Dear Annie

I don't think I ever sent you the pictures of our snowshoeing trip to Red Pine Lake this last spring. I was so thrilled that you could come. It was a gorgeous day and we had such a blissful time. We promised to do more things like that together. I wish we had.

I knew when you were assigned as my Visiting Teacher it was the result of pure inspiration. In the ward directory you had put mountaineering down as one of your interests. Finally, there was another girl in the ward who climbed. I looked forward to your visits so much. You became a true friend. I loved you wisdom, smile, and open friendliness. I wanted to be more like you. I still do. You spent hours stuffing my wedding announcements, you helped me pack. You were always right there, smiling, whenever I needed someone. You came to the temple the first time I went. I don't think you realize how much that meant to me. How much I loved that you were there. How did you know how to be such an amazing friend to someone you had only known for a little while?

We were going to going to go climbing together this summer. Life got so busy after the wedding. I wish I had remembered sooner. I am sorry.

The accident happened late Saturday night. You were driving home on SR-6 from southern Utah. Were you returning from a hiking/climbing trip? There have been countless late Saturday nights when I have been found on SR-6 headed home from another adventure. I hope you had fun. I hope it was wonderful. I hope you took one last moment to revel in the beauty of this earth.

I can understand how tired you three must have been. I can see how easy it would be for him to fall asleep. You were all probably trying to make it back in time for church in the morning. Somethings are more important than church. He tried too hard to correct his swerve and the car rolled. He and the other passenger are going to be just fine. You already are.

I am going to drive safer, I am going to be a better Visiting Teacher, I am going to be more like you, and I am going to miss you.

Love,
Katie

No Worries

Keith and I are enjoying a Botany and Mycology (fungus) Conference at Snowbird, UT. We presented our research Monday and are now learning about all sorts of plant and fungus things from fungus and plant relationships in the arctic tundra, to a grape attacking fungus, and native uses of plants in China. In the mean time, here is a story from last week...

I am going to be one of those mothers who worry over everything. Case and point:

I was at work when Keith (who was working from home) sent me a text: "I'm kinda dizzy today. Maybe I won't go play laser tag..." (The Elders Quorum had a game that night).
Being the sweet person that I am (and I needed him to look up a number for me) I called to see how he was. No answer.
No worries. I went back to work, but I still needed that number so I called him again. No answer. He was probably on the toilet, on the phone, getting a snack, whatever.
Went back to work. Called again. No answer. He was probably playing music really loud, watering the garden, doing the dishes, on the phone with his grandma.
Went back to work. Called again. No answer. He was probably singing in the shower, doing laundry, clipping his toenails, on the phone with Obama.
Went back to work. Called again. No answer. He is probably passed out cold on the floor.

I tried to make myself think of anything else he could be doing except lying comatose on the floor, but nothing came to mind. I tried to talk myself out of driving the 5 minutes home, but it wasn't working.

I got in the car. An ER doctor had once told me that brain damage can occur after being unconscious for only 2 minutes. It had been 10 minutes. I should have left earlier.
I pull into our numbered parking stall, turned the key, and *ring!* That was his ring tone. He obviously wasn't comatose on the floor or severely brain damaged. And I felt rather ridiculous.

And he hadn't been on the phone with Obama either. After texting me he had gone to the kitchen to get a glass of water when he noticed a large hornet outside on the balcony starting to build a nest. Grabbing the kitchen towel he went to defend the castle. After killing the hornet he noticed that the door was shut, and locked. After failed attempts to break into the apartment he walked barefoot to the main apartment office to get a spare key. Upon returning he saw the missed calls on my phone, remembered his last text, had a light bulb go off in his head, and called to tell me not to worry.

Too late.

Wedding Photos

My dear friend and wedding photographer, Whitney, has posted our wedding pictures on her blog. They are fabulous so check them out! Thank you Whitney for capturing our wedding day so beautifully. Hardie Photography

Freedom of the Hills

Neither Keith and I were in the mood for fireworks and BBQs this year, so we decided to go backpacking for a couple days instead. We backpacked and fly fished all around Grandaddy Basin in the Uintas. It was gorgeous!!!

Keith turned around to take a picture of me hiking just as I had stooped down to take a closer look at some neat little flowers. For better or worse, my major never leaves me.
Lunch by Betsy Lake. For two days we never went more than a mile without seeing at least one new lake. It was wonderful.
Fly fishing near camp. We caught a couple of trout here. Yummy! The mosquitoes were ruthless the first day, but better the second.

Governor Dern lake with Mt. Agassiz in the back. We camped on the other side of this lake. The neatest part of the trip for me was on Saturday morning. We were fishing a few yards from camp and I went back up to the tent to get something. Directly on the other side of the tent from me a deer came running by. A split second later a grey wolf came running by, stopped to take a look at me, and then continued on the chase. It was no more than 10 feet away; and it was HUGE! This was bigger than any dog I have ever seen and it had beautiful silver fur. Wolves are extremely rare in Utah. They are slowly expanding their range from Wyoming where they were re-introduced a few years back. There have only been a handful of reported sightings, all in the Uintas, and now I have added it to the list. It was truly incredible to not only see such a rare animal up close in the wild, but even more so to watch it hunt.

A cliff overlooking the basin.
Grandaddy Lake. This is the largest lake in the basin and it had lots of fish!