Early last week Dani felt somewhat better, and we were able to go for a short walk on a trail near our home. However, she relapsed later and felt pretty crappy again. With this warm front a lot of the snow has melted and I just had to get outside, so I soloed Adam's Canyon to the waterfall.
On Sunday we took a quick trip to Logan for Hannah's homecoming talk! It was so good to see her and my cousin Mark (who is studying at USU) and catch up with the rest of the Duersches and my sister Anna.
This week our troop put the finishing touches on our race sled and we headed out to East Canyon State Park for our annual Klondike Derby winter campout!
The assembly crew
That night we chowed down on hobo dinners and dutch-oven peach cobbler. The other leader and I were only woken up once from a boy who was too cold, and after getting him up and moving he slept the rest of the night just fine. In the morning before the sun was up over the mountain we enjoyed a balmy 14 degree morning before the sled races! Unfortunately, one of our boys fell while pulling our sled and we didn't make it very far in the preliminaries. We might've only had four boys that were able to come, but we sure had a good time together!
Igloo: built of blocks of hard snow
Snow cave: shelter dug in deep drifted snow
A quinzee is a shelter made by piling snow into a mound and then burrowing into it. I've always wanted to build one and sleep in it, but living in Moab I never saw enough snow to make one. That all changed when we moved to northern Utah! I spent the day after our white Christmas making a huge snow pile, and the next day carving it out. It was long and wide enough for two people to lay flat! I spread out a tarp and threw out our sleeping pads and bags and Dani and I slept that night perfectly cozy.
Dani had a streak of good days, and we were able to drive down to Provo to hang out with some of her friends, namely Candace who was visiting with her family from Alabama for Christmas. Nearly all of Dani's college roommates have babies, so it was nice to hear their stories and get some good advice for new parents.
Candace with Ollie, Dani, Michelle with Everley, and Laura with Josh
Unfortunately later this week Dani started feeling sick again, but she encouraged me to go hiking to alleviate my case of cabin fever. I did the Ogden Canyon Overlook trail, which starts at Snowbasin ski resort and goes up about 2.5 miles to the top of Ogden Canyon. There was quite a bit of snow but there had been enough people who skied the trail to pack it down enough for me in my hiking boots. After I escaped the overflowing parking lot of snow sports enthusiasts, I didn't see anybody else on the trail until I was almost to the trailhead again. It was a perfect day of solitude.
This week Dani was scheduled on a 4 day Desolation Canyon river trip, but the morning she was supposed to leave she got pretty sick and didn't want to risk being 100 miles away from civilization still feeling crappy, so she stayed home. Unfortunately, I had already made plans to keep me busy while she was away with double EMS shifts, a long day at work on Friday, and a campout with my brothers. The time Dani had off was good for her to rest and recuperate.
Because I was going up to Springville to work for my dad this week (a 20 hour day), I took Wednesday off and left Tuesday evening to take my younger brothers on their first backpacking trip. We drove to the Gold Basin trailhead in the La Sal mountains, where we were bombarded with mosquitoes as soon as we stepped out of the truck. We're all Boy Scouts and none of us brought bug repellent. As we hiked the mile to our camp the buggers were relentless, and we finally donned our full rain gear just to keep them off of us. We enjoyed appetizers like cherries, carrots, and jerky while we waited for the cheese and broccoli soup to cook (Dani kindly packed all our food, thanks darlin'). When we settled down for the night in my two-person tent, I was surprised by how comfortably it fit the three of us.
A forested area that had been cleared by an avalanche last winter.
The peaceful tarn at the bottom of the basin.
In the morning we left our sleeping gear in the tent and took off through the woods in an attempt to summit Mt. Peale, the tallest peak in the La Sals. As we tromped through the underbrush we woke thousands of mosquitoes, and if we stood still for more than 10 seconds they would swarm our bodies. We kept thinking, "It will be better as soon as we're on the rocks above the treeline," but as we began our climb high above the forest the insects got worse! Finally we called it quits, we had had enough.
