Which water shoes?

Ken and I are planning a trip to Zion's National Park, and as part of our adventure, are planning to hike in the Narrows.  Even though I grew up in UT, I've only ever seen pictures of the Narrows, and am looking forward to seeing it in person.  One of Ken's assignment has been to research hiking in the Narrows.  Because this hike is mostly done IN the water, he found that water shoes are STRONGLY recommended; water shoes with toe coverings and good traction.  Unfortunately, he also discovered that these shoes aren't cheap - they average about $100/pair.  I don't mind spending money for good shoes that will be used frequently, but when you don't have much money to spare, $100 is a lot for a pair.

Ken has found quite a few shoes online, and some at a significant discount, but since they're online, I have been to multiple shoe stores, in the last few days, looking for and trying on several pairs of water shoes to get an idea of what we might be buying.  It's always a risk buying things online, but we finally found some we think might work and at only a fraction of the cost.  Hopefully they'll be just what we need for our amphibious hike in the Narrows.

Hi-Tech Multi-Terra Water Shoes for Sharon

TEVA Sunkosi Sandals for Ken

Memorial Day

In observance of Memorial Day, I remember my grandparents.

. . . my Grandpa (Clark) Thornley (d. 1981) who served a mission in England and converted a mother, her daughter (Gladys) and her son; and who read me stories and took me on walks when I was little.

. . . my Grandma (Gladys) Thornley (d.1992) who joined the church in England as a young woman and came to America with her mother and brother to live with the Saints;  and who taught me how great it is to be an American.

. . . my Grandpa (LeRoy) Irish (d. 1998) who joined the church and married my grandma; and who taught me the value of keeping things looking good, in good condition, and organized.

. . . and my Grandma (Viola) Irish (d. 2005) who grew up in the Church and was a great example to me of service; and who taught me the value of working hard and laughing often.
I miss you guys!

HOA rules!

Today I came home from work to find a note from our HOA management company reminding us that we are not allowed to have bikes stored on our patio, and would be fined if we didn't move the bikes.  And even though I signed the paperwork when we moved in, I certainly don't agree with it.  I mean, can you even see the bikes on our patio?

I don't know what people do with bikes that live in apartments.  We only have 1 bedroom, so we can't store them in a spare bedroom.  Our storage closet is packed full and there is no room in there.  We thought about keeping them in our living room, but that's kind of annoying.  So, we decided to chain them up by our front door - apparently that's okay.  Can you see them know?  Stupid HOA rule!

Only Going Up

After much discussion and planning out our summer "to do" list, Ken and I decided we only had time to do one major hike this summer, so we decided to go up . . . up to the top of Humphreys Peak . . . elevation 12, 637 ft.  This is where we want to be in August . . . at the top of this peak.

On Saturday, we took our first practice run.  It's only 4.5 miles to the top, so we figured we'd hike for about 1 1/2 hours on Saturday to get used to the elevation gain and start getting our bodies use to the climb.  And then progressively go longer and higher throughout the summer until we reach the top.

Still smiling even after all the climbing.  If you look closely, you can see the valley floor over my shoulder.  It didn't seem like we'd gone that high, but then we'd only been hiking about an hour.

Pretty soon, however, we hit snow, and lots of hikers coming down, complaining about the snow.  Since we weren't equipped for snow travel, we didn't hike too much farther.

It was a beautiful day for a hike.  The weather was perfect and the trail isn't that bad.  The only thing lacking was an outhouse at the bottom.  Perhaps that is why I have the forced grin on my face?  :)

School's Out

He's done!  He's done!  He's done!

Nope, I'm not excited . . . I'm ecstatic!

Ken took his LAST final today.  I'm not sure who is more excited - Ken or me.  Ken has been in school all of our 4 years of marriage and most of the time that we dated.  Ken has a few seminar type classes this summer, but they're only 3-5 days long, so they don't really count.

I'm so proud of Ken.  He has done so well in his classes because he is such a diligient student.  He's going to be a great Physical Therapist . . . after his year of internships and passing the board exam.

