Giddy-Up!

When Brett and I started dating, we decided to not only try and pick up each others hobbies, but to actually try enjoy doing them as well. It started out me taking Brett up to northern Wyoming to my Aunt and Uncle's place to go fishing. He did fish as a boy with his dad but hadn't really been since so I decided to break him in. If you look carefully at the picture on your left you'll notice the severe cut I have on my left forearm. I obviously had a harder time than him with this trip. To make a long story short, I jumped on a loose rock while climbing down a cliff and almost plunged to my death (I am being a little dramatic). Luckily I had my forearm attached to my body to help anchor me from the rock I had previously been on that went on to slam into the side of a tree. Since then we've enjoyed fishing with my dad and brothers up in Alaska. I think we've both come to love the sport with no casualties other than the fish...yet...


Luckily for the two of us we both really love outdoor hiking and camping, so the idea of overnight camp-outs has never been a problem for us. We've gone to Havasupi twice together now (picture on left is 2nd time around). This is quite the grueling trek where you hike 10 miles down a canyon in Arizona (somewhere) to the indian reservation, Havasu. Once entering the place (paying a fee), you can see beautiful natural waterfalls that are over a couple hundred feet high. The rivers are crystal blue (Julia might argue turquoise) where you can see straight to the bottom of them. Brett mostly loved the rope jumps and high cliffs he could jump off of. He was able to show off his stuff by doing flips off the swing and climb up the rocks to do jumps off high cliffs. I tried the cliffs and did some...only because I give into peer pressure... but as you can see, failed miserably at the rope swing.









The last couple of years I've become really into triathlons, marathons, biking, etc. Brett told me when we first started dating that he hated running over 5 miles. It was too boring. I've successfully gotten him hooked on training for a marathon, he's already done a tri with me, and we've already done some fun biking trips and plan to do more. Yes there is a picture of me holding a tandem bike. I tricked Brett into riding this on a picnic with me along with our dear dear friends, the Grants. I had a blast! I know Brett did too but for the sake of his pride I will say he "survived". Wow I can't wait to get over this 18 month winter thing! Just looking at these pictures makes me anxious to get outside!


As a little girl, all I ever wanted was a horse to have to call my own. After I got that, I wanted to have a horse to show with. After I started showing, I wanted to start winning. And I did. :) But I'd have to say the sport I can do the best that comes the best for me is riding horses. I hope to always be able to at least have access to a horse so I will always be able to do what I love...(no hints Brett)

My dear Brett has recognized how much I love horses and has really put in an amazing effort to learn how to ride horses. Just to toot his own horn, he is able to catch a horse, saddle it, and ride it quite well. He has come a very long way since his first encounter with horses.

I just will have to take the blame when I put him on MY horse to have him take a short little ride with me around our woods last week while I test rode a new horse that came into our barn. To make a long story short, my horse (the one Brett was on) decided to make a fast break back to our house and decided to leave Brett on the last turn before getting there. When I caught up to him he was on the ground. If you can imagine the worst feeling you can feel of fear and multiply that by 10 and you will maybe understand how scared I was for Brett right when I saw him on the ground. Luckily when I got to his side he was groaning and telling me he was ok. I knew however seeing his shoulder that something was knocked out of place and he had scratched up his face a little bit. I first checked his eyes and then started to ask him key questions to make sure he was "all there" such as: "Where are you" and "when is your birthday" or "what just happened". After answering all his questions correctly and him reminding me that he was ok other than the extreme pain his shoulder was feeling I had to make sure of one more thing. I asked him, "who do you love the MOST"? To my great relief, he still loves me!

Luckily after a couple hours in the ER, 4 x-rays and a CT, we (the doctors and I) deduced he had a mere separation of the ac joint along with chest and lung contusions. I'm so happy Brett is ok, but even happier that he's planning to get back on the horse (not mine, a little calmer one) to master the art...or at least get better at it.

I am kind of scared now about when we will start working on football...I hope he goes easy on me!