Telephone Canyon

In May we took our annual trip to Zion and took on some canyoneering in Telephone Canyon.

This canyon was supposed to be "dry," but the record snowfall and precipitation this year has rivers running high everywhere in the state right now!

We start out on the West Rim Trail...

It was a long day for the 7 of us. 10 hours of hiking and rappelling through a beautiful canyon.

Nick, Brandon, Brittany, Emily, Chilly, Pete and Anthony.

Just one of 13 rappels in the canyon. With 7 people it took us quite a while to get through.

By the time we exited the canyon and still had to hike back down it was getting dark. Luckily the full moon led us down the path!

Wedding- Maine style

Aug. 21, 2010. Here we are in Saco, Maine for the wedding of our great friends Ben and Katy Johnson. It was so much fun to be a part of! The wedding rehearsal dinner was at this cute little restaurant on the beach with the BEST food- fresh seafood of course!

After dinner we all took a walk on the beach. Here are Stacy and Paul, some of the beautiful people, we called the glitz crowd from Park City.

First time to Maine- dangled my toes in the ocean. Later that night around 2:00am Brandon may or may not have jumped in for a swim! Crazy guy.

These 3 guys go way back- grew up together in SLC. Brandon, Ben and Eric. They have followed each other all around the world- Alaska, Costa Rica, Maine, where next?

Groomsmen- wedding day. Sunday Aug. 22, 2010

We reminisced about our own wedding day 2 years ago- I love weddings for that reason. Still in love with you babe.

These 2 are meant to be together, and we couldn't be more happy for them. After Ben's tragic ski accident in Alaska, he was very lucky to be alive let alone walking! Katy was his physical therapist and his match in every way. They are the most adventurous, fun-loving beautiful couple I know and we can't wait to share more adventures in life with them!

"Day of Decadence"

We picked the perfect night for a party at our house... the rain let up and the ER crew set out to indulge in all sorts of goodies and yummy food.

Homemade manicotti and other decadent chocolate desserts... aebelskivers, cookies, chocolate covered strawberries, brownie cheesecake, etc. There were more calories in this room than we cared to count.

It's fun to get together outside of work and get to know everyone's "significant others."

Lacey is away from work on maternity leave, but that doesn't mean she couldn't come and hang with the work crew. Her darling baby Isla never made a peep all night!

Industrial strength expensive blender makes killer ice cream shakes. Steve is clearly a fan.

It turns out that the "Day of Decadence" turned into a week of it! With a friend's b-day and then Father's Day I haven't been eating very healthy this week. Now it's time to burn off some of those calories... I am doing well with my training for the 1/2 marathon!

Weekend Warriors

If we have a weekend to get away, we all vote on going to Zion! We got a permit to do a slot canyon and things couldn't have turned out more perfectly! Here we are at the petroglyph spot. This place is special to me because the last time I was here last summer my Uncle Al showed us the way here. I felt his presence with us the entire time we were there.

We were the only 5 people in the entire canyon, which starts on the east side of the park and comes out above the Zion Lodge. (Lodge Canyon) Emily, Nick, Brandon, me and Anthony. We were a great team.

Loving the 75 degree weather. This weekend marked the 2 year anniversary of Em's "non-wedding" in Zion.

This was a first for me! Southern Utah has received very heavy snowfall this winter and there is still snow in this canyon! We skied down this chute- Brandon got first tracks.

Emily didn't want to risk injuring her knee, less than 3 months post-op ACL repair, so she slid down on her butt!

Lunch break.

We found a really cool cave in a side canyon and went up to explore for a bit.

It was nice to get out of the sun for a while.

Double-rope rappels.

Our fearless leader.

Nick on the spectacular last rappel over the hanging garden. A beautiful oasis in the desert. 8 hours after we started we hiked out and made it as quickly as we could to the Zion Pizza & Noodle. We were staaaaarving! Such a fun trip with fun people! We can't wait to go back again!

One Spring day...

Spring in Utah is hit and miss- luckily before the late spring snow we enjoyed some lovely days!

College roommates. Sammie now has 2 kids and 1 on the way.

Piper and Ryker- the cutest kids I know!

Piper, this beauty looks just like her mom.

Isn't he a heart breaker already? I wish they lived closer!

Birthday Get-away

February is the month for celebrating birthdays! Me, Emily, Courtney (and Dave), Wendi and Natalie (and Aubree) are all Aquarius babies. We rented a cabin in Tollgate Canyon, near Park City and all cozied up that weekend for fun in the snow, playing games and eating yummy food!

Good friends Ben and Katy

Would you guess this gift came from Wendi? She could wrap a roll of toilet paper and make it cute!

Love all these lovely ladies! Jayleen, Natalie, Wendi, me and Hillary. Courtney and Jen didn't get there til the next day.

Making mom's famous bran muffins in the morning. I don't know how Hillary stayed on her diet all weekend long! We had home-made Cafe Rio and pizza and of course b-day cupcakes and treats.

It was Colonel Mustard in the library with the candlestick! Playing "Clue." Upstairs we had our choice of pool and foos-ball as well.

Birthday girls

A beautiful afternoon snow-shoeing in the mountains.

Getting ready for the Patagonia photo shoot.

Natalie, Jayleen, Jen, Courtney, Hillary

Steve, Ashley, Clint, me, Brandon and John.

I couldn't have asked for a better way to say goodbye to my twenties and hello to 30 with all my favorite friends! Thanks for the good times everyone.

Winter Wonderland

We are enjoying all this snow to hike around and play in. The mountain trails are literally in our own backyard and it's been nice to get above the inversion lately!

They couldn't be happier.

Friends from work made this snowy hike lots of fun!

Instantly popular with a few doggie treats.

What's better than burning off some calories while hiking with friends? A chocolate waffle treat back at home :-)