Hike Day

After our fun sleepover last night, we had a delightful brunch, and then went on a hike. We chose an easy one, since our ages ranged from 3 years old up to ... adult, and it was fun! 

Love to get pics with my cutie guys.

Hiking for some Dino tracks

Today we did a hike, there's one in Washington that leads to some honest to goodness dinosaur tracks. Because Gecko is such a big Dino nerd, we thought this would be good for him. Turns out the hike was pretty meh. The tracks weren't even that visible, so the whole thing was sort of a bust. But we still had a good time.

Bear Canyon Bridge Hike

Y'all, I did a beautiful hike today! My cousin and I did the trail at Bear Canyon Bridge, in Sandy/Draper, and it was so lovely!

I recommend this hike, it wasn't too hard, about 3 miles, and it was so much fun.

Hiking with the Whole Fam

Today we took the whole gang hiking. It was me, my two SIL's, my BIL, and then 5 kids. I had the fellas, and they had the ladies of course, so we were a big group. We decided to hike Stewart Falls, which we had been assured was good for kids. We learned that yes, it technically was, but our kids were just super exhausted by the end. But it was so much fun!

 SIL carried nephew Wash the whole time, he had a great time as you can see.

 Here we are at the top - made it to the waterfall and stopped for a plethora of snacks.

This is definitely the high point for Gecko, as he fell completely apart on the way back.

Here we are at the end! We made it! Please appreciate Gecko's face - he literally had given up at this point.

We made it! Gecko's spirits lifted when he got a lollipop at the end. Then when we got into the car, he kept saying, "I can't believe we made it!" over and over ahah. 

As we were leaving, my niece came over to hug me, and she tripped into my toenail, ripping it off. Alas, RIP toenail.
We had such a fun night, and even though it was long, I felt like everyone had a great time.

Bridal Veil Falls Hike

I took the fellas again today, and we had a full day planned. We had lunch, we hiked, we played some video games, it was a riot. The hike was just Bridal Veil Falls, so that can basically be called a walk, but they had so much fun playing in the river for a while.

Hiking Fellas

The fellas went hiking today and each got a camelback for the occasion. Look at these hacking cuties. 

Such goobers when you ask for a smile, but I love it. 

Hiking Battle Creek Falls

Today, we took the fellas on a hike up Battle Creek Falls. We made it to the top with no problems, and then we hung out at the waterfall and snacked and played about. Gecko's favorite bit was the snacking, as he did it the whole time:

 Darth had a great time, he was getting so filthy from just tripping over every rock and then would get in the river, back in the dirt...oh my jeez, boys are crazy.

 We tried to take a selfie, but Gecko was SO MAD that we tried to take one, this was the best we could get.

 Later in the afternoon, we went to the Bean Natural Science Museum, the first time for these guys. They had so much fun - look at these cuties. Darth was sprinting between exhibits and loved them all so much, we had a great time.

Kayak and Snorkeling and Hiking, oh my!

Today, we sailed into St Thomas of the Virgin Islands. We got there bright and early, and had to rush off the ship to get to our activity. We had apparently parked the boat on the wrong side of the island, because we had to drive literally around the entirety of it to get to our spot. Took a while too, and they drive on the other side of the road there, so it freaked me right out! We got there, and after a safety instruction, we got in our kayaks and made our way on over to the snorkeling place. It only took about 15 minutes to kayak over there, the waters were smooth. We arrived safely, and then got our snorkel masks.

At this point, I was nervous. I am scared to death of water, so much that I avoid getting in it if at all possible. Not the shower, but like, pools and oceans and the like. Everyone puts on their masks and swims away, and then I have a full-blown panic attack. I start hyperventilating, and repeating, over and over, that I don’t want to get into the water. Our leader/teacher/guide is trying to help, and he’s just making it worse, so after about a minute, he swims away and joins the other people, and Husband is just staying behind with me. I told him to go, because I didn’t want to get in, and he’s trying to help and be kind and get me in the water, so at this point, I FREAK OUT and start sobbing hysterically that I don’t want to go in the water at all. (Yes, I am admitting this to you all. It’s ok to share weaknesses) Finally, after me telling him over and over to go and I’ll be ok, Husband leaves and joins the rest of the group.

I stand in the water up to my knees, and debate getting in. I put my face in, and bring it back out. Finally after a few more minutes, I lie down in the water, and start snorkeling. Of course, I’m still breathing erratically, but I made it work. I slowly made my way over to the group, doing a sort of running/doggy paddling/no idea what to swim over, since I don’t know how to swim. I made it over in time to see a sting ray, so that was pretty cool. Since they’d been over there for a while, they were done, and went back to the beach. So, I’m kind of proud of myself. Yes, I had a meltdown, but I did it. I got into the water. I snorkeled. I made it. After the snorkel, we had a hermit crab race, and then we did a small half-mile hike, and then kayaked back to shore. Sadly, I don’t have any pics of this one to show, since we couldn’t very well take a camera/phone with us in the boat and water, I couldn’t get any. We did take this one in front of the ship, for fun.

