Pictures

Here's a shot of our school trip group on the first night (before the wet sleet/snow covered the camp). It was colder than it looks, probably around 25 at night. We woke up to frozen waterbottles and nobody wanted to leave their sleeping bags. Don't pay attention to the shorts--that student refused to wear pants! (Don't you all remember the days when we were just too cool to wear warm clothes?)

I found this sweet note on the back of the suburban I was driving when we got back to campus. We all had a good laugh.

Sari and I rode our bikes to the base of the Maroon Bells on Sunday before having a delightful lunch in Aspen. She towed her 15 month old daughter, Juniper, in the bike trailer. The Fall colors are absolutely amazing right now and, as you can see, the Bells aren't too bad themselves. (Check out that baby bump!)

I received an email from a friend of mine today, John Evans, informing me of a new cover photo. A year or so ago, we went to Castle Valley where he took photos of Katie Menghini and I climbing Fine Jade. One of the photos ended up on the latest cover of the Access Fund's publication Vertical Times. It will be a while before I can do that again, so it felt good to reminisce about what I could once do. The route was a big challenge for Katie and me




I spent the last 4 days and nights with another instructor and 12, count 'em 12, high school students. We were on a school climbing trip on Independence Pass above Aspen. It was my first trip and I found it quite challenging. The climbing was a cinch--set up a few top ropes, make sure the kids tie in right, cheer them on, etc. It was night time that was interesting--funny how 12 kids appear so quickly when dinner is served and disappear even quicker when the dishes need to be cleaned. It was a lesson in patience, but overall a great time. I love seeing teenagers get excited about climbing and hope that they will continue to pursue it beyond high school. It provides boys with some healthy risk and girls with some much needed confidence.

Another milestone this week--12 weeks! I'm feeling better and better! I am very excited about something--today I received an official "okay" to run a race I've been wanting to do, the Rim Rock Run. I ran it in 2006 and my friend Sarah asked me to do it with her again this year. I will be 18 weeks, and the race is 22.6 miles. The doctor I spoke with told me "just don't compete", but I can do it as long as I take it easy. Yeah! I also registered for the Las Vegas half marathon in December. Mike wanted to do the full LV marathon, so we decided to make a fun weekend out of it. I tried to research endurance training during pregnancy, but couldn't find much info. So, I asked the dad, an ex-OB doc, of one of my students and he gave me the okay.

My sweetie sent me this today, and it completely made my day!! It's hilarious and I just had to share it.

Hallmark Ecard

Getting moving!

My face has returned to normal, my sinus infection has cleared up (thanks to two rounds of antibiotics!), my thyroid is getting back under control, and I am nearing the end of my first trimester. The combination of these things has vastly improved my quality of life over the past couple weeks. I have been excited to run and have done so nearly every day. Last Friday, I was able to do a gorgeous trail run for an hour and 40 minutes (see photo below). The week before, I truly was starting to feel down, that I had no energy to do the things that bring me joy in life. I was feeling absolutely like a sloth and desperately needed some endorphins. I am now starting to feel like me again! Energized, excited about life! I am also starting to love my new job. The kids need my help, and nothing makes a happy nurse like helping someone that needs it. I've been able to utilize my assessment skills and have really learned alot. Today I learned all about the kind of parent I do not want to be while on the phone with a truly unique mother.



I took this photo of Mount Sopris on my run with my camera phone last week. The school where I work is in the valley, and you can see a distinct snow line at about 11,000 ft on Sopris.



Life is so good. Lane and Bing had their babe about a week ago, Hannah and Jarred had Noah just yesterday. Addie is glowing and our baby is quickly growing, nearing 11 weeks. We should be able to hear the heartbeat externally (with a Doppler) in the next week or 10 days, which is very exciting! The photo below is from google images of an 11 week fetus. So cool!

Watch this video.

This man is full of contagious joy. Check out the link, it's worth your time.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zlfKdbWwruY

9 weeks

This is what our baby might look like at 9 weeks. Still pretty alien-ish, but looking more and more human. Its nervous system is beginning to develop, so it has begun to move around, and its webbed hands and feet have separated into itty bitty fingers and toes. It is about the size of a grape right now.

A big congrats to Lane (Myers) and Bing Perrine for the birth of their new son Maddox last night, 8 lb, 20.5 inches.

I'm still unrecognizable, but the swelling has gone down enough for me to see. As the swelling lessens, the itching is becoming unbearable. It's been a rough day.

It's worse now

So, typing is very difficult with one tiny slit to see out of--sorry if there are many tyops. My face is even worse this morning, so I going to stay home and /kisten to music all day?? I can't read at all. My whole face is swollen!! Argh! Call me if you're bored today because I will be!

Bee sting

I learned today that I have a pretty bad reaction to bee stings. I was stung on my right eyebrow about 5 hours ago and this is what I look like now!! I took some benadryl and have been icing, but that's all I can do. I did go to the doctor and he called it "an impressive reaction" to stings. Anyway, I thought I'd share this freakishness with all of you.

My folksies

This weekend was my mom's 56th birthday, so they of course celebrated with a punishing hike in Death Canyon, the Tetons. She emailed me these cute pics that I thought I would share.

Looks like they made a friend on the hike!

Belly Shot #2

Here are our September 1st shots, about 8 weeks. I swear I feel way bigger than these pictures make me look!