Backpacking Trip Adventures

Well we survived! It was definitely an adventure. But not one I want to repeat any time soon. We left around 12:45 and drove up to the trail head. We started hiking about 3:00 and went up until just before dark. It was a pretty rough hike but I was determined to accomplish something big. As we were going down the other side of the mountain (about a 1/4 mile from where we ended up camping) I took a spill and rolled my ankle. OUCH! It was WAY to late to turn back so I pushed myself the rest of the way down to the lake. It was not fun. Dan was upset at me for making him keep going instead of stopping to camp by the first the lake we passed 3 hours earlier. It was cold, It was foggy, and misty! We knew we made it to the lake but could only see out about 15 feet into the water because the fog was so thick. It made for a pretty eerie night. We cooked our hamburger helper on our sterno and made a pot of hot cocoa. Then we tried to sleep. It was a rough night. My foot hurt every time I moved, Dan bruised his hip on the ground since he gave up his sleeping mat to me, we were paranoid at every noise we heard outside the tent but knew we would be able to see anything since it was so foggy. It was a pretty sleepless night. I kept waking up in hopes to see the sunshine so we could start our way back out of there. But knew it wasn't going to be easy with a busted foot. Morning finally came but it was raining! We waited it out and cooked up some oatmeal and had some dried pears. Got a couple more minutes of shut eye and decided we should probably break camp (babysitters aren't cheap ya know).

I was really worried about the hike back out of there. I knew how steep it was, I knew how far it was and I was not looking forward to it. I asked Dan for a priesthood blessing and THAT MADE ALL THE DIFFERENCE! On our way down we met up with a few other hikers who could see by my limping that I wasn't doing very well. One of the guys had a wrap in his first aid kit that he gave me. That made a huge difference. Then as we were about a mile and a have away from the car I about lost it. I could feel the tears coming on and didn't know if I could keep going. I remembered what Dan's blessing said and all of a sudden I felt like someone else was walking with me. And the most remarkable part was I also felt no more pain in my foot. Every step I took I was expecting the pain to shoot up my leg but it didn't. I believe Heavenly Father sent some angels my way to help me. I was so grateful that the tears came anyway but this time they were good tears.

We made it back to the car and it was soooo nice to get that pack off my back. We were both exhausted and sore but we did it! I had to laugh at myself through it all because last week when Dan told me he wanted to take me on this trip and to find a babysitter I had the conscious thought that I hoped the trip would be more than a play day. I wanted it to be a spiritual experience. HAHA! What did I get myself into? :)

It was a beautiful hike. I do have to admit that. And it was wonderful to spend it with the love of my life. And even though it was cold, wet, long and hard we grew closer together. Here are some pictures we took on our hike.

This is us when we made it to the first Lake. (the one we should have stopped at)

 

The view of the trail before heading up the bigger part of the mountain. See the mist? That was nothing it was much thicker on the other side of the mountain.

the view we would have missed out on had we not made the trip. Gorgeous!

We MADE IT! Not the most flattering shot ever but it shows a little bit the effort it took to get there. That's the lake behind me. Not much of a view with all that fog.

Our little campsite with not a sole nearby.

The hike out was WET!

The fog lifted just in time for us to see the lake as we were leaving. We had been disappointed that we had made it that far and not been able to see it. Grateful for the small gifts from our Heavenly Father. Beautiful!

We joked on our hike how nice it would be to have an escalator or chairlift to take us to our destinations, but in reality, without all the hard work and climbing we would never have been able to see the views we did or have the experiences that helped us become stronger.  I am sure at times in life our Father in Heaven wishes he could carry us and protect us from hurt and pain but he knows that to become who we need be, we have to go through those hard things because when we conquer them we realize we are much more than what we thought we were.

Weekend Plans!

This morning I am teaching my Zumba class. Aftetr my class I come home to shower, then I'm off this afternoon to go on an overnight backpacking trip with the hubs. So excited to break in my new frame pack I got for Mother's Day. I'll try to take pics but I am mostly looking forward to the time off with my sweetheart! Now to decide what shoes I'm wearing. I think my hiking boots are long since retired. I think I need to put a pair of them on my Christmas Wishlist.

 

Wish us luck!

A letter from my little man Ethan

Ethan made me this note and I asked him to read it to me. He said,"dear mom, you can't spank me you can only tickle me and take me on walks. I will clean up my room when you ask me and I will clean it up fast. Happy face mom. I will give you a hug when we get married. The end" it was so cute!

Last Big Project of the Summer and Back to School!

Summer is gone but I didn't want to forget to share the pictures from our last big project we worked on this summer. It was our Labor Day project. I talked all about it in my last post HERE.
Take a look at our Before, In Progress and After pics:

 Before: 
(Notice the shed on the left the fence and patio railing... Those are both fixed up now)

In Progress:

After:

After it was all painted I decided it needed a little "touch of Brittany" so I made this sign and hung it on the beam above the swings.

Even the brackets got a makeover! I didn't get a picture of the steering wheel that I spray painted red (I used a can of spray paint specifically for plastics) but it is hanging under the green roof up on the platform railing. The kids are loving it!

I love how it turned out and maybe if the weather holds up I've got plans to paint the floor of the platform into a road/"FUN CITY" for the kids to play on with their toy cars. It's amazing what a little paint and recycled lumber can do to make a playground NEW again.



Speaking of NEW...It's a new school year! Kiera is now in First Grade and Ethan is in his second year of preschool. We are figuring out our routine and settling into everything. It is taking some getting used to but the kids are enjoying their new classes and teachers. Emma is also enjoying some one on one time with mommy while the older two are away at school.

I just wanted to share the first Day of School Pics we took. Even Emma got in on the fun.

Since we did so well with taking pictures for school we decided to take a few more on Sunday morning before church so I could get a shot of Emma by herself. And I love this last shot of all three of the kids even more than the first one!

What we did Yesterday

So yesterday was Labor Day. It was a beautiful day. Not only was the sun shining but my hubby had the day off work too. I love it when he gets to spend the day with me! We decided to spend the day doing a project. And when Dan and I get started on a project some amazing things can happen.

We just recently hired someone to come and stain our fence and back deck/patio and it looks great. But since doing that our playground looked very very sad. We decided we would start sprucing it up a bit. The best part is that we didn't have to go out and buy any materials either (except for the 4 carriage bolts Dan is picking up today on his way home from work). We've had some pieces to fix it up for some time and I think we got the push we needed when one of the kids' swings broke the other day. I went searching on craigslist and found a couple of swings, a trapeze bar, a fireman pole, a steering wheel and a climbing rope all for $20.  It was a pretty great find considering a swing by itself costs about $20 new.


So around 10 in the morning we got busy. We added a bigger platform for the slide and put railing on one side so I don't have to worry so much about Emma being pushed off. We are using the ladder that we originally made for the kid's bunk beds but aren't going to use again. We attached the fireman pole off to the side of the platform and added on the tarp canopy roof that we've had since buying the playset.It looks great. All we have to do now is attache the slide and the plastic steering wheel and we'll be set. We haven't decided if we're going to use the climbing rope yet. But the next step is painting.

I went over a few of the brackets that hold the A-frame together with some Rustoleum rust stopper paint and just have to find a good opportunity to get the main/stain to paint the rest. The kids start school tomorrow so maybe I'll have a few hours to work on it while Emma naps. It is going to be awesome. I wish I could show you some before pics but I went through most of my pictures and can't find any. I'll post pics later when it's all done.