon with my favorite running buddy jen:) i know, totally normal! the original plan was to have a graduation party in vegas that weekend but when your grandpa turns 80 and has a party, he pretty much wins haha. so i decided on having the next weekend instead!

after some serious searching for the right place i found bjs cocktail lounge. it had a great atmosphere, friendly, and had a pool table so people had some things to do. the people there were great and let me bring in all kinds of decorations. jessica flew out from denver to join in the festivities, and i had family come from all over! there was cake of course-whats a party without cake-that was delicious. we had a blast and had soo many different people came to have a drink or 2!

jessica stayed for a few extra days and in true style we decided to make the most of our time. which in our case meant a trip to some place special...

it only took 1 quick question from jessica for us to end up here!

i LOVE her:)

i had been saying for months that when i graduated i wanted to go buy something from tiffanys for myself as a reward for finishing. well after some looking i realized that may not be the most feasible thing ever and there wasnt anything that super caught my attention. so instead i set out to buy myself a watch! i havent had one since i worked at old navy almost 3 years ago because i was everyones time keeper for everything. soon it just became associated with work and i took it off the moment i was off. but i began thinking how much i really wanted now. so after some hunting i picked out a perfect one from fossil that i love! it was the perfect gift:)

i couldnt get a good picture, so i had to borrow!source

now that ive been done for that month ive been doing some adjusting. its weird to not have worry about homework on wednesday nights. or wonder when was the last time i logged into post something for attendance. when i went out of town the last 2 times i didnt have to even think about homework. i did think i would have so much more time then i actually do. kind of makes me wonder how i even made it all fit for that long! i did start to think about the naysayers the other day and all the things they told me i couldnt do. when i actually thought about it, i realized how many things i really did do, and there were quite a few!

*trained for and completed 6 1/2 marathons-cut back on running my ass

*traveled to england for one of my best friends weddings

*held my full time job successfully

*trained for and completed an olympic triathlon

*became single and even more independent

*finally got to participate in ragnar

*lost 25 pounds

oh and yes, i will participate in a graduation ceremony in the early summer. where and when is still being worked out with my advisor. who knows where this will take me next. i have some big picture ideas im working on now. i was finally able to sit down and write this when it all became very real upon coming home one night to a package on my front doorstep. my diploma was inside:) its really real now! 

master of arts in education
higher & postsecondary education

2013 my way.

its taken a little bit of time for me to decide what i really want out of this year and put that into words. i didnt want to make a new years resolution or an empty promise like giving up chocolate, like that would EVER happen haha.

and so i decided in 2013 i am going to focus on..ME!

the good part about this is it can include a lot of things and be applied into a lot of different areas. i spent the last half of 2012 getting rid of things in my life that were not healthy, like my weight and incesant knee pain. and moving on from things that werent going in the right direction, like my relationship and a few friendships. and really starting to find out what the important things are to me, finishing school and figuring out where i want my career to go eventually. and finding out what an amazing support system i have that reaches farther then i could have ever imagined.

now i can move forward in this brand new year and focus on me. i have some big plans i cant quite reveal quite yet, mostly because they arent formed yet lol. but here are some im thinking about:

*i would love to get into volunteering

im not sure in what yet exactly. the military in some form or working with kids are the areas im thinking about.

with my old store!
a very long time ago at the boys and girls club.

*finish school

this is techinically over but it was a big thing right at the beginning of the year.

*possibly rec sports

some of my ragnar teammates play volleyball and softball so im really thinking about joining now that im done with school!

*enjoy running

while this is something i already do, last year i did a lot of learning and didnt even realize it till i looked back. i had a blast last year and didnt even really stop to enjoy it all. must slow down to soak it all in. and hopefully add another state or two to my map of ones i have run in. 

boom. a warrior.

 *work on my mindset

i made some really big decisions and changes last year. its time to appreciate that the heartache happened and move to a new mental state that this is my time to figure out what i want out of my future.

*clean out my closet

this i am actually going to do tonight. i have soo many things that dont fit anymore because they are just way too big and i cant even try to doctor it up into fitting. time to get rid of all the things holding me back!

