Halloween

Our Halloween was a two-weekend par-tay. We started the weekend before Halloween with a pumpkin carving party at Tara and Phil's.

That Saturday, we went to the much-awaited Hagen Annual Halloween Party. Tobin and Diana always go all out (and we always have a wonderful time). Rod and I were our competitive selves, taking second in the movie guessing game, winning Funniest Costume, and on the winning team of Halloween cranium. We walked out with a whole bagful of candy. YUM!

Halloween night we started at the Rico's Customer Appreciation fundraiser. It is one of our favorite fundraisers. I had to skip lunch so that I had enough room to eat all of the yummy food: tamales, mole meatballs, empanadas, taco cart, ceviche, pumpkin soup, and on and on. My favorite was sirloin with chimichurri. I went way past my happy place!

Then we headed to a house party in the Aves. It was the wildest party I've been to since law school. It was out of control. Most of the pictures are too risque to post, but here are a few of the PG-13 ones.

A Regina Weekend

I might have mentioned her once or twice (or a billion times). Regina, one of my best friends, is my favorite person to travel with. She is one of those people that things just happen to. She is almost five years younger than me, has an engineering degree from UCLA, and has traveled EVERYWHERE. We met in Bolivia and traveled together through Peru and Colombia. A couple years later, I visited her while she was doing Peace Corp work in Honduras.

After years of meeting in other countries, she came out to see me in the middle of October. She was a good sport, helping me out with the Walk Against Violence and the after party on Friday. I spent the rest of the weekend being a tourist in my own town, showing Regina everything I could fit into the weekend. On Saturday, we took a trip out to the Bonneville Salt Flats. Even though it was our first time there, it was kind of nostalgic for us. Just before we met in Bolivia, we had each gone on a salt flats trip in Uyuni. I had actually overheard a guy comparing the Bolivia salt flats with the ones in Utah and thought, "Huh, I didn't even know there were salt flats in Utah." As far as the comparison, I would have to see them back to back. It has been too long. We had a lot of fun playing on the salt.











On Saturday night, Carrie was nice enough to let me bring Regina to Joel's birthday party. One of the little girls there was too cute.

Sunday, we took a drive over guardsman to look at the leaves and play in the snow.
After brunch in Park City, we headed out for a climb on Narcolepsy Wall. I did my first 5.9 (and it was a +)!

Harrow came over for a post-climb meal, and we all soaked in the new hot tub.

On Monday night, Regina and I took a long walk to the dog park. Regina picked the perfect weekend to come out. The leaves were incredible.


It was so fun catching up with Regina (and planning our next trip)!

A Mile in Her Shoes

During the summer between middle school and junior high, one of my best friends disappeared. I didn't really know what had happened to her until she sent me a letter. We spent the rest of the summer communicating by sending each other hours of cassette tapes. It wasn't until high school that I understood that her mother had been a victim of domestic violence. And, like most women in such relationships, she went back to her husband a number of times before . . . the relationship ended for good.

That first summer of not knowing where my friend was, was just the first of many times when she would suddenly disappear. She got better about calling me to let me know that everything was okay. Well, as okay as they could be given the circumstances. As a teenager, I had no idea how to talk to my friend about what was going on. Most of the time, we didn't talk about it. Looking back, I wish I could have been a better friend.

Perhaps in an effort to redeem myself, since high school, I have spent a lot of time working with victims of domestic violence and domestic violence shelters. My most recent role in this arena has been as the community service chair of Young Lawyers Division (YLD). For the last two years, my committee has focused on community service projects benefiting women and children who have been victims of domestic violence.

On October 16, YLD hosted the First Annual Walk Against Violence to kick off YWCA's Week Without Violence. All proceeds of the walk went to the YWCA, a shelter that serves over 8,000 women and children annually.

As stressful as it was putting this race together--I've barely ran a 5K, let alone organize one--everything fell into place perfectly. We were able to get several amazing sponsors: American Express, YLD (of course), Women Lawyers of Utah, Parr Brown Gee & Loveless, Richards Brandt Miller & Nelson, Dorsey & Whitney, and Durham Jones. Brandon Walker designed our awesome logo for free. Sports Am timed it for a substantially discounted race. Our costs were completely covered so that all of the registration fees went directly to YWCA.

The best part--The High Heel Challenge! We put men symbolically in her shoes to "Walk a Mile in her Shoes." Rod looked super-sexy in the fuzzy pink heels I purchased for him. :) I thought they would calmly walk the mile, collect their medals, and leave. Instead, there was a full on sprint. Terry Welch, Rob Harrow/Ponte, and Brian Lloyd won first, second, and third, respectively.



