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!!!!

Canyoneering Adventures in the San Rafael Swell

Woo hoo!!! I love canyoneering!! What is canyoneering, you ask? Canyoneering is about exploring the cool landscapes of slickrock canyons. It ranges from civilized strolls through terrain suitable for small children to technical explorations requiring ropes, wetsuits and a short memory for the discomforts experienced last time out. Check out www.canyoneeringusa.com/utah/ Tom's Utah Canyoneering Guide....for some of the best beta on Utah's range of technical and non-technical canyons. Since I've moved to Utah, canyoneering has become one of my all-time favorite things to do. And with the San Rafael Swell and Zion National Park so close, I am lucky enough to spend most of my free time doing this.

I'm the T.A. for the canyoneering class at BYU. We teach our students about canyon safety, techniques, gear and equipment, and conservation. Our final test is an expedition to explore some great canyons in the Southeastern Utah desert. We just returned from our 2-day trip to San Rafael Swell. It was great!!! The first day, we went through Ding and Dang canyons, which don't require any ropes. They are great canyons for beginners as there are a number of sections that require you to stem across potholes and chimmy through some tight spots. In total, it was about 6 miles. The second day, we did Baptists Draw and Upper Chute Canyons. Baptists Draw is a more technical canyon that requires ropes and harnesses. It only has 2 rappells, but it is full of adventure. Depending on the season, it may or may not have water to swim or wade through. Last semester, I was the T.A. for this class. We did these canyons and they were wet, which required us to have wetsuits. That definitely upped the technicality of the canyon, as the trip was in late October, so the water was COLD!!! This time, we were lucky. There hasn't been any flash floods since October, so the canyons were dry. We had lots of wind this time, though. Once you drop into a canyon, there's not much sunlight. So even a light breeze can drop the temperature significantly. We spent most of the time bundled up in beanies, sweaters, and mittens. But it was an enjoyable time, nonetheless.

Overall, it was a great trip, with great people and great food. I must say that you just can't go wrong when cooking with dutch ovens. Everyone was responsible for bringing and cooking their own food. One of the perks of the job as a T.A. is being able to use the dutch ovens. So we made lasanga. There were definitely some students drooling over our meal as they ate their pop tarts and hot dogs. :-) But we were merciful and made some AWESOME peach cobbler for them. They were very grateful for us at that point...

What a great adventure to start off my summer! I have plans to do many more canyons over the next few months. Mystery Canyon (my absolute favorite!!) in Zion National Park, Neon and Fence Canyons in Escalante/Grand Staircase National Monument, and whatever else comes to mind that time will allow.

All of these canyons, plus some mountain biking, some sea kayaking at Lake Powell, some backpacking in the Uintas, some canoeing at Bear Lake and along the Bear River.....it's a miracle I can ever get any work done. Oh wait..... this is my work!!! Life is great. :-)

Still learning how to do this post thing

So I'm just playing around to figure out how to put pictures in my posts. Obviously my last attempt with Festival of Colors pictures didn't work.

It seems like this one might work. This is one of my favorite pictures from Camp WILD last summer. We set up a traverse for the kids to try if they felt up to it. It was about 50 feet up in the air and spanned about 50 feet across. Good times!

One kid was in tears just sitting on top waiting for everyone to go. He said there was no way we would get him out on that rope. But when it came time for him to try, he was willing to at least hook onto it. No sooner did we have the carabiners locked and loaded when he jumped out on the rope and pulled himself across. When we unhooked him, he was smiling ear to ear. And for the rest of the week, he couldn't wipe that smile off his face. Talk about an overwhelming mastery experience. I love it!!!

Well, it seems that I am figuring out this picture thing. Here is another favorite picture. This is of me and Jenn (my roommate) fly fishing at Panther Creek, which feeds into the Salmon River about a mile downstream. This was my first time fly fishing. And I caught 5 fish. They were itty bitty little guys. We let them all go because we were there on an educational permit. But still, I had tons of fun and now understand the relaxing and refresing feeling of fly fishing. One of my professors is absolutely obsessed!!! In fact, he teaches the fly fishing class here at BYU. I hope he never sees this picture because I'm sure my form is HORRIBLE.

