Employment news

I got a job! A real "career" type of job at the Utah Heart Center in SLC, Utah (see image.) I've had one full day there and so far it seems like a good fit for me.
Todd and I are going to buy a house. I'll be looking at a few this weekend- we're trying to live close to trax in Sandy because that's the mid-point between our jobs.





















We bought a trad rack for traditional climbing. Todd is so excited! We completed the rack but Todd had hurt his finger and couldn't climb. :( Instead he would pull out all the new gear and sit in front of it staring at it all evening. LOL! I guess he was mentally climbing in preparation for the real thing.
Here's some of the new gear:

Hooray!

I've had a great week! Yesterday was my birthday, and even though I don't love being in my LATE twenties I do love getting presents and surprises! Todd gave me a hooded camera lens- no more sun spots all over my pictures. We couldn't celebrate yesterday because I studied all day for the CT boards- which I took this very morning and passed! Woo Hoo I'm officially done with all my education! I never have to open a text book for the rest of my life if I don't want to! It's a joyous feeling when you've been in school for eight years. If I were more organized I could be a doctor by now, LOL. But either way I'm just glad to be done :)

Tonight Todd and I are going out to eat for a birthday-graduation celebration.

Tomorrow I get PRK- corrective vision eye surgery! I'm nervous but everyone has been telling me it is SO worth it and I'll be very glad when all is said and done. I'm excited to see my alarm clock in the morning and not have to poke my dirty fingers in my eyeballs when camping!

If anyone is considering PRK, click on the link to watch this video, it may just change your mind! Wiping the eyeball off with those things? Yuck!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zmFIAcIu-j4&feature=player_embedded#

Happy Halloween! Todd and I dressed up as Wayne and Garth- it was so fun! Everyone said, "No offense Britt but you look just like Garth!" We walked around "scha-winging" all night and saying "Party on" and stuff like that. Todd had an especially good time at Brooke's party goofing off with our friends.

Can you see the joy in his eyes?

I don't know why Waynes World is backwards on Todd's Hat...

Last month Oregon Health Science University flew me up to Portland for a job interview! Since I have now finished ALL my education, I'm finally eligible for a "real" job. I'm still waiting to hear back from them, but they sound very serious. I never thought I'd end up in Portland, but I'd love the chance to move there! It's waaaaay closer to the ocean than Utah even though it's very cold, and the temperatures are cooler in the summer, and warmer in the winter. I'd rather have it rain all the time than snow all the time, and as everyone knows I'd love to leave good old Utah again. I appreciate it more when I'm far from it.

Anyway, here's a photo of Eike (my only friend in Oregon)'s cat.

Daisy is really cute, she even made me want a kitten for myself.

Here's Portland with Mount Hood in the distance. It's about a 45 minute drive to the mountain.

And a 45 minute drive to the beautiful coast! Who wouldn't love to be there?

A few weeks ago I took Becca and Jake climbing in American Fork. They wanted to learn to lead climb, and long story short Jake fell 25 feet with the rope in his mouth and landed on the ground!! As you can see it ripped out his four bottom teeth, as well as dislocating his jaw, shattering his ankle, and breaking his tibia and fifth proximal falange (I think.) And then he had to hike down steep unsteady terrian to get back to the car. It was awful!!! Especially for Jake- since then he's had surgery, two root canals, and has to use crutches and a cast for four weeks or more. Man oh man, does anyone want to come climbing with me now??

Becca carried the only completely uprooted tooth all the way to the dentist in her mouth- something I'd learned in a first aid class.

Here's a photo of Poor Jake feeling thrashed. I have to give him mucho credit though, because he kept a calm demeanor and steady head throughout the whole fiasco. And he hasn't disowned me as a friend yet...

September trip of the month: Yosemite!

We bouldered in Bishop and climbed in Yosemite. This trip was quite uneventful, thank goodness! Last year's frostbite is still messing with Todd's climbing injuries and my IV starting skills. It's hard to poke someone's vein if you can't feel or see it...

Anyway here's Todd considering the down-climb from a big boulder in Bishop. Mark had just done the same thing and lost his footing- and literally ran down the steep wall and landed on his hands and face! He has since fully recovered.

One of my favorite photos from the trip- the amazing HUGE redwoods!

We hiked to the top of the Half Dome this trip, instead of climbing the other side of it like last year. It's got to be one of the most amazing hikes in the USA! 14+ miles of breathtaking views, with the slick cable-tied push at the end to reach the tippy top of the Half Dome. Highly reccomended for everyone.

Todd trying Midnight Lightning, apparently the most famous boulder problem in the world.

He did pretty well on it! But didn't complete it. Mark and Bryce did well too.

More backtrack- updating

I ran the Wasatch Woman Love Your Body 10K with some friends. It was a hard race! I was so thirsty the whole time. There was a family in their front yard taking turns hosing down the runners which really helped! I felt so dehydrated, tired, and dry. But I'm so glad we did it!

