25 has been a big year....

Graduation... Marriage... Triathlon.... and today... my last day of being 25.... I'm running my first 1/2 marathon.

Robie Creek in 3 hours!

Cheers to what's to come in year 26!

It's been a good year, good winter. Busy.... but good.

I was thinking today, I'm such a loser and haven't taken any pictures all year! Then I dug out my dusty camera and found a few... So here is a 2010 update for all you who haven't given up on my blog.

Steve skiing upper hidden at Brundage in McCall...


We had our second weekend off together all winter and headed to McCall during their winter festival. Brundage was beautiful and we skied ALL day!!


I love this state, pretty cool ice sculpture. We didn't get to see all the sculptures around town, because we didn't want to fight the crowds and staying in the cabin was easier... McCall becomes a zoo that weekend.


Us heading out for the night to meet up with friends at a concert.

This year hasn't been all fun and games, we've been working fairly hard on our kitchen.... still!

Our new counter tops... notice the big hole where the sink should be... luckily that was out for only a day.


Another hole, where we should have a stove. That wasn't bad not having a range for a few days, but currently we are without an oven. I'm ready to go on a baking binge once the new one is put in!!!


The whole fam (the cat's hard to see due to his race) playing in the snow. Our new year's snowman... who melted fast.


For Valentine's day, after work we went up skiing at Bogus, then Steve had reservations on the top floor of the pioneer lodge for a romantic dinner. Good job babe!!

That's about it for 2010 updates. We're both doing good. We signed up for Robie Creek half marathon on April 17th... which forces us to get out and run. I'm currently playing on a city league volleyball team, which has been fun to dust off the ol' cobwebs..

Cheers to spring coming our way!!

Cortina, Italy

Here is what Cortina looked like during the 1956 Olympic games....

A general view of the Olympic skating rink in Cortina, Italy, as Boris Shilkov of Soviet Russia passes the finishing line to win the 5,000 metre speed skating event. (Keystone/Getty Images)

And how Steve and I saw it in 2009...

This was one of the many beautiful stops on our honeymoon... We camped in the pouring rain after a long drive, but woke up to this cute little town of Cortina. We ate a traditional Italian breakfast while enjoying the views of the lake and surrounding mountains, then we went hiking.

Kind of neat to see it then and now.

Nothing here

I keep checking my own blog to see if it's been updated.

Shoot, nothing... Where is the automatic update button?

Happy Thanksgiving

I love heading home to Bancroft for the holidays, especially when my sister and mom cook such amazing food to feed my belly....

Good thing Lauren and Chloe (my sisters twins) drag me out on the tramp to work off some of the pumpkin cheesecake calories.


Lil Ivy, she's so adorable...


Me and the cooks: look'n smok'n in the kitch'n!


Noah, ready to dig in


And we took home an exciting spring project; restoring these very old bikes to their original condition!

It was great to be home, and fun seeing family...
I have so much to be grateful for!

THINGS I MISS....

DOING!
I wish I had more time to be doing the things I want to be doing, like:


Rope swinging in the forest...



making Steve remodel our kitchen...


Building things...


like a cat scratching post...


mountain biking...


going on road trips...


and being in the beautiful Sawtooths....

Work is overrated, I would rather be doing these things all day everyday... although our cat probably only needs one scratching post :)

I love....

Stanley Idaho!

Its one of my favorite places.

Rope swings, long mnt bike rides, camping in the cold mnt weather, jumping in even colder water to bathe, hanging with friends, dancing, hiking to beautiful lakes, and hot springing.... It's the best time up there, fall... sun is shining!

I LOVE LIFE and i love the weekend!!!

Wallowa Mountains, weekend before Labor Day

Now that my name is on the title, it's time I chime in and help with our blog. Hopefully, I can keep the fun vibe Shay has managed over the last year.

After much contemplation and chin scratching, Shay and I decided how we'd spend our last three day weekend that we'd have for awhile, the Wallowas! It was an exciting discovery to realize there was a new area for us, just 4 hours away. We loaded the truck, hit the interstate and pulled into Two Pan trail head just in time to have a relaxing evening, a big dinner, and pack for our over night hike the next day.

