Fall!

 

Mt. Baker Summit

This summer I had the opportunity to summit Mt. Baker! I had never really planned on doing anything like that, but my dad and his scouts were planning a trip and he invited Devin and me to go along. It was so great, I really want to do it again! Starting off we had a beautiful hike up to base camp. It was a warm day though, and we were all over dressed. It was hard with our heavy packs, but we took it slow so we would have enough energy for the summit.

 

On our way up - the gang taking a break.



 

Beautiful views on our way up

 

 

With Dad and Devin at the lower base camp.

 

 

 

After enjoying a nice break and dinner, and refilling our water bottles, it was time to head to the upper camp - up this hill!

 

 

I thought this hill was probably the most difficult part of the summit It took probably an hour and a half to two hours. We still had our heavy packs on, and we didn't put on our crampons yet. Luckily, my dad bribed a couple of young men who were staying at the lower base camp to carry our packs up (just mine and his). I walked in the front and really tried to dig my boots into the hill to make stairs so it would be easier for everyone who followed.

 

There were many crevasses along the way.

 

 

When we finally made it to the top, we got right to work setting up camp. Our goal was to get to bed as early as possible since we had to get a early (1 am start) the next morning.

This was our view from base camp.

 

 That night as we were falling asleep, we had beautiful views of the sunset.

 

 

 

I was so comfortable that night, but I shared my tent with Devin and he took forever to get to bed! He was so noisy and every time I was about to fall asleep he would get up. He was way too warm and couldn't get comfortable. I'm not sure if I even fell asleep or not, but before we knew it, it was time to get up. We had to get into our gear, pack our day packs, and get into our rope teams. By the time everyone was situated and ready to go it was around 2:30 am. I was in a rope team with Dad and Devin. We took up the rear and followed Eric's team of Andre and Drew.

 

 

It was pretty neat looking ahead and just seeing everyone's headlamps lined up in a row up the mountain. The stars were beautiful, and back behind us, off in the distance, we could make out some city lights. It was beautiful and so peaceful. As it began to get light, we saw more beautiful mountain views. It was so neat to look around and be surrounded by mountain peaks. These pictures do not do the views justice.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Devin, Eric and I at the summit.

 

Unfortunately, a couple of the boys got high altitude sickness and couldn't make it to the summit. My dad had to take them back to base camp so he wasn't able to make the summit. I want to do this again so he can! Eric joined Devin and my rope team, so it was fun for the three of us to be together. The rope team ahead of us had a boy who was REALLY struggling, and they went really slow. It took us forever to make the final climb, I think we were stopped far more than we were going. By the time we got to the top, it was so foggy you couldn't see more than a few feet ahead of you - so no view from the top :(

 

It rained pretty hard on the way down, and it got really cold. It had been so warm the day before and when we started at 1 am that most of us left a few layers behind we wished we had! I forgot my warm gloves and was so glad a kind boy shared his with me. Scouts are awesome! When we got back, my dad was waiting for us with hot meals! It was so nice! Since it was still pouring rain, we decided to pack up camp and head back. With our tents and everything in our packs soaking wet, our packs were much heavier going back than when we had come. We were all tired and wet, and the walk back was much quieter than when we had come. But all in all it was a great trip and I really want to do it again!

...Only next time I want Dennis to come too, and I want to bring my skis and ski down!



Camping in the Uintas

I love camping and have wanted to go ever since Dennis and I have been married. Even though I have summers off, Dennis has school and work and there never seems to be enough time. This year I was determined to go camping, so we bought a tent for $50 at Costco and headed up to the Unitas. Neither of us had ever been there, but for a couple of Washingtonians, we loved it! High in the mountains, the Uinta National Forest gets more rain than anywhere in Utah, and all the green was a welcome sight! It just happened to start raining right when we drove up there, which was refreshing but rather disappointing. As Dennis pointed out, we've both been camping plenty of times in the rain in Washington, so it would be nice to camp without rain for a change. So we drove around a bunch of different campgrounds trying to find a good one for future trips, ate lunch in the car at a scenic view point, and before we headed home I begged Dennis to go on a hike with me. We settled for a walk around the popular Mirror Lake.

