Backpacking

As I was looking at classes to take during last spring for this coming fall at UVU I decided I wanted to take some fun recreational classes and I signed up for a backpacking class. This past weekend we went on a great hike to the Uinta Mountains in North East, Utah.

1st DAY

The first 20 minutes of the hike was a continuous rocky incline. It's a good thing the whole hike wasn't like this because it really worked your legs!! During the first day of the hike we were able to see a bald eagle fly right over the top of us. It was cool.


Group shot :)... Janessa, Ryan, April, Shane, and Hillery.


The first night we set up our camps Hillery, (pictured left) had brought both her and I single tents we could sleep in. Come to find out, after we opened the tents, they were little kids' tents with blue camo material and enough room for a whole city to fit! We got nick-named the "BABY BLUES" for the rest of the trip after our little tents ;] It was a very long, cold, and sleepless night for me and I was glad when morning came.


DAY TWO...


On our second day hike, we packed up camp after having a delicious smore and hot chocolate for breakfast, and hiked to this lake. It was so beautiful and clear and we were able to take a lot of fun pictures there.


This is where we camped the second night. The lake was beautiful and we saw 2 bald eagles on our way. I took these pictures of the lake that next morning when we woke up. It was amazing!


After we got our camp set up for the second night, we hiked another 7 miles in 2 hours (round trip) to another lake that was near the top of that peak. It was freezing water but made it good and refreshing to drink from. (pictured L to R, top to bottom): Hillery, Dave, Court, Janessa, April, Ryan, Scott, Shane, and Brian.

The second night I decided I wasn't going to freeze again so Shane, Hillery, and I all spent the night right by the fire and kept it going all night long. I slept much better than the first night.


Day #3

Day 3 was a big 8 1/2 mile hike back to our vehicles. We covered a lot of country and in my individual picture, the bowl farthest to the left that you can see is where we were the night before when we hiked the extra 7 miles without our packs. This ledge was amazing and you could see for miles all of the different canyons and valleys.


The aspen trees are my favorite of the fall and it was awesome to hike in them during their "prime time". The last day was very sunny and my face and shoulders got fried. I have some interesting tan lines now but it was well worth the trip! Thanks to Franki I was able to use her pack and it worked out great for me :)

OOPS! :(

Today was an adventure. I was in a hurry to get things done and during my efforts to multitask, I ended up flooding our bathroom! I was soaking some clothes in the sink and then hopped into the shower only to realize when I got out that the clothes had clogged the drainage hole in the sink and there was about an inch of water covering the entire bathroom floor! Wonderful on my part. So during the mid-cleaning process, I already had a full bucket of water and every towel in our apartment soaked! The drawers that are on the floor were completely full of water and my things inside of them were just floating around for a long time. It's always the times like this that you just have to laugh at yourself!

P90X!

As part of being college students you tend to eat a lot of junk food and lose the exercise habits...not a good combination. Sooooo, some of my roommates and people in my dorm decided that every Tuesday and Thursday night we would do some P90X abdominal workouts! We thought it was a fantastic idea until we found out that it was a 15 minute thing and that it was a lot harder than it looks!



...No, we are not bowing down to the TV, there were stretches...and they really work! lol hopefully we can keep up the progress and have abs of steel by the time Christmas comes only to return in January and begin where we started in September. :)

UTAH-vs-UNLV

Today I went to the UTAH and UNLV football game! It was really fun to watch as it was only my 4th college game I have been able to watch live. Utah won 38-10 which I thought was a good thing even though our seating was in the UNLV section. We had free tickets through Dallen's cousin so it was worth it. I did learn though... Always, ALWAYS take your ID with you because you never know when you'll need to use it. haha :)...P.S. Dallens shirt stands for "Choose the Rebels", and some of the Utah fans has shirts just like it that said "Choose the Red" so I guess it could count for both even though he's a BYU fan.

Best Friends Forever

“Many people will walk in and out of your life, but only true friends will leave footprints in your heart”

Over the past weekend I was able to go visit Sami (MY BFF!) for her 19th birthday! September 11th is the day, not only for a national honorary and celebration, but a party time and birthday for her! It was sooooooo good to be able to see her and to talk with her like we once had. It's been almost 5 years since I've been able to really visit Samantha and to make memories together. We have been friends since the day we could remember, playing in the mud puddles, with the honey bees, dogs, bikes, toys, and horses in Blanding until we both moved away to different towns when we were 5. She left to Delta where her dad was able to get a job as the high school seminary teacher, and my family moving to Monticello so that my dad could start the elk ranch. Over the past 13 years we have stayed in contact and have visited each other every summer until high school life got too busy. Still the same, Sami is in love with horses, and I love sports. We are two of a kind, but get along great together! :)


That night we had dinner together, played sand volleyball, sat in the hot tub, and then went to a school bon-fire. They burned a couch which went up in flames really fast, and I was able to see a lot of my high school friends that are attending Snow College as well. Everyone sang happy birthday to Sami and afterward we headed back to her apartment, only stopping at the football field to run in the sprinklers! It was freezing cold and we got soaked head to toe! The hot tub was an amazing idea so we spent some more time there and then stayed up chatting until early the next morning. It was so fun to spend the weekend with my friend!

The New House!

I'm sooooooooooooo EXCITED!!!! Here we go on the house and I am not even 80! ( that was my deadline as to when I had to start a new house haha) The crew showed up @ 7 am on Monday Aug. 30 and didn't waste any time. Here they are setting up the forms for the footers.


By 11:30 am Paul brought the concrete. It was amazing to see the huge concrete pump move around wherever they needed it by remote control. It was hard to not just set and watch them all day. Bryan even stayed with my daycare kids so I could go get some close up pics. The kids ofcourse loved seeing all the big trucks and equipment.


By 3:30 pm the footers are done!!! Wow I was amazed. No turning back now....but I would never want too!!!


On day 2 the forms are ready for the basement walls. They don't waste any time. It seems so unreal, but I just cant wipe the smile off my face! Concrete pumping began by 1:30 pm.


Day 3......Forms stripped and we have the basement walls!!!! Wow it really is hard to believe my dream really is happening. Bryan has worked so hard getting the excavation done and as we are learning the work is just beginning. Some say this may test our marriage, but this dream has been in the works for a very long time and our likes are so much the same that it is just FUN!!! We both cant sleep at night because we are so excited. (we even go haul hay @4:30 am just to pass the time haha) I am so lucky to have the greatest guy I know by my side as we build our House of Dreams! I LOVE you Hun!!
As for the kids they are very excited and love to watch the progress and help in any way. We keep telling Ness that it is so she has a home to come home too......"ya, right! Sure start it as soon as I leave!" she says, but we really do look forward to the wonderful moments of each and everyday that build great memories tommorow......WAHOOOO here we go!!!
-Sherrill