#PauseBeKind

Still reeling a bit fron last night's contentious debate... debacle.

But loved these memes I saw today.

We can do better. 

#pausebekind

The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

I watched the debate (for the first time in my life, I think), because I do not know who to vote for.

And when I ask in my prayers to bless our country or to help me to know who to vote for,

it seems disingenuous if I don't do my part.

Well, it was bad and it was ugly. Both men turned to name-calling and insults.

Not very becoming of a man who wants to lead the country.

You expect it from Trump. He's a bully. But I was disappointed that Biden stooped to that level. 

The Good was harvesting tomatoes from the garden and making pasta sauce.

It was sooooo easy!

Tomatoes, one bell pepper (cut in fourths) and 4 cloves of garlic drizzled with olive oil and 

a generous amount of salt and pepper. Half the larger tomatoes and put cut side down.

Bake at 425 for 20 minutes or until skin blisters. 

Remove skin from larger tomatoes with tongs (comes right off), but leave the cherry tomatoes.

(The Blendtec obliterates skins and seeds.)

Dump it all in the Blendtec. Add basil, oregano, salt and pepper. 2 tsp sugar.

Blend. Pour into jars and freeze. See? Sooooo easy!

Ate it with sausage and zucchini noodles! It was torture to try to save some for Nick while he was at work!

Get Things Done Day!

I love get-things-done days! Having them on the heels of vacation makes them that much better.

A strong bike ride (cut two minutes off my time on that route), laundry and grocery shopping, for starters.

Then I dove into my list of food I wanted to make.

Apple topping for fall breakfasts or treats.

New trick this year. Peel the apples with a potato peeler, cut with the apple slicer, toss the core,

turn the slicer on it side and cut the apples while still in the device. Much faster!

(five apples, 1/2 tsp cinnamon, 1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice, 

1/2 cup maple syrup, 1/2 cup water, pinch of salt

Saute on stove until soft.)

My most common breakfast is brown rice with fruit, pecans and rice milk.

In the summer I usually eat it with blueberries or strawberries and bananas.

But the fall calls for something cinnamon-y!

Spiced nuts -- another fall favorite and neighbor christmas gift.

(3 cups of raw pecans, cashews, almonds. 

1 1/2 tsp cinnamon, 1 1/2 Tbsp pumpkin pie spice, 3/4 tsp sea salt, 6 Tbsp maple syrup, 1 1/2 tsp vanilla.

 Grease cookie sheet. Spread nuts in single layer. Bake at 325 for 15 min. turning once.)

Finally, harvested a lot of basil to make pesto to freeze.

(3 cups basil leaves, 1/2 cup pine nuts, 2 cloves garlic, 1/2 cup parmesan cheese, 

1/2 cup olive oil, squeeze of lemon juice.)

I've made this in the past in the food processor. But thought it could be easier in Blendtec.

However the leaves weren't getting small enough. Added more nuts, cheese, olive oil and lemon juice

per the Blendtec recipe. Everything blended perfectly smooth after that, but a little too smooth.

I'm going to try again tomorrow. Still yummy though.

And of course made dinner. Meatball soup with gnocchis. One of our favorites.

Meanwhile Nick put ski racks on his car. Dan had bought them from a friend who dropped them off.

As soon as Nick saw them, he got to work. I love that he isn't afraid to jump in and figure something out!

Wildflower Trail Under the Gondola

Our flight was at 3:00 so we needed to be done hiking today by 1:30. 

We determined we still had time to hike under the gondola to the lodge up top if we got a relatively early start. We had to get checked out of the hotel before we left too.

The hike is up the ski hill right out the door (from Teton Village). 

4 miles (or 4.25) and 2,700 feet of elevation gain. 

The incentive is when you get to the top, you get to ride the gondola down for free.

At 1.5 miles, the boys found the swing. When we caught up to them, they were in good spirits taking turns on the swing and excited to "almost be there." 

They were not happy to find out the building they saw was not the one we were aiming for. And we'd come less than half way.

But they've been great sports the whole time and set off again at a fast clip. 

Too fast for Dan and me. But we still made great time.

We averaged a 25 minute pace which was about what I do to the first river on Mt. Olympus.

My goal was to continue that pace for the next mile, at least. 

(Especially since the trail was a trail -- not a river bed. A lot easier on the mind and body.)

We kept up the pace and got to the top after 1:45. 

