Home!

Look who is home!

Courtney is here until Wednesday!

I love hearing her play the piano.

Courtney and I went to the temple together Saturday morning with Taylor and Lisa Jones.

It was so fun to be with the Jones'. They keep us laughing! I love that Courtney is so excited about making time to go through the temple.

Nick got home from his 50-miler and while it was hard, dusty and hot, he had a smile on his face!

I'm proud of him for doing something so difficult. He didn't love the hard stuff, but he did have a good time with his friends. His favorite part was one hike where they got to cliff jump into a lake.

I said to Chris, "We need to make a candy poster for Nick when he comes home 

like I used to do for you guys." Chris looked at me confused and said,

 "You never did that for me."

Oh dang. 3rd child problems. I'll have to do it when he gets home from HEFY.

But Nick loved his candy poster!

And the pool is finished and heated!

We went to check it out and then dared Nick to jump in with his clothes on.

He only had to think about it for 2 seconds and then he jumped!

Top right hand corner. That's Nick flipping off the diving board into the pool!

Rebekah, Rachel and Jeremy all came into town for Skyline's 20th reunion.

How did they get so old?

We got to have dinner together Friday night. What a surprise and so much fun to see them, 

even if it was for just a second!

Mid-Way Photos From Nick

Nick's Scout leaders have been sending photos of the boys in all the 

beautiful areas they've been hiking in.

Nick called today to let us know they'll be home earlier Saturday afternoon rather than at night.

He also mentioned that tomorrow they're hiking 15 miles. He sounded a little skeptical. 

Never a bad thing to push yourself and see what you can do.

Good Luck, Nick!

Also Chris brought a bunch of friends boating today and drove the boat most of the time.

He's going to try to take the boat out on his own tomorrow. We think he's ready.

Backpacking Campout. A First For Me.

First we were doing thumbs up, and then Chris said, "Geez, look like you love each other. Stop trying to be cool."
I also wish I had a photo of Chris helping me adjust my backpack just right. Love when my boys help me out!

Remember when Dan bought Nick a new, lighter backpack for his overnighter to Dog Lake? That sparked the thought that I'd like to try an overnighter too. (Now that the backpack isn't so cumbersome and heavy, it seemed more doable.)


This week was the perfect time to go with Nick out of town, and Chris home to watch Kershaw. Although we realized that Nick has the backpack. So we bought two more -- one for Dan and one for me. Now we're committed.

Hiking to Lake Blanche with a 14 lb backpack (mine was only 14 lbs, Dan's was 24 lbs) was like a walk in the park compared to hiking Mt. Olympus. When we hit the first mile mark, I was sure my watch was off because it wasn't near as hard as I'd worried it might be. With the packs it took us 1:45 to reach the lake (vs. 1:30 unencumbered).

We had dinner with Chris at Greek City Grill (and Mitt Romney came in to pick up his fast food order -- a little gyro and fries while he watches the Primary results?!) and then Dan and I headed up the canyon at 6:30. 

It was about 9 when we got to the top with plenty of light left to search for a campsite and time to watch the sunset. 

I did not graffiti by etching my initials in this rock. But since somebody else did, I took a photo.

TerraShield works!

Unfortunately the mosquitos were completely swarming. Dan was freaking out a bit. (Sorry, just calling it like it was.) We finally pulled our packs off and doused ourselves with Terrashield (doTerra) that helped a lot. They were still swarming, but not landing. We walked all over the east side of the lake and then over to the west (and saw the other two lakes below) searching for a good spot. We decided on the west side just uphill from a moose who had come out at dusk to drink.

The fish were jumping (eat more mosquitos!), the moose was casually grazing and a deer came to join her too. The sunset was a vivid reddish-orange and there was only one other couple in the entire place. It was amazing to be in such a beautiful area with the whole place to ourselves!

Moose!

The 2nd lake (and third beyond that).

After we pitched our tent, we got ready for bed and ate our snack of fig bars and a fruit cup. I was sort of thinking we'd eat our snack as we played Skip-Bo in our tent, but Dan said we couldn't eat in our tent because of bears. I didn't think there were any bears there. But actually, I've only been up there twice before and the internet said there were black bears. So I guess I wasn't really a reliable source of information. I agreed to follow Dan's wisdom.








