o w l r o c k : : m o a b

last week i saw an instagram picture of someone climbing the owl rock in arches national park. i took a screenshot and sent casey the picture... "we are climbing this over the weekend."

and that is just what we did.

we invited our good friends, seth and steph, and took off after work on friday. it was late when we rolled into moab, so we parked to sleep along the colorado river. i love getting in late, going to sleep, and waking up surrounded by tall, sandstone walls. sleeping in the back of the truck with june and casey is pretty much my favorite. 

after breakfast the next morning, we took june to the vet for the day (because arches is not dog friendly) and took the afternoon to climb the owl rock. whoever named the tower "the owl" sure has an imagination. we nicknamed it " the johnson." just google "the owl rock in arches" and you will know what i mean. it was a really interesting climb and so awesome that we did exactly what we planned. 

we drove back through town to get june and grabbed dinner at zaks, before heading to a new campsite on potash. we chatted around the campfire and headed to bed. sunday was spent on potash climbing flakes of wrath when it started to snow. it was windy and although really miserable weather, casey and seth climbed on. at one point my knuckles started bleeding while belaying because it was so cold and i had to put on casey's shoes to stay warm. 

regardless of the cold, moab is always so good to us. can't wait to spend many summer weekends there.

kenny.

2 7 t h i n g s b e f o r e 2 8

"so many of us choose our path out of fear disguised as practicality. what we really want seems impossibly out of reach and ridiculous to expect, so we never dare to ask the universe for it. i am saying… that you can ask the universe for it."
jim carrey

it finally set in last night that yes, i am now 27 and it is enough to send me into a full-blown panic attack. the lady at the rec-center counter offered me the youth rate membership price and i was all smiles until she glanced at the screen and was like... wait, you're 27?? my facebook feed screams late twenties as it's drowning in baby announcements and questions like, how do i get my baby to sleep through the night and i'm over here like ahhhhhh.

27 is going to be a wild year. i can feel it. a year of firsts, a year of travel, a year of climbing, and a year of change.

as always, my birthday comes with a list of to dos. so without further ado...

27 things before 28

1. legally change my last name to fromm

2. make 5 new lifelong friends

3. maintain an exercise regimen so i can run a 50k

4. love my body :: wear sunblock, floss daily, sleep more, exercise, eat brightly colored fruits and vegetables, and stop abusing my body with diet soda and too much sugar

5. begin learning a new language

6. get over my road rage problem... it's starting to affect my mental health

7. touch my feet to my head in a handstand

8. climb a v9 boulder

9. on-time birthday presents for every family member

10. bike around utah lake
11. go on a road tip to joshua tree in our bus sunshine

12. visit a new continent
13. lean a new trick on the wakeboard

14. kiss my husband on the top of ancient art tower

15. play a song on the violin for my mother

16. cut the umbilical chord of child and welcome him to life!
17. tattoo my wedding ring
18. visit the wave - coyote buttes with afton
19. go on at least 1 river trip
20. earn $10,000 to help save my friend josephine!

21. lead a trad climb

22. picnic and mountain bike ride around antelope island

23. restore my grandparents typewriter and write someone a letter

24. finish our back patio and have a big bbq with friends

25. train june to bring me her leash, to bow, and to put her toys away 
26. paraglide at the point of the mountain

27. and when/if we have/adopt a baby, prove the "i can't wait until you have children...." spiel wrong. i will still love my dog and i will still go climbing. :)

but most importantly, i am going to enjoy another 365 day journey around the sun.

much love,

kenny.

d a y o f l a b o r

...or weekend of fun.

it is blowing my mind that september is here. we had a very low key summer and this year is just flying by. i am in a panic to try to catch up on everything i wanted to do. i feel like my life is flashing by at a rapid speed, and all my goals are sitting still. i have a lot to catch up on.

labor day weekend was a hoot. we started the weekend celebrating casey quitting his job. it was finally decided that happiness/dreams are more important for the mind/soul than a silly job, so he bid farewell and hasn't looked back. he is picking up jobs with friends/family and trying to start his own little construction crew with his brothers construction company. he has stayed busy so far, but the one day he was home- dinner was cooked, the bed was made, and the animals were happy. i was almost convinced, he should just not work.

