13.1 miles later...

Yay - we finished! I think we look so happy here because the end is in sight, finally (thanks, Julie for cheering us on and taking some pics!). We didn't quite meet our goal of finishing in under 2 hours, but we came pretty close. And no, we didn't plan to wear coordinating Christmas-colored shirts - it just worked out that way somehow.

Irvine is nice and flat, but we realized (too late!) that it was a ridiculously inane course in general - lots of running in circles, and lots of annoying bottlenecks on the narrow bike path parts:Maybe next time, I'll look at the course map before signing up.

But hey, at least it wasn't raining.

We got beat by a lot of old men, jr. highers, and even some 10-year olds. The worst is that some girls dressed up in elaborate felt elf costumes finished before us, too. Oh well.

Next up: Surf City USA Half-Marathon on Superbowl Sunday. Join us!

Take luck! You too!

Okay, Brian Regan is frickin' hilarious. Julie and I went with the McKays to see his show last night, and we were all rolling on the floor laughing the whole time. He had lots of new material since we saw him last time, and I always enjoy his old stuff, too. Thanks to Brian Regan, I crack up whenever I toast a poptart or eat a fig newton. His "showhorses" bit was one that we were rooting for during his encore, but didn't get to hear. So if you get a chance, listen to it here instead.

Give 'em the Axe!

We won! I can't believe it, especially considering our otherwise pathetic season. There were quite a few scary moments there at the end, but what a fun game to watch! Now if only we can hang onto that Axe for another few years. Go Card!

Surfing...the internet

Yesterday I went surfing. So I woke up really early, dragged out my wetsuit and surfboard, made some coffee and a bagel to go, gave myself a motivational speech (about how even though it was going to be cold and maybe a little painful, I should brave it anyway), and drove over to downtown Orange to meet up with some Talbot friends. After a lot of waiting around for flakey friends, we finally made it to Doheny, only to find the ocean as flat as a pancake. So we kept driving, only to find the same lack of waves in San Clemente and San Onofre, too. So much for that NW swell that, according to a friend of a friend who checked the surf report online, promised to be on its way for sure. So we headed home, defeated but not too sad (at least in my case). Things I learned: 1) online surf reports (and friends of friends) are not as trustworthy as I thought, and 2) driving around in search of surf is actually more fun than surfing itself.

Julie's Enchanted B-day Party

Why is my head so small? Or maybe the better question...why is Julie's head so big? I guess it's good that she got the giant birthday tiara. Happy b-day, sis!

Three-Hole-Punched Alex

Here is Alex in his awesome Halloween costume - he wanted to be a Sith Lord but he didn't have $129. Happy Halloween, everybody!

The best movie since Dear Frankie!

Go see Lars and the Real Girl - it's hilarious and sweet and AWESOME - I know you'll love it!

My Grandma is Famous

Check out this article and video. It's time for the World Series again, and yep, you guessed it, Mom-mom is there!

Confessions of a Bedside Baptist

This morning I stayed home from church even though I didn't have a good excuse. My church search enthusiasm is definitely waning, with the unhappy result that I'm becoming more critical and cynical than ever. So today I took a break from the frustration and just rested and listened to a sermon by Francis Chan instead (thanks for bringing that resource to my attention, Kirsten!). In this sermon, Chan talks about the challenges of resisting temptation, and points out that when we sin, not only do we break God's heart, but we also miss out on God's best for us. Why is it so hard to remember that sometimes? Here's the link to the specific sermon I listened to, and here's the link to Chan's site in general. I hope you listen!

Which character from The Office are YOU?!

I'm Angela! Funny. It didn't ask me if I like cats (I don't) or if I would date Dwight (I wouldn't), but otherwise I think this assessment might be disturbingly accurate. What do you think?
Click here to find out which character you are...!

Escape from Death Canyon (by Julie)

Other titles I considered for this blog include:
"Walmart, My Life is in Your Hands"
"And the Idiot of the Year Award goes to…"
"Why I'm never going to let my sister talk me into anything again"
"Lifetime Achievement Award for Hardiness"
"Come hiking with us, it's fun!"

It was a bright fall morning last Saturday, as we woke up in our cozy sleeping bags and unzipped the tent to a view of the red rocks of Zion National Park, Utah.

Breakfasting on oatmeal and cocoa and getting ready for our hike down Orderville Canyon into the Zion Narrows, little did we know what was in store for us in the day ahead.

