Am I really back?

Ok, so I am the worst at Blogging. Here is another try (I will blame the past failure on forgetting my password).

Here is the update.

I spent the winter season teaching skiing again, but this year was really fun since my daughter Ashley taught with me. I loved driving up with her and occasionally getting to ski together. Later in the season, Makayla joined us. She added another element of fun as she talked about her own personal ski coach. She loved skiing! The great thing about teaching is now I get free passes. Ric and I would go up and ski for awhile then go home and do something around the house. Nice not to feel that you have to ski until 4pm to get your money's worth. It was great when the family came up. My only regret is that we didn't get to do more family ski trips. Maybe next year.

January...Ric and I went on a CarMax Company cruise. I always enjoy a free vacation. We visited Key West where Ric drove me around on a scooter. That was fun. We swam in a Cenote near Playa del Carmen. I really enjoyed that too. I ate too much but I enjoyed that also.

The winter seems a blur...enjoying the skiing, hating the cold, wishing for spring, missing California, working out at the gym and watching the series 24 (Seasons 2-5) at night during the writers strike.

In February, Kelsey invited us to retreat at her house with a trip to the Rexburg Temple Open House. Ashley, Justin along with the kids came and we had a great time together as usual. We also went to the Elk Refuge in the Tetons and saw the houses that Logan had built. The hayride to see the elk was lots of fun.

I attended a Kayak Symposium the end of March. There were classes by some of the best kayakers in the world. I did a incident management class where they enacted different problems and it was a hoot watch ing the chaos as everyone was hooking tow lines up to each other. I also tried an intro to canoeing. I didn't do too badly. My buddies and I camped out at Mission Bay in San Diego and made new friends. It was fun and frustrating at the same time. I love kayaking and miss doing it weekly. My kayak buddies keep getting better and I am not. Whaaaaa. So Sad. Oh well hopefully I can make up some during the summer.

My Trip to Israel

Petra

In April, I went to Israel for two weeks with my sister and her husband. He was lecturing at the University of Tel Aviv. Suzan didn't want to be there by herself so I agreed to come and tour with her. Since I used all of Ric's frequent flyer miles, it took me 36 hours to get from SLC to Tel Aviv. I had a 17 hour layover in Rome so I hopped on a train and went to Pompeii to see the ruins there. I had never seen it and really was amazeed how extensive the ruins are and all the details. The mozaic floors were still intact and beautiful. I successfully arrived back in Rome and caught my plane. Somehow, Skip and Ric got our wires crossed and I arrived a day earlier than Suzan and Skip. It was a little unnerving to get to a country where you have no idea of the language ( everything is in Hebrew which looks like Greek to me) and there is no one there to meet you. I finally was able to get a hold of Issac, Skips friend and he rescued me. I was happy when Suxan arrived the next day. We first went south to Elat and over to Jordon to see Petra. That was one amazing place. A whole city cut into the mountains there. Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade filmed the temple that had the hole grail there. Anyway it is so beautiful. As we drove through the desert, I sympathized with Laman and Lemuel. It is the most barren of places. You understood why they ate raw meat...it was because there was absolutely no vegetation to use for fuel. I would have complained too I am afraid. Suzan and I toured everywhere. Sea of Galilee, Nazareth, Capernum, Caesarea, Acre, Joffra, Masada and the Dead See and of course Jerusalem. I learned so much and since Suzn and Skips friends were Israelis, I understood a lot more of the challenges they have with the Palestinians. It is not an easy situation. I can't imagine having gas masks under the bed and think there was a good chance I would need them. Bombings are not unfamiliar to them and everyone there has had a least someone they know killed by a bomb. We spent Passover with them. They were so considerate to get us a book with the translation of the prayers for passover in English. We ate a traditional Passover Meal...I don't like Gefelte Fish or however you spell it. I did eat it though. Deborah is a typical jewish mom and wants to feed you tons of food. The most fun was Suzan and I smearing ourselves with Dead Sea mud and floating in the dead sea. I loved all the ruins. I hated the churches in Jerusalem ( you would have to be there to understand I think) I had a great flight home and was able to watch about 5 movies onroute. My favorite was Martian Child. It was really touching and you should see it if you haven't already.

