Tuesday, August 26, 2008
Monday, August 25, 2008
Whitewater is Amazing!!!!
I have finally entered the world of whitewater kayaking. As a kid dad took us out in rafts on some whitewater adventures. I remember being scared then at the sight of the whitewater and having the water drench us in those huge rafts. I am sure that what we were in was class III rapids, but I may be wrong. I can tell you that running class II+ rapids in a kayak is way more exhilarating.
We started the day with us scouting the rapids. We took a good hard look at 4 of the 6 rapids we were going to be doing. We didn't scout Swayzee's rapid 6/6. The other we didn't scout wasn't even worth mentioning. One of the ones we took a look at was called Rock House. The river was only flowing around 2000 cfs. Normally when the club runs it, it is at 12,000. There were about 4 or 5 huge boulders staggered in the river. During high water these are completely submerged, but during our run they stood out of the water about 10 feet. We stood on one of them, and talked about what they are like in high water and the dangers they pose then. I was awestruck by the amount of noise the rapids made, and how dangerous the water is even at the level it was at.
We went up to Butler Wash the rapid we were planning on starting in to see if it had an area to teach people some skills that they needed before entering the water for the first time. It looked very good, it had a wave train above, and eddied out below where they would teach the complete noobs how to wet exit. We carried our boats down below in order to learn in the eddy. It was very difficult to haul the boat down. I did mine first thing, and was the only one to have carried it on our own. We then swam the rapid with kayak's coming out to pull us in after swimming the rapid. It was a little scary, but not to bad as a whole. I swam into it, but had to be pulled out by a boat, cause I couldn't quite make it out on my own. We practiced for a bit in our boats. I learned how to enter and exit an eddy into current. I learned how to paddle up to an eddy from downstream and sit in the upstream current behind the rock. Finally after an hour or so, we hauled our boats back up the rapid, and put them in above Butler's. I was basically worn out just from all of that. We went down the rapid, and I gritted my teeth, set my jaw, and tried to stay somewhat loose. If you are too rigid you can't sway your boat with the waves, and are very easily overturned. I learned heading into that rapid that I just have to take deep breaths, and relax a little as I head in. The second rapid I did just fine as well. The third had 2 holes in it. I ran right through them both, and in the small wave train afterwards started to turn sideways, and couldn't quite fight it. I froze up, and rolled upside down. I got a bit nervous under the water as the rapid I swam I had hit my feet on a rock. I was so nervous I forgot how to roll, so I pulled my skirt, and went for a swim. I held onto my boat, flipped it over, and threw my paddle inside. By that time my mentor was there to haul me back to climb into my boat. I was so sore. My legs were aching. My back was aching. I wanted to climb out of my boat, and sit at the side of the road until they could come pick me up. We kept on downstream, and pulled ashore to read Rockhouse again. They decided that we had to head between 2 rocks on river right, then head river left to miss another rock. These rocks were huge, larger than a car and like 10 feet tall (just the part sticking out of the water.) I was so scared I would end up running into them. We started across the river to line up in the group on river right waiting to go down. I got about halfway, and my boat flipped around so I was going backwards. I turned myself back, and my mentor said to me, "looks like we are gonna have to go first." He liked to head down every rapid after me so he could tell me what I had done good or bad. I was so nervous, but took some deep breaths, and calmed myself a bit. I shot right through the gaps like I was supposed to, and came through the bottom of the rapid without issue. The next rapid was nothing. Just a quick wave train with nothing worth describing. We only had one rapid left. We had a long section of flat water to go through. These stretches basically involve staying in the current, and relaxing. Most of the people in the group used them to drink beer. My mentor carried a ball to throw around to one another. I held onto a blue inflatable kayak, and talked to the older lady who had given up on kayaking before the first rapid. They told her to roll over in the water, and she refused. They put here in the inflatable boat and kind of gave up. I held onto her boat so I could lean back and stretch my aching back. I convinced her to give a class at the JCC a chance like I had. It created a good break I was able to pull one knee out of the hip braces at a time, and stretch. I was so grateful for the last rapid to appear, yet very scared all the same. I was very fatigued, and ready for the day to end. The only instruction they gave was to stay in the middle, and keep pointed downstream. It was a good thing I hadn't seen this rapid at the beginning. It was huge. It was long, with giant waves. In a couple of hundred feet the river dropped a good 5 feet. I started through, and just paddled for my life. The waves were big enough that my boat would cut through them, and I would get slammed in the face and chest. I had to fight to keep leaning forward. I would get hit with a wave lean back forward and paddle my hardest to keep the boat straight. I started to turn sideways a few times, but just remembered to stay loose. It worked well. I finished the rapid, and headed for river left to pull my aching body out of the boat. I hit the shore, and said to myself, "WOW I made it." I felt so amazing that I had accomplished it, and actually knew that I would return to the river again. I packed my boat to the road, and ran the people back up with the van to pick up their vehicles.
