Storytime: Mikaela's (lack of) adventures in Zion

This past 4th of July we went to Zion National Park, a trip we had planned for a long time. We love going there; this was our 3rd time since we got married. It is such a beautiful place with lots of great canyoneering and hiking opportunities. 

The first time we went, around the 4th of July in 2012, I had the misfortune of cutting off the end of my thumb the day we left while chopping up some cabbage in a hurry. It was pretty bad and there was lots of blood and tears. I have never passed out before (knock on wood), but when I saw what I had done and then felt the pain start to shoot up my arm I thought I was going down. No fun.

This greatly limited my allowed activities since I wasn't supposed to get my heart rate up (it would start bleeding again when that happened) and I had to keep it dry. I don't know how much you know about canyoneering, but there is always a lot of getting your heart rate up and usually some swimming in stagnant, dirty water. And it came to pass that I was thus uninvited to all canyoneering excursions.

I did still get to see some beautiful stuff, though, like this amazing view. 

But I spent a lot of time just hanging out with my poor thumb, which wasn't too bad since Zion is so beautiful, even without doing any "real" hiking.

Still, there isn't anything quite like canyoneering. When we went later that year I had so much fun. Here are a few shots from that trip.

Rappelling into the Narrows from Mystery Canyon. See the tiny people down in the river?

Birch Hollow

Orderville Gulch

Orderville Gulch

Not so bad, eh? ;)

After getting a taste of what Zion can hold for those without open wounds, I was really happy when we planned another trip for July of this year. Dallin scored a few hard-to-get permits for some of the best spots and it was going to be a sweet trip. That was the plan, at least...

But... as luck would have it, I ended up getting pregnant (yay!) and was a nauseated, emotional mess in the midst of some intense pregnancy fatigue (boo!). In other words, since just walking to the shuttle stop right next to our hotel made me tired, canyoneering was out of the question. 

I spent my time sleeping at our hotel, walking short distances, finding comfortable places to relax, and sipping on cold gatorade since that was one of the few things that made my queasy stomach feel better. 

I also took a few pictures, partially because it was a good opportunity to work on figuring out my camera settings. Still need plenty of work in that department...

Meanwhile, here's what I missed out on: 









On the bright side, if this pattern keeps up I should be healthy (and in one piece) for our next trip, right? 

I guess we shall see...

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(P.S. If you haven't been to Zion yet, you are missing out! They have a good shuttle system that takes you into the canyon from the cute little town of Springdale which makes it easy to get around, plus there are so many things to do whether you are the hard-core hiker type or not. Heck, you can even have a good time if you are missing part of your thumb or are in the miserable first weeks of pregnancy. ;) It's pretty child-friendly, especially since you can take a stroller on quite a few of the shorter trails, and this burger joint really hits the spot after a day of adventures. I highly recommend checking it out!)

Life update

I feel like I haven't been posting much about life lately, besides trip reports and such. This might be because things are kind of... uneventful right now. Nonetheless, here is a brief report on the very exciting lives of the Mr. and Mrs. Durfinator household.

Dallin: 

• Brings home the bacon every day. Not literal bacon, unfortunately, but he provides me the moola to buy it and that's just as good  because we still get bacon just the same. And come on... who doesn't like bacon? (Answer: no one that isn't in denial.) On a more serious note, I really am thankful for Dallin and his good job. I'm especially thankful that I will be able to stay at home with our kids in the future. Very blessed. 
• Goes canyoneering when he/we can, which is pretty often. 
• Does a great job in the Spanish branch presidency. At least, I think he does. And I'm definitely not biased or anything. Also, the fact that I think it's really attractive when he speaks Spanish absolutely doesn't influence my opinion at all. Nope.
• Is the best husband I could have asked for. Really though, he's a keeper and I'm very lucky he was crazy enough to want to marry me.

Mikaela:

• Unemployed, at least for now. I'm finding that this has its perks, meaning I love having time to read, sew, and do what I want. I'm taking advantage of it since I know it won't last.
• Busy getting ready for seminary to start. We have a new curriculum that I am SO excited about. It is going to make things so much easier on me and I think it works with my teaching style much better than the old manuals. Also, 8 of the mastery scriptures are different... whaaaaat? 
• Trying to become a better pianist. In other words, I'm trying to add a few songs to the list of 5-6 that I know since I'm the pianist in the Spanish branch and I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one that is getting tired of singing the same songs over and over and over. It's kind of hard though since I pretty much taught myself, meaning I stink. I am improving though, slowly but surely. Emphasis on the "slowly" part.
• Preparing to die during this weekend's heatwave. (I'm definitely not melodramatic or anything.) Living in the cool mountains my whole life has made me dread any temperatures over 95, and it will be well over that. Yes, I am a pansy, but seriously. I think the earth should have a temperature limit of 85 degrees max. Thank the heavens above for A/C... and popsicles.
• Goes canyoneering most of the time with Dallin. Not always though, because sometimes I wimp out on the really strenuous ones, especially when it is hot. (see above)

Even though things are fairly uneventful, life is good. Very good indeed. 

