Change is Good...

Lately my life has constantly been changing. Some people hate change, but I have always prayed for it. I love having an unpredictable life. A life filled with adventure and stepping out on faith. Taking risk instead of wondering "what if." Something interesting that I read once was about how humans for some reason have been raised with the mentality that we have to do whatever it takes to make sure we avoid making mistakes. Which to me in some cases is a good thing. My Dad has alway told me that it is good to learn from my mistakes, but it is even better to learn from other peoples' mistakes. Don't you just love those little saying that your parents tell you, that stick with you for the rest of your life.....Good Stuff! Well, I definitely agree with that. There are a ton of stupid things that we can avoid if we learn from other people. But I am talking about a different kind of mistake. What I mean is sometimes we try so hard to live a safe comfortable life, because we are afraid to step out on faith and take a risk, because we don't want to make a mistake. There is a quote that I have on my mirror that says, "What would you do in life if you knew that it wouldn't be a mistake?" I wonder how many of our lives would look different then what they are today if that was the case? Now, let me make myself clear. I am not suggesting that we all go out and just throw everything out the window and be irresponsible. What I am talking about is listening to the tug on your heart...the tug from the Lord. Listening to the desires that He has placed on your heart and taking risk (stepping out on faith) and going after them.  Trusting the Lord with your life and believing that He will take care of you. Now that right there is an adventure! 

Well, when I first came out here I was working in the dining area at the ranch, but now my position has changed to guest relations/concierge position. I am really enjoying it. What I get to do is meet with the locals in town and learn about their business and experience it so that I can send tourist their way. I have already experienced a chuckwagon ride and show, a hour massage, restaurants, and wild life trips. And when the snow gets thicker I get to experience all the winter activities. Can you believe that people get paid to do this?!?!?! It is definitely a fit for me. I get to learn everything about Jackson Hole, play for free, and meet a bunch of incredible people. Also, Jackson is a great small town, so everywhere I go I always see someone I know. I really like that.

We had our first snow out here last week. I swear I am like an old granny driving on the streets. People are passing me left and right. I don't care what people think of me on the road...I don't have snow tires yet, so my car slides real easily. I have never even heard of snow tires until I moved out here. Man, my world has really changed. And people here at the ranch say that the snowing really hasn't even started yet. So, just think how I am going to be in January. I swear I'm such a funny sight. I'm taking risk though...right!?!?!

Happy Camper

So, people that say they don't like to camp...I think they need to reconsider and give it another chance. Now, I can totally relate to the fact that it takes a good bit of work to go camping. It would be much easier to just rent a hotel room and turn on the TV, but I believe the effort in camping is well worth it.  As I was driving away from camping this past weekend I thought to myself..."I can totally relate to the person who came up with the slogan 'Happy Camper.''' Whoever it was, they were right, camping just makes you plum out happy. I think what I like most about it is the fellowship. Camping naturally allows you to catch up with your fellow campmates and is always a great time for reminising and laughter. When you're home there is always something to do like pay the bills, wash some clothes, and check your email. But when you are sitting around a huge bonfire roasting a marshmellow underneath a huge black sky with sparkingly stars over your head all worries and the forever to-do list seem fade away. Before you know it hours have gone by and you are still sitting around the fire having a great time. It is just simple fun.  Some of my favorite memories with my family were all 7 of us (sometimes 8 depending if we brought a friend) in a small pop-up camper. It was definitely tight quarters, which made for even more funny incidents among us.  I cherish those days. 

I will have to say that this past weekends camping experience was different then all the ones that I have ever experienced before. I went camping with my Aunt Karen and Uncle Terry who wanted to go hunting while we were camping. Let just say...they are quite the hunting duo. My Aunt Karen is a very pretty lady that has the different pair of shoes to match every outfit. Not someone that you would catergorizes as a  hunter.  But I tell you...I was impressed as I watched her get up at 5 am in the morning, dress up in her hunting gear which consisted of a brand new pair of dark brown Ug boots and a stylish brown vest with a pink shirt that she had just bought the day before. And off she went hunting at daybreak on her mule (Dolly) with her husband.

Me on the other hand, my job was to hold the fort down and to get the coffee ready for when they came back. Hard job but somebody had to do it. I just sat in the sun and soaked in the day.

And when they returned we cooked a big brunch and just sat around and again soaked in the day. Their hunting was a success and all I have to say is that I helped assist my uncle and aunt with their hunt and did things that I have never done before. I did a pretty good job if you don't count the squealing noises and funny faces that I made.

My aunt and uncle got a kick out of me.  It was a great time...I'm a happy camper!

