I could be...Wonder Woman!

Halloween 2014...what to be? I decided to be Wonder Woman and I have the hair for the part. I woke up at 4:30am, showered and curled my hair in order to be to work by 6am. What I won't do for the kids?! I was so excited to be the only Wonder Woman at the hospital because the week before at the half marathon I ran, I was among 30 or so Wonder Woman's. It was a relief to be original!

My cute friends at work! Julia as Minnie Mouse and Allyson as Mario! What a stache!

I love my friends! But seriously, why don't people dress up for halloween...it's a children's hospital! I'm so glad my friend Joy, who works night shifts, took matters into her own hands and created a hair piece for Elsa out of a yellow disposable gown for Quinci. I loved the snowflake accents on the blue disposable gown and Lisa who cut brown antlers out while at work to be Sven. Amber came prepared as Anna as did Joy as Olaf! If you haven't got it...they are Elsa, Anna, Sven, and Olaf from Frozen! I loved it!

Jared, who forgot a costume, found a bandana and a patch to be a pirate; Julia the Minnie Mouse, and Emily as Spiderwoman!

Druid Arch! Canyonlands National Park

 

It was magnificent! My roommate Allyson and I stayed the night in Monticello, UT so we could then drive into Canyonlands to start our hike early. Monticello is home to maybe one stoplight...maybe! The hike to Druid Arch is about 10.2 miles round trip. We packed lots of water, protein bars, jerky, peanut butter m&m's, and watermelon sour gummies. We had enough food for an army and we didn't eat half of it on the hike, go figure! But the view didn't disappoint. All in all, it was a jammed pack day. We finished hiking Druid Arch around 3 pm or so but with the drive back out to Moab and then to the Islands in the Sky section of Canyonlands, it took about 2 hours. We quickly drove and ran to different outlooks before the sun set around 6:45p and then it was back to the road for our 3+ hour drive home. What a great time!

Oh yeah! We made it! We almost lost our way a few times, the cairns were really hard to find at times, blending into the natural rock landscape!

A view of Canyonlands National Park

I loved this arch! Arch? What? Where? Look closely the second rock figure to the left, is called "Wooden Shoe Arch".

Mesa Arch!

Anderson Family Reunion 2014

Gotta love us...right?! My dad, Jim, planned this years reunion at a church park in West Layton. A few of the activities were water bottle rocket launching, a marshmallow gun fight, a Q&A with Grandpa and Grandma, and various outdoor games to play on your own. All in all a very successful reunion and I learned Grandpa and Grandma ballroom danced. If only I could've witnessed that back then!

Em and I at the reunion

Kierra, Kathy, Emily, & Denae's husband working together to build their water bottle rocket.

Dad ready for liftoff!

Tasha enjoying the festivities!

Mom and Emily!

Uncle Dave and his grandson, Easton! So cute! I knew he had a tender side!

Dave and Grandma doing the "yaner"! Don't ask.

IMSU Lagoon Day!

Friends forever!! Lisa Cannon, me, JoyAnne Clayton, and Lisa Nielson on the Samurai!

We did it! The Skycoaster!

Ready for the Colossus or aka the Fire Dragon!

 Lisa and I on the merry-go-round!

Bumper Cars...oh yeah! I wish real driving could be like this most of the time.

JetStar!

The brave women who soared through the air with the "greatest of ease"! Lisa Nielson, Lisa Cannon, me, JoyAnne Clayton, Rachelle Rigby, and Kara Curnen.

Wasatch Back Ragnar Relay 2014 - Team Baby Steps!!

 

Ragnar 2014 is about to begin, it's 6am at the track of Utah State University! The gun goes off and my dad or as I call him..."Mr." is off! We are team Baby Steps, since we work on the Infant Medical Surgical Unit at Primary Children's Hospital. We found it fitting to name it after our patient population. We also thought it was great to quote "What About Bob", "Baby steps to the finish line...baby steps to the..."! For those of you who aren't familiar with Ragnar. You're probably asking yourself, what is Ragnar? Well you have a team of 12 runners or if you're really crazy, you can form an ultra team of 6 runners but then you run twice as much, which is already long enough! So for a team of 12 runners, each runner has 3 legs which range from 2 miles to 11.6 miles! My 3 legs totaled 19ish miles! But the good part is you run these over the course of 36ish hours. So hopefully you're rested and refreshed!

Everyone who runs between the times of 8pm and 6:30am has to wear their safety gear including a headlamp, safety vest, and a blinking light thingy!

The view ahead of me while running down a lonely road in Logan, yet what an amazing sight! We had a nice, cool day as it was very overcast on Friday, June 27th.

Just trudging along...

Check me out! This picture was taken by the Ragnar Staff :)

My friend and co-worker Karen is the middle runner. I love how I captured the overcast clouds handing on the mountains, the rustic barn, and the runners. It's so picturesque!

My friends and co-workers Lindsi Barber in the pink, her sister and co-worker Kristi Stephan and her sister-in-law Brinley, who filled in the night before for a teammate. We came to know each other well over the course of 48 hours, cramped in tight quarters (a van)!

On top of the canyon, about to head down into Pine View Reservoir area. I loved the fences, wildflowers, and the cars! Can you see how they stretch bumper to bumper in the distance. It took us forever to get from point A to point B for stages 4-6. All the rain the night before had caused a lot of muddy terrain, not easy to drive thousands of cars through on a one lane road.

Exchange 6!

Mr. and I at exchange 7, where we met the 2nd van and I bought myself a few awesome headbands!

I loved this sign!

Mr. heading into the last corner, ready to hand off the slap bracelet!

Van 2 sleeping or not sleeping in-between runs!

Rose, another friend and co-worker handing off the slap bracelet to Mr. as he headed out on his last run, 5 miler!

It was pretty awesome, our team number was 197 and the Ragnar Race consists of 197 miles!!

My best friends on my unit, JoyAnne Clayton and Amber Sherwood!!

My van! Myself, my dad, Brinley, Kristi, Lindsi, and Karen!

And our awesome team, minus Brinley, Lindsi, and Kristi. We finished and that's all that matters!!

Hiking Little Wild Horse/Bells Canyon in Goblin Valley!!

My roommate Allyson and I wanted to go hiking in Goblin Valley, but we only had a saturday, 24 hours! We drove down Friday night, May 16th and stayed the night in Green River, woke early the next morning (May 17th) and drove the last hour to the park. This picture is one of my favorites, the "three sisters" hoodoo. We hiked all 8.4ish miles of the Little Wild Horse and Bells Canyon loop. Then we made it over to the infamous hoodoos in the park and then got a little Arby's for the drive home! We had a great time!

Tada!! I love hiking through slot canyons!

Beautiful wildflowers!

Allyson and I at Goblin Valley State Park

I was also thrilled with my picture taking skills when I saw these, I love how the light is sneaking down the canyon walls.

The reflection of the canyon on the puddles!

Myself and the hoodoos in Goblin Valley State Park!

We also snuck a visit to the ghost town of Sego Valley! All that is left is this car...

and the skeleton of what used to be a General Store for this coal mining town.