Finally some pictures!!

Here are some pictures of my adventurous summer at the National Ability Center. This is Kristen, the other intern. She came from the University of New Hampshire. This is at a free concert at Deer Valley Resort. Local bands and stuff.


Here's me working on the ropes course with a girl who is blind. This cool contraption is called the 4 to 1. It allows someone to pull themselves up to the top without using much effort. If you weight 100 pounds, it feels like you are only lifting 25 pounds (hence the name 4 to 1).

Yeah!!! Little E!!!! One of the coolest kids I got to hang out with. Tons of fun!

This is at the 4th of July parade. The young boy is on a hand cycle. I'm walking with a guy on a recumbent bike...all adaptive equipment.

This is Kristen and Tracy, our intern supervisor. I took them rappelling in Pleasant Grove on our last day. Good fun!!!

More 4th of July pics. These are a few of our COOL horses that we use in our Equine program. The big one with the mohawk mane is called a Norwegian Fjord. Beautiful, powerful horses. This ones name is Ayla. The mini horse is Hercules. :-)


After spending the whole summer at the NAC, I'm kind of sad to be done. I won't miss the drive to Park City every day. But I will miss all the cool people I worked with. I guess it won't be too bad, though. They hired me to teach horseback riding lessons in the barn. Sweet!!! I'll get to spend the whole day with the horses. I even have some advanced riders. They make my job easier. I have a good life.

The other days of the week I spend working on my thesis. Trying to get it finished so that I can graduate in December. I'm still planning on IU in January. I'm not overly excited about it yet because I have lots of things to get done in order to go (THESIS). But I'm guessing some time around Thanksgiving it'll hit me.

BYU football rocks!!! I'm going to the game this weekend against UCLA. Go Cougs!

Good to be back...but so close to leaving!

School started at BYU yesterday! I'm done with all the required classes for my masters degree, so this semester is going to be pretty chill. I am hoping to defend my thesis sometime in October. With that, I will be completely finished with my masters degree. It's a bittersweet feeling, being thisclose to the end of my time here. I've really come to LOVE BYU and have thoroughly enjoyed my experiences. I have had (still have, will always have) the best professors, colleagues, and mentors any graduate student could ask for. So here's my shout out to the RMYL department at BYU....a little early since I'm here till Decemeber, but very much overdue.

Endless thanks go to Ramon Zabriskie, my committee chair, mentor, boss, chocolate provider, life saver, friend, and many other things. Thanks for always have more energy than is humanly possible at all hours of the day....it's contagious. Thanks for keeping me on track with the thesis, helping me just enough so that I don't drown, but not so much that I don't know how to do it for myself. Thanks for making me say NO when all I really want to do is say YES anytime someone asks me to TA yet another class or work on this study or that project. I know that I can not do everything I want to. That was a hard lesson learned the very hardest way. Thanks for going on sabbatical and letting me pretend I was a real professor for 6 months. I love your office and got quite comfortable in there. Thanks for all the opportunities to work on studies and get published at such an early point in my academic career. Thanks for inspiring me to achieve great things and preparing me for my doctoral program by using and abusing me (as Casey puts it). Indiana University has it coming!

Thanks go to Neil Lundberg for being a great mentor. Thanks for introducing me to the world of adaptive sports/recreation research. It all started with wheelchair rugby and it has changed my perspective on what I thought I wanted to do. Again, presenting at conferences and getting published this early was a huge reason I got into IU. I've learned so much from these experiences!!!! Thanks for letting me first author these studies when you need the publications more than I do. Your endless knowledge and humility are inspiring.

Thanks go to Brian Hill for being a great mentor and friend. Thank you for accepting me to this program. It has absolutely changed my life in ways I never saw coming. Thanks for being such an adventurous professor and taking me along on those adventures every summer. They became mental health months that I wouldn't have survived without. Lake Powell has quickly moved to the top of my list of favorite places to go. I've come to love Southern and Southeastern Utah in new ways. I'm hooked! Thanks for bringing important insights to my thesis, ensuring that I do quality work. I am truly grateful that the Lord blessed you this summer and kept you in our lives. The world would be a boring place without Bri-Ahnnnn!

Thanks go to Mark Widmer and Stacy Taniguichi for being great mentors. I will always appreciate the opportunity to be the director at Camp WILD. I learned more about myself, program developent, implementation, and administratively duties in 4 short months than I thought possible. Thanks for asking me the tough questions and trying to poke holes in my research. It keeps me on my toes and makes me work harder.