I am at the West Wall in Jeruselm

Suzan and I smeared with Dead Sea Mud

May brought the Womens Conference. I helped with a humanitarian project. I helped cut out and prepare Christmas stockings that would be completed during the conference. I attended classes and helped ladies finish the stockings. We completed 575 stockings which will mostly go to Operation Gratitude for our military men.

The Delores River and My Snaggletooth Adventure.

Last week I went on a river trip with my friend Nancy who is an awesome person and river guide. I met 9 other new friends as we rowed down the Delores River in Southern Colorado. The river had lots of class three rapids and one class 4. We spent 4 nights on the trip. I loved the canyon and camping out and just joking and talking with people and of course the water. The water was really cold...I tried to wash my hair and got a freeze headache. It was really cold at night with one morning showing 20' at 7:00am. Everyone laughed at me when I came out of my tent that night wearing a down parka, neckgaiter, ski hat and gloves. I think they were just jealous. The last day the weather was warm and really nice and I didn't wear the 4 layers I wore the day before. One crazy thing happened on Snaggletooth Rapid, the Class 4. We stopped and scouted it. The amount of water made it seem pretty ominous and three of the guys said they weren't going to go down it. I wasn't worried because Nancy was rowing and I was just in the front getting splashed on. So we discuss the line we planned on taking which means go straight over the big Rooster tail wave and bust through that. Then row like crazy left so we don't hit Snaggletooth and get sucked into the big holes by it. Off we go, we line up great hit the big waves, and start rowing left. I can see we are not going to make it to the left of Snaggletooth. Option B... I am hoping we don't get pinned on Snag...Nancy begins to row forward to the right, with some luck we can hit the hole straight. We plunge down and the raft begins to tip downstream. Flipping the raft is bad soI throw myself to the upstream side of the raft and into the hole we go. The raft rights itself....there are still some rapids ahead but I turn back to cheer Nancy on. She is not there! She has been catapulted into the fridged water, all I can see are her feet being swept down the river. The raft is headed to some big ROCKS ahead. I jump back and grab the oars and straighten out the raft and finish the rapids and head to shore. The safety lines miss Nancy and a boat downstream picks her up just before they enter another set of rapids and around the corner they go. I don't know what to do....I don't know how to row but Nancy is downstream so I go after her. I do ok until the river makes a hard bend to the left and I get hung up on rock. Good grief! I am thankful when another boater comes to my rescue and pushes me off and I tell him to row the last 30 feet to Nancy and the shore. Everyone in our party is saying, "I didn't know you knew how to row" and I am telling them that was the first time. They thought I looked pretty good. So "My First Rowing Experience" is in a class 4 rapid. We all laughed and were glad for the happy outcome. Everyone else in the party did great even those who originally decided not to go through it.

I am going again in a week. This time on the Yampa in Northern Colorado. I Really appreciate Ric and his support. He is the best and such a good sport. My mom says" I didn't raise my girls to go off and leave their husbands. I don't know where Lee gets this." ( I really did try to talk him into doing some of the other rivers with me but he has scout camp and youth conference and I did skip two other rivers to stay home with him. So I hope I am not too bad) Oh well, my love of adventure wins out, but I have talked Ric into going with me in Aug. on the Rogue River in Ore.

Most of my energy lately is going to working out at the gym, running, swimming and biking. In a moment of craziness, I signed up to do the Spudman Triathalon in July. It is Olympic distance, which is swim one mile, run 6 miles and bike 26 mile. It sounds easy until you start working out and the weather is being so beastly. (and of course you leave for river trips). I will finish even if it takes me days so there any doubters. Will let you know how it goes. Boy do I hate peddling up hills.

I love the outdoors but I do love my family more and cherish every minute I get with grandkids and children. I am looking forward to this summer....and I hope I will be a better blogger.