Over the last week...

Over the last week I have been amazed at the healing power of forgiveness...I have experienced something that I never thought would happen again in my life...I have laughed, cried and talked a lot, trying to catch up...I have really learned what it means to forgive someone....I have had a dear friend come back into my life after a year and a half of absence...I have been astounded by how God works.

What type of friend are you?

It seems like the Lord has really been challenging me over the last year and a half when it comes to friendships. It seems like I've never had so much change in my relationships with friends as I've had in the last year and a half.

I've had friends come back into my life that I'd never thought would, and then leave again...I've have a best friend leave my life that I never thought would...I've had friendships that struggled grow to be something great...I've had close friendships struggle and falter...I've had friends that I thought were friends end up not able to keep their word...I've had friends drop everything to come over and take care of me...then I've had friends want to work things out after a long period of silence.

It's really makes me wonder what is God trying to teach me about friendship? What type of friend am I called to be as a Christian. In my opinion, friendships are similar to marriage. They take work and time. I just hope that I can be the friend that forgives when forgiveness is needed that I can ask for forgiveness when forgiveness is needed.

My yoga teacher said yesterday that we often just need to forget the story and forgive. I'm going to try that this week. I'm going to forget the past..the story...and give and ask for forgiveness when forgiveness is needed.

I love this quote about friendship: "When we honestly ask ourselves which person in our lives mean the most to us, we often find that it is those who, instead of giving advice, solutions, or cures, have chosen rather to share our pain and touch our wounds with a warm and tender hand. The friend who can be silent with us in a moment of despair or confusion, who can stay with us in an hour of grief and bereavement, who can tolerate not knowing, not curing, not healing and face with us the reality of our powerlessness, that is a friend who cares." ~Henri Nouwen

Summer vacation 2010...

We pulled off another unique summer vacation! For the past few years we've tried to do something and go somewhere totally different than what we've ever done before. A few years ago we spent 5 weeks living in Chicago and last summer we spent 2 weeks exploring the very historical city of Boston.

This summer, Layton planned a trip totally different than anything we've E V E R done before. For about the last year, Layton has been getting into backpacking. It's kind of worn off on me a little. I have yet to do an overnight backpacking trip, but I've grown to love exploring the outdoors with him. We've taken quite a few day trip to go hiking together. So...this summer we decided to center our vacation around exploring a few National Parks. We took a 9 day trip and traipsed all over the Grand Canyon, Yellowstone, and Grand Teton National Parks. It was truly an unforgettable and unbelievable vacation.

The Grand Canyon: The first day we arrived late morning, so we decided to walk around the South Rim trail and just take in the initial view of the Grand Canyon. We spent a few hours taking pictures and then driving along the rim stopping at various lookouts. The Desert View lookout was definitely a highlight of this day for me. It has incredible views of the canyon and the Colorado River. The second day Layton woke me up extremely early because today was the day we were going to hike down into the Canyon taking the Bright Angel trail. This was an amazing hike. We started around 7:30, so the colors reflecting off of the Canyon were totally different than the day before. I carried my own pack, full of my camera equipment and my rain coat. I made sure to bring my trek poles since we'd be making a 3 mile - 2,000 foot descent - into the Canyon, which means we made a 3 mile - 2,000 ascent - back out of the Canyon. It even rained lightly on us as we were making the climb back out of the Canyon. The refreshing rain was nice after a long day of hiking. I was very proud of myself for accomplishing this hike. We ended day to at the Grand Canyon my watching the sunset over Yavapi Point, getting pizza, and heading back to Yavapi Point to view the Canyon by full moon. Layton and I agree that this was probably our favorite thing about the Grand Canyon. It was amazing to see it by full moon light.

We spent a day traveling from Flagstaff to West Yellowston by way of V E R Y scary, tiny, propellor planes. I wish to N E V E R do this again!!

