Tim Howard ~ Back in the Grove ~ Ape Caves ~ Heavenly Pedicure

Once again, I have been ignoring my blog for weeks. Do you know how hard it is to work on a computer for 8 hours a day and then get back on later in the evening "for fun"? No fun there, my friend. But hopefully within the next few weeks I'll be receiving something in the mail that will make being on the computer all day long something that I look forward to. What could it be!!!?? All ya'll are just going to have to wait in great anticipation(and for some of you smarties, great expectation) for the big news. :) But until then, here are some posts I've been working on, but never got around to posting:

*Meet Tim Howard*

This is Tim Howard. The goal keeper for Everton FC (in the English Premier League). He is also the goal keeper for the men’s U.S. National soccer team. Pure talent. Glad he’s on our side…at least for World Cup.
The other week Rio Tinto hosted the MLS Allstar game which brought out the best of the best of the MLS players to compete against Everton FC. A few days before the game, Matt and Kirsten invited us to go see Everton’s open practice in Park City so we were able to go stand on the sidelines and watch the team hone their skills for the coming game. I have always been amazed with the fitness level of soccer players because of their ability to run, sprint, and jump for 90 minutes without passing out or throwing up. And watching this team practice just upped my level of amazement. After the players were finished, they all lined up to get in the garbage can full of ice water(which I couldn't resist getting a picture of). A few of them came over to the spectators and signed autographs and posed for pictures.
Although Everton beat the All star team, it was an awesome game. It came down to penalty shots, which is usually an anticlimactic way to end a soccer match but because it pitted Kacy Keller (the old U.S. National’s goal keeper) against Tim Howard (the new U.S. National goal keeper) it was an epic moment.

*Back in Forest Grove*

Yup, back in Oregon. 2 weeks to go until Dev starts school. That's it.

*Ape Caves*

What better fun is there than spending 2 hours in a dark, cold cave?
This past Saturday Dev and I went with Tana and Eric to a lava flow tunnel called the Ape Caves. The cave is at the base of Mount St. Helens. We started out by hiking about a mile to the cave exit (we hiked it backwards). Let me just say how much I looove hiking in Oregon! Everything is so green and moist. Anyways, once we found the entrance to the cave, down we went.


The caves are pitch black, so we had to bring our own lanterns to forge our way through the caves.

Because at one point I dropped my lantern breaking it and having little other light, I went through the cave trying to decipher if it was a rock covered in shadow that I would be stepping on, or a drop to unimaginable darkness that I would be stepping into. Okay, it wasn't that perilous. But moving on... Most of the cave was smooth walking but I especially enjoyed the "boulder fields" that would pop up out of the darkness, which meant we had to climb over them. We were also told by another hiker that we had an 8 foot wall that we would have to climb down (and by the tone in his voice it sounded like we were doomed to die in the cave because there would be no way that we could ever climb down an 8 foot rock cliff). I actually think he had something against us for going backwards through the cave instead of starting at the other end like most other hikers, which would mean instead of climbing down an 8 foot wall, we would have had to climb up and 8 foot wall. Here's a picture of Eric and Tana handling the 8 foot cliff of terror:


After a mile and a quarter of wonderous cave walking, we reached the end of our adventure. I had a ton of fun!


Next time, I'm hiking to the rim of the volcano!!!



*Pedicure*

Every girl needs a pedicure once in a while. I took Sierra for her very first pedicure. It has been a while since I have had one myself, so it was fabulous. We had some great girl bonding time and also had some yummy lunch. Here are the results: