Sister Soiree

A month or so ago, I got a phone call from M.  As we were chatting, she mentioned that she might be able to come visit me this summer.  SO *stoked*!!!  I was able to visit for a bit with M last October, but I always enjoy visits from my sisters.  I'm fortunate that Jeannea and Sara work in Alaska for the summers, so I get to see them two times a year.  Not so fortunate with Sheri and Amy.  If I'm lucky, I might see them once a year or every other year.  The added bonus for this visit is that Sheri was able to come for the weekend too.  Sweet!

So what do you plan when you're having family visit for a while and want to do something fun?  Well... camping, of course!  I've been able to take Sheri camping before (when I was lucky enough that her work sent her to Alaska for a short while), but this is the first time we've gone camping with M.  Yay!!

 M loves the morning

 Sheri only looks like she's blowing me a kiss - really she's making a

smartass comment because I'm taking her picture

 Some of my most favorite people

Summit Lake from the campsite

I had so much fun with both my sisters.  It's always a blast.  I horde each day and the time we spend together, knowing that it'll pass all too quickly, they'll be gone soon, and it'll be an inordinately long time before I get to see them again.  Camping, hiking, rafting (for M and Greg), shopping, and visiting.  We talked about how nice it would be to live closer together.  How we'd have spontaneous barbecues, go shopping together, call each other for help with the little things...  It's such a lovely vision, and I hope that someday we all live closer together.

 Lake view from the hike

 M getting ready for rafting

 Two of my girls

M making delicious s'mores for us

So much laughing; so much companionship; so much love.  I had such a good time with my sisters.  Every morning, I'd think about how time was going too fast and I'd better hang on to every precious minute.  Every night I was content with a day well spent, but sad that I have one less day to spend with them.

 

I'm so glad Amy and Sheri came to visit me.  I always suffer from a little depression when my family leaves me, and this was no exception.  My only consolation is that I'll be seeing Jeannea and Sara when they get done working for the summer.

I'm So Glad...

...that there are people in the world who can do things that I can't.  I'd never make it as a construction worker - not enough patience and I don't "see" how it can be before there's anything but paper and pencil or raw materials; nor would I be a good salesman (of any kind) - I don't have the ability to walk up to people and find out what they need, then tailor something (a product offering or change their needs) to fit the bill; I especially would not succeed as an author - not enough patience to put my stories onto paper (and they only really sound good in my mind anyway).

But I am grateful that there are people in the world who are suited to do the things I am not.  I am glad that I have a well-built house to live in, and that my husband comes up with ideas for remodeling and does most of the work to make it happen.  It makes our house look nice and feel comfortable.  I appreciate a really good salesman (or woman) - the kind that's not pushy, but can help me better define what I'm looking for and then helps me get just that at the best value.  The kind of salesman that makes me feel like they're really interested in my concerns, and not just making a sale.  And I always enjoy curling up to read a book.  It's my escape from the grind and a way to recharge and be ready to tackle more real life.

I that vein, I present the medical field in general and my sister, the doctor, in particular.  No way in heaven would I be fit or able to be a nurse or doctor.  M has been a nurse and is now a doctor.  She has compassion combined with great integrity, and something else that's just part of who she is, and this combination creates something magical that I will most assuredly never attain.  But I'm glad it's there; I'm awestruck that there are people who can do what doctors and nurses do - and actually thrive in that environment; and I'm hopeful that should I ever be in need, I will find someone like that to help me.

An excerpt from a recent obituary (italics and bold are my own addition):  The family wished to express their gratitude to Dr. Tso, Dr. Breeden, and all the caring SJRMC 4th floor doctors and nursing staff for their kindness and care.  A special thank you to Dr. Amy Plagge for allowing our loved one to pass with grace, respect and dignity.

I know this post is not about me or happenings around me. I just wanted to share. I'm proud for M. I'm proud of M. And she would never post anything about this, but I'm glad she shared it with me. She's a damn fine doctor. I'm glad that there are people like her in the world, and I'm especially glad that M is part of my world.

