Anyone in there?

Last Saturday I hit the 16 week mark and instead of looking like I'm growing a baby, I look more like I've been hitting Christmas cookies too hard!  If you didn't know I was pregnant you would have no idea and even those that do know still don't think I look much different.  

Hello Baby...are you in there??

The pregnancy books that I read show schematic pictures of what I should look like at this time and say that "maternity clothes are probably a must by now!"  Well, I sit here typing this still rocking my pre-pregnancy jeans wondering when my baby bump is going to pop.  I know everyone is different and I have a fairly long torso so I'm wondering if its going to take me a little extra time.  But Baby is growing just as it should so I'm not worried.  I'll happily rock my pre-pregnancy clothes for as long as I can because I know in a couple months I'll be looking down wondering if my stomach is ever going to be flat again!

So here it is, my 16 week "bump"

My New Running Buddy

I know its been a while since I last posted but I'll try to explain.  You see, I have this new running buddy that I haven't been able to tell you about yet, but now I'm excited to finally introduce you him!  He doesn't talk much, but sure makes his presence known...he has slowed me down a lot but I'm so thrilled to have him on every run with me...

Introducing my new running buddy!

Bryan and I are SO EXCITED about this little one (even though I referred to it as a "he" we don't know if it truly is a he or a she yet).  I'm 16 weeks along and everything with the baby is looking great.  Its nice that Bryan is a Radiologist because he's been able to bring me in to do ultrasounds whenever we want...its been fun to see the baby growing!  

Waving hi to everyone!

I'm still running although I've obviously scaled back a lot.  As I said before my pace is much slower and I  struggle some with the fact that I can no longer push my body the way I used to.  But its completely worth it!!  I'm also enjoying doing other activities rather than running all the time.  As for skiing, I am planning on continuing (I've already been out 4 times!) for as long as my body feels comfortable.  I'm hoping to be able to ski through February, my second trimester, but I'll take it one day at a time. At least December has brought us lots of snow in Utah to start the season out right!! 


Now that I'm out of the pregnancy closet, I promise to write more frequently and let you know how things are going.  I was just hard to post the last few months when all I could think about what the exact thing I couldn't post about!

So watch out Baby Goucher, Baby Radcliffe, and Baby Kastor...this baby is going to be right on your heels!

Just not inspired

I can't tell you the number of times over the past 2 months I have thought about blogging.  I've even sat down and started a few posts but just never felt inspired to really write anything.  This is not to say that my life is not inspiring or eventful but I guess I just haven't found the drive to actually put things in words.

I guess like the seasons, I'm in a transition.  We are still loving SLC and feel very settled here which kind of makes the newness of the city wear off a bit.  The summer brought lots of hiking and trips to both Yellowstone and Arches National Parks.  The winter is sure to bring lots of skiing but right now we are sort of transitioning.  The ski resorts have already gotten snow and we can see snow topped mountains from our house so winter is definitely on its way....buts its 60 degrees in the valley during the day!  Alta is set to open Friday, November 19th and Bryan is already plotting ways to get out of work that day :)

Transitions....they are not necessarily bad and they mean change is coming.  Hopefully one of those changes will be more blog posts from me!  Although I haven't been inspired to write much, I'll leave you with a few very inspiring pictures from our September trip to Yellowstone.

Grand Prismatic Spring

Mammoth Hot Springs

Grisly bear posing in front of the Aspen trees

Riverside Geyser

The Grand Canyon of Yellowstone and the Lower Falls

Beautiful Pool (appropriately named, huh?)

I'm Alive!

I realize its been almost a month since my last post.  No, I didn't fall off a mountain or drown in the Great Salt Lake (which is actually impossible to sink in).  Life just gets in the way sometimes and leaves little time or energy to recap it!

Here's a quick summary:

• I'm getting old!  Yes, August brought me the big 3-0 birthday.  No longer an irresponsible 20-something.  In reality, I had been looking forward to turning 30 so I handled it very well, if I do say so myself.  Got a great new bag (among other things) from Bryan and went out to a fabulous sushi dinner with some friends.  A great start to what is going to be a great year! 

She's so pretty!  

