grama katie

my dear neighbor and life long friend grama katie passed away this last week. i still remember the first day i met her, she and her husband dean moved into a trailer across the street from my house when i was about five, and i was riding my bike up to my best friend jenny's house. katie yelled out to me as i rode past and invited me over for a popsicle, between the constant supply of treats in her freezer (push pops from the schwann man), her kitties and dogs, and her spunky sparkly personality we were fast friends. my sisters and i, and our dogs, beat a path from our back yard to her front porch for many many years. katie was the daughter of croatian immigrants and grew up in the mining town of price utah. she and her husband dean drove semi's together for years and collected an assortment of animals along the way. her house was filled with animal knick knacks, and she was a fierce defender of all four leggeds in our neighborhood. she'd cuss and holler at anyone who mistreated a child or dog or cat, and would call at all hours of the day and night to report any possible danger she observed. she was a treasured neighbor, friend and grama and i'll miss her very much. i'm sure there was a veritable noah's ark waiting for her when she crossed to the other side. love you katie.

how it's only appropriate my evening should end in trying to fix a bus tire

the boys arrive tomorrow for the first session of the ranch. phew. we've had staff training all week and i'm exhausted already. i'm so excited/dreading the inevitable chaos that is slowly swallowing me and will only continue to do so. i've had hardly any time to think about or plan for the new job. i hope two weeks is sufficient before i start in august.
the garden i planted is coming along, we've been eating spinach and radishes from it. the tomatoes are looking great, the beets, arugula, squash, brussel sprouts, etc. are coming along, and i got all my been starts transplanted. the good news is its been really rainy, the bad news is its been cold and i'm worried somethings haven't faired so well. you win some. you lose some.
also, i'm sorry i'm such a bad blogger. i'm infrequent and never write anything all that great. is should do better. meow. p.s. this is a photo i took one year ago today. silver grotto, grand canyon.

slothtastic!

sorry for the sloth-like delay in posting anything about my trip. it's been a little crazy. i got back from cr last thursday morning at 3 am, then left at 5 am on a weekend river trip down cataract canyon with the wasatch academy jr. class. the trip was a blast, but the water was HUGE (40,000 cfs). we had two flips and a broken down bus on the way home (for 7 hours), so i didn't get home till 5 am monday. since then i've been packing all my belongings and trying to move out of the lodge so we can get it ready for the ranch to start. today i am leaving for snowbird for a week to do a wilderness first responder first aid course (wfr). craziness! but fun!
so . . . i did indeed see a mama sloth and her baby, but not at the sloth sanctuary. we never made it to the Caribbean side after being told it was a gross scene by some germans we met at playa matapalo. incidentally, said germans were also the one's who pointed out this sloth to me in the almond tree right next to the beach we were lounging on. we watched her and her wee on for all three days we were there. i got to see her and the baby seperate, eat leaves, yawn, and move it's hand (this is a big deal considering she is motionless most the time!). truly, it satisfied all my sloth dreams.

awkwardness.

i'm back! no sloth flu. great trip. pictures and stories to come. but in the mean time, please amuse yourselves with this awesome awkward family photo website. amazing.

slotharific

so i leave for costa rica tomorrow night. i've been researching my brains out. there are just too many things to do/see . . . not to mention the point of this trip it so relax . . . i'm thinking a week in the mountains (volcano's, cloudforests, and a weird topiary town i found) and then a week on the beach. originally i was thinking pacific side a la nicoya peninsula, but the more i research, the more i like the southern caribbean side especially when i found THE SLOTH SANCTUARY!!! where you can kayak along a river looking at wild sloths and then go HOLD BABY SLOTHS!!!! if you've got the cash you can even SLEEP WITH THE SLOTHS!!! oh man. i have to go there. (plus they have a 'slothpital'). plus i've been looking at heading to bocas del toro, these awesome islands just over on the panama side that look pretty sweet. we'll see. it'll be an adventure for sure. in other news annalisa & i got all the tomatoes planted in the garden, plus several types of lettuce, spinach, endive, peas, some onions, beets, etc. plus i have a bunch of stuff started indoors. yeah garden! yeah sloths!

a-dor-a-ma-ble

my sister sent my mom this link and its so so great. if you have a dog, have ever had a dog, or just like things that warm the heart and remind us of the simple things in life, watch. enjoy. xoxo

becoming an adult

i have wondered for awhile when i will feel like an adult. i have in my life somehow eluding the traditional demarcations of marriage, children, career, etc. i read in my gerontology class about how single women often feel that transition when they buy a home. perhaps this is why lately i look longer at for sale signs, letting some brief, poignant fantasy of a life that could be in those four walls and roof for me. however, i think i am beginning to get there. i got a job. a real one. a grown up one. one with salary, health benefits, a house, security. i'm thrilled. i'm thrilled not only because i can go get a check up and take my student loans of economic hardship deferment, but i'm thrilled because this is a dream job. i am the new director of experiential education at wasatch academy (a private mostly boarding school in mt. pleasant utah, and my alma mater). sounds legit right? i'm going to be in charge of coodinating all outdoor education, service learning, and international education. again, i'm thrilled. i have so many ideas. i love working with high school age. i love doing things that make a difference in people's lives. i love being outdoors. i love boarding school communities. i love that i will still be 5 miles from my parents and in the valley i call home. maybe, just maybe, i'm becoming an adult.