The Sunday Five

1. The hardest part of the week was taking Matt to the airport.  Jerry and I got up early to take him and when my alarm went off the first thing I thought was, "two years is a long time."  And I'm feeling that now.  It has been hard this week to not text him and to wonder what he's doing all day but not know.  It is an adjustment.  His companion's brother's girlfriend's mom is from Phoenix and had been here in Utah so she booked her flight back to Phoenix on the same flight and she sent me these pictures.

His actual companion was on a different flight that flew through Dallas so he wasn't sure who he was flying with but he met up with all his group.  

Boarding the plane to Phoenix.

All his travel group!

He called Tuesday night to tell us he had made it there.  It was good to know that but then we had to wait. He actually called today because of Father's Day.  It was super cool to talk to him.  He told us it was the hardest week of his life for all the reasons you can imagine...the language, spiritually, being so tired and so busy, realizing the two year commitment, and he felt really anxious for the first couple of days so his stomach was hurting and he didn't have much of an appetite...all the hard things.  But he's learning to manage it all which is the point of it!  It's hard to sit back and watch but knowing how much better he'll be on the other side is worth it.  Wednesdays are my new favorite days!

2. Desolation overlook.  Amy and I had planned on doing a trek along the Desolation trail, but then her son got strep throat and she wasn't feeling good so I just took Tulo up to the overlook.  The flowers were pretty and it was on off leash day so Tulo and I were both happy in nature!

3. Long bike rides.  Kate will be riding varsity this fall so she will need to put in extra work to make sure those races go as good as possible.  She is getting an extra training plan from a coach so Saturday her schedule said a 3 hour ride.  We were super happy that Cassandra wanted to come along with us and we had a blast going all through Corner Canyon trying different trails.  We rode for about 2.5 hours which we were all good with.  Fun morning!

4. Werk werk werk.

Kate started working at In N Out this week so we went to visit her and see her in her element.  She's already not loving it, but it's good for her to have a lame job so she works hard at doing what she loves someday, right?!

5. While visiting Kate at work we somehow drove over this concrete mold holder.  That was fun.  I got out of my car and could hear the air coming out and we could see the top of it but didn't know how big it actually was until the tire shop showed us what they had pulled out.  Crazy!  Somehow, I always manage to drive over the most random, huge things that wreck my tires!  At least it was on a Saturday and Jerry could change the tire for me and the tire shop could fix it.  🙄

 

Rocky Mouth in June

 We checked June off!  I had been up some trails up Big Cottonwood Canyon this week and all the creeks were really big so I knew we needed to go soon to see Rocky Mouth at its biggest.  So we all headed up Saturday night as Matt's last Pday activity.  It was a fun evening.

Abby and I are halfway through making it up here every month this year.  We are having fun checking it out every month.  February is still our favorite.

If you're not wrecking, you're not mountain biking

 The girls and I had to get out of the house Tuesday night so we went for a bike ride.  I thought we'd make it easy and just shuttle some down hill trails.  I also really wanted to take Abby on this super chill down hill trail that would be a great place for her to gain some confidence and have fun.  So Kate and Sara did the first lap, we picked them up and I told Abby it was her turn.  I knew getting to the trail head would be a little difficult because that trail was a little harder with rocks, but the only other way to get to the trail head is ride uphill.  So I told her she could walk the rocky parts if she wanted.  She didn't walk them, she just cried her way through those sections. 🤦‍♀️ we were not off to a good start.  But we made it to the trail head and I thought we'd be all good to go.  It's a really mellow trail but a chance to try some down hill techniques.  Unfortunately, the trail was really overgrown which made it hard to even see the trail so that was unfortunate, but it is really easy so we were doing great.  We stopped for a break and Abby laughed that her hands were hurting and she said the trail was even a little boring.  Ha ha.  At this point we had about .2 of a mile left to go and this is a section that she has ridden many times because we've practiced riding up to this point so I was excited that we'd had a great day.  Until we weren't having a great day.  Right after that stop we came up to this section which I've warned her about before because there is some erosion on the side of the trail and really soft, loose dirt. Unfortunately, her back tire slid into that soft dirt and she went down, hard.  Ugh.  It was awful to watch.  She went down and was tangled up in her bike so she was sliding with her bike.  She has a lot of scratches all down the right side of her body and face and her shoulder was sore.  She was screaming bloody murder and told me she'd never ride her bike again and all these awful things and I'm trying to make sure she's not really really hurt, which she wasn't but ugh it was just awful. And now she probably really won't ride again. 🤦‍♀️. but actually that night after it all kind of wore off, Matt was showing her some pictures of his wrecks and she said she wouldn't ride that trail again but we were talking about some other places to go and she didn't say no so maybe there is hope!!