An Injury

Summer is nearing the end. I know kids are already back in school, so I realized that soon, the weather will not be warm, so I need to take advantage while I can. It was decided that today would be a hike – the river hike, which I’ve blogged of before. The weather was a little chilly as we were hiking up to the river – rain was sprinkling, the sun had gone away a little, so it was a little foreboding. As we were on the way up I thought, maybe we shouldn’t be doing this, but I still went anyway.

I think I should have stayed home. The river was a little fuller than last time, which is fine, but for some reason, I was extra clumsy today. As we were fording up the river, my foot slipped on a rock, and my knee and I decided to go different ways. Holy cow did that hurt, so we paused. As we were sitting there, and I was soaking my knee in the river (I thought the cold would keep some of the swelling down) PJ snapped a pic of me, I tried to look like I wasn’t in pain:

After a few minutes we got going again, and I was just limping a little bit. We got to the top, saw the waterfall, had a snack and some water, We got going back down, and when we were oh, about 5-10 minutes from completing the hike, I fell again – and hard. I slammed my broken knee yet again, and I was like, man I’m done for. I’ve had enough now. Here’s my knee in this moment:

Ouch, right? But I still had to finish, so I limped so hard back down the mountain and to the car. At some point, PJ stopped us to take a picture of the mountain, and I took the chance to just sit for a second, and revel in the pain my leg was in. Unbeknownst to me, PJ snapped a pic then. I feel so sad looking at it.

So then we made it to the car, and I took another pic of my knee, in case it changed:

It feels pretty bad. So, I just had to limp around for the day, I put some ice on it, and generally took it easy. Today, its not too bad, just a little painful. I took another pic, because I am documenting the heck out of this.

So, there it is. My leg. Its not broken, but sometimes it feels like it is. And of course, after church, I was sitting at the table, moved to get out, and knocked my knee on the leg, and then I wanted to die. But at least I got to have one last hike of the year!

A Weekend of Birthday-ness

This past weekend was PJ’s birthday, and we set aside a whole weekend for it. The actual birthday was on Sunday, so we did the things that cost money on Saturday and some other things on Sunday. So on Saturday, we kicked things off in the afternoon with a movie – Step Up 4: Revolution. It’s no secret that I enjoy all dance/cheerleady/etc movies. I like all the Step Ups, I enjoy all the Bring it On’s, and all the miscellaneous ones that aren’t part of a series (yet). So of course, I enjoyed this movie. The thing about seeing the sequels to a movie that already won’t be a masterpiece is to realize, the acting is going to suck. The storyline will be practically nonexistent, you’re just there to enjoy the dancing and whatever until the movie is over. Thank goodness I know this, and will always like these movies.

Saturday night, we went to Taggerts for dinner. Haven’t heard of Taggerts, you say? Well that’s ok, not many have. It’s a restaurant up in Morgan, UT. Yes, Morgan, which is north, up past Ogden. To get to this restaurant, you have to drive about 90ish minutes from here in Orem. Needless to say, I don’t go there very often, because I just don’t want to drive that far. So, up we drove, waited for about 45 minutes (the first time EVER in my life I’ve had to wait for a table there) and ate a delicious meal, and took home a whole lot of desserts. Most of the reasons I go there is for the desserts. They are awesome, and I take home at least 2. This time was a brownie, a cookie (that I ate on the way home) and a small cheesecake, for PJ’s birthday cake the following day.

Sunday, we went on a hike. Specifically, the Fort Creek river hike. I’m not sure if I’ve blogged about it before, but it is a fun hike. It’s about 80% you just fording the river, like the game Oregon Trail. When I’ve hiked it previously, I stayed out of the water as often as I could. I would hike in it if needed, but otherwise, I hugged the shore and stayed dry, but this time was different. I think the only time we got out of the water to hike up the mountain was if we couldn’t physically make it up the river at that part, and I think it only happened maybe twice. The weather was nice and warm though, so the river felt pretty good. We finished it in about half the time, not getting out of the water. When we were done and were about to get out back at the beginning, PJ full-on fell in the water. Whole body slam into it, I laughed so hard, checked to make sure she was ok, and laughed again. When we got out of the river finally, we checked ourselves over, and we had a lot of bruises and scrapes from the rocks, trees, etc. I had a bruised shin, a cut heel and a cut leg, with some scrapes on the arm. PJ had a cut in her leg that went almost to the bone (not really, but it seemed like it). We limped back to the car, and went home.

For her birthday dinner, PJ wanted ratatouille. I don’t know who’s seen the movie, Ratatouille, but we’ve liked the dish since we saw that. I’ve made it several times, but this is the first time I did it like the movie’s recipe, when you have everything in slices and you swirl them in a dish. Here’s what it looked like before baking it:

I forgot to get a picture after it came out of the oven. It was delicious though. And the cheesecake from Taggert’s was good as well. And that was it. The birthday weekend came to a close. Good times were had, bodies were beat up, but we continued on, and lived to tell the tale.