Jeff, Jennie and I drove for about an hour out of the park to the start of the hike, where to our dismay we discovered it was 38 degrees outside! Clothed in shorts and, luckily, fleece jackets and beanies, we started down the trail, passing a sign that said something about danger and flash flooding, but who cares about that? We certainly didn't! It was so cold, I felt like I should have been skiing somewhere, instead of heading down a trail to who knows where in my summer hiking outfit.

A mile or so later we reached the drop into the canyon, and descended quickly to the river bed. By this time I had put on Jeff's biking leggings, so I was warmer, if not fashionable.

It was warmer down in the canyon too, and beautiful, with the striped sandstone walls towering above, and lots of trees displaying red, yellow, and orange leaves of autumn.

A few miles later we hit the first obstruction, a large boulder wedged in the middle of the trail between the canyon walls, with a 15-20 foot drop on the other side, and no way to climb down. There are bolts anchored in the rock face, if one is smart enough to bring a rope. Luckily we got there just as 3 guys were getting ready to climb down with a rope they had bought at Walmart. They offered to help us down and I'm sure we looked like a bunch of idiots who had no idea what they were getting into. They had a harness and a belt so at least they knew what they were doing. Right about this time it began to snow a little bit. Fun. As I attempted to climb down, i.e. slid down the rock wall on my elbow, it was only the Walmart rope that kept me from plunging to my death, or more realistically, a broken ankle.

The strangers were so encouraging, saying "good job, you're almost there" and other positive things, despite our obvious ineptitude at climbing. I felt like I was on The Amazing Race! This episode should have been our first clue to turn back, but once we were down the rock, there was no way back up. We had crossed the Point of No Return. At least it had stopped snowing.

After a while, the canyon floor began to get muddy, and it started raining on and off, and we reached the point where we had to start actually walking through water.

We came to another spot where we had to climb down a rock, this time without the help of the Walmart rope. Fortunately this one wasn't as difficult, though it did involve jumping into a few feet of water at the bottom.

Soon we entered a more narrow section of the canyon - at first the river was only knee deep, then later on the water went up to our hips, and still later we were in it up to our waists. It was really cold!

It started raining again so Jeff suggested we hurry in case there was a flash flood. Fun. About this time is when I started thinking about how we're a bunch of idiots, what are we doing? For the next hour we traveled down the canyon, in the river, and at times we were actually swimming because we couldn't touch the bottom. These were the worst parts because it was so cold, it was hard to make my arms and legs move; my fingers and toes got numb and stayed that way for the next several hours. Along with the joy of swimming in limb-numbing water, we got to climb down waterfalls and jump from the rocks in the water below.

One time the jump was so far that Jennie went all the way under the water and her hat came off, and I went under at least over my eyes; I think the top of my head stayed out. Also, here is where Jennie lost her trekking poles to the river and Jeff got hit in the head with a rock as he was falling into the water (fortunately he was okay).

When we weren't actually in the water, we were still soaking wet and so cold, we were rushing as fast as we could go to get done. At one point I looked down and there was snow on my sleeves again. The canyon we were in was really pretty but at the time we didn't even have the desire to take the time to enjoy it, let alone stop and take pictures. The last time we had to go all the way in the water, I could barely make myself do it, knowing how cold it would be. But I managed to stem the impending panic attack and press on, praying we would make it out.

Then, I saw a person ahead, coming the other direction! I knew we wouldn't die freezing and unremarked in Orderville Canyon! Pretty soon we passed more people, and eventually came to the spot where the canyon emptied out into the Virgin River and the Zion Narrows (which, ironically, is wider than the canyon we were in). We still had a couple miles to go, but this was a piece of cake – we only had to wade in water up to our knees!

We were all still cold and half-numb so we tried to go as fast as possible. I'm sure we were quite a sight to the people we passed, bedraggled and dripping wet from head to toe.

They looked so warm and happy, I hated them! Not really, but I could think of nothing else but getting to the shuttle to take us back to the campground so I could get dry and, eventually, warm. Well, as you know, since I survived to write this, we made it out, counting our blessings along with our scrapes and bruises. Praise the Lord and pass the ammunition!

Final tally:
Abrasions - left leg 4, right knee 4, left elbow 1
Bruises - right knee 3, left knee 7
Sore muscles - 850
Missing fingers/toes/limbs - 0
Missing trekking poles - 2
Blessings - 832993

Yosemite is way better than school

Kelly and Ty and I loved our backpacking trip from Tuolumne Meadows to Glen Aulin. This was my third trip to the Glen Aulin high sierra camp, and it never gets old (well, except for that time that it rained the whole time). First of all, since the trail is along the river most of the way, it's a beautiful hike. It's also short - only 5.6 miles. And downhill on the way in. And best of all - there's a composting toilet right there in the backpackers' campground. Jackie and Julie would love it. It was especially fun to hang out and catch up with my friend Kelly - an old Stanford teammate and former roommate (we lived and snowboarded in CO together). Here, Kelly is hydrating in front of our nice little campsite.

