Etiwanda Preserve

Since Aaron's campout was cancelled and the weather was decent we took the boys hiking. This little hike is just a couple miles from the house and ends at a waterfall. It was fun to just get out of the house and do something together.

Bear was a pretty good trooper (especially once I started carrying him in the pack) and loved throwing rocks in the river once we made it to the falls.

President's Day

Aaron was supposed to take the Priests camping this weekend and since we've only lived here six months he wasn't sure where to take them. Someone in the ward had suggested that we try Jenks Lake. With Monday being President's Day, Aaron didn't have class so we thought we'd go scope out the area.

We loaded the boys up and prepared for a morning of hiking and exploring the mountains. Well, as it seems to always go with us our plans didn't turn out. At all. Once we FINALLY found the lake after driving for two hours we were surrounded by 4 feet of snow. Definitely not somewhere Aaron could bring the boys. Luckily for us Moose had slept most of the drive, but Bear was ready to get out. We ended up making a short pit stop to make Bear go to the bathroom (he was so upset he had to pee in the snow, he wanted to pee in the toilet and made it very clear to us).

After our pit stop we made our way back down the canyon and stopped at a little picnic area to eat out lunch. We talked to one of our other friends in the ward that had just gone camping and he suggested a place about 1/2 hour from our house, so we plugged it in to the GPS and started driving again. We found the campsite and were just able to drive through the area because both boys had fallen asleep.

After 5 hours driving we finally made it home exhausted. While it was nice to spend time with Aaron I was a little bummed that we spent an absolutely beautiful 80 degree day driving around. Oh well, it will always be an adventure for us to remember.

**The best part is the that the campout got cancelled because of a chance of thunderstorms-and then it barely rained**

Saturday Hike

We decided that since the rain finally stopped Bear needed to get out of the house and run a little. We'd heard about a hike just a few miles from our house and decided to check it out. It was a little colder than I was expecting and Bear was tired, so we only hiked about a quarter mile in. There's a waterfall just over a mile and half into the canyon, so we'll definitely be going back to hike to it when we're more prepared. It was just nice to get out of the house and enjoy the mountains again.

Monday morning (5:45 am) Aaron hopped in the Uhaul to make the long drive to Cali by himself.

I had to choke back the tears as I watched him pull away from the house with all of our belongings. It was pretty hard knowing the chances of us moving back to Utah are very slim.

Me and the boys on the front porch.

I dropped Bear off at Aaron's parents and then Moose and I headed to the airport. We were so fortunate that Nana and Grandpa offered to drive Bear down in our other car so that Moose and I could fly. Moose all ready for his first airplane ride.

Once I landed in California I picked up the rental car and headed to our apartment complex to sign all the papers. I had everything planned out and was going to go grocery shopping and get the apartment cleaned before the truck arrived. Well, the management wouldn't release the keys to me until Aaron had signed all the paperwork. So, instead of going grocery shopping I went and hung out at my cousins house for the afternoon. Aaron made it to California in good time and was luckily able to sign the papers before the office closed that night.

While we unpacked the truck Moose slept in our bedroom closet.

As the apartment started filling with boxes I definitely started wondering what on earth we packed and how it was going to all fit!

We are grateful for my cousin Zach and his roommate Ben as well as the Anderson family for their help unpacking the truck. Aaron and I couldn't have done it on our own.

The Big Move

On Saturday the 8th we picked up our Uhaul to load it for the big move to California. We are so grateful to our neighbors as well as Aaorn's brother Brian and sister Andrea along with her boys for their help loading the truck.

Starting to get it loaded

The truck was a lot smaller than we anticipated it being. Oops.

Bear even helped load a few things on the truck. When he realized what was happening he started getting any of his toys that weren't in a box yet and brought them out to the truck. He definitely wanted to make sure all of his stuff was going to California.

Once the truck was loaded my brother Ryan and his family came out to say goodbye to us and my mom. We are so glad they came when they did otherwise it would have made getting the subaru on the trailer a lot more nerve racking for Aaron than it was. When the car was secured to the trailer Aaron said it was one of the scariest things he's done. Glad it wasn't me driving the car!

Kaylie is afraid of dogs, so it was a big deal for her to pet Nikita.

