seven years

a couple weeks ago e and i went camping for our seventh year anniversary. we drove to the mogollon rim for some cooler air and beautiful scenery {it was also our last weekend with rusty}.

we drove up on friday afternoon and set up camp. e and rusty went for a little mountain bike ride and then we had delicious tin foil dinners that night. early saturday morning e and rusty went on a 10 mile trail run in the mountains. after that we headed to willow springs lake. we hiked down to the lake and jumped in. it was so refreshing and fun {rusty even jumped in}.

after our time at the lake we went back to our site and then took off from there on a little hike to another lake {woods canyon lake} that we had been told had bald eagles nesting in the surrounding trees. when we got to the shore of the lake, the AZ game and fish department had high powered telescopes set up to check out the nest. there was a 12 week old bald eagle in the nest! and not 5 minutes later the mom bald eagle showed up too. we got to watch them together in the nest and it was one of the coolest things we have ever seen. to see those beautiful birds out in the wild was amazing. we stayed there for a good 30 minutes checking them out then headed back to camp. we had hot dogs and chili that night over the fire. sunday morning e went for a short mountain bike ride and then we headed home. it was another great anniversary spent camping.

barks lower canyon

on monday we went on a beautiful hike in the superstition mountains. rusty was so awesome. he wanted to be right up in front the whole time. part of the hike was in a creek bed and there was lots of boulder hopping and he hopped right along with us. it was a beautiful winter day in arizona.

humphreys peak {flagstaff}

we woke up pretty early sunday morning and drove to the trail head for humphreys peak. it's the highest point in arizona with an elevation of 12,637 ft. i was a little nervous. the hike is 4.8 miles one way and you gain 3,300 ft in those few short miles up to the top {that's pretty darn steep}. but i was excited because it would be the highest i'd ever been.

we started on the trail at 8am and it was a beautiful day. we both had our own camelback's for water and snacks. we found some good sticks to use as hiking poles and we were set. we hiked and hiked and hiked. then we reached the saddle where the trail splits and goes to two different peaks. we took a break there to eat some food and rest our legs.

the rest of the trail to humphreys peak is above the treeline, called the tundra. you aren't supposed to climb above the treeline if there is thunder and lightning. luckily when we started this leg of the trail there was none but we could see some dark clouds in the distance. this stretch felt like it took forever because it was so steep but in reality it was only about 1.5 miles of the hike. i was struggling and wanted to quit a couple times but E kept me going. there were about 3 false summits, which was very frustrating. but we eventually made it to the top {it took us 4 hours to reach the peak}. i was exhausted but filled with excitement that i made it. i felt proud of myself and what i accomplished. the 360 degree view was amazing too.

i was so tired and wanted to rest on the peak a little more but two huge claps of thunder and lightning strikes in the distance made us move fast. we started the trek back and made it to the saddle/treeline in pretty good time {with no lightning}. we took a little break here again. we had discussed earlier about splitting up because E likes to run down the trail and i tend to go a little slower. so this is where we split, E took off and then i made my way down after him {don't fret, there were like 30 other people on the trail so i was never really alone}.

E made good time and it took him about 1 hr 45 min to reach the bottom. i on the other hand had some problems {that i wont go into here} and my trip down was pretty miserable. i was extremely sore/tired/exhausted/delirious/sick but i finally made it, an hour after E. we drove home after that and i was pretty sick the rest of the night. probably a combination of my stomach problems on the hike down and the high elevation. but the hike was amazing and i'm so glad we did it.

found

E and I took an impromptu trip to UT over the long weekend and it was fantastic! We got home late last night and I'm back at work today so I haven't had a chance to upload all the pictures. But here's the run down of what we did.

We had originally planned on heading north {to escape the heat} to Sedona and Flagstaff. I had Friday and Monday off, which makes for a great weekend trip. We were going to camp and hike and enjoy cooler weather. But when I looked into the specific hikes we were interested in, the area was closed because of the Flagstaff fires. So I was bummed but I was set on doing something. Then E had the brilliant idea that we take off to UT. So we did just that. We left Thursday night at 7pm and drove straight through the night {we had to tap into E's amazing all night driving skills} and arrived in SLC at 7am on Friday. We headed straight to E's parents house and woke up his mom/surprised her and then went straight to bed for a short nap. A couple hours later we surprised Andrew, Loni and Bella {which was great fun}. Then we headed over to Curt and Anne's. We spent the rest of the afternoon with them and it was awesome. We chatted for forever, played with Andrew and cute Elise and then went swimming at the Kimble's.