And now that school's out, now we can start spending some much needed time together before he heads off to his first internship in mid-August.  I am thoroughly looking forward to summer . . . and our school-free future!

Time Management

I think I've always been a fairly good manager of my time, but sometimes I think I take things a bit too far.  I noticed this the other day during my lunch at work.  I'm on salary, so I don't have to "watch" the clock for breaks, lunch, etc., but  I do end up watching the clock very closely most days (I'm not working a minute longer than I have to since I don't get paid for it).  I giggled when I realized I may be over-doing it just a bit.  It's lunch time so I bring my lunch to microwave, and as I'm getting it ready to microwave, I realize I also need to go to the bathroom, which happens to be right next to the kitchen.  So, I put the food in the microwave, set the timer for 1 minute, use the bathroom, and open the bathroom door just as the timer is going off on the microwave.  Time management at it's best!

But wait, there's more.  That same evening I'm lounging about watching TV and realize it's getting late (it's maybe 9:30 PM) and need to start getting ready for bed.  However, I don't want to miss any of the re-run of the sitcom I'm watching, so I can only use the commercials for taking out my contacts, brushing my teeth, etc.  It's  a challenge to get it all done during the commercials, especially considering that the commercial breaks aren't all the same length, so there's a bit of planning that needs to be done.   I've been doing this for years (I think this all started in grade-school), so I've pretty much got it down to a science by now.

I could go on and on about how I time manage:  stretching while I'm at the fax/ copy machine, putting away the clean dishes and packing my lunch while I'm eating breakfast, timing myself while cleaning the bathroom to see if I can beat my own time, etc.

But my question to you, the reader, is:  Is this weird?  Do other people do this?  or am I alone in my quirkish behavior? 

The highs and lows of Summer

The other day, Ken mentions to a friend that he wants to hike down into the Grand Canyon.  I wondered if he was serious, but let the thought go because it wasn't a good time for a "deep"  conversation.  A few days later, having completely forgotten about Ken's comment, I read my friend's blog where he mentions that he'd like to hike into the Grand Canyon someday, and it reminds me that I still haven't talked to Ken about his interest in hiking into the Canyon.  I'm thinking he can't be serious; after all, we've already planned to hike to the top of Arizona's highest peak, Mt. Humphries, this summer.  Did he really want to hike to the top of the mountain and to the bottom of the canyon in one summer?  But then I start thinking - maybe he really wants to go . . . and maybe I want to go.  I've seen pictures from inside the Grand Canyon, and they're just as grand if not grander than pictures from the rim.  And this summer is probably the best opportunity we'll have in quite awhile - we actually live very close to both locations and we're in relatively good shape (I definitely need to prep for climbing hills, however).  I figured, if Ken wants to go, I did too.  After a brief discussion (it's tough to have lengthy discussions about anything lately - what with finals approaching and the Portland Trailblazers in the first round of playoffs), I concluded that yes, Ken was serious about hiking into the Grand Canyon - not camping overnight, just a day hike into and out of the canyon.   Sounds good to me, so I start researching hikes.

I found this website http://www.grand.canyon.national-park.com/hike.htm and started to get a bit concerned about our idea of hiking into and out of the canyon.  In big, red, bold letters, are the words: Do Not attempt to Hike from the rim to the river and back in one day.  So, I'm thinking this is just a caution, but it's on the webpage multiple times.  In some places, it even suggests that death could occur from attempting to hike from rim to river and back.  Yikes - death is not what I was looking for in regards to a summer hike.   Perhaps we should just do one of the trails that are recommended as do-able in one day.

But then I got to thinking - if hiking to the bottom of the Grand Canyon can be so treacherous, what kind of warnings might we face hiking to the top of Mt. Humphries?  Thank goodness the websites I found about that hike weren't nearly as "hazardous" as the Grand Canyon hike.

Down?  Up?  or Both?  . . . stay tuned!