work adventures

on friday at work we had short-haul training. this is when you are attached to a helicopter from a long rope, they lift you up and then fly (at 60 mph) to another spot, and set you down. we were having training on it because there are a few spots on the transmission line we're building that aren't accessible yet (no roads, mountainous terrain, etc). so in order for surveyors and us wildlife biologists to get in (and out of) there and check things out, short-haul is the solution.

i obviously didn't partake in training, besides just listening and seeing how it was done. josh, however, got to do it!!! they take 2 people up at a time, so he went up with one of our coworkers. here are some pictures from the adventure:

waiting to be lifted up

starting to get lifted into the air

flying!

up in the air, traveling at 60 mph, just dangling from a helicopter!

on the way back to get set down

josh said it was awesome!! two of the guys we work with got to go up in the mountains later in the day and put the training to use. they were way up in the air, high over the mountains, and then got set down in the mountains to go hike part of the line. craziness! who knew being a wildlife biologist could be so cool, huh? ;)

camping adventures of the week

as you all know, i had to go camping this week. it was ok. i'm still alive and in one piece. the week was kind of uneventful. except the place we were camping at had.......horses! so of course i had to go play with them every once in a while. i wouldn't say that i'm necessarily a horse person, i just love animals. so it was fun to actually have animals there, and ones that would interact. i had some baby carrots and decided to go see if they were interested. then this happened:

at first i was scared to give them the carrot out of my hand which made me drop them and then the horses would be like *dude, where's my food?* then i realized that they just lip it right out of your hand so it was all good after that.

the black one on the right was a fatty. he kept trying to take the bag of carrots out of my hand. i had to fight him off so the other horses could get some too. as you can tell, i was very concentrated haha.

they were fun

i went back in the trailer and they followed me. apparently they weren't quite full yet...

so i went back out, gave this guy another one, and then tried to kiss him. that scared him away pretty fast.

besides the horsies, camping was just so-so. i did get an award at work. for being awesome, duh. and they gave me a forest service camelback. ok, it's not like forest service brand or anything, but theres an FS patch on it. considering i collect forest service stuff, this was pretty awesome. plus, i've always been too poor to buy a camelback, so i feel all special now.

OH, and some random guy asked us when we [my coworker and i] got engaged. we were both like... what!? apparently the guy saw my wedding ring and just assumed that we were engaged. we started thinking about it and figured that probably a lot of people thought that about us haha. when we were out to lunch last week a guy thought we were married. i find it funny that people ask if my actual husband and i are brother/sister or twins; and if my coworker and i are engaged/married. ironic, much?

nooo...!

just found out i'm camping all week for work. as in, today til thursday. UGH! i hate when this happens because i seriously have to mentally prepare myself to go camping. and i didn't get the time to do that. so...check out all my other posts while i'm gone. i just did a fun/silly one last night.

when i get back expect to see these things this weekend:

-a BESTeam feature

-a GIVEAWAY!

-a csn product review

-all my fun camping adventures (if i have any...)

have a lovely week, and i'll see you all when i get back from being RUGGED! xoxo

adventures in the high uintas

we made a friend this week at work. he was so cute and he was staring us and following us with his head. we named him rikki tikki tavi, or "tavi" for short. ♥

we had to cross the river, and we didn't have waders so we had to take off our shoes and socks and roll up our pants. cuz we're hardcore.

crossing a log. i got scared and so i just scooted across on my bum.

on wednesday we hiked 12 miles. it was horrid. on monday we have to hike 18 miles. YIKES! and do work on the top of all that hiking. gross, huh? i might die. wish me luck!

this is getting old...

tomorrow i am off to go camping again. ugh. sometimes being rugged can get tiring. when i get back expect to see the following:

-a BESTeam feature
-a blog about a new friend i made this weekend!
-brand new products being listed in both of our shops (hair accessories and baby items)
-probably some rugged stories. we'll see how exciting work is this week haha.

have a LOVELY week!! ♥

when i'm not blogging or crafting...

i'm being a:

or

♥
what about you?

i'm baaaack!

but only for the weekend. then it's off to camping again. for five more weeks to be precise. ugh. anyways, this week wasnt terrible. now that i am getting in better shape the job is a bit more enjoyable. i can hike without dying. speaking of hiking, we hiked about 14 miles this past week. not a ton, but that was in two and a half days. on monday we just got the trailer set up and then went and looked at projects that have been done (stream restoration, wetlands created, etc). that was pretty fun, except i got sunburnt BAD. since we were just looking at stuff i didnt even think to put sunscreen on. thankfully my coworker had brought ocean potion, which i slathered on for the rest of our trip.