My good friends, Clem and Joanna also took first and second in the mens and womens 5K respectively. Judge McHugh also placed in her age category. So many of my friends showed up to support me (and the cause!).

YWCA was so pleased. We are already planning next year's event!




If you missed the race and want to contribute, check out www.ywca.com.

Moab Wedding

Our second weekend in October was spent in Moab celebrating the nuptials of Megan and Dasch. For them, boating has been a huge part of their lives, both together and separately. It made perfect sense, then, that their wedding would be in Moab, the boating mecca of Utah. We started our weekend with a BBQ on Takeout Beach. Megan looked beautiful as always. When it got too dark to see there, we moved the party to the Moab Brewery.

The ceremony began early the next morning at Sandy Beach. Megan's dad paddled her to the aisle. Ben, the person who introduced Megan and Dasch, performed the ceremony. Their dogs, Ruby and Tappan, were the ring bearers. After exchanging vows, Megan and Dasch skipped down the aisle to "All I want is you." After a brief, but sweet, champagne toast, Megan and Dasch floated away in their pink tulle-wrapped boat.






Between the ceremony and reception, Rod and I checked out Arches National Park. It is one of my favorite national parks. We had gorgeous weather for exploring.

The reception was held at the Sunset Grill. Rod spent most of the reception checking the LSU/Florida score. I actually had a song dedicated to me and one other girl as "The Single Ladies." :) Clem was determined to get Rod on the dance floor and attempted to steal his iPhone. Immediately after grabbing it from Rod's hands, though, he tripped and ate it. And that is what we call karma. After the game was over, Rod made up for lost time. He even made a (hilarious) attempt at mimicking Scott's butt dance. Too funny!

We finished our perfect weekend off with brunch at the Takeout Beach and a float trip on the Colorado River. Congratulations Megan and Dasch!

October--What happened to the summer.

I think this is the first time since July that I am actually blogging in the same month as things are happening. Although we were technically home in the larger sense of the word during this first weekend in October, we did not actually spend much time at home. Shantel and Tom stopped in for lunch at Red Iguana on their way to Moab. It was great getting together with old friends, even if it was just for lunch.

Friday night, we were invited to a very fun dinner party at Steve and Kathy's house. Steve is one of my favorite people to work with. He is so interesting and is happy to listen to me bitch anytime. Every year, he hosts a post-ride dinner at his house. We skipped the ride--my road bike hasn't seen anything but a trainer in two years--but were happy to enjoy the wonderful meal his wife Kathy cooked for us.

Saturday was a great day for Kellies. I started my day at a baby shower for Keli and ended it at a birthday party for Kelly. Robyn, the hostess for Keli's baby shower, threw such an adorable shower. The cupcakes alone were worth blogging about. I think they were homemade. Robyn also thought of lots of cute little details. Like most baby showers, though, there were several horror stories about childbirth. I'm not sure why anyone ever thinks it's a good idea to tell someone who is 8 months pregnant about every horrible labor, pregnancy, baby story they have ever heard. It is enough for me to re-think the idea of ever having children. I always pity the guest of honor who no matter how bad the horror stories get cannot back out.

I've heard some people rationalize this behavior by saying that you should be prepared for the worst. Personally, I would rather read about "the worst" in a detached book where (1) I don't have to picture my friends in less than flattering positions or (2) realize that the horror story is closer than I realize. At my shower (which will be far, far in the future), I'm going to make all the guests sign an agreement not to share any scary/gross/embarassing stories.

Keli took it all in stride, though. She was so cute opening her presents and looking at the tiny little outfits. She is going to be such a great mom. Congratulations Keli and Dave!

Immediately after Keli's shower, I headed to Kelly's birthday party. For Kelly's birthday, our book club group headed to the Trappist Monastery (the Abbey of Our Lady of the Holy Trinity) in Huntsville. We were too late (or early) to see the trappist monk's chanting, but we did pick up some honey. The monastery itself was much more modern than I expected. The setting was lovely, though. Since we still had some time to kill before our dinner plans, we stopped at the Shooting Star, the oldest bar in Utah. This is a hidden gem. The beer selection wasn't great, but the food and decor were very quirky and memorable. There are stuffed animals (the taxidermied kind) all over the wall. We sat underneath someone's St. Bernard. We had dinner plans so we didn't sample any of the burgers, which sounded so yummy, but we did try a local favorite appetizers: potato chips and dill pickles. A strange, but surprisingly tasty combination. We will be making a trip back here this winter for the end of day skiing at Powder Mountain.

