Backpacking is Favorite

I'm sitting outside on our back porch, sipping some coffee, listening to people laughing on the lake, staring at the mountains while typing away on my laptop, and trying to be productive yet fighting the urge to dream my afternoon away.

Doesn't get much better than this.

Unless I had a slice of chocolate cake sitting next to me, but other than that.

And also unlimited spending money on clothes.

Anyway.

We had an AMAZING backpacking trip with our friends. Jena and I have been friends since we were in high school, then husbands came along and joined our crew and this was the first time the four of us have spent together. (Lane missed their wedding because he was deployed, then all of the following big events of friends weddings, etc. that we would have done together because he was deployed! Boo deployments!) This made up for any lost time and more though.

They're a phenomenal couple. They're just EASY to be around. Conversation flows, they share easily and ask questions back, laughter is abundant, hearts are shared, struggles talked about... we love them! Couldn't have picked a better couple to join us in exploring the Colorado mountains! It was an adventure to be sure.

As always, it was just GOOD to get away. I feel like L and I have done a good job of enjoying our summer together. Unplug. Appreciate each other. Enjoy creation. Sift through life. Check and re-check priorities. Nature speaks to both of us so loudly that it is hard to ignore what we hear out there.

Even Sophie got to join us on our outdoor adventure! This pic was just from a day-hike after we found our camp, but she had her own little backpack that she carried her own food in. Adorable!

We got hit by a MASSIVE hailstorm, but we all thought it was awesome. Wouldn't be a true Colorado adventure without a little fight from the elements.

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

The Calling

We've now been home from Costa Rica for a little over a month but I still find myself thinking about that trip a lot- laughing out loud at funny stories when I'm all by myself in the grocery store, remembering the beautiful sunsets, digesting even more lessons I learned.

This picture was taken on our canopy tour day. This is how I felt all trip! So fun!

Don't be jealous of the sexy helmet I got to wear.

So anyway, Lane was reading a book while we were there that got me thinking a lot, and I'm still thinking about it. It was called 'Handoff', and part of it talked about your calling versus your career.

Your calling is something that transcends everything; discovering your calling is so much bigger than just a job.

One year ago I would have said that my calling is something along the lines of

:: Educating teenagers in a relevant and loving way::

However, in the absence of a full-time teaching job, I found myself questioning my purpose and therefore my calling. And, in the future when I'm a mom, my calling will change again if I define it by the limited standards of simply what I do.

So right now I'm trying to listen to God and figure out what I my calling is. Who I am at my core. Then orient my life around that.

Educating people?

Informing them of my life through authentic living and instilling change through transparency?

Giving people a bigger picture of the world around them and helping discover their own ways to impact it for the good?

Is is something with using the creativity and power of words to change lives for the better?

Authentic, transparent living?

Loving others?

Living abundant life?

Hmmm. I'll be processing that a bit. Happy Wednesday to you all!

Dentists and Fires

Goodmorning everyone. It's Monday morning and I am getting ready to go to the dentist this morning. I've never been one to hate going to the dentist so I'm not too worried about it.

I do remember being traumatized maybe 5 years ago or so when one of the hygienists working on me told me that I have "Very active salivary glands."

She politely told me that I drool a lot.

Hello embarrassment. I am always a little worried about that when I'm sitting in the chair. So then when they try to be all chatty and talking to me while 8 instruments are in my mouth I mostly just grunt, not wanting to try to move my tongue around too much which activates my already active salivary glands even more.

The rest of the day will consist of heading over to the gym, grocery shopping, LOTS of laundry, and camping out with my beloved Mac and getting some writing done.

Laundry needs to happen stat because our house currently smells like a campfire. We went camping this weekend with my family: 2 grandparents, 1 7-month-pregnant sister + husband, 1 sister still recovering from Disneyland + husband, 5 nieces and nephews, 5 dogs, and Lane and I. It was interesting. There was a lot of barking. But actually it was really fun. I have a pretty awesome family. And they love me even when I smell like a campfire. What more could you ask?

Glimpses

::: I've been wanting to put up some of the things I was thinking throughout our trip because writing things down helps me to process them. For now, I figured the easiest thing would be to just post some of my journal entries that I wrote while down in CR. So, here's a little glimpse into me. That's basically what blogs are anyway, right? :) :::

Beauty. Paradise. Natural. Blues. Greens. Rejuvenating. Restoring. Breathe. Create space. My soul sings. Rhythm. Laughter. Open. Birds. Monkeys. Conversations. Unplugged. Replenishing. Returning. Nature. Uncomfortable. Pleasant. Boundary. Free. Spirit. Truth. Destiny. Needed. Returning. Discovery. Wandering. Being present. Available. Searching. Quenching. Satisfying. Liberating.

Beautiful.

