Zion: Angel's Landing

The day after the Narrows, we set out to tackle Angel's Landing. After hiking Half Dome last summer, I was  thinking this would be no big deal. But man, it was intense! Definitely got my adrenaline pumping. The beginning of the trail is leisurely and offers great views of the canyon but the last half mile is what gets you. It is a steep climb up a jagged rock formation with sheer drop-offs on both sides. There are chains staked into the rock to hold on to and you better believe I had a death grip on those things. Check it out:

 the sis & me startin off the hike.

section of 21 switchbacks on the trail called "Walter's Wiggles"

start of the chains, headin toward the final ascent

this part was crazy! sheer drop offs on both sides. I gotta shout out to my aunt Linda (in front of me in this picture)! I followed her every move and I couldn't have done it without her!

don't look down! Bobby was brave taking this picture. 

finally made it to the top!

our group at the top!

So I'm getting all comfortable on the top and then I remember we have to back down!!

thank goodness for Bobby taking these pictures because I was not about to take my hands off the chains!

Phew! We were all stoked to make it down and have great memories because of it. Welp, check that off the list. :)

It was a whirlwind trip, 4 days, 20 hours of driving, and two epic days of hiking, but we enjoyed every minute. Here is a pic we snapped just before heading back home:

  All I can say is my family is awesome!!

...and on a different note, 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY DAD (6/28) AND MOM (6/30)!

Love you guys!

Zion: The Narrows

Bobby and I recently got back from an epic trip to Zion National Park! We roadtripped from SLO with my brother and his wife, Katy, and met up with my parents, my sister and her boyfriend, 3 of my aunts, 2 uncles, and my grandma! The Bushmans are a fun bunch and there was never a dull moment to say the least! The drive out was loooooong (about 10 hours) and crossed through 4 states (CA, NV, AZ, and UT), and let me just say that there is a whole lot of nothing out there. We arrived in Zion on Thursday afternoon and had a family barbecue at the Cliffrose Lodge & Gardens where all the "adults" stayed. Us kids were cheap adventurous and decided to camp across the river from the Lodge at the Watchman campground which is actually inside the park. 

the Kids

The next day, we ventured out to hike the Narrows which is a section of canyon on the Virgin River. I've never seen anything like it. You hike in ankle deep to chest high water and maneuver around rocks and boulders and strong current at times. The canyon walls are vertical and sheer and are very colorful shades of red and orange. Sunlight peers through the top on some parts while other parts are shaded. Considering it was well over 100 degrees every day we were there, hiking in the cold water was very refreshing. 

We hiked about 6 miles in the river which took most of the day. It's harder than you think to wade through the water, walking on rocks, half of the time against the current, but it's so worth it! The scenery is beautiful and the experience is truly one of a kind. I highly recommend this hike if you go to Zion! We all had a blast and it was great getting to experience this all together. 

Tomorrow I will tell you about hiking Angel's Landing! Second scariest hike of my life (after Half-Dome!). 

It. was. NUTS!

See ya then!

adventures of dad & daughter

I'm baaaaack. My Kauai high is gone and I'm back to real life. Sigh. I can't complain about real life though cuz it's pretty dang good! My latest and greatest adventure involves my Dad (Bobby bowed out of this one.) Let me tell you something. My Dad is no ordinary Dad. He runs half-marathons with his 25 year old daughter and beats her. Yes, it's true. Dad and I ran the Rock & Roll Half-Marathon in San Diego this past weekend and it was awesome/exciting/fun/crazy! There just so happens to be around 30,000 people (yes, thousand) who run this race which makes for an interesting experience. Coming down from the SLO Half-Marathon where there were about 5,000 runners, it was quite different. The energy in the city was great and I loved all the excitement and chaos going on. We got down to SD on Saturday and made our way over to the expo to pick up our packets and swag-bags. Here's a pic we snagged by the sign:

We both picked up a t-shirt and some free samples from vendors and made our way around town to explore SD. We ate at a delicious Thai Restaurant for dinner to get some good carbs before the run and then made our way back to our hotel to get some sleep for our 4 AM wake up call. And let me tell you, 4 AM came quick. It was one of those nights where I felt like I never really got to sleep because my body knew it had to wake up so early but I felt ready and awake as my adrenaline started pumping and got me going. Our hotel had a special breakfast for runners so we headed down to fuel up and then caught a bus over to the start line. We got to the race around 5:15 AM so we could have time to walk around, stretch, check in, pee our pants use the porta potties, etc. It was awesome to see all the different kinds of people from all walks of life running this race and I couldn't help but feel like I was part of some movement that was inspiring people all over the world to challenge themselves and get in shape. Pretty cool! 

