Pow Pow

After a couple of times out on the slopes now, I officially understand why snow sport aficionados love the "pow pow." It's like falling on a pillow! If someone could guarantee that ski slopes would be covered in that delectable white softness every weekend of winter, I'd buy a board, boots, bindings, and season pass right now. But sadly, I learned last weekend that the ski slopes can also be covered in snow's evil sibling- ice. Unlike powder, ice aims to make you feel like you've broken a bone every time you stray from the upright position, which if you're learning to ski or snowboard, happens a whole lot. Nonetheless, I've had so much fun learning to snowboard better and trying to teach it as well! And I'm so lucky Lindsay has let me borrow her gorgeous board the last couple weeks!

Weekend 1: The Powder Obsession sets in
Snowy Range was seeing some of the best powder they'd had in a couple years. I didn't take very many pictures because I was way too busy shredding the slopes... or trying to. I got to go up with Nicole and we met up with Spencer and a couple of his friends.

Weekend 2: Ice is a beginner snowboarder's worst nightmare.
After a couple days of snow during the week, we hoped that Snowy would have retained some of it. We were so, so wrong. Every slope was a hard, icy surface of pain. I went up with my new friend, Kayla, and we tried to teach Nate-dog how to carve the mountain, which proved to be very difficult considering I was having a hard time even standing up most of the time! We ended the afternoon on a high note and enjoyed some brews from the brand spankin' new Snowy Range Brewery.

Forever A Disney Princess

One year ago...

Kari and I did the WDW Disney Princess Half Marathon!!! I can't believe it's already been that long ago, and how much has happened since then. I still haven't washed my Sleeping Beauty sweatshirt, although I think the last of the pixie dust has just about all fallen off :(

Tonight as I was going through old pictures, I was transported back to all the positively magical emotions from that weekend- seeing each other in the airport for the first time in months, trying on our princess costumes with all the pieces, meeting and carpooling with our "Disney moms" at 3 in the morning, running through Cinderella's castle, crossing the finish line holding hands with our arms held high...

I am still so proud of us for running the entire race. Minus stopping to take pictures, but we won't talk about how often that was and how it affected our final time, we ran every step!! Even the last few miles, we were the only ones running along in the rain and struggling up that blasted highway off ramp, and that's way more important than any time we could have tried to beat. We definitely earned that next day, experiencing Around the World at EPCOT. I really could go for some Mickey Mouse shaped food right now.

Princesses in the Airport

Pixie Dusting :)

Royal Manicure

Mickey Food (and a famous turkey leg) from Magic Kingdom

We conquered every. single. mile. together.

Traded in our running shoes for TOMS the next day :)

But we kept the crowns.

Rewarding ourselves justly the next day at EPCOT Center.

These are the times I never want to forget. The joy of seeing an old friend after a long separation, the pain and perseverance of exerting my body and mind for a long fought-for goal, the magic that a couple of twenty-somethings can still feel when they see their favorite Disney princesses, the fun of seeing random people in McDonald's at 4 am, the comfort and trust of being with someone knowing that we're still there for each other even when our hotel is overbooked and gets changed or she's making me drink ridiculous amounts of water to stay hydrated or I'm singing as loud as I can the last 2 miles to make sure we finish strong... These are the experiences I want to tell my kids about. I hope they're not afraid to go out and make memories and put their bodies through hell and really get excited about things. And most importantly, that they're not afraid to invest in and really love on someone, and be loved in return, so they have someone as awesome as I have to make some unforgettable memories with.

Flashy Leggings

Last weekend was the last of Half Acre's Friday Night Bouldering Series competition to ever be held on our current wall. At the end of this semester, it's getting torn down as part of the renovations to the gym and a bigger, better climbing wall will replace it... in a year. What we're gonna do with ourselves until then, I have no idea. I'm freakin' out just a little...

