Climb Every Mountain

Wow, I never thought the day would come when I would write a blog about climbing mountains...

I grew up hearing about mountains all the time, and living in New Mexico there were a lot of them around. My dad had a tradition to take each of my brothers on trip to climb one of the different nearby mountains with just the two of them. That mountain then became 'their mountain.' When we were driving around they could look up with pride and point at the mountain that was claimed as their own. It was a really special experience for each of them and I know it made my dad happy. I never went on one of these mountain claiming trips. I think it was mostly because there was a forest fire that went through our town and a lot of the nearby mountains and hikes were closed for a while. Even with that barrier I am sure we could have found a time to do it if it was something that I really wanted to do. But it wasn't. My parents and brothers were all really excited and motivated about mountains but I just didn't get it...why would I want to go through all the pain and discouragement to reach the top to see a view that I could of just seen in a postcard or picture? It wasn't that I didn't enjoy the outdoors or physical activities, because I definitely did...but climbing mountains just wasn't for me.

Last weekend I went to the BYU Homecoming Spectacular show and the theme this year was "Reach for the Summit." The musical and artistic performances were all based around this theme. The narrator through the show was a mountain man that reminded me so much of my dad. His love of nature, passion for hiking, and obvious excitement about climbing mountains that he wants to share with everyone around him were completely my dad. When the mountain man broke into an inspirational song about climbing mountains the likeness was sealed. As the man tried to convince the group of boys of all the reasons that they should climb the mountain, I couldn't help but see my dad saying the same thing to me. To add to this uncanny resemblance between the mountain man and my dad, I know the person who designed the Homecoming logo and she told me that the hat that the mountain man is wearing in the logo was based off of my brother's hat...which is the same hat that my dad and all of my brothers have and all started with my dad...

So the show focused on Mount Timpanogas since that is the nearby mountain that is an exhausting hike, but apparently worth it. My dad wants so bad to be able to hike that mountain one day. As cliche as this may sound, by the time the show was over I had a huge urge to go hike Timp. It is too cold to do now, but it is now one of my goals for when it is warm enough.

I was thinking about this some more and about all of the mountains that I have climbed in my past. I have climbed Wheeler Peak (the highest mountain in New Mexico at 13, 161 feet) three times. The first time was when I was about 12 years old when I went with a group of 16 year old girls that my parents were going with:

Notice the hat...

The second time was when I was about 13 years old and I was going with my Young Women group as part of Girls Camp:

Me and my friend Britany

And the third time was when I was about 14 and we went with my whole family during the last summer of all of us together for a while:

See how they all have the hat :)

My appreciation and acceptance of mountains has really grown through the years and now I view them as more than just pure torture :). I have always been one who loves symbols and meaningful metaphors and I cannot deny that mountains are a very good metaphor for life. All three times that I hiked Wheeler Peak it was difficult and exhausting. There were those times when it was especially steep and I would take one step forward only to fall two steps back in the loose rocks and wanted so bad to give up and convince myself it wasn't worth it. There were people in my group that did give up and never reached the top. No one would have thought any less of me if I didn't make it all the way to the top. But I made it all three times. And the only person I was battling was myself. There is something truly satisfying about conquering the weak side of yourself, and climbing a mountain is definitely one way to do that.

I got the chance to climb Timp about halfway this summer. We left too late in the day to be able to get to the top, and honestly I was completely okay with that. But even just going halfway we got pretty high up and the view was breathtaking and, contrary to my previous beliefs, you cannot capture it in a picture:

I look forward to being able to one day reach the summit. Now, who would have thought I'd ever say that? :)

One Year Older and.... Wiser too?

I remember as a little girl that I always thought 19 was the magical age. I thought that 19 year old girls were on the top of the world and at the best place in their life... everything was so much better at 19. I would always play the 19 year old girl in all the make-believe games that I played with my friends or by myself. I could hardly wait until that time...

And then yesterday I turned 19. When I climbed out of bed in the morning I felt a little tingle that started in my toes and went all the way up to my nose and I could feel the transformation happening.... Okay, just kidding. Truth is I didn't feel any different being one year older...along with every other birthday I have had. But that is how everything with time goes. You can never feel it when it's happening, you can only see the change when you look back and see the effects. I could see absolutely no difference from one day to the next, but when I think back to where I was one year ago, so much has changed...

I am living in a different state in a totally different setting. My living arrangements, schedule, activities and atmosphere are all completely different. I have new friends, new family members(a sister-in-law and my first nephew), new interests, new responsibilities and commitments, new trials and new blessings. In so many ways I have changed so much, but in other ways I am the same. My basic beliefs, ideas and personality are the same, but so many other parts of me have changed. I think that in general people usually think that they don't change much, that they stay basically the same. I think a lot of the time people want to believe that, because change is scary and hard, and you don't want to believe that you are not going to stay the same. But change can also be wonderful. How can anyone ever progress or experience new things without change? Change is also inevitable. I think back on all that has happened to me in the last 12 months...all of the people I have met and interacted with and learned from...all of the times that I fell down and thought I couldn't get back up again, but did...all of the moments when I thought life couldn't get any better than that, but it did... and I realize: how could I possibly not change? How can anyone not change? It is unavoidable, and should not be avoided, but instead embraced.

So as I begin my 19th year I am filled with anticipation, excitement, wonder, and a little bit of nervousness as I think about what is to come and all that will change outside of me and, more importantly, inside of me by the time my next birthday comes. I have no idea, and that's exactly how it was meant to be...

Come Listen to a Prophet's Voice

This weekend was pretty full, but not in the way weekends normally are. All of Saturday and Sunday were based around General Conference. Saturday morning, bright and early, I headed up to Salt Lake City with my brother and sister-in-law, my other brother, and two of my roommates. We watched the Saturday morning session in the Conference Center.



Afterward, we had a picnic

Kylie and Rachel

Then we watched the afternoon session in the Joseph Smith Memorial Building. And we all posed by the lovely reflection pool afterward:

Jeff, Rachel, Kylie, Greg, Kristen, and me

Roommates!

Sunday morning we had a big potluck breakfast at our apartment with all of the people from Saturday plus another roommate and friend. We all watched the morning session together in our PJs while we ate the delicious breakfast. And of course, we watched the afternoon session as well.

I had a particularly good conference experience this year. I finally tried what people had been telling me to do for a while now. I have heard everyone's experiences with having a specific question before conference and then having that question answered in one of the talks. I was always a little scared that I would do it and there would be no answer, so I would kind of go into conference with general ideas and sorta questions. But this time I decided to do it for real and I came up with a couple questions, and one main one, and I wrote them down. And, what do you know, my main question was addressed in the very first talk! I had a very good conference experience and I am very grateful that we had the opportunity to listen the prophet and all the other speakers and to hear all of their wisdom!