Here's some proof that I actually did catch a fish. I said he was little. At least I don't try to pass him off for a fish "that was THIS BIG....NO SERIOUSLY!!!" Hahaha

Good fun! Good fun! I think I picked the best thing in the world to do as a profession. I get to go fishing, mountain biking, rock climbing, canyoneering, white water rafting, camping, backpacking, cross country skiing, snowboarding..........pretty much anything outdoors. And I get to do it with all types of people. Not just kids in mental health treatment. It's all about quality of life. And I'm in the business of improving it.

It seems that spring is here finally. Get out and enjoy it! I am going on a canyoneering trip to the San Rafael Swell next week. I'm so excited to get out of Provo and enjoy my first adventure of the year. It bodes well for things to come this summer. :-)

Festival of Colors

Today my roommate and I went to the Festival of Colors at the Hare Krishna Temple in Spanish Fork. It was so much fun! Talk about crowded....there had to be at least 6ooo-7000 people there....probably more. Everyone was thowing colored/fragranced flour stuff all over the place. What a unique experience. I hear the colors they use to celebrate the Festival in India are not washable! Yikes! The Festival of Colors celebrates the beginning of spring. I think everyone in Utah is past ready for it to be fully spring here. I know I am!

So I think I have made my decision on which school to attend for my Ph.D program. Come January, I should be living in Bloomington, Indiana, attending Indiana University. My program is Leisure Studies, with an emphasis in Therapeutic Recreation and Families. I'm so excited!!! And relieved, too. Sometime in early February I was accepted to Clemson University in South Carolina. They have a great program too, and they made me a really nice offer. But I've been holding out for IU. I must say that this was probably one of the hardest decisions I've had to make. Since I was accepted at BYU for my masters I have pretty much had my eye on IU. Most of my professors went there for their Ph.D's as well...and they all totally rock!!! But when I visited Clemson last October, I really liked it. So I was torn for a bit. But IU won out. They are pretty much the top university in the Leisure studies field, producing some of the most groundbreaking research. I'm so lucky to be able to go there. And Bloomington is a cute town. Now I just have to figure out what a Hoosier is.....

More pics of the Festival can be found on my google album page. Check them out!!

http://picasaweb.google.com/jasmine.nutter/FestivalOfColors

Once a week...HA!

So my goal is to post something at least once a week. We'll see how that actually works out seeing as how I can't even manage to write in my journal more than once a year. So pathetic.

Life is pretty crazy right now. The data collection portion of my thesis begins this week. Woo hoo!!! So exciting! It's pretty crazy to think that this beast of a project is actually going to happen. I've been working on it for more than a year!! It's gone through a number of reincarnations but I think what I've ended up with is pretty cool. I've developed a family leisure education program to be implemented in youth treatment programs. What does all that mean in english? Basically, I am trying to teach families in treatment how to make their time together more meaningful. Hopefully, this will strengthen the family as a whole so that there is increased family functioning, increased satisfaction with family life, and less of a chance of relapse. Also, I'm hoping this will help strengthen treatment programs so that clients are admitted for shorter periods of time. Lofty goals....I know. But we aim incredibly high here at BYU. :-)

Spring is rapidly descending on Utah Valley. Last weekend I went mountain biking in Provo Canyon with my roommate. It was TOTALLY AWESOME!!! I got some sweet air off some jumps on this single track race course. Good fun!!! I love mountain biking!! Will post some pictures as soon as I download them. I have a perpetual flat tire and can't figure out what the deal is...I managed to blow through 3 tubes in one day. Not good. Anyways...Once I get it fixed I can start riding my bike to school again. Since gas is costing an arm and a leg, and quickly approaching your first born, my bike is going to be my best friend this summer. Sweet!!!

More to come later on Ph.D. programs......

P.S. I would like to thank Seth Flannigan for recently becoming a blogger and inspiring me to do the same. :-)

Getting started

I tried to start a blog a few years ago and never posted anything or sent out the link. I'm trying again in hopes that I will actually keep up with it. I probably won't have anything witty or wise to post very often, but at least I can keep my friends and family apprised of the comings and goings of my life as I traipse across the country in search of my future.

For those of you who visit this site, I thank you and apologize that this is what it is coming to in order keep in touch. I'm just not much of a phone talker...but that's not really a good excuse. I don't want to admit how much time I spend on my computer, unfortunately that's the reality of my life right now. So this will be a convenient way to stay updated. Visit often! Post comments! I'm sure I'll respond.

Most importantly...........Have a fabulous day!!!