Category: Life

Running

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I started running again. I read a book my mom had, Born to Run, and I realized that I don’t necessarily hate running as I always thought I did. I have very fond memories of running. So I started to do it with my husband in the mornings. I like it a lot. I’m in horrible shape and still walk a lot. But I do not care. I’ve always hated running because I try to push myself, rather than just accepting where I am and working from there.

I do not have a pair of running shoes that work either. The pair I picked this morning gave me a blister. And today Peter decided to wake up early and I realized I needed a jogging stroller too. Our regular stroller does not work at all. (And it’s kinda tilted anyways).

Except I just spent a lot of money on a camera for my birthday. I’m very excited for it. My old camera is old and takes horrible pictures. It’s held together with duct tape. The battery doesn’t last very long. I keep having problems connecting it to my computer. It was time for a new one. I went ahead and bought a nicer one that cost more, but found a good deal on a slightly used, older model. Should be here tomorrow…

Do you know slip and slides are still fun when you grow up? See…

It’s just plastic film bought for the garden, but it worked great as an extra wide and long slip and slide. But Peter didn’t think it looked like a good idea. Then yesterday Joe, Peter I wanted to go play with water in the back yard. Couldn’t find a kiddie pool at Wal-mart, so we ended up making one with black plastic and 4 x 4’s. Its a good 4′ x 8′. Much better than the sled from last year. Peter still had some reservations…but he would sit on the side and had fun there.

Battle Creek to Grove Creek

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I always  want to wake up early and go hiking. It just never happens as planned. The few times it has happened before usually involved camping. Then came a free Friday combined with an appointment I scheduled at 1:00. I was tired of going on short hikes, and had a few long ones I was eager to do. I could either wake up early and go on a long one, or do yet another short hike. I was all for waking up at 5:00 and going.

Peter agreed. At 4:30 in the morning he started to crying, “Ma-Ma.” I tried to get him back to sleep, but something was up and he wouldn’t. So we got up and made it to the trailhead (which happens to be awesomely less than a mile from my home) by 6:00. Our goal was to hike up Battle Creek canyon and down Grove Creek. I’ve done this hike at least twice. It’s a good one. Joe had yet to go past the first waterfall up Battle Creek.

Mountains are funny–I was hiking east, yet I was also delaying sunrise by doing so. It was nice a cool for the first couple of hours.  Actually a little too cold–I could tell Peter wasn’t enjoying it. His parents were a bit negligent in the jacket department. Peter walked a little, but mostly rode in the pack and even slept a little. We breezed by the falls and other sites, more intent on making decent time. (The falls are nothing new anyways.) It was a gorgeous morning with all the birds out.

We caught the sunrise at 8:00, right when we hit Dry Canyon trail. After a short snack break, we set off across the flat. We sung together a little (it helped Peter be happy), but mostly we were quiet enjoying the beautiful landscape around us. We dropped down into Grove Creek and right into fields full of mint and stinging nettle. I can’t tell the difference between those plants very well so just avoided both.

We reached the falls at Grove Creek. I hadn’t remembered them from my previous hike, but with all the spring snow melt they were gorgeous. By about 10:00 we were past anything all that pretty and just had a couple of more hours hiking. It was getting pretty hot too. The mile between Grove Creek and Battle Creek was hot, boring and tiring after already hiking 7 miles. I was done hiking by the time we got to the car at 12:00. But it was a beautiful hike, a great way to start a day.

Kudos to Joe for carrying Peter most of the way, and Peter for napping while on the trail. Here’s the pictures, some of which came from the hike last week.

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Bedroom

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The biggest task I did this week was to paint and finish my bedroom. I had decided to paint it green. While waiting at the store, the previously chosen shade of mellow green fell prey to a long wait and I instead choose a lovely bright green. The name of the paint is granny smith apple, which describes it pretty well.  I’ve lived in rentals for the past five years, so its nice to have a bedroom I can actually paint. I rearranged the furniture as well, and I like the end results. All I want now is a reading chair for the corner.

Life is pretty busy. Always seems to be. My husband went to school about 40 hours and worked 20, and I was still recruiting him for painting and picture hanging. He is such a great guy, never complains about any of it. My sister came down to visit this weekend, and we went to a parade and hiked Battle Creek Falls. She also let me shoot her bow. It was very awkward, and at first I just couldn’t get it. I’m very right eye dominant and had to shoot the bow with my left eye. I had to put a tie over my right eye, but after I did I shot the bow and hit the target. It’s pretty fun.