The boys were only ten minutes ahead of us.

And a lady cheered for us when we arrived.

Because it was a weekend, the restaurant up top was hopping and full of people inside and out.

Made the boys happy because they could have pizza.

The restaurant also served specialty waffles all day! We'll have to remember that for next time!

It's been a great trip to Jackson. The lakes, mountains and hikes are beautiful.

Next time we want to spend more time walking around Jenny Lake, ride bikes along the paths into town and back, do the Tia Ferrata climbing adventure (with a guide), the alpine slide (if its open), hike from Granite Canyon to Taggart Lake, hike the extra mile down to Phelps lake to jump off the rock into the water, and maybe drive up to Yellowstone to see Old Faithful (3 hours away). 

On the way home when we'd made it to SLC, we were told we'd need to circle for 40 minutes for our turn. Instead, our pilot dipped down to 6,000 feet to avoid the air traffic and get us home without the wait.

What a view of downtown!

Rain, Town and Phelps Lake

The forecast predicted a chance of rain today, but we hoped they'd be off and on drizzles.

We were all packed up with our hiking packs/lunches/water bottles, got to bed early-ish and slept in, had eaten a hearty breakfast for our long and steep hike, but when we walked out the door, it was pouring.

Who wants to go on a long hike in the mud and rain? Not me.

And we didn't ask, but I'm pretty confident that three 15-year-olds didn't either.

We turned right back around and said, "Looks like we're going to town."

(The boys enjoyed shopping much more than I thought they would! 

So they were eager to have more time in town after just 45 minutes yesterday.)

Dan and I split up from the boys and took a few hours looking in shops around the square. It was raining the entire time. Then called the boys and had them meet us for lunch at Jackson Drugs burgers and shakes. Cute Nick said, "Well, we could just eat our lunches we already packed." Which would have been fine if we were on a hike in the mountains, but we were in town and had better options. 

The BEST tater tots I've had ever! (Normal flavor, just Perfectly crisp!)

After lunch we wanted to explore some more, so drove up to Jenny Lake. The boys had an afternoon slump by this point so we found a place to see the lake that didn't require any walking. It was gorgeous!  

Dan had a 4:00 business call but the rain had stopped and he had the idea to take the call while we did the short hike we had originally planned for tomorrow. One mile to Phelps Lake overlook. He had just enough reception to make it happen, and the boys were good sports about taking a hike they hadn't planned on. (Finding a bathroom at the trailhead helped.) 

It wasn't very steep and a quick pace to the lookout. We found out that if we hiked the mile down to the lake, there was a rock great for jumping off into the lake. But it was pretty cold today and the trail was much steeper down to the lake. So no one was really up for climbing back up after jumping in. Next time.

We arrived back to Teton Village just in time to see an exotic car rally show up. 

The rest of the night we spent at the hot tub and sauna then watching shows on Dan's laptop.

We thought the boys may be up for a movie, but they ended up spending a long time in the sauna. 

Then found wings for dinner at the restaurant. 

Dan and I had some alone time to chill and the boys had their time to chill. 

In spite of the rain, it was another perfect day.

Taggart and Bradley Lakes Hike and River Running

We love staying in a hotel with a kitchen so we can make breakfast and not worry about finding something to eat. I brought all the groceries, and I'm glad I did because we were exhausted when we arrived last night and after a late dinner, went straight to the hotel and to bed. 

The boys agreed to get up at 8:15 -- a good compromise of being able to sleep in but also able to get on the road early. 

Today's hike was Taggart and Bradley Lake. A 5.4 mile loop but pretty flat for most of the way. I love hiking in the fall. The aspens were the most prominent changing tree -- the bright yellow a striking contrast to the evergreens. 

 

We had bells on and bear spray as is recommended in Teton National Park.

Nick also brought his speaker and was playing his music. 

(But he would mute it when they got near other people).

The best part of being with Nick and friends is we get to see their interactions with each other, their jokes, teasing, funny stories, hear about school and friends and listen to their music. 

The boys had skipped a few rocks on Taggart Lake and we were moving on to the next lake when Nick found a "perfect rock" and said, "Whoa! Hold up!" He walked back down to the bank.

He wound up and skipped the rock so beautifully it jumped about 24 times. 

And then several groups of people who were sitting around and watching clapped and cheered!

The best was to hear his reaction with his friends:

"You'll remember this as the greatest moment of your life."