I was very open with my fears in the above description. Whitewater kayaking is about facing your fears over and over. I was very amazed at what I could accomplish with enough relaxation in the face of fear. I hope to share such experiences with many of you at some venture in my kayaking career.
We started the day with us scouting the rapids. We took a good hard look at 4 of the 6 rapids we were going to be doing. We didn't scout Swayzee's rapid 6/6. The other we didn't scout wasn't even worth mentioning. One of the ones we took a look at was called Rock House. The river was only flowing around 2000 cfs. Normally when the club runs it, it is at 12,000. There were about 4 or 5 huge boulders staggered in the river. During high water these are completely submerged, but during our run they stood out of the water about 10 feet. We stood on one of them, and talked about what they are like in high water and the dangers they pose then. I was awestruck by the amount of noise the rapids made, and how dangerous the water is even at the level it was at.
We went up to Butler Wash the rapid we were planning on starting in to see if it had an area to teach people some skills that they needed before entering the water for the first time. It looked very good, it had a wave train above, and eddied out below where they would teach the complete noobs how to wet exit. We carried our boats down below in order to learn in the eddy. It was very difficult to haul the boat down. I did mine first thing, and was the only one to have carried it on our own. We then swam the rapid with kayak's coming out to pull us in after swimming the rapid. It was a little scary, but not to bad as a whole. I swam into it, but had to be pulled out by a boat, cause I couldn't quite make it out on my own. We practiced for a bit in our boats. I learned how to enter and exit an eddy into current. I learned how to paddle up to an eddy from downstream and sit in the upstream current behind the rock. Finally after an hour or so, we hauled our boats back up the rapid, and put them in above Butler's. I was basically worn out just from all of that. We went down the rapid, and I gritted my teeth, set my jaw, and tried to stay somewhat loose. If you are too rigid you can't sway your boat with the waves, and are very easily overturned. I learned heading into that rapid that I just have to take deep breaths, and relax a little as I head in. The second rapid I did just fine as well. The third had 2 holes in it. I ran right through them both, and in the small wave train afterwards started to turn sideways, and couldn't quite fight it. I froze up, and rolled upside down. I got a bit nervous under the water as the rapid I swam I had hit my feet on a rock. I was so nervous I forgot how to roll, so I pulled my skirt, and went for a swim. I held onto my boat, flipped it over, and threw my paddle inside. By that time my mentor was there to haul me back to climb into my boat. I was so sore. My legs were aching. My back was aching. I wanted to climb out of my boat, and sit at the side of the road until they could come pick me up. We kept on downstream, and pulled ashore to read Rockhouse again. They decided that we had to head between 2 rocks on river right, then head river left to miss another rock. These rocks were huge, larger than a car and like 10 feet tall (just the part sticking out of the water.) I was so scared I would end up running into them. We started across the river to line up in the group on river right waiting to go down. I got about halfway, and my boat flipped around so I was going backwards. I turned myself back, and my mentor said to me, "looks like we are gonna have to go first." He liked to head down every rapid after me so he could tell me what I had done good or bad. I was so nervous, but took some deep breaths, and calmed myself a bit. I shot right through the gaps like I was supposed to, and came through the bottom of the rapid without issue. The next rapid was nothing. Just a quick wave train with nothing worth describing. We only had one rapid left. We had a long section of flat water to go through. These stretches basically involve staying in the current, and relaxing. Most of the people in the group used them to drink beer. My mentor carried a ball to throw around to one another. I held onto a blue inflatable kayak, and talked to the older lady who had given up on kayaking before the first rapid. They told her to roll over in the water, and she refused. They put here