Sunday, June 15, 2008

Vacation is So Much Better Without an Eating Disorder

What a wonderful weekend Hubby and I had! My entire family hasn't gotten together for a vacation in a very long time. It was very short - only two days, but so much fun. And can I just say it was fabulous to be able to have fun with my family and have energy and interest because anorexia wasn't constantly on my brain? It's been a veeerrrrry long time since I've been able to go away for a trip and actually enjoy it. Usually I'm nervous and unsettled on vacations because I'm out of my routine and am worried about food and stupid, meaningless calories and numbers - but now I could actually enjoy the company of my family and the beauty of what we saw. It was so refreshing. Ana, BE GONE!

To the left, Bran and I are just beginning our vacation and are very excited to be on the road.




Above: My niece, L, and my mom and other assorted family members climbing up the steep hill to see the dinosaur footprint. Left: and here it is! The kids were more than a little underwhelmed, but I thought it was sweet!





To the left: Me and my yella fella. Shutup. We didn't plan to match. It sort of...just happened.
Left: Very cool petroglyph that is over 2000 (that's a helluva lot!) years old.





Bran doing some free-climbing. I'm hoping to get my strength back soon to join him. We used to be avid climbers.

Below: in the cool cave, and the other shot is me standing in the cave taking a pic of my dad on the right side of the pic, way in the distance. He opted not to climb to it - it was steep and nearly killed me!























More sweet petroglyphs and pictographs.















Top left: my niece and nephew and mom crossing the swinging bridge. We were trying to find a decent place to stop for lunch. More poses with me and the yella fella, here were a bunch of nasty bones we found.











This was taken after midnight. A few of the fam had come to mine and hubby's hotel room to play cards. Clockwise, starting with me in the bottom left hand corner: me, (duh) my niece Missa, sis-in-law Angela, twin bro Brett, and niece Ali. I'm letting out my bad-ass gangsta, and it felt so good.










Missa and I pausing for a water break on the way to Delicate Arch. I haven't hiked this in well over 10, maybe even 15 years, and it was amazing to use my body and have strength to do this. I know I already glossed over this, but honestly, it was amazing to actually appreciate my body. I don't think I could have done this had I not been tubaged and gaining weight. It's only a 3 mile hike, but it's a toughie. It was nearly uphill in rough terrain, and it was over 90 degrees out. It was well worth the hike, though, because Delicate Arch, (in Arches National Park) is amazing. It really is.


And here we are at the arch. Finally! This is the arch that's actually on Utah license plates, so it's pretty famous and all.



The red rock is so beautiful, and contrasted with the blue sky. It's crazy to think this is only 3 hours south of where I live...it might as well be across the world - the landscape is so different.

So yeah. Great trip, and I'm pretty sure no one even fought - it was amazing, if a little boring. Good fights always give ya something to talk about, ya know? ;)
Thanks M and D for planning this awesome vacay, and happy fathers' day to all of you males who have spawned.

Anagram of the day:
no ED vacation = a caved notion (and finally, it's about time!)

17 comments:

zubeldia said...

aw, brilliant photos. It looks like such a wonderful time, little Brie.

I missed you :-)

Love, z

Tanya said...

Wow...it looks like you had a lot of fun. And the pictures are beautiful. Its always nice to see what the body can do when you give it the energy and sustenance that it needs.

Those pics make me want to take my dad up there when he visits next time. I am sure that they would enjoy it as would I :) Though I must admit my favorite hikes involve water close by...creeks and rivers and such.

Heather Lindquist said...

Great pics...but wow does it look HOT! I was wishing for warmer weather, but maybe I should feel lucky with my nice 50-60 degrees, huh? I'm glad you had such a fun time. Did Cade go with you all?

It truly is amazing what a body can do after enough nutrients....and, mind you, even after plenty of nutrients (and at an appropriate weight)I STILL probably would've been winded...and possibly chickened out of the hikes! I'm too much of a lazy ass to put my "delicate" body through all thoat torture!! :)

Devon said...

This is me being thrilled for you. Indeed.

Love you and we shall play soon - mmk?

Emily said...

Hi Brie! I missed you, and I am glad you had a great vacation without the presence of ED. That must have been wonderful! The pictures are beautiful. It certainly does look hot!

Anonymous said...

Me likey the pictures! You look like awesomeness. By the way, I am obsessed with Grun and now I need more cool stores! I wish Grun had more. I wish I could GO to their actual store!

Anonymous said...

By the way, did you know Grun sells a book called THE EVIL BANANA???

http://www.shopgrun.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=2237

Penny said...

When you write and describe it all the vacay seems even nicer than it was. And it was nice but are a great writer. I am loving your anagrams too. I had no idea that there would be so many coincidences of meanings. You are amazing Brie. I'm so happy that you enjoyed the trip and it was so very very very wonderful to have you with us enjoying it and making it even more fun for others. I'll never forget.

Anonymous said...

I love how you guys match without even meaning to. See, it's fate, yo.

Courtney said...

What a great trip! And I totally hear ya on how much more fun things are without good for nothing ED tagging along. Hold on to those fun times because they're what make the crappy times worth it. Energy and strength are such a wonderful thing!!

Cammy said...

Wow, it looks like it was a fantastic trip, I'm so glad you were able to go and to truly enjoy it. You definitely deserve that! I'm getting ready for a big trip right now and have had a lot of anxiety about it, reading this has been encouraging and inspiring!

Congrats on the good time, and I am loving the anagrams!

Paige said...

Looks like it was a fun trip! I'm jealous you did something fun with your family; we have nothing planned this summer.

Jackie said...

Looks like tons of fun! I am glad you are back, I missed ya!

Marissa said...

Best vaca ever! I loves you and all these pics! And we were killer awesome on the hike.

kristin said...

I'm so glad that you had such an awesome time and that you were able to forget about your ed for the weekend! The pictures you took documenting the trip were lovely. It's so cute that you and Brandon both decided to wear yellow shirts! That's awesome!

Glad to have you back, Brie! :)

Stacy said...

freakin sweet. you look like you had some well deserved fun and a great epiphany to boot. I am excited for you and your increasingly energetic life :o)

Shannon said...

That looks like such a great vacation! It's always (i mean, almost always) fun to be with your family. I am so excited to hear you were able to enjoy it and be grateful for your body. You have come so far. It really just makes me smile to know that you are so much more happy and living your life again. Ya, don't know what else to say, yay for recovery!