Quarter-life Crisis

I decided this can't be a mid-life crisis, as I do intend on living past 52. But I think what I've been feeling lately, is similar to what I hear of a mid-life crisis. No, I'm not planning on buying some fancy car, or dating someone younger (oh wait...). But I'm craving something more. More adventure, more from the future. Part of it is that I've started settling down a bit, and it's a hard adjustment. I've been used to crazy trips every month and big adventures looming in the near future. I love my house, and the feeling of having a place that is mine, but it has grounded me a little. The cash flow is not as flow-y when you have a mortgage. I tried explaining this to my mom, but she didn't understand, seeing as though in the last 6 months since buying my house I've actually been on quite a few great trips, and I have. But I just see it all slowing down a bit. And my need for adventure is causing panic.

Mostly because I look at these changes and start to worry about the future. I'm pretty sure I'd like to try that marriage thing (.....), and kids look pretty fun, but I hear they change things. Dramatically. And I know all the moms out there would laugh because kids are an adventure, but I'm thinking of a different kind of adventure. Something outside the cookie cutter. I would like the whole family scene, but I don't want to live in suburbia, have my white picket fence, 3.5 kids, and a dog. Well, I would like a dog. I don't want to be confined to a Mon-Fri 9-5 schedule. I don't want my life to simply consist of piles of laundry, errands, and dinner ready by 6. I can see that happening by default. When I'm not out of town, I'm pretty boring, so I'm afraid of what will happen if I have to stay home. I just want a little more. But I'm not sure what that is, because I don't know how to combine these two things that I want. Family and adventure. I have a vague idea of what I want, but it's not like anything I've seen from the people around me. I'm sure other people are doing it though, and I want to be one of them.

Denial, Not just a river in Africa

The leaves are changing, the mornings are crisp, and the days are shortening. It's fall, and summer is over. I, however, am still refusing to accept this eventuality. So Brian and I decided to go to Moab for the weekend, where it still felt like summer. My other friend Brian and his wife are park rangers at Canyonlands, so we stayed with them and got to enjoy all the benefits of backyard camping while actually camping.

We did have a similar poison bears experience. This time in the middle of the night Brian jumped out of his sleeping bag, grabbed the top blankets we each were using, and took them outside the tent and started shaking them. I kept asking what he was doing, but all he could say was to get out of the tent. I was not getting out of my sleeping bag, I remembered last time. So he came in and started examining the edge of the tent with the headlamp. I just kept staring, completely confused and he went back to shaking the blankets. Finally he stopped, looked at me and said, "it was probably a dream, huh? There aren't any poison scorpions." Yeah, probably. But at least he had listened to my instructions from last time, and only woke me up for a poisonous scary animal.

Even though it's not too cold, it was nice to enjoy some hot weather again, so don't be surprised this winter if I'm running down to Southern Utah every weekend.

6 Months Down, a Lifetime to Go

I have always considered myself a healthy person. I eat lots of fruits and vegetables, I don't enjoy much junk food, my mom taught me about well balanced meals, and consider myself a relatively active person.

But this morning I realized I may have to reconsider. This was after I took a puff on my inhaler and swallowed my 6 morning pills.

Today marks 6 months from when I had surgery on my gut, due to Crohn's. The illeocecectomy to be exact. I won't gore you with the details, some stomachs just aren't ready to hear about it (but I do have pictures of my insides if you're interested and I love showing them!). But I'm pretty much back to 100%. I've gained most of the weight back, I had lost 30 lbs. I can eat mostly anything, improved from the NOTHING I could eat the month before surgery. I no longer instinctively hold onto my gut when I cough (I still do when I sneeze). And I haven't thrown up since I've had surgery, a drastic improvement in life!

So although my 100% is not the same as those healthy people I used to think I was a part of, I'm doing very well, thank you.

People complain about hospital food--after not eating in over two weeks--I thought it tasted pretty good

It was not Manganese

Kr Krypton

I Iodine

S Sulphur

Te Tellurium

N Nitrogen

Pa Protactinium

Ce Cerium

How cool I am really needs no explaination.

Lori: In case you're wondering why we don't fit in our dresses

Only In Utah

I live in a townhouse. I share a wall with my next door neighbors. We are in different church stakes. Apparently the stake boundry lies somewhere between my sheetrock and theirs. Also, this is a map of all the church buildings in relation to where I live. The injustice is that the ward I'm supposed to go to is #7! But even though it's the farthest away, it's still closer than my parents church building to them.

Mt. Everest

This is easily my favorite Colbert clip. If you think it's funny, we'd probably get along well. If you don't, well, I'm sure you're still a good person.

First Day of School

For other people, but us college grads spent the day up Big Cottonwood Canyon. Today is one of my favorite days of the year, this and finals week. They remind me of how nice it is to be done with school. Today we went to Lake Catherine, at the base of Sunset peak. It was a really easy hike, but pleasant and nice just to get out before winter hits. We did have our first snow encounter, which I had mixed feelings about. Not ready for winter, but the cooler weather today was a nice change.