53 Miles in Teton National Park

Joseph and I had a milestone anniversary this year, celebrating 15 years (!), and we wanted to get away for an adventure together. Normally I would have been dying to run off to Hawaii or the Caribbean but we'd already done a tropical escape earlier in the year and with limited time to run away from our kiddos we chose to stay closer to home and head up to the Tetons in Wyoming for a long weekend. And it was such an amazing trip! I am already a huge fan of our National Parks and I feel like I grew up heading to the Tetons at least every other summer and I am still in love with that place.

We drove up late in the day Thursday and stayed at the Teton Mountain Lodge right on the hillside in Teton Village and about 2 minutes from the park. On Friday morning we woke up to find a beautiful fall day ahead of us. We ate breakfast at our hotel, packed lunches and snacks for the afternoon, geared up for a long day of cycling, and drove into the park and over to Wilson where we planned to start biking our loop around the park. The first 13 or 14 miles have a lovely, separately paved bike trail all the way up to Jenny Lake. From there we he had to ride on the road but being a random Friday in September there weren't many tourists zipping around.

As we approached the road after finishing the bike trail at Jenny Lake I wasn't paying close attention to Joseph riding beside me and I was unsure of a car behind us as we merged into the left turn lane and I suddenly got way too close to my hubby, my front tire hit his back tire, and I lost balance and fell over. I was scraped up from the road and knew my bike had moved on without me but I was really sad to find out my handlebars had gotten caught in his back wheel as I fell over and somehow, my bike was fine but the pressure of my bars in his wheel had totally damaged the seat stays on the back of his frame. They were both totally cracked and not in good shape. I felt so awful! Such a dumb crash and then to wreck a perfectly good (and very expensive) carbon frame. It kind of ruined the morning and I felt sick to my stomach. I thought for sure we would have to just head back to the car and ditch the rest of our riding plans but Joseph was very calm about it and said he'd just keep riding since the bike seemed to still handle fine. On we plugged. I fell in behind him and had my pity party for several miles. Luckily I had a huge bandage in my bike pack for my scraped up shin which helped a ton against the wind on it (but it only lasted an hour as my sweaty leg made it totally unsticky after a while...)

The valet at our hotel had suggested we head up to Signal Mountain Summit along our way since it was a good climb and offered pretty views of the park. Joseph was super excited about it so I rallied and up we went. It was gorgeous climbing through the forest and suddenly seeing grand views of Jackson Lake as we wound our way up higher and higher. After 3 miles of climbing it started to get pretty steep so I sent Joseph ahead — I'm a slower biker for sure. It was rough going the 2 more miles to the top but it was so pretty up there! Amazing views of the staggering peaks and so much of the park.

Then we rode back down the mountain and continued on around the park for another 35 miles past rivers, yellow aspens, towering pines trees and a herd of white tail antelope. It was a warm and sunny 65 degrees and Joseph was eager to jump in a lake or stream to cool off. He was all for stripping down to nothing and jumping in and I was not (too many layers to try and pull on over a wet body — does not work well on this girl body!) But I was definitely up for a cool dip in my biking clothes (triathlons teach us that they dry pretty fast right?) We found a lovely, clear pool off to the side of a small river and jumped (Joseph)/carefully waded (me) into the cold, cold water. It actually felt really good on my tired biking muscles and even the road rash on my leg.

 

 

 

As we rode I could tell I was getting more and more tired but I couldn't help but feel so much awe and joy to be out in the perfect fall sunshine with my favorite person doing something we both love — and in that spectacular, natural wonderland.

 

We finally made it back to Wilson after 50+ miles, helped ourselves to Diet Mountain Dew and vanilla soft serve, and drove back to our hotel for a quiet, deserted dip in the rooftop hot tub.

In the evening (finally showered and fresh!) we had dinner down the street at Calico out on the patio and then came back to our hotel to half-heartedly watch a movie (we were worn out and ready for bed before 10 pm :)

15 Years Together

 Just because my kiddos might read these words one day, I love this boy with all my heart. And yes, he's definitely become a man over the years, seriously we've grown up so much, but this boy right here in this picture—he is still the best thing that ever happened to me. I'm so glad he trusted his heart and followed his happiness above all else. Somehow that path led him to me and I cannot imagine who I would be or how lonely I might be without him.

One huge lesson we learned in dating others and in being in love with others before we met is that each of us needs a partner, a soul mate, a lover who makes us feel good. Who fills our lives with laughter and hope, who loves without holding back, and who makes things easy, even makes life easy because they are simply who they are. Joseph and I were lucky enough to discover that we found those things in each other and were so attracted to that joy and light we brought out in each other. The boy I had loved before Joseph was a good man with a huge heart but he and I had so much drama. I know I was younger then and definitely less mature, but I still ended up in tears all the time and we couldn't handle things well together. We fought a lot and I just figured that's what love was—dealing with crap and working through it and wading through rough water over and over again. But then I met my Joseph and I was floored with how easy it was. He was and still is just a very calm person who grounds my heart and lightens my soul. I could tell he did that from the very first date we went on! And I wanted to feel that way all the time (and so I wanted to be around him all the time!)

In the end we have had a fantastic ride. Of course in 15 years we have dealt with hard things and are certainly not free from fighting or bickering or outside drama that can dig at our own relationship, but we are still deeply in love and both committed to finding happiness together. And for