Crossing the finish line:

Todd and I went to Joe's Valley for a day. It was great- good climbing (and not too difficult for me all the time like some climbing areas :) I did my first V4 outside- called Pimpin' Jeans.

This V2 problem wasn't hard but it was scary- if I fell I would have landed in the river:

Todd sending Pocket Rocket, V6:

We took a trip to Lake Powell with Becca, Brooke, Jake, and Curtis. It was great fun- perfect weather and lots of playing. We hiked to rainbow bridge and through Antelope canyon, wake boarded, cliff jumped, rock climbed, etc. Five days wasn't long enough, that's for sure.

Antelope canyon- simply amazing! So beautiful.

I got to try my hand at slot-canyon photographing, which made the hike four times more fun for me!

Sunrise (yes I actually rolled out of bed before noon on vacation)

Don't worry, Todd will hold the arch up:

Brooke's arms got tired so she used her teeth instead:

I really face-planted after this attempted jump. Can you see the fear in my eyes for what's ahead?

Here's the group in the canyon:
Powell is so breathtaking.

Update for the last 3 months...

Wow it's September already! We've been all over the place traveling, climbing, running, etc. I'll post a few pictures of the highlights.

We went to Denver in June to visit my cousins and see Wilco live. It was a great trip- such a short 8 hour drive compared to the 30+ hours to Canada and back! Todd LOVES the band Wilco, and they put on a great show. Of course we climbed, both in Horsetooth reservoir and Garden of the Gods. Here's a pic of a V4 (John Gill Eliminator Left) at Horsetooth:

Here are my cousins! They treated us like royalty- we love visiting and hanging out with them. :)

While we were there we were caught in a HUGE thunderstorm in Denver and hid against a Jamba-juice for and hour trying to wait out the storm. There were hundreds of people plastered against buildings and inside shops escaping the downpour to no avail, it rained for hours. A different day lightning struck right outside our car! It shook the whole car with the force- we thought we'd been hit by a huge boulder or something.

Here's a nice view over Denver:

This year the annual Hammond family trip was to... Panguitch! Why, you may ask? Good question- it's close to Zion's and Bryce, but there's not much in Panguitch itself. We had a great time with the family touring and performing talent shows. Here's a family photo of all of us except for the Petreys and Matt.

Molly's nipple:

We spent the 24th of July at Jonny (my bro-in-law's) warehouse skating around on palate jacks, skateboards, scooters, and bikes. It was SO fun! All the adults felt like kids again, even my mom skated around on a palate jack till she almost accidentally nose dived off. We had dinner and dessert and lit fireworks. It was a great holiday, sorry I don't have any photos.

Todd and Mark have gone fishing a few times this summer. Todd hooked a HUGE fish that got away when Mark was trying to net it. What a huge disappointment to hook it, reel it all the way in, almost net it, and lose it! (I don't know why that's so different than actually netting it, taking a photo, and then letting it go anyway.) They had a lot of success otherwise, and here are a couple pics of them:

My last 15 hour attempt at fishing when I didn't have a single bite has diminished my drive to pursue the sport. Can anyone really blame me? It was fun to try, but I'll stick to running, climbing, and snowboarding while Todd goes out of town to fish.

Todd bolted a new 12a route which he named Mellow Gold at the Choss Garden in Big Cottonwood. Here are a couple pictures:

First ascent:

Natalie got married!

Nat got married on June 28 to Harrison Holden, one of Brett Richin's mission companions. She's in Puerto Rico on her honeymoon now, but since the wedding is over I thought it would be OK to post a couple pics. It was really fun to take her bridals and wedding shots but photography isn't something I'd pursue as a career. Does'nt she look pretty!

OK so blogging just insn't in my nature but I'm trying to post something every couple months.

Here's the latest: I gradutated on June 12! Hooray, I'm now a certified Nuclear Medicine Technologist. I wish I were totally done with school but now I'm studying to be a CT tech. The boards for nuc med were crazy hard! I had no clue what a lot of the questions were talking about, but I still passed. Maybe it was lucky guesses.

We went to Canada! Road trip of a lifetime- 17 hours to Squamish (awesome scenery and climbing,) 5 hours to a couple of "secret" lakes that were over-crowded, and 17 hours home. With a few breaks in between drives. It was Todd, Mark, and I, we fished for HOURS and I caught... nothing! Unless you count lots of seaweed from the lake bottoms :( But Todd caught 2 and Mark caught 8 or so. And I did a lot of reading- my rediscovered hobby. I've loved reading for fun again as opposed to drilling through text books and study guides. The climbing was really cool too, I'd love to go back to Squamish for a week just to climb and explore. Here are some photos:

Bald Eagle that lived on the lake. It was perched in this dead tree for a few minutes and just stared at me- maybe it was considering an afternoon snack.

Todd even looks cute in rubber: LOL

Another amazing view (there were about a million amazing views)

Nothing better than a breakfast of an entire package of bacon: