For Easter this year my family hauled our camp trailer to Zion and stayed the week. Casey and I drove down once school got out and spent the first evening riding our bikes from the top of the canyon to the campground with my family. It was gorgeous! My favorite part was riding up next to Cameron and Casey on my wimpy little Wal Mart bike and pretending to race. Even with my legs peddling furiously I could only manage to pull ahead for about 30 seconds before they left me in the dust, but I enjoyed the challenge anyway. :) Something about competing with those boys in something I know I am bound to lose is appealing to me for some reason. It cracks me up. That night we enjoyed a delicious dutch oven dinner of bbq chicken, potatoes, and apple cobbler. Mm mm mmm. I think I enjoy food maybe just a little too much, but it was so good!!

The next day some of my dad's extended family came for a picnic and a hike to Emerald Pools. I don't think it quite lived up to my last experience there on Valentines Day when there was beautiful snow, icicles and waterfalls everywhere but it was still very pretty and very fun. Casey and I did a little bouldering before we headed back to Cedar and that was the first part of our Easter vacation!

Our plan on Saturday was to go mountain biking but thanks to spring showers we ended up spending most of the day indoors. Casey did take me out and taught me to drive a stick shift though! I sort of learned in my brothers truck when I was in high school, but that experience involved a rather traumatizing incident of taking at least half an hour to get through an intersection in a convulsing vehicle. Ok maybe half an hour is a slight exaggeration, but it sure felt like time was going exceptionally slow. Since that time I've been harboring feelings of anxiety towards stick shift operated vehicles. This time around was much more successful thanks to Casey's patience with my panic attacks when a car came up behind me and his excellent teaching skills. I definitely wouldn't consider myself an expert at stick shift driving, but I do believe I made a significant amount of progress. I now only harbor a very small amount of anxious feelings. :)

Sunday was Easter sunday and my dad's birthday! So much to be greatful for. I was so blessed to get the Dad that I have and we are all so blessed to have the reason Easter is celebrated. It is always humbling to think of the Atonement and what the Savior went through because he loves us so much. There is a cool video we watched that revolves around Elder Hollands talk from General Conference. I would definitely recommend watching it.

On Monday I went with Casey and our friend Joe to a place called Black and Tan to sport climb. Well the "real" reason we went was to study the Kaibab Limestone formation for Casey's geology class, but we found a little time to fit some climbing in since we were there. ;) It was a really beautiful place where we went. The picture below is our view across the valley from where we were climbing.This is Joe. He's really good. This is me rethinking my life as I approach the halfway point on my 100 foot route. It was only my third time on a sport climbing route and I have to admit the fear definitely gets in my head. This was actually a really easy route as far as climbing goes, but I guess I'm just not used to the concept of sport climbing yet so it's scary to trust the equipment when I'm on a cliff face with a lot of distance between me and the hard ground. I didn't think I would have the guts to climb all the way to the top but I did it! I think I was actually most scared during the first 40 feet and when it came time for me to come back down. I was so excited when I reached the chains and realized what I had accomplished, and then I looked down. Casey looked like a teeny little speck at the bottom! I was so scared of leaning back and being lowered down. Don't ask me why that's the scary part for me but it really is. I said I didn't want to come down so he said he could just tie the rope and leave me hanging up there. I was almost tempted to accept the offer! Eventually I got enough nerve up to let go of the rock and made it to the ground. Phew! :) Hopefully it will get a little less nerve wracking as I get more experience.My trusty and very handsome belayer. :)Casey diligently studying. :)

He started working on this really cool roof problem called Smoking Drums. It's a super difficult route but I think he'll get it in the near future. It had the coolest backdrop for pictures!