Big Springs Hollow

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The benefit of living with my grandparents is that there are tons of people visiting all the time. It’s loads of fun and I am never lonley. Life has been super busy and fun lately as well. I love summer. There is so much to do outside. We’ve always loved to go hiking, but often lack the time. This week we took a whole afternoon and went on a longer hike.

The plan was to hike up Big Springs Hollow and maybe even hike clear over and down Rock Canyon. The hike went well. Peter hiked a little, but was mostly content enough to stay in the pack (and take his nap for a big portion.) I’m very luck to have a crazy in-shape husband who can lug him around. (Joe really doesn’t exercise but he still manages to stay in shape and look great. Carrying Peter helps us stay on the same level.)

So we weren’t exactly sure where we would end up, just following the trail and we came to this:

I’m not quite used to needing snowshoes in June, and was ill prepared in a pair of Chacos. We turned around, but I don’t think we were very far from dropping down into rock canyon. We’ll have to try it again sometime. After turning back and getting out of the snow, we set up the hammocks and took a good break. Total we hiked about 8 miles, which is the longest hike I’ve been on for a couple years.

We were nearing the end of the hike, almost to the car. Peter was walking, and enjoying the flooded section of the road we where on. The flooding soon fizzled out which made Peter very confused. He pointed at the mud saying “Wa-wa?” and decided the best option would be to turn around and go back to the puddles. That was not an idea we approved of, so we had to convince him there was water further down the road as well.

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Almost Summer

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The rain stopped, and the sun has come, although it is still a bit cooler than it normally is. Peter and I went swimming for the first time. He loved it last year. We haven’t gone for months, and it scared him a little. By the end he was at least having a lot of fun splashing on the edge, but didn’t like going in the pool. I’ll have to go more to get him used to it.

We hiked up Grove Creek a couple weeks ago, and then hiked the “G” last week. I had never done it before, and the short hike fit the amount of time we had.

One of the best moments I had was playing with Peter outside. It was almost nap time for him and I was tired too. I laid down and asked him to come take a nap. He laid down and used my arm as a pillow and surprising fell asleep. Then I did too. It was the most refreshing 10 minute nap I’ve had, laying in the grass under the sun.

Move

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We have moved. This was unplanned as of a month ago. I certainly wasn’t looking to move from a great neighborhood and a good deal on our apartment. But then my dear grandma asked us to move in with her. I had been working on their vegetable garden and helping out for the past year. We got along pretty well so it seemed like a mutually beneficial relationship. No more rent for us (which helps out a lot during school), and free labor for them. So far (all of three days) its been really nice. Still some adjusting, but I’m mostly excited for the new living arrangements.

Moving was pretty uneventful. No big moving van, just a truck and a van, but we still got it done in one morning. I still have boxes to go through. It’s a little strange moving into someone’s house. All my kitchen stuff is very confused. It doesn’t know if it’s needed or where to put it, so it is sitting downstairs in boxes. (And that’s a big improvement over my last place–there is actually storage space here.) I have about every type of finish of furniture in my bedroom–dark brown, three wood finished, maroon painted, and white. I kept a lot of my furniture as well as some of my grandparents and its currently all jumbaly.

Peter is enjoying it. He love grandpa and has to go find him all the time. My grandparents also have lots of fun toys, including a new selection of cars. Peter has also been watching a lot of the movie Cars, which enables me to get things done. I’m glad Cars is a good movie since it’s been on so much. Now I’m very excited for the second.

We took a hike on Wednesday up Rock Canyon admits all the moving. Peter even hiked a fair bit which was quite fun.

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Vacation

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To end Joe’s three-week break, we took a vacation. My planning consisted of when we were leaving, the general direction we were headed, and what we were going to eat. I made no reservations or firm destinations. On Monday night, the day before we planned on going, poor little Peter started to throw-up. Much of that evening and the next morning were spent cleaning carpets or doing laundry. He seemed okay after a long nap, and we were both unwilling to cancel the vacation so we headed down south.

We stopped by Cove Fort as a rest stop. I realized how wasteful I’ve gotten, and I want to be more thrifty. On the tour, they were showing all the ways they would reuse materials, like making old clothes into rugs. I was also impressed by the craftsmanship behind everything. They lived well, even when they didn’t have a lot.

Next we went to Cedar City to visit a good friend. She wasn’t home. So we kept driving and went through Kolob Canyon for a scenic drive. During the drive Peter threw-up again (but he was doing a lot better, just ate far too many fruit snacks). We went back to Cedar City and stayed the night at my friend’s house. That was very nice because not only was I able to wash the clothes Peter threw-up on, it rained. I also play the best game ever–The Farming Game. My farm was filled with fruit trees. The game is actually pretty representative of farming too, including real pests and harvest schedules. Someday, I might go ahead and own a small farm. In the meantime, I liked pretending to be a farmer.