All loaded and ready to go! You can't tell in the picture, but the Subaru is stuffed full and we had the Fusion packed to the max as well.

The tank chillin' on the floor of our very empty bedroom.

Bear loved the air mattress that we slept on for a couple nights.

Moose's last bath in the kitchen sink. We loved how he fit perfectly.

On Tuesday we were outside in the yard when I stepped on a bee and got stung. I'm allergic to bees and a few hours later my foot started to swell.

This picture was taken Tuesday night. Wednesday it was even bigger and by Thursday it was so swollen I started getting water blisters on my foot from all the pressure. I couldn't get a flip flop on and ended up going barefoot to my cousins wedding. I could barely walk, which definitely didn't help us get the rest of the boxes packed that we needed to. I finally got a prescription on Thursday night and by Friday the swelling had gone down enough that I could walk and get a flip flop on.

I wasn't as ready as I wanted to be when we picked up the moving truck on Saturday. We really were grateful for the help we received from neighbors and family, but we did have to laugh that we ended up with several boxes that weren't supposed to come (D.I. donations and my mom's stuff). We did have to give some of our things away and ended up leaving other stuff behind. Hopefully we'll be able to pick up our outdoor table and chairs as well as a few other odds and ends when we go home for Christmas.

I definitely wouldn't recommend packing up 2 houses at the same time and I'd make sure the moving truck was big enough come our next move. In the end everything worked out and now we have some crazy memories about our fist big move. It was definitely more work than the previous moves we've had.

Fire Fun????

Last weekend we went camping in the Uintas with my mom's family. Anyone that goes camping knows that one of the best parts is sitting around the fire talking and roasting marshmallows at night. This year my Uncle Jay added an "educational demonstration" to the mix. This video shows why you should NEVER put water on a grease fire.

I had to laugh that Aaron was the one saying "dude, that is awesome, let's do it again" considering how paranoid he is about fire.

And, it's not a real campfire until grandpa makes his funky fire. I think he's been doing this for about 15 years now, and I still love it and look forward to seeing it every camp-out.

National Backyard Campout

June 27th was National Backyard Campout day (or at least that's what I read in a magazine). I told Aaron I thought it would be fun to camp out, and it would help prep Bear for our camping trip coming up in a couple weeks.

We started the night out (after Aaron got home from work) with some Hot Dogs and chips. Can you tell what Bear ate the most of ?

Then it was time to set up the tent. Aaron was practicing setting up his tent as if he were in a downpour. Sometimes I wonder about him.

Moose and I just sat back and watched the boys get ready.

Of course Bear had a meltdown about something--isn't that what 2 year olds are supposed to do?

Moose and I didn't get to sleep in the tent that night, which I didn't mind. I had my comfy bed all to myself.

Chaos.

Our morning can be summed up in one word. CHAOS. We had heard that although not required, it was best if Aaron had his California Driver's License before June 1st (it would save us about four thousand dollars in tuition next summer). Seeing as how things have been a little crazy around here we put it off until the last minute. Tuesday night we bought Aaron a ticket to LA and rented him a car. This morning as he kissed me good-bye I wondered how I would ever survive the day with the 2 boys...alone.

Turns out, it's not so bad (knock on wood) if you plan on doing absolutely nothing. Aaron arrived in CA and headed up to the DMV to take the test. Then I got a phone call from him saying you're not going to believe this but....he needed his original birth certificate or passport to even take the test. Suddenly my plans of doing absolutely nothing went out the window.

I had to pack up both boys and head up to his parents house to look in the safe for his documents--not there (not to self--find birth certificate!). We were both making phone calls and then calling each other back and forth for over 2 hours trying to get everything straightened out. I was just about to change his flight to tomorrow and head to Fed-Ex to overnight his passport (which luckily I found) and make sleeping arrangements for him when we found out he doesn't really need his license by June 1st. At least I can put my fears of doing a night and another day alone with the 2 boys to rest for now.

I did manage my first outing alone with the two, even if it was only to my in-laws. I'm not quite brave enough to go to the store yet. So lucky for me, Aaron will be home tonight. Unlucky for Aaron that he went to California and it ended up being pointless and just costing us money we didn't want to spend. Ahh. I just love life's surprises.