Hike!

I love to hike. I do it as often as I can, because come on, its great! You're up in the mountains...next to natures...or trying to avoid touching it...its all an adventure! Recently, Chelle and I have been hiking every week. They have been some awesome hikes, full of laughter and girlish screams as we trip or fall or something. We just did Stewart Falls, both ways of it (spanning two weeks-since we did one way one week and the other way the next week) and they were both good. This is basically a recap of the adventures and accidents.
The first week, we took the Alpine Loop up there, which is a great hike. There was a part, when we had first started going, that Chelle told me to go out in this field so she could take my picture. I obliged, and on my way, brushed up against some sort of stinging nettle. It burned my leg! It stung, and hurt and tingled, and by the time we got to the top, where the falls are, I had convinced myself that maybe the water there would be healing waters, so I put my leg in there. It neither helped nor hurt, so I just ate my fruit snacks and looked at the view. Chelle had a cut in her foot, she had gotten that earlier, and she decided to put her foot in the stream, maybe it would heal her too! Needless to say, we found out the next day, that no it hadn't, an infection or something had actually settled in instead! But good to know, for the future, that water isn't magic. Good tip.
The next week, we took the Sundance route up, which I thought would be easier, since you take the ski lift up and just hike down. At one point in it, I tripped while stepping over a log and ripped off half of my big toenail. Ouch! I should be paying more attention apparently! Then later, on the falls, Chelle tripped whilst going over the river. Holy cow are we clumsy! As we made our way back down the mountain, we heard, in the trees behind us, a big clatter, and a lot of tree movement. We stopped dead in our tracks, waiting, listening. Chelle, at this point, had swung me around so that I was in front of her-I'm pretty sure she was trying to sacrifice me if whatever it was came after us! There was more clatter and movement, and then, it stopped, and through the trees, all we could see was a big dark shape. Slowly, and quietly, we moved, kept making our way down the mountain. The entire way down, behind us (Well, more like, behind and to the side, since it was in the trees, not the trail) we could the trees moving, and then we'd turn and see a shape back there. Needless to say, I was like, freaking out at this point! We hurried as fast as we could, and got to the end safely, thank goodness!
I don't know if every hike will be this eventful, but I guess we'll keep having to go on them until we're pros at everything! I already know that should we ever be in trouble up there, our cell phones usually work, and I over-plan, so we'll have enough food for like, 3 weeks. And if nobody comes looking for us by that time, we can just become those crazy woods ladies.

Summer: Not just for kids anymore

I am so excited that warm weather is finally here. No more having to bulk up to go outside, no more crappy driving because there’s snow/ice on the ground and no more freezing all the time. (Ok, technically, I still am cold in my house. I can’t believe it-but I’m still wearing sweaters and stuff in there) This is my favorite time of the year-summer. I can’t wait to start my summer trips, and the swimming, and the hiking and everything you can do in the warm weather. I have waited so long to bust out the summer clothes-the tank tops, flip flops, and shorts. I’m already wearing the flip flops-I need to get my feet used to them again!
To kick off the “start” of summer, PJ and I went on a hike yesterday. It started out as FHE for our singles ward (we never go to activities, this was one we’d know we’d enjoy, being hiking) but when that ended up not happening the way we wanted (the ward failed to realize that there is still snow up in the mountains. They chose to hike the Y trail, we chose to do our own thing) we had to make plains of our own. We went up Dry Canyon, and it was a good hike. I gotta tell you- I always feel like I’m in such good shape and hiking always seems like a good idea until I actually go hiking. Then, as I’m gasping for breath and a lot of my muscles are screaming at me to stop, I think, hiking is stupid. Who chose this as an activity? Why can’t we just turn around? But then, we keep going, and have an awesome time. We saw lots of deer, and a turchicken (I couldn’t tell if it was a chicken or a very small turkey, so I am inventing my own animal, a turchicken. Never has anything tasted so good) We met a lot of nice people up there-most of who had a dog. Good dogs, this lot. When we got to the top of whatever trail we were on, we looked down on the valley, and we could see so much! It was all so beautiful-but I had left my camera in my car. PJ tried to take some photos with her cell phone camera, but they didn’t turn out as one would hope they would. But that’s ok-we can always hike back up it again, to get some good ones.
I am excited for all the stuff that’ll be happening this summer. I’m hoping to learn to snorkel and I want to swim a lot more this year than last. We have some great trips “idea-ed” out. We bought an annual pass for every national park this year-and I intend to use the crap out of that sucker. I will hit up every place that is available to me. And don’t worry, folks-I’m sure you’ll hear about all that I do!

There is one bad thing about having warm weather. I got a delicious candy bar from Papa Parry-and it melted in the car while we were hiking.