We love to hike, can ya tell???

Well, it seems like every post is about hiking some tall thing around these parts isn't is? Well, this time we traveled a bit farther, the Uintas to scale the tallest peak in Utah, KING'S PEAK. Dallin needed this mountain for his High Pointers list, and it was a good time for a repeat for Shawn and myself, seeing that we climbed it 16 years ago...oh how the time flies! And I didn't remember anything about that mountain besides a big hard boulder climb at the end. Well, this trip was just great. We actually took 3 days to do it. Usually, we do the crazy version, meaning, how long can we use the babysitters? Now, we have entered the realm of the neighbor teenager coming over to check on them and cooking some dinner and keeping the chaos to a minimum. Worked out great.

The hike went like this...1st day we hiked in past Dollar lake, about 8 miles in. The mosquito's were awful...like they weren't biting us, just hovering all around us cartoon style. The next day was summit day. We hiked through Gunsitee pass and then actually used the trail to get to the top. We had the summit all to ourselves for 1 hour, then about a dozen more climbers we on their way up. Back at camp, we took a long nap, and it rained and rained. Like it does in the mountains in the afternoon so we were excited to be done. And the bugs also drove us into the tent. We later moved our camp down past Dollar lake so we would have an easy hike out the next day. On our way out, we saw three moose just a grazing and looking fine. We also saw 3 scout troops hiking in. Glad we were only minutes from the car...that's always a good feeling. We ended the trip with a visit to Fort Bridger, Wyoming to see some history. Great trip.

Two days after we got home, we loaded up the whole family and the canoe and explored Utah Lake. Hyrum has been bugging about canoeing, so we finally gave our canoe some water time. They were so cute paddling it around and swimming. We spent a good 6 hours of swimming, canoeing and eating.

Now, I'm recovering from such an excited week and my kids just went back to school!!!! Now Dallin and Sierra are the only ones home with me for the next three weeks. Take a deep breath and relax.

Hikes, Girls camp, & triathlons oh MY

So, how has your summer gone??? A bit like this eh?
We start the summer out with Dallin joining the swim team in Riverton. It's a year round team that practices long course (meters) in the summer. He and a friend (Nathan) are swimming to get in shape for football which starts in Aug. The swimming is tough but well worth it. Oh the days, I remember swimming long course and just loving every minute. And did I mention that the practice starts at 6am? That means mom has to get up at 5:40 to take dear Dallin. Oh yea, that's being a good mom.
Next, Sierra goes to Girls Camp! Her very first adventure with the Young women of the Autumn Hills ward. She was hesitant to go, but in the end, had a wonderful time. She came back wanting to play all the fun camp games, like BIG BOOTIE and sing the silly camp songs. Oh the favorite song to teach Hyrum was Weenie man. That gets the laughs all around.

Dallin, Shawn and Nickolaus and Nathan (friends from work) went on their own High Adventure backpacking trip into the Unitas because they are going to miss out on theirs due to football. I guess you just don't mess with football. They planned a great trip into the heart of the Unitas. If you know the area, they started at

the High Line train, then hiked into Rocky Sea pass and to Lake Ouray. Good 13 miles in and out. But the Bugs were unbearable! That's what a late snow does...just puts everything back several weeks. When they got home, Shawn and Dallin both said, "I think we're good on the hiking for a while." They I reminded them of the King's Peak hike we have scheduled next week. "Oh," was all that came out. We'll keep you updated.
The Triathlon, at Echo canyon, for Weeze was something else. Great triathlon, lots of people, excitement, Shawn was there with signs from the kids, and of course, I got a Flat TIRE!!!! So my overall results were I placed last in my age group, and 80th out of 97 women. That sound really bad. Well, let me tweak the picture. Actually, it was going great. I was the 4th women out of the water, 1st in my age group. Had a funny swim because I took off my wetsuit half way during the swim and handed it to a guy is a kayak. Then, I had a good transition to the bike. I'm out there just a pedaling away, I'm feeling good when I look down and see my rear tire flat!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Oh the INSANITY! I get my bike to some official volunteers who call for bike assistant to help me................25 min. later I have a new tire and am debating if I should try and finish. Well, I have a timer on my bike and decided I could just take the time off my finishing time for the flat. So I finish and am trying to go as fast as I can so I'm not dead last. There weren't many people left on the course. And when I came back into transition for the run, I could see all the people finishing the run!! Oh well, I just ran it anyway and finished. So that's sucky but it gets even suckyer. After the race, I came back to get my bike out the rack to ride it back to the car which is 2 miles away, when I see my front tire had BLOWN UP! Green slime everywhere! What the heck! So, Shawn and I had to walk my bike back to the car because bikes weren't allowed on the shuttle buses! But, all in all, and being optimistic, I want to do the course again, and I'll have my bike tires figured out by then!