Timp Mountain - One Snowy Hike

At 4:30am on Saturday morning me a few leaders and a bunch of scouts heading up to try and hike Timpanogos Mountain. We were on the trail just before 6am. It turned out to be more of a challenge then I ever thought it would. I have hiked Timp many times in my life, but none were quit like this hike. We made good time as we hiked in the wee hours of the morning. A few miles into the hike we started to come across patches of snow. Something I had never seen so low on the trail.

It was a bit of a challenge for many of the scouts. Most of them were wearing tennis or skate shoes. Not the most ideal shoe for hiking accross snow.

Many of them slipped and slided their way across the snow as we scurried to try to find the trail in many areas.

Here is a picture of our Bishop Tom as he climbs up the side of a snow field. When we reached the meadow I saw something I had never seen before. Snow, snow and more snow. It was everywhere.

In the background is the top of Timp Mountain. Our final goal.

Usually there is a trail that leads up to the saddle, which is the low point on the mountain ridge. But this day, there was nothing but snow leading up to there. Four of us decided to take a leap of faith and try and reach the top.

Just to the right of Cody's (the kid on the right) elbow, you can see the rest of our group waiting on a small section of rocks.

We literally had to climb straight up the snow to get to the saddle. There were a few times that if we slipped we would of slid a long way and could have been seriously hurt. We were blessed to be able to climb well and safely.

Behind me in the picture is the second snowfield we had to traverse to reach the saddle.

After the saddle we had a straight up mile climb. You can see the trail in the picture and a few people coming up it. You can also see the steepness of the snow we had to climb.

It was great to get to the top! Something I really didn't think we would be able to do with all of the snow. Congrats also to Dave, Kevin and Cody, the other 3 that joined me on top. They way down was extremely dangerous and fun. Dave blazed trail with his icepick until it was safe to slide down a bit.

At one point, behind Cody in the picture, he slipped and shoved his pole into the snow to stop him from flying down and crashing into rocks, and actually bent and snapped his pole. It was pretty great. We all climbed down quickly as there were so many spots that we could slide hundreds of feet as apposed to hiking down the trail.

Here is one of the places we slid down. You can see our slide marks in the picture. All and all, we all made it down safely and had such a wonderful time. I have a funny desire to hike the trail again next year in the snow. Well see how crazy I am feeling then!!!

it has come to my attention...

Apparently I don't blog enough, so this is for you Jen.
We have spent every nice day at the pool. It is so convenient and it wears the kids out so they sleep better.

Peyton playing with the pool toy inside the house. Thankfully there was no water in it.

Last Thursday we had a shower for my sis-in-law who is expecting to adopt. I had made her a car seat cover/canopy. I was really pleased with how it turned out.

This is only the second thing I have ever sewn.

Last week we celebrated our 8th anniversary. Ryan's parents took the kids overnight while we ran away to north Salt Lake. It was a getaway none-the-less. It was so nice to get away from life!

On Monday night, Ryan took the kids to a friends softball game. The kids had a lot of fun rolling down the hill and playing on the benches.

I went to zumba with some friends and shook my booty off. I really enjoyed it, but I like zumba, so I'm not hard to please.
Yesterday we had an insane wind storm. It was crazy! I noticed my friends tramp sitting on the edge of her fence, a garbage can in the middle of a grassy field, toys blown about, and small tree branches and leaves everywhere.

Did I mention our BB-Qer took a face plant. It's officially trash now. It was already not working due to the wind (a year ago) which picked up the flame and started the grease trap on fire causing the whole thing to go up in smoke. So it wasn't much of a loss.

Ryan goes for an unsuspecting swim

This last weekend was a lot of fun. Ryan had Youth Conference all weekend and I went to the pool for the first time last Friday. Then Saturday morning, I went to my best friends yard sale/ fundraiser. It was so fun to try to make the unwanted, wanted! There were a lot of good buys. 

Then on Saturday evening, we had our annual neighborhood BBQ and pool opening party. Ryan helped cook while I watched the kids run around with friends and playing games. At some point, I was informed that the girls bathroom had a toilet problem and one of the stalls was out of tp. So being that I had easy access to my key, I went to help out to fix the restroom problems. Meanwhile, Ryan gets attacked by several people who are trying to throw him in the pool.

Yes, that's my husband in the middle of all of these friends. From what I hear, (I was busy with squeegeeing the bathrooms) he put up a really good fight. They started at the volleyball net (a good ways from the pool.) 

They were kind enough to empty his pockets of cell phone and other important goods. Once they got him completely off the ground (the smartest move was holding him by the belt) they were able to just carry him in to the pool area where they all willingly and excitedly threw him in the water, clothes and all!

During all of this craziness, you might be wondering where our beloved children were. Well, they were freaking out since their dad was getting tackled, wrestled, and carried around. Thankfully a neighbor was there to try to console them. As I came out of the restrooms I see my 1 yr old crossing the road. Trying not to panic people start filling me in as to what was going on. I then realized that my daughter was not alone in the road but just farther behind her sister and our friend. Braxton was on my porch ringing the doorbell. Poor kids. 

I do think their traumatizing experience was worth Ryan getting thrown in!!

Just remembering....

This last weekend in lieu of memorial day we went to the graves of two of those people we have loved and lost. We went to the farthest grave first.

Ryan's brother who died at birth. It was the first time I had ever been there. I'm kind of ashamed of myself for not having gone sooner. We have been married 8 yrs (next week.) and yet this is the first time I have ever visited his brother. It was so good to pay our respects to such a perfect brother. We have the faith and the knowledge that we will see him again.

We then traveled to the next stop. My grandfathers grave. It was so good to be able to just sit and think about him and the wonderful memories that I have of him.

'Til we meet again....