All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth.

Excited to ride a full suspension mountain for the second time in my life, Robin and I decided to try a new trail. With our sweet mountain bikes (a friend let me borrow theirs) on top of her turquoise beast of an auto we were off. The trail "Hole in the Ground" is about 45 minutes to an hour from Reno, NV depending on how much construction California was to perform that day, but that didn't stop us from going.

We get to the trail head and their are already 6 other cars there. I was a little nervous. I always get nervous. But hey we are girls and hardcore enough to mountain bike right?

So we start to climb on the trail. I am huffing and puffing thinking that the granny gear on this bike is not going to cut it. I put up with that for about 15 minutes when I come upon the wonderful knowledge that my crank has another rung. "Hallelujah!" I exclaim and blaze past Robin chugging along. That doesn't last long, the elevation brings me back to slow climbing speed again. We pass a couple of guys on the trail who are not sure where to go. One guy looking at the trail map says, "Let's just follow there girls they look like they know where they are going."

We continue to climb, I have trouble in a couple spots do the newness of the bike. Eventually it is smooth, slow sailing but sailing nonetheless. The scenery is beautiful. Possibly the best trail I have done yet. Scratch that, more like attempted to do. Soon we come upon this awesome ridge at the top of our 5 mile climb and the view is spectacular! We stop and take a couple photos. Robin is giddy to do some downhill and I am excited to see what this full suspension mountain bike can do.





I follow Robin down the trail, cautious at first, but not for long. I start to get the hang of the bike and am LOVING the trail. It was technical, fun and beautiful. I still lack the ability to keep up with Robin, but was still enjoying it. I let out a hoot and holler because I am having such a good time. I was in awe as these plops of granite rocks start to appear on the trail.

Shortly after that there is a bit of drop off that I don't feel confident in attempting so I stick to the right of the trail. These leads to disastrous results! There was a wedge of granite rock my front burly tire got stuck in launched me forward with immense speed! I thought in my mind "Put your arms out, put them out, put them out NOW!" But it was too late. Before I could react my face took the blow. It was the perfect recipe:

1 mountain bike
1 rider (perhaps in need of experience)
1 section of downhill
1 granite rock
Stir. Equals one good face smashin' time.



I am on all fours not sure what just happened. Instinctively I yell for Robin because I can't see her. No response. So I scream again. This time I spit out a tooth shard into my glove and think "I wasn't supposed to go to the dentist today." I see this cloud of dust as Robin coming running up the hill pushing her mountain bike. I look up at her and tell I fell. She looks at me in shock and says, "Oh my gosh, this is what I have nightmares about." Instantly the blood starts gushing, I can fell that one front tooth is knocked forward and down, and the tooth to the right is gone. My lip on right side has been punctured by that missing tooth. And the least of the damage is another loose, chipped from tooth.

Robin just sits by me and I start to cry. I tell her, "I'm never going on a mission. I just sent off my dental paperwork today to the Bishop." I pull my phone out of my backpack and ask her to call my dentist and see if I can come in so they can at least stop the bleeding. She calls. They ask her to put the tooth in some milk and then soon realize that we are in the middle of the forest. Instead she instructs us to bring the tooth along.

Now for the fun part, getting back to the car. We are 6 miles in. After attempting to drink some water and wishing I had a cotton T-shirt to wipe my mouth, we start walking back to the ridge. After about 5-7 minutes of walking I start going into shock and have a hard time breathing. Robin quickly takes my bike and backpack and has me sit in some shade. I have a GU shot in my bag and attempt to swallow some while trying not to vomit. Anything that touches my front tooth sends excruciating pains through my brain. After calming down we start to hike again.

Between 4 to 6 other mountain bikes pass us and ask if we are okay. We don't know what else to do then to get to the car so we just keep walking. Robin offers to take bike, but as buff as she is two mountain bikes on a single track in the sun is not easy. I hear her huffing behind me and take it back. Plus it gives me something to lean on. We eventually get to the ridge meaning we have 5 more miles to go, but it's all downhill from here.

