I'm sitting here trying to figure out how to start this entry, taking deep breaths and thinking about all that this week has in store for me. This summer has been great for me. I've grown and I feel that I can face things with a better perspective and greater hope than I have ever before. The summer's now over and it's time to get back to work. I have mixed feelings about that, but overall, I know that things will be good for me.
This past week it was great to reunite with friends I haven't seen all summer or longer. It felt to be with them and catch up. One of my previous roommates returned from her full-time mission in Nauvoo, IL and it has been a pleasure being with her again. This week I also started meeting some of the new people who have moved into my ward. I am very excited to meet all the new people, but I am also a bit anxious.
Yesterday was a crazy day with visiting teaching, home teaching, mission homecoming, church, cooking dinner for friends, Relief Society meeting, and ward prayer. I felt like I was running around anyway, but I encountered lots of new people and it really overwhelmed me. It's ironic that I feel so overwhelmed with all the new people because I've been in the same ward for 5 1/2 years and have gone through this transition so many times before. But for some reason it is different this time. It may be my calling as Relief Society secretary and knowing I have the responsibility to get to know all the sisters. It could be my desire to apply all I learned from my pageant experiences to my interactions in the ward. Or it could just be the fact that everything around me changing. I feel like this is the most I've seen the ward change in one transition-maybe 3/4 of the ward is new. Some of the other long timers in the ward like me have left, although there are still two others who have been here about as long as I have. It's comforting to see them and others who have been in the ward for about 3 years. My ward has always been amazing and unique in the kind of people who come to it. There is a reason why I've stayed in the same ward for so long! I am not worried about the quality of the people at all, I just feel overwhelmed to get to know them and not feel so lost in the crowd. I've always had problems in big crowds, but from my experience in Nauvoo, I know what I can do to handle it. I guess it's just too much to take in all at once.
Good news is that my ward is going the extra mile and having about 4 activities this week: ward FHE, activities on Tuesday and Wednesday, and a boating activity on Saturday. It will be crazy, but good. It will give me a chance to get used to having a large ward again and to get to know more people on a individual basis. It is best if I think of individuals rather than how big the crowd is, I think.
Other changes going on in my life:
I am starting work again this week. This first month is training and getting the classroom ready. I am part-time again ( insert sad face here) and I will be working in a part-day afternoon class in Provo. I will be working with new teachers, at a new time, and in a new classroom. I'm excited for all of this, although I am a bit anxious about it still. I guess that is just me having a hard time with change, which is normal for me.
Like a mentioned earlier, I have a new calling, Relief Society secretary. I am really excited about this calling! I already love it! It is giving me a whole new perspective on Relief Society, particularly visiting teaching. I am serving with some amazing and really fun sisters.
I got a new retainer, to replace the one that I lost at the top of Mt. Timpanogoes. This one is much, much better than the other one. I can actually eat with it. I'm grateful for that because it will avoid awkwardness and grossness on any dates I might go on this semester. :) Also, I have to eat with the kids at preschool, so it will make things so much easier for me.
I have a new roommate, although she is really great and fits well with the apartment. The changes regarding roommates is that none of us are dating anyone and that our schedules are changing. I won't be seeing my roommate Savannah much at all for the first block of classes. I'm really sad about that. I'm not sure about the rest of my roommates, but from here on out, it will be crazy trying to still do things with my roommates like I want to.
Overall, my life is really good. I am happy. I am excited for the newness of everything... really, the newness of me as a result of this summer. I've made goals and have great expectations for this coming semester.
I congratulate you if you actually read all of this. I just needed to get this out there and figured an update on my current adventure would be appetizing to some. I feel a bit better now. :)
Monday, August 30, 2010
Sunday, August 15, 2010
I came, I saw, I conquered.
This summer has been good for me. I start work at Head Start again tomorrow and class starts again a week later. I made a roommate slide show this past week and it was then that I realized how many great things I've done and how much I have grown this summer. I will never forget this summer and the things I learned. Even my accident in June doesn't diminish the good feelings I have. I feel refreshed and ready to begin a new school year and welcome in all the new people into my ward.