one of my favorite moments of the week was that we made smores. i bought smores stuff, and at the grocery store in kamas they had HUGE marshmallows. like, as big as my fist [no joke]. it was insane. since we didnt feel like lighting a fire this particular night, we cooked them over the gas range. they were delicious. although we found that the huge marshmallows might have been a mistake. they were so big that we had to use full graham crackers. all the rest in the little pack were already broken by the time i'd finished cooking my marshmallow, so i got 4 half pieces. bad idea.

warning: i look DISGUSTING/disturbing in this picture (i was laughing). but this is how messy eating the smore was. actually, it was messier, but you get the idea:

so altogether, the week was pretty good. i slipped and fell in the stream on tuesday and hit my knee on a rock pretty bad (and since then my leg below the knee feels kinda messed up) but im sure its nothing major. i have a nice little bruise where it hit the rock though. and since that day ive been scared to cross streams, because i'm nervous i'll fall in again. wouldnt you know it, on wednesday i stepped on a rock in the stream and it slipped right out from under me. at least this time only my one foot fell in and got soaking wet. ahh, the life of being rugged...

anyways, that was my week at work camping. i should have taken more pictures of stuff. i'll take my camera this next week. it was heavenly to come home to a nice hot shower (and presents in the mail! i'll fill you in tomorrow).

stay tuned for a ROCKIN GIVEAWAY tomorrow!!! [you won't want to miss it!]

ps: check out livia's giveaway to win $40 at CSN!

off to be rugged...

hi. reminder this week that i will be:

as a parting gift, and something to both entertain and educate, i leave you this:


[i originally found it on elsies blog]

and umm hi, can i just have awesome clothes and play dress up and tea party with my friends all the time like this girl does? [jealous alert!] i would prefer that to hiking and camping in the woods for the week. if anyone could arrange that i would really appreciate it.

ps: i made a button for my blog. its on that sidebar over thurr <---------. take one if you want, i wont be offended either way.

pps: happy fathers day daddy-o. you're awesome ♥

5 things:

1. the csn giveaway ends today (@midnight!). my friend liv also has one going on here, which you should check out (anything to increase those odds! haha).

2. reminder that tomorrow is the provo farmers market, from 9-2 at pioneer park. we would love to have some visitors!!

3. my friend asked me to watch her guinea pig for her while she's in DC, and this happened:

they're basically bff

4. next week for work i'm camping, so after this weekend i won't be blogging for a few days. i havent forgotten about you, i'm just off roughin it in the wild. no big deal: i'm rugged, so whaturr. ♥

5. remember when we bought our grown up couch? but we still had the unmatching full size couch (seen in above picture)? wellllll, the full size matching couch is on sale right now at rc willey, so we bought it!! now we just need to find a truck so we can move it into our apartment. oh, and get rid of the old couch. (i have it listed here and on craigslist, if you're interested).

hi...i'm rugged

hi. i'm a hydro tech in the summers. i walk streams and do surveys and take notes, etc. and to prove to you that i do indeed go out in the forest and rough it, here are some pictures:

workin hard for the money

yes. it has snowed lately in utah. lovely, huh?

like shooter (i'm mark wahlberg). this was pretty steep, and the snow patch was bigger than it looks like in the picture. i was a little scared i would fall and hurt myself.

we found this huge teepee in the woods made from branches. at first i was scared there might be a hobo in there (or worse) but it was safe and sound, so of course i had to check it out :]

this picture is oddly artistic

this was right before some snow. it was frigid out.

fun, huh? well...sometimes. i'm trying to have a better attitude about it so i can survive the rest of the summer. it sure is whipping me into shape though with all that hiking. yikes. goodnight now! ♥

if i were a boy...

i could pee better in the woods.

alternate titles to this post could include:
"ewwwwwww"
"tut tut tut looks like rain"
"embarrassing story of the [day/week/month]"

umm, so as you probably know, i work out in the wilderness. i am a hydrologic technician, and i am mostly out in the forest. being out in nature does have its setbacks, such as: bugs, doodoo (cow pies are everywhere), wild animals, and PEEING.

this summer it's just me and my coworker (so far--a new girl starts next week), and we've been working together from the beginning (since summer 2008). we work well together and get along really well, and he's pretty chill and funny.

so this morning i had to "use the facilities" as we like to call it. i went out behind some trees and did my business. as i was zipping up my pants i looked down and noticed that i...um...got some on my pants. PEE got on my pants! i had a mini panic and then had to decide what to do about the situation. i decided to just own it. so i walk back over to the truck and go "umm...i just peed on my pants." we had quite a good laugh over it, and i was so relieved that i've worked with this guy for a while and it wasn't my first day with some new person. i mean, it's bad enough that i had to walk around with urine pants, right?