At this point I am still bleeding. My mouth is throbbing and let's just say I was drooling a bit. If we keep walking it is going to take forever and I needed to get to the dentist sooner than later. So I saddled up the horse. I put on my helmet and rode back down. Thanks to the adrenaline it was a somewhat enjoyable experience with the occasional stop to drool.

Finally we get back to the car and I am pooped. We hop on the freeway only to be greeted by the lovely California construction; a one-lane road creeping at 25 mph. I start to get drowsy here, the adrenaline has worn off and I am feeling not so peachy.

After 70 minutes on the highway we make it to the dentist office. I sit in the chair from 3:30pm until 8:00pm. There was lots of blood, anesthetic, dirt and jokes invovled. With my makeshift splint, (it looks like I have braces on four of my teeth) I head to Robin's house.



With the combination of bruising, swelling, and anesthetic let's just say I will never have to get Botok. All things in moderation right? If you made it this far thanks for reading.

It's amazing how close the spellings of trail and trial are. Keep that in mind for your next Boggle session.

Change in Direction.

It's amazing how quickly things can change based on a simple decision made in one's life. Sadly this is not a life decision that I have made but more of a physical one. On Monday night some of my roommates and myself play Ultimate Frisbee on campus. It is one of my highlights of the week. This last Monday we decided to ride our bikes like we normally do seeing as campus is only 2 blocks away. After finding adequate bikes to ride we were off. I brought my backpack with my water and stuffed Lynsey's frisbee between my back and pack as well. As we rounded the corner of 11th and Ralston I decided it would be safer to turn on my reflector so cars could see me. I attempted to turn it on while riding my bike, which resulted in me standing up on my road bike with one hand on the handle bars and the other fumbling with the light. It just so happens that this was the perfect recipe for disaster that evening. In my not so safe stance I hit a hole in the road. If anyone reading this has ever ridden a road bike they know what it feels like to hit a large bump on a skinny road bike. Well I was not expecting this to happen which resulted in my body being launched off the bike. The handle bars jackknifed and I flew off the right side of the bike, slamming all of my weight onto my right shoulder and skull (no helmet :( ). It was possibly the most pain I have ever experienced all at once. I swear six people stopped, and at least 5 more walked by. Anika with her ninja reflexes was kind enough to swerve out of the way to prevent the mountain bike she was on from T-boning into my spine. A girl walking home got a wet rag from her house to doctor up the wounds, another guy was relating some of his crashes on his bike to help me to feel better. A car full of people stopped as well while I was rolling in the middle of the road in pain. Another group of people walked by and were all like "Dang, is she ok?" Lucky for me there were 5 people there to answer for me. The random girl who was helping me happened to have some sanitizer as well, she put it on my leg and I starting yelling in pain, I no longer appreciated her presence as much. It was SO painful! I was still trying to get over the initial nausea from the pain of falling. Anika rode home to get her car, while Lynsey stayed and helped doctor up my wounds. I am so grateful that I was not by myself. They helped me tremendously. So now today I am just a little scabbed, sore, drugged and more aware of helmet usage. Hopefully tomorrow I will be able to walk more effectively. Danielle thought it would be a great idea to take some pictures of me while I was drugged and half asleep.





I think I ruined my Shakespeare shirt though. Hopefully it doesn't scar. This is going to make my first week of school a little more interesting. Also it will be a while before I can play Rugby again which makes me a little sad.

Happy Birthdayssss.

Holy cow, I am so horrible and completly overwhelmed this week. It seems like everyone and their mom's birthday is this week. Well actually my mom's was haha. So because I am thinking about all of them I decided to list them all out.

Roselia, Papa Harry and Aunt Judy
July 19th

Mom
July 20th

Dad and Chelsea Warren
July 23rd


I ♥ them all!