It was 7 miles to our destination, Lakes Basin and Eagle Cap Mountain. It started with a daring crossing of the raging Lostine Creek.



After a hour and half we had slogged up the steep trail far enough to get our first view of Eagle Cap, the mountain we hoped to climb. I thought "that looks far away" which were the first words out of Shay's mouth when she saw it. Uhhh.... it's not as far as it looks.



It was far, but we made it to the lakes!



I tried to impress Shay by tip-toeing on rocks out to "the big one". My gracefulness must have must have left her amazed.



After a restless night, we woke up to tea and oatmeal and climbed Eagle Cap mountain before our hike back to the car. It was an incredible view and our first summit together, as we mentioned in the summit register.







We soaked our legs in the cold water before the long backpack down to the car. I forgot Ibuprofen.......why?




Shay was a trooper! She set the pace and power-walked us out of the forest past dozens of other hikers and did it with painful blisters. That's what you are looking at below, if you weren't sure.



It was a long day, waking up at camp, climbing a peak, hiking back to the car and driving home, but we felt good and had an awesome sunset sending us home.

Summer is fun, but also almost over...

And because of that fact, Steve and I are making the most of our weekends before he starts working crazy hours until March.

So with that said, we went up to McCall to do some backpacking and biking!
We hiked up to Snowslide lake and camped out...


Short hike in but fairly steep


Me trying to filter water but then decided its better to wave it around like nunchucks


Preparing our dinner for the night, one we became too familiar with in Europe... noodles and red sauce with sardines. Yum!


Pretty cool counter top, i could get use to


Our view during dinner, and our deer friend


Next day on the bikes around McCall, we went exploring on some new trails on the backside of brundage


But after a few good loops we went off in a different direction... only to discover a dead end. The trail was really new...


McCall was beautiful, biking was a blast. It's always a treat to get out in nature... break a sweat, enjoy new scenery, and be away from the normal pace of life.

Tomorrow we are off to Wallowa Lake in OR.

Newlyweds

Just a few photo's from our wedding a couple months ago!










We did it, we got married!

Switzerland

I'd like to introduce to you, for the first time... Mrs. ShayLynn O'Connor! Official now for 1 month and 1 day!!!

There is SSSSOOOOOOO much to tell about the wedding and the honeymoon, it overwhelms me... So I'm starting with day one of honeymoon. Wedding photo's to follow- at some point.

Steve and I rushed to leave after our oh-so-perfect-wedding to our glamorous European honeymoon... okay maybe it wasn't glamorous at all, since we camped every night and ate pasta and red sauce for the majority of the trip. But, we loved every second of it and got to see some spectacular sites!



We started the trip in Switzerland! The most beautiful place... Steve's good friend Scott and his wife Jennifer (who grew up there) were in Leysin. We stayed with them for a couple of nights. Leysin is a cute little village that is centered around skiing... Jennifer's dad owns a ski shop there. We did some hiking, dirt scooting, climbing, eating traditional Swiss meals, and a day trip to Chamonix with them. It was a great way to begin our trip.

One day with Scott, we took the gondola up to climb a via feratta route to the top of the Tour de Ai. It was an exciting climb up ladders and rungs as we clipped into the cables and made our way up the steep wall. Our shoes were slick from the muddy hike up which made the climbing a bit scary. I was the most scared, but ended up having fun.


We put these dirt scoots in the gondola so we could ride them down the mountain after the climb. Here is Scott and Steve checking out the mountain...


I may be smiling, but it's just for show


Steve nearing the end of the climb


The view from the top was foggy, but still amazing





The hike off the top was something you couldn't dream up... the swiss cows were mooing the their bells were ringing in the distance... the green hill sides, it was all just too beautiful!


We dirt scooted a ways down, and stopped at a hidden farm/ranch/chalet on the mountainside and had lunch... ham sandwiches and demi croute.


Great views while eating lunch


We got SO muddy dirt scooting the rest of the way down, it was entertaining.

That was the first day of our 3 week trip... Chamonix next!