Our walk around Mirror Lake

Standing in the rain 

Dennis standing in the lake. We could literally see the fish swimming in the water, and they were jumping like crazy! It was a well stocked lake - if only we would have brought our fishing poles!

 

The rain let up so we decided to camp after all. This is our tent pitched at our campsite!

 

There were a bunch of little streams that ran through the campground, so even though there was a burn ban we were allowed to build a fire! Unfortunately we didn't have any fire wood so we had to gather very wet wood from around the campground to try to start a fire. I was glad I packed matches, only to discover they were strike on box only, and we didn't have the box. Dennis was very determined and tried many different techniques and surfaces to strike the matches on, and got a few sparks, but nothing that would light the wet wood. As it grew darker and colder, we grew more and more determined to have a campfire! Finally, I remembered the propane grill Caroline had given us for Christmas - it saved us! We used the propane flame to light our matches to light our fire! It was still tough with all the wet wood, but luckily Dennis is a very capable Life Scout (two ranks below eagle) and got the fire ablaze. But rather than sit back and enjoy the fire, one of us had to blow on it while the other took off with a flashlight foraging for more wood. When we realized that it was more work than it was worth, we let it dwindle and went to bed. All in all it was a fun and beautiful camping trip and a few weeks later we went again!



Holidays

***If you are reading this, remember this is a blog for me - like a journal. It's my way of recording things that happen and I may ramble on at times. Do not feel like you need to read all or any of this!

I have been thinking about doing this post for a long time, but have been way to busy to do it! I really should be cleaning the house or grocery shopping right now, but instead I'm wasting time on the computer. Dennis and I are so lucky when it comes to holidays for a few reasons. 1 - We are both from Washington, so when we go home from Christmas we always get to see both families! 2 - We both have really great families, and always love to spend time with them. The only problem is if we only get to go home to Washington for a week, that means only about three days with each family, which goes way too fast! We rarely take pictures (some day we will get a good camera and hopefully that will change) so we don't have much to show for this - most of the pictures on here are from my mom's blog or facebook -  but we really do love Christmas and spending time with our families!

CHRISTMAS 2009. This year we were newly weds. Dennis could only get about a week off of work, and his mom was on a cruise for part of it, so we went to my parents' house first. Lani and Brody came over to make gingerbread houses with us!

We went skiing at Mt. Baker and had a good time.

Christmas Eve we spent Christmas with the Schenk side of the family...where we got the traditional pajama pants - Dennis even got a pair this year, signifying he is offially part of the family!

 

 

We spent Christmas morning with my family where we introduced Dennis to our tradition of all the kids getting up early, making our beds, then Eric wakes up mom and dad. We all line up in the hall youngest to oldest and go in to the living room at the same time. No one is allowed to look before, although I'm pretty sure the boys usually sneak a peak! (Yes, we still do this.)

 





We opened gifts - Devin made us all tie dye shirts! Then Dennis and I hurried and got ready for the day, re-packed our bags and headed to Southcenter Mall. This is now the regular meeting location when we are switching from one family to the next. My dad took us down and Dennis's dad picked us up. On our way to Eatonville, we stopped at just about every store we could think of - looking for ...

bacon!

Dennis's dad was determined to find some, but everywhere was closed - even WalMart! I am glad that stores close on Christmas though, but I don't think we ever found any! I always love the drive to Dennis's parents house, all the trees and the lake are so pretty!

When we got there we had Christmas dinner the way the Savior would have eaten (my first time having lamb!) and then exchanged gifts. Stephanie gave everyone gifts from her cruise. My favorite is the picture she gave us that is currently on the wall above the computer!