Vacation - Farmington, Part II

We spent Tuesday doing more sightseeing, while M was at work.  There are several sites for ruins that are really close to Farmington.  We started in Aztec Ruins National Monument, looking at the 800+ year old structures created by the ancient Puebloans.  It's fascinating to see the workmanship and know that the people creating these structures did everything by hand.  No power tools there - no nail guns, cordless drills, table saws (a lot of what we just used to complete the work on my mom's house).  In some cases they had to go miles and miles from home for the supplies necessary (wood, stone, etc.) to build the 500-room, multi-level compound.  And then there's the speculation on who was occupying it for various time periods.  It was particularly interesting to see the change in masonry styles (obvious - when pointed out - even to an untrained observer like me), indicating occupation by different peoples.

 

We actually went to two different ruin sites on Tuesday: the ruins in Aztec and the Salmon Ruins in Bloomfield.  They both have similar histories, but one (Salmon Ruins) was discovered by the original homesteader, who provided protection for the ruins.  This site is smaller (the compound is approximately 150 rooms, multi-level), but has a Great Kiva (purportedly a social gathering area for the people in residence) similar to the one at Aztec.  A BIG difference is that the Great Kiva at Aztec was reconstructed in the early 1900s, so we have a visual idea of what they might have been like.

 

It's intriguing to try to imagine how things were for the people back then.  The rooms are small; there are no hallways connecting anything.  In order to get from one place to the next, you'd have to walk through the living or working space of anyone in between.  My bedroom is bigger than most of those rooms.  In fact, the space my bedroom has could probably be split to make two of those rooms (with lower ceilings and small doors at both ends).  These people were short and small, and didn't seem to have much need of privacy.  More communal: less worry about mine and yours (did they not have to worry about stealing?); more interdependent as a community, but still independent as a people (as evidenced by apparent trade routes and such).

 

There are still plenty of sites left for us to explore.  The next time we go, we'll have to make sure to visit Chaco Canyon - the ruins there are even more elaborate, and indications are that some of the people that inhabited the Aztec and Salmon ruins were related to the Chacoan people.  Anyhow.  Enough of the ancient culture and ruins stuff - mesmerizing in person, but hard to keep interesting when you're writing about it.

Back in Farmington, we were killing time while waiting for M to finish at work when we came across the store front pictured above.  I just had to get a picture (thanks to Greg - in fact a lot of the pictures I've been using are thanks to Greg and his fancy-pants camera).  As we were wandering Main Street, window shopping and taking in the sights, it was interesting to see how many stores were actually closed.  Seems like the downturn in the economy may have hit Farmington pretty hard.  Hope things get better there.

Once M was done at work, instead of doing any hikes, we opted to get dinner and then spend the evening at home prepping for travel.  M and I made some of the yummiest caramel corn I've had in ages (discounting the fact that I haven't had caramel corn for ages...), and she burned some music CDs for us to listen to (we didn't bring any suitable music, and I intended to get an audio book but never did).  I wake up some mornings with the songs from our road trip running through my head - thanks, M!  =)

And then it's Wednesday - time to head north to Colorado.  We stopped by the hospital to visit with M one more time before heading out.  The facilities are beautiful.  I love the architecture of the building, the water features incorporated inside, and the calming, serene garden-scape alcove.  I'm glad M has such lovely surroundings.  I hope it brings her peace and contentment while she's there.

More endings and beginnings.  I'm sad to leave my sister, but I temper that sadness with the idea that there's still plenty of things we didn't do or see, so we'll be back.  And so we head north on the next leg of our adventure.

Vacation - Farmington, Part I

We arrived in Farmington on Sunday evening, just in time to get dinner at Olive Garden (thanks, Sheri!!).  As usual, it was delicious!  I hear that someday we're actually going to have one here in Anchorage, but I'm not holding my breath.  For years now, each new construction site is first rumored to be an Olive Garden.  Instead it becomes Arby's or TGIF (and I really hoped the IHOP by our house was going to be an OG, but that was just wishful thinking (not even rumors)).  Not that I'm complaining, just feeling a little let down.  So now we have a new shopping center on the other side of town, and supposedly one of the buildings is going to house an Olive Garden. *fingers crossed!*

But I digress.  M still had to work (bummer!!), so on Monday, Greg and I headed out to the Bisti (pronounced Bis-tie or Bis-tea, but I call it Beastie) Wilderness (aka Bisti Badlands).  The area is about 30 miles south of Farmington.  Since M couldn't come with us, I took her Sing-a-ma-Jig doll (we each got one from mom) and took pictures with it instead.  (Side note: I'm going to start a new segment on my blog called Adventures with Amy - the accompanying pictures will have M's Sing-a-ma-Jig doll representing her.  I left mine with M - she said she'd take pictures and post them too.)

