The Hike

Upon finding out that Lagoon was closed on Friday........

Joni: (texting Lisa) "what should we do? we could hike Tablerock."
Joni: (immediately upon sending text, thinking) "please say no, please say no..."
Lisa: (upon reading Joni's text, thinking) "how do I get out of this, I don't want to go, its so hard, and hot.."
Lisa: (texting Joni) "sure! Let's do it."
Joni: (reading text from Lisa, thinking) "crap!"

Joni, Abby, Andy, and Lisa and Tyler go hike Tablerock on Friday.
Joni and Andy only got about 3 hours sleep the night before.
Joni kept reminding Andy to prepare, get food ready, Etc.
Abby didn't really want to go. Didn't feel good that day, wanted to go shopping instead. She decided to buck up and go anyway.
I asked Joni to make sure Andy wears shorts and eats breakfast before they leave.

Lisa and Tyler pick them up at 7 am.

Tablerock is a very strenuous hike. My family once took my brother-in-law on it. He is an extremely experienced hiker. Currently he is in Iceland hiking. He couldn't believe how hard it was, and how unprepared he thought we were. He said most experienced hikers would consider it a two-day hike. He insisted they all eat cookies and sugar to avoid altitude sickness. Not only is it an extremely long hike, but it is, in some parts, almost straight up, or straight down depending on which way you're going.

Friday morning arrives.

Andy had 2 pops for breakfast, filled 2 ziploc bags with fish crackers, and pronounced himself ready. He did wear shorts without any prodding from Joni, and was quite offended that I thought she would have to tell him. As he said, "you must not think I have any common sense."

It took them 5 hours.
Just to get to the top.
Andy, being a bit short in the common sense department, has to beg water off of everyone. He didn't bring any. He is sweating buckets. He tries to take shortcuts and instead of doing the switchbacks goes straight up the mountain. I'm told that it's a good thing I didn't see him do it. They all thought we'd have a funeral to plan before Andy got off the mountain.

Joni, being short on sleep, experienced extreme vertigo. She had to look straight at her feet only, crept along, hugging the mountain at times and refused to move. She started to wonder how freaked out she would have to get before they called a helicopter to come and pluck her off the top. When the breeze would gust she felt like the entire valley was swelling up and down, just like the waves of the ocean.
She would most likely still be up there if Tyler hadn't given her his walking stick and helped her along.

Abby was probably one of the smartest people in the group. She went on most of the hike, but then decided she couldn't do the last most difficult part. She stayed back and rested and waited for them to ascend and descend. She felt very badly that she didn't do the whole thing. I'm thinking Abby was one of the few who actually used a little bit of intelligence that day.

The very tired, very sore, hiking group got home about 13 hours after starting.

Walking looked painful.
Toenails may come off.
Sunburns hurt.
Blisters and rashes ached.
Joni's foot had a blister so large it looked like she had a sixth toe.


They all looked like they had so much fun.
I'm really sorry I didn't go with them......NOT!

Pictures from Lisa and Tyler, probably the only 2 who really enjoyed the day.

Mama's Wish List

It's not too early to start putting out my Christmas List, is it?
This amazing little wagon thing would really save on my back and my knees while gardening. I would sure love one. hint hint

A couple of my friends have been doing this awesome workout that they say is FUN! I'd like to try it.

Every new child that comes is so unique. It is a grand adventure to discover just who this little person is that came to bless your lives. Some babies just seem so easy. Their little faces are like open books, you can almost hear every little thought and emotion. They hardly ever cry and are "good natured".

Some babies are more mysterious.

My brother was one of these. You didn't really know what he looked like until he was about a year old due to the fact that his mouth was always wide open in "screaming and crying" mode. That auspicious beginning did not in any way foretell a life of moodiness and sullen behaviour though. In fact I would daresay that he is one of the most fascinating funny people I have ever met, (in a weird quirky way!)