It was fun to spend time with Dennis Sr and Stephanie, and Caroline but we missed Sarah and Corey and Laura and Clayton. We got to hear all about Stephanie's cruise with her mom and sisters and see the pictures - maybe someday the whole family will be able to go on one! Since we never bring a camera, Dennis and I didn't take any pictures, but here is one of my favorites!

THANKSGIVING 2010. Since Thanksgiving is the most traveled holiday of the year, and tickets are so pricey, and we don't have much of a break, Dennis and I always just stay in Utah. But in 2010, both of our families came for Thanksgiving! It was so great! It was a little hard to juggle time between both families - whenever we spent time with one meant we were missing stuff with the other. This was the year Katie and Josh were expecting Eleanor. So they came too, and since they wouldn't be traveling for Christmas, we celebrated a little Christmas with them. My mom also threw a baby shower for Katie (Brittney and I helped a little). Everyone met at Olive Garden and it was fun for Katie to catch up with a lot of her friends. I'm not sure how she got all of her gifts back to Wisconsin though! Katie and Josh stayed with Josh's sister in Spanish Fork (so they were also splitting time between families) and my parents and Eric stayed in our apartment. They brought down two couches from Grandma Hart (thank you Grandma!) but we hadn't figured out how to arrange them yet so our tiny little apartment was crowded! Dennis and I were house sitting for McKenzie's parents in north Orem. They were doing an Ironman in Cozumel, Mexico - McKenzie's first! And Dennis's parents stayed in a hotel in Lehi, a central location between us and Dennis's sisters in Salt Lake.
Highlights of the trip (besides sepending time with family) included doing temple work for Dennis's gradparents, a day of skiing with my Dad, Eric and Dennis and afterward meeting up with everyone in my family and Dennis's family at Thaifoon Taste of Asia, then going to Temple Square to see the lights! It was so pretty! I felt underdressed because I was still in my ski gear.

 



 

 

 

 

CHRISTMAS 2010. This year we went to Dennis's family first. It was fun to have all of his family around for Christmas. We had such a great time relaxing, watching movies, and soaking up the heat in the hot tub! I could not get enough of that! Sarah was pregnant with Wesley though so she could only dip her feet in. Christmas eve we went to Point Defiance Park and drove around. Then we took the ferry and enjoyed the views. It was fun!

Christmas morning we exchanged gifts - we had Sarah and Corey and got them some baby stuff. Eventually it was time to see my family. This year it was only my parents and Eric at home. Katie was too far along in her pregnacy to travel that far and Devin was on his mission. I think Eric was pretty lonely and was really looking forward to having some company. We had a fun few days with my family - one of those days we went skiing!

CHRISTMAS 2011. This year I was really sad that Katie and Josh decided to stay in Wisconsin, so we didn't get to see them or Eleanor for Christmas :( I hope that never happens again - Christmas just isn't the same without them! The cool thing though was that my parents were starting to add on, so we could see the "North Wing" in progress. It was looking great. We had a fun time with my family. Again we went skiing, and it was the only skiing we got in of the whole season because Utah hardley got any snow! It was a really fun day of skiing, Dennis was skiing black diamonds! After a few days we drove down to the ferry docks in Seattle to meet Dennis's family. Unfortunately, we were running a little late (weird, I know) and we missed the exit, and the ferry left earlier than scheduled - so WE MISSED THE FERRY! We felt terrible! Literally, it was only a matter of a few minutes. So we jumped on the next ferry and Dennis's family ate lunch while they waited for us. When we met up with them (everyone was there!) we all drove to Forks! Yep, the now famous city where Twilight took place. We didn't see any vampires though. We stayed in a cozy cabin located on a river. It was nice to all be there together. We went to the ocean a few times, even in the rain, and a few people unintentionally took a dip in the ocean water! haha, it was so funny! We had a great time.

Only a few kids for Christmas this year...

Grandma gave Brittney and I towels instead of pajamas.

The cozy cabin in Forks!

The ocean!!!


So all of this rambling on to just say, we love Christmas, we love our families, and we can't wait for Christmas 2012 where we will get to spend a whopping six days with each family! Wahoo!