Spring High School Retreat: Camping and Climbing!
This past weekend I went camping with the highschool youth group down by Canon City for our spring retreat. It was my first time to Shelf road, a local climbing mecca and it was beautiful!

These are the two climbs we had set up for anybody who wanted to try. The ropes on the left were a 5.5 climb, on the right was a 5.7 climb. Those numbers are ratings for degree of difficulty, climbs basically start at 5.0 and then go into the teens I believe. The wall on the left was about a 35 foot climb, on the right was a 50 foot climb. Considering I am a cyclist and have no upper body strength, I just wanted to try the left side.

This is one of the highschool guys going up the more difficult climb...he made it to the top pretty easily, though he is pretty experienced. I made to the top of the 5.5 AND the 5.7...though the 5.7 was not pretty! I had blood streaming down my leg midway up...the guys were pretty impressed with that...and it took me awhile but I made it up. And now my entire upper body is completely sore, although my legs are just fine which is good since the first track race of the season is this week!!! :)

Tom Conlon House ConcertI went to my first house concert last night. I had never heard of them before living in Colorado, but they are pretty cool! Up and comming artists play in somebody's home to get their name out and share their music. Last night I was able to see Tom Conlon...he's a pretty talented guy and having a concert in such an intimate setting (25-30 people) is a ton of fun!

Uuuugh!
In case you are wondering...this is the third winter storm warning in the month of April...enough said!

Friday Night Festivities
A bunch of us girls got together Friday night to have a bachelorette party for Mandy...she is getting married in 3 weeks!

You can't tell by this picture, but Mandy was a little scared of the whole idea...I think she really liked wearing her tiara though! :)

She started out a little weary of what was to come while opening presents...

But by the end, Mandy was having fun and laughing! :)

And check out this supercool cake Anne made for her...can you tell what it is?! :)

Rock Slide on Gold Camp!
So the past few weeks of riding has been pretty dull...either on the trainer (because of the snow!) or with my head buried as I slog through crazy winds. Yesterday I was doing repeats on Gold Camp and on my way back down after my second interval, all of these cars start waving at me to slow down...I really wasn't going that fast...than a cyclist starts waving so I pulled my earphone out and he yelled "Rock Slide!" Sure enough, as I rounded the corner there was a nice rockslide that had covered the road. By that time a path had been cleared for cars but appearantly was impassable when it first happened according to a mountain biker who helped clear it out.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BETHIE!!!

NCAA playoffs are over and NHL playoffs just begun!
Growing up outside of Motor City, you can't help but love the Red Wings...I do live an hour south of Denver now but I still wear my Wings shirt with pride (although I get some nasty looks)! :) Anyways, the Wings are 2-0 right now...hopefully they will go all the way...especially since my other two teams (IU and the Chargers) did not make it very far this year post-season!

It's started...
Appearantly our snow last weekend did not count as the "April Storm." As of 10:30am it was snowing again today with a blizzard in the forecast, they are predicting 8 inches downtown. Sweet! (Can you sense my sarcasm?!)

Saturday's Big Adventure...to the Emergency Room!
Saturday started out normal enough...I had to ride the trainer because of the weather, did some homework, and then Mary and I went to Tinseltown to see "Blades of Glory." It was pretty darn funny!

After the movie, we went to Chipotle for dinner where Mary got perhaps the largest burrito I have ever seen. About two bites into her burrito things changed though...

Mary started having chest pains, cloudy vision, and her left arm was hurting. After a call to Dr. Beth we were on our way to the emergency room...Mary choose the Catholic hospital so we were treated to an 8:00 prayer in the waiting room. I am not sure if she was more excited about the prayer, the hospital gown or being stuck in the gyno room?!

The doctor ordered a battery of tests...which meant an EKG and lots of electrodes!

And an x-ray...Mary had to choose between being wheeled on the bed or in a wheelchair to the x-ray room...I suggested the wheelchair. In the end, she has an inflammed chest wall from a virus she got a few weeks ago, phew! And we were in and out of the ER in three hours flat!

Happy Easter!!!
It was like I woke up in Michigan today...winter wonderland on Easter! Despite the nasty weather, we made it to church bright and early...ask Chris how he likes waking up at 7am! :)

After church we all went to Panera and then I was lucky enough to help Mary make deviled eggs for our Easter feast (I choose the easy route by signing up for drinks and rolls)...meanwhile Chris got to watch a movie, though he did help shell the eggs. Let me tell you, 25 minutes is a car without deviled eggs is pure torture...they smell awful!!! Chris and Mary defintely agree!

The Easter feast was up in Monument, that meant more snow! I remember last year in Cali when I was able to wear a dress and sandles to Easter church!

Though, the cool thing about the snow is it was only on the south side of all the trees and bushes. If you look closely, you will notice it is only on the right side of this bush. All of the trees were frosted like that from north Colorado Springs through Monument.

Remind me why I am not in California for 3 months this spring?!?!
Does 30F and slushing count as our April snowstorm? I sure hope so!!! I talked to Dad this morning, he said it was 60F and overcast in Cali...that sounds way better than this nastiness...did I mention we are supposed to get 3" of snow by tomorrow?!

My Tasty Little Treat
So Viactiv calcium chews have always been a tasty little treat every day until recently when I started Katie Compton's secret nutrition plan...basically, you cut all high fructose corn syrup and hydrogenated fats out of your diet. For me, it wasn't that bad, change the types of jellies, eliminate some types of cereals, careful on the breads...and then I realized that all of the calories from Viactiv come from bad fats...hydrogenated fats! What a bummer, no more yummy calcium chews for me!

Back To Back National Champions
I'm impressed! Although, I was rooting for Ohio State...it's a Big 10 love thing because I really don't care for Ohio State normally.

Spring is setting in...
But the question remains: Will the big April snowstorm hit before or after I get my braces off? Yup, that means they will both happen this month (at least one of those will!) Any guesses?