At the start line, they separated the runners into different corrals based on their estimated finish time so that they could do a "wave start" instead of starting everyone at once. Here are some pictures of the starting line from the website:

the first corral of elite runners starting it off!

crazy view...the entire street is filled for about a block. love all the colors! we were somewhere in the middle ;)

The fun thing about the Rock and Roll runs is that there are different live bands playing about every mile of the course. Some were good and some were not so good but it kept the energy up and it was nice to have music playing. Another crazy thing about this race was that they closed off a few miles of the freeway for us to run on. That was a first! All I can say is that I feel bad for the people on clean up crew because they must have picked up thousands of dixie cups!

cool shot of the runners on the freeway.

Dad had 3 goals for this race: finish in under 2 hours, run under 9 minute miles, and beat Bobby's SLO race time....well, he accomplished the first two! (can you say STUD?!!) Bobby better watch out for next time though! As for me, I kinda had to throw my goal of beating my SLO time out the window because unfortunately I had been battling some nasty shin splints for a few weeks prior to the race and during the race which prevented me from being at my full strength. However, I made it and I finished slightly over my SLO time and that was good enough for me!

finished!

After the run, we guzzled some gatorade and snacks and enjoyed a free concert by Donovan Frankenreiter (one of my favs!). We then made it back to the hotel, rested for a few hours, and headed out to Petco Park to watch a Padres baseball game which was free for runners! The next day, we hobbled walked around Sea World (cost included with race registration!) and saw some amazing animals. Here are some of my favs:

beluga whales & penguins

 Polar Bear

 Flipper :)

Man, what a great weekend! I'm so glad I got to spend it with my Dad! I'm so lucky and thankful for the time I got to spend with him and for the awesome memories we have of running these races together. Which race are we going to tackle next?! I got my eye on one in October!

 Thanks Dad for the fun times and I look forward to many more dad & daughter adventures to come!

lately

yes, yes, I know I have not blogged for a month but before you yell at me I have had lots going on. First off, Bobby and I moved into an AWESOME new place in the middle of January in downtown SLO. We now live in a 2 bedroom with an extra office/loft, 1 1/2 bath townhouse 2 blocks from the restaurants and shops of downtown. There have been many nights where we just walk downtown and grab dinner or coffee just because we can and it's so fun! We feel so blessed to have found this place and have a nice, bigger place to call home. A super awesome extra perk is that is comes with a detached 1 car garage which Bobby promptly claimed as his art studio. It is totally a man cave and is decked out in Bobby's past and current art projects, an easel, many canvases and supplies and most recently, 2 retro armchairs that used to be Bobby's grandparents from 1958. It's such a great space for him to be creative and produce amazing art that only Bobby can do. One of my favorite parts of the house is that is has an extra office/loft third room that I've turned into my music room. For Christmas, I bought myself a weighted, full length electric piano keyboard and put that in there along with my guitar and sheet music. It is my happy place in the house for sure :). So over this past month we have been working hard to get it all organized and set up and are finishing up buying some new furniture for the place. When it is all finished, I will post some pictures!

So moving/decorating has been a blast but takes up a lot of time and of course we have kept up with our weekend adventures most recently to Malibu, Orange County, and Big Bear Mountain. We have also been keeping up with our half-marathon training schedule which takes up a lot of our time. I am up to 8.5 miles and Bobby is at 10.5. We are well on our way!

Well our recent adventure came this weekend when Bobby's grandparents came up to SLO to visit us and deliver the armchairs for Bobby's art studio. They are amazing people and we had such a blast showing them around SLO, walking by the beach, and antique shop browsing. One of the places we took them to see was the Monarch Butterfly Grove in Pismo State Beach. From about November to February, thousands of monarch butterflies migrate to the coast and one of their hot spots is in Pismo Beach in a large grove of eucalyptus trees right by the beach. It is so amazing to see clusters of beautiful butterflies in the trees and flying all around you. Here are some of the shots we took:

All I know is that God must have had fun making butterflies because their coloring and patterns are just amazing and so intricate. It's so fun to experience different parts of nature. We had a great weekend with Bobby's grandparents and look forward to sharing more of our lives with them in SLO.

