Photo of the Day

Taste the Rainbow

After a day of down pouring rain in Washington yesterday a beautiful and clear double rainbow was created. After getting out of my WEMT class and as I turned onto the on ramp to get onto the freeway this came into view. I immediately pulled over onto the shoulder and after tearing up my truck looking for my camera I had to resort to using my cell phone camera to get this picture. Amazing, nonetheless.

As I entered the freeway I could actually see the rainbow ending just on the other side of the freeway. It was kind of an optical illusion because I could see through the rainbow which made it seem like it wasn't really there. Kinda trippy. It was pretty awesome to see the rainbow almost all the way home. A manifestation of another one of God's beautiful creations!

Date: March 2, 2009
Taken by: Rachel Gillmore

Wilderness Intense!

Many of you may remember from my 'Where Two Roads Diverged' posting I mentioned that I signed up for a Wilderness EMT course located in Washington state. Well, yesterday was the completion of my first week of this month long course and I wanted to give a quick update on my experience thus far. I think one of my main reasons for wanting to post about it, besides giving an update, is because of my excitement already from taking this course.

My day begins early each morning around 5:30am when I arise to get ready for the day ahead of me by putting on at least three layers of clothing and making sure I eat a hearty breakfast and pack a nutritious lunch. After battling through Tacoma traffic I arrive on Fort Lewis Army Base where I meet up with 6 of my other classmates and my two instructors. We begin class at 8am by taking a classmate's vital signs, which include, blood pressure, heart rate, respiratory rate, pulse oximeter level (oxygen level), pupil reaction, and lung sounds.

The rest of the day is filled with lectures, hands-on experience to become familiar with the many fun tools an EMT-Basic gets to use, and then scenarios in which we are able to apply everything we have learned. The day typically ends around 5pm, but then we are given homework/reading assignments that consume the rest of the evening.

We have covered a TON of information already this week but realistically it is only the tip of the iceberg. Luckily for me, the majority of it is review from my Wilderness First Responder (WFR) course - and a good review it has been since it's been a couple of years since I've taken that course.

As you can probably already tell, this WEMT course is really intense! To give you an idea, a WFR course is typically taught over a 10-day period, which is pretty intense in itself. This past week - 5 days - we have already covered the vast majority of that WFR course as well as a ton of additional EMT-B level training. To give you another perspective, taking this course through BYU-Idaho would have taken me 4 months to complete. I will receive the same certification in 20 days. To get a general idea of what we learn and study on a day to day basis, you can check out this course's tentative schedule.

I am absolutely enjoying this class! Even though it is really intense and I come home each day feeling like my brain is drowning in an ocean of information, I love how it is based on experiential education - hands on experience. That is my style of learning. Throughout the day we have little practice sessions to become familiar with what we have just learned in the lecture, but the true and bulk of the learning, for me, comes at the end of the day when we spend the last couple hours playing in the woods acting out possible real scenarios of what we might come across as urban or wilderness EMTs. One can sit in a classroom all day and learn this stuff, but they can't save a life or treat an injury if not applied outside the classroom.

One day this past week, as we were doing scenarios, I volunteered to be the Primary Rescuer (the rescuer in charge), which does the majority of the assessment, gathers the information, and makes the decisions. We came upon an unconscious injured male who was inverted on the side of a steep slope, face down in the mud, with possible spine injury. I was kind of bewildered as to what to do first - stabilize the spine, try to check the airway, or somehow move the patient. We ended up having to begin this scenario over 3 times in order for us to understand and perform the best care this patient needed in a quick manner. I was really grateful that we started over until we got it right because it gave us the experience to learn what we needed to do and why. You can't learn that in a classroom. My instructor was a little bit surprised at my positive attitude of having to start over so many times and that I wasn't frustrated or upset. My dad's words came into the back of my mind, "If you do it right the first time, you don't have to do it again." The learning comes when we correct our mistakes. Even though I had to start over 3 times I walked away from class that day excited and pumped because of that learning experience.

One week down, three more to go, and a lot more fun to be had! We are allowed to take pictures and I hope to be able to get some to post on here. It's slips my mind as the adrenaline starts kicking in when we are doing the scenarios. All in all, I am thoroughly loving my class, learning a ton, and enjoying being in my old stomping grounds again.

Unexpected Challenges

I struggled a lot with what my February challenge would be, but as the month progressed it almost seemed as though the challenge to learn something new presented itself to me. I actually learned how to do two new things this month, both of which were awesome because both learning experiences were something that I found to be thoroughly enjoyable.

During the winter months I spend a lot of time indoors because I strongly dislike being cold! I'd take 115 degrees over being cold any day! But slowly over the last two winter seasons I have been exploring some winter sports, which I have really enjoyed despite the freezing temperatures (i.e., snowboarding, snowshoeing). This month, for the first time I went cross country skiing. I found cross country skiing a bit similar to snow shoeing, but with a little bit more coordination.


