Fail.

Mike has been plotting a secret Labor Day camping/hiking trip for months, ever since we got back from South Dakota. Usually I'm the trip planner, so I was really excited to see what he had put together. We bought a backpacking stove and freeze-dried meals and like 15 Clif bars, we made a ton of PBJ sandwiches and packed up all of our camping/backpacking gear. Then we drove four hours to Blue Mesa Reservoir, arriving close to midnight.

Then I spent the entire night scrambling in and out of my mummy sleeping bag, running from the tent to the vault toilet.

Over. And. Over. Again.

Ugh.

Thanks, stomach bug.

So, the secret camping trip ended quite abruptly. Mike was planning on hiking Sunshine and Redcloud Peaks -- two 14ers about two hours from our campsite -- on Saturday. On Sunday we were going to hike down into Black Canyon of the Gunnison for an overnight stay, and then we were going to hike back up out of the canyon on Monday.

Sounded incredible.

Instead, we spent Saturday morning driving through Black Canyon to see it from a tourist's perspective (aka the side of the road), then the afternoon driving back to Denver. Mike, of course, was a real trooper throughout my tearful, exhaustion-induced breakdowns (I felt really bad for ruining everything). Always thankful for that guy.

Regardless of the less-than-perfect outcome of the trip, we did manage to have a good weekend...after I spent the next 24 hours either on the couch or in my bed. Monday I felt much better, so we squeezed in a 6-mile hike in Indian Peaks Wilderness to Blue Lake.

And then we topped off the weekend with cream cheese & jalapeno stuffed burgers and Reese's s'mores. (Obviously by Monday night, my stomach was feeling much better!).

Peace, Love, and RuinedTrips.

This Week.

It's been a long week.


A very, very long week.

But I realized it was a week full of learning experiences. Here's what I learned:

I cannot run a mile as fast as I thought I could.
I have the ability to eat donuts 3 days in a row and not gain weight (this is a really great skill to have).
You can't always trust doctors or dentists, and sometimes you are way smarter than them even though they have an advanced degree that cost 94579871656 dollars.
I love hearing Conrad yell my name when I walk in the door: "Ant Isti! YAY!" Melts my heart.
U.S. Bank is annoying. So is Wells Fargo.
I can still cry to my mom when I have a bad day.
My husband rocks (but I guess I already knew that).
When the cat knocks water on to your computer, it doesn't actually break the computer -- it only causes it to make strange random beeping noises that are as loud as a smoke detector.
It's a great feeling when you can go to a restaurant with friends who you haven't seen in a year and begin dinner with a conversation about oral hygiene and how to keep your retainers from getting smelly. (True story, that conversation happened).



I'm glad it's Friday.

Sore Legs.

One of my goals for the year was to hike five more 14ers. I've already done four this summer, and plan on doing the Lincoln-Democrat-Bross combo next weekend, so I'll definitely get there. There's something about mountain climbing that is so addictive.

We did Grays and Torreys on the Fourth of July with our friends Laura, John, and Stacy. This was the first multiple-14er hike that I had done, and it was definitely challenging in a different way than some of the others we've done. It's tough enough to mentally get yourself to the top of one 14er, let alone two. I actually thought that getting to Grays was fairly easy (all things considered), but having to climb down the saddle and then back up another pitch left me mentally pooped. Plus, we had to haul it up and then back down Torreys, because there was some questionable weather moving in.

Grays (left) and Torreys (right)

Giving his wife a heart attack

Laura & me

Summit of Grays

The group

Stacy's 5th 14er!

Summit of Torreys

Yesterday, we did Missouri Mountain with our friends Gretchen and Dave, who are 14er crazies. This was Gretchen's 30th summit and Dave's 20-something. I'm just glad I'm almost to double digits! Missouri was probably the prettiest summit we've done, although it had some killer switchbacks through the trees and a long windy walk along a ridge to get to the summit. We had the summit to ourselves for awhile, and the wind died down just as we were eating lunch. Beautiful, beautiful day.

Incredibly beautiful. We walked along that ridge to get to the summit.

Windy and a little chilly!

At the summit

On top of Missouri, with our Cardinals hats!

Summers in Colorado are seriously the best.

Peace, love & Missouri.

BFFs.

Once again, it's been forever since I blogged. Our summer is just too busy!

Last week, four of my best friends from college came out to visit from Missouri. It was so great to catch up, and we had the best time hiking in the mountains, drinking wine in our hot tub in Breckenridge, and just giggling at dinner downtown. I'm so glad they made the trip out and am so thankful for each of them.