But on to highlights! The competition had a great turn out from UW students and Casper, WY and Colorado residents alike. It was a toss up for which category I should enter in. I had placed in the intermediate category at my first comp when there were few girls and I had seen only one female enter the marathon category at the next one, so with more girls at this comp than I had ever seen before I had no idea which basket I should put my eggs into. I decided to shoot for doing marathon and it ended up that was the wrong choice, but I think I'd been screwed either way. My climbing is at such an in between level right now. When I can flash 9 out of 10 of the beginner routes but can barely do 2 or 3 of the intermediate, it's a wake up call once again that I need to step up the training and really commit to moving past that beginner level.

I made some awesome new friends this competition though! I hope to keep climbing and hanging out with them in the future.

Gameface on.

Showing off our beautiful leggings.

Reppin' the UK gear

wooooo

And a climbing pic, just to prove we actually did climb.

Heading to satisfy those post-comp munchies.

Weekend of Love

I was so lucky to spend Valentine's Day weekend with my best friend and my family. It was straight up amazing that the timing was so perfect. Kari and I had an entire 24 hours to ourselves to catch up and eat food that wasn't exactly good for our diets. Then we stayed at my parents' house and got to go wine tasting and see an archery tournament! Sunday morning before everyone had to fly back, we met up with Dave for breakfast. All in all, a very special weekend that definitely had me not wanting to come back to school!

We <3 Orange Leaf

Sunglasses these days...

One Love @ Raising Cane's

This is Merlot :)

The little bro crushin' it on the archery range.

A rare and happy reunion .

"Wtf are you and why are you holding me so tight?"

Window Kitty

I saw this lovely little thing sitting in a storefront window last night. It was rolling around and curling over itself right up by the glass. When we came near, it sat up all straight as if it was embarrassed that we'd seen it in its happy, little stretching fest.

Over here, darling

The Sink

I'll be the first to admit, I am not the best roommate in the world. I have a tendency to not immediately clean up my messes, let dishes soak in the sink a little more than they should, and eat people's food that I think has been sitting in the fridge too long (sometimes "too long" is a couple hours). I'm not perfect. But I forget that just because I accept my imperfections, doesn't mean I have to make my roommates deal with the repercussions.

So when one of my roommates sent out an e-mail to the other three of us detailing every mess I had made that weekend and how we all need to abide by our roommate contract, I was super offended. How dare she not realize that I am trying to do the dishes in a more timely manner or that sometimes I honestly, accidentally forget my towel on the floor in the bathroom. My passive aggressive-ism that only seems to flare up when it comes to roommate ordeals began to rear its ugly head. How long could I leave that huge pile in the sink before she got fed up and did them herself, or even better, openly confronted me? Those dishes weren't even all mine! Maybe I would start using all paper plates from now on, or I could start rearranging her things in the shower. My plotting started to get out of hand...

But thank goodness, this all happened on a Sunday and God wasn't finished showing me the lessons He wanted to teach me from His message that morning. I had spent most of the day pondering over how my current trials and sufferings were producing perseverance, totally ignoring what the other 75% of the sermon had been about. I was practically relishing in the "woe is me" circumstances that I'd been experiencing lately, almost taking pride in how it was okay for me to be feeling cranky on the inside, as long as I was suffering for God. Just leave me in my room to suffer, please. I probably should have given the rest of the message a little more thought. In the latter part of Philippians 3, John writes about followers of Christ being citizens of heaven, and he challenges them to act like it. Yes, as a follower of Christ I was going to suffer my own daily battles, but that does not give me the excuse to pout and ignore the higher callings that are instilled in us when we learn the love of our Savior. If I did anything besides doing every single one of those dishes, how would that be showing my citizenship to heaven and being a good witness to my roommate? As small a thing as it may seem, and as hard as it is to choke down the pride and humiliation, I'm glad that God is teaching me that there are much more important things to worry about regarding my relationships with those around me. Loving, serving, and humility are more important than who has to clean out the sink.

