Official Countdown

I can't believe how fast September flew by. Brad and I have been busy spending every spare minute thanks to medical school Brad has very few spare minutes celebrating our Birthday's. Thank you for all the birthday wishes.

And now we get to look forward to DECEMBER, only 81 more days until Christmas Break. Thanks to Brad I almost have everything I need for our Christmas vacation, more specifically for our one year anniversary in the mountains.

NEW SKIIS CHECK

AWESOME BINDINGS

FOR CLIMBING AND SKIING CHECK

SKINS also for climbing CHECK

BACKPACK FOR ALL MY GEAR

INCLUDING AN AVALUNG

THIS COULD POTENTIALLY SAVE MY LIFE INCASE

I GOT CAUGHT IN AN AVALANCHE, CHECK

STOVE MY DAD IS BUILDING

THIS WILL KEEP US NICE AND WARM IN THE WALL TENT

CHECK

And now I just need to get in shape so I can keep up with Brad

And start reading Brad's books about avalanche training and saftey.

Trapped in my own house...

It all started as a typical saturday morning. Brad and I made some delicious puffy pancakes, played a couple rounds of wake boarding on the wii, then went for a bike ride down town. I stopped at the library and picked up a couple good books I'd been wanting to read and we made our way back. I went home and Brad continued to DMU hoping to get some studding done. I was eager to start reading so that's what I did instead of finishing the rest of the stuff I needed to do around the house. I was enjoying the new book I had gotten from the library when suddenly I heard voices outside. I didn't think much of it. Maybe it was our neighbors or maybe just some people walking by. But the noises continued so I finally looked out side to find the workers our landlord had hired were finally back to finish a job started five months ago. Four men started walking around investigating the house. They never tell us when there coming and I hate the feeling of people lingering outside the windows.

A couple weeks ago I called our landlord hoping he'd clean the mess he'd left in our garage and we could have things back to normal. I hate complaining about all this but it's gone on all summer and now that it's cool outside we can't even open our windows to air out this old ghetto place because the screens are gone and the windows painted shut. When the last guy came to do some painting he left buckets all over the garage and a huge mess, blocking our bikes and everything else in. Brad has cleaned up after them several times. Our garage is also full of storm windows and other tools and ladders they decided to store in there. I could go on forever with all of these annoying things but I wont.

You would think I'd be happy to have them here since they haven't made any progress for a month, but I'm not.

Our duplex is already too small. Now I have creepy men going around every window looking in and banging on everything they see, thinking of new things they want to fix, might think about fixing and in the end they'll probably start working on but never finish. Did I mention my car is blocked in so I can't leave.

So here I am listing to crazy voices wishing I had gotten everything done I needed to do so I could go to a nearby park and read my book in peace.

New Pet

I've had mice, spiders, crickets and all those other typical unwanted guests in my basements over the years. But I can honestly say this is the first time I've had a frog.

I'm not quite sure what to think.

If you can't tell we have the most annoying washing machine set up you can think of. The land lord stuck the washing machine in there with an open pipe that drains onto the floor of the basement into our floor drain with another hose going in. I'm not sure what the other hose is for but of course the water splashes up from the washing machine so we have to keep anything we have stored down there far enough away it wont get wet. I'm sure our new pet loves our washing machine arrangement and I can't complain because at least I don't have to go to the laundromat.

So any suggestions on a name?

Thinking about....

How wonderful it will be when I have trucks and grip tape for my newly made longboard.

Or when I finally get my bindings mounted and can enjoying a beautiful day of fresh powder. It's such a tough life having all these amazing new toys and not being able to use them.

I'm already counting the days until we get to go home to IDAHO and UTAH. I can't wait to see the mountains, family and play in the snow. But until then I'll enjoy this beautiful sunny Des Moines weather and go for a bike ride.

History of Longboarding

Last summer Brad taught me how to longboard. Of course I had no idea what I was doing but I tried to figure it out.

The first time we went Brad nearly panicked thinking he would be explaining my death to my parents. He was trying to catch up to me while I was recklessly flying through the parking lot with no clue how to stop. Somehow I pulled through at the end. Perhaps this lead me to believe I was much better than I actually am.

The next time we went I quickly hopped on the board and took off. I was suppose to follow Brad but once again I was going out of control at a very high speed only this time...I didn't pull through. I fell to the ground and quickly tried to get up noticing blood everywhere. My pants were ripped from the knee down. My knee, elbows, hands and chin were torn up and I was mad. It was my first run of the night I couldn't stop there or I'd never get on a longboard again.

We longboarded a little longer. This time Brad stuck as close to me as possible and when the bleeding got bad enough we finally called it quits for the night and he took me back to his house to pull the gravel out.

It was pretty funny when his mom found Band-Aids, gauze and scissors on the counter the next morning.

Now a year later I am trying to make my own longboard. Brad did most of the wood work. This is what we have so far.

After the cutting and routing.

After priming and taping for the next layer of paint.

After the first layer of paint.

After I took the tape off.

I still have the logo to paint, stain and varnish. So it might be a couple days before I have the final product.

Nobody told me...

It was going to be up hill...

Brad and I decided to participate in the DMU Run-Day-Voo. It was just a simple 5k not that big of deal. We kind of blew it off and didn't do much to prepare. Other than run around Gray's lake a couple of times. note: Gray's Lake is completely flat.

7:30 a.m. the race began, Brad and I were doing great. We passed the first mile marker and still had all the energy in the world. Then I glanced ahead enough to notice we were going to be starting up a hill. No biggy right...THIS HILL NEVER ENDED and I quickly realized just how out of shape I was when it was all I could do to stay ahead of the old man just one step behind me.

Thank goodness it flattened out again around 2.5 miles and I had just enough energy for a final sprint. I just wanted the race to be over.

We did ok, got some free stuff and we might consider doing another 5k in the near future and maybe a 10k in the far future.

Violence on TV

What is it with boys and fighting?

I reluctantly agreed to let Brad go to FIGHT NIGHT last Saturday. It probably sounds like I was reluctant because I don't approve but really it is because I was jealous I wasn't invited.

For all those parents who are worried about the effects of violence on TV and in video games...you should be. Boys will always try to reenact what they see. (explosions, fights, and anything else you can imagine.)

That is right...he got punched in the face. (notice the fat lip)

"you should see the other guy."