That night we met Andrew and Loni in Park City for our "traditional" Sidecar Pizza. Park City was beautiful and it was great catching up with old friends {thanks guys}. After that we ended the night eating ice cream and chatting with some other good friends.

Saturday morning E and I went on an AMAZING hike up Bells Canyon. It was gorgeous and the Bells Canyon waterfall was stunning, it was huge and beautiful. And the mountains were lovely. That afternoon we went swimming and hung out with E's family. Saturday night we went to dinner with friends and laughed a lot. We ended up going to bed early because we were so tired.

Sunday was a beautiful day and in the afternoon we BBQ'ed at Curt and Anne's with the fam. Delicious food and home made ice cream, mmm. That night we hung out at Andrew and Loni's house with JD and Troy and Mindi. It was so much fun to hang out with these friends again... good times. Already miss you all.

Monday morning we went to Curt and Anne's neighborhood 4th of July parade. And then we hung out there until we took off for AZ at 1pm. Our plan was to drive straight through again. But we ended up taking a little detour to Lake Powell. It was so great! We drove over the Glen Canyon Dam {the southern part of Lake Powell, near Page} and then found a place to jump in the lake. E took a couple jumps off the cliffs and I just got in and swam around. It was so refreshing. Oh Lake Powell. E said visiting Powell wouldn't be complete without eating chicken strips, so we ate some KFC for dinner. And then tried to enjoy the rest of the drive home.

We had a great time and are so glad we went. Utah is so gorgeous in the summer and we couldn't have asked for better weather, it was heaven. It was just what I needed to find myself again {those mountains will do that to you}. Thanks everyone for making time to see us on such short notice, we'll see you again in a month, yeah!

{picstures tomorrow}

wind cave

we went on a little hike in the desert a couple weeks ago. it was great to get out and hike again. it was beautiful. we also saw a rattlesnake at the top.

utah

We had a FANTASTIC two weeks in Utah. We got to see all the family and the cute new addition, Elise. We also visited with lots of friends and enjoyed the beautiful weather. It was so great to have enough time to do & see everything & everyone we wanted.

Love this pic of Eric bouncing all the kids so high

Elise talking to Pa

Sam's 7th birthday

Sarah and Travis

LOVE you Jo

Hike in Albion Basin

Popsicles from the ice cream truck

Hike with Sam and Sarah at Donut Falls

three cheers for five years

While we were packing Eric came across one of my journals. He opened it up and read the following, "This first year of marriage has been tough, I hope it gets better." Now remember, I was only 19 when we got married and Eric broke his neck only six months after that.

We have come a long way since that first year and it has been much better. In fact it has been incredible. Even the not so great times are great in their own way. Life would be so boring without the ups and downs.

I find myself in a sentimental mood because reflecting on the past five years brings back a lot of memories. I mean a lot. We reminisced a little today on some of the favorite moments in our marriage.

Eric is {in one word} supercalifragilisticexpialidocious.

Happy Anniversary to us.

photo taken on anniversary hike today in little cottonwood canyon

Sunday

the weekend

We went to Joshua Tree National Park over the weekend. It was so fun. We camped Friday night under the stars. We hiked to Lost Palms Oasis in the morning. We Climbed rocks mid-day. We went off-roading in the afternoon; we drove to the top of Eureka Peak. When we got home we jumped in the cold pool, it felt amazing. And we ended the day with some great mexican food from Cuca's.



My favorite part: we saw the most amazing stars. I think Eric and I looked at them and discussed them for an hour. We saw a huge shooting star and picked out a bunch of constellations. Words don't do it justice and neither does a picture.

River Hike

Eric went on this crazy hike with Brad and Paul. They hiked up a river, it looks more like they hiked up a large waterfall. Whatever it is, its pretty cool!