in the inflatable boat and kind of gave up. I held onto her boat so I could lean back and stretch my aching back. I convinced her to give a class at the JCC a chance like I had. It created a good break I was able to pull one knee out of the hip braces at a time, and stretch. I was so grateful for the last rapid to appear, yet very scared all the same. I was very fatigued, and ready for the day to end. The only instruction they gave was to stay in the middle, and keep pointed downstream. It was a good thing I hadn't seen this rapid at the beginning. It was huge. It was long, with giant waves. In a couple of hundred feet the river dropped a good 5 feet. I started through, and just paddled for my life. The waves were big enough that my boat would cut through them, and I would get slammed in the face and chest. I had to fight to keep leaning forward. I would get hit with a wave lean back forward and paddle my hardest to keep the boat straight. I started to turn sideways a few times, but just remembered to stay loose. It worked well. I finished the rapid, and headed for river left to pull my aching body out of the boat. I hit the shore, and said to myself, "WOW I made it." I felt so amazing that I had accomplished it, and actually knew that I would return to the river again. I packed my boat to the road, and ran the people back up with the van to pick up their vehicles.
I was very open with my fears in the above description. Whitewater kayaking is about facing your fears over and over. I was very amazed at what I could accomplish with enough relaxation in the face of fear. I hope to share such experiences with many of you at some venture in my kayaking career.
Sunday, August 24, 2008
Beans! Beans! Beans!
Fall is begining to be in the air. So the visit to Mom and Dad's House brought up the words canning beans. We headed off to the Garden with memories of Grandpa Ray and Dad in our hearts. Telling my kids to toughen up. Natasha has a spider bit on her elbow. She tried to blame on the beans. Then she reluctently said it was not from the beans!
Saturday, August 16, 2008
More and More
Welcome to another episode of this week in kayaking. My extent of kayaking was in my class on Tuesday. Boy were my shoulders sore after it. We spent the entire time in the pool sans paddles. It was mostly a waste of time though. I only learned a few new things. All of my time on YouTube has paid off. I'm excited for this weeks lesson though. I think we will be learning a few new things. If nothing else, I will gain some more stability in my boat. It was nice to play a game in class in the boat. I finally took my mind off of balance, and had fun despite being in a nerve racking boat.
We took Jarrett to Back to School Night this week. He acted shy at first in front of his teacher, but opened up very quickly. He started soccer this week as well. I took him to his Monday Practice. He and Kris try so hard to be friendly to all people. I got asked on Wednesday at his game to be the assistant coach. I told them that the one time I was there I would help but other than that I wouldn't be able to. Jarrett scored the first goal in the game. His team ended up losing. But they don't really make it about that at his age group.
Kristopher was very adamant that I get him a skateboard when I picked him up on Friday from Cathy's. I told him he would have to earn it. He tried to tell me that Cathy said he didn't have to earn one. She was sitting right there and corrected him by saying, "nope I didn't say that." He then tried to tell me, "mommy told me I could get one." I asked him, "do you think we can just get everything we want without having to earn it?" He said, "yep." I told him he could earn one. It turned into a day long argument. He wanted to do exactly one job to earn it. Even after I made a chart today he pointed to one box, and told me that was all he was gonna do. He ended up doing 8 or so jobs today. There were 12 boxes, but I felt like the point of having to earn it had been made. We went at about 8:30 tonight to Target to get his skateboard. We brought it home and he immediately had to ride it. He fell once in the kitchen and hurt his butt a little. Not too long after that he was doin fine though. He has already learned how to ride his bike. Jarrett want nothing to do with his. He is a tough little cookie. I think he will be our athlete. After watching Phelps in the Olympics thought maybe my tall lanky Jarrett will have to become the family fish at 10 years old.
