Desert and Snow...love me some adventure!

It was time to break up the winter and head down south and get a few rays of sunshine.  That's right,
St. George here we come!  Ryan and Kenzie had planned a trip to go down south to the Shakespeare festival with Amy, Ryan's sister, and her husband Jeff.  They figured since they were down south they would also utilize some time in St. George for none other than a little biking and canyoneering.  We thought it sounded like an excellent opportunity.  They liked us joining as well because we were able to stay at my parent's house in St. George.  My mom played the role of excellent host and was kind enough to supply us with some active goodies-trail mix, granola bars, and sandwiches along with full on meals.  Not to mention each couple got to have their own king size bed to sleep in.  Pretty luxurious for a bunch of outdoor bums!

Needless to say, we lived it up.  In our short time down there we did a slot canyon and two different biking adventures.  Mac and her college roommate, Sarah, joined us for Yankee Doodle a shorter slot canyon in Silver Reef near Zion's National Park.  It was one of my favorite slot canyons I have ever done.  It had it all and it only took 3-4 hours.  There were rappels, places where you had to chimney across some water in a tighter spot, and even a make shift zip line.  To top it off, it was a really pretty slot canyon.  Can't get much better!  Also, on the trip we did a couple of bike rides.  We did one of my favorite

mountain biking spots, Bear Claw Poppy, where Mike had his "incident" last Thanksgiving, and a new trail called Barrel Roll.  Luckily this time we didn't have any problems at Bear Claw Poppy.  We enjoyed the rolly-pollys and challenging each other to make it up the steep climbs.  I was definitely the worst biker there, which would be more apparent in our next ride.  Barrel Roll was much more challenging ride than Bear Claw Poppy. I was always in dead last place as I walked my bike through many of the technical spots.  I was not finding joy in the "challenge" and hence had a pretty bad attitude.  I usually like to be in the front or feel like I can at least keep up with the gang.  The others all finished the ride and had their bikes parked by the time I made it to the end.  Don't worry there were multiple spots where they still waited for me to catch up as well.  Looking back, I should have been more like the "little engine that could" and I could have had another fun ride to add to the list because it did have some fun stretches and some pretty views. On Sunday, my mom joined us as we took it easy with some walks around Zion and went on a pretty drive through the park.  It was a nice relaxing, yet chilly day, to wrap up the weekend.

By now it was the end of February and we still had a few more ski passes to use.  We decided we had to go for it.  We enjoyed the mountain air and skiing around with just the two of us.  We did a few moguls, the usual box jumps, skiing through the trees, and flying down the mountain.  Unfortunately, on this trip I forgot to pack my ski poles.  I disappeared into the trees for a while and came out with my makeshift ski poles.  Mike thought it was pretty entertaining along with several of the workers there.  But a girl has to do what a girl has to do, right?

The next weekend we mixed it up and returned to Logan.  Mike and I stayed up late chatting with some friends leading to a decision which would change our lives forever.  She was talking about her own experience with the "pill".  It wasn't until we heard her story that we realized the impact the pill had on us as well!  I had always heard about the "pill" leading to some girls going crazy.  However, I never felt like it had really impacted me, as I wasn't seeing hallucinations or crying every minute, until we heard her story.  We always just excused it as a stressful time because we were adjusting.  Later that night we decided it was time to go off the dreaded "pill" and see if it would make a difference.  In the next few months, we would begin to see the more mentally stable and secure me return.  It truly was a turn around for us.

Saturday we did two different types of sledding adventures- both unique in their own sense.  The first adventure was with Ryan and Kenzie.  They trekked up the mountain on their ski's and Mike and I climbed up in our snow shoes.  It was a silent hike as they enjoyed the peace and serenity of the mountains.  I wished I had my tunes to keep me pumped but soon enough we would be to the top of the mountain where it would be sledding time.  Mike and I were able to get a few long spurts on the sled together but mostly it was short little spurts where Mike ended up running down a lot of the mountain.  Ryan and Kenzie had no problem navigating down the mountain on their ski's.  After being teased on the Mountain with our attempt at sledding, we decided to try it out again later that night with Amanda and Tyler.  We were cruising down Old Main Hill and even broke a sled doing so.  Only this time it was unique as we unexpectedly found a mattress some others were done using.  They let us take ownership of the mattress contributing to what many of us would later refer to as the "best sledding we had ever done!"  We flew down the hill so fast it was as if we were floating down the mountain. Amanda and I had it good as Mike and Tyler drug the mattress up to the top again while Amanda and I shot the breeze.  I guess you could say it is a benefit of being a lady. After sledding some others were hungry and nothing could satisfy their pallets except for a little fried bacon, it was a great night.

The next weekend we returned to the slopes for our last ski of the season.  Jon and Jon Goates both joined us as well.  This time, we did it their style, which was in style.  We dressed up for the slopes. Both Jon's put on their lovely turtle necks and suits while Mike and I did a little more random style.  I had my bling-bling shirt and Mike wore his Sweedish green army pants.  Mike also spiced it up by bringing his wrestling mask.  We were looking good.  Plus it just so happens a professional photographer was out snapping some pictures as well- good thing he could capture my excellent technique on camera. In actuality my form was below top notch, but lets be real, we all looked positively goofy!