*not be so hard on myself

some days this is easier said than done. i am only 27, which seems old at times, but so young at others. i make mistakes, i make good decisions, all of which has led me into the person i have become and will continue to grow into.

*surround myself with good people

today i got a text from a friend celebrating a major milestone that not everyone would love. it was so inspiring and heartwarming that she a. included me and b. had healed from a sucky situation to now be excited about forward is amazing. i am so lucky to have her and so many others like her in my life that i need to grab on to it and learn as much as i can. it also just lifts your spirit more when you have those good ones there:)

i dont have it all figured out yet, not even close. theres a bigger plan for me in all this i know it. sure would be nice to know a little bit about what that is:) but i do know for sure that 2013 is going to get me on the right path to find out whats in store for me down the road!

the three year anniversary.

it was 1 week ago today that i got to officially celebrate my 3 year anniversary with my love:) we did do most of our celebrating the weekend before since we only really see each other late at night when comes home during the week. so lets rewind to that saturday...

after a 12 miler that morning, a long nap, and the normal saturday errands we were finally ready to celebrate! richard kept telling me we had somewhere to be on the strip at 730p so we needed to dinner early. so we decided to on red lobster (after many hints from him about crab legs) and it was just as good as always! and seriously who can resist those cheesy bisquits:) we hightailed it out of there later than he was hoping because he got caught up talking to the waiter about who knows what.

now i was sure this whole time i knew we were going to see a cirque de solei show. richard talks about wanting to see one often (i do too) but i was really hoping for something different. as were driving i notice we keep passing all the ones i was pretty sure he wants to see. we pull into caesars and again i am sure i know what we are going to see, celine dion. i love her, its true, but i have seen her once already. she was amazing just not what i was hoping for. then he totally surprises me with il divo playing that night instead!! they are an amazing opera/pop/broadway type foursome from all over the world, literally. they had an amazing orchestra for this us tour and it was so different than i even imagined. i had seen commercials that they were coming to town and told richard i would love to see them, but it was something i never expected! seriously people, if you havent heard of them or have skipped out on seeing them you need to asap.

afterward we walked around for a bit stopping in the nike store to check out the olympic stuff in which i proceeded to buy another tank top (but i am in love). next we stopped at the cheesecake factory to take home some dessert. i was wayyy too full after dinner to have anything, but a few hours later i was ready for something sweet :) we took it home and enjoyed it in our pjs after a insanely long line to get out of the caesars parking lot. check out my absolute favorite song by them :)

sunday i slept as long as possible and then we decided to venture out to see the new spiderman movie. omg was it good! kinda long, but you dont really notice until you get out of the movie and look at the time. the theater was pretty empty which was nice and we could pick our seats. that night we picked up pei wei on the way home and i noticed i had only really eaten 2 meals at home all weekend. something i was definitely ok with :)

as wednesday came i started to get a little nervous in giving richard his present. you see i wasnt totally sure what to get him until early the week before. and when i tried to add on in the nike store he immediately said no, i apparently had told him no clothes. then i really started to get nervous. he was very set in that he didnt want it until our actual day, which really meant he couldnt have it until he got home that night. waiting seemed to take forever! earlier that day when i returned to work from lunch i had the most beautiful pink roses waiting for me :) they smelled fantastic!

be-a-utiful.

finally richard came home and immediately tore into his present sitting on the couch. the smile on his face when he realized it was the shoes he had been eyeing from adidas for the last month made the wait definitely worth it. i knew i had made the right choice.

source

we have come a long way, he and i. there have been ups and downs, crazy adventures, changes for us both, and more laughs than either of us knew when we started this thing 3 years ago. happy anniversary to us!

love. love.

the havasupai hiking/camping adventure part 2.

catch up on part 1 if needed!! 

