Tumble Weed of Events (Utah Part 2)

Tuesday was family picture day. I can't actually recall how all of that day was spent... but it was busy. I know I went shopping with my mom and made a bunch of calls and arrangements for wedding stuff... but it's kind of a blur. 

James and Caroline have a photographer that they use pretty often and really like who agreed to do our family pictures. There was quite a bit of chaos trying to get everyone ready to go and out the door on time... and when it happened... well... THEY LEFT ME BEHIND!

I guess this is what happens when all the people that know I was supposed to get a ride with dad are in different cars. Dad didn't actually know - but I still had to give him a hard time for leaving me. Thanks a lot, dad!

In the long run, it didn't really matter because mom was late (she was teaching school) and so was the photographer. So all was well. Each family was supposed to wear a different color. Ryan was the only one missing, which really sucked. The pictures turned out awesome and it would have been great to have him there. That being said... on the way back to Wyoming at the end of the week, we stopped in this same place and took some pictures of Ryan in his yellow shirt. Mom really wanted the photographer to try and photoshop him in. The truth is, none of us believed it would work. But they did it... and all things considered, it isn't too bad. I mean really, it was a totally different time of day, different lighting, and I was just using my camera phone. So yeah, they had quite the challenge. But it didn't turn out too bad.

Jacki had just recently had her hair cut by her mom (which didn't turn out very good) so James and Caroline had it re-cut into a bob. We were twinners!

All of the pictures turned out amazing. I should probably just do a post of all the family pictures (well not ALL of them), but one of each family cause they turned out great! Here are a few of me and little man:

The big family picture: Me, Pierscen, Hazel, Fred, Jari, Sabrina, Paul, Asa Jr. Dad, Mom, Joey, Chelsea, Zane, Philip, James, Caroline. Bottom row: Isabel, Necia, Charlotte, Bill, Deiderik, Samantha, Paxton, Kara, Will, Jacki, Preston, and Owen.

And the one with Ryan Photoshopped in. So yeah... you can definitely tell... but honestly - it's not nearly as bad as I thought it would be.

And here are my amazing parents! I love these two! I am so grateful to call them mine. :)

Following pictures we all headed to this special snow cone place Necia said we had to try. She said the snow cones here are exactly like the ones in Hawaii. I'll be honest - I was skeptical. A snow cone is a snow cone, right? WRONG! I don't know what they do... but these things were AMAZING! The ice was so "thin" is was almost the consistency of ice cream. And the flavors were incredible. Nothing like the normal stuff. Of course they had those options too, but wow. I got one called something like Alotta Colada. It was Strawberry/banana/pineapple colada. I think. Something like that. It was divine.

Believe it or not, that snow cone is the small size! P really loved it too. Good, good stuff.

Wednesday day is likewise a blur. I have no idea what happened. Except that Ryan surprised me by showing up in the middle of the day. We figured the earliest we would see him was that night, and more than likely, not until Thursday sometime. But he was able to take off Wednesday morning so that he would for sure be there for Asa's Court of Honor and help participate. That was a wonderful surprise!!! Admittedly, he said he wasn't terribly surprised to see that I had whacked my hair off, but he really liked it - so it was worth it. :)

Oh! Duh! I remember what happened that day. Kara went through the temple! It was a wonderful experience and I am really glad I was able to be there for it.

That night was Asa Alex's Eagle Scout Court of Honor. I just have to say that I think that Asa and my parents are amazing. Asa is 15 and completely wheelchair bound. Earning his Eagle was NOT easy. I think most kids and most parents would have just been content with him participating and earning a few merit badges. But not my family. They worked and worked in order to make this possible.

Asa had lots of support there. It is wonderful to see the impact he has made on others. He is a good boy.

Thursday we spent pretty much the entire day setting up the church - Joey especially. That evening Necia made a nice dinner for the whole family over at her place. We ate, relaxed, and enjoyed being together. Ryan's parents came back early from Bear Lake to be there for the wedding. I sent Ryan and Pierscen back to his parents and then went back to the church. Before dinner we thought there wasn't much left to do, but apparently there was. We stayed fairly late making sure all the little things were in order and that it was ready for the luncheon and reception the next day. Goodness... do-it-yourself weddings may save a lot of money, but they are so much work!

Friday morning was the wedding. Poor Sabrina was on babysitting duty for most of the young kids because they (I don't know who "they" are in this case) decided that they only wanted those going to the wedding at the temple (aka no one waiting around outside.) The wedding was of course was beautiful. I'm still having a hard time believing she is married. I mean, I was there - I know it happened, but Kara is my baby sister! Okay, Sabrina is actually younger, but Kara was the baby for so long. She is stuck at 14 in my mind. :)

The wait for them to come out seemed like an eternity... but at long last they finally made their debut as husband and wife. Hurray!

We took a few family pictures and then everyone split except the bride and groom, the photographer, and me. My job was to drive these two back to the church. I don't think either of them actually have a car now that I think about it...

The luncheon was delicious and fun. Thankfully my mom said yes to plastic throw away stuff this time instead of the real stuff for Philip's wedding, so clean up was much faster. We sent Pierscen home with Oma and Opa for a nap so that we could make the changes for the reception.

They had cheese and crackers and fruit crepes for refreshments. They were delicious. Pierscen must have been totally exhausted because we didn't see him until the reception was probably half way over. Family functions are exhausting!

The following pictures kind of stink because the lighting wasn't great for my camera phone, but oh well. It was still fun.

Pierscen and dad eating grapes and cheese. P was especially happy about the cheese.

The last part of the reception was spent dancing, which P enjoyed quite a bit. :)

What's really incredible is how you can spend days on end setting up for something and have it all taken down in less than an hour with the right help. The bride and groom ran off through the archway of sparklers and we had things cleaned up pretty quickly. It was a very successful day. 

