The Best Summer Ever Part One: The Month of May

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Pandora current song: Realize by Colbie Caillat

What a summer. After spending 10 months in Nebraska without my closest friends, family, and sense of adventure, I was ready for a change in pace. Every summer since high school, I worked in Central Washington away from my family. Since college, I’ve lived in Central Washington, Dallas, and now Nebraska with little time at home. This may sound strange, but when I’m home, I love fishing with my dad, mowing the lawn, working in the yard with my mom, and any other project around the house they’re working on. I enjoy tackling projects with them so they don’t have to do it alone, but also the gratification of accomplishing a task, especially with people I love, is beyond comparison.

May 6. NCTA graduation and ground breaking for the new buildings. The day took forever to finish. I gave my boss’, George Garlick, speech as he was unable to make it to Nebraska. Remind me never again to wear a flowing skirt in windy Nebraska while I try to focus on inspiring others to never forget where they came from NOR four inch stilettos when I have to shovel dirt for a ground breaking ceremony. At least I was able to bring humor by saying I was doing my part by aerating the lawn.

At 4:50PM, I started my long trek home with my car stuffed to the brim with clothes and pets. I hit a major snow storm in Wyoming, so it took me 25 hours with only 3 hours of sleep  get to Central Washington where my boss and his wife live. I stopped to see how he was doing, but hit the road once again not much long after. HOWEVER, the Washington DOT decided to plan road construction on I-90, the artery between the east and west sides of the state on the same day all universities finished college. I also ended up being one of the unlucky drivers among the masses to hit the two lane road all around the same time. Thank God for my iPad as I started and finished the new Sherlock Holmes movie while I drove 8 miles in almost three hours. Finally at 2:05am on May 8, I arrived home. Exhausted. Frustrated from traffic. Unable to fish with my dad due to exhaustion. But I was alive and home after 33 1/4 hours on the road on 3 hours of sleep.

Beach at home.

I miss these mountains!

I spent the first few days gawking over the water, mountains, nature and trees. I can’t even begin to tell you how much I missed that since I had spent 2 full years away from it! My dad finally said, “You grew up around this practically your whole life. What’s the big deal?!” The beauty of Washington had never really sunk in before. You don’t know what you’re missing until it’s gone. To me, nature is my adventure. There’s so much to do! Rock climb, fish for the good stuff, run, hike, explore, jet ski, ski, snow board. The list is endless! Without it, I feel trapped! 

Pirate & I after running 6 miles in the pouring rain.

Running was my hobby of the summer. My mom’s dog couldn't have been more happy I was home because every time I visit, he knows he gets to go running. He trained with me all summer from 3 miles up to 10. What pissed me off was that I’d get back home totally pooped, and he’d be ready for more. I wish I could suck the energy out of him and use it for myself. He could be selfless and spare some of it. Rain or shine we hit the pavement. It was a great stress reliever!

My first run at home was great, but I got home and realized our garage door opener had a dead battery. I was stuck outside in the rain until my dad was able to come home with a key. LoL It’s funny now but after running 7 miles in the rain, sitting outside in it was the last thing I wanted to do.

The first project of the summer was to change the traction belt on our tractor. The previous belt had never been changed and stripped into pieces the last time I had used it. Well, figuring out how to change the belt was quite a process. Actually, it was a complete disaster. The manual doesn’t tell you how to change the tractor’s traction belt so we took the whole thing apart before we realized what we needed to do, and even then had no clue. We had no other choice than to do it ourselves since John Deere took all of their parts and equipment out of small shops around the country to focus on the bigger agricultural areas. Since I grew up in urban, Port Orchard, the nearest JD was 4 hours away. That may be close compared to what people drive in Nebraska, but in big cities, an hour away seems like a waste of time.

Well, we spent all day maneuvering the belt, removing more pieces, trying different techniques. Finally, I left my frustrated dad to search online for help. He reluctantly took my research, but it finally gave us the trick we needed. It took another hour to FINALLY get that belt on as it seemed like it may have been too small. But then we realized we put one of the pulleys on upside down. As we took the belt off, we stripped the new belt. After more research, I found out that the belt the shop ordered was wrong. OMG But once we finally fixed the tractor with a second new belt, the lawn was ready to be mowed.

The first friend I was able to see was Jessica Giusti-Udd. I hadn’t seen her since high school! I got to meet her beautiful children and caught up on 8 years of life. I hadn’t realized how much I missed my friends until I saw her and was able to reminisce about high school and other great memories.

