Wednesday, December 30, 2020

19 Years Later we hike Timp again

In June of our Freshman year at BYU, Eric and I hiked Mt. Timpanogos with a few friends.  It was a little tiring, but I don't remember it being too bad for our 18-year-old bodies!  This time around, we knew we needed to prepare our 38-year-old bodies for the trek.  So Eric did strength training 2x a week in addition to coaching soccer, in order to try to avoid injuries. Oh and to make it so he could physically do it!  I was training for a marathon, so I wasn't too concerned. 

Kurtis and Lauren came with us, yay!! It was a party!  We got up to the Timpanoeke trailhead at 4:45am, and the parking lot and all the pullouts nearby were full.  It was nuts!  That's why you don't go on a Saturday in August, but that's the only time K & L could go.  So we had to park 3/4 of a mile away. But it was fine, just a little extra warmup!

It was fun watching the sun come up along the way!  And it was fun to go a new way- we had done the Aspen Grove trail before, and that's the trail I took when I hiked it with friends while Eric was on his mission too.

The wildflowers were absolutely spectacular.  Out in their full summer glory.  The pictures don't do them justice-- I was spellbound by them and kept staring and taking pictures!!  It was kind of fun to just take it easy and enjoy the beauty around me.  






We made it up to the meadows!  And ate early lunch with a view of the summit.

We made it up to the saddle by 9:30, so 4.5 hours.  Lauren decided to stay there and wait for us to summit, because the rest of the trail sketched her out.  Understandably, because there were many dropoffs!
We went on to summit 45 minutes later.  It was gorgeous!! We called the kids from the top and "waved" to them down in Highland!



The way down was long and kind of boring, Kurtis hurt his foot so it took us 9 hours to finish.  But it was awesome and I'm so glad we did it!!  And proud of us that we still can at our age haha.
One more pic of the flowers...

Other late summer events........
Singing to Eric on his birthday
the bishopric riding in a wagon delivering popcicles to the ward since we couldn't have any activities this year
Swimming at Grandma's at least once a week!  And Whitney shooting a PK- she made it!
Eric jumping around with 4 little girls attached- Maris, Emma, Vivian and Naomi.  And more pics from Kate's show: 80's prom dance moves!
blowing a bubble to act extra sassy,
and laughing with her friend Linus.
more soccer- the girls getting some pregame reminders from the ref.
Post-tournament pic.  They lost their last game and didn't get to go to the final.  But it was our first time in a semi, and the team we played was premier. So it was okay!  But Rylee was still mad as you can see. 
Boating at Jordanelle! 

It was way fun.  Here's Whit on the kneeboard.

Covid summer turned out pretty great!  We could still do most things, just no Girls Camp or BYU Soccer camp or Japan trip. :(

Wednesday, December 16, 2020

Pandemic vacation #2- Idaho!

 Donny and Christine invited us to come up to see them in Rexburg, since they are renting a house now and have a guest room!  So we took them up on it.  We had a really fun 2 days and nights with them.  Maris and Emma ADORE their Hansen girl cousins!  It was non-stop fun with Evelyn and Claire.  This was on a fun hike.

And this was at a lake where we rented some canoes.  Jenae and Connor got to join in our adventures too, they are SO fun to play with!


I snapped this picture of Eric at the lake because his hair was SO long and I think it's so incredibly cute!!  
Whitney had tons of fun with their dog, Smokey.

We also spent a few hours with Great-Grandma and Grandpa Murray in Pocatello. They have these cool carvings in their yard.
Grandpa let Owen and Maris drive him around in his golf cart, so cute!
It was Olivia (Mei)'s birthday while we were there, and we brought her a present.  She is SOO dang cute, we all loved to play with her.
Eric trying out the real kayak. Probably the most fun thing we did there though, was go down the water slide that was floating out in the lake on a platform.  Me and Christine were really proud of ourselves that we were cool enough moms to do it haha.
Cuties on the hike


Kate with her sand creation
Donny and Christine and their cute family! THey were great hosts.

Getting Eric's hair in the pic haha

I went running with Jenae, it was awesome!! And she told me she was pregnant!!!!! Sadly she miscarried a few weeks later. 
Cousins on the hike, with the Snake RIver? Or Teton? in the background.
Owen had fun with Smokey too.


One more of these with Emma looking.
And our family on the hike.
It was a great trip.  We had so much fun talking and playing.