the drive was pretty easy. here to kingman then on 66. once in kingman we met up with other people from our group. then we had to find this backward ass road that was the scariest road i have ever been on in my life. it was sooo pitch black dark and it was tiny 2-lane road. it was 60 miles long and there was a threat of animals jumping out at any moment. i was so glad mike was driving and richard was in the front seat. however i was never so alert on a road while not driving in my life. we finally made it to the parking lot about 1130p and started to figure out sleeping. mike had brought a chair to sleep in outside and richard was able to put down the backseat so we could stretch out. it was the most uncomfortable night of sleep i think i have ever had. pretty much no one slept that night. especially since we were getting up at 4am to get ready for the hike.

the morning view.

we woke up pretty easily since we hadnt really slept and the fear set in a little bit. there was no turning back now, i had to go through with it. it took up awhile to get everyone ready between changing, eating, and basically repacking since we took out our sleeping bags the night before. we also had a pretty large group going down. we were finally ready about as the sun was really starting to come up, but figured we could probably beat it all the way down.

the 1st 1.5 miles were the worst! it was straight down switchbacks that was a knee killer. once we made it through that it was much better. im not really sure what i expected, but i dont think it was a trail like that. the whole rest of the way it was gravel and sand and super uneven. you literally had to watch everywhere you walked. but it was beautiful in the canyon.

just a little way down.

the view from the bottom of the switchbacks, told you it was steep!

the group had kind of broken up throughout the hike. mike, richard, and i had become the middle. mike's friends from work were pretty far up ahead. and tammy, her fiance dale, and her 13 year old brother clay were behind us. richard was so great the whole time down. he kept checking on me to make sure i was doing ok. do we need to slow down or speed up? are you drinking enough water? do we need to take a break? i was afraid he was gonna leave off with the guys, but the 3 of us stayed together pretty much the whole time. once we started hearing water we knew we were getting close to the village. the village was 8 miles from the top, this is where we could check into our campsite. then we would complete the last 2 miles from there.

the beautifully random tree we saw on the way down.

upon arriving in the village its like we were in a whole other world. richard put it best, "its like innovation never happened down here." it was the weirdest experience ever. there were animals and kids running around everywhere. the houses were definitely not in the best shape ever. and most of the people there looked at us a little funny. we found mike who had jumped a little ahead to make sure the 1st group could check in. we decided that since we were already in the village that we would just eat there now so we didnt have to come back later. we had only brought 3 meals and figured we would eat at least 1 meal a day in the village. the restaurant was closed so we went to the general store we had seen at the beginning of the village to grab some food. we ate micorwaveable things that you would usually eat at 7-11. richard had a cheeseburger that he raved about for days and told every single person we met about. it was hilarious.

afterward we made the last 2 mile trek to the campsite. these last 2 miles were awful! they were super hilly and the sun was definitely beating down on us hard. we spotted a waterfall about halfway down that richard got so excited about he was sprinting down the hill, kicking up dirt like pig pen from the peanuts. it was beautiful though.

rock falls.

we passed another gorgeous one that mike had actually proposed at 2 years before that was much closer to our campsite. finally we made it! however we werent really sure how to find the 1st group, we didnt even know what their tents looked like. we found them pretty easily across the creek. it was a great site with plenty of space for our 4 spaces. the rest had already popped their tents and made camp. they had also had the chance take a nap/relax a bit. richard and mike set up our camp pretty quickly while i did the girl thing, watch and take pictures.

i was ready for a nap after all of this. but our site was directly in the sun and richard was ready to rock. the other group had gone a little bit ahead while we finished setting up. we decided to meet up with them at havasu falls to cool off and hang out. now something to keep in mind. anytime you want "to go somewhere to hang out" you must hike there. this fall was about a half mile away down a pretty steep path. it was beautiful though, so worth it.

havasu falls.

the water was pretty darn cold, and richard complained about it pretty much the whole weekend. i would have been totally content hanging out at that waterfall for hours. it was great to people watch and was so peaceful. but my never-sit-still-for-a-moment-boyfriend wanted to go hike around to another waterfall. we headed back to camp to eat some snacks and get ready for the next adventure. at this point i was pretty wiped out, but didnt want to be the bum girlfriend that complained. so i took a trusty gu pack, ate some trail mix, and was ready to go.

