O Tannenbaum!

Jared and I are trying to get a grasp on traditions. So far, we're still in the planning stages. However, there are some Christmas habits that I just can't kick. Examples: watching Home Alone, making fudge, and putting up a tree. I thought it would be nice to do Christmas cards, or buy a new ornament every year, but cards are time consuming and Ikea had adorable ornaments on sale last year and I think I'm set for life. Although, we do have a Yosemite bear ornament that is my absolute favorite.
I'm still trying to think of things we can do with our future family. I want my children to know that we celebrate Christmas because we celebrate the gift of the gospel on this earth. Through Christ's birth we received the gift of repentance and salvation. He, in turn, asks us to share this gift with others. How can a family celebrate this gift? I'm not sure yet, but I'm really excited to show my future children this perspective. I also decided that we'll only give three *gifts to our children each Christmas. I'm doing a test run on Jared this year and we'll see how it goes. Babies and kids only like bubble wrap and cardboard boxes anyway, right?

*If you're thinking gold, frankincense, and myrrh, get real. I'm not made out of money.

Grateful Heart

Sometimes forces are against you and you have to leave it up to fate to sort things out. Jared and I bought plane tickets in June for Thanksgiving. We realized about a couple weeks before departure that our tickets were for the wrong dates. Why is Thanksgiving not on the 24th of November? Beats me. So, okay, we rebook our tickets and pay the fancy, expensive price instead of the well prepared months-in-advanced price. (Ugh!) 6:00am departure? Fine. But wait, no bus, no bart, or regular human will be up at 4:00am to drive us to the airport. What about airport parking? Full?! Okay, that's cool. Shuttle? Yes?! One's available?! Book it! 4:15am day of departure - "Where's the shuttle?" 4:30am (about to cry) - shuttle pulls up saving us from missing our flight, saving me shame from bawling. We made it to Colorado just fine and all was well. Thanks fate!

Thanksgiving according to my niece:



...and the most adorable picture ever:



Uncle Jared rules. I really hope our nieces and nephews still think we're the bomb when we're older.

Jared and I got to spend time in Colorado with my whole family. We haven't all been together since Jared and I got married two years ago. It was so great to have all our eclectic personalities together - we love each other, drive each other crazy, and have the best laughs.

Sledding garb:





It was incredible to have time off to do snow activities and live it up in Vail.


Jared thought we were doing the "put out" face. We were actually going for funny...
As you can see, the gang sign in my family is holding up 3 in sign language. It's a pretty hard core move, I know.
I'm so grateful for my family and knowing we'll all be together after this life.

For Sport: Amazing Face

Gearing up for another lead climb. Here goes nothin'....



Mt. Diablo was one of the first places I went rock climbing with Jared. I remember being so nervous about falling. While leading the route this time I laughed at my old top-roping self because I was even more nervous than before. The route is super run-out, but as you go up you realize there are so many secret foot placements that you eventually make it up without realizing how.



After my victorious climb up Amazing Face, Jared decided to do this insane crack climb. I believe Jared stuck his hand in a bat cave during this climb, but the screeching could have been from any animal I guess.


Some serious rope burn. (Ouch!)



...and a glorious sunset to bid us farewell. Off to Colorado in the morning!

Magic, Golden

November 3, 2013 Mr. Wood turned 33.

Celebration included:
-Trip to Yosemite
-Brunch in El Cap meadow
-First time lead climb, by yours truly
-Cake at Old Priest Cafe

Getting older is not so bad.

Apple Hill

Tis' the season for apples.


Jared and I go up to Apple Hill every year to eat apple doughnuts and buy raw, freshly pressed, apple cider. We make it a habit to tour High Hill Ranch and make sure we don't miss out on any frivolous, apple merchandise...enter apple, pumpkin butter (amazing!).
After our outing this year we went back to Villa Rita, my parents current digs, and gathered apples, explored the wild woods, and picked the roadside grapes. It was a perfectly rustic weekend.



Portraits: The wandering woman. The cowboy.

For Sport: Lovers Leap

Legend has it that two Native American lovers leapt to their death off a tall summit near Strawberry. The name from then has been Lovers Leap...Jared claims they were free soloing on their way up, but whose to know.

There are a couple reasons that we love climbing at Lovers Leap. 1) My parents live close and there's only an hour-or-so drive to reach the comforts of a home cooked meal, Oreos, and a hot shower. 2) It's almost, always sunny and warm...even in late October! On this particular occasion, Jared and I reached the base around 10am (hooray for sleeping in!) and started up The Line (drug reference, naturally - ah, 70's climbers). This route was pretty awesome and had really good feet placement on these little lips that jutted out of the wall. The route took us all over the wall and finally up and over a nice looking roof with some pretty good jugs in the hidden cracks. I was pretty stoked to get through it, roofs were never my area of expertise.



The second route was Hospital Corner. This was a more standard crack with hand and foot jams, maybe  a 5.10, I can't remember. Jared made it all the way up, but it was getting too late for me to finish. So, naturally, I took some pictures of the scenery and the cool, orange moss growing in and all over this one crack in the wall - it's seriously beautiful. We had a bit of trouble with the rope in the end, but made it down just as the final glow of the sun was gently falling back westward.


To another great day on the wall.

October 19, 2013

National Explorers Day

...or Columbus Day...or Indigenous People's Day...I prefer my title.

On this wonderful holiday celebrating exploration the government had to do something stupid and shutdown the parks. Typical. After reading the closed sign due to the shutdown we proceeded to go on our hike to Tomales Bay Point. The sun brilliantly shined over the rolling hills and sea. About a mile or so in we finally came upon the main attraction: elk. There was the king and then all of his hand maidens around him eating grass and basking. Just over the next hill there was a whole party of elk. It's a bit frightening to see such big animals with four foot horns. I had a little anxiety that they would charge if we didn't play by their rules and stick to the human path.


The very point of Tomales Bay is exceptionally beautiful. The water was sapphire blue and the algae shone lime green. We took our lunch at the very point and later ended up down at a beach with a great view of Bird Rock (just an island that birds live on...and poop on, I'm sure).



What a hike.
What a day.
What a sunset.