The above picture of me is my triumph of finally getting back up after falling with my XC skis on. It was a toss up between the difficulty of putting my XC skis back on (which I could never do without help) to get up or to get up with my XC skis on. I usually chose the battle of getting up without taking my XC skis off. That was a challenge all in itself, but got better and better after each fall (which occurred a bit more frequently than preferred).

The trip to go XC skiing began in the late afternoon, which didn't leave us much daylight and so consequently our location was closer than originally planned - Mesa Falls. It was absolutely gorgeous! Thinking about it, I don't know if our original destination would have been much different. It was SO peaceful to be skiing through the stillness of a beautiful forest - there was no sound other than the sounds of nature; the calm breeze through the trees, an occasional rushing of water from the river far below, the sweet chirps of birds as they flew overhead. It really was a bit of heaven! Without the distractions of the world to interrupt us or the responsibilities and stresses of life interfering, everything was perfect. I wish I had discovered my great liking of XC skiing earlier in the month so I would have been able to go multiple times, but I hope to have a few more opportunities to go again upon returning to Idaho.

With being a perfectionist, certain things take a lot longer for me to complete. For several years now I have wanted to learn how to make a leather journal. In my mind, this was buying a journal from the store and then making a leather covering for it. Never did I think I would learn how to do the whole process from start to finish, but I have successfully learned how! Going back to the whole perfectionist thing, it took me a long time to figure out how I wanted my leather journal to look. Once I figured that out I was ready to begin. I soon learned that even though each step is pretty easy to do, it took a lot of time and a lot of patience! But each step was well worth the final product!

The basic design of this leather journal was what I had in mind in the beginning, but a couple of things were design ideas that came during the process of its creation, for example, the leather strap page markers with beads on the ends, and the acorn as a closing mechanism. It turned out beautiful - better than I had expected!

I have learned a TON and have changed A LOT since my experience began at Anasazi. And even though as I move forward with my life I find myself continually looking back and drawing from the experiences, ceremonies, steppings, sittings, stories, and all else that is incorporated into the Anasazi Way.

In my truck I have my Rememberance Pouch hanging from my review mirror. It is something that I always look at whenever I am in my truck. It helps me remember my walking and something that I am trying to live up to. Recently I have had the desire to make a new Rememberance Pouch. I have never completely made one before, since the ones supplied at Anasazi are all pre-made. The process of making the Rememberance Pouches (pictured below) has brought so many new awakenings into my life and a new perspective that I have needed to grasp.

In the process and completion of making these Rememberance Pouches I have decided that it was time to take down my Rememberance Pouch and put a new one in its place. I am walking a new journey now with many goals ahead that I desire so greatly to reach. This Rememberance Pouch is now my constant reminder to me of all of those things in my walking right now that I am trying to accomplish. This journey is not an easy one; there will be an unspoken amount of trying, testing, stretching, and sacrificing but it is a walking that will lead to the greatest Final D there is with the richest blessings unimaginable. This journey is the Path of WE.

I am grateful for my unexpected challenges this month. I have discovered not only new activities that I would like to continue and develop, but I was also able to discover things about myself and receive awakenings that have began to help me turn towards a greater Light in my life.

February Challenge: A humble success

Nearing the end, but it's only the Beginning

Over the last year I have discovered a developing love I have of taking pictures. I love the challenge I give myself of trying to capture unique, beautiful, creative, and stunning pictures. After signing up for a 4-week continuing ed Digital Photography class I decided I would make this my January challenge. I am not highly knowledgeable in photography, nonetheless in digital photography. Taking a film photography class in high school is the extent of my knowledge, but I've want to learn more, even to an amateur professional level.

There have already been two digital photography class sessions and each time I realize there is SO much to learn; we have only barley skimmed the surface of the vast information there is to know, especially if I am hoping to get to a point where my photographs are worthy enough to sell. But I have already learned some key points which have opened up new doors for me to explore and try on my own.

At the end of the first day of class my instructor asked us to pick 6 photographs that we have taken and email them to him. We were going to go through the photographs that were submitted on our second day of class, but we didn't have time to even touch them. Since there is only one more day of month left and I am sure all of you are sitting on the edge of your seats wondering and waiting for my January challenge post, I thought I'd put you all at ease and show you the 6 photographs I submitted to my instructor.

I have tons and tons of pictures, but these are among my top favorites. I don't know what the opinions of others are or the critiques these would receive, but for my present skill level I find these photographs to be well captured. There has been no modifications, adjustments, or editing done to these photographs; they are in their raw image.

In addition to enhancing my photography skills, I also hope to learn and use Photoshop proficiently in order to make my pictures come alive and catch the eye where needed, but keeping it as organic as possible.