mooney falls was just as beautiful! we didnt go all the way down because we were way too sore, so we just hung out at the top. plus we were pretty high up. we stayed for a long while just chatting and listening to the water.

dang thats a long way down!

once back at the site we were all getting pretty hungry and decided it was time to brave the freeze dried food. mike was first up, he had it all before. so you open up the package, remove the oxidizer, boil 2 cups of water, pour it into the package, stir, reclose and wait for 8-10 minutes.

 it all really looked and tasted like regular food. just in a bag instead of on a plate. i have to say i was pleasantly surprised. richard was super quiet while we were eating and seemed to struggle for every bite. i realized its because he was darn near falling asleep with every bite. mr-lets-run-around-like-crazy-people-all-afternoon was finally tired. after finishing our food we all hung out for awhile waiting for it to get dark. we did for 2 reasons. 1 it was wayyyy too hot in our tents to sleep. and 2 we couldnt go to bed when it was that light outside! i had sent richard to bed though, he could not keep himself awake.

it finally started to get pretty dark and i decided i needed should go to the bathroom before i had to use my headlamp to get around. thought it was a good plan. except it got real dark real fast and i could not find where i was going! the scariest part though was crossing that little bridge on the way back to the camp site!

our campsite in the morning.

i woke up the next morning about 730am to the sound of someone saying "good morning mr roscoe!" i stuck my head out of the tent to see andrew in bright yellow standing across the creek with his fantastic girlfriend and his parents. we knew they were coming down sunday, but had planned to meet them in the village at noon. apparently they hadnt gotten to the top at 2am and decided to just start hiking then instead of attempting sleep. sounded like a good plan in the beginning. except andrew and stephanie had flown down from reno the day before and his parents had worked all day. by the time we saw them they had all been up more than 24 hours! they made camp and passed out pretty quickly.

we hung out for quite awhile when they were sleeping. it was only 8am, and we had to experience freeze dried breakfast. again i was pleasantly surprised. the eggs really tasted like eggs! they were pretty good.

 we decided to head back out to mooney falls and the guys were going to make the trek down the chains to get to the bottom. i wasnt going to go at all because i dont do heights, but tammy convinced me we could go to a certain part and then the guys could continue on to the scary part. she had developed a nasty knot in the bottom of her foot and wasnt ready to scale the side of the mountain. now remember everywhere you go you have to hike to get there. so we were climbing over all the big rocks to make it as far as we did. the guys continued on from there.

good thing he wore a red shirt!

once andrew and stephanie woke up shortly after we returned to find that a squirrel had chewed a hole into stephanies bag to get out her trail mix! the previous day mike kept telling me we needed to get our bags up off the tables, and i couldnt understand why. after they left their bags on the table during their nap i understood. we decided after much negotiation we would go to the really cool waterfall that the boys could jump off and hang out for awhile. that fall was a little over halfway to the village so we could continue up the path to have lunch after. richard and mike made it to the top of the waterfall, while andrew, stephanie, and i went to the bottom so i could take pictures. the 3 of us were not jumping.

mike jumping!

richard jumping.

after the guys did it once we met them at the bottom and they regaled us with the tale of how hard it is to jump. while richard is telling me about the jump i notice andrew and stephanie off underneath the waterfall taking pictures. all of sudden i look over again and andrew is down on one knee!!! mike is taking pictures like a maniac and i am trying to get over there (stupid rocks) so i can capture the moment as well. it was so beautiful! they were both soooo excited and the ring was perfectly stephanie. he had bought it from her uncle, a jeweler in south dakota. he had asked her parents months before and this was the big reason his parents had made the trip.