Thanks go to Paula Curtis, the greatest office manager and friend the RMYL department has and will ever have. Thanks for dealing with my paycheck issues from the first day I walked into your office. BYU payroll hates me and I hope that they get my first paycheck as a professor right. If not, I'm calling you first. :-) Thanks for being a great workout buddy and inspiring me to do pilates. I wish you all the best in your new life with Kevin. Glad I was witness to the love story. :-)

Last but not least, much thanks go to Casey and Beate Schenk (and Lukas too!). Casey: Thanks for being such a great partner in crime for the last 2 years. Thanks for throwing me into the deep end with camp and then leaving to go to Norway. I learned it all the hard way and that was probably for the best. Thanks for the great conversations about research. I hope that I provided as much insight into your research as you provided for mine. Thanks for all the advice on life in general. I feel like I've inherited another brother, one who stinks up the office just as much as my real one stunk up my car in high school. :-) Beate: Thanks for being so cool with me spending so much time with your husband. You are awesome and I wish that I could have spent as much time getting to know you as I was able to with Casey. But I feel like I got to know you through Casey, and I think you are amazing!!!! Your family is beautiful and I wish you guys the best in all that you do. Thanks.

Wow....my eyes are little moistened right now. Be strong!!! I still have 4 months till I move to Indiana. I'm sure that I will have just as many adventures there and make just as many great friends as I did here. And it may be equally as hard to leave. I'm going to make the next 4 months the greatest that I've had since I've been in Provo. That way I will always remember what I'm striving to come back to. Who would've thought? 10 years ago we moved from Southern California to Spanish Fork and I hated it!!! These past few years, I've realized that Utah has really grown on me. Maybe not so much Logan (who loves a high of 8 degrees in the winter?), but definitely BYU and Southern Utah. Ahh....good times, good times! Too many great things to write about right now.

Next post I'll upload pictures from my fantastic summer.

Looking to have a great summer!

So I went water skiing at Jordanelle Resevior this weekend. It was great! The water was a little chilly, and at exceptionally high levels, which brought out lots of people. But it was great fun. I've never actually been successful at water skiing when I've tried in the past. All I really remember from those lovely experiences is drinking half the lake. This time was different. I didn't miraculously learn how to water ski or anything. This little excursion was with work, which means I was skiing on an adaptive water ski. We had 2 models; one with outriggers, and one without. The outriggers are attached to the ski and keep it pretty stable. The person just sits in a little basket type thing that is attached to the ski and holds on to the tow rope. Almost anyone with weaker core strength, quadreplegia or paraplegia (or any disability) can water ski thanks to this contraption. The other model of adaptive water ski doesn't have the outriggers attached, so it takes more core strength and balancing capability to stay upright. Here's a picture of a ski with the outriggers. We are practicing doing a transfer of someone who might not be able to walk or swim without assistance. It looks quite difficult, but in the water it was actually much easier. Ahh....buoyancy.

I got a new camera this week, to replace the one that went swimming in Lake Powell. These are the first pictures from it!! I've included a picture of my chaco tan. Thanks to never having to sit at a desk and helping with the water skiing and jet skiing sessions at work, this year's tan is looking like it will be the best one I've ever had. Don't click on the picture. Since this is a new camera, I don't really know how to size the pictures when I post. It will likely blow up HUGE and you will get a very close inspection of my feet. I think it's time for a new pedicure.

I set a New Year's Resolution this year, which is kind of weird. I've never really decided on one and tried to keep it. I resolved to get back into competition, whether it is running, biking, or whatever. I just want to be a part of that again. It's been 6 years since my NCAA eligibility ended and I couldn't compete in cross country and track any longer. At first, I was kind of glad. I'd been competing non-stop since I was 14; so at 23 I figured I deserved a break. But that break turned into a lot longer of a hiatus that I really planned. I've kept running (sporadically) and have incorporated some new activities into my life (canyoneering, mountain biking, rock climbing, etc....) to replace that sense of belonging I had with my team. But I have yet to race again. Until now. In April, I registered for the St. George Marathon. I was hopeful that I would get selected in the lottery. But I didn't. Bummer. There are so many other racing opportunities in Utah Valley, that I can literally just open a calendar to any day and probably be able to find a race somewhere. So for now I am planning on running the 10k at the Freedom Festival on the 4th of July. I've run this course before; it should be fun. My biggest goal for this summer is to compete in a couple of triathlons. The Utah Half Ironman Trialthon is August 9th. A few friends from the NAC are interested in racing it. I think we are going to try to put together a team. I'll do the running leg, which is a half-marathon (13.2 miles). I'm actually super excited about it. It feels nice to have something to train for. I spent so many years training for some race that I never really understood what working out to stay in shape was all about. But now I have definitely learned about the other side of the exercise spectrum. I don't think it will be too difficult for me to jump back on the racing bandwagon. I can already feel the butterflies!! Welcome back. :-)