This challenge is an on-going challenge as I will continue to learn all I can over the following months and years. In other words, this will not be the last time I will blog about this challenge, but hope to some degree take you with me on this journey of learning the digital photography world.

January challenge: Work in progress

*Recently my cousin, Heidi Hydrick, has published her stunning photographs to the internet and are currently for sale. To view her photographs, click here.

Where Two Roads Diverged

Over the course of the last four months I have been participating in a BYU-Idaho Fire Fighting I class. My purpose for taking this class was not to become a Fire Fighter, but to get a step closer to becoming a Wilderness Search & Rescuer. At the end of this class we had the option to take a written and practical state test to become Fire Fighter I certified. Receiving this certification was my goal. I have yet to receive the results back from the written portion of the test, but results from the practical test were immediate. There were 8 skills of 52 that were randomly chosen by the tester; we had to pass each of them in order to pass the practical portion.

I did not pass. On a skill that I was 100% confident in ended up being my downfall. My instructor had taught us this skill wrong. The difference from the 'wrong way' to the 'right way' was a the placement of one knot just a few inches away. Had I been tested on this skill a thousand times I still would have not passes simply because I had not been taught correctly. To say the least I was a little bit frustrated. But I am able to retest this skill whenever there is another scheduled testing day (which are few and far between).

Not certifying kind of put me at a loss until I came across job vacancies for wildland fire fighting in Idaho this upcoming summer/fire season. I talked with my roommate, Krissy, who has fought wildland fire fighters for a couple of seasons. After talking with her I felt that fighting wildland fires would give me the experience to back up my fire fighting training that I received, even though I didn't get certified. I applied.



















Another step I needed to take in order to be more eligible to be a Wilderness Search & Rescuer was to become EMT-Basic certified. This certification would also come through BYU-Idaho and would only take a semester (4 months) long to obtain. When the semester started I was in the process of applying for a number of different jobs around the area and was finding it rather difficult to juggle both the EMT-B course as well as apply for jobs. Knowing that I could take this course next semester and feeling like a job was more important I put the EMT-B course on the back burner and focused on job searching.

On another (but connecting) note, in the back of my mind I knew that my Wilderness First Responder (WFR) certification was nearing expiration and that I would need to take a recertification course soon. I began looking into recertification locations and prices, but the options didn't seem like much of a possibility for me. As I was looking up WFR recertification information I got side-tracked and began looking into Wilderness EMT (WEMT) courses, which I have had the desire to take as well, but again didn't feel like that was a possibility either. I was looking to re/certify for these courses through NOLS (National Outdoor Leadership School). A few days later I had the thought, "NOLS isn't the only one to offer these certifications..." I then did a general search for WEMT courses. I felt guided in my search. I ended up discovering a course through Remote Medical based out of Seattle, Washington. After reading about the course I also discovered that by becoming Wilderness EMT certified, one also becomes certified in EMT-Basic, the same certification I would have received had I continued the class with BYU-Idaho. I was so stoked to find this out! This course was also the cheapest I had found because it didn't offer room and board. Upon mapquesting the location I discovered that it was only 20 miles outside of my home town, Gig Harbor. The odds! The rest is history.....

The course is a month long, beginning February 23rd and ending March 20th. The class runs Monday thru Friday beginning at 8am and lasting til 5pm, except on evenings where there are night scenarios/practicals. As part of the course we are also required to observe a surgery at a nearby hospital on one of the weekends. It is a fast-paced intense course! I am really excited about it.

Shortly after this discovery I found out that BYU-Idaho is offering a 4-day certification course in Whitewater Rescue. I hadn't even thought of this type of certification before, but I think it would also greatly aid me in my pursuit of becoming a Wilderness Search & Rescuer. This course takes place just a couple weeks after the WEMT finishes. How perfect could that be? I registered.

Having all of these things lined up - WEMT, Whitewater Rescue, & Wildland Fire Fighting - I began to feel excited and actually started to see the reality of this goal coming to pass. But what's after wildland fire fighting? The idea of Helicopter school had been floating around in my head for awhile. The thought of it excites me, but thinking about the cost of it shys me away from it. Thinking about what to do after wildland fire fighting, helicopter school seems to fit, making the puzzle complete. After reading up on it a little bit, I discovered several other career paths helicopter school could take me in that I would enjoy as well, such as, Life Flight or Ariel Photography. This only increased my excitement!

In life there is always opposition in all things. Feeling pretty sure in these future plans, I received a phone call from the Juvenile Correction Center asking if I'd be willing to come in for an interview for the Recreational Coordinator position I had applied for a month ago. Lucky for me, this came by way of a voicemail and so I was able to think about it and sleep on it. With the two options in front of me, which are very different career paths, I am faced to make a decision. Anybody who knows me well enough knows that I hate making decisions. After receiving some advice and calling and talking with the person in charge of scheduling the interviews I felt like there would be no harm in going through with the interview.