We finally made it to Zion’s the next morning. Our first stop was to get a campsite, but the campground was already mostly full. We managed to find what must have been the worst site in the whole campground. It was a walk-in site a good 100 yards or more from our car with absolutely no shade. I was just very grateful we found a campsite.

After lunch, we took the shuttle up to Emerald Pools and hiked up and around. I was surprised that I was in decent shape, and Joe is in shape not matter what he does. Peter started his wining and no’s that lasted a lot of the trip. He did enjoy himself: I think he also got very tired. His favorite activities included splashing in puddles and throwing rocks into the river. I think he prefers the scenery of “cars” more than beautiful red cliffs.

The next day we went to hike Angel’s landing and did all but the last half mile. I was very surprised that they have a trail there and I don’t think I ever want to finish it. I hike to enjoy myself not scare myself.  We had Peter along too, and he makes an excellent excuse. On the way back he started crying, and we all got a much-needed nap back at camp. Our final hike was the riverside walk. There were plenty of rocks with a river near by at the end  for Peter.

No camping trip is complete without a campfire. We did hot dogs and s’mores and within an hour of lighting in, we put it out again. I’m just not into campfires, and ours was smoking too much. The next morning we were all ready to go home. Overall, it was a great trip. (And cheap. The whole thing cost $100, mostly in gas money. Joe even gets paid time off at his work.) But camping with toddlers ends up in a lot of complaining.

Busy Break

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Joe’s semester ended a few weeks ago and I have throughly enjoyed having him. I have put him to work and he has been great in going forth and doing it all. The last couple weeks I have finished my irrigation design class, finished up a couple of garden designs, started another, thrown a baby shower for my sister (turned out really well), and spent lots of time in the garden. Joe is very helpful out working: I’m really glad I have his muscle and work ethic. And he is very patient and doesn’t get all frustrated when trying to figure out how to fix or build things. (I can get pretty ugly if I can’t figure something out.) Our garden is ready to plant the warm season crops, all the cool season crops have been planted, the condo landscape is looking great, and the irrigation system works (after replacing 10 heads!).

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Yesterday we took a bit of a break and went on a short hike up Maple Canyon. We hiked less than a mile before we found snow and turned around. I was able to see glacier lilies and one other wild flower which was my goal for the hike. Peter walked most of the way down, which was very fun and cute. He loved throwing rocks into the stream. We were doing it for about twenty minutes before he was persuaded (or more coerced) to continue. It was nice to finally be caught up in the landscape and be able to go hiking again.

Easter

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*This was supposed to be published a few weeks ago. Apparently it never quite got there, so I thought I’d share now.

Saturday was a great day. I went to my friend’s wedding at the Mt. Timpanogos Temple.  All five of my best friends from high school were there. It was neat that all of us were married and at the temple together that day. I have great friends, and it has been incredible to grow up with them.

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The only bad thing about her wedding was I missed Peter’s first easter egg hunt up at my in-laws. He went with his daddy, and they both  had a great time. Here he is being very cute:

Fertilizer Snow

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I felt a little strange today. I was mowing the lawn and it started to snow a bit. I fertilized after: the snow and fertilizer looked exactly the same. It was hard to tell where my fertilizer was going and where it was snowing. It wasn’t too bad while I was outside, but now it is sticking to everything. Oh bipolar spring, when will you be happy?

Little sidenote: I read elsewhere about the problems with Scotts. But serisouly, they are the only company that tries to make lawn care easy for homeowners. It would be nice if instead of Scott’s we had horticulturist telling eveyone to mulch their clippings, mow heigh, fertilize properly (Scotts isn’t quite there), and put compost on those bad spots insted of more chemicals.  Or better yet, get rid of the lawn and plant gorgeous underutilized perennials. Even with all that, sometimes lawn does need a traditonal round of fertilizer and Scott’s makes it easy for a homeowner to get it on.

The lawn I’ve inherited hasn’t been fertilized, the clippings have been hauled away, plus it has been extremly overwatered. I finally gave my leached grass some good old fertilizer (and yes it was Scotts). As I was doing it, I thought that it would be cool to put a layer of mulch on instead. But for an acre of lawn, it just isn’t going to happen. (I would love to get rid of a ton of it–one step at a time though.)