Drama is so unnecessary

Long story short.....my data collection is taking A LOT longer than I hoped/expected/planned. Because of that, I was going to have to postpone going to IU until next fall. But when I called and talked to my advisor there, I was informed that I would likely lose my funding FOREVER, which apparently was quite difficult to obtain!!! (They must be excited to have me there if they made it happen.) So I had an emergency meeting with my committee the other day. All I can say is Ramon and Brian came to the rescue. We were able to shuffle some things around with my study so that now I am back on track to graduate in December and head to IU. Phew!!! I was a basketcase for a few days.......on the verge of tears. And you know me....if tears are involved, it must have been crazy.

Like I said.....drama is unnecessary!

I started my TR internship this week as well. For the next 3 months, I will be working everyday at the National Ability Center in Park City. www.discovernac.org Check it out!!! The NAC is dedicated to the development of lifetime skills for people of all ages and abilities. They do this through the use of recreational activities and they were extensively involved with the Paralympic Games that were held in Salt Lake City in 2002. I'm so super excited! As of now, I will be working in every program that is offered at the NAC (cycling, archery, water skiing, equestrian programs, adventure learning programs, the climbing wall, canoeing, and swimming). The training over the next few weeks is going to be intense, as I have to re-learn how to do all of these activities with adaptive equipment. Adaptive equipment allows people with many types of disabilites to participate in any type of activity. Think hand cycles instead of mountain bikes for someone with quadriplegia, sit-skiis for snow skiing, etc... As the summer progresses, I will be spending a large portion of my time working with the ASD (Austism Spectrum Disorder) camps that are offered for young children. This is going to be a big challenge for me as I have spent the last 8 years working with kids in mental health treatment (drugs, alcohol, behavior). I have limited experience working with people with disabilities. So I guess I'm cut out for this internship. Good times!!!

So sad to be back....yet happy at the same time

I am officially back from my expedition. I am sad and happy at the same time. Sad because I have thoroughly enjoyed spending a month with some extremely interesting people that I probably normally wouldn't spend much time with. Sad because I LOVE the canyon lands of Southern and Southeastern Utah. For our last week we hiked Upper Calf Creek Falls near Escalante, Utah; then spent 3 days in Coyote Gulch, which is a finger canyon off the Escalante Arm of the Colorado River. After that, we spent 3 days on a houseboat on Lake Powell, where we took our sea kayaks up some finger canyons to a special place called Cathedral in the Desert. You can find all of these places on Google Earth. CHECK IT OUT!! I only have a few pictures to post, as my camera took a dive into Lake Powell and did not survive. Apparently Ziploc bags do not act as the best dry bags when they have microscopic holes in them.

I'm happy to be back because I have so much to do this summer in order to graduate. I am still in the middle of my data collection for my thesis. I have been calling parents over the past 5 weeks discussing their family leisure. The calls have been going great. Unfortunately, I had to put them on hold for the last few weeks because trying to do calls and be an instructor on this expedition has been a bit overwhelming. One of our professors got sick the first week and found out shortly thereafter that he had a birth defect which affected the arteries and veins in his brain. The only reason he even found this out was because he was having such bad headaches that his doctor suggested a catscan. They found an "abnormality" and suggested an MRI. They determined that he has what is called AVM: Arterio-venous malformation. Where most peoples arteries feed into arterioles, then into capillaries, then into veins, etc....his malformation causes his arteries to feed directly into the veins. Apparently, veins can't handle this much blood and pressure. This increases his chances for a stroke by something like %100. He is quite lucky to have had this happen because they caught it early, before any damage was done by a stroke. His only option is to have neuro-surgery to re-route the blood flow...which will be happening soon. Needless to say, the doctors restricted his activities. I believe the exact words were "No backpacking, no houseboats, no kayaking, no canoeing, no camping, etc...". So I quickly went from the TA schlepping gear to the instructor on this expedition. It was a great experience! Too bad it had to happen under such intense circumstances. Keep Brian Hill in your prayers.