Finding comfort in the stillness. Being soothed by the ocean. Letting the rhythm of the waves dictate my day rather than the hum of my laptop. Learning lessons you can only learn through being immersed in a culture that is not your own. Uncomfortable situations become life lessons. Discovering the joy that comes from being open and available. Not checking the clock to see if we're late for the next meeting. Not caring if the bus driver says 15 minutes before we leave but it's really 1 hour. Not rushing through meals in order to accomplish the next task, and missing out on stories, laughter, and connection instead.

Beautiful.

Creating space.

This is good.

What if we lived like this all the time?

This trip has been good for my soul. It's hard for me to just be. I feel like I always need to be contributing, creating, producing. Multi-tasking. But none of that is possible here. There are no clocks. No computers. Just Lane, Jesus, my book, and the ocean.

So I've been daydreaming. About how great my marriage is. How good, gentle, wild, and loving God is. About how becoming an author is becoming more and more of a deep-seated desire of mine, not just something I do on the side. Who I want to be when we return from Costa Rica. These past five years of marriage and the next five. It's nice to just sit.

Paradise.

WE'RE BACK!

There are many, many things that I could say about our trip.

I feel like my soul was singing the entire time we were there. It was intoxicating. It was purifying. It was renewing, beautiful, and life-changing.

It was fun!

Some lessons I learned:

* This was my first time being fully immersed in a different culture. I got in my groove and embraced it all eventually, but I was initially uncomfortable in places I don't understand and felt vulnerable. I felt out of control, but that feeling harnessed itself into growth by the end of the week. It built character, as my mom would say.

* If given the opportunity, I will eat guacamole for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. A diet of burittos, cassadores, and quesadillas is FINE by me.

* Once I get over the initial shock, I can handle showering with crabs, birds, lizards, and monkeys. Handle it, embrace it, and love it, even!

* I like being back in the U.S. where you are allowed to let your toilet paper go down the toilet and not into a trash can next to you.

* My husband and I can laugh and play in a swimming pool for hours. Unbridled laughter. Goofiness with reckless abandon.

* Sometimes silence sitting next to an ocean is more healing than any amount of words.

* Life unplugged is refreshing. The first place we stayed at had no clocks, no tvs, no internet, nothing. The second place at least had clocks, but that was it. I turned my cell phone off when we left Denver, and didn't turn it back on until we touched back down in Denver 9 days later. Unplugging created space for us to breath, to have long, meandering discussions without interruptions, and be available. Available for my husband, for my thoughts, for my God.

* Everybody's body is beautiful and exactly how they were created to be. I spent the three months before we left stressing out about living in a swimsuit and how I would measure up next to all of the rest of the girls on the beach. They would all be supermodels, right? I would, of course, shrink in comparison. However. We got there, and everyone was not, in fact, a supermodel. They were all just regular, normal girls like me. With curves, with beauty. There's not a certain prototype of how you need to look in order to be beautiful. Everyone is.

* I really, really like Costa Rican beer.

This trip stirred up a lot in me. A lot more than I expected, I think. You'll probably be hearing more about it in the coming days. And also, the pictures are coming. It was breath-taking. Paradise- I found it! Maybe a glimpse of it, at least.

Vay-cay time!

It's here.

Ohmygoodness I can hardly wait.

We leave TODAY for the land known as Costa Rica.

I plan on spending my next week and a half sitting on the beach. Sipping Mai Tais. Reading a few books. Writing. Talking with my hubs. Sipping more Mai Tais. And, of course, eating.

Maybe surfing, though I am pretty scared to try it out. Probably zip-lining through the rainforest. But definitely eating lots and lots of salsa.

I'll be thinking of you guys while my toes dabble in the surf and my feet sink into the sand.

See you when we get back!

For the love

I'm not even pregnant and I get serious chocolate chip cookie cravings.

It's bad.

And, I'm not one to brag, but I make just about THE best chocolate chip cookies in all of creation. I know that's a big statement, but I'm prepared to back it up.

They're chewy. They're gooey. They change your life.

Cast your eyes upon this:

And this, friends, was my dinner tonight.


It's not accidental that there's a travel book to Costa Rica sitting next to my cookies. It was out on our counter anyway, but then I found it so humorous that I had to include it in the picture.

Who in their right mind prepares for a trip to the beach and world of swimsuits by eating cookies?!? It's Tuesday. I leave Saturday.

I can't stop myself.

And now, for no reason at all except it's pretty, here is a picture of my sunset last night.

Beautiful. I try to just drink it in each and every night.

Update

Friends. Just wanted to let you know that L & I are now 24 days away from Costa Rica. 24. Glorious. Days. Away.

My brain can't comprehend much more beyond that fact so that is what I will leave you with.

Happy Wednesday!

Utah 5X

So we're doing P90X to get in shape this Spring and thought that Utah5X would be a funny play on words for this trip. Maybe that's just us. But it was Extreme!