"It doesn't get better than this."

"I'm never skipping another rock again!"

At Bradley Lake we stopped and ate our lunches overlooking the lake below.

It was a perfect hike to start our vacation. Long, but not hard. 

Lots of people on the trail and the feeling of camaraderie. 

As we moved through the forest and headed to town,

we saw lots of cars pulled over and a wildlife official keeping traffic moving.

I saw a bear!! It was lying down so I only saw the big round mass of brown fur.

I wanted Dan to stop, but he wouldn't. He said it was rude to the bear.

Ok.

And then as we crossed the river, lots more cars were pulled over and we saw a moose!

This time Dan pulled over but refused to get out of the car.

I didn't know he had such a strong sense of ethics of animal treatment.

But I ran over to see as did Will and Luke. 

We had 45 minutes to walk around town and then...

... our river rafting tour!

We took a 45 min. bus ride from "Dave Hansen's river expeditions"

to the point we got in.

Then a 2 1/2 hour trip down the Snake.

(Generally its shorter, but we had a strong head wind a lot of the way.)

But the river was absolutely gorgeous! I didn't take my phone because I didn't want it to get wet or lost, but I'm sorry I didn't have it because everywhere we looked it was picture-worthy.

We saw two bald eagles, a mountain goat (also sitting, so we had to take our guide's word for it),

and seven river otters jumping off the rocks and swimming in the river.

And gorgeous fall colors.

It was a little chilly, but they gave us wet suits so we were comfortable.

Nick and Luke actually jumped in the river and earned a

"snake river swim team" bracelet.

Our guide was Jordan and he was a blast.

We were wet, cold and hungry by the end of the day.

We picked up pizza on the way home, saw three moose on the side of the road

then got home to eat, go to the hot tub and sauna and look forward to sleeping in tomorrow.

We've got our biggest hike right here in Teton Village tomorrow.

Two Week Corona Break

Whelp, school is out for the next two weeks. More than 15 kids have Covid. I'm just happy our district is having in-person school. I'm good with this system of taking a break when the numbers hit the established threshold, and resuming a couple weeks later. So much better than not even trying.

Question of the day: How long do we keep the 50th birthday balloons if they're still floating?

There's a 5 and and 0 just floating around the house making their way from upstairs to downstairs and back again. They're kind of creepy.

We're off to Jackson Hole tonight with Nick and a couple of friends. Lots of hiking. Essentially redoing the trip I did last year with Jenn and friends. It was so beautiful, I'm excited for my family to see it!

Deep Thoughts

I had a thought as Clara and I drove up the canyon yesterday. She was praising God for creating such a beautiful world and we were remarking on how we love living in a place where the trees turn different colors in Fall -- yellows, oranges and reds. And how in the spring they blossom with completely different colors -- bright pink, pale pink, white, yellow, purple and then finally leaf to various shades of green. The leaves are different shapes and sizes and there is so much variety.

I'd been listening to a podcast about personal revelation. And how when a calling is made, there's not necessarily one person that can fill that spot. There are several, but the person making the calling prayerfully thinks through different options and chooses one of the several he feels most excited about. Sometimes a name comes to mind we wouldn't have normally considered. And other times, when we've got the perfect person, we're told (by others in the organization) we can't have that person and we have to go back and reconsider. Doesn't mean we didn't get our inspiration right. Or that another person won't be as good in that position. 

With these things in mind, I thought of Adam in the Garden of Eden naming the animals. He didn't magically choose the name that God wanted him to choose. Opposite. He chose a name and God essentially said, "That sounds great." 

Similarly, when our kids make decisions, they're not trying to guess what we want them to do. We don't have one path in mind for them and hope they read our mind and choose it. No. They have had life experiences and talents and likes and dislikes and it all goes into choosing their path. 

We just enjoy sitting back and watching the process and whatever they decide, and said, "Sounds Great~" (Although when it comes to our kids, usually I'm like, "Sounds AWESOME!")

Cruising

 Clara and I took a drive up the canyon to see Fall colors. They are beautiful.

We also saw a huge fire on Mt. Olympus -- we saw flames too!

This evening while Nick was at work, Dan and I took our new Blix electric cruisers 

out for a spin. We started out thinking we'd take a ride around the neighborhood.

But you can go so far, so fast and with zero effort, we ended up all the way over near Olympus High!

They are so much fun!