Indian Gardens

On Saturday, a group of us got together and drove up to the Grand Canyon for a hike. We left about 9am. Yeah, it's pretty cool - when you live in a place that isn't blistering hot, you don't have to wake up at the crack of dawn to hike; you can sleep in AND hike all in the same day! :)

We started our hike here...

and hiked down to the Indian Gardens (which is that patch of trees in the picture above)...

and here are a few of the amazingly beautiful things we saw along the way...

The company was lots of fun, the weather was AMAZING (couldn't have planned a more perfect day), and the hike was brutal! They say (whoever "they" is) that is takes about 6-8 weeks to acclimatize to the higher elevation. Well, I have been up here for 7 weeks and I still feel like I am breathing through a coffee straw up here. Holy Cow. The hike down was a breeze, but going back up was quite the climb. Straight switchbacks for...ev...er!

Regardless of it's difficulty and my lack of oxygen, I had a blast! And apparently my body doesn't want me to forget how much fun it was because it reminds me every time I move! :)

It's Raining, It's Pouring

No joke, I have NEVER seen this much rain in my life!! It's bizarre! - It's fun for now... merely because it's a novelty, but this girl is going to be "snoring" as the song says if it doesn't go away soon. It's 3pm and dark as can be! My body thinks it's bedtime! Haha! I am going to need my sunshine again soon!

In the mean time, all I really need is a big blanket, a good romance novel, and a hot cup of hot chocolate... oh, and for school to be put on hold so such things could actually happen. You think they will call a rain day?!? :)

Workouts and Watermelon

"With good health, we can be happier and more successful. Without it, we are curtailed in almost every way... Get the blood circulating, and give your major muscles a workout. An appropriate amount of time and effort spent in exercising will help you to be more effective in all other areas of your life." - Elder Joe J. Christensen

The week I moved up here, I ended up getting one major upper respiratory tract infection and it didn't go away!! It doesn't help that I made a few more trips down to the valley and back up (elevation changes are no good when you are sick). Last week, my roommate made me admit that I was sick and avoid cardio workouts for an entire week! Do you know how hard that is for me?!? It was torture! All I wanted was a good, sweaty, long, mind-clearing, out-of-breath workout!

Monday I was given the all-clear by my doctoral student roommate and today I got in my 3rd amazing workout of the week. We did the Insanity Video... and it was insane!! My legs will probably fall off tomorrow but no worries, I couldn't be any happier! I am sitting here eating watermelon after one of the hardest workouts of my life and LIFE IS WONDERFUL!! :)

NAU Challenge Course

I had to pay off my NAU card the other day on the North side of campus. (Don't even get me started on the fact that they do not accept Visa cards.) Driving around campus is nearly impossible and if, by chance, you make it to the other side without running into closed roads due to construction, you surely cannot find a place to park. Therefore, I rode my roommates bike. I love the weather here and I love that by the time I even get up our massive hill in our complex, my legs feel like they have done 100 squats and my lungs wonder what ever happen to oxygen.

Anyway, that is all beside the point. On my bike ride home, I passed by the NAU challenge course. What is it? Well, it's just that - a physical challenge course. They happened to be letting NAU students use it for free that day (typically it is only for students who register for the class). The guy told me they had a zip-line and my interest was sufficiently peaked. I rode home as fast as I could, dropped my backpack, changed into grungies, and grabbed my roommate. We ran back to check this thing out.

Whoa was I unprepared for what I was about to do. After signing our lives away, I stepped into a harness and strapped on a helmet and walked down to meet this "challenge." (Don't worry mom, I am still alive!) My roommate happens to be a daredevil and lives for adrenaline. I like the adrenaline too, but I was not expecting this! It was a blast though!!

Our first event was climbing up a totem pole. At the top, you had to stand up with both feet and then jump off. Of course you have someone belaying you, but really you just jump. They call it the leap of faith. The climbing part wasn't hard. Even standing up was quite easy (the people in front of me all fell before standing all the way up). Not even the height bothered me, but let me tell you, it took faith to leap off that thing onto nothing! My heart was racing!!

