5K Heart Walk

I decided to join Krista and Mom for this year's Heart Walk. It was a blast! I don't get to see Krista and her family very often so it was a bit of a treat for me. But even more special, was the reason why we walked it this year. Not long ago, my dad had experienced some tightness in his chest. After a visit to see the doctor and a few tests, my dad was admitted to the hospital where they placed a stint in one of the main arteries to his heart. Thankfully all went well and we are blessed to have my dad still with us. Love ya dad!

Superstition Ridgeline

Also known as the Superstition Death March, this was definitely one of the toughest hikes I've done. We started out going up Siphon Draw up to the top of Flatiron. The views from on top here are one of my favorites. You can see nearly the whole valley, incredible! From there we trekked it along to the other end down Carney Springs (this is next to the popular Peralta trail head). Total, it's about a 10-12 mile hike and took us about 10 hours. There's a couple of climbing spots and various uphill climbs and downhills to tackle. It was gruelling. I was exhausted. My legs were sore and at times I wondered what was I thinking. But all said and done, I absolutely loved it! We really couldn't have asked for a better day for a hike.

Flatiron

I know it's been another long break between posts, sorry, but you can keep in touch with me on Facebook. A lot of you have joined recently and it's been lots of fun seeing you on there. However, it's not a replacement for blogs and I know I need to be better about posting on here. I've debated on catching up on some past trips/events but it's really too much so I''ll go from here and hopefully I'll be better keeping my blog up to date!

I was suppose to go for a snowboarding trip up at Sunrise this weekend, but the snow conditions weren't so good and on top of that it was raining so we decided to cancel it for another time. Instead, I went with a couple of my friends to hike Flatiron up in the Superstition Mountains. I've actually never hiked all the way to the top before and have always wanted to.

It really couldn't have been a better day! The weather was a bit overcasted and the temps were in the 60's. At times we were hiking in the clouds! And the scenery, I couldn't believe how green it was! Absolutely breathtaking, it was like a tropical paradise in the desert.

We originally set out just to hike up to the basin of Siphon Draw. However, we didn't have any other pressing things to do, plus we were a bit motivated to keep pushing forward after Hot Guy asked us how far we were going. Turns out though, once we caught back up to Hot Guy at the top of Flatiron, he was there with a scout troop and a ring on his finger. Story of our lives!

For those of you familiar with Flatiron, you understand what a tough hike it is, but the views are so worth it. I'm sore today, my left ankle is a bit tight and achy after a nasty spill on loose gravel, I have bruises and scrapes down my leg , and gouged my right hand... but just look at the pics and you'll understand why I'm already planning my next trip back.

By the end of February the plants should start blossoming and based on how green it is right now, it should be absolutely amazing! I would highly recommend taking the kiddos out for a nature hike and enjoy the desert. There's a lot of other really easy hikes in the area and it's a great time of year to go.

Halloween

This year we decided to be superheros for Halloween. Suzanne was SuperFrog, Jenna was Sarah Palin, and I was ElectroStatic Girl. (A special thanks to Mel and Joey for their help in completing the final touches to my costume!)

(Yes, those are Joey's underpants I'm wearing!)

Jenna, Suzanne, and Ryan enjoying their free Chipolte Burritos. This is now a new tradition of ours. Chipolte will give you a free burrito on Halloween if you dress like a burrito or wear foil. Jenna made a tie with her foil, Suzanne made a bib in preparation to eat her free burrito, Ryan made a Gun for his FBI outfit, and I made a headband. We decided Chipolte burritos taste even better free!

My friend's family makes a big cardboard maze from refrigerator boxes in their front yard each Halloween. This was my first year experiencing it and I have to say I was pretty impressed. It took Ryan and I at least half an hour to find our way out and Suzanne and Randy were stuck in there for over 45 minutes! However, I will admit I did cheat a little. There was a small hole I could stick my head out and I was able to find my friend who gave us directions.

Status Update

Okay, so not too long after I had announced I was dating Brian, I broke it off. He's a nice guy and treated me well but we did not see eye to eye on some essential issues and I decided it was best to let him go. Just thought I should clear the air on any rumors I had created. Thanks for the encouragement and good wishes. This was for the best and I feel confident I made the right decision.

Sedona - West Fork Trail

10/24-10/25: This was a very last minute trip. I had mentioned to Mel how I wanted to go hiking in Sedona and see the changing fall leaves. She mentioned she would sell me some of their minutes at their time share. So a friend and I took off that weekend and enjoyed the cool weather and fall colors.

Fall Break

One of the perks of teaching is that I get a week off in fall. It's nice but also very necessary. Last year I went with a few friends to Hawaii. I didn't take off to some exotic getaway this year, but I relaxed, got some stuff done, and stayed away from my classroom even though I was tempted to go in and get some work done. So here's what I did:

Lakeside, AZ - As soon as the busses left, I packed up my classroom and headed out as fast as I could! A few of us took off that weekend to Suzanne's family's cabin up in Lakeside. I wasn't quite prepared for how freezing cold it would be and had packed a bunch of shorts. So I only had one pair of sweatpants, which I wore for the majority of the time. It rained and hailed on us Saturday, so we sat out on the porch for the majority of the time enjoying the weather. Unfortunately, Suzanne had stomach issues for most of the weekend and so I spent a lot of the time walking around by myself talking to Sara on the phone. Finally, on Tuesday she felt better. We hiked Mt. Baldy a bit and enjoyed the picturesque views and changing fall leaves. That was definitely a highlight of my trip and I would love to go back and hike it all the way to the end. Too bad we didn't have enough time.

Fall Cleaning - Okay, so I didn't quite get around to spring cleaning this year, but thank goodness I have a week off in the fall to make up for it. So I decided to clean up my files and bills. Apparently I found out it has been several years since I've cleaned it up. Oops! After a couple of days of serious shredding and reorganizing, I think I finally have some order to the mess. I never seem to know what to keep and what to shred. Heaven forbid something should ever happen to me and someone should have to go through my stuff and figure out my mess. Once I had all that completed, my next task was to clean my room. It's been a while since I've done some serious deep cleaning in it so that took some time too. I just wish I could keep it clean! ;)

As You Wish - My friend, Suzanne, and I took some time to paint some pottery. As You Wish is a fun little place where you pick out from a variety of unfinished pottery and custom paint it yourself. You pay a sitting fee where you have access to all their paints and supplies. The cost of the pottery depends on what you get. Suzanne and I painted several tiles, which are one of the cheapest items. The trick with painting pottery is that it's tough to tell how it's going to turn out. The color of the paint is very light but it changes when they fire it and the more coats you give it the more distinguish the color will be. It kind reminds me of taking pictures on an SLR manual camera using old school film. You don't really know how well you did until you develop it. But it's still tons of fun to do and totally worth it.