Mike was a real trooper and was extremely patient with us and the high levels of estrogen that overloaded the apartment. (Read: bras and clothes strewn about the apartment, 5 cosmetic bags in the bathrooms, and countless exclamations of "Mike, don't come in here right now!").

After church on Sunday

Breakfast at Snooze

City Park Jazz

Hiking Silver Dollar Lake near Georgetown

Next post includes THREE 14'ers :)

Peace, love & good friends.

Summer's Here.

I haven't really been blogging much, mostly because 1) I don't feel that my life is that blog-able right now, and 2) we have been so busy that blogging is at the bottom of the list.

What have we been doing, you ask? Well, aside from the usual pool lounging, beer-kickballing, and social getting-togethering, we have been exploring and discovering new nooks and crannies of the West.

We went to South Dakota -- to the beautiful Black Hills, Custer State Park, Badlands National Park, and Mount Rushmore -- all in 3 days. We came home exhausted, grimy, and $62 poorer due to a nit-picky Wyoming cop (6mph over?! Really?!), but we had a great time.

Badlands

Custer State Park buffalo

We've also gotten in two good Colorado hikes so far this summer. Colorado summers are my favorite (minus the fact that our state is a tinderbox this year).

Hiking to Murray Lake.

Not having much fun on the way down, thanks to the snow.

Mt. Evans Ascent. 14er number six!

Summit!

So...yeah. Nothing too exciting, I guess. At least not compared to the posts where I was galavanting about Antarctica. :)

Peace, love, & summertime!

Green Thumb.

The past month has been pure insanity, with weddings and camping trips and drives to and from St. Louis, so blogging has been the least of my concerns!

However, I have embarked on a new journey that I wanted to share: gardening!

It all started with a Yellow Pear Heirloom Tomato plant that a friend gave me. I've been wanting to start growing herbs since last summer, but was lacking motivation to actually buy the supplies and give it a shot. Thankfully, this tomato plant has jumpstarted my drive to have a little garden! For now, I'm going to try the tomatoes (I'm not confident that they'll survive, but what the heck), rosemary, oregano, and lemon balm (can't wait for some iced tea with a hint of lemon!).

My parents and grandparents seem to have been blessed with a natural green thumb, so I'm hoping that gene reveals itself in me along this journey.

Also, I'm leaving out pictures of the tomato plants because they're tiny and they are not as pretty as my herbs :)

Peace, love & green thumbs.

Meow.

As you may or may not know, my family is moving to Salt Lake City this summer. 

So are the Penn Family animals.

And instead of flying out in the cargo hold of an airplane (a situation likely to end up in either a dead or cross-eyed cat), Kira is living at 5280 until the family moves! My dad already started his new position in SLC, and so he dropped off Kira with Mike and I on his way through Denver. Mom and Gracie will pick her up when they move later this summer, after the house is sold. 

At first I was a little nervous about having the cat (even though I volunteered), because cats generally annoy me, and I haven't had to face the responsibility of pet ownership since I lived with my parents. 

However, Kira is slowly winning over my cold, cat-hating heart. She is pretty much the only cat I like, because she doesn't smell bad and she doesn't have an obnoxious meow -- except early in the morning, when she demands attention. But that's ok, I can deal with that. She is content with you holding her, she's content with you not. She's happy to meet new people, but she's definitely not going to kill you with kindness or try to woo you with affectionate purrs (she'll probably just rub up against your leg once or twice -- to let you know she's there). Her only vices are knocking over cups of water when you're not looking and gnawing on things like fake plants in vases. Not a bad package :)

{Vice #1}

Mike and I have also found Kira to be a great source of entertainment. We've already found her in bizarre places (like behind our liquor stash on top of our refrigerator). She is adorable when she plays with her beloved hot pink Easter egg, and she's taken a great liking to Mike's backscratcher made of golf tees. She's a man's cat too -- she likes to sit outside with Mike on the balcony and drink beer on Friday evenings.

{Exploring the balcony}

All this goes to say that I am publicly acknowledging my love for Kira. 

And that my family might not get her back. 

Peace, love & kitty cats.

Cute.

A little 5 mile hike up Green Mountain near Boulder yielded not only some beautiful views, but also some cute little flowers and some cute little deer! So thankful that hiking season has returned!

 

 

 

Wrapping Things Up.

It's my last week with the Polar Program, and I have so many mixed emotions about it. I am so thankful for what this job has done for me, yet I feel deep down like it's not the right place for me to be.

