Life in my 20's

While I was hiking the Grand Canyon I got thinking about what I wanted to do next--what was going to be the next big exciting thing that I wanted to do?    Then I decided that before I jump to that--I should look back at all of the fun stuff and reminisce about the events I am most proud of, and all the ways my life has changed, here is what comes to mind:

Things I did in my 20's:

1. Spent my 20th birthday as a newlywed  (that's right, I got married when I was 19)--that is shocking to me when I look back, but at the time I felt so mature and independent, I had been living with my roommates in my own apartment for a "whole year" already when I met Sam.  ha ha   But I wouldn't change a thing.
2. Had a baby/Became a mom-- I spent my 21st birthday holding a one week old baby girl, and thinking she was the best present in the world.
3. Moved to Boston, experienced a new life on the east coast, experienced winter, and a little bit of the other seasons :)
4. Graduated from ASU with my bachelors degree, an interdisciplinary studies degree in business and Spanish...what did that prepare me to be?  not sure, but who cares--all I wanted was to be a mom.
5. Bought our first house, and since then I have learned so much about what NOT to do, ha ha  Oh well :D
6.  Lived on an Indian Reservation, talk about from one extreme to another, but we found things we loved about the small town, quiet life.
7. Ran a half marathon
8. Got accepted into pharmacy school
9. Successfully completed my first year of pharmacy school
10. Backpacked to the bottom of the Grand Canyon  (Backpacked is different than just hiking,  it is about 30 pounds different) :)

Places I  have been/Sites I have seen

1. Boston
2. Spent a day on a beach on Cape Cod
3. Spent a day on Martha's Vineyard
4. New York City--saw the Statue of Liberty, Time Square, the Brooklyn Bridge, Ground Zero, central Park
5. Went to the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade in NYC 
6. Saw Niagara falls
7. Took a road trip across the US
8. Vacationed in Hawaii
9. Traveled internationally....to Canada  (Victoria, British Columbia)
10. Seattle, Washington--which means I have been to all four corners of the USA (SW, SE, NE, and finally NW)

Random facts about my 20's 
(that Rachel will enjoy hearing about later):

1. Got my first cell phone
2. got my first digital camera
3. got my first laptop computer
4. Took my first train ride

 And as for my list of what I hope to do in the next 10 years, here is the start of my list:

• Graduate pharmacy school
• Rent a beach house for at least a month on Martha's Vineyard, The cape, or any comparable beach to celebrate
• Travel overseas 

Soccer Star

Luau Birthday Party

After being back in Phoenix for a whole year I heard of many fun locations to do birthday parties, bowling, gymnastics, and on and on, and yet still Rachel really wanted to just have a pool party.  I was getting de ja vue of her 5th birthday party so we tried to get a little creative and decided to make it a luau themed party.   A big thank you goes out to the Dollar tree store for the grass skirts, leis and even the bamboo limbo stick. 

 Here I am documenting that Rachel had a pinata.  I soooo do not love pinatas, but it became very clear to me that her childhood would always be incomplete if she never got a pinata at a birthday party.  So I caved in and got one--knowing I could cross that off the list and be done with it :) 

Limbo

She had several friends from school, and a few from her soccer team, and her cousins. 

For her cake this year we did an ice cream cake that looked like a watermelon made out of sherbert. 

Cali even got to play for a bit

Then we had hula-hooping contests

Birthday outfit on her real birthday.