Next was the catwalk. No, it was not a runway! It was this...

the guy on the left is walking across the catwalk and the guy on the right is almost to the top of "the leap of faith." - this is the actual course we were on but we didn't get any pictures of ourselves! :(

I was not too afraid of walking across it, but once I got up there and the wind was blowing, I thought for sure I was going to fall right off. It took me a loooong time to get across. This is the only way you can get to the zip-line so I had to finish!! It was interesting to me - for those who wanted to ride the zip-line, but were afraid of heights, they blindfolded them and sent them across. Why? Because walking across it really isn't hard - it's the height that makes the task difficult. I was shocked to see this take place. It made me think about how focusing on our fears can make us loose sight of the final goal! It totally applies to the gospel - fear and faith cannot co-exist!

Once you make it across, you have to stand on the triangular platform while you wait for your turn. You are harnessed in up there but there is nothing to hold on to. It was nerve-racking. Once it was finally my turn for the zip-line, I got up there and realized, I have to jump off that platform! If you have ever been repelling, it is similar to that - the worst part is leaning over the getting started. But in this case, you lean over and then go FLYING 150 yards! Finally I just jumped backwards and did it! It was a BLAST!! I loved it! I even flipped myself upside-down on it!

We had the opportunity to try some slack-lining things and a partner slack-line challenge too before it closed. The point of the partner challenge was to build trust. It was cool how they applied all the events to life's lessons. It was SO much fun! I never came across things like this at ASU - one of the many reasons why I love it up here - there are so many free things to do up here!!

Domesticated

If you know even the slightest thing about me, you would know that I do not, absolutely cannot stand, really don't like... cooking! I don't look forward to cooking every night for the rest of my life and my philosophy to this point has been to hold off doing it as long as I possibly could. I did a fantastic job at that goal, but those glory days of having mom cook are, well, over! It's a very sad tragedy! Regardless, it's probably time for me to learn.

My roommate and I split dinners. So far, we have kept them simple and I have had many options to work with... but the other day, my roommate decided she was going to be a bit more brave and try cooking a pork loin in the crock-pot. I wasn't going to stop her. It was her turn to cook and it sounded wonderful to me. So we researched recipes and bought all the necessary items to have a wonderful pork loin with cooked carrots, mashed potatoes, and gravy. Then last minute she found out she was going to be in class all day the next day.

So what happened?!? She begged and encouraged me to make it. Um... remember how I have avoided all cooking up to this point. I know how to make mashed potatoes. That's it! Raw meat scares me and is not a cheap item to mess up on when you are on a college budget. It took a lot of prodding on her part, but I finally caved!

That night I placed the meat in yummy sauce and we marinated it (yeah, I just learned that this process happens in the fridge - you can laugh at my stupidity, I did too!) The next day, I seared the meat (also a first for me) and then placed it in the crock-pot with all the other items. Once it was finished, I made gravy (definitely a first!!) and had it all ready before my roommate even got home. The apartment smelled fantastic, and much to my surprise, it tasted fantastic! (The meat was kinda dry, but I am focusing on my success and not my perfectionist viewpoint!)

I am actually really glad my roommate ended up putting it all on me because I learned (hold on to your seats) that cooking isn't so bad! It was even kind of fun! I think I can even almost consider myself domesticated... well, at least I am getting there!! P.s. Thanks Amber and Jana for the apron!! It's not only incredibly stinkin' cute, it was a shirt saver!!

Overwhelmed

I don't think life has really sunk in until this week. (I'm sure this is something that will happen many more times in my lifetime!) I have grown up my entire life knowing that graduating from high school was no where near an option and that graduating from college with a Bachelors was what people do. So I did it too! My life has worked out pretty nicely and schooling has been something that I can honestly say has gone without any bumps along the way. Up to this point in my life, I have never really questioned what I was doing with my education. But this week was filled with firsts!!