A happy meal helped.

The bruised cheek looked the worse and the shoulder was the most sore.  Why do we all have shoulder problems?!

Girls on the Run 5k

I told Abby in February or so that I really wanted her to choose an activity to spend more time in.  I told her I didn't care if it was a sport or music or a library reading program or what but she needed to choose something.  I talked to her about the Girls on the Run program that her school affiliates with and if she wanted to do that then I would help coach the team so I would be there.  She ended up deciding that she would try Girls on the Run.  We started at the end of March and the first practice was not so great! 🤦‍♀️ The program is a national program and they have lessons each practice time that involves a confidence building theme and then they run for a little while.  The first practice they spent time learning about a team and introducing themselves.  As they were going through the introductions, Abby leaned over to me and said, "I hate this."  Oh boy, not the way I wanted it to start! 😂  Those types of activities are always awkward and we all (Kate and Sara) reassured her that we all hate those kinds of things and that it would get better.  So she kept going to practice, because she didn't have a choice, and some practices were better. Some of the days she worked really hard running the laps and felt proud of herself and would say that she wished we could just run instead of having a lesson, some practices put her out of her comfort zone which is good for her.  She had a lot of fun when the lessons involved playing a game of tag.  She did really great on the day that we had a practice 5k.  She ran probably half of it and talked the whole time and worked hard and it was really fun. 

 And then before we knew it, the real 5k was here.  I was really excited for her to see this huge group of girls from the whole county participating.  She was...less than excited.  She was grumpy all morning and didn't want to see how cool it was to be a part of this program, despite me pointing out to her all morning how cool it was.  😂. It was hotter than she was used to and I think that affected a lot of the girls.  She didn't want to run much which was fine, I just really wanted her to say at some point, some version of "this is really cool".  I never got that, but the cool thing was that she got her finishers medal and wore it all day long. She wore it to Sara's lacrosse tournament, she wore it lunch afterwards, she wore it on the couch all afternoon and then she hung it on her medal board with her other medals that night.  So that was enough to tell me that she was proud of herself!

Abby would not cooperate for a single picture.  I tried many many times.  This was at the start and an attempt to show the sea of pink that took over Sugarhouse Park that morning,

Not all of our team met up before the race, but some of us did and we took a picture.  I had a lot of fun coaching them all.  It is a good program, especially for girls who don't have access to confidence building, empowering lessons.  It was really similar to activity days that Abby goes to but more organized with specific lessons taught in order.  They also make it possible for every girl to participate no matter her income level so that is really cool.  Running can be stupid expensive, but it can also be really simple and accessible.

Some attempts of trying to get her to smile with me...clearly not successful.

Riverton Lacrosse

 

This spring Sara was really excited to get to do a full lacrosse season with the high school. Unfortunately, Bingham couldn't get coaches so she played with the Riverton High School program.  It ended up being a great opportunity.  She had a lot of fun with the girls, she loved the coaches and her team played really well together and was really successful.  It makes a huge difference when you work hard and win.  It feels a lot more encouraging!  It was really fun to watch her get better playing with a team.  She was excited to make the A team especially after only playing one summer club season.  She practices a ton in the backyard so it was cool to see all that pay off!

A Grand Canyon North Rim Party!

 I was so excited to take a new group of people to the North Rim.  It is one of my favorite places.  The Grand Canyon is so massive and it's so humbling to be in the middle of it.  I love everything about it so much.  We got amazingly lucky because we had one day of 20 degree cooler weather than they had been having the days before and after. But we still got up early and started in the dark.  We still needed to avoid the heat and it just makes it more fun and memorable!  So we were up at 3 am and on the trial at 4am.  My goal was to finish in the daylight because I had never actually seen the trailhead and first two miles in the daylight!  Spoiler alert: we did it!  We kept a really steady pace for the whole day and finished really strong.  It was an awesome experience.  I loved going with new people and showing them new things!  I can't wait to go back!

Starting off.  It was chilly in the morning but we knew it would be hot in the afternoon.  We were right. 

Going from night to dawn to watching the sunrise is so beautiful in the canyon with all the layers and colors.

I loved that Amy took some pictures of us so that you could see the perspective of what we were hiking along!