Roman theater ruins in Spain

A very attractive picture of us on our most recent adventure. We're pretty smoking hot.

Waterslides Canyon

This weekend's canyoneering adventure took us to Waterslides Canyon, which is out in the middle of nowhere somewhere kind of by Roosevelt Lake (but not really, I'm serious when I say there is nothing nearby).

I've been on some pretty fun canyons, but this one (besides the long hike/rock hop and  getting carsick for the second time in my life) was such a blast. It is aptly named Waterslides canyon for the many sweet slides that make this trip worth the effort!

But before we got to the fun stuff, we had to hike/rappel into the canyon. Here I am on the first rap. 

The sun is a ginger's worst enemy. I took advantage of any opportunity to take cover. :)

Finally to the water! It felt so good to get in! 

Dallin on the first slide! This one was so fun that we kept climbing up to do it again over and over. 

My turn!

Our friends Bret and Jeff came too

Such a beautiful place on such a beautiful day!

My splash at the end of a steep slide. I like this one!

Purty.

Dallin and me in our supersuits. ;)

Dallin getting ready to go down the big one! You can't tell in this picture, but this slide is about 40 feet high and very steep, plus there is a bit of a jump that can really launch you if you hit it right. Let's just say I was really good at hitting it just right, and my backside is probably going to feel a little funny for a while... haha! 

You can kind of see me getting launched in the second picture.. This was terrifying, by the way... haha. It might look tame in the pictures, but it was pretty scary, especially from the top! It's really steep and much higher than it looks in these pictures.

Jeff jumping by the big slide

I thought I had a video of me going down the big slide, but apparently I don't so here is one of Jeff!
(P.S. Enjoy my awkward giggling . Please tell me I don't always sound like that...)

Awww.

Having fun with the waterproof camera

All in all it was a good trip, but let's just say there was no way I was wearing heels to church today. I'm a wee bit sore. It was definitely worth it though. 

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On an unrelated note, remember how I mentioned in this post about how afraid I am to play the piano in church? Well guess who is the new pianist for the Spanish branch we are now attending? Yep, that would be me! This ought to be very interesting. I knew this day would come, and to be honest I'm really thankful that it came when we're in a small branch of super nice people that I already love so much. 

Oh, and if this Spanish branch business is news to you, Dallin was called last week to be in the branch presidency so we will both be attending there from now on. Dallin is fluent in Spanish, but I don't know very much and have a really hard time separating Spanish from Russian in my mind. It's just a matter of time until I start spouting off Russian when I mean to say something in Spanish. I'm telling you, it is going to happen. I'm exciting though! It's going to be an adventure for sure! 

On another unrelated note, aren't tulips such happy flowers? Spring flowers are my favorite.

Happy Sunday!

Top 5 worst fears {Friday five}

I like to think of myself as a pretty fearless person, but I do have some things I am afraid of.
Here's five of the biggest ones. 

P.S. Don't judge me, I'm a weird person with some weird fears. ;)

1. Heights. 

This is kind of ironic since my husband and I love to canyoneer. Most of the canyons we do are technical, meaning they require rappelling and/or climbing, and quite a few of those rappels are pretty high. So far, the longest rappel I've done is about 200 feet. 

See little me at the top? I was probably about 1/2 of the way down at that point. Eeep!

And yet, even though we do this often, I am still pretty scared of heights. However, I do think I am slowly getting over it. Slowly. Also, I'm very thankful that I am totally fine with airplanes, tall amusement park rides, etc. 

But things like this make me very dizzy. 

And especially things like this. Oy.

These pictures could be scenes from my worst nightmares. Seriously. 

2. Getting abducted

Speaking of my worst nightmares, most of them involve big, scary guys and dark alleys. I have had some scary real life experiences that contribute to this fear too. I take several security measures to protect myself, and just do my best to stay safe but even so this will probably always be a fear of mine. 