Kelly's husband Ty is also very funny and cool. And incredibly brave: he was the first to take the plunge into the freezing cold Tuolumne River. Kelly and I jumped in, too, but only for about 2 minutes. The river was refreshing but the best part of the day was drying off on the warm rocks after our swim.

On the middle day of our trip, we took a break from the rigors of backpacking and went for a day hike into the Grand Canyon of the Tuolumne.

It was gorgeous, and we saw almost no other people all day. We did see lots of deer and a marmot and even some ducks, but despite all the warnings, no bears.

Our hike out yesterday was pretty uneventful. The highlight of the day was the discovery that the Tuolumne Meadows Grill sold ice cream. Yum.

Meanwhile, Talbot classes started today, and Calvary starts up next week. And I'm already looking forward to my next trip to Yosemite. Any takers?

Blahhhgg!

I'm bored with my blog already. School is starting soon and I seem to have better things to do with these last few precious moments of summer. Maybe I'll try to post some pics from my Yosemite trip when I get back. Maybe I will have more to say when school starts and I start having some social interactions with anyone other than my sister. (Hi Julie. Thanks for being my one reader!) Until then, no need to check back here for awhile.

Our Annual Family Beach Party

As you can tell from these pics, we actually spent our "beach party" at Bobby and Rita's house. Thanks to Surfing's US Open, Huntington Beach was crazy packed and we couldn't find a parking spot OR a fire pit, so we went with Plan B. Fortunately, we are all easily entertained, so it didn't seem to matter too much that we had to cool off in the kiddie pool and roast our mashmallows over the BBQ. In fact, we all so enjoyed eating our hot dogs and s'mores without the crunch of sand that we are now taking suggestions for a new location (and name) for our annual family beach party.

Fun times.

My first marriage proposal...

Actually, I shouldn't go so far as to call it that, but it's certainly the closest I've ever come to hearing one. So, while I was finishing up a long morning of paper-writing in the Biola library the other day, this guy I've never seen before came up and introduced himself and started talking to me about his life and ministry and plans for the future, etc. He was very polite and friendly, and persevered impressively through my less-than-thrilled response to his efforts. When the conversation quickly started going in the direction of "I'm going to Montreal next month to start teaching at a church there...I would really like to find a wife to share in my ministry...wouldn't you like to come to Montreal and see if you like it there...?," I decided that I needed to get out of there. But my best evasive maneuvers ("well, it's nice to meet you but I should be getting some work done now...") failed miserably. He even followed me to the copy room and started supervising my photo-copying activities. Finally, I decided that the only way get rid of him was to leave altogether. So I did. As he walked me to my car, he encouraged me to really think and pray about whether God was calling me to go to Montreal with him.

Hmm...what do you think?! I'm think I'm hearing God calling me to stay out of the library this month.

I Knew It!

I recently re-read Anne Lamott's Bird by Bird, and I liked it even better the second time around. In it, she cites this poem by Phillip Lopate, entitled We Who Are Your Closest Friends, which makes me laugh and also reminds me that it might be a good idea to lighten up on the paranoia.

We who are
your closest friends
feel the time
has come to tell you
that every Thursday
we have been meeting,
as a group,
to devise ways
to keep you
in perpetual uncertainty
frustration
discontent and
torture
by neither loving you
as much as you want
nor cutting you adrift.
Your analyst is
in on it,
plus your boyfriend
and your ex-husband;
and we have pledged
to disappoint you
as long as you need us.
In announcing our
association
we realize we have
placed in your hands
a possible antidote
against uncertainty
indeed against ourselves.
But since our Thursday nights
have brought us
to a community
of purpose
rare in itself
with you as
the natural center,
we feel hopeful you
will continue to make unreasonable
demands for affection
if not as a consequence
of your disastrous personality
then for the good of the collective.

The Tour Lives!

Yay! I got to watch Gerdemann and Rasmussen win their respective stages in the Alps this weekend, thanks to my fam in Newbury Park. I don't know how these crazy guys all manage to push through incredible pain and suffering to climb those monstrous mountains day after day. Ugh. I am inspired. Maybe I will go ride my bike later today.

Maybe I will take a nap first, though.

Still looking for more half-marathoners!