Two Stroke, Baby

My first experience with snowmobiling was pretty far from typical. I met Todd at his house around 10:30 and we headed up to his family's cabin in the mountains west of Wood's Landing. The snow was perfect. The area had gotten quite a few inches the weekend before, and there was plenty of new powder from the storm the day before. The mountains were still cloudy as we drove out. We got up to the main parking area and then trekked back into the cabin community. I borrowed some very stylish snow gear and Todd got the snowmobiles started.

Our chariots await...

Once I got a 30 second lesson (literally) on how to drive these things, we headed back up to the main parking area to put gas in and talk about the trail we'd be taking up to Albany to eat lunch. Then, things started getting interesting.

First time snowmobiling!

Thumbs up if gasoline and fire don't mix!

About 5 minutes after I took the last picture, Todd's snowmobile was on fire! I kind of sat there helplessly while Todd whipped off his jacket and started smothering the flames. Once all the flames were out, I asked him, "Does this sort of thing normally happen?" "No," he replied, and continued filling up the gas tank. He didn't seem too concerned, so I didn't worry. Big mistake.

Beautiful Forest Scenery

About 15 minutes out of the parking lot and into the forest, I got stuck in a snowdrift. Todd said he expected this to happen eventually, so he turned his machine around and started helping me get un-stuck. Then, when he went to turn his snowmobile back on, his starter rope broke! Came clean out of the engine compartment! (Which, by the way, I learned they are called "two stoke engines.") Todd was not very happy. We had one stuck snowmobile, one snowmobile which we had no way of restarting, no way to lash the snowmobiles together, and it was getting to be well past lunch time. We decided that once we got my snowmobile out, I would wait with the dead one while Todd went back to the cabin to find rope, and then we'd tow it back and call it a day.

20 minutes later, we're ready to head home. The ride back was not nearly as exciting.

Once back at the cabin, we got the snowmobiles inside and headed back toward town to find some lunch. We stopped in a Wood's Landing and I got to try Bull Fries! More commonly known as Rocky Mountain Oysters, aka bull testicles. They were surprisingly yummy. I wasn't a fan of the cocktail sauce served with them, but give me some bbq sauce and I would have eaten the whole basket myself.

Mmmm, deep-fried smooshed balls

Despite our slight catastrophes, I had a really fun day and I can't wait to go again and get off trail. I'm thankful no one was hurt and we got back to the cabin safely! And for such a good friend that's willing to share these experiences with me :)

Worst Day Ever

UW Climbing Team's First Comp

The USA Climbing Collegiate Climbing Series has officially begun! This is UW's second year with an organized climbing team, and from what I've observed so far, we're going to have a super exciting season culminating in UW hosting the regional competition in April! We've started having practices twice a week, and then all of a sudden it was time for the first competition.

After a five hour drive (with a stop at the infamous Big City Burrito), our team of 8 climbers arrived at the Sport Climbing Center of Colorado Springs. Their gym was sweet. A large room with sport climbing on one side and bouldering on the other, with a center section that was connected to one side by an archway, which was all climbable. You could even top out on most of the bouldering! And all supported by nice cushy, new padding... There were 3 difficulty categories, and about 30 problems set throughout the bouldering sections of the gym. After settling in and inspecting all the nooks and crannies, announcements were made, door prizes were thrown from the top out area, and we got to work.

Spencer, Matt, Nick, Ian, and Nicole crushing routes

With around 100 competitors and spectators, the gym was a little crowded but not too stuffed. Having to wait to do your next problem provided much needed recovery and a chance to chat with others. I got to meet people from the Air Force Academy, CSU- Pueblo, and Adams State University. Everyone was really friendly and of varying strength. It was awesome to see people crush problems that I couldn't imagine doing after at least a couple more years of intense training.

Climbing Buddies fo' life

Our whole team qualified in the intermediate category! Nicole placed 2nd in Women's Intermediate and Brian got 5th in Men's Intermediate. Now that we understand the scoring, I hope that I can train harder and not be sick next time so I can place a little higher :) We had a long drive back that night, but everyone did a really awesome job and had an awesome time.

UW Climbing Team has good prospects for this season!