This still leaves me with the decision that I will eventually have to make of which path I want to take. My interview is on February 3rd at 2:oopm. Not only do I have a few more extra days to think about this and weigh my options, but I am hoping that the interview itself will help in my decision either way. To say the least, I am a bit nervous, apprehensive, and uncertain. But I know that I can receive the best guidance in my decision from the Creator who knows all things; even me.

Capturing the Holidays

Before we hit the second major holiday of this new year, I wanted to catch up on the holiday season that closed the 2008 year. My 2008 Christmas holiday season was not like it ever has been in the past. Each year of my life I have been blessed to be home with family, even if it was a few days late because of my decision to spend Christmas week in the middle of the Arizona wilderness with a group of amazing kids; an experience I wouldn't ever trade. This year I was thousands of miles away from my family, which definitely brought on a whole new perspective and experience for me.

Knowing that I would not be able to be home with my family for the Christmas holiday I still had the desire to continue on many of the traditions that my family does together. One of which is making platefuls of an assortment of goodies and then dig-dong ditch them on friends and neighbors doorsteps.

This year I made several different goodies that left each plate spilling over with sweetness. My goodies consisted of gingerbread cookies, peanut blossoms, scotcheroos, rice krispie treats, mini black bottom cupcakes, and double chocolate cookies. There was definitely plenty to go around with an abundance of left overs! Sadly, I did not ding-dong ditch the plates on doorsteps this year, but was still able to give several of these goodies plates anonymously, while others were given in person. It was still enjoyable to make and deliver these goodie plates and to see the smiles that spread across the faces of recipiants.

A tradition coming from my dad's childhood is the bulding and decorating of a gingerbread house. All growing up my mom would bake the gingerbread house pieces as well as put the house together. Her talent and skills of doing this are incredible! We just had the fun of decorating it with tons of different candies that we also enjoyed nibbling on in the process.

Last year the house that my friend and I made ended up looking like a flat-roofed adobe. We had to use the aid of a large salt container to hold up the roof. It was kind of sad, but a still really fun experience. This year's inspiration came from my dream of one day having a log cabin in the mountains. I was actually able to see a variety of different style gingerbread houses, a few being log cabins, on display that the community members in the surround areas had made and contributed to the Idaho Falls museum. Seeing such a variety of gingerbread houses sparked ideas for my gingerbread house.

I made the pieces to my gingerbread house but it didn't get put together until Christmas Eve. With the help of a friend we were able to completely cover the house with logs, put on the lights, create the small wood shed, and build a snowman between Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve. (Note: You cannot see the snowman in the pictures above because I ended up mumifying him; he rests in peace in the middle of the tree....As we were building him the plastic bags we were using to squeeze the frosting out of split [which was the start of a intense frosting fight]; to say the least he looked like a pretty pathetic snowman. I am sure he felt pretty humiliated too. We both happy with the solution).

The rest of the details were finally accomplished several days ago to make the gingerbread house complete. I am satisfied with it and admire the finished product on display. I don't know if I have one favorite part of the house because everything together adds to it overall. I like everything, but want to especially point out the stained glass windows (a trick from my mom), the construction of how the logs were placed, and the fish hanging from a string on the side of the house.

It is tradition as a family to gather around the gingerbread house in the minutes nearing the New Year and at the stroke of midnight to demolish the gingerbread house. That tradition wasn't followed through this year since my gingerbread house was still being built on New Year's Eve! I still haven't decided what I'm going to do with it....maybe begin the demolishing act by nibbling on things here and there.

I was able to spend half of Christmas day at work with the sweet residents that I work for. My co-worker and I were able to get ahead of schedule, which gave us the time to sit down and spend some quality one-on-one time with the residents that were present. I enjoyed watched them open gifts that they had received from distant family and friends. It was fun to relive a little of my childhood by sitting and watching some of the old-school claymation Christmas movies on TV that I had watched as a kid.

Shortly after arriving home my family had the great blessing of being able to have a conference call with my brother who is serving his mission for the LDS Church in Guadalajara, Mexico South. He had been in the field for only a couple of weeks. It was fun to hear his stories and experiences up to that point. He is doing amazing and exceeding all of our already high expectations of him as a missionary.

Next, my parents and older brother and his wife, who were home in Texas, were able to have a virtual Christmas over the internet using web cams. Unfortunately, Daniel was unable to join us for this virtual Christmas as he was with his son Ryan during that time. It is awesome to be living in such a day where technology allowed us to have Christmas 'together' even though we are thousands of miles apart, but it is definitely not the same as being with them. I am still grateful that I was able to spend Christmas this way with my family or it would have felt very lonely otherwise. It was different, yet memorable! I enjoyed everybody that I was able to spend Christmas with!