We opened the sleeping bags with one underneath and one on top. I was super comfortable, but Dan was a little cold. Sleeping on the ground isn't comfortable but I was comfortable for sleeping on the ground. (Side note: both times on Pioneer Trek the first night was the worst but by day 3 the ground was REALLY comfortable! So I guess it just takes 3 nights for the ground to feel soft. And a lot of hiking in between.)

In the morning we made our dehydrated eggs. Mostly because I wanted the fun of learning how to use the little stove and trying out the Mountain House dehydrated food. We actually weren't that hungry. But the experience was fun. Next time I'll either bring oatmeal or an apple and cheese. The eggs weren't bad. They were tasty in a "this is the only food in the whole world" kind of way. But you could tase the chemicals. I really could.

Then we packed up and headed down the mountain.  It took us 1:25 to get to the car. (1:10 last time without packs.) We packed: tent, pads, sleeping bags, camp pillows, bear canister, first aid kit, headlamps, pocket knife, clean garments, extra socks, sweatshirt, SkipBo, food, pot, spoons, mini stove, 64 oz. water, water filter, tissues, wipes, flip flops, personal kits (toothbrush, toothpaste, floss, lotion, MagicOintment, Terrashield bug spray, contacts, Burt's Bees, deodorant).

Next time I'm going to add: pj bottoms, an extra sports bra (because mine was still wet with sweat and cold to put on the next morning), and an apple for breakfast in the morning. If we don't need to boil water for food, we would need the filter or the pot and stove.







Oh yeah, and Dan wants bug spray with DEET. I was going to remind him that DEET causes cancer and birth defects and everything else and the TerraShield was great, but I think I'd prefer him to be less bothered about the mosquitos! :-) They really were bad.

Nick's 50-Miler

Nick headed off at 6:30 am to his 50-miler scout adventure. He's been so excited!

He and Will did all the shopping for their full day of meals. They planned breakfast burritos for breakfast, sandwiches for lunch and tin foil dinners. He did a great job at reading the serving sizes and getting the right amounts for the group. He's really good at this!

Getting packed and organized! 

40-Miler Up City Creek Canyon

We really pushed it today riding to the top of City Creek Canyon. 15 miles from home and 5.5 miles up the canyon. When my odometer said we'd gone 5.5 and we still weren't at the top, my brain was like, "Done." I stopped at a little bridge because I didn't have enough energy to yell to Dan up ahead to stop. I chatted with another guy taking a selfie. He said I only had 100 yds more to go. Ok. I did it. It was exhausting. But it was a fun challenge and we made it. The ride home wasn't so daunting because it was more downhill (obviously the canyon was downhill, but so was getting all the way home).

One thing about City Creek Canyon is the road isn't super taken care of. Parts are and parts aren't. It was extra challenging on the ride down because there were potholes, shade so you couldn't see and really rough road and narrow turns. I really had to hold my brakes for the first 2 miles. After that it was a lot better.

Dan and I are pretty awesome.

Fun Week

Nick has had a busy week with Lax camp in the morning and home just in time to eat a quick lunch and then to tennis. He got a break on his chores, which was motivation to take lax even though none of his other friends did it. The good news is he got to know a couple of the older boys better and had a great time. He had a blast at tennis too with a few friends and their little sisters. This was his third week and he loved it.

EC was here all week taking a break from the Phoenix heat and working on family history projects. It was so fun having her here! We both kind of did our own thing but it was fun to check in and eat lunch together or work together making dinner or doing dishes (I actually think she did all the dishes!)

Tonight we went to a Bee's game. Nick invited Ryan and Chris bailed at the last minute. (Teens and their friends!) I texted Diane to see if her family wanted to come. Her kids were doing other things but she was happy to join us. The cool thing is that I didn't realize is it was her and my Dad's anniversary that night. And they always went to a Bees Game on their anniversary. I told her I wasn't as funny as my dad or didn't know as much about sports. But we would be good company anyway! I'm glad she came because we had a great time all together. And I'm glad I called and invited her because that was probably a little prompting.

Post Mission -- 27 Years Later

Dan, Juan and Brent

Dan's first baptism (actually his companion baptized him, but not sure a distinction needs to be made -- isn't it a joint effort?) was Juan Davison. A 15-year-old boy with lots of religion questions. His mom didn't get baptized but she allowed her son to. He's now a father of four and a member of his Stake Presidency. Curiously, the family that introduced him to the church went inactive the year after he was baptized.