Yellowstone: We stayed 3 nights in West Yellowstone, Montana at a very cute bed and breakfast, driving into the park every morning and spending the entire day there. Our first day in Yellowstone we spent driving around and stopping at various "must-see" sights. We stopped at a place called the Artists' Paint Pots, which had hot springs and mud volcanoes. We also stopped off at a place called Sheepeater's Cliff and we grabbed a few photos of the Golden Gate Waterfall. Our day ended at Mammoth Hot Springs. Here we followed a 2 mile boardwalk that wrapped throughout the hot springs. Our second day in Yellowstone was another hiking day. On the way to the trailhead we stopped off at the Grand Canyon of Yellostone where we saw a few waterfalls. We then drove to the DeLacy trailhead and hiked along the DeLacy Creek trail, which led us to Shosone Lake. This was a gorgeous 6 mile hike that wound us through meadows of wild flowers and lodgepole pines. Granted, I did get 18 mosquito bites on this hike, but it was well worth it. After our hike we drove up to see if we could catch Old Faithful, since we'd missed her by about 5 minutes the night before. We only had to wait about 15 minutes before Old Faithful went off. Our third day in Yellowstone we saw a few fun things on our drive to the Grand Tetons. We saw the Fountain Paint pots, Firehole Drive Geysers, and the Midway Geyser Basin. These are pretty much some of the best geysers and hot springs in Yellowstone. The largest geyser in Yellowstone is in the Midway Geyser Basin.

Grand Tetons: We arrived in the park about mid-day and spent some time taking photos and getting settled into our hotel. Our first full day in the Grand Tetons we spend doing another hike. We woke up early again and drove to Jenny Lake, where we started our hike. This hike wove us around the lake, took us on a detour by Moose Pond, up the side of the mountain by Hidden Falls, up to Inspiration Point, and ultimately through Cascade Canyon. I kept telling Layton, "I can't believe that I'm actually in the middle of two mountains right now!" I was S O proud of myself after this 10 mile hike.

I was very interested in seeing as many wild animals as possible. So here's a list of all of the animals we saw: Trumpeter Swan, Bald Eagle, Elk, Bison (we also saw a herd of about 60 of them), Sandhill Crane, Bull Snake, American Pika, Coyote, White-tailed Jack Rabbit, Moose, Yellow-bellied Marmot, Western Tanager, Golden-mantled Squirrel, Uinta Ground Squirrel, White-crowned Sparrow, Chickadee, Gray Jay, Spring Azure Butterfly, Monarch Butterfly, Canadian Goose, Mallard, American Robin, Common Raven, Golden Eagle, and a Violet-green Swallow

My favorite memories of this trip: Hiking the Bright Angel trail, viewing the Grand Canyon by the light of the full moon, almost being kissed by a Bison through my open car window, being chased by a Moose down the trail and walking through a canyon between a 13,000+ ft. mountain and a 10,000+ mountain ft.

9 days, 3 National Parks, 4 hotels, 7 airplanes, 18 mosquito bites, 2 close encounters with wild animals, 3 day-hikes, 23 miles hiked through the Grand Canyon, Yellowstone, and the Grand Tetons, over 800 miles driven, 25 wild animals spotted, THOUSANDS of memories made with my husband = a P R I C E L E S S vacation!!

Check out my Flickr page to view A L L of my photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jwedgeworth/

75 minutes...

Today I took a break from life for 75 minutes. I know that isn't a really long time...but it was HEAVEN!! Yoga is there for me when I need to just quiet down and listen to myself. It is my way of breathing, relaxing, letting my thoughts of the day go, and focusing only on myself and what my body needs. I thank God every single time I step onto my mat that I found the practice of yoga.

"Yoga teaches us to cure what need not be endured and endure what cannot be cured." ~B.K.S. Iyengar

"The yoga mat is a good place to turn when talk therapy and antidepressants aren't enough." ~Amy Weintraub

Monday's musings...

"He is a wise man who does not grieve for the things which he has not, but rejoices for those which he has."
~ Epictetus

Rejoice in what you have instead of focusing on what you don't have!

I rejoice in the fact that I have a husband who wants to take a quick walk with me to McDonald's to get an ice cream cone before heading back to work!

Do you know Swimmology...

I was in yoga this morning and Diana was talking all about learning how to swim when life's waves try to knock you down. She told this great story that really spoke to me. If you do not know Swimmology, when life's waves come your way, 100% of your life will be wasted!!

"Once upon a time a very learned professor was traveling in a ship to some place. It was a long voyage, and very soon word of the professor’s knowledge spread. People were eager to meet him, to invite him to their cabins for tea and chat with him. He was a distinguished man after all.

