For the Love of...** SNOW **

IT SNOWED AT THE BIRD!!!! Every year on August 29th it snows at the Bird. It wasn't much, but it was enough to get me excited!! I've only been off the mountain for 2 months, but I am itching to get back on.

This week marks the beginning of my "Get back in shape because I drank too much beer and ate too many hotdogs over the summer while laying on the Sweet Unit." Luckily for me, Skip gave me a BOSU ball for my birthday, I am now lugging a heavy back pack all over campus and my hotel has 15 floors = 30 flights of stairs for me to run up and down.

Normally I put all my snowboard stuff away for the summer. Not this year! I am anticipating hiking the Dirty B in 6 weeks. The first week of October is my goal. Get ready boys! Here comes the snow!! WHOOOOOOOO!!!!!

Back to School! Rodent's Going Back to School!

نا أحب الشرق الأوسط! دعنا نذهب!

I just finished my first week back in school at the University of Utah! I have 3 semesters remaining until I have my Masters degree in Middle East Politics. I am so happy to be back in school, studying what I absolutely love.

This semester I am taking "Oil and Democracy," "Islamic Fundamentalism," "History of the Middle East 1750-1914" and عربي (Arabic). This will be a crazy year, but it will be all worth it in the end. I love learning عربي(Arabic) and have already been practicing on the babies. Axel knows how to read, so he should pick this up quickly, but the other two look at me like they have no idea what I'm saying! I figure, the next time I'm in the Middle East, I will be able to negotiate a better price for a camel ride (We rode those characters in the picture) since I will be able to speak عربي(Arabic).

The Hazards of Loving Men

The hazards of loving men is that they end up finding wives. Gone are the days of sharing "treats", late night hash browns, Leonidas outings, slamming Patron, smuggling vodka into movies, getting the "10", family home evening, preseason midnight hikes, fishing trips, sharing the baby girl, riding together, rafting the rivers, going on drives and seeing our favorite bands like Marilyn Manson, Pepper and Rise Against. My three years in Utah have been filled with fun times and good friends. So, as hard as it is for me to accept that I am losing you both to matrimony, I am happy that you both found love. I sincerely hope that I will gain two girlfriends and not lose my buddies.

So congratulations Josh, I am thrilled for you and wish you and Andrea the best. I will be forever grateful to you for showing me how to love Utah. I love you very much and will always be your friend, even on a pow day :)

Matt, I'm still shocked but happy for you that you have found someone who will give Roz babies and will travel the world with you. "It's been a long time coming", but thank you for being my Biff hero, my Glenn hero, my bar confidant, and my future business partner. I love you and wish you and Tessa the very best.

Beer Fest!!!

Beer Fest was so much fun the first night with Skippy, we had to take Allen the next day too! There were 175 different kinds of beer and I sampled only 10 of them. My favorite was Summer Solstice Crema and Allens favorite was Purple Haze.

Skippy held to form and wore an outfit that she would "not pick up a man in". Note: she was wearing a visor :)

Here's to a Fellow W.A.C.

I am the luckiest daughter in the world to have a mom who is the ultimate W.A.C. (Woman of Adventure and Conviction). I always laugh that Mischa is so wild and crazy because she takes after her mom. Well, I am wild, crazy, adventurous, athletic and a life lover because my mom is.

So, here's to all the W.A.C.'s in my life- you know who you are. I LOVE YOU!

And for Skippy- I am so lucky to have you to hike, boat, four wheel, have sightings, laugh, travel, ski, snowshoe, jet ski, ride camels, rollerblade, see movies, share books, celebrate seasons, holidays, birthdays, and to be my favorite W.A.C. I love you because you let me drive you to Tijuana, fly you to Cairo, hike with you in the Alps, drag you around London, spend 9 hours on Cinque Terre, share our near death experiences in Moab and Minnesota, float you down the Provo, spend exorbitant amounts of money on Swiss hotels, crawl through a pyramid, take pictures of "you" but really take pictures of hot Italian men behind you, go on nun hunts, wear fancy pants, sit in a tent at the fair for 9 days, and you let me plan whatever I want to do and you always participate with gusto. I love you so much. I am so lucky to have been raised by a W.A.C.!!!

Why Am I So Nerdy?

Allen is home for a week and his friend "Red" asked him to document his trip to Boise. Somehow, the idea of me jumping in the air before our First Annual Seymour Family Golf Tournament seemed like a funny thing to do. I could have just stood there with my golf clubs, since I was on the course, but when Jimmy and I get together crazy things happen.

It was Allen's first time golfing and he did great! We have decided that I am able to sink remarkable putts because I have a wider range of peripheral vision. Now, if only I could drive my ball further than 50 yards I'd be money! Watch out Seymours! I'm practicing this year and I will win next years tournament!

My First Day Wakeboarding!

I have taken my snowboarding to the lake...! Allen pulled me while I zipped around Lucky Peak for my first time wakeboarding. As amazing as this may sound, I got up my first try and went for at least 15 minutes straight, all the way to Arrow Rock dam...without falling! It felt exactly like snowboarding;... heals...toes.... (Just to be accurate though, I am in so much pain literally from head to toe. It is a complete body workout and much more physically demanding than snowboarding.) This will definitely be my new favorite summer sport!

Allen took the baby girl for a few rides around the lake too! She LOVED it!! She had a very busy weekend of floating the river, boating, playing with Grammie, Grampie and Uncle Allen. She will probably sleep all week and then she'll be ready to go back to Boise to celebrate my birthday next weekend!