We reconnected with him and his family last year when we were in Argentina. This summer, the Davison family travelled from Argentina to Chicago, then drove from Chicago to Salt Lake on a church history tour. (They did the eastern states to Ohio last December.)

They joined us for dinner Wednesday evening. Dan's first mission companion, Brent, and his wife also came. They live in Gilbert, Arizona, but were coming to Idaho for a wedding so shuffled their plans so they could be with us. It was such a treat to get to know them! Brent's wife was so outgoing and fun, we had a great time getting to know each other. Both Cecilia and Juan speak great English, so we were able to have plenty of conversation. Their kids also speak pretty good English, I suspect, but the teens were having a hard time thinking of things to say to each other. Typical!

Our boys had to leave early to go to Young Men's (Nick's troop was prepping for their 50-miler so I didn't want him to miss it.) EC snapped the photo, but she was also there! It was a wonderful evening!! So glad they made the time to visit! I should really learn Spanish.

We Made it to the Saddle

It was a hard climb, but Dan and I made it to the saddle on Mt. Olympus today! It took 2 hours and by the last 30 min. we were stopping quite often to rest a minute. 

50 min. to get to the first river (about 1.85 miles). And an 1:10 to get the rest of the way -- another 1.8 miles. A total of 3.7 miles (we think. My watch stopped for about 10 min.)

The night before our hikes, we make overnight steel cut oats so its ready to eat for breakfast.

2 Cups water brought to boiling. 1/2 cup steel cut oats. Boil 1 min. and turn off heat. Just needs to be warmed in the morning! Add blueberries, milk, maple syrup and pecans.

I swear by oatmeal (whole grain oatmeal) before hiking in the morning. 

Dan needed to be to the car by 11:15, but at our turnaround time we were so close, 

he agreed to press on. I'm so happy I finally made it!

I've always run out of time earlier in the season, but obviously was fine with the excuse to turn around. It's a hard climb! I would love to hike it enough where we could make it averaging 25 min. per mile the whole way. 

I remember at the first of the season where after the first river I needed to stop and rest quite a bit. Now I can get about 45 minute beyond before I start to feel exhausted. 

Its such a good feeling to be getting stronger!

The Incredibles at the Drive-In

Parenting Tip:

A good way to get your teenagers to come with you on family activities, is to let them invite friends. 

We watched The Incredibles 2 at the Drive-In -- one of my favorite summer traditions.

It was uncharacteristically crowded which meant it was a little like watching a movie on an iPod.

But its the experience that makes it so much fun.

Nick had the good idea to load up the LoveSac in the back of the truck.

He and Anders claimed that space for themselves.

Chris and friends brought a couple more trucks.

Dan, EC and I sat on camp chairs and munched on popcorn and 

(healthy) coconut shakes we brought from home.

So glad we got EC to come too! It didn't start until 9:30 and still she was game!

Happy Father's Day

Happy Father's Day to this great Dad!

I love that its a priority to him to spend time doing things with his kids they enjoy doing together. (And wife.)

Yesterday morning I rode to the Snowbird sign  -- 20 miles roundtrip. About 1:30.

Then I drove out to the Larry Miller racetrack to watch Nick race his new GoKart.

Dan found out about GoKart racing one of the weeks he and Chris were out racing cars.

Of course Nick was excited about doing it!

Pulling the car in after the first race.

Getting ready for the 2nd race. 

The cars getting in line to take off. Nick is the white helmet. (Placed in back bcuz he's a rookie.)

Today after Stake Conference we took a drive up to Guardsman's Pass. 

It was beautiful and fun to go on a drive with all of us plus Gram and Marge.

The wildflowers are in bloom!

Marge and Gram came on a little hike too. We took a chair so Marge could sit when she was ready to stop while I went ahead with the boys and Dan. 

I thought this was a funny sight to see a lady (Marge) sitting in a chair in the middle of the path!

A wedding "chapel" also along the path.

 Its amazing that we live below such beautiful mountains and a short 15 minute drive from home we're in the middle of them!

Rib Eyes for dinner. Yum!

(Grilled, of course.) I'm inadvertently turning into a foodie blogger just to document our 

"fun with grilling" summer. Sorry, not sorry!

Chris Tricks