Saturday, May 9, 2009

Why Peru?

I've found it somewhat difficult to explain to people what it is that Brent and I are doing in Peru this summer. Here's a video that explains it all. It even shows communities that we'll be visiting and people with whom we'll be working.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=neZZvvnL8Lg

Fun With Guns In Cheyenne



Just before our trip to Vail, all the Fowler clan headed out for a good old Wyoming "Shotgun shoot out." Can you believe I married into this family? Hee hee...

Steve believes it's very important to teach the kids about guns.
Macy & Steve

The Fowler Boys love to shoot pop cans, computers, pumpkins...anything that isn't living!

Liss totes baby Cash along for the show!

Climb Every Mountain


Back at Base Camp of Quandary Peak. This is near Keystone, CO (the ski resort).

Quandary Peak, 14,265'. I'm holding the "sign in tube" which holds a piece of paper where you can sign. Needless to say, I didn't bother signing in that day. It was amazing to be on top. We had lunch there.

The 2 tallest twin peaks in the distance are Grays (14,270) and Torreys (14,267) peaks, the 2 first 14ers I summited. This was taken from Quandary.

Corey Dobson (a med school peer) and myself atop Quandary. We're smiling because when your O2 saturation is 60% you're too stupid to realize how much it hurts and that you shouldn't be so happy to be dying. For what it's worth, Corey beat me to the summit by about 20 minutes. He's an animal. Note on high altitude stupidity: the chump who took the picture has his fingers in front of the lens. Oh well. They had come from Texas for the third time to summit this mountain, because they failed to make it the first 2 tries. That really put it into perspective for me.

This is Avery the dog. Avery couldn't take the 50mph winds at 13,000 feet, so she "quit". She was obviously thinking more clearly than the rest of us. Note: there was a loco dog we met on the mountain named "Quandary the Dog". Quandary (yellow lab) lives with his family at the base of the mountain and summits with a group every day. Every day. That dog has more 14er summits than any human. I guess that he is a late sleeper b/c he was going up w/ a group when we were going down.


Corey Dobson atop Quandary


Grays and Torreys peaks. These are cool mountains b/c you can climb them both in a day. You connect them via the "saddle" bx them. My 1st 2 fourteener summits.

View from Pikes (14,110) peak ascent.

Even though atop Pikes peak we were frozen w/ 60 mph winds, on the way down it thawed right nice. 12 mile hike. We left at 4:00 AM to summit.

View near top of Pikes Peak (near Colorado Springs). The really depressing thing w/ Pikes is that you can DRIVE to the top. So right there I was standing on the shoulder of a road where a bunch of blue haired retired gerries were heading up in their '96 Lincoln Continentals w/ the heater on full blast, jamming to Marty Robbins and the Sons of the Pioneers. Needless to say, we didn't take the road. We were just crossing it. But when we get on top to the gift shop, the AARP members all want to know why we are all tuckered out.

Luke Helland, Corey Dobson, Nate Gebhard going for the final summit push. If I remember correctly (which I often don't at that elevation) the actual peak is the small peak you see just to the right of the guy in the middle.

Friday, May 8, 2009

SORRY!

Sorry, everybody, for not keeping this updated! I've been mega busy with work, work and more work! I'm greatly looking forward to the last week in May and the first week in June when I can actually leave school after just 8 hours of work like everyone else! I've either directed or assistant directed every one of the 3 shows we've done this year at our school, so my work day from September to May is from seven a.m. to five, six, seven, eight, even nine p.m. if we're just about to open a show! I'm pretty sure I'll be accepting less commitments next year. Brent is about to finish is first full year of med school, and he's honored all of his classes but one. He's an avid mountaineer these days and keeps busy with the scouts. We're off to Peru for the summer starting in June. It couldn't come sooner! We love you all and hope to get this blog updated soon!

Thursday, March 5, 2009

RAWR!


I just thought I'd show ya'll how manly my husband is while climbing Quandry's Peak...one of his many fourteeners. The wind blew so hard he was knocked over! I'll climb with him someday...when there isn't snow on the ground!

Sunday, February 22, 2009

Christmas Festivities


Me and DaVinci snuggling on Christmas.

I found an old prom dress from high school in the basement. It was a tight squeeze, but I still felt like a princess. I'm in front of one of Mom's three trees in the house.
This is the gingerbread tree.

Brent mastered a "Figgy Pudding" for Christmas Day.

Darcy taught Tawny how to make her famous deviled eggs.

We mortified Jazzy and DaVinci by making them wear this elephant costume. It gave us some good laughs.

Vinci seems to think he's the best present anyone could ever get. I agree. Receiving him on Christmas Morning two years ago brought tears to my eyes!

Brent and I show off our new Christmas pajamas on Christmas morning. Brent opts for scrubs these days. Sexy.

Brent and I tackled Christmas Eve dinner on our own...complete with
Brandied Chestnut Soup
Celery Root and Blood Orange Salad
Winter Root Vegetables
Bourbon Glazed Ham
Baked Pears in Custard

White Christmas in Coeur d'Alene

My little sis is an up and coming photographer, so I stole a few pics from her blog! Cool, eh?
Much more artistic and lovely than our photos!


The icicles coming off of the house were twice my height!