Rachel has grown up to be an amazing, entertaining, smart, kind, friendly, creative and thoughtful girl.  I love hearing the things she comes up with, and I love watching her do the things she loves.  She seems to have a knack for gymnastics and always has a perma-grin during all of her lessons.  Gymnastics was only once a week but I think every other day of the week she still had her leotard on and was doing gymnastics in our front room.  She also played soccer this year, it seemed to be more of a challenge, it was 3 days a week and she had a tough coach this year who pushed them pretty hard, but despite the hard times she still enjoyed it.  There were times she was crying and I would wonder if maybe this wasn't her sport (sometimes because she was tired, or because someone was pushing, or sometimes because the shin guards were uncomfortable)  and then other times like when she took a ball to the face during a game and didn't even flinch and just kept going, but when I would ask her if she still liked soccer she would say yes and she can't wait to play next year.    Her teacher worked a lot with trying to teach responsibility this year and I feel like Rachel figured this out pretty well.  I rarely had to remind her of homework, she would be reminding me of when her projects were due, and would bring her books home before a test.  She doesn't get perfect scores but does well and I am really impressed with her independance.   Speaking of independance she was also very independant in getting up every morning and getting ready for school this year.  She would have her clothes picked out the night before, then she would set her alarm for 6:30am, then she would wake up, get dressed and then come in and snuggle with me while I was trying to wake up and drag my sleepy self out of bed.  I would like to say I was bright-eyed and cheery every morning and had a yummy breakfast waiting for her, but the truth is that she would be the one who would come wake me up, and we would snuggle until about 7am when Sam and I would finally get out of bed, I am glad this year she still liked to snuggle.  If I ever got up early and she wasn't able to snuggle in the morning she was not very happy--so I had an extra excuse to just lay in bed and be lazy since I knew how much she enjoyed it.  She spent a lot of time missing Chinle this year, but she finally settled in here and was sad to say good-bye to 3rd grade.  She actually said she was sad the last day was a half-day --she wished it was a full-day because now that it is over she misses all her friends.   I am so lucky to be her mom and I can't wait to see her continue to grow up and the person she turns into.

 Pics with the birthday girl

Mother-Daughter Pedicures

My birthday and Rachel's birthday are a week apart and when she was little I would think about all the fun stuff we could do together when she grew up to celebrate our birthdays--like go to the salon together, or get manicures or pedicures. One of her closest friends also has a birthday in May and so does her mom, and they had started the tradition of going to get pedicures every year and they invited us to come--and we had a blast.   Rachel was smiling every time I looked over at her, and we all splurged and got fancy designs on our toes since it was such a special occasion.

Backpacking in the Grand Canyon

So excited to just get going.  Started hiking the South Kaibab trail about 8:15 am

About half way down the trail.  It was pretty surreal, I felt like I was hiking next to a painting--since I have seen so many pictures of the Canyon, it it kind of wierd since you have "seen" the view before----but it didn't seem real that we were *in* it.

Even though I was warned that the bottom of the Canyon is similar to Phoenix weather--I was suprised when the high was 98 degrees down there.  This was the only reason I even thought about getting in the frigid Colorado River to cool off.  It was "take your breath away" cold. 

After staying the night we woke up and splurged by having breakfast at  Phantom Ranch.  Then went on a short day hike--about 3 miles.  We got to this lookout and were ready for snack/lunch and were busting out the chocolate, and we looked to see what time it was--and it was only 8:30 am  ha ha ha  It is crazy how early you get up when you are sleeping out under the stars.

After we had been hiking several hours, I figured we only had about a mile to go, but I looked up and there was still soooo much to go,  a mile definitely looks longer when it is straight up.  We were hiking up Bright Angel trail and I believe that 2/3 of the vertical height of the trail is in the last half of it--translation--the last half is pretty steep.  

I can see the end of the trail!  (the brown building is the visitor's center at the south rim)

I Made it!!!!

No major problems, no blisters, etc--my only complaint was sore calves.  Kinda funny--my calf muscles hurt after the hike down and while we were walking around everywhere they were so sore I was walking funny--then I realized they didn't hurt very much at all when I was running--due to the different way your feet land, so it actually felt okay to run/jog around--other than the fact that I looked riduculous, so I went back to walking funny.  After hiking out I was sore for about 4 days--still the calves being the worst--I may add calf raises to my training if I ever do it again.  

these pictures are just the highlights

For ALL Pics of the Grand Canyon Trip--Click here

Easter

Back track a little to Easter--we had the family out to our house and colored easter eggs and had lunch.