Here is a great picture that I took as we were hiking to the headwaters of the Provo River 2 1/2 weeks ago. Yes....just 2 1/2 weeks ago, we got a foot of snow in the Uintas. There were a number of people in our group who were not prepared for such a swing in the weather and woke up buried under snow. Good fun, good fun.

This is just about as close to the headwaters as we could get as it gets real steep, real quick. It starts as a spring bursting out of the side of a mountain and quickly turns into a gushing river. We collected bugs out of the river at this spot....something about stream ecology and studying the types and amounts of bugs in certain areas. I'm not sure what it was all about....I just wrote down numbers and used tweezers to pick bugs out of collection trays. Don't have any pictures of that yet.....After the Uintas, we headed to Bear Lake. We didn't actually get to camp there or play in the water. We drove there, stopped at the visitors center and had a history lesson about Lake Bonneville and Lake Thatcher. Both are ancient inland seas that covered most of Utah and Idaho in pre-historic times. Lake Bonneville, The Great Salt Lake, and Utah Lake, as well as a few others farther south in Utah, are the remnants of these seas. The amazing thing about it is that you can see the benches along the mountains that were the shorelines of these seas. The people who live on the high benches in Draper, Sandy, and Provo would have had ocean front property about 15,000 years ago. Now, the Bonneville Shoreline Trail is prime real estate for running and mountain biking trails. So interesting.........I remember going climbing in Logan Canyon when I was at Utah State. While I was sitting on the side of the mountain, I found some sea snail shells in the dirt. I couldn't figure out how they got there.....now I know. This is me at the Oneida Narrows Resevoir in Southern Idaho. This resevoir was created by a damn on the Bear River. There are natural hot springs here which were very refreshing. This area was also under water thousands of years ago. Ahhh....saved the best pictures for last. This is Cathedral in the Desert. This picture was actually taken 2 years ago when I was at Lake Powell on my C.O.L.T trip. (Refer to the swimming camera story above). When the sun shines down into the canyon, it sends millions of ripples reflecting onto the walls of the "catherdral". And the water!!!!! I've never seen such a color. The Cathedral is actually a series of waterfalls. Depending on the water levels of the lake, the falls are either non-existent, little trickles, or quite majestic. The water this year is about 15-20 feet higher than in this picture. If the water were 30-40 feet lower, this spot would be dry and the water fall would be about 40 feet tall. Because it was so much higher this year, we were able to kayak into the cove a bit further. We came to the smaller fall, where a handline had been placed (pictures below). This fall is about 20 feet high, with 3 different pitches to climb up. It was pretty intense, espcially because once you make it up the first pitch, there is a pothole full of water. If you fall in, you can't really touch the bottom, so it's hard to pull yourself up with just your arms. This is almost a keeper pothole (quite deadly). It would be if there was no rope to pull yourself out. Climbing skill was helpful at this point. Only a few of us attempted. But once we got up all 3 pitches, we hiked about 50 yards back to yet another fall. This one was only about 10 feet high and was just a trickle with a small pool. But it was amazing nevertheless. We were here at about 9:15 in the morning, so the sun was slowly making it's way down the walls into the cavern.

It looks like the upper wall is on fire!!

Here are a few pictures from Coyote Gulch. There are a few waterfalls in this canyon. We hiked up river the entire way. It's only a few miles from the drop in at Crack in the Wall to the exit at Hamblin Arch. And it was river hiking the entire way. We all opted to go barefoot as the river is quite shallow (only a foot in the deepest spots) and pure red sand. Only a few scattered pebbles here and there. This canyon is amazing for a million reasons....too many to list here. But one of them is that there are over 200 active archeological sites. Native Americans were numerous in this area. A friend took me down this canyon 7 years ago. He showed me a secret spot he and his dad found when he was a boy. It was an ancient grainery hidden against the wall, far away from the river and the normal beaten path. He said they found petrified corn cobs and other items inside it. After calling the BLM, those pieces were taken for safe keeping.

Yet another reason this canyon is so amazing......I feel like it carries the spirit of Glen Canyon (the area covered by Lake Powell). Coyote Gulch is a finger canyon off the Escalante Arm of the Colorado River. You can still access the Escalante Arm via Lake Powell. This is actually the way to get to Cathedral in the Desert. But Coyote Gulch is far enough back that the waters of Lake Powell don't reach it. This canyon is nearly identical to what Glen Canyon would look like had the dam not formed Lake Powell. I don't feel like I can take a stand as to whether the Glen Canyon Dam (and therefore Lake Powell) was a mistake. It provides resources in the form of water and electricity to millions of people. But at the same time, it is somewhat tragic to know that such beautiful places are now underwater....and will likely never be seen in their original state again. Hmm.....the spirit of Glen Canyon. I like that.