How Time Flies!

I can't believe summer is almost over. I can feel it in the air. The morning and evenings are definitely more crisp, and all the college students that worked at the ranch are all now gone. 

I better start buying me some winter clothes soon, or I am going to freeze my tush off if I am not careful. The "winter" clothes that I had when I lived in GA are a joke for out here. This is going to be a new adjustment for me. I hope I survive it! I love that I'm talking about winter in August.  As you can tell, I'm having to get myself psyched up about this. 

I am a little sad to see summer fade away because it was just so much fun, but I am also really excited about what is ahead. See, summer and winter are the busy seasons here because of the tourists. So in the fall and spring all the locals slow down and supposely it is a totally different vibe here, that everyone loves. I am really excited about the slowing down part. Back in GA there was never a slow season...I think I really love this concept. Plus, I hear that it is gorgeous here in the fall. Another cool thing is that everyone takes there vacation time during November and April, so I am coming home the whole month of November for vacation. Not to bad for vacation time.

Well, the reason that I am behind on blogging is because I have been busy with family and friends visiting here the past couple weeks. This is a wonderful place for visitors because you never run out of incredible things to do. Matter of fact, the hardest part is narrowing down all the options, because you don't have time to do it all. 

Here are some of the highlights of the things we did. One night my family went square dancing, which was so much fun. There was around 200 people there and majority of them consisted of the locals that are serious about their square dancing. By the end of the night we were clapping our hands, twirling around and hoop'n and hollar'n. We fit right in. Good ole' square dancing ...do you remember learning square dancing in middle school?...Oh, how I never knew that would pay off later on in life.

Also, the family went horseback riding, hiking in the cascade canyons, shopping in Jackson, fly fishing, to a rodeo, Yellowstone and surprisingly got to relax some. We had an incredible time and it definitely made me sad to see them leave. I have such a fun family. I am so glad that they got to visit. 

After they left my girlfriends and I spent an all nighter outside under the stars to watch the meteor shower. It was so incredible and there is nothing like sleeping under the stars. I do have to admit that the next day I was definitely dragging a little, but it was well worth it! I mean how many times do you did to see a metor shower?! 

I had a fun, spontaneous visit from an Atlanta friend. We went camping and hiking in the Tetons and had an incredible time playing around that area. And yesterday I went on this backcountry horseback ride on Angle Mountain. I took so many pictures that the boys were making fun of me. But I couldn't help it... I have never seen in my life so many beautiful wild flowers. It smelt like I was riding a horse through Bath and Body Works. Again, it just reminded me why so many people fall in love with Wyoming.

I hope to put up some pictures later. The internet is extremely slow here an won't let me upload pictures that is why I don't have any up right now. 

Rise and Shine

When I was at camp as a little girl I remember one year my camp counselor would sing "Rise and Shine and Give God the Glory, Glory" to wake all of us girls up. I remember that even though I would feel groogy from staying up late the night before, for some reason hearing that song just put me in the best mood. Or, for example, for as long as I can remember my parents created the wonderful habit of waking all of us kids by turning on some wonderful music that echoed throughout the whole house.  It was such a great way to be wake up. Isn't it amazing how little things like this can set the additude of your whole day? Still to this day there are certain things that I love doing in the morning to get my day started right. Some mornings I don't have as much time because I have to run off to work. So it is as simple as waking up to a great song and having a big ole' cup of coffee that suffices it. But then there are those special mornings, usually on Saturdays or vacation when you wake up and get to have just the perfect morning. 

Well, here it seems that I get to have a lot of those perfect mornings. Like this morning for example where my roommate Amy and I woke up early and jumped on our bikes and had a beautiful ride to a cute little cafe about 6 miles for some breakfast and good ole'cowboy coffee (the coffee is 10 cents a cup.) Now we are sitting outside on a picnic table in the morning sun doing a little catch up on our computers. A great way to rise and shine!

As for yesterday I woke up about 7:30 and packed up my backpack and hiked up this beautiful hill (it would be considered a mountain in Georgia, but is more like a hill here in Wyoming) right by my house. The view at the top was an incredible view of the whole valley and of the Tetons. I layed out a blanket and stayed up there for a few hours just reading, journaling and listening to my IPod. 