"will you marry me?'

she said yes!!

we headed up to the new waterfall behind this one after one more jump by the guys. it had just been created that year by all the rainfall they had over the winter time. it was so cool!

you can still see the roots from the trees!

by this time the 5 of us were starving so we decided to head up to the village for lunch. we went into the restaurant for the 1st time and were the only ones in there. andrew, stephanie, and i ordered the indian tacos and after much debate with the lady behind the counter mine was the only one that came out kind of right. now the indian taco is ground beef, cheese, lettuce, and tomatoes all on a huge piece of frybread. it was the most filling taco i have ever eaten! mike, richard, and i however decided we still totally wanted ice cream before heading back to camp. we walked over to the general store but decided to go to the store at the beginning of the village because they had a way better ice cream selection. on the way we stopped at the tourist office to fill up our water and found a friend they were begging us to take home. he was sooo cute, and i would have taken him in a heartbeat if we were ready for a dog. the village was over run with them and they were starting to crack down. they were beginning to enforce a 2 dog/household limit. the others they were hoping to have us tourists take them home.

 we made our way back to the campsite where i got the royal treatment! andrew was a professional hairbrusher and had volunteered to undertake my hair so that stephanie could french braid my hair. it felt so much better to have it tamed and out of the way! plus stephanie got to share the super exciting news with everyone. the next day jay, sarah, steve, and adam were all leaving so i knew this was the best opportunity for us take our big group picture!

finally andrews parents woke up and they got to join the party. his mom busted out a beautiful veil she had stashed in her pack and they made their way around the camp grounds taking picutres! it was really funny (its a whole different kind of entertainment down there). plus we were a little hard up for entertainment haha. we stayed up a little later that night and just looked at the stars. they were so bright and so beautiful it was hard not to just sit and stare.

we woke up on our final day and i was finally not feeling sore! this was a big win. andrews parents had decided the previous day they were not going to hike out. i think there might have been a hell no or 2 in there. they instead were going to helicopter out of the village, genius idea. we all decided to make the trip up to the village. i mean really what else did we have to do haha! mike and andrew powered up the crazy hills from the campsite to the village with their packs so his parents didnt have to while the rest of us lagged a little behind. the crazy amount of miles we had been doing the last 2 days were really starting to catch up with us.

once we got up to the village we decided to stay and eat while his parents went to check in for the helicopter. they had about an hour wait, which was nothin compared to some of the wait times we had been hearing. i finally got to try the indian tacos! they were pretty good all things considered. let me explain. an indian taco is a huge piece of frybread topped with ground beef, cheese, lettuce, and tomato. they are also about as big as my head! i was starving and couldnt even finish the whole thing. i have to say the restaurant in the village was actually pretty decent. i mean nothing like the outside world, but at that point you are pretty friggin hungry for real food. richard and i decided to head to the store on the other side of town after lunch to get some ice cream because it was so darn hot.

we headed back to meet up with everyone else at the waterfalls where we had decided to hang out for the rest of the day since we were making the crazy trip back up the canyon in the morning. i still couldnt get over the beauty of everything when we were down there, and it all being nature made. we hung out in the pool for about an hour and a half until our butts were sore from sitting on the rocks and the middle school adventure kids showed up. it was about this time that richard looked over at me and said he was really ready to go home! i was so surprised and glad at the same time. usually when we go on trips he never wants to go home.

love.

back at camp we began talking about the hike out the next morning. making plans about what time to get up and the fact we actually had to make the hike the next morning. all weekend there had been talk about how we were going to actually do it. we thought about renting a burrow that we could place 4 packs on for $25/pack. we thought about riding horses out. but ultimately decided we were friggin tough and going to earn our way out by just carrying. it seemed the whole time we were down there someone kept talking about the hike out, the dreaded switchbacks, or how far we would make it without getting stuck in the sun, or how early we were going to get up. we finally decided we wanted to be out of camp at 230am so we didnt hit the sun and we would get back to vegas early enough to still have the rest of the day. that meant a 130am wake up call by andrew.

