Hi everyone....

So basically I realize I am not the most consistent blogger. It's been BUSY (!!!), what can I say, I had no idea how much reading and studying would be neccessary for 16 college credits.
A lot has happened in the last month, I can barely remember it all... it's kind of a blur. Some of you have heard about it on facebook, the phone, IM, or letters, so I don't think I'll attempt to go back and recount everything that's happened. I'll just say my classes are going pretty good so far (as I know), I enjoy most of them, I think OT survey and history are my favourite classes though. I had my first exam last week but I have no idea how it went and probably won't find out for a few weeks yet. I'm doing lots of volunteer work too and with a few social events on weekends added to that, I basically have NO free time whatsoever... you know, where you're like "what do I feel like doing right now? Hmm I think I'll watch TV/read a book/go for a leisurely walk/take a nap... fill in the blank." Looking forward to the all-college retreat next weekend which will be a nice break, although it will leave us all killing ourselves with studying and reading on monday.
So since my memory isn't serving me that well, I'll just go back in time to yesterday... which was when about 20 of us from school went hiking up Mt. Baldy, which is a 10,000 ft mountain about 1/2 hour away from school. I kid you not, it was the toughtest physical thing I've ever done. I had no idea it would be so hard when I signed up, or I probably would have been too wimpy to do it, so I'm kind of glad I didn't know. Because seriously, how many people can say they've climbed a mountain?
It was a gorgeous day yesterday, a little hot, but the sky was so blue out there away from all the smog... and the trail was lovely, if you looked over your shoulder the view took your breath away every time. I started out hiking for about the first hour with Tim, Josh, and Michelle... the four of us got pretty far ahead of everyone. But they I started getting really tired, they weren't resting very often and were moving really fast, so I decided to take a break and they went on ahead... then a girl named Annika who I hadn't really talked to that much before caught up, so we went on together up to the ski hut which was half-way to the top where we were all supposed to wait until everyone caught up - anyway she was really nice... and we basically were able to go at the same pace pretty much, so it worked out well. The five of us were up at the hut for a while eating snacks and resting before other groups of two or three began to arrive, and it was about an hour before everyone was there and we could get started again. The five of us from before started together and were together for maybe the first half hour before Josh and Tim and Michelle started to get too fast for us again. Annika and I got to the summit only about five minutes after them, but we just couldn't quite keep up. It took about 3 1/2 hours to get to the top... the last hour or so was kind of brutal, my calves were killing me and there was a seemingly never-ending super-steep section. We kept passing people on their way down who would say "you're 1/2 an hour from the top" "You're 5 minutes away from getting there"... and then of course it would still be another 15. The air is so thin that high up that it is really difficult to breath, you have to stop every two minutes or so so rest and let your heart rate go down and give your legs a break so you can start moving them again. Anyway, it was amazing being up there, seeing the view - mountains for miles and the valley in the distance.
It's so awe-inspiring to know that those mountains are the merest fraction of God's might, that something so big is tiny and frail to Him - and that He imagined and brought into being that kind of beauty. What a mighty God we serve!
So, we were really starving by that time; we each found a comfortable pile of rocks to settle down on and enjoy (and I mean ENJOY) our lunches. Seriously, food never tasted so good. Everyone was saying things like "this is the best sandwich I have ever eaten"... lol.
After about 1/2 an hour the next two people made it up, it was interesting because all the first seven people to summit were ones who ran regularly, I guess it makes a big difference.
(I've been running 2-3 times a week since I got here, whenever I'm studying a night and my brain stops functioning I go out for a run to refresh it and wake myself up.) We were up there for about 2 hours total, because again we had to wait for everyone to get up before we could start back down. Group pictures and all that jazz. Some people took naps, explored, threw snowballs, chatted... it was basically amazing up there. One of the coolest things about the hike was getting to know people better. When you conquer something like that you feel bonded to the people you do it with, is all I can say.
We started down the mountain at 4; again everyone went at very different paces - I was with an upperclassman named Kevin for about an hour and we chatted a lot (it was easier to talk on the way down because it wasn't so hard to breath), and then we waited at the cabin again until everyone caught up. The last half of the mountain going down was actually kind of tough because by that point we were so tired that our legs were shaking, and all we want to do was get to the bottom and sleep so it felt long. The steep parts were tricky to get down, some people fell often. But the evening, when the sun was setting and the air was all hazy, was one of the most beautiful parts of the hike. When we got down we tried to do one of our "jumping" pictures, but nobody had enough energy to get off the ground.
Anyway, it was a pretty sweet thing to say I've done, I'm glad I did it but pretty much don't think I'll ever do it again... it was too hard.
And then I came home and slept for 10 hours.
So monday I pretty much am going to kill myself studying because I have 2 exams and a paper due next week! Pray for me!
If you want to see some amazing pictures from the hike, they're on my facebook.

Love ya'll, keep in touch!