Also, a few weeks ago Amy and I woke up at 5:30 and drove down to Mormon Row to take pictures of the most photographed barn in America, at least that is what people say around here. The barn has a great view of the Tetons right behind it. Then afterwards we rode our bikes for about three hours through the Gros Ventre which is a beautiful canyon with this great river running through it. By the time we got back home we still had a couple hours until we had to go into work. The nice thing about our job is that we have a variety of morning shifts and evening shifts throughout the week. So that is why we get the extra time to do these wonderful activites in the morning. Mornings are such a treat in life. I would probably not have said this when I was in college, but now I am really starting to love them.

So I am counting down the days to Sunday when my whole family is coming to visit. All my three sisters, my brother, mom and dad and my brother-in-law will be here. I am so excited for them to see my world. It is going to be a great week. I have all kinds of fun things lined up for them. Family is such a great thing. Another great blessing in life!

Also, I just learned that there is going to be a Meteor Shower here on August 11th. We are going to try to find a high mountain and camp out under the big sky, so that we have an incredible view of the shooting stars all night. I remember doing this in Georgia a couple times in the past and loving it. But from what I understand it happens here every year. I would assume that here it would be even more breath- taking since we are at a higher elevation here. Speaking of high elevation, we are around 7,000 feet up here. Talk about getting a good sun tan...

Listen to Your Gut Instinct

So this entry is going to be short, because I have a book I have to read tonight. See a couple of friends and I have decided to start a bookclub to get to know more ladies in the area. We meet for the first time this Sunday, so I need to do some more cramming tonight to be done by Sunday.

Soooo, can I just admit that I don't like rock climbing...not even a little!  I know...this is very hard for me to admit, because I really like to be good at sports.  But I have finally come to accept that fact that rock climbing is just not my thing. 

So here is how it all went down. My roommate Amy has a friend named Drake that rock climbs just about every weekend and has been doing it for about 6 years. He wanted to take us to Baxter Mountain located in the Grand Teton Park. MY FIRST GUT INSTINCT was Heck No! Because the only rock climbing I have ever done was at a ropes course, and it wasn't too pretty for me. But...I swear, there is something in me that just can't say No to any new opportunity. Does anyone know what I am talking about? Don't get me wrong... this can be a great personality trait, but it also gets me into very interesting predicaments. This one being a prime example.

Let's just say that I knew I had gotten in a little over my head when I was huffing for air and all red in the face before we even made it to the part of the mountain we were suppose to climb. Then when we got to the part that we were suppose to climb there were people already on it, so Drake decided that we should climb up another part of the mountain. He forgot to tell us that this new route that he decided to take us on was a lot more difficult then the original route.

The first section of the mountain that we climbed was difficult, but nothing compared to what I would later experience. I was all proud after climbing the first section and thought this might not be bad after all. When I got to the second part of the mountain and my mouth almost dropped open. It was literally straight up for MILES ( okay maybe I am exaggerating a little) with one small crack that went all the way up it. Drake showed me how to maneuver my hand into the crack so that I could put all on weight on it (yeah right) and climb up the mountain. This is when I started praying to the Lord asking for Him to forgive me for being so stupid to get myself in such a mess and for Him to please have mercy on me and keep me safe. 

Well, let's just say that I attempted it, but in no way did I come close to summiting. I did walk away with some bloody knuckles and Amy and I both lost our shoes, because they were in Amy's bag on her back when she was climbing and somehow the bag came open and the shoes fell hundreds of feet down the mountain never to be seen again. That is when I learned that rock climbing shoes are good for only climbing, but really kill your feet for hiking. It was a painful hike back. Man, I can't tell you how excited I was to get back on flat land.

Well, the moral of this story is... Listen to Your Gut Instinct.

So, you know how states have theme songs? Like the state of Georgia would be "Devil Went Down To Georgia" or" Georgia's On My Mind." Well, here in Wyoming the theme songs are       "Ghost Rider in the Sky" and "Happy Trails." Ghost Rider even has hand motions. If you have never heard these songs before you should check them out. Don't be surprised if they get stuck in your head. I often catch myself throughout the day singing the lovely tunes.

To redeem myself from my rock climbing experiences, a few days later I decided to try windsurfing for my very first time. I caught on pretty quick and really enjoyed it. The water is still very cold here, so it made me try extra hard to do well and not fall in the water.

The times that I did fall in the water I shot out like a rocket with a scream and got a lot of giggles from my friends back on the shore. Good times. I swear out here it is one adventure after another... but I wouldn't want to have it any other way!

So, this entry ended up being a little longer than I planned to write. Hopefully I can catch up on my reading tomorrow. I will hopefully get some pictures up soon.

Work Hard...Play Even Harder!

This morning I reverted back to my high school years and sleep till 10am, which I never do! 

The reason for sleeping in is because I have been exhausted lately...but it is a good exhaustion and for a good reason. See..my motto is to work hard and play even harder! And that is exactly what I have been doing. For the past week I have gone non-stop and today is the first day that I been able to finally catch up on some sleep...and I did!

I swear, It is like I am a little kid out here. Have you ever heard a parent say that their child is exhausted, but they won't go to sleep because they are having too much fun. That is my issue. See... me and my two friends here at the ranch, Amy B. and Amy H., have written down a list of sixty things that we want to do this summer. We have been going into work at 6:30 am and working our little hinnies off till 2 pm and then running out the door to embark on another one of our adventures. Just in the last few days we have been mountain biking through the beautiful country land around the ranch, through the square of Jackson and to restaurants in town. We have hiked up Signal Mountain in YellowStone, and rode the Gondola (ski lift) up to the top of the Rendeveous mountain for a picnic with a wonderful view of Jackson. We went to the big town rodeo on 4th  of July and watched an incredible firework show afterwards. Then, yesterday we were in Amy H. jeep and went looking for wild flowers on Shadow Mountain and ended up having a ride of a life time...almost a little scary at times. Let just say the emergency break had to be used. By time we got to the top of the mountain it was getting to dark to look for flowers, but again the view was incredible. It was so quiet on this mountain that it almost felt wierd.

All that it say, I am loving the fact that I get to play so much. It makes me sad that so many people as they get older stop playing. I never want this to happen to me...I refuse! I want to be in my eighties still play just as hard as I did as a kid. I believe that God loves for us to play and have fun. I hope you are having fun too!

Watch The Wind Blow By

For the most part I am pretty diverse when it comes to music...I like it all. For anybody that knows me well, they know that I am a HUGE fan of music. When it comes to country music though, I neither hate it nor love it. I like it... alright. But for some reason being out West is different. When I walk outside and see the green grass with tons of wild flowers, the huge Teton mountains and big blue sky, punk music or rock isn't the first thing I scroll to on my IPod...

it just doesn't seem to fit the moment. Instead country seems to be what I continue to play. 

For example "Watch the Wind Blow By" by Tim McGraw is my favorite song this week.  This song seems to fit the moment, because right now the fields are covered in dandelions here, and everytime the wind blows thousands of little white fuzzy things (the seeds) from the dandelions float all through the air, making for such a pretty sight.  And the song that comes to mind is... All I want to do is watch the wind blow by....

For those who dislike country...don't worry, I still like other types of music.

This week is a big week for me in the fact that I finally bit the bullet and purchased me a nice mountain bike. It is so beautiful here...that you feel guilty if you are not outside doing something.  The bike is my new transportation to and from the ranch, which is only a couple miles away. Also, there are a ton of trails around the ranch, so I hope to take it off roading a good bit. A new addition to the bike gear compared to Atlanta is that I have to bring along bear spray. I live in bear country, so I always have to be prepared. I am trying to set goals, so that I can work myself to longer and longer bike rides throughout the summer. With all the wonderful desserts that our pastry chef is making, I had to pick up another hobby besides eating dessert at every meal. Hopefully, this will balance things out!

Riding the bike might be a better bet for me anyways, because if you know anything about my past car history, you know that I have had a streak of bad luck lately with the car. 

None my fault...it just seems that when it comes to my car, bad luck likes to follow me. Just to give you a little idea, it started with my car getting stolen, next I hit a deer on interstate (more like it ran into my car), and to top it off...after that a tree fell on my car. This all happened within 5 months. It got to the point where it started getting humorous to me. The moral of the story... all things of this world are definitely temporary, so you better hold on to them lightly or you WILL be disappointed. 

So far out here eveything with the car has gone fine, but I get a little nervous at times because, ...see, I live 45 minutes outside the town of Jackson in Moran, which is a beautiful drive past the Tetons and the Elk Refuge. But everytime I am on the road I pass all kinds of animals such as elk, deer, moose, and bison. And at dusk it is especially interesting, because they all seem to come out to play. Then when I turn on the road to my house, since we live on national forest the forest rangers let their horses roam free and anyone that owes cattle or horses are allow a certain period of time for their animals to open range (not be fenced in) and eat the national forest grass. So, it is no surprise to turn a curve and come up on a bunch of horses or cattle hanging out in the middle of the road...just chilling. I drive a lot slower out here....because you never know what you are going to come across on the roads out here, and with my luck I don't want to take the chance.  All in all, it is pretty cool though when you can roll down your car window and talk to the cows as they are walking beside your car on the street. This is something that you definitely don't experience on the streets of Atlanta.