this excited body needs to get outside to let the imagination fly

for the past two days i have been practically glued to my computer...

you would think i was designing computer software or writing code, but no,

i have been trying to improve my illustrator skills for an exciting project i'm working on.

this morning, after a great little meeting, my brain has been flooded with ideas

and i'm tempted to spend another day on the computer...

but i'm going to fight that urge because i know that when this happens

i need to take a walk outside, in my mountains, in the woods,

and write down everything that comes into this body, heart & mind.

so very excited indeed. can't wait to tell/show you all what it's all about.

these photos are from our last trip down to southern utah.

ceej is in europe (in norway, i think, at the moment), and i'm missing him.

i think it's hardest when the holiday season is upon us, and i have no one

to sip hot cocoa with and listen to andy williams with. 

sunday this loneliness will be over with. can't wait.

so until then, i'm distracting myself with such a wonderful project and headed to the mountains.

ode to capitol reef national park {part three} : chimney rock and how we quickly came down from the mountain to avoid potential lightning

chimney rock is a classic easy little hike in the park that offers some amazing views.

on our way out of the park ceej and i decided to quickly run up this little mountain

to see what we could see. after we got to the top and took a few photos

a storm began to quickly come in...that's how these storms work: they come so quickly

that they catch you off guard. the top of a mountain is no place to be in a potentially

electric storm. so we quickly packed up all the cameras and ran back down to the trailhead,

just in time for me to have my traditional chocolate milk before we got in the car and rain

started to fall harder than we've seen in years.

i'm off to spend the day with sisters, brothers, mom, nieces, & nephews at this local theme park.

i haven't been there since i was an awkward and obnoxious 15-year-old.

all morning i've been listening to this band to add a little nostalgia to the day. so awesome.

i'm hoping my stomach still possesses a bit of steal so that i don't get too sick. wish me luck!

next week i'll have more "come alive" posts for you. can't wait!

happy weekend!

ode to capitol reef national park {part two} : a little geology lesson

one of the things i love about the desert is how old and ancient it is.

i love how it is drastically different than it was hundreds of thousands of years ago.

the desert is a place that holds so many secrets, so many unknowns,

a mysteriousness that draws me in.

luckily, ceej is a geology nut and he actually takes time to read

the little signs on the side of the road and at the trailheads.

we learned that the top layer of these cliffs were once a desert

much like the sahara.

the middle layer, that is a grayish-green color, was once a

forest that became covered in volcanic ash when there was

a massive explosion and the forest became slowly petrified forever.

the bottom layer, with its red ridges, was once a tropical jungle of sorts.

can you believe how much the earth can change???

sahara desert, forest, tropical jungle, and now a red rock wonderland.

{will be back soon with another installment of our "come alive" series}

ode to capitol reef national park {part one} : so happy about the mild summer weather so far

well, dear readers, it was my lucky weekend:

cool weather, lots of pretty storm clouds, though there

was no lightning to be seen (which was probably for the best

since we were up on high places to take in the vastness of this red rock desert).

obviously we took a plethora of photos (lots of film that i just dropped off at the lab!).

so...you'll be seeing red rock photos for a good portion of the week.

perfect way to bring in the summer season (the less heat the better!)

AND there will be a handful of posts here by other bloggers that i've

asked to share with us some of their inspiration this week...you will die with swooning breaths

when you see what they've put together for us.

happy monday!

{images: a mix of mine and ceej's}

we're off to the desert...and i'm crossing my fingers that our "slight chance of thunderstorms" turns into a certain chance of thunderstorms

ceej and i are headed off to capitol reef late afternoon.
there's some thunder storms and rain in the forecast...
i've been waiting to be part of a thunderstorm in the desert for years.
these photos were taken by ceej almost four years ago
{i wasn't on this trip...boo. of course i missed it!}

there's lots of packing and prepping to do
{and i'm a bit sad because i think i lost the lefty to my fave pair of hiking sandals. lame-o.}

hope you have lovely summer plans this weekend!

our red rock wilderness {part one} : another reason we love living here

"something will have gone out of us as a people if we ever let the
remaining wilderness be destroyed...we simply need that wild country
available to us, even if we never do more than
drive to its edge and look in."

-wallace stegner

have you ever looked in to the mysteries and grand beauty
of the red rock desert?
it changes you. it slows your breath, and opens your heart and mind...
but it closes your mouth.
all you want to do is listen and watch to find out just how much this
seemingly empty place is moving and growing...thousands and thousands
of years of constant, but steady, change.

our red-rock wilderness pulls at my heart-strings.
it is a place that is incredibly stormy:
at one moment the sun shines and the dirt is cracked,
and before you know it a thunderhead has burst
and flash floods can be a danger that i have, luckily, never experienced.

it is stormy in another way:
there are tensions as to whether it should be preserved
as the great wilderness that it is,
or if it should be interrupted for our energy consumption,
or opened to development that, simply, there is not enough
water in this desert to support.

we fight to keep this wilderness...
because when it's gone, our children will miss it.
i know nature is much more powerful than us,
and could possibly heal after hundreds or thousands of years...
but i desperately want my children to know this wild place
as i have known it. and i desperately wish i knew this wild place as
it was for my grandpa as he traveled its canyons and plateaus so many decades ago.

this place will heal you.
it will whisper the most simple, but awe-inspiring secrets to your heart.

this is why we love living here. the wilderness is at our fingertips.

{by the way, did you know that much of this red rock wilderness is yours? if you live in the US, and pay your taxes, then you have a right to say what happens to this land...pretty rad, huh?}