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.

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!

Minke Whales.

So I saw whales. In Antarctica. No big deal, right?

Happy Flight!

Cardinals win an epic World Series. How do I feel about it?

I now want to marry this man (so does Mike, so it's totally cool)

I now want to punch this man (on the right), and then after I punch him, I'd like to steal the millions of dollars that he makes for looking like an idiot. 

I'm sorry, Matt Holliday. Your good looks do not make up for your stupidity and inability to hit the ball. It's just how I feel.

And last but not least, I now want a squirrel as a pet. 

Peace, love & RallySquirrels. :)