More pics as I get them.

Some sweet pics from my adventures so far this summer...

Yeah!!!! INHUT rocks!! This is my group of fellow students and professors who are on this great expedition right now. This picture was taken on Dutch Peak, which is in the west desert overlooking Vernon, a little bit west of Tooele. We hiked through a few canyons in the Sheeprocks Mountains. Spring in Vernon is a little behind Provo. While we were on the peak, we got some snow flurries....and lots of wind.

This is a picture of the Ophir (O-fur) post office. The town is an old mining ghost town. People actually still live in this town (not many). The mines in Ophir aren't really active anymore so many of the people work at either Deseret Chemical or Dugway Proving Grounds, which are just about 20-30 minutes away.

Ahh....good times. One thing I learned while exploring the mines and workplaces in Ophir....miners are not good at cleaning up after themselves. Old carts and equipment were left all over the place.

If I use my imagination enough, I can almost pretend that this is like in Indiana Jones, when they are flying through the caves in the mine cart thingy....yeah....moving on.

One of the cool things about the people on this expedition is that they are all super smart and talented. (This class is through the honors department at BYU.) A few of the people are great photographers. So I have been picking their brains in hopes that I will learn how to use my camera better. Digital cameras are so easy and convenient. But I have always wanted to know how to really use it on the manual setting. This picture was my first attempt at changing around the apperature. I think it turned out alright. I hope to end up with some great pics by the end of this trip.

Here is yet another attempt at using my fledgling photography skills. Everything in this picture is basically just rusty old trash and equipment. But it makes for a great shot.

While in Vernon, we stayed at Greenjacket Ranch, which is owned by the family of one of our professors. We did a service project for them as payment for letting us sleep on their lawn....next to the rooster that crowed at 3:30 in the morning everyday. One of the issues ranchers face in this desert environment is whether to cultivate the plants and trees that are native or to develop the land for something else. These people have decided to cut down the juniper trees on some of their property in order to allow grass to grow for grazing. This also lets the sage grow taller, which provides habitat for sage grouse. It was quite interesting to see how it all fits together. In all my time in Utah, I just thought ranchers put the cows where the grass was naturally. I didn't realize they developed the land to grow the grass. This is me cutting down a baby juniper tree.

In our quest for Dutch peak we had to hike over a number of snow fields. Good fun!! I definitely wasn't expecting as much snow as we encountered. But we made it fun!

It was especially fun while we were hiking down the canyon. No skiis, but we improvised and just slid around on our shoes.

Striving for Dutch Peak....elevation....somewhere around 8800 feet.

I have many pictures and will post the best of the best as I can. Sweet!!!!

Integrated Natural History

Life is crazy when you're on an expedition with 21 people. Right now, I am an assistant on an Integrated Natural History tour of Utah. This is a brand new class at BYU that integrates 4 disciplines: Biology, English, History, and Rec. Management. We've been backpacking in western utah and snowshoeing in the Uintas (where we got about a foot of snow last week!!). Yesterday we went kayaking down the Provo River. The water levels are so high right now!!! I've never seen the Provo River running so fast. It was great fun. I've learned more about stone flys and caddis nymphs that I ever really wanted to know. I think what I've enjoyed the most about this trip is the history side of things. I've been to many of places we are visiting this month, but I don't know the history behind them. Having been a history major at Utah State, I really enjoy hearing the stories about these places in Utah....Camp Floyd, Sundance, Vernon Creek, Bear Lake, Escalante, Lake Powell. It's all very interesting. This week we are heading up to Bear Lake where we will learn about the history of the lake, check out some more bugs, then canoe down the Bear River to Salt Lake. We are heading out to Antelope Island to learn about other bugs and rocks. (We have a very enthusiastic biologist on this trip.) The week I am anticipating most is our adventures in Grand Staircase National Monument. First we are doing a 3 day trip through Coyote Gulch. Then we are hiking to the Hole in the Rock monument at Lake Powell, where our houseboat will be waiting for us. Then we get to spend 3 days kayaking the Escalante finger canyons of Lake Powell. I AM SO EXCITED!!!! Check out some of these places on Google Earth.

I have a billion picutures already, and will have tons more. I will post them as I can. Get out and recreate this summer!!!!