Uh-oh. My sister Jackie was smart enough to point out the altitude profile on our half-marathon course. Awesome. Marcy, are you reading this? Is it too late to pick another race?!

Have you seen it yet?

On our recent visit to the UK, Jackie and I were subjected to Julie's love for all things Harry Potter. Julie is also uniquely gifted in internet research, so everywhere we went (London, Oxford, Scotland) we caught a few glimpses of some of the places the movies have been filmed. Some were disappointing (the Great Hall, for example, was not all that great), but some were pretty awesome (the Glenfinnan Viaduct where the train makes its way across the countryside was beautiful!). Julie, of course, has seen the new movie already, and highly recommends it. I haven't seen it yet, but I want to. Any takers?

Pride & Prejudice - Harry Potter Style

Okay, in honor of opening weekend of the new Harry Potter movie, everyone needs to revisit this video on youtube. It's genius. And makes me laugh every time I watch it.

Which Pride & Prejudice character are you?

I took this quiz online awhile ago and the results indicated that, despite all of the much more attractive possibilities, I am Mr. Bennet. Recently, I took it again (hoping to be someone better this time), but it turns out that I am still Mr. Bennet. Here's what that says about me, apparently: "Wry, witty, and cynical, your ridiculous wife and mostly ridiculous daughters provide you with a great deal of amusement. The only one you really like is Lizzy, who's at least got a good head on her shoulders, but your favoritism alienates you from the family. Even though you can become quickly annoyed with them, you still love your family very much and try your hardest to serve them as best you can. Perhaps if you exchange sarcasm for sympathy, things in your life will run a bit smoother."

Man, it's like they looked into my soul! (Okay, except for the part about my ridiculous wife and daughters.) How did they know all of this about me?! I think it's because I prefer (who doesn't?) "making sarcastic comments, reading" over "being kind to others, sewing," or "giving sermons, social climbing." Ha. Now your turn to take the quiz. Let me know who you are so I can decide if we can still be friends (sorry Lydias and Kittys and, especially, Mrs. Bennets!). :)

Weddings...!

I feel like I've been to a lot of weddings lately, though this summer pales in comparison to previous ones. But the most recent wedding I attended (in Stanford's Memorial Chapel - in the middle, above) was one of my favorites in awhile, primarily because a) I love my friend MAM (the bride), b) it was beautiful, c) I got to see lots of old friends and talk to them about things I care about, and most importantly, d) I was not in the wedding. It was awesome.

I'm missing the Tour!

I love the Tour de France. It is one of my favorite things about being a teacher: I get to sit at home on my couch every day for two weeks of summer watching hour upon hour of the coolest race ever. To those of you who may not have ever engaged in this rapturous (and addictive) experience, watching two (or more, sometimes it's so good I just watch it twice) hours of the Tour every day may sound excruciatingly boring. But believe me, you're missing out.

Sadly, this year, so am I. For some reason, Time-Warner re-organized their services and so our subscription no longer includes the channel that broadcasts the live Tour all day every day. Dang it! It was going to be the highlight of my summer! Now I just have to read about it online and hope for a few highlights on ESPN. So if you get Versus and want to invite me over for a few hours, I'd be profoundly grateful. Meanwhile, I'll be sitting here mourning my loss of the Tour, looking forward to next summer when I can watch every televised minute of the 2008 Summer Olympics instead.

Half-Marathon, Anyone?

My good friend Marcy talked me into starting training with her for the Heartbreak Ridge Half Marathon in Camp Pendleton on Sept 15. I am a little worried about this for a few reasons: First of all, I am a wimp. I don't like pain and suffering. And though the website mentions only "rolling hills" intermixed with "fast and flat stretches," I am totally skeptical about any race with "Heartbreak Ridge" in the title. Secondly, Marcy is in much better shape than I am, and since I am sort of competitive (haha), I will have to work harder than I want to in order to keep up with her. Not only that, but it is hard on my ego when I get passed up by old men and 13-yr. old kids. But then, there are some upsides, too: Not only will this force me to get into better shape, it will also get me some quality time with Marcy, who is hilarious, insightful, and a great workout partner.

Doesn't it sound super fun to run 13.1 miles all at once? Don't you want to join us? I'd love some more running buddies! Here's the website - Let me know if you're interested!

My Nephews Make Me Laugh!

These are two of my nephews - Alex and Ian. Aren't they cute? Charming, too. (yep, it runs in the family.) When they are not making fun of me, they are usually quoting Brian Regan or The Office. I got to experience this first-hand for a whole week last week on our annual family vacation in Mammoth. My parents and sister Jackie and bro-in-law Marc were there too. Julie, unfortunately (for us, not for the Mexicans), was on a short-term missions trip in Mexico City last week, so she missed out on all the fun. We rented in a condo like we do every summer, but this year we stayed in one that belongs to my high school U.S. history teacher Mr. Burke (yeah, weird, I know).