We headed back to SLC for dinner at Settabello, where Rod joined us. We ended up fitting in a pub crawl to two new bars, Poplar St. and Beerhive. I'm not sure if the word is out yet, but Beerhive is the next big thing in SLC. I'm sure that within months, we will be waiting in line to get a table. We ended our day with a Deschuttes Black Butte XXI. It tasted like chocolate covered coffee beans. It was so tasty and rich, I couldn't have possible finished the big bottle by myself.

The next morning, we met up for brunch at Em's with Dave, Inga, Ivan, Monette, Daisy, Dave, and (the guests of honor) Karthik and Eve to meet their new baby: Sita. She is sooo beautiful! And Eve had the most perfect birth story--3 hours!--to counteract any lingering negative mental pictures from the day before. Gabe is getting so big! He is such a cutie.

Happy Engagement!

For the last weekend in September, Rod and I headed to Louisiana to celebrate Stephen and Elise's Engagement Party. We missed our first flight by 10 minutes (we were there in time, but American Airlines' ticketing agent wasn't). With enough tears and sobbing, we were able to fly standby on the first flight out the next morning. We had to get up at 4 a.m. to make sure we were the first ones on the standby list.

By the time we landed in Baton Rouge, we were exhausted. We grabbed lunch at Zeeland Street Market and then spent the afternoon napping. By the time we woke up, it was time for dinner at Acme Oyster House's new location in Baton Rouge.

The next morning, we watched an uncomfortably close between LSU and Mississippi State, stopped by to visit Aunt Jumy, Amy, and family, before heading to Jennings. The party was at a remodeled country club on Lake Arthur that has been in Elise's family for a couple generations. The decorations were fabulous and the food was even better. I would have bet money that they spent a fortune on both, but they were completely homemade. Every detail was perfect down to the last monogrammed napkin. The party really got started when Mr. Lagarde (Elise's dad) started pouring Patron shots and playing, in Rod's words, "music white people can dance to."

We were in the last shuttle group of the evening. We had 22 people (and several open bottles of wine/liquor) in a 15 passenger van. It was a long, but entertaining ride back to the hotel. When we got back, no one was ready to go to bed. We spent about 15 minutes talking about going to the Waffle House--apparently a Louisiana post-drinking tradition. One by one, people eventually went to bed.

In front of the hotel.

After getting back from Jennings--where we later learned from CNN News that a serial killer is loose--but before catching our flight, we stopped in for one last great seafood meal at The Chimes and made a quick visit to Mrs. Caroline, Rod's third Grandma. Amazingly, despite being one day short, we were able to see almost everyone on our trip. It was at breakneck speed, but we did it. Congratulations Stephen and Elise! We are so happy for you and cannot wait for your wedding.

A beautiful weekend without any photos

I can't believe I forgot my camera! I never leave home without it. On Friday, September 18 (yes, a whole month ago), it was a time to say goodbye to Jess and Sarah. I've known Jess since we started law school in the fall of 2001. Rod and I could always count on him to be up for a mountainbike ride. I met Sarah at Rod's surprise party the day I got home from South America. She came bearing a tacky t-shirt for Rod, which has become a birthday tradition. She has the amazing ability to light up a room and make anyone feel special. I know we will see them again (and soon when we make a ski trip out to Germany), but Utah just feels emptier without them. Come back soon!


We had to leave the party early to get up to my firm retreat. We were assigned to the very important role of bringing cocktails. By the time we made it to Wolf Mountain, dinner and dancing were over, but the party was just getting started. Due to a case of mistaken room assignments, Bryan realized that the entry code was the same for both our house and the house next door. Our house had a fuseball table. The house next door had a pool table. We spent the night bopping between both houses. We didn't go to bed until 3-ish a.m. I haven't been up that late in a long time. It was a very early morning! Luckily we started the day with a very interesting presentation by Alan Fine about how you can improve your performance by merely focusing on the right things.


Later that night, we went to Rod's work party in Lamb Canyon. We had a great time visiting with his co-workers and eating Linda's cookies. Yum!


The next day, Rod and I went with Megan to Deer Valley for a day of mountainbiking. We only got slightly lost, but we ended our ride in the pouring rain riding up the road. We warmed up at our favorite post-ride salsa bar: Chubasco. If only our hot tub was already hooked up!

I love this time of year!

