Joe and I have been married five years now. We went on an overnight trip, the longest I have been away from my children since they were born. It was amazingly fun. We did everything that we like to do but kids make hard.

First, we hiked up to Lake Blanche in Big Cottonwood Canyon. In chacos, through the snow, for about a half mile. I wasn’t the only one who did it either, we passed a lady (or rather she passed us) also in sandals. It’s a little cold, but on a warm day wasn’t all that bad. Better than getting soggy socks I think.

We also ate sushi, went to a movie, enjoyed the hotel pool, slept without interruption, played disc golf, and went to Red Butte Gardens. I enjoyed such things as getting out the door by 9:00 without trying, and of course spending lots of time with a wonderful husband.

Mostly just waiting here…waiting for Joe’s exam to be done, waiting to move, waiting for work to start. We have visited my sister, refinished a table, went snowshoeing, and played a whole lot. My computer also crashed. (Let this be a reminder to you: go back up your files NOW, not at some distant point. Luckily most of my files are recovered.)

The gang that went snowshoeing.

One day after nap Peter decided he wanted to watch a show we got from the library and nothing else. I said no. Admist all his tears I turned into a hug monster. He loved running away or just enjoying my hugs. We went outside and played some more. It completly changed the atmosphere, and I got mychild happy without turning on a show.

We went up to DeSoto and Helton Creek Falls for a fun fall family hike. The trails were pretty close to each other and short. Each trail had both an upper and lower falls, so we saw four waterfalls in a couple of hours. It was a beautiful way to spend a fall day.

Last Saturday we went hiking at Little Mulberry Park. The weather forecast seemed cooler than normal, so I decided it would be fun to make it out on a hike. We hiked up a hill and down to a ravine overlook. There was a small stacked stone waterfall, that you couldn’t see from the overlook. We crossed the barrier and climbed down to get a better look. (It wasn’t that steep.) The water was at a trickle, but combine that with the dense forest, humid air, and the hike/climb to get there and it was beautiful. Peter actually likes hiking now. He’ll say, “We going hiking,” with a smile on his face. He was anxious to get to the playground afterword.

We went and hiked Amicalola Falls on Saturday. It’s the first time I felt I really got a cardio workout in since I’ve had Curtis, and it felt great. We saw mountains too, I’ve kinda missed them. (Very different from the Rockies, but still mountains.) The hike itself was a lot of stairs and a wheelchair accessible path. There’s actually lots more hiking trails in the park, but the stairs and path were enough for our group.

We went with these wonderful friends, which made it lots more fun. The waterfall and surrounding area were beautiful. We even made it to a bird show, at least until Curtis got fussy and I left to take care of him. Hiking with two kids is fun. I packed Curtis and Joe persuaded Peter up the stairs or on his shoulders. I felt like we had so much stuff for just a few-hour hike, both Joe and I had a bag, but we needed almost all of it.

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We’ve been eyeing this hike for quite some time. It’s the closest “mountain” to where we live, although by Rocky Mountain standards, it’s pretty puny. A Saturday finally presented itself that wasn’t rainy, cold, or otherwise occupied so we headed out.

Peter hiked almost the whole 1.3 miles up. We took a lot of breaks and went very slowly. (It took us around two hours to walk one mile. Very slow pacing.) This also helped the very pregnant me make it too. Joe did carry Peter the last few hundred yards. It was pretty windy and cold up top, so we didn’t stay long. It was a fun hike, and I’d like to go back to the park after baby comes and go on some other trails as well.

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I’m full term today. I even included a picture of me and my belly recently. I have really no idea when baby is coming…but hopefully it all goes alright when it does come. I’m losing motivation to do about anything… certainly not start any new projects, and I’m ignoring the few I have already started. Mostly I’m running after toddler, sleeping, reading a little, and keeping everyone well fed. And waiting and wondering….

I think I picked one of the best weekends to go on a long drive. We drove down to Payson to drive the Nebo Loop. The fall colors were fantastic. We hiked three separate hikes–Grotto Falls, Devil’s Kitchen, and Box Canyon. The first two are pretty short, boring hikes to neat destinations. Box canyon was an adventure. It’s in Maple Canyon just north of Ephraim.  Joe had been there several times during his Snow College years (before he met me) and had always wanted to take me. We managed to scramble our way to the end, even with Peter in tow. There are some fun little climbs up boulders. We had to hand Peter off to each other, and almost turned back, but made it all safetly. I wouldn’t recommend it with toddlers though. I felt like I was on a vacation yesterday and love the time I was able to spend with my family. It so trumps staying at home.

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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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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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