Yesterday I ended my summer with a BANG! I hiked Mt. Timpanogoes! It was HARD and LONG, but worth it. Mt. Timp is maybe the second hardest hike in the valley (Lone Peak being the first), but it is still a major accomplishment for anyone. As you know, I've been hiking and running all summer long and this still tested my limits. Steep cliffs, steep trail, very rocky valley make for a very exhausting experience. It really was an experience, not just a hike. It took my group (6 of us) 6 hours to get to the summit. We started at 5:40 AM and got there at 11:36 AM. We started up the trail at too fast of a pace, so we were really feeling the exhaustion early on. Some of the group only went to the lake and turned back. Two in the group went down from the summit 2 hours faster than me and the bishopric member I was hiking with. I am a slow hiker normally, but I was even slower on this one. Lucky for me, Br. Scott is a slow hiker, too, and not just to pity me. I reached the bottom at 5:40 PM. Yep, that's 12 hours! Normally it takes people 8-11 hours. You're crazy fast if you do it in 8 hours and you probably have to be super fit to do that. We saw many people who camped out so they wouldn't be doing it all in one day, which is super smart. We also saw people who hiked it over night to see the sunrise or just because. They are CRAZY! This trail is really scary at some points even in the daylight! I don't know how people do it at night. Besides, they miss all the beautiful views we saw the whole way.
If you want to have an idea of how exhausting it is, let me tell you. Basically I was running on instinct. Time and technology were foreign to me on the trail. So, when my phone starting ringing when I was at the lake, it was really weird. We had cell reception the whole time. I think that's a great thing because there are so many spots that if someone got hurt, that would be handy. Back to my point, I was so exhausted that I couldn't remember stuff that I had done only minutes or hours ago. We dropped water along the trail so we could have water coming down without carrying it all the way to the top and we had a hard time remember where some of the drops were even though they were clear when we dropped them. Also, when I was at the top, I seriously don't remember taking my retainer (for my fake tooth) out to eat some snacks (which I ended up not being able to do), but I did and I LOST IT! I didn't realize it until I had already left the top and there was no way I was going to walk back up the trail to find it. Besides, it probably fell down the cliff when I stood up so it wouldn't have been there anyway. So, now I have to buy another retainer. It should be alright, though. I am just grateful that I survived this hike without serious injury! It was a really awesome way to end my summer adventures. Below are the pictures of the Mt. Timp hike.
The little white speck on the hill is where the summit is. We had to hike around the back of that mountain to get there.
The Lake
This picture doesn't do justice for how hard this section of the trail way. It is a valley of rocks with a steep cliff entrance and a very long steep trail exit. The whole way through is painful when you're already exhausted.
At the Saddle
View from the Saddle
I made it!!! Below is the lake we hiked by and the glacier some people slide down.
Mountain goats were everywhere!!
There were 3-5 really pretty waterfalls along the trail.
Yesterday I ended my summer with a BANG! I hiked Mt. Timpanogoes! It was HARD and LONG, but worth it. Mt. Timp is maybe the second hardest hike in the valley (Lone Peak being the first), but it is still a major accomplishment for anyone. As you know, I've been hiking and running all summer long and this still tested my limits. Steep cliffs, steep trail, very rocky valley make for a very exhausting experience. It really was an experience, not just a hike. It took my group (6 of us) 6 hours to get to the summit. We started at 5:40 AM and got there at 11:36 AM. We started up the trail at too fast of a pace, so we were really feeling the exhaustion early on. Some of the group only went to the lake and turned back. Two in the group went down from the summit 2 hours faster than me and the bishopric member I was hiking with. I am a slow hiker normally, but I was even slower on this one. Lucky for me, Br. Scott is a slow hiker, too, and not just to pity me. I reached the bottom at 5:40 PM. Yep, that's 12 hours! Normally it takes people 8-11 hours. You're crazy fast if you do it in 8 hours and you probably have to be super fit to do that. We saw many people who camped out so they wouldn't be doing it all in one day, which is super smart. We also saw people who hiked it over night to see the sunrise or just because. They are CRAZY! This trail is really scary at some points even in the daylight! I don't know how people do it at night. Besides, they miss all the beautiful views we saw the whole way.
If you want to have an idea of how exhausting it is, let me tell you. Basically I was running on instinct. Time and technology were foreign to me on the trail. So, when my phone starting ringing when I was at the lake, it was really weird. We had cell reception the whole time. I think that's a great thing because there are so many spots that if someone got hurt, that would be handy. Back to my point, I was so exhausted that I couldn't remember stuff that I had done only minutes or hours ago. We dropped water along the trail so we could have water coming down without carrying it all the way to the top and we had a hard time remember where some of the drops were even though they were clear when we dropped them. Also, when I was at the top, I seriously don't remember taking my retainer (for my fake tooth) out to eat some snacks (which I ended up not being able to do), but I did and I LOST IT! I didn't realize it until I had already left the top and there was no way I was going to walk back up the trail to find it. Besides, it probably fell down the cliff when I stood up so it wouldn't have been there anyway. So, now I have to buy another retainer. It should be alright, though. I am just grateful that I survived this hike without serious injury! It was a really awesome way to end my summer adventures. Below are the pictures of the Mt. Timp hike.
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