There was one old Sailor (employee of the cruiser) who was more than eager to meet the professor and learn whatever he could from the distinguished traveler. He would lie in wait for him, bend over backwards to serve him and be extra courteous to him than he was with other travelers on the ship.

Seeing this service, the professor was pleased with this sailor and called him to his room for a chat. He asked the sailor, “Do you know about Meteorology ?” The sailor replied “What’s that Sir? I’m illiterate. I’ve never been to school .” The professor said “Old man, you spend your entire life on the waters, under the open sky. You don’t know meteorology, the study of climate conditions? Go away, 25 % of your life is wasted.”

The old man not knowing what to say, just nodded his head and went away. “If the learned man is saying 25% of my life is wasted, then it’s wasted. No point crying over it..” Saying that, he went his way.

A few days later, their paths again crossed. The learned professor regaled him with various anecdotes of his academic life and the old sailor lapped it all up enthusiastically. After some time, the professor asked him “Do you know about Geology?” The sailor replied “I told you Sir, I can barely scribble my name. How can I know?” The professor, somewhat angry, shouted “Old man, what type of a sailor are you? You do not know meteorology, now you do not even know Geology, the science governing the earth and the mountains? Fifty percent of your life is wasted.” Saying that, the professor gave him a lengthy piece of his scholarly mind, and again, the old Sailor, shaking his head in shame, went away.

As the days progressed, the Old Sailor in no way angry with the professor met him and served him selflessly on many occasions, overwhelmed by his distinguished air. He held him in the same awe as a poor man holds a billionaire, as an ugly person holds a Greek God. Seeing his meek dutifulness, the professor entertained him, chatted with him, but it was only a matter of time before he could not control his academic superiority any longer.

He asked the Old Sailor, “Old man, tell me, do you know about Oceanology?” The old man replied “Told you Sir, I’m a total illiterate. I never had the occasion to learn about any of these great topics.” More in disbelief than anger, the Professor actually snarled “How can a person be this ignorant? You do not know Meteorology, you do not know Geology, now you do not even know Oceanology, the laws covering the waves and the tides of the ocean? What type of a sailor are you? You have spent your entire life on the High Seas, and you couldn’t even learn oceanology? 75 % of your life is totally wasted!!”

The old Sailor not knowing what to say, simply nodded his head in silent acknowledgement, as if to say “Yes Sir, if you say so. You cannot be wrong.”

As the weeks went by, and the voyage neared its end, one day early morning, the old Sailor came rushing to the Professor. He blurted out “Sir, do you know swimmology?” The professor shouted “You fool, there is no such logy!” The Sailor reverted back, this time with a little triumph in his voice. “That I do not know Sir. I only wanted to tell you that the ship has dashed against a Rock and is going to sink any moment now. There is a little Island just a few miles away. All those who know Swimmology, they will be saved. If you do not know ‘Swimmology’, 100% of your life is wasted.”

Do you know Swimmology??

Twenty-fine...

Last week I turned TWENTY-FINE...aka 29! It was also my Spring Break off of work. It turned out to be one of the B E S T birthdays yet. It started out with dinner at my parent's house for the my birthday a little early. Then on Monday I was extremely blessed by all of the amazing women that I am so proud to call my friends and family. We celebrated at Lucca Restaurant in mid-town Sac. Every showered me with birthday words and I left feeling so loved and important to all of them. I also received the B E S T gift that I think I've ever received. My friend painted me an amazing picture!

On Wednesday I met up with Layton in Portland to spend a few days there for my birthday. We had such a fun time exploring downtown Portland. We felt the same way as we did when we were in Boston and Chicago. We felt YOUNG! I know that sound silly because we are young. But...if you know us, you know that we are kinda old people at heart; however, the more we spend in fun cities, the more we realize that we enjoy being young! We went to a few museums, went out to Lake Oswego to have dinner at a friend's house, went to a fabulous jazz club to end my amazing birthday day, went to Voodoo Doughnuts, went to a taproom, etc. It felt so good to enjoy life! Layton knows me so well that he got a King Suite with a H U G E bath tub in it! I definitely took advantage of that. Again I realized how truly blessed I am to be married to the perfect person for me. I love exploring life with him and making so many great memories. Here are a few photos from our Portland Adventure. Who knows...Portland may find us as temporary residents someday...