My youngest daughter Abby was my little mystery. She cried almost constantly for 6 months, earning her the not very nice nickname "Crabby Abby". Now she is anything but. She is sweet, tender, thoughtfull, and probably the most calm of all my children. I'll admit it was very hard when she was in her crying phase.

And now my youngest 6-month old grandson seems to be following in he great-uncle and aunt's footsteps. He is a very tender little guy. He needs a peaceful calm atmosphere, startles easily, and cries a good deal of the time. As a grandmother I can see how wearing it is on his parents. I know they are doing a good job and nurturing and caring for him very well. I just hope they realize it won't last forever. And that if they will take the time and care to discover the wonderful little personality that is behind the wails it will be well worth it. He is such a precious little gift and I'm so glad he came to our family.

I had big plans for this past weekend. There aren't too many summer weekends left. Our family was going to take a float trip down the river. I was going to babysit my 2 grandbabies while everyone else went. I wanted to set up tents in the back yard, have a camp fire, lots of good bonding time and fun.

It didn't turn out that way. Not at all.
No float trip - too cold
Alternate activity at the gym was a bust.
Andy and I set up the tents in gale force winds, determined to get them up.
Nobody (except one 2-year-old) set foot in them, but I did get a rip in one, courtesy of the wind.
No campfire. But that wasn't due to the wind. Saturday was actually pretty good in the weather department.

It wasn't the best weekend. Not at all.

The one bright spot was that I got to spend a bit of time with the babies. I love those guys so much. I get to see them on Wednesday also, while their mamma plays in the concert at the tabernacle.

I'm not making plans anymore. Everytime I do they fall apart. I need to just fly by the seat of my pants".

It reminds me of the weekend my parent's and siblings decided to have a family reunion. I'd just heard about another family reunion and all the fun activities they had. I decided to take one of those activities to mine. I showed up with all the equipment, visited for a while and then tried to get someone to come do the activity. Everyone just ignored me. I announced a few times that I had this awesome activity for anyone interested. No one was.

This last weekend felt a lot like that.

*sigh*

"It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live."
- J.K. Rowling

I was letting so much of living pass me by while immersed in blogs and the world wide web.

That is one reason I haven't had too much to say lately. And one reason I haven't visited my blogging friends more. I'm sorry. I need to be doing more things in the actual world, not the virtual one.

Yesterday

Yesterday I:
~worked 6 hours at my job including making 2 illustrations for my boss to use during his devotional speech next Tuesday.
~picked strawberries
~weeded a flower bed
~power-walked for 30 minutes while watching lightening pop around my head
~made 2 batches of freezer jam
~blanched and froze a quart of peas from my garden
~read 6 chapters in my book
~watched half a movie
~crochet half of a hot pad
~made a loaf of homemade bread
~and worked on organizing my food storage room

No wonder I can't get into the mood to do much art. I don't have the time!

Either Pay Through the Nose or Gum it to Death

I don't go to dentists. I grew up in the era of horrible deadenings, slow drills, smoke rising from the depths of my oral cavity, and PAIN.

I've been very blessed with hard teeth. Thank you Mom and Dad. Genetics can be a good thing. (or a bad thing, see previous post)

In the last 30 years I have been to the dentist 6 times, so you know I was concerned when I called and made the appointment for yesterday.

The good news is that my teeth look surprisingly healthy.

The bad news is that every one of my silver fillings has to be replaced due to decay underneath. Thankfully I only have 7 of them. And I have to replace a crown and have one additional crown.

The dentist said that should set me up for the rest of my life.

And it's only going to cost an arm and a leg, a small price to pay for a flashing great smile.

Joni says just do it. No one takes you seriously after your teeth fall out.

How Depressing

I just finished reading a book.

On one hand it made me feel better because there is nothing more that I can do. I'm doing everything I can

On the other hand I felt terrible because there was nothing I could do about my sorry state of affairs. I'm hopeless.

The book?

Rethinking Thin by Gina Kolata