For our only weekend at home this month, we decided to get out to enjoy one of my favorite pastimes: the State Fair. We went with our good friends Carrie and Joel. Although there was no elvis show, there were a lot of cute animals,


fried food, great outfits, and hot tubs. Okay, we didn't plan on the last one, but it was such a smoking deal that we couldn't help ourselves. We've been hot-tub-less for two years and coming home from skiing is not the same without it.

The next day, Stacia and Dave had a housewarming party. Their house is amazing. The spread was better than at a wedding. There were little lamb chops, ceviche, homemade jellys, star cookies, fruit, and anything else you could possibly imagine. Of course, I didn't get pictures of any of that because I was too busy taking pictures of Beck--the cutest baby. I want to steal him!

Havasupai: Day 3

All good things must come to an end. In this case, it was not just our incredible weekend. You see, this trip was just a few weeks before Jess and Sarah moved to Germany. They are only going for two years, but they are planning on starting a family while they are there. Justin and Sil are already expecting. And Rod and I have talked about it. The whole weekend we were planning our next trip, but we all knew that next time will be different. This was truly an end of an era. It was so bittersweet.

Four hard cores headed out early to hike to the rim. The rest of us decided to spend the day playing in the waterfalls and riding the helicopter out. In the beginning we had the waterfall all to ourselves. When the sun came out enough, I decided to explore around the falls and found a way to get behind it. The sunlight behind the falls was incredible, dancing everywhere. Once we started jumping, the crowds gathered and our courage grew. Before we knew it, we moved from behind the falls to on top of them.

Justin was nice enough to run ahead and put our names on the waiting list for the helicopter. What little time we had to wait, we spent eating indian fry bread in the cafe and getting ice cream sandwiches from the store. The ride was short, but incredible.

At the top, we said our goodbyes and started the long trek home. We passed the Hoover Dam just in time for sunset and cruised into Vegas in time to catch a late dinner.



After passing a bad Lady Gaga impression, we decided to call it a night. We were exhausted! The next morning, I got up early to enjoy a bloody mary by the pool. We used the last of my quarters on video poker and hit up two Vegas essentials--Trader Joe's and In-n-Out Burger--before heading home.

Havasupai: Day 2

It was a long night, sleeping in the bottom of a slot canyon while the thunder echoed down the canyon and the rain filled our dreams with floods.

The next morning we headed to Mooney Falls.

The hike down was a bit treacherous, but well worth it. We spent the day hiking down river and playing in whatever waterfalls we could find.

Although we never made it to our destination (Beaver Falls), the journey was so beautiful we didn't mind.

Havasupai: Good Times and the End of an Era

Our Labor Day weekend was bittersweet. It was one of the most fun long weekends I have ever had, but it was also one of the last weekends we had with our good friends, Sarah and Jess, before they move to Germany.

Sarah is seriously amazing. Despite the fact that she had been packing up her entire life and figuring out how to ship it to Germany, she still managed to plan the perfect weekend. It started with a 12-hour drive from SLC to Havasupai. We broke things up a bit by stopping for breakfast in Utah County, where we encountered the most convenient flat tire ever. We stopped for breakfast, noticed that Sarah's tire was flat, they took it to the service station while we ordered breakfast for them, they arrived just in time for breakfast, and we picked the truck up as soon as we were finished eating and headed on our way.

We followed Sil's prego nose to Carl's Junior in Las Vegas for lunch, after which the girls piled in one car (with our mixed fountain drinks) and the boys piled in another. We had a brief stopover at in Henderson, gambling and trying unsuccessfuly to get a helicopter ride, and Rod gave us an insider's tour of the Hoover Dam. The girls took advantage of an unexpected detour to spend all of the their quarters and shop for Sarah's new car. We rocked out the whole way down Route 66 until we picked up Fry Bread and stew at the lodge.

We made it to Havasupai well after dark. We weren't too disappointed, though. The camping area was basically a parking lot. Rod and I slept in the back of the 4Runner. It was hot, but the drone of the mosquitoes in our ears forced us to close the door and windows.

The next morning we started the long, hot hike to the campground. Sarah outfitted us all with more jerky and trail mix than we could have eaten in a month. It wouldn't have been a bad hike (all downhill or flat), but it was unbearably hot. By the time we made it to the Village, all I wanted was a cold soda. There were still two miles until we made it to camp. By this time, I was really wishing we had caught a ride on one of the mail donkeys that kept passing us. Yes, the tribe still receives their mail by donkey.

When we made it to the campground, it was all worth it. I did not know that places like Havasupai Falls even existed. Words and even photos can't do it justice. The limestone in the water makes the water an milky aqua color. That water in contrast with the red rock walls shaped like petrified waterfalls was unbelievable.