We tried to take lots of stops and make sure everyone was doing ok.  Our first stop was roaring springs.  There isn't much to this stop but we dropped some layers and enjoyed the early morning.

Our first real stop was Manzanita for restrooms and water.

After Manzanita we stopped at Cottonwood for more water and restrooms.  After Cottonwood you have a long stretch to Phantom Ranch so we wanted to make sure we were all filled up and ready for it.

We hung out at Phantom Ranch for about an hour and rested and ate and had some lemonade.  Matt and I got a prepackaged bagel and cream cheese and we both said it was the best bagel we had ever eaten!!  So funny how things work that way.  They are also known for their lemonade so we got some of that.  I didn't get any last year because they weren't fully open because of Covid so it was fun to have a little party celebration there this year!

Then we walked down to the river and the bridge.  I fully expected the river to be muddy and brown because 1. it usually is and 2. when we were in Durango last month the Animas was super muddy and brown.  But it was actually green and not muddy at all!  It made for a much better scenic stop!

Hiking back up was where things got real, as we all knew it would.  It was hot, though not as hot as it had been, but still hot enough to make things hard.  We tried to stay cool and keep on going.  Relentless forward progress!  We made it to Cottonwood which I seriously thought would never come!  It was nice to take another break and prep for the last push up the canyon.  I still think those 7 miles from Phantom Ranch to Cottonwood are the hardest 7 miles.  The uphill last 7 miles are hard, but the temps are cooler and the canyon is pretty and you can just get into an uphill climbing mode and keep on moving.  All the steps definitely get old and I gave Matt my poles so I was so sick of stepping up.  The ball of my left foot had been hurting for a few weeks before this and it hurt more to push off with it if I stepped up with my right foot so I always stepped up with my left foot which made for a really sore left glute the next morning! 😂😂

Kate got into a great rhythm and I had been the most worried about her so I just kept up with her and chatted with her. She did so awesome!  She absolutely crushed it.  She was tired, but she didn't stop. I was so proud the whole way up!  Matt's feet were really hurting which was the body part I was the most worried about for both of them.  We kept him and Peggy in our sights and made sure everyone was moving along.  They were!  Everyone did SO good.  Amy got into her own rhythm and flew up the canyon.  I knew she was loving every minute of it.

Kate had to go to the bathroom and she was just dying for the Supai tunnel which meant there was a restroom.   We both were like this tunnel is never going to appear, and then it did!  We were so happy when we turned the switchback and saw it!  Yay!!

We stopped there and waited for Matt and Peggy.  It was only 2 miles left to the top but it was still a hard push.  Everyone was doing well, I mean we were all tired, but seriously, we crushed it!

We were able to get a good picture at the Coconino overlook.  Love these two and love doing this hike with these two and everyone else.  It was such a great day!

I loved doing this with my kids so much.  I was really worried about Kate because she has never done a long hike like this and she only did a few training hikes with me.  I was mostly worried about her feet and getting blisters and things like that.  Plus a few days before we had gone to the doctor for an inhaler refill and she failed her breathing test and they put her on meds and I was slightly concerned to be taking her down the GC but she did an amazing job.  She cruised along so well and just kept going.  She has a bright future for long adventures!

The whole gang did so awesome!  It was the best being with my kids, but it was fun to take Amy for her first time.  She said she got emotional at the end because she loved it so much and wasn't ready for it to end.  Love that so much.  And it was fun taking Peggy.  It's so cool to show someone just what they can do and to have them train for a goal and then accomplish it.  It was a good day all around!

We made it back in time to get a hot dog from the deli and watch the sunset or at least get close to setting. We were cold and tired and didn't really want to wait around, but the hot dogs were again the best food ever!  Haha.   

We were ready to call it a day and go to sleep.  We all slept really well that night and the drive home the next day wasn't even too bad!  It was such a fun weekend. I was glad I got to spend all that time with Matt before he goes on his mission and it was fun to do Kate's first big adventure with her and I look forward to many more trips down the canyon.  I do have to say that I missed topping out on both rims so even though the logistics of rim to rim are very difficult, it might be worth it for future trips.  We'll see!!

Rocky Mouth in May

Abby and I continued our streak of hiking Rocky Mouth every month.  We brought Jerry and Matt along with us this time.  I thought that the falls might be a little bit bigger this month but they were pretty small. We have definitely seen them much much bigger.  Maybe in June?? We'll see!