 

We walked in (no motorized or mechanical vehicles allowed, including mountain bikes - not that we brought bikes with us...) about 1.5 miles, taking pictures along the way.  We didn't even get to the really cool stuff.  According to some information Greg found, approximately 2 miles in the formations get particularly interesting.  Even so, it was somewhat eerie in a cool way.  A combination of hard and soft rocks with some petrified forest thrown in on top makes for some interesting formations.  Almost as if we were on an alien planet - which was really easy to imagine since there was nothing man-made that we could see in any direction.

Because it was cloudy and threatening rain, the farther we got from the car, the more I started imagining a torrential downpour that created a flash flood and swept us away.  I countered it by telling myself we'd just climb up on some of the higher surfaces, but with no cell service then I worried that I wouldn't be able to let M know what was happening.  Shortly thereafter the winds kicked up something fierce and I just about panicked.  So Greg led us back to the car through the wind storm (talk about alien landscape!) - I had my sunglasses on, looking at the ground, squinting so I didn't get dirt and debris in my eyes (contacts sometimes are a pain, and mostly when something else gets in my eyes (cat hair, lint, dust, desert sand...)).  We were just about 5 minutes from the car when it started raining sideways...  Greg has pictures of our dirty, dirty faces - I had sand in my teeth and the loveliest dirt mustache you've ever seen.  I never thought about how abrasive towelettes can be until I was cleaning up the mess.

After all the fun and excitement in the Badlands, we decided lunch was in order.  Back in Farmington, we found brewery #3: Three Rivers Eatery and Brewhouse.  Good food, and some tasty beer.  It was nice to have a cozy place to sit and eat while we were warming up.  I found that I'd missed a bunch of dirt - particularly in my ears.

 From there, we picked up M from work to go on the River Walk.  Since this is a new town for her too, we wanted to see some of the places that are part of her natural habitat.  We spent a lovely evening wandering by the riverside, watching the sun set and chatting.  They have an amazing veteran's memorial, which we saw as it was getting dark.  I love the color of the leaves, the scenery, and the peacefulness of the area.  Of course, a lot of that may have to do with being able to spend time with M...

It's been fabulous spending time with M for a while.  We missed having her with us at the Family Project, and I know she missed being there with us.  It's also been nice to see her new home.  Her new digs are nice, and Farmington is beautiful - at least what we've seen thus far.  I wish she had had more time to spend with us; I wish we lived closer together; I wish it didn't cost so much to visit. I wish...  Love you, M!

Vacation - Albuquerque

After leaving Ogden, I drove south to Moab while Greg napped, since he planned to be up early and hiking in Arches National Park Friday morning (and I planned to get some much-sought-after shut-eye)...  After the long hours on the remodel project, it was definitely nap time!  We had lunch at the Moab Brewery (the first in our tour of the Brew Pubs of the West - the beer is good, but the root beer is divine!) and then we headed further south to Farmington, NM.  We only stopped briefly, to pick up M, and then continued even farther south - ending in Albuquerque.  It was after 10pm when we finally arrived, but dad was waiting up to spend some time with us and chat for a bit.

The Main Event for us on Saturday (aside from the wonderful time spent with family) was the Scavenger Dash put on by Sierra Adventure Sports.  They have these competitions in several cities throughout the US, and we were lucky enough to be in town to participate.  It's like the Amazing Race, on a local scale.  You get clues, have to solve puzzles, and participate in challenges all within a 4-hour time limit.  In the process, you get to see parts of town you might never have been to otherwise.

 We were originally going to be two teams, but that didn't work out.  I convinced M and Greg that I would stay behind, do a little blogging, then maybe head back to visit with Grandma until they were done.  Yeah... none of that happened.  I was reading my book, minding my own business, when suddenly I was swept into being part of the pit crew for our team.