That night I sent Ryan home to sleep at his parents and I spent the night at my parents. Reason being is that Ryan's parents had their ward temple trip in the morning and we were leaving at 6 am to go hike Timp. So P needed to be at my parents for at least a few hours in the morning where he would have a babysitter. I probably could have just put him down for the night and gone home with Ryan, but I didn't want to risk him waking up and me not being there. There is a bed we both could have stayed on, but it is not comfortable and it's in the same room as P. I try to avoid that at all costs. 

Ryan went to pick up his friends Tallon and Robert who were joining the hike and then came to get me. Apparently a million other people thought that hiking Timp at 6 am that Saturday was a good idea too. I have NEVER seen that many people on that trail. We let all the young energy filled people pass us early on. :)

Here is the group: Me, Ryan, Dodger, Fred, Robert, Antoine, Samantha, Necia, Sabrina, Bill, James, and Tallon (taking the picture).

I have attempted this hike three times prior to this one and only summited once. The next time Joey got sick and I had to take him back. The time after that we left really late in the afternoon and only made it to the lake by the time we were losing the sun. So I wanted to make it to the top again. Of our group, everyone but Antoine, Bill and Robert had been to the top at least once in their lives. Some part of my brain knows how brutal this hike is (especially if you haven't done much exercising) but you never really remember just how hard until you are in it. But it is worth it!

It is such a gorgeous hike! We took a nice steady pace so we weren't killing ourselves and could really enjoy the beauty.

We stopped at the lake for a bit to get our second wind and prepare to reach the saddle. Almost everyone was satisfied with making it to the saddle and stopping, but seriously, the summit is about 40 minutes beyond that. Why would you stop?! Especially if you have never been. So Ryan and I decided that we were absolutely going to go even though we have been before and if anyone wanted to follow, then they could.

Before heading off we all gathered in the shack where I was genuinely surprised to see this:

Oh yeah! It was my birthday!!! I honestly had forgotten and my awesome family had brought along the recently rescued Ding Dongs (Hostess went out of business and was bought out by some other companies) with a candle. They sang to me and I split the two cakes up so everyone could have a bite. :) It was honestly so dang fun! I love my family.

From there we crossed the seemingly never ending field of rocks and boulders. This is rough terrain for ankles. In fact, our amazing little Dodger had hiked the entire thing on his own up to this point. Ryan finally scooped him up because there isn't a real obvious trail through the rocks so Dodger was jumping up and down and all over the place. To spare him some energy, Ryan carried him until the trail picked up again.

At long last we made it to the saddle and took our lunch break. The view is pretty incredible - but like I said... when the summit is so close, why would you stop?! Especially if your odds of hiking it again are slim to never (Antoine - lives in Texas, and Bill who just probably won't hike it again.)

So Ryan and I set off. I'd just like to say... I was the first one to summit! Boo yeah!! Hahaha. Ryan and Tallon followed closely behind. Dodger was quite the inspiration for others we passed along the way. I mean, he is a 10 lbs lap dog! He is amazing!!!

A little while later we were joined by Fred, James, Antoine, and Bill. The girls and Robert had decided to stay. I'm bummed Robert decided not to do it, but 2/3 isn't bad. :)

I am so impressed by this dog! Just sayin...

The trek back down was awful. My hiking shoes are a tiny bit too small and I have issues with my toes hitting the front of the shoe on the way back down. I trimmed my nails as close as I could before the hike to try and avoid any serious trauma, but I had a bad feeling I was going to lose my big toe nails as a result of the return trip. I wanted to scream I was in so much pain! As soon as we got home, I pulled of the shoes and sure enough, both toe nails were already pulling away from the nail bed because they were so swollen and bruised.

After changing our clothes and making ourselves more presentable, we headed over to the Scera pool where Ryan's parent's ward were having their summer party. Oma and Opa had picked up P from my parent's after the temple and since we weren't back from the hike before they needed to go to the party, they just took P along.

Unfortunately we didn't get to stay long. I know P would have loved to have stayed longer, but my mom had prepared a birthday BBQ at her house and the rest of the family was all waiting hungrily from the hike. 

We enjoyed some of the left over crepes for my birthday cake. Ryan's family all came over after the swimming party to hang out. It was really fun. 

While we were there, Jari suggested that I lance my toe to relieve the pressure. She said she did this on her mission and though it hurt, it helped. So Fred used a match and got a paperclip super hot and melted through my toe nail bit by bit until it finally poked through. Holy crap. It hurt a lot - but wow! It was like a geyser! (Gross, I know!) There was so much fluid! We hoped that relieving the pressure would save the nails. 

Despite the pain of the sore muscles and beat up toes, hiking Timp with my family was such an awesome way to spend my birthday. I loved it!

Sunday morning we went to Sacrament meeting, said our goodbyes, and hit the road. 

We stopped in Heber at Granny's for some food before making the rest of the trek.

The return trip seemed much longer than usual, probably because we took more stops that usual. It was a bit painful, but we made it!

I had to lance my toes a second time because they started swelling up again pretty bad. They oozed for days. Gross, right? But the good news is that even though they turned completely purple, I didn't end up losing the nail. It's been 2.5 months since that hike and they are still discolored, but at least they are attached. :)

A lovely note the end on, I know. Haha. The trip was crazy busy, but it was good. Of course, there were lots of people that I wanted to see but couldn't. Normally a week is a pretty decent trip out there, but where there is that much going on... wow! But hey - we all survived. We got our family pictures, Asa got his Eagle, Kara got hitched, and I lived to celebrate another birthday. Yeah, it was a good trip.