This job allowed me to move to Denver, which has proven to be one of the biggest blessings in my life. I am in love with this city, with this state, and I feel that there is absolutely no better place for us to be than right here. We have experienced so much beauty here -- not only in the mountains and breathtaking landscape, but also in the friends we've made and the relationships we've formed. We're so blessed to have found Denver Pres, and we just cannot believe how incredible the community is there. What we love about it is that it is real community made up of real people. People who aren't afraid to talk about the hard stuff in life, and who aren't afraid to expose their failures. People who really desire to pursue the Lord, and who desire for us to know him better too. People who will go out of their way to help us, like our friends that picked us up from the airport, bought us groceries AND made us dinner the night we got home from New Zealand. Plus, it is a community who likes beer and wine, which makes retreats and get-togethers really fun. :)

This job also allowed me to establish a career, which is something I'm so thankful for. I've always been envious of those who know exactly what they want to do or be when they grow up, because I've never had an inkling of what I wanted to pursue as a career. I've had lots of ideas -- everything from a physical therapist to a lawyer to an architect -- but nothing in particular ever emerged as my "calling." While that has been frustrating, it has also been a blessing in disguise. You see, I'm a Type-A person who needs to control every aspect of my life. Usually a good thing, because it makes me really organized and very disciplined. However, not having control over my career has been a difficult exercise in faith, and I think God's used it to teach me about trust. Did I ever want to work in HR? Nope, not really. But after being in this line of work for a year and a half, I actually see how it is a really good fit for me, and how God kind of just plunked me down into it because I'm good at it. I'm a people-pleaser (again, sometimes a fault), but I love helping people, I love the customer service aspect of HR, and I love the challenges that HR can bring (read: employee relations). Who knows what will happen, but I'm really glad that I landed where I did!

This job also got me on a sweet trip to Antarctica and New Zealand. I don't really think I need to say much else about that. :)

I'm so grateful for my experience with the Polar Program. But, I do feel like it's time to move on, and I'm so thankful that God opened up a door with Arcadis. Can't wait to begin the next leg of the journey!

Peace, Love, and NextSteps.

One Year.

This past Sunday marked our 1 year anniversary, and I just couldn't believe the way the past year has gone. All the twists and turns and promotions and travel -- it is just crazy what can happen in one little year.

Even though Mike and I have been together for a (really) long time, this past year has made me even more thankful for him. I'll keep the mushiness to a minimum, but I am amazed at the tenderness and grace he shows me on a daily basis. He loves me when I am most unlovable (usually any time after 10:30pm, when I start getting crabby and mean). He loves me when I am insecure and scared (like when I decided to go to the bottom of the world for 2 months). And he loves me when I get super emotional (like when I started bawling after our entire stack of dishes came crashing down off the shelf). And I'm so thankful for it.

Mushiness is over now.

So, where are we after one year of marriage?

Six months after landing his new job in property management, Mike got promoted to Asset Manager and now gets to experience the joys of being the "Go-To" guy for any and all issues a tenant has with their apartment! Everything from leaking roofs to bed bugs to heat issues to broken appliances to "my apartment smells like Pine-Sol" -- property management is always exciting!!

Obviously, I deployed to Antarctica and got the chance to travel New Zealand; experiences I'll never forget. With Raytheon's contract ending on March 30, I shifted into job-hunting mode upon my return to the States, and in a few weeks, I'll be starting off on my next adventure: working in HR for a company called Arcadis. I am SO excited about the opportunity!

We've gotten involved in the Children's Ministry at our church -- teaching the K-1st Grade Sunday school classes once a month. We definitely enjoy teaching the kiddos and coming up with creative ways to occupy them for 30-45 minutes, but our favorite part is the hilarious things the kids come up with. Somehow, they manage to work in Star Wars or "I Know More Spanish Than You" competitions into our Jesus-focused activities. Very amusing.

Other than that, we've just been doing the usual snowboarding, hiking, and exploring Colorado! We are so blessed to be where we are, and we are so amazed at the life God's given us. We can't wait to see what the next year brings. :)

Peace, love & mawwiage. 

Couch Potato.

I had no access to movies or television in Antarctica, so I have been a total couch potato lately, catching up on favorite shows/movies, and discovering some new ones. 