On our way back to our basecamp we stumbled across an old decayed cabin site, without any apparent roads or trails.
When we had packed up and come back home, we concluded that our trip was a success despite the annoying mosquitoes that plagued us constantly.
After work on Friday Dani came from Moab to pick me up on our way to Layton to check out an apartment for the fall. We stayed the night at Grandpa and Grandpa Hall's and enjoyed their company until we left in the morning to go look at a promising basement apartment. We arrived a bit early, so we drove around the neighborhood and noticed the nice balance of older classic homes and newer ones in the area. When we toured the apartment, we both were pleased with everything: a tiled bathroom, gas-burning fireplace, well-lit rooms, and lots of storage (heaven knows we have a lot of outdoor gear). The only downside to it is the small kitchen space, but for just the two of us it'll be just fine. We love that it includes all utilities (wifi too!) and is more than $200 cheaper than we budgeted for! We're pretty excited to move in, and everything is coming together for us this fall.
This week I had the chance to shadow the anesthesia department at the hospital. A brother in our ward, Laird Clark, is a nurse anesthetist and offered to show me what he does at work. I observed a couple hernia repairs, a tubal ligation, and laparoscopic cholecystectomy (gallbladder removal), but the gist of anesthesia was the same for all of them. As a nurse anesthetist, the patient's face is your workspace - you need to have control of their airway and breathing, and you monitor their vitals and responsiveness throughout the surgery. I left that day feeling very excited about potentially pursuing a career as a CRNA. It was Olivia's birthday this week and for Dani's gift to her she took Olivia and a friend on a river trip! Olivia had a blast, and later I took her out for milkshakes at Milt's.
After a long week on the river, Dani was pretty burned-out and so we escaped to the LaSals for a cool weekend. I got a year-long fishing license (first time ever!) and we went to Medicine Lake Friday afternoon. We had the entire lake and campground to ourselves, and by the end of the day I had caught my limit. Dani enjoyed reading "Desert Solitaire" while I cast for hours.
Our favorite quote from the book so far: "A man on foot... will see more, feel more, enjoy more in one mile than the motorized tourists can in a hundred miles. Better to idle through one park in two weeks than try to race through a dozen in the same amount of time." -Edward Abbey
My salmon pictures from Alaska put these small rainbows to shame, but I was pretty happy to catch what I did!
Saturday morning after cleaning up camp we hiked around in the woods, grateful for the cooler mountain temperatures above the sweltering Moab valley.
Saturday evening I responded to my first "code" -- a patient with absent vital signs. We performed CPR for about 30 minutes, which ended unsuccessfully as we could not resuscitate our patient. As a new EMT I've looked forward to using the skills I've trained for in this type of situation, but also (for obvious reasons) I would never wish for a reason to use those skills, if that makes sense. The scene went smoother and calmer than I expected. I was surprised that the hardest part was after cleaning up, going home, and actually having time to think and analyze the event, prompting some hard-to-answer questions. The fact that it was a suicide made it even harder. I learned the less I know about the personal lives of patients the easier it is to handle. Luckily after a sober evening I was able to put it out of my mind and move on. I'm so grateful for this opportunity to work in the saving of lives.
Our highlight of the week was backpacking in Arches Nat'l Park. On Friday Dani swung by the visitor's center to pick up a backcountry permit and when I came home from work that evening, mom kindly shuttled us to the trail head for Courthouse Wash. After a short hike we found a beautiful sandy campsite in the narrow canyon walls, overshadowed by the cottonwood trees. There was a slight chance of precipitation, but we didn't even need our rainfly over our tent. Even though I grew up in the desert, I still appreciate the beauty of the red rock, sand, and distinct arid smells.