 Between Todd, Jason, Aaron and I, we were able to help M & Greg get to all but one of the destinations, and our team returned just shy of the 4-hour deadline.  There's a picture of them finishing here and here.  We all had a blast!  The event was hosted by Kelly's Brew Pub (2nd brewery of the tour), and that's where the awards were given.  If you have a chance to go there, you should really try the Award Winning Creamy Green Chile Chicken Soup - it's spectacular!

 

While they arrived last, they actually placed 19th out of 22 teams - probably because they completed more pit stops.  There were 12 total and the team that correctly completed at least 11 tasks in the shortest amount of time was declared the winner.  Looks like there's another Scavenger Dash in Albuquerque next October, and one in Seattle next September...  Hmmmm...  =)

The stay in Albuquerque was a short one, but it was particularly nice to see Grandma and Dad.  Amy and I made cookies on Sunday - some for the road, and some to leave.  It's always fun to cook or bake with people, especially family.  I don't know exactly what it is - maybe the bonding and sharing in addition to preparing food for someone else (and I do love to feed people)...  anyhow.  It was pleasant and relaxing and invigorating and soul-filling all mashed together into those chocolate chip and the white chocolate chip macadamia nut coconut cookies (we made two flavors).  I wish it didn't take so much time and money to go down to visit.  I'd go see them more often.  At least we have some new memories to sustain until the next visit.

Endings and beginnings...  The end of a short, but lovely, visit in Albuquerque signals the beginning of our adventures in Farmington.  So we headed north.

M's Birthday

Last week was warming up - as Spring should. I mean, we were in the mid-40's during the day, and night stayed above freezing. It looked like we were well on our way to thawing... until this morning. More snow. And tonight it's below freezing, so the roads are icy. Oh well. It'll get warm eventually...

Today is also M's birthday - O Happy Day! She had to work, so ate her birthday cake yesterday. I had some ice cream for you yesterday, M! Sara & I went shopping today - and to prove that she was here (and to show the snow on M's birthday), I took some pictures.

It's lovely packing snow...

Light the Night

A couple weeks ago, Greg & I participated in the Light the Night walk (a fundraiser for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society) with friends - in celebration of M. Cancer free for over a year now - way to go, M!!! They give balloons to participants that have lights inside, so as the evening progresses they "light the night". Red is in support of someone, White is for someone who's had cancer, and Gold is for those that didn't make it. (My balloon - a RED one - popped when I walked under a pine tree...)

Tasha & I - at the start

A wave of balloony walkers

Tasha, Caleb & I - at the end
with a *BIG* balloon

Vacation - The Last Day

Another busy day has come & gone. It was a good one! We got up early - we were the designated seat-savers, so had to leave early for the graduation ceremony. As it was, we still had to sit in the balcony nose-bleed section. Guess we should have gone even earlier - who knew?!? The ceremony itself was moving - most likely because I knew someone down there. (It was *way* down there...) I'm so proud of M - all that effort and determination has come to fruition. Good Job M!!!

Dr. M is in the House!!!

After the ceremony, Greg & I went caching again - found another one. One of these days I'll have to log my finds - I think I have a whole six now!! We wrapped M's graduation present in a parking lot, then headed to the picnic. Good food, and good visiting - seems like an ongoing theme for this trip! Greg took some of the picnic crew caching and they found another one - and a potential new caching convert (go Tyler!). M *really* likes her new camera - wahoo!! Now she's got to learn how to use it... too complicated for me. I like the point & shoot kind, but Greg is very fond of his camera and we got M the same kind.

Picnic Party-ers

Some of the Girls

M's New Camera

And then we headed back to Orem. Greg & I went for one more cache - and found it. This one was large enough that he could put his travelers in it. We even met the hider while we were there. We may go again tomorrow, cuz he found a couple more in his bag. We'll see what kind of time we have...

On tap for tomorrow: Breakfast - have to leave the house before 8am so we can eat and then get some people to the airport; caching?; fly to Seattle; visit w/ Holly, Corey, Zane, & the new arrival Thor; home again, home again.