BEST SURPRISE EVER!!

About 1 week before this happened, my sweet husband said, 

"By the way, you are going to visit Lara on these dates and I wanted to surprise you the morning of - but you keep filling up your calendar.  So now you know"

I don't know if I was very fun to surprise - but really, I WAS SHOCKED!  No - he has not done this before and no, it was not on my radar, AT ALL!!  He had arranged to work from home while I was gone and had taken care of all necessary arrangements for me to go and have a girls weekend with my sis!  Once I knew about it - Lara wanted to know what we should do - have I been to Savannah?  Nope - never heard of it!  So - it was decided to visit historic Savannah!

day 1 - long drive and a couple hours on the beach.

sans kids - just talking - and well - it was RELAXING!

We found a local must eat-at crab shack near the beach... the decor was so quaint and great!

Ghost tour in Savannah - very interesting and fun!

The next day we did a trolley tour of the town - so I could see it all!  We could get off and see spots and just hop on another trolley - it was a great way to see the city.  

A candy shop - and making taffy (my favorite)

While admiring the Cotton-Exchange building - a tour walked out and asked if we were there for the tour - YES!!  It is now a Masonic temple and the history of the cotton exchange was fascinating and being inside a Masonic Temple was super interesting in its own right.

We drove back to Lara's and I had Sunday/Monday to hang out with her family.  Of course - that included a golf-cart ride.

I got to check out their new "WHEELS!" 

Sunday evening walk with the princesses and Superman.

On Monday morning, the kids went to school and Lara and I went on a little hike (minutes from her house) and it was a great morning.  I almost felt like I caught up on conversation after 3 straight days of talking! ha!

Thanks Shayne - for this gift.  And thank you Greg for also sacrificing your wife so we could go to Savannah.  And thank you Lara for being my blister.  (yes that's what I meant to type)

;-)

MT TIMP

I have wanted to hike Timp with my friend Julie every fall for the past 3 years.  Somehow, I never can go when she does it and I was determined to make it happen this year.  I asked Chanin to join me and she asked her friend, Julie (different Julie!) and we met WAY BEFORE dawn at the mouth of the canyon.  That's when I got the call from Julie and she was sick, sick, sick and not going to be able to come.  So, the three of us, still feeling committed and adventurous, decided to just do it.  I haven't hiked it since college and I don't think Chanin or Julie had done this - but we didn't want our 4 am alarm to be for nothing!

We found the trailhead and hoped we stayed on it in the dark.

Sunrise 

We ran into a little snow before the basin - but once we got to the basin - LOTS OF SNOW.

We ate our lunch and decided this was the end of our hike - a couple of guys had passed us and said the snow was really deep up to the saddle and not worth it.  We believed them....

until we met some other girls who convinced us we had to at least TRY to get to the saddle.  Off we go - through the snow.  They were in sneakers - we had hiking boots and Chanin and I were sharing snow spikes (LOL we each got 1 to fit over one foot, since we were short a pair!)  We decided it didn't hurt to try.

We got to the point - only one last stretch over to the saddle - this is the point that you can look into the valley on the other side of the mountain - and it was scary.  We were all feeling a bit overwhelmed with the snow and the fact that the trail really wasn't packed down.  We watched three other hikers go ahead of us and when one kept slipping and falling a bit down the slope, I quickly decided my goals did not include a life-flight back home.  I just wanted to get down safely and I'll do this hike again next year!  We turned around and it was a slow and difficult process to get back down the slope we had climbed - but thankfully, we did it without incident.

The views on the way down 

Once again, another day full of adventure, sunshine, and great conversation.  We made some new friends en-route and I'm excited to do this next year without snow!

Sisters and 60 miles

Cherae, Chanin (my sisters from another mother) and I decided we needed a summer-end bike goal.  We chose the Goldilocks 60 miler and started riding in May to prepare for this ride in late September.  There were some set-backs along the way - surgery - vacations - kids - life in general.  But, we did try hard to get in at least 1 ride per week - slowly building up the miles and endurance for long rides in the saddle.  My favorite part about this goal was the journey to get there - it's been a great way for me to grow closer to these two amazing women.  I know that we all care for each other deeply - but it's even better having regular time together.  I miss this part of my week now that the weather has changed, schedules have changed, and the sun doesn't cooperate by going down at 5:30 every evening!  Now to the ride...

It was spectacular fall weather EXCEPT THIS WEEKEND.  Seriously - the worst weekend out two months!  The rain was coming down pretty good early in the morning - so we postponed our start time by an hour or two to try to stay a little drier.  It worked for the most part.  The ride was cold but at the same time - great.  Once we had the right amount of layers, warm gloves, and a little more sun after noon - the ride was fantastic.  And WE. DID. IT.

Rachael joined us for the first leg of the ride - we had our high five as we passed the first photographer.  She didn't intend to do that ride in the rain - so she went her way at stop #1, and we continued down the road.

Also - we had our own personal pit crew - Steve.  He stopped at every rest stop to make sure we were well and willing to do anything to make our ride better.  This is when he showed up with full-finger gloves for his wife - she needed them!

The worst part of the ride was just before lunch - the rain started to pound down and it was pretty dang miserable.  Luckily - it was relatively short considering how long we were on our bikes that day.  At the lunch stop we sat in Steve's car and all switched to dry socks and turned the heater up REALLY HIGH.  It was glorious - FOOD AND WARMTH!

At the finish line together - (and the sun had come out by now)

I love you Chanin and Cherae - thanks so much for doing this with me.  

I'm looking forward to next summer's rides!

Hunter is 14!

Hunter is 14!  That means Carson is 15 - they are forever going to have their birthdays celebrated together, but I think that's just fine with them.  (Their birthdays are a week apart)  They are super close in age and close as friends as well as cousins!

Look how tall this kid is now!  I remember taking a pic in the spring where he was equal to me - and suddenly - there's no question about who's taller.  He's growing like crazy.  And his voice is lower too.  (EEK!)   I get a little sentimental when I think about him being my first baby - it's definitely weird to see my son grow up.

For his birthday - he took his 3 closest friends, Carson, Liam, and Chans to Provo Beach Resort - they did bowling, a ropes course, lazer tag, Mini Croquet, and arcade games.  They had a blast hanging out - and maybe this marks a big moment that mom/dad weren't there for the party.

All about Hunter:

Favorite food: it's between a Chile Relleno and Cafe Rio Pork Salad

Favorite Book: Enders Game or Michael Vey 2

Favorite show: Simpson's 

Favorite class at school: Band (Clarinet) and Drama

Favorite Game to Play: Terraria or Destiny

Favorite Sport: Swimming (and Basketball is a favorite too)

Spends his free time: gaming or reading

He likes to to know what to expect - well in advance - when it comes to calendaring his life.  If I give him warning about commitments, meetings, responsibilities - he'll do it!

He's a Lego loving-builder, thinker, funny, thoughtful, caring and kind young man.  I love that talks to me and isn't embarrassed to hug me in front of friends.  (I keep thinking it'll happen any day)  He's growing up and turning into a fine young man and is a great example to his younger brothers.