Dani prepared some delicious overnight oats (pre-mixed containers of oats, craisins, walnuts and brown sugar you just add water to the night before) for breakfast which we enjoyed before we began hiking again. It would be pretty hard to get lost - you just follow the stream in the deep canyon. We found pools, waterfalls, and even a wild turkey. Considering it was a weekend in one of the most popular National Parks in the state, we were pretty lucky to have the canyon all to ourselves! We didn't see another soul the whole trip, disguising the fact that we were less than three miles from the road in either direction.
Sometimes our carefully-placed camera on self-timer falls over. And we pose anyways.
I was officially hired on as a volunteer EMT for the Grand County EMS department this week! I will continue to train until I feel comfortable running with only one other medic. Early this morning we were called to a unconscious vomiting patient in a campground. After a quick assessment and treatment we took him to the hospital. As my first "real" call where I got to actually transport a patient with a medical emergency, I was pretty excited to administer care in the prehospital setting. It's going to be hard to go nursing school this fall when this is so much fun!
This week was a blast. Dad, mom, and Jacob left on a Mexican cruise, so Dani and I had the youngest two all week. Dani spoiled them rotten while I was working and training with the EMS department, taking them on all sorts of hikes and adventures. She even baked them a giant cookie and let them decorate it (the frosting reads: No Parents!)! I didn't have work Thursday or Friday, so we took off to Capitol Reef to spend a long weekend in the Park. None of us had ever been there before, so we explored around the desert, discovering all sorts of arches, potholes, and caves. We weren't exactly roughing it in the backyard-like "campground," but Olivia certainly appreciated the flushing toilets.
The rain was off and on all weekend. Desert rain feels pretty incredible - the dampness in the air feels so refreshing, and the fresh-soaked ground smells so alive. The lichen on the red rock turns green, and the rivers turn a copper shade of chocolate milk. We stayed away from narrow canyons, as the scarcely-seen cliffside waterfalls had filled the usually dry river bottoms with flash flooding.
Matthew and Olivia playing in the "Kukoo-moodoo" holes
At the end of our longest 7 mile hike, we found a series of pools, or tanks, that cascade into one another when it rains. In one of them there were a ton of toads!
When we got back to Moab on Saturday, I took Matthew out to test fire his newly-built potato canon. I can't believe I never constructed one of these when I was his age! When we got home I told Dani that I'll probably have to make one before we have our own sons.
Today was pretty exciting for me. I was on-call for Grand County EMS, and early this morning we were paged out to a vehicle rollover on the highway. After three previous shifts without any real calls, you better believe I was the first one to the response shed.
Even running code with our lights and sirens on, our travel time to the accident was over 30 minutes. He had swerved off the road, flipped his car at least three times, and landed in the opposite direction of traffic. He wasn't wearing his seatbelt, and the airbag didn't deploy. When we arrived, our patient was up and walking around, and after a full assessment, he refused to be transported, only asking for a bandaid to cover an existing cut on his finger. What an incredible miracle! Although I was looking forward to the excitement of actually being involved in patient care and transport, I was pretty glad that he survived without any serious injuries.
I finished my day with a transport from our hospital to Grand Junction, CO where our patient could have his appendix taken out, as our surgeon is moving and his replacement hasn't arrived yet. I'm really looking forward to volunteering more as an EMT this summer.
After I trained at the doctor's office in Springville last Friday, Dani and I drove down to move to Moab to live for the summer. After settling into the guest bedroom at my parent's house, I had a full week ahead of me of training at the office. I'm working Monday through Friday, 8am-5pm. Dani took advantage of her free time to get out and enjoy the plentiful sunshine on some day-hikes in the area. She sent me PLENTY of pictures throughout the day just to make me jealous:
The Moab Valley from the top of the Rim trail.
Morning Glory Arch at the end of Negro Bill Canyon.
Dani's arm around an imaginary me while I'm at work.
Friday night we went on a short overnight trip to Culvert Canyon. We brought our tent, but the weather was so great that we decided to cowboy camp under the stars. We sure love the desert. After we hiked out of the canyon we stopped at the Moab dinosaur tracks and petroglyphs.
