The Journey
It may surprise you to know that I actually did not grow up in an outdoorsy family.
We only went camping once when I was younger, so I have had to learn many of these things on my own as I've gotten older. When I was a teen I went repelling at a summer camp, and after getting to the bottom I look up the cliff and wanted to climb back up not just go down. So I got into climbing and joined a youth climbing team at our local gym. After graduating high school is when I first started getting into hiking and "the outdoors".
I began climbing outside and by the time I started college I spent ALL of my free time climbing.
My now husband and I met rock climbing and after a few months of being just climbing partners we started dating. Eighteen months and many climbing trips later we got married. When we weren't working we were climbing or backpacking. Naturally when we had babies we wanted to keep doing the things we loved and figured out ways to bring them along on our adventures.
Because we were spending so much time outside I took a wilderness first aid class which sparked my passion for wilderness safety & medicine. I ended up changing my major to purse a path in Search and Rescue.
I got certified as a high-angle rescue technician, swift-water rescue technician, and became a Wilderness AEMT.
This all allowed me to make it onto Salt Lake County's Search and Rescue team while also working full time in the ER of a level 1 trauma center. It was hard to be away from my kids but these were dream jobs for me and I absolutely loved getting to help others. Life got crazy as our family grew. I was working full time at the hospital, and my husband started medical school, but we still founds ways to make our adventures happen.
It was during this crazy time of life that our world was turned upside down...
I was on a morning walk with my baby and toddler at the time, when a distracted driver hit us in a crosswalk. My two boys were in critical condition but luckily pulled through and after months of rehab and countless therapy appointments they slowly started to recover. The whole experience showed me how precious life really is and that we should enjoy it while we can. It's also what turned my "hobby" of the outdoors into a real passion because I saw all the benefits is truly has to offer. After the accident I no longer felt safe walking on your city streets, so we turned to the trails and pretty much spent all our time there. It turned out to be the best therapy for my youngest as he was struggling and learning to walk again. The uneven trails were the best PT and just the calming effect of nature helped us all heal mentally too.
Being in nature was so beneficial for us on so many levels and this is what really drove me to start Outside Families.
I wanted to help others get outside and enjoy those benefits too and make memories with the people they love.
Naturally my passion for wilderness medicine flowed right into this because having the knowledge and skills to handle emergency situations is a huge part of feeling confident when going into the backcountry. With the help of my husband, who is an Emergency Medicine physician, we want to help teach others how to handle emergency situations in the backcountry so they feel safe getting outside with their families.