I was working on a peer review essay the other night and could not find the information I needed anywhere! I worked on this (instead of being social) for about an hour just to end up empty-handed. I was so incredibly irritated!!! Then it hit me like a ton of bricks... What the heck am I doing in grad school?!? Why am I dishing out 7 years of hard-earned money to do something so impossibly hard?! Why did I say goodbye to every single person I know to move to a new place where I am a stranger?! Why did I willingly sign up to put myself through 2 more years of nail-biting tests, forever long papers, insomnia-curing textbooks, late nights of cramming, hours of homework, and mind-boggling theories?! I sat there on my couch all alone with school work ALL around me and stared at the wall as this realization hit me. I was overwhelmed!!

For a fleeting moment, I had the urge to pack up, throw in the towel, and go back home, but I know that isn't really even a possibility so I just sat there and let the overwhelming feeling get the best of me. Needless to say, I had a small breakdown. So what did I do?!? I gave up on the homework thing and went to sleep.

The next day didn't get any better. It seemed as if that little angel that is supposed to sit on my shoulder had taken a vacation and only the little shoulder devil was there to question what I was doing. He seemed to sit there and loom over me and my situation. Ugh! So I came home and called my mom. (What would I do without free family minutes and cell phones?! - Seriously!!) She listened like she always does and then gave the best "suck-it-up" pep talk to remind me of what I am doing here!

She reminded me that I am gaining an exceptional education. I am getting a degree so that I can help wonderful children who have challenges! I am gaining wonderful experiences making new friends and sharing the gospel. I am learning so much from living on my own - experiences I know that I need. I am doing exactly what I am supposed to!

Along with my mom's pep talk, I have received many other reminders since then! In institute class this week, we studied the first few chapters of Proverbs. They are all about gaining wisdom and knowledge and why it is so important. Then I watched Elder Holland's Mormon Message: Good Things to Come. In it he says,

"Don't give up... Don't you quit. You keep walking. You keep trying. There is help and happiness ahead... You keep your chin up. It will be all right in the end. Trust God and believe in good things to come."

Then, one of our professors reminded us this week how many people applied for one of our seats in the program - about 185; yet, each of us were chosen for a reason to take one of the 19 seats. She reminded us that there will be days where we don't want to be here at school, but she told us to remember how those 166 others who didn't get in wished they were in school!!

I sit here today overwhelmed! This time, it is a good overwhelmed. I am so grateful for these reminders (aka tender mercies) from a loving Father in Heaven who wants me to realize why I am here. I am so blessed to have the opportunity to be in this graduate program! I honestly have nothing to complain about. Of course school is hard and expensive and even overwhelming at times, but it will all be worth it in the end! It is true, there are plenty of "good things to come."

I know today, better than before, that I am here for a reason. I am so much more determined to make sure I succeed. I am going to follow Elder Holland's advice: I am going to keep trying and never quit. So here's to graduate school! And now my free time is up - I am off to tackle that peer review essay... I think I am much more prepared this time! ;)

My Home Away from Home

I know a few of you have asked to see pictures of my new place. Moving in was a bit stressful seeing that we never actually saw the inside until move-in day, but it's even better than we imagined! We are loving it! Take a look...

Here is the living room. We have nothing on the walls... that's what happens when you are poor college students but we have two great couches and a tv - the important stuff! Thanks Dave and Kris! :)

Here is our kitchen and table. It's actually bigger than we imagined. We even have empty cupboards still! And we have quite a bit of counter space too! (Yes McKenzie, that is my board hanging on the wall!)
My bathroom is my absolute favorite part! It's way bigger than any bathroom I have ever had. Hopefully you can see the shower curtain through the mirror.
Finally, here is my room. It's practically the exact same as it was back in Mesa but that has actually helped it feel more like home here. I have two big bright windows to let lots of light in! That is my favorite part of the whole room.

I really am loving it here! It's fun to be off on my own and have all the new experiences that come from this opportunity. Right now, who wouldn't love living up here! In a few months when we are covered in that white stuff, I might change my mind. In the mean time, I am soaking it all up!