right on the dot andrew was knocking on our tent the next morning with his headlamp shining through. we had a lot to do in a short amount of time, definitely not leaving time for a snooze button. we had laid out our clothes the previous night and tried to get as many things together as possible because it was so dark in the morning. i began rolling everything up but was having the biggest trouble with the sleeping bag. i was determined to get it on my own. everybody had to carry their own weight. richard however was really struggling with the his bag, the sleeping pad, and the tent. mike, lora, and i had packed his bag on the way down and he hadnt paid attention when he was unpacking to where everything fit. i kept telling him he had to figure it out, he kept telling me he was going to wait for mike to help him. mike came over after packing all of his own things and helped richard anyway. we finished up breakfast and started to make our way up to the village.

the guys were definitely blazing the trail up front while stephanie and i hung back a bit which was perfectly fine with both of us. we kept saying this is a marathon not a sprint. (that is such a funny saying to me now that i do that :) ) we made it to the village failry easily and knew those were some of the hardest hills we had for awhile. stephanie was able to unload the trash we had to hike out and we were all able to fill up our camelbacks to ensure we had plenty of water. we started again fairly quickly because we didnt want to lose our momentum. it was so quite in the canyon and the village not even close to dawn yet, and still wearing our headlamps we moved on.

the rest of the hike to the bottom of the switchbacks seemed so much faster than the one down. we were on our own for most of the way until a little over 1/2 through when we finally started to see new hikers come down. i spent the majority of this part on my own, and it was kinda nice. i was able to get lost in my own thoughts. andi was able to dream about real food, and showers and my bed and air conditioning. i was definitely ready to get home. everyone met at the bottom of the switchbacks to eat something and prepare for the huge climb ahead. right before i found the guys i passed a group that payed the best compliment anyone ever could at that moment. "wow, you look so fresh!" literally the best thing i could have heard as i was exhausted and not sure how i was going to make up the hardest/last part.

finally it was time to just tackle them, we had all agreed to stop if we needed to and if you did to make sure you lean on something rather than just stopping in the middle of the path. we started out with a jumbled mess. i was trying to stay middle pack knowing the boys would probably be in the front while a few would probably still be behind me. my goal was to get to the top without stopping! andrew stayed back a bit to make sure stephanie was ok, while mike, dale, and richard led the way with me close behind. soon richard was dropping down and i passed him! finally my hardcore cardio was working for me.

it was freakin treacherous! i turned my ipod on and powered through as much as i could. it took me about 45 minutes to go up that 1.5 miles. luckily richard and i had acquired walking sticks from andrews parents the day before since they didnt hike out. i think they saved my life, literally. finally i was able to see a small glimer of the top and knew that i just had a little bit more to go. and then i conquered it!!! i was the 3rd one out in our group and the 1st girl! i was sooo excited. for the girl that had never hiked before, that all the boys had said its ok to hang back, that is afraid of heights, i beat that hill!! i was so proud of myself:)

i totally beat the rest of them!

the rest of the group made it up one by one with mike and andrew going to grab stephanie and clays packs so they could continue on. it was an awesome feeling getting to the top all on my own. there was group of about 20 freshmenish boys from utah unloading a van at the top when we reached it. the leader asked how long it took me to hike out, when i told him 5 hours he was seriously impressed.

andrews dad had made the trip back from peach springs about 100 miles away to pick up andrew, stephanie, and mike to head up to their cabin in utah. we took our final group pictures at top and hobbled into our cars. it was amazing to sit in a comfortable chair with air conditioning and no shoes. i had a HUGE blister on the inside of my right foot right on the edge. it was not pretty and pretty painful, but so worth the war wound.

we made it back to vegas with a stop in kingman for real bathrooms, fast food,and starbucks. i have never been so excited to have starbucks or burger king for that matter! i had a lot of time to think on that drive home. i had a really good time. and something i never thought i would do. it was great to bond with mike, andrew, and stephanie. plus to say that i actually did it, dang. it was also really fun to just walk around with richard for 3 days. we would talk to other people we were with and sometimes we walked in silence, but we did a lot of talking to each other. sometimes it was about the horse that farted on richard as we walked by him (still hilarious), or about our relationship and how much it has grown,or the fact that we still couldnt believe we were actually doing this.

the whole experience is something i will never forget. and never do again haha! next time, we are just meeting the group at the cabin for the week of booze and eating like kings :)