(Not the best picture but its all I got)

• Bryan and I are on week 3 out of 4 of parent's weekends!  In August my parents were out visiting for 10 days, spending two weekends with us and then heading to Zion and Canyonlands during the work week.  Then last weekend Bryan's parents flew out and are doing a similar schedule as my parents.  Its been fun showing them around our new city (I was even forced to read from the Book of Morman during our Temple Square tour!  Don't worry, I haven't converted!!).  We've been doing lots of hiking including more wildflowers and a trip to Antelope Island in the Great Salt Lake.  Here's a few pictures of my parent's visit.  I'll post some from Bryan's parent's visit at a later date.

Albion Basin in Little Cottonwood Canyon

Mama moose and her twins!

Antelope Island in the Great Salt Lake - Its hard to tell from this picture but part of the lake actually looks blue/green like the ocean!

Sand dunes in Utah??  

Lunch at the (almost) top of Mt. Frary

Even though he's not in a crosswalk none of us dared to stop him!

• Planning our own vacations!  We've got a busy fall on tap and I can't wait to see more of Utah and the west.  September = 5 days in Yellowstone, October = 4 days in Moab and Arches, November = 4 days in Zion.  Can't wait!

• Oh yeah, that thing called work!  Things are going well for both of us and keeping us busy.  My company just hired a new person so I'm busy training him and Bryan is picking up some night hawk shifts for a little extra $$ (the only way to fund all his ski equipment he's planning to buy).

So overall its been a good August with lots of activities.  I promise to be better about blogging now that September is upon us!

Roads? Where we're going we don't need roads...

Last night I decided to move my run off the paved roads and take my new trail running sneakers out for their first official trail run.  They loved it! (and I in turn loved them!)  I've run on the trails a couple times in my sneakers but having actual trail running shoes, with their stability and extra grippyness, made me more confident on some of the more technical sections.  We went just under 5 miles and had a great run together.  No, they aren't as pretty as my racing shoes but going off road with them makes up for that! 

So I think Doc Brown was right and that I'm really going to enjoy taking my DeLorean trail shoes off road!

Who needs a florist??

Last week Bryan and I hiked in Albion Basin at Alta Ski Resort.  It was a strange feeling to be hiking where we ski but without the snow covered trails*.  But the reason we chose this hike was because the basin is filled with wildflowers this time of the year.  And when I say filled, I mean FILLED!

We started our hike up Catherine's Pass and saw plenty of flowers which we thought were beautiful. We hiked to the top of Sunset Peak which overlooks both Big and Little Cottonwood Canyons and saw even more flowers.  So we were even more shocked when we started coming down Albion Basin to see that there were literally flowers everywhere!  At one point they were so tall and thick that they were up to our waists and you couldn't even see the trail.  Of course the camera battery died in the most stunning section of the hike, but here are some pictures that we got...

                      **

A hummingbird enjoying the flowers.  We heard them zipping by us a lot and were able to snap a few pictures.

The chipmunks were very daring as you can see in this picture.  One even ate a peanut out of my hand!

*while not covered, there was still snow (and ski tracks) on some of the slopes...in AUGUST!

A panorama shot Bryan put together from the top of Sunset Peak

**I swear I really do have different clothes to hike in.  For some reason, I am wearing my pink shirt in EVERY picture of hiking I post on my blog!

Shake, RATTLE, and Roll!

Last week, Bryan was working late so I was out on a solo run in the canyon.  I was coming back down and enjoying finally being able to breath on the downhill when I saw a couple looking at something on the side of the road by the creek.  I didn't think much of it but as I got closer, the woman said to me "You want to see a snake?"  

Now I'm not a fan of snakes.  I've been warned when running on the trails to watch my step and I see signs warning of their presence.  Some people are afraid of seeing bears or mountain lions in the mountains (yes, we have them here).  I'd take one of those over being surprised by a snake any day!  

But...for some reason I stopped running and took a look at this snake.  I think my courage came since I knew he was there vs being surprised as he slithered across my path.  I looked down and saw a medium size snake on the rocks by the creek. As I continued to scan him, I got to his tail and remarked "OH!!"  I had come across my first rattle....and there was definitely no baby on the other end playing with it! 

The rattlesnake didn't seem to care that we were looking at him and he definitely wasn't shaking the rattle...but I didn't get any closer to find out.  Now I keep my eye on the creek rocks whenever I run by.  The strange thing is, I'm not sure if I'm hoping not to see another or if I kind of want to see one again.  

Maybe I shouldn't run with my ipod so I can hear any shake, RATTLE, and rolling going on around me!

Note:  I DID NOT take this picture!  There was no way I'd get that close to one of those things!