One of my many facebook posts was the following: “If I came with a WARNING label, what would it include?”

Jaymie Wilcox: Likes to steal her Little’s mattress off the sleeping porch or poor freezing cold water on people showering. 

Jessica Giusti-Udd: Intense hotness! Don’t underestimate this! 

Desilee Valeri: Likes to get roommates on a completely messed up sleeping schedule. Will definitely poor cold water on people while they’re in the shower! Also...challenges people to live life at such an incredibly high standard. 

Ashley Freiboth: Thinks she has great comebacks and thinks she’s way cooler than she actually is. Fine print: You’re not getting any. Don’t waste your time. Haha 

Reiss Bruning: Eats cow testicles...and slams whiskey. 

Mo Metcalfe: Never seems to under-pack for any excursion. How did we ever live together in the dorm with all of your stuff?! I had such a laugh over those that I had to share them with you all again! 

On May 16, I ran my first race of the summer. The 8K Beat the Bridge to beat diabetes had more than 12,000 participants and was a total blast. I raced over the bridge and later heard the bridge rising behind me, which meant I ran fast enough to beat it. Goal!

Out on the boat waiting for the next hit.

Besides my race, I spent the first few weeks helping my parents with chores, running, and just chilling around the house. I was in need of a break from work, since I had spent almost 24/7 working while in Nebraska, and enjoyed the quality time of family life and real meals.

We all caught fish, but us girls did better!

Halibut fishing was such a rush! I caught a 50 pounder! Actually reeling in a fish that size was tiring! Crista, my third cousin (or something like that) caught the next biggest, while our dads caught little minnow-sized halibut. Haha I was finally starting to not get my annoying motion-sickness that I usually can’t shake once it starts. When I get that way, I have to retreat to sleeping it off. I become a worthless pile, which doesn’t make the captain happy in most cases. Enjoying my time on the water was such a treat! (My pictures of summer 2010 fishing)

Lace and I after Steve's paramedics graduation!

Top of Camelback Mountain!

One of the biggest blessings of the summer was spending time with my amazing friends. On May 24, I left Washington for Phoenix, Arizona! Guess who?! That’s right. Lacey Harper and what a week it was! We hiked Camel Back Mountain. Dealt with a dead car battery. Laid by the pool in 85 degree weather. “Flocked” pink flamingos to raise money for Young Life kids. Went boating and tubing out at the lake with Lacey, Steve and Steve’s best friends, Lance. (That was definitely a fun day!) Continued tradition and saw Sex and the City 2....well I fell asleep, but at least I was present. Went to Steve’s paramedics graduation with dinner at Lance’s parents’ house. (If I could have the perfect in-laws, they’d be like Lance’s family. Hilarious, active and genuinely kind.)

On the ridge of Grand Canyon.

We also went to the Grand Canyon, which was such a bust. (Bad traffic on the way there, and while in traffic, a dog got out of someone’s car so I got out to help. Traffic let up and Lacey LEFT ME! I had to run like an idiot to catch up to her car! We finally get to the Grand Canyon and spent a ridiculous amount of money to just get in to find that everyone and their mothers were there. We didn’t even find a hike so we didn’t stay long.)

Out on the boat.

Spent a day at Wet n Wild for lazy river floating, tube slides and another great day in the Phoenix sun. Received an amazing message from a far away and unexpected friend, Ben Schaible, which makes me wish, even now, that he wasn’t over 4.5K miles away.

Theme songs include Billionaire and California Gurls, but most of all Imma Be. Probably heard them all 100 times on the radio every time we got in the car. (My pictures from both Phoenix trips summer 2010)

But overall, my time in Phoenix was unforgettable. Not only was I with one of the greatest people on earth, I interacted with people MY age for a change. My job in Nebraska limits me to 18 year olds or 80 year olds (OK it’s not that bad but it’s also not that far off) and my friendships with my students can only go so far. It was a breath of fresh air to not have to hold myself back and just enjoy life. I didn’t want to intrude on Lacey and Steve again, but the day I left, I bought another ticket to visit. Obviously, I wasn’t too worried about it ;) I miss my bestest buddy so much with whom I spent almost every waking moment with throughout our childhood. Any opportunity to spend with her is such a blessing!

Well, so far you’ve only read about my summer during the month of May. It only gets better from here!

Boldly challenging status quo!

Pandora current song: This Is Why I'm Hot by Mims

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