we celebrated more on that friday evening. amy and travis were driving home from california and they stopped by for some chit-chat. it gets a little wild with them. a good wild.

we woke up early saturday morning and hit the boat with my family. it was an overcast day and the lake was empty. i attempted to slalom on the "fat man ski", but the water was choppy, so i knee-boarded a bit and then ate an entire can of chex mix with my dad as casey and tanner had their turns. we decided to give in to the weather, and headed home for a spur-of-the-moment ping-pong tournament that i almost won... dang tanner. your skills are unreal.

after a long day of boating and family fun, we weren't done sucking the fun out of the day. we packed up the truck and headed to joe's valley with amy, travis, and dolly. it was so much fun sleeping in the back of the truck, waking up to the sun and good coffee. we bouldered all day but i had stubbed my toe the day before, so I couldn't keep it in a climbing shoe for long. that didn't matter. we climbed til we hurt and stopped off at groggs for some famous grub.

on the actual labor day, we did labor. we woke up early to go treasure hunting at garage sales and found the perfect vintage glasses, some records, and a few rings. the rest of the day was boring deep cleaning the house and other grownup stuff, but we ended the long weekend just right at my parents for a barbeque. it was just about the perfect weekend.

 

my sister is a babe.

 

climbing the midget... seemed appropriate

l a k e p o w e l l

 

eating a salad at midnight in the walmart parking lot

well hello there. our internet sucks at our house, so i've been a little absent/missing... good excuse eh ;) no worries though- google fiber/the internet king is on the way, so hopefully i will be back to documenting/rambling on about our little/ordinary life soon enough.

we decided to take a spur of the moment trip to lake powell/heaven with our friends aaron and lindsey (and i dragged afton along for the ride) and of course the dogs/children - june, posey, and henley. my whole life owning a boat, i had never been (what a damn shame), so we decided to end the summer on a high note.

thursday night, they picked us up on the way out of town/grown up life. of course, there were several items we forgot/decided we needed, so we made a few many pit stops. we were in no hurry, because we were driving through the night and would just be going to bed as soon as we got there. we took our sweet little time stopping every hour to let the dogs pee, get drinks, take pictures of horses walking through the gas station, and long talk about our dreams of being good at acroyoga and aerial silk. seriously.

we got to lake powell around 4 am, so we all hopped in the boat to sleep/dream in the parking lot after first dipping our feet in the lake. there was a light mist all night, so june and i cuddled/smothered in my sleeping bag. it was incredible. the next morning we made coffee and jumped on the boat. we found the perfect camping spot rather quickly/lightening fast that was nestled up in a huge cave. the walk up was steep, but it was too good to pass up. we unloaded everything, put up camp, and hit the boat in record speed. it was the ideal time to go to lake powell. it was the first week of school, so we had the lake to ourselves.

the weekend was incredible. full of water solo climbing, early morning skiing, lots of jimmy buffet, getting bombed by russians (fireworks in the middle of the night), cliff jumping, dreaming of stan's burgers, swimming, getting bruises, laying/passing out in hammocks, dance parties, coffee coffee and more coffee, falling down, conquering goals for oreos, sand in every place possible, not running over dogs that fell out of the boat, making fools of ourselves wake-skating, bathing in the lake, deep conversations about high-school, hitting rocks and not breaking the boat, burning brats, peeing off the back of the boat, two shots kendra, no-swim-top skiing, writing in aaron's journal and more. the sun burns and sore bodies were definitely worth every ounce of fun/work.

we have decided/made a pact to make it a yearly trip and i cannot wait for next year.

 

 

our little camp spot in the cave

 

 

 

june always worried about us. either jumping/falling into the water to save us, or whining in the boat. 

that girl could/would swim all day if we let her.

 

aaron's awesome gainer

 

listening to casey tell me how to be a better skier

 

aaron's hot komono (lindsey's)

 

always count on skiing. one early morning i decided to just go watch in my pajamas. the water was too good though. so i went topless and found some shorts in the boat i tied with an elastic to fit.

 

 

the coolest couple with the coolest dog- posey 

and of course stans... the best burger and shakes on the way out

i tell ya- those atwoods are good people/friends! a few nights after getting home aaron and i were texting about how much money we owed for gas and i was sending him the pictures of his gainer off the cliff. his reply:

"thanks for the pictures. you're a rose in a field of daisies"