We took Jarrett to Back to School Night this week. He acted shy at first in front of his teacher, but opened up very quickly. He started soccer this week as well. I took him to his Monday Practice. He and Kris try so hard to be friendly to all people. I got asked on Wednesday at his game to be the assistant coach. I told them that the one time I was there I would help but other than that I wouldn't be able to. Jarrett scored the first goal in the game. His team ended up losing. But they don't really make it about that at his age group.
Kristopher was very adamant that I get him a skateboard when I picked him up on Friday from Cathy's. I told him he would have to earn it. He tried to tell me that Cathy said he didn't have to earn one. She was sitting right there and corrected him by saying, "nope I didn't say that." He then tried to tell me, "mommy told me I could get one." I asked him, "do you think we can just get everything we want without having to earn it?" He said, "yep." I told him he could earn one. It turned into a day long argument. He wanted to do exactly one job to earn it. Even after I made a chart today he pointed to one box, and told me that was all he was gonna do. He ended up doing 8 or so jobs today. There were 12 boxes, but I felt like the point of having to earn it had been made. We went at about 8:30 tonight to Target to get his skateboard. We brought it home and he immediately had to ride it. He fell once in the kitchen and hurt his butt a little. Not too long after that he was doin fine though. He has already learned how to ride his bike. Jarrett want nothing to do with his. He is a tough little cookie. I think he will be our athlete. After watching Phelps in the Olympics thought maybe my tall lanky Jarrett will have to become the family fish at 10 years old.
Friday, August 15, 2008
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
Alex and funky glasses he borrowed from one of the kids. Elise, Eric Dodge, Me, Andy Dodge.
I added the Highland Fling, a community celebration in Utah County to my calendar months ago when Elise told me how many of her favorite musicians would be performing there. She played co-hostess to the artists as her friend Emily who was in charge was running around like crazy. I took Alec along with me thanks to Natasha's power of persuasion. (A very long day for him as the music was not all to his taste.) Alex Boye, his baggy pants, street dancing, and vocal style weren't too bad for him.
ALEX AND ALEC
Alex Boye was great and the nicest guy. He is one of two black members of the MoTab aka Mormon Tabernacle Choir. He has a really cool British accent and was in a boy band in Europe with several huge hits several years ago, then joined the church and changed his lifestyle, moving to Utah. His stage presence is as good as it gets.
FLYLADY gave a talk and was there for the Eric Dodge concert later in the evening. All in all a fun and very long day.
FUN IN THE SUN
Watching the entertainment in the evening.
Smile, Braxton!
Smile, Braxton!
Emily and Justin rolling down the hill.
Taush and Alec in his new pink sunglasses.
Sunday, August 10, 2008
This is the Life!
This is the life! Kayak lessons start this week. I am very excited. I have also signed up for UVU for the fall semester. I am excited but also a little frustrated. I have to catch back up on math which will take a few semesters. I hope that I am able to do so fast enough. I have decided upon a Physics degree. I hope to be able to find a niche that I am able to make a career with this degree. If I can find the right program I may go on to get a masters degree. This is all very difficult to decide.
As far as the kayaking picture. I am in the Jordan River. You can see from the nervous look on my face how annoying the current is. This month will be a very interesting one in my kayaking pursuits. I will have my lessons. But I will also be going down the Green River up Swayzee's canyon with the UWC. I get to see what I am made of in whitewater. I really hope that one of you ends up picking up whitewater with me. I would love to share my hopeful Grand Canyon experience with one of you. This is what is driving me to take up this new sport. Before Jarrett was born I read an article in National Geographic Adventure. It was about a trip down the Grand on a kayak. It was very exhilarating just to read it, let alone dream of doing it myself. I wanted to take up the sport then. If I would have I would have been in better physical shape at that point. But now with my 2 children at an age that is more manageable. I am hoping that my dreams will become a reality.
Here is a link to a write up of a Grand Canyon trip: (link)
This is a decent description.
Saturday, August 9, 2008
FYI
I posted on my blog...check it out the link is on the right. David what happened to your daily entries? I was enjoying them...
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