I feel like I am always trying to catch up from a week or two before instead of posting our experiences right away...better late than never!
Two weeks ago we went down to Utah to visit family in Provo and some friends in Pleasant Grove. My Aunt Teresa and Uncle Paul were in town from Kansas visiting their kids, my cousins, Chaz and Tara along with their spouses (Desi and Kevin). It was only my second time meeting Desi and my first time meeting Kevin so it was nice to have some family time even though it went by really fast!
We were able to hike "Y Mountain" on Saturday and have a nice picnic in Provo Canyon after church on Sunday, then we had to head back home!
Hiking the "Y"
Precious picture!!!
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(This is before Chris' back started hurting, by the time we got closer to the top he was in a lot of pain, and two weeks later he still is...he went to the chiropractor and he said that his bones are out of alignment pinching a nerve- the cost of parenthood, poor guy!)
This was when we first started out- the parking lot is at a pretty high elevation but we have 11 switchbacks to go to get to the top!
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L-R: Tara and her husband, Kevin, Desi, Hannah, Chris, Olivia, Brady and Aunt Teresa.
"Uncle Trout" aka my Uncle Paul Willnauer
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The views were gorgeous!!!
and of course I had to do a little nature photography:
We made it to the top of the Y!!!! We had a picnic and then Chris, Olivia, Brady and I headed back down the mountain while everyone else decided to be crazy and hike to the top of the mountain (the Y is pretty much the halfway point!!!)
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On the way down Chris' back was hurting so much and he was carrying Olivia so he just booked it down as fast as he could. It didn't help that we were wearing sandles and Brady was wearing his crocs (I forgot to pack sneakers). Poor Brady's legs started hurting about 3/4 of the way down and he just kept crying that his legs and knees hurt so bad! I felt terrible and tried to distract him any way that I could while we tried to get down the mountain.
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Here are some wild flowers that he picked while we searched for all of the different kinds:
Brady resting his legs on a bench at one of the switchbacks. From this point down I carried him the rest of the way (about 4 switchbacks). I was also carrying a backpack full of junk and my feet were killing me from the descent in sandals!
Happy that we're almost to the bottom and that mommy is going to carry him the rest of the way! We survived and I'm glad that we did it but never again will we hike without proper footwear!!!
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After our hike we had just enough time to stop at the BYU Creamery and get some ice cream! I got a lemon/lime frozen yogurt beacuse I was feeling all healthy after such a hike!
Brady shared with me and Olivia and Chris shared a cookie dough shake. Very yummy!
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After eating ice cream and cooling down we had to hurry back to Chaz' and take showers and get dressed to meet up with a guy who had served his mission in my branch when I was in high school. His name is Glendon and he and his family were so nice to have us over for the evening. We talked for hours while the kids played (their little girl, Mauri is Brady's age and they got along great!) We ate some Cafe Rio, cookies and ice cream and had a lot of fun catching up and remembering the "old days" by looking through his mission albums!
Brady and Mauri chilled while watching a movie with their own popcorn!
My cousin Chaz did a great job of entertaining the kids!
Brady loved him and wanted to do everything with him!
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Chaz tried to get all of Brady's energy out so he'd sleep on the way home. they wrestled for about an hour and then Chaz calmed him by doing a little "Zen Yoga!"
Unfortunately neither the wrestling or calming had any effect on Brady and he was awake and quite the royal pain the whole trip home! Ah, road trips...so much fun =)