Buck's Lake

I can see why Anika, my roomamate, calls it one of her favorite places ever. I had the privilege of going up to her family cabin for the Fourth of July holiday and I could not have asked for a better day off. The relaxation was much needed. Trevor, Danielle and I drove up on Thursday night, northern California is one of the prettiest places in this country. I ran around on the beach like a little kid, getting Anika and anyone else close by wet. Then we proceeded to rock and jump on the little dock floating off the beach. After my failed attempts at skipping rocks, I hucked a huge one off the end of the dock and then we walked back up "Cardiac Hill" to the cabin. We played Balderdash, laughed and enjoyed the company. You don't need plans at Bucks Lake, just being there is enough. That night we slept on the back porch, all 7 of us, curled up in our warm sleeping bags and blankets. I don't think I have ever seen so many stars in my entire life, definately a view that will be hard to beat. The next morning we woke up with the sun warming our faces, it was grand. I woke up while Ani was getting ready for work and just sat and read for a couple of hours until everyone decided to get up. After watching the ridiculous movie "Van Helsing", we decided or more I made Trevor ride with me down to Anika's work. Katie rode the extra bike we brought, the ride was short but we got to fly down this windey hill. I was going so fast my eyese started to water, and I think I frightened Katie when I passed by her. After helping Anika's place of employment with our purchases of Charleston Chews and Gatorade we went back to the cabin. Danielle, Jesse and myself decided to go down to the dock to read our books. We are all in love with Edward haha. Trevor and the other boys hung out on the dock for a while but soon got bored and left. At about 2:30ish Ani came home and we all decided to go swimming. Trevor and Danielle went to the other side of the lake for some activity, and the rest of us went to "the Rocks" to swim. Let me just tell you I am an expert at getting water lodged up my nostrils. We jumped off the rocks in shapes of letters and animals.
Jesse and I kayaked to the dam and ran into each other along the way. It would have been even more perfect if people in their boats didn't decide to share their foul taste in music with us. The even better news about the lake was I didn't even get sunburned one bit.
This is our sad attempt at a selfie on the beach. After dinner that night we sang patriotic songs in celebration of the holiday and then went on a walk/hike to work off our fabulous dinner. I even wore red, white and blue to celebrate our nations birthday.
Trevor trying to be sly while I use his nice camera. One day I will have my own.




The view at the end of the hike was amazing! It made me sad that I had to go back to reality the next day. Seven brides for seven brothers is definitely a classic that must be seen while at the cabin if Trevor is around. The second night of sleeping outside was so great, I swear I didn't move the entire night. It was a bit colder but so amazing the next day. I think my favorite picture is the one Danielle took of Stacey and Ani all bundled up on the back porch.

I must say that if I ever have a day off again soon I would love to spend it there.

Las Vegas Midnight 7s Rugby Tournament

This weekend was my first time playing an official Rugby game. After driving down in the "herse mobile" which was actually a pretty nice car I might add we went out for a night on the town.

There was a registration party at the Silverton Casino that was pretty lame, so we ate some Mexican food and went and hung out at my brother's house. Later that night we met up with the rest of the group and they were all pretty trashed I guess according to Rugby standards it's a good way to prepare for a game the next day, but it was very entertaining. A couple of the team members and myself decided to leave because we were pretty tired from the long drive. It was nice to stay at my mom's because it was so close to the fields for the next day, but the A/C was not working which sucked bad. That goodness for swamp coolers or we would have died! After running lots of errands on Saturday and eating some pancakes and pasta together we got ready for the tournament. The games were played on some fields I played on when I was eight. The painted golf ball looked a lot shorter than I remembered, I guess I grew a foot or two. The tournament started at 5 PM which happened to be the hottest part of the day. I was no longer excited to wear my cotton jersey in 112 degree weather. I was so nervous for our first game, mainly because it was my first time playing. Once the game started though it was great I even got some tackles. Our team captain sprinted to score the first two tris and they had to be subbed out so she could throw up from the heat. In the end it paid off though because we won our first game together.
After each game we all just tried to find some shade and stay cool. Some girls soaked their shirts and wrapped them around their heads others lost their jerseys all together.
Whoever picked the time of day to play was crazy! It was hot I thought I was going to die, but it gives ruggers more time to get over their hang overs from the night before. There were three rookies on the team that played during the tournament Pam, Janine and myself.