During our week in Mammoth, we played a lot of cards and Apples to Apples, watched a lot of movies, and went on a lot of hikes. Alex even humored me by watching my favorite movie, Dear Frankie, with me. (He said it wasn't as bad as he expected - thanks Al!)

Here are a couple pics from my favorite hike that goes along Mammoth crest to Duck Lake. It was beautiful, as usual, but not nearly as buggy or as wet as it was last year! It's 12 miles, with lots of altitude gain (so Julie, needless to say, isn't too fond of it). This was the first time that Alex and Ian braved it and I am so glad they did. Wasn't it worth it, boys?!

Here is one last family pic from our vacation last week. This one made me laugh. I have no idea what Jackie is doing, and I'm sure she will be thrilled that I'm including this picture.

Thanks for a fun week, everybody!

I don't see why this wouldn't make you want to go camping...(by Julie)

My sister and I have a tradition of going to Sequoia Kings Canyon National Park over Memorial Day weekend, meaning we've gone more that once (as in twice). Our favorite spot to camp is a free campground in the National Forest section, where you can actually camp on the side of the road wherever you want. This is always a good option if the campground is full, but we enjoy small comforts like a table, fire pit and a bathroom. Last year this part was closed due to snow, so we ended up in an official campground where we had to pay $17 a night to have the people right next to us blasting their loud music from 10 am to 10 pm, and singing along quite loudly. So this year we were excited to find the road open to the campground; however, it was jam-packed full. Fortunately, this not being a real campground, one could camp wherever one wanted, so we found a big empty spot where someone had so nicely made a ring of stones for a campfire. No cushy spot with a table and a metal firepit for us, but hey, we're hardy. Here is a pic of our nice camping spot. Notice we had to cook all our meals on the ground. (Except for the hotdogs, which we cooked over the fire.)

Unfortunately, we experienced loud music until the wee hours of the night. It is an amazing phenomenon, that people in campgrounds think that they have really great music and that everyone else in the whole campground wants to hear it too. Sometimes more than one person has the same idea, so everyone gets to hear lots of different songs going on at once. One scary thing that happened was that I thought I saw a bear! I was walking to the bathroom in the morning while it was still mostly dark outside and I thought I saw a bear walking down the road towards me. I didn't have my glasses on, so it turns out it was just two people, walking down the road. Whew!The first hike we went on was Jennie's idea, so we could scope out a possible place to go backpacking. When we got there we realized it was the same one we did last year, but figured it would be just as fun if not better, considering we probably wouldn't be walking thru snow the whole time, so we probably wouldn't get lost, and we could go farther to the lakes I wouldn't let her go to last time. About an hour in I remembered that last year at the end of that hike I had told myself to remember that moment, that I wasn't having fun, so I should remember that feeling for next time. Oops, too late.

The highlight of this hike was the promise that there would be toilets at our destination, so I could drink lots of water without worrying about the consequences of drinking lots of water while spending the whole day in the woods. Here is the first one we came across, and it was so nasty but we amused ourselves by taking lots of photos.

The next two lakes we came to had some that were a little bit better, so I was excited.

So in the end, it was quite a nice hike, though ended up being about 12 or so miles, but I survived and I didn't even have to sneak food when Jennie wasn't looking because she wouldn't let me stop to eat (this happened last year).The next day we went one some short hikes, one to Big Baldy and then to Little Baldy. This is a picture of me sleeping on the edge of Big Baldy.

I wasn't really sleeping though, because I probably would have rolled off the edge, it was kinda scary. We had so much extra time that day (on account of no 12-mile hikes) that we actually stopped at one of those sequoia groves that you don't have to do any hiking to see, which normally Jennie doesn't let me do because she is a hard-core hiker, whereas I am just there for the beauty of nature. =) This is Jennie and some big trees. Look how tiny she is.

Doesn't this make you want to go see the beautiful giant trees? Good news for you people that don't like camping, you can stay in a lodge! And, the groves of big trees are all really close to the main road, so you don't have to walk far! But if you're hardy like me, camping is the way to go. Just think of all the great stories you'll have to tell.

Blogging is Cool

Well, at least when others do it. And I feel somewhat voyeuristic when I'm reading all of these blogs but making no comments of my own. So I'm gonna give it a try. We'll see how long it lasts...