I survived! And loved it. What an incredible trip in Escalante, Utah! I really do love backpacking. It's neat being able to go to places that you can't take a car to. There is something sacred, beautiful, and almost primal feeling in being able to carry everything you need to survive on your back for a week. And it was just good for L and I; it was bonding in a way that we haven't experienced before. Experiencing challenging situations together, continuing to walk for 3 more miles when you don't think you can go any further, seeing such cool sights together, laughing, pushing your physical boundaries and conquering fears together... it was good.

Days we were on the trail: 5

Miles we hiked: 30

Pounds I carried on my back: 40

Times I cried: 2

What we saw: AWESOME

We were hiking through canyons the whole time and they just got progressively bigger and bigger the deeper in we got. Seriously, these walls are 500 feet high... so pretty. This was my favorite little waterfall. I imagined little fairies using it as their waterslide... maybe that's just me.

This is me right after the TRAUMA of the trip and what caused the tears to erupt. My fear of heights + having to cross a nearly VERTICAL slope with no hint of footholds over a 50 foot drop to boulders and your DEATH = not a good situation for anyone involved. The beauty of the place can be deceiving, folks.

Isn't he so cute?

Me on the other hand- all I have to say is that this is on Day 4 of

No Showers and Dirt.

Have grace with me, please.

This is his go-to pose when I tell him I'll talk a picture of him...Hmmmm.

He's right in front of Jug Handle Arch; can you see it? They call it that because it looks like, well, a Jug Handle.

This place was seriously ridiculous. That feature is called a Rincon- when the moving water of a river erodes the rock around, and these tall structures are left. It was awesome! And huge.

So there's a glimpse into the last week of my life. During the many, MANY hours we spent on the trail together, L and I were talking about how many parallels to life there are in a backpacking trip. I'll share just one with you now. When you backpack, hike, camp, etc., you get dirty. There are bugs. Your feet hurt and get blisters sometimes even. Your legs ache, you have to drink sandy and iodiney water, and get pretty sick of eating oatmeal and PB&J tortillas. However. Being out in creation is incredible. It is stretching, growing, refining, and challenging. There is definitely risk involved... but it is SO WORTH IT. I got to see things that I never would have seen had I not taken the risk. I would have missed out if I had chosen to just keep things comfortable. If you get out of your comfort zone, whatever that looks like, you will be rewarded. You will learn how much more capable and strong you are than you ever would have known. So get out there- it's worth it!

Chaos, Colds, and Camping

I'm alive. But barely... this week knocked me over multiple times. I feel like I've been a little MIA but the MIAness of me is going to just have to continue for a little bit longer because the boy and I are about to leave for that glorious backpacking trip in Utah that I was telling you about.

This has been a non-stop, barely-catch-your-breath kind of week. It's all been fun stuff (teaching, an overnight in the mountains with L's coworkers/friends, high school soccer games, a couple meetings, etc...) but I have had this cloud of a cold that's been hovering over me for the last week and I haven't quite been able to kick it to the curb. Or curve? I never know if I'm quoting the right phrase sometimes. Curb seems to make the most sense to me.

I digress.

I feel like I'm getting better though, and it might have something to do with the 9 hours (sheesh!) of sleep I allowed myself to get last night. I DO NOT want to still be sick when I begin hiking through the canyons of Utah while keeping my eyes peeled for snakes and bears and coyotes and flash floods and rodents of unusual size. I need to be on full alert!

Now, my friends, in case any of you have the misperception that I might be a super-cool, rough, hardcore kind of a gal for going backpacking with L let me assure you... this is not the case.

Yes, I love the outdoors. And yes, this will be a fun trip.

This isn't me, but imagine this as me in 3 days. This is what we'll be hiking through though... beautiful, huh?

However. I love showers. I love make-up and all things girly. I like cute shoes and have a slight addiction to purses. Shopping for no reason at all sings to my soul.

Because of the fact that L and I are going on this manly tough backpacking trip over Spring Break we agreed to go on a completly opposite trip for our 5 year (!) anniversary trip this May... COSTA RICA BABY! We have the flights booked and are planning where we're staying as we speak (write/read?) and I am BEYOND excited. Let me assure you there will be no hard-coreness in that trip whatsoever. That trip will include massages, delicious beverages, shopping, laying by the pool, and reading. And also massages. Relaxation and pampering at its finest. In Costa Rica. Amen, and Amen.

Until that beautiful trip of which packing will consist of the 4 S's as I like to call them... swimsuits, sunscreen, sundresses, and sandals...

Packing for Utah includes this:

Yes, those are Cadbury Caramel Eggs... they are a must. I'm packing them in secret; L would never allow them. If you learn nothing else from me, learn this: They only come out one time a year; eat them like there's no tomorrow.

And yes, that is a shovel... use your imagination as to what that's, Ahem, used for.

and this:

and this:

My addiction to bags includes the purchase of this backpack. She is glorious, folks. Can't wait to take her out for our inaugural spin.

Also, please disregard the sponge-painted blue walls. This is a rental house; if it was my own that would have been changed before I could fall asleep.

Can't wait to show y'all pictures of the canyons of Utah of my own! Have a great week!

See you when we get back!