Seriously I wish I could have been introduced to Rugby years ago, it is probably one of the most fun things I have done in my entire life. I mean I even like it more than soccer and I have played that my whole life. I guess its the whole being allowed to run at other girls full speed and just plowing into them. Also when the ball goes out we get to do line outs which are probably one of my favorite parts of the game. In this picture Janine and me lifted Linda into the air and I was so impressed at how high she got!!!

We ended up losing our second game which we should have one but we were all dying from heat stroke. Cory got a bloody lip.

The third game was at 8:20 PM which I was grateful for, because the sun had finally gone down. We ended up shutting that team out, they didn't not even come close to scoring.
I had a blast the whole time I was there even if I felt like I was hit by a truck. My cheering section was quite large which made it even more entertaining. It was my mom, stepdad, dad, stepmom, two brother, sister-in-law, two step siblings, Shannon and Franco, Shannon's parents and the baby in Sabrina's belly. It made me a little nervous knowing I had that many people watching me play.

I ♥ them all! The third and fourth games were my favorite, I didn't want them to end because we actually got some real rugby action going on. We won both those games, by the time we were done with the fourth game it was 10:30 PM. It turns out that first and second place in the tournament had scored 95 points and we had scored 94 points. For only having practiced together for a month third place was not bad at all! Turns out that after our 4th game we had to play the winners of the tournament 15 minutes later, our one sub had a concussion and our team captain ended up getting injured. So we played 6 on 7, until we randomly found a girl who could fill in the spot. That game was all about will power and technique and we just ran out. We were so drained from the game right before but still put up a good fight. If we could play like the Crazy Eights from Canada do we would have an amazing team. After this tournament I am perfectly content with the Dirty Hookers, they are so fun to play with. I hope fall season is just as fun!


After the tournament we were all starving so we went to get some grub wearing our cool jerseys we got from the tournament and it turned out that Pam's concussion was still pretty bad, so we had to take her to the emergency room. Janine and I were crazy in the waiting room ("check please") and Flip slept in the car while we waited. We finally left at 4:30 AM. Let's just say it made for an interesting drive home, people probably thought we were on drugs because of our lack of sleep. TRACTOR!! BROWN CHICKEN BROWN COW!!!!!!!

Scrum. Ruck. Tackle.

These are just a few new terms I have learned lately. Recently I have started playing on the UNR women's rugby team, and it is a bit more intense then anything I have ever done. Trial by error is one of the best ways to learn this sport and sometimes those errors hurt a lot.

This month we have a tournament in Las Vegas, hopefully I don't get pummeled too bad. This should be an interesting experience seeing as it the first sport I have ever played that required a mouth guard. It's a very attractive feature I must add. With practices like the one we had yesterday I have no doubt in my mind that I will be in shape by the end of this summer.

I just hope I don't pick up on some of the crude habits, I mean my dry sense of humor is bad enough as it is. But you can tell how awesome we are just by our team name, the "Dirty Hookers". I guess what happens in Vegas really does stay in Vegas well at least I hope this team name does. Hopefully next time the pictures will actually be of my victorious team.

Rock Climbing

To be a better at it is my new goal. I have just recently started learning how to rock climb and I love it. I don't think I will ever have to lift weights again. Instead I will go climb a wall. The first time I went I was so sore all over. Amber kicked my trash and climbed the wall at Lombardi like it was nothing, but then again I guess she does have 15 years of experience on me. On Monday the 17th I went over to Amber's house to go climbing again, because ironically enough they have a rock climbing wall. The only downside to the wall it was outside and a bit chilly. Amber was hardcore she climbed the wall to put the anchor rope up. A couple other people came over to try the wall. I felt that I had improved so much more, maybe it was the shoes or the fact that I used my legs instead of my arms this time. The Gonda's wall was fun, it even had real rocks as holds. My favorite were the skull shaped ones, they reminded me of the Goonies. I tried to climb in Amber's Ugg boots while she was getting ready to climb and well yeah it didn't go to well. Then we decided to race up to the line. Yeah I didn't last too long without shoes. I was even brave to try "bouldering" this time. I will just have to try out the wall at Lombardi again to see if I have improved at all. Maybe this summer I can even go climb a real rock.