3. Passing cars on 2-lane highways

This is pretty silly, but I am deathly afraid of passing anybody unless there are more than two lanes. I will do it on occasion, but only if the road is straight so I can see far ahead and there are no cars coming my way at all. It doesn't matter if the oncoming car is a mile away, I will not pass it. Dallin is not quite as patient as I am (and also isn't paranoid like me) so he will pass if he has enough time, even if there is oncoming traffic. Every time it absolutely terrifies me to be in the same lane as a car coming directly towards me at 55+ MPH. (shudder)

 My husband gets a kick out of this sometimes, and I can't blame him for laughing at his white-knuckled, wide-eyed, hyperventilating wife in the passenger seat freaking out about the car that is half a mile away from us. 

4. Being asked to play the piano/organ in church

I can count the piano lessons I've had on one hand. I taught myself quite a bit though, and I know how to play a handful of hymns. Unfortunately, even though I am not very good, there have been a few times when I had to play the piano at church functions and I was the seminary pianist (or co-pianist) all four years. It terrifies me. Usually I get through the first verse or two okay, but it is downhill from there! Ever since we got a piano I have been practicing, but let's just say I don't practice anywhere near enough... haha! I have a feeling that one of these days I'm going to be asked to be a Relief Society or Primary pianist. Maybe that will be what it takes to purge that fear. ;)

5. Swimming in the dark

Because obviously that is when all the scary water creatures come to the surface with their tentacles and sharp teeth to prey on unsuspecting humans. ;) This fear is totally irrational and very ridiculous, but even just thinking about being in dark water gives me the heebie jeebies. (Although I did swallow this fear once to play a game using glow sticks and water bottles at Lake Powell once, and it was a awsome.)

Well, there you have it. Do we share any of the same fears? Can we be phobia phriends? 

(Yeah, I think I'm pretty clever sometimes... heh heh)

And will you ever believe me if I say I'm really not living in fear all the time, even if this post makes it seem that way? :) 

Top 5 places I've been {Friday Five}

I'm a list person. One of the reasons I blog is to help me be a better writer and practice organizing my thoughts into paragraphs and complete sentences. It's a work in progress. :) 

Just for funsies, I decided to start a Friday list series on this little blog of mine to pander to my list obsession. Every Friday (At least, every Friday that I feel like it) I'm going to post a list of 5 things whether it is five favorite foods/movies/books/outfits/places/scriptures/songs/blogs/etc, five items on my ever-growing bucket list, five most awkward/awesome/happy/scary moments, or whatever else I come up with. 

Today's list is my top five favorite places I've traveled to. 

1. Russia

I was lucky enough to have the chance to be a volunteer English teacher in Voronezh, Russia for 4 months in 2011. I also spent a month there when I was 16 when my family adopted three of my younger siblings from northern Russia.

I love that country so much. It is full of beautiful places and things, and some of the nicest people I've met. Oh, I hope I can go back! Maybe when we're old we can serve a mission there. :)

2. Maui

Dallin and I went on our honeymoon to Hawaii, and I absolutely loved it! It's one of the most beautiful places I've been. My favorite parts were driving the road to Hana, hiking around waterfalls, snorkeling, and the black sand beach.

Perfect weather, perfect views, and a sweet new husband to enjoy it with... could it be any better? ;)

 3. Zion National Park

This place is amazing. We like to go here to canyoneer, but there is a lot of other things to do if you aren't into that.

Like... hike half a mile to see this incredible view.

The first time I went to Zion was the day after I managed to chop off the end of my thumb (maybe I should blog about that escapade sometime... haha!). This meant I didn't get to go canyoneering since I couldn't get my big ol' bandage wet, plus every time I got my heart rate up it would start bleeding again. On the bright side, I got to leisurely walk out here and take self-timer pictures of myself. Not as fun as canyoneering, but still awesome. :)

If you are coming from AZ, you get to drive through a mile long tunnel. Here's a picture from one of the windows. Cool, eh?

The second time, I got to join in the canyoneering fun! This was my favorite part of the 2 days we spent there and the 3 canyons we did... the rappel from Mystery Canyon into the Zion Narrows. The itty bitty people down below that cheered for us made it even better. ;)

The Zion Narrows from where we rappelled. Pretty flipping awesome. 

4. Leprechaun Canyon

This slot cuts through Navajo sandstone, which makes for a really photogenic canyon. We've done several similar canyons, and it was really hard to pick just one, but I really liked this canyon... partially because it was really easy. ;) Some of the ones we do are much more strenuous, although those do leave me feeling really beastly once I'm done. :P

5. Buckskin Gulch

This is a long but incredibly beautiful hike! The whole thing is about 20 miles (if you exit out Paria) which we split between 2 days. Buckskin in the longest slot canyon in the world. It's just miles and miles of awesome. 

That's why I'm about to post a boatload of pictures. You have been warned. 

Well, there you have it! And I can't wait to add Spain to this list next month! :)