I promise I will try and be more diligent about blogging! guess that means we'll just have to go on some more adventures...oh, darn.

Have a great week!

family, friends, & fun

I love getting visitors in SLO! My brother and his wife Katy just came out to California from Indiana and they made a trip up to SLO to visit. We walked around Farmer's Market, got some yummy food, and enjoyed people watching and chatting. Times like these make me miss the days that Brian and I lived in SLO together. Let's take a trip down memory lane, shall we?

SLO 2005

                                                                 Halloween in SLO 2006

                                                                            SLO 2007

                                                                          SLO 2011

It was fun having them visit! This past weekend Bobby, Brian, me and my good friend Kelly Jordan road-tripped down to Orange County to visit family and friends. One of the events on the agenda was a baby shower for one of my best friends Danica Golden. It was fun to celebrate with her and the baby boy in her belly with a bunch of old friends.

                                                      the 3 musketeers: Danica, me, & Ashley

                                                                    us and our moms

                                                                 long time friends

                                                       ...and Murphy. I think I'm obsessed!

The rest of the weekend consisted of late nights chatting, lots of good food, a bbq with Bobby's parents, Katy's parents, and my family in my backyard (gotta love warm summer nights!) and a shopping excursion with my mom for a new wardrobe for my new job! (I'll blog about it soon!) And to top it off, I got to hang out with this guy: my very old cat Rascal. He could be the greatest cat of all time!

Overall, I couldn't be more thankful for my family and friends and the fun times we have together!

conquerors of the cables

Yosemite is one of the most beautiful places on the planet! It is undeniably majestic and amazing and one of God's greatest creations. Amongst the many waterfalls, streams, meadows, and mountains there is a looming 8,842 foot peak, which is really a huge slab of granite rock, called Half Dome that we set out to conquer on our latest backpacking trip. Our crew consisted of Bobby and I and both of our dads, 4 of my aunts and uncles, 2 cousins and 2 family friends so needless to say it was very fun and there was never a dull moment. We hiked a little over a marathon worth of miles over 4 days starting and ending at Glacier Point and through Little Yosemite Valley and I loved every moment of it.

 At the beginning with the beast looming in the background.

 on the trail

our crew on the Illilouette Creek Bridge

the cables. the first of our crew heading up.

me heading up the cables! talk about steep!

 at the top. best feeling ever and the most amazing view!

couldn't have done it without my dad! seeing him on top cheering for me on my way up was the best!

                        

 the view on the way down. I can't believe Bobby took his hand off the cable to take this! i went down backwards so I didn't have to look at the sheer cliffs around me.

10 out of 12 of our crew made it to the top! such a great experience for all of us! 

overall, we all made it safe and sound and I must say, climbing the Half Dome cables was the craziest thing I've ever done but I am so glad that I did it. I loved being surrounded by family on this trip and being able to spend some quality time with my dad. I'll never forget it!!

a homemade handbag

My sister and I both recently celebrated birthdays and while we were in Indiana, my brother presented us with our birthday presents and to my surprise.... he made us homemade purses!!!!!!! and let me say, they are AMAZING! I am completely in love. I use mine everyday and I love that it is handmade with love from my brother! How cool is that?! You all know you wish your brother would do that for you. Here are some pics :)

 This is the one he made for me :) Love it!!

 The inside with pockets. Don't you love the polka dots? He picked out the fabrics himself.

 Rockin it!

This is a picture of the one he made for my sister (before handles were put on). The inside is dark purple!

He would love to make one for you if you are interested! He can do any color/ fabric combo and loves to make each one unique. The handles are 100% leather. It is the perfect size and can fit all your necessities in it.  They are selling for $65 (somewhat negotiable depending on materials). Please contact me if you interested in getting one for yourself or a friend. They make the perfect gift and accessory. There is nothing better than a homemade handbag! :)