The 2 Mountaineers

The last week in March Aaron and his brother Matt went to California to climb Mt. Whitney. Aaron left early on Friday morning and drove to Vegas to pick Matt up from the airport.

It took 5 hours to reach Lone Pine from Las Vegas and boy was I ready to be done driving. We found this place in the one dog town to eat and I had a burger and it was one of those frozen patties, it was okay.

{the dive they ate dinner at in Lone Pine}

Then we drove up the mouth of the Whitney portal and we ran into some people who had tried to go up the Whitney trail but got stuck in the snow, they had no snowshoes. So we felt pretty good about ourselves for the fact that we had snowshoes. We made a camp there and crashed. We got up and wanted to get going around 0800. We didn't leave until 0845 and our packs were super heavy. I want to say around 65 pounds.

We started and it wasn't too bad, the trail was nice and easy with mild elevation gain. That lasted about 45 min. We ran into a guy who does whitney all the time and he gave us some tips and told us what to expect. We followed him up the trial and soon found out the the way up to Whitney was straight up. It was okay until we got to snow. We put on our crampons and that was cool. But we just keep going up and up and up. After about 4 hours we came to lower boyscout lake. When we got there we dropped our packs and found a rock with no snow and fell asleep on it for 30 to 45 minutes. I was beat.

{Matt putting on his crampons. As a side note, some guy pointed out to Aaron that he was wearing his crampons on the wrong feet...}

base camp at 10,000 feet.

We got our tent set up and had a great spot. There was a rock on our west side and a built up snow wall on our north west. On our south east side there was a natural hill with some trees and our true east side we had no protection. The good news is that the wind came from the west side and we were protected. That first day on the mountain was nice, the sun was hot and the wind was not an issue. That night the wind picked up and didn't stop for 24 hours.

{purifying water}

Our plan was to get up at 0300 and eat and then go by 0400. We did in fact get up at 0300 and did manage to start at 0345. The wind was blowing and the temps had fallen way down. I was totally prepared for these conditions in all areas expect one. My boots. My toes were cold. I figured that as I started to walk they would warm up, and indeed they did.

Up the mountain in the dark with winds up to 55 mph and the conditions are cold and ice. We both had put on our snowshoes and that made traveling easier. Every now and again we had to drop down and act as a rock cuz the wind was blowing us backwards. Snow was eating our face as if they was buck shot out of a 12 gage shotgun fired at point blank range. The dark abyss was pulling you from side to side with each step and the fact that you couldn't see more then 5 feet, when both of you where looking in the same direction, put the every uneasy thought in to your mind of the danger that is mountaineering. We felt like we were on MT. Everest. It was so cool. Well we continue up and up and as we get higher on the mount the temps get colder and the wind gets stronger. All the while my toes are getting colder and colder and they begin to hurt. Working with frost bite I am freaking out. By the time we get to 12000 feet I can't feel my toes on my left foot. I have to tell Matt and I have just stopped our run to the top of Mount Whitney. We talk about it and feel it is best if we go back down to the tent so my toes can warm up.

I felt bad but I couldn't loose my toes for a silly mountain. Plus the wind would have stopped us from reaching the summit. We saw others coming down that didn't summit so I didn't feel too bad. We didn't get to play with our ropes and snow pickets. By the time we got to the tent we were wiped out. We both slept for about 3 hours and finally got up and ate some food. It hard to eat when you don't feel good, or are so tired.

{Matt should never grow a mustache}

{After getting back to base camp and taking a nap they spent their afternoon playing canasta}

Well, we slept on the mountain one last time and that night was cold, so cold it froze our fuel for our stove. So we headed down with no food or water. While coming down we had to cross a snow bridge over a stream and we had to crawl across it and we were lucky that it didn't break. The walk down was long and slow and my legs were jell-o and I just wanted to sit on the ground and not move. We finally get to the car and found a McDonalds so we could eat some food, which tasted great and we drove to Vegas and slept there for 35 bucks. What a trip!

I'm glad they were able to go, and even happier that Aaron came home with all 10 toes. I did a lot of complaining to Aaron about him leaving for 5 days and sadly enough it just felt like he was at work the whole time. They are already scheming up their next adventure...maybe something in Yosemite while we're living in California.