Our most recent obsession is a show called Coal, which documents the successes (and failures) of a start-up coal mining business. It's pretty much a man show, but it's really interesting to see how hard the coal miners work, and how dangerous the conditions are. Being claustrophobic, I admire those people for crawling into a dark hole underneath a mountain. I would just start crying, I think. The show is extremely entertaining, with the thick country accents and hilarious personalities. It's also heartbreaking though, as the Appalachia region is extremely poor (check out this site). There is definitely a need out there, and after watching the show, I'm really interested in opportunities like this one to help meet the needs of those living in rural Appalachia.

We also watched Voyage of the Dawn Treader. That book is one of my all-time favorites, but the movie was pretty good. I cried. (Go figure).

...and that's about all that's been going on lately in the Wall household. Pretty exciting stuff.

Ship Offload.

One of my fellow McMurdo-ites made this awesome video depicting the annual ship offload. I wasn't there for this event, but I'm glad I get to see it on here! Check it out.

Home Sweet Home.

I have been so terrible at writing since I left the Ice! New Zealand was an absolutely incredible experience and I just wanted to enjoy my time there, without worrying about my cyber-life. :) 

I spent 5 days by myself on the South Island, which was a wonderful time of relaxation and rejuvenation. I stayed with a wonderful family who was so gracious to me, feeding me fresh veggies from their garden (I think I almost squealed when she set fresh cucumbers down on the table!) and driving me to the city center to catch my Arthur's Pass shuttle when I looked at the wrong bus timetable. 

I had some great conversations with random people. I spent two hours on a wharf in Akaroa talking to a "pom" (the Kiwi term for British people) about life and travel and currency...? I talked to a tiny Kiwi woman at a bus stop about the devastation from the 2011 earthquakes. My favorite conversation though was when I sat next to two highly entertaining Kiwis on the flight from Christchurch to Auckland. They were so excited to go to the System of a Down concert in Auckland that night, invited me to go drinking with them before the concert, and were delighted with the fact that I went to Antarctica and insisted that I show them all my photos. Also, they bought me a Diet Pepsi. I liked them a lot.

Auckland was wonderful as well, mostly because I got to see people I hold very dear to my heart! Mike and I spent our week on the North Island with Brooke & Travis Scott, and their adorable little girls. For the past three years, Brooke and Travis have been working towards establishing a church in central Auckland. It was wonderful to talk to them about their experiences ministering in a different country to a different culture -- especially in a city where prostitution and abortion are both legal. We are so excited about what God is doing in them and in their community. We even got the chance to go to a Sunday service and chat with some of the members of their church; it was so encouraging to see their ministry in action and to meet some of the cool people that go to there. Brooke and Travis are pretty stellar people, and we thoroughly enjoyed spending time with them. (Mike really liked it because Travis also loves Lord of the Rings and allowed encouraged Mike to watch all three EXTENDED versions while we were there.) I was dying to get home by the end of the trip, but I couldn't help but shed some tears when saying goodbye to Brooke, who has been a huge part of my life. I am so thankful for her. 

I think my eagerness to get home cursed my long flight from Auckland to L.A., however. It was bumpy -- really bumpy, to the point where I couldn't even fall asleep because I was practically jumping up and down in my seat. Also, tuna salad was an option for our in-flight meal. I'd like to meet whoever came up with that idea, given that tuna reeks and that the plane is full of recycled air. I was already having trouble sleeping, and the tuna burps/coughs from the woman behind me didn't help. So, I arrived in L.A. a zombie, had a super short 6-hour layover in Cali, and...

....now I'm in Denver, with my husband who is sitting on the couch, shirtless, trying to convince me that I would like Celebrity Death Match while wearing a blanket as a cape.

Sounds like home.

Musings.

I leave the Ice in 5 hours, and it's a bittersweet feeling.

Much more sweet than bitter....like 99% sweet and 1% bitter...but I do feel a certain sense of sadness to be leaving.

I have words for this sadness - lots of words. But right now I don't have time to write them all down, or to eloquently compose the emotional insanity that I am feeling right now: Excitment. Stress. Nostalgia. Eagerness. More excitement.

I'll be on the South Island until the 22nd of February, then I'll be in Auckland until March 3. I will post when I can, update when I can, but mostly I am taking this time to relax. To decompress. To re-insert myself into normal society. To think. To enjoy. To simply be.

Can't wait. :)

TiltShifts.

Ok, so my life is changed. I found this website that simulates tilt-shift photography, which is used to make an image appear miniature.

I had a ton of fun with these, they are so cute!

Mini McMurdo

Mini Ivan

Mini Stanley

Mini Bean

Mini Coors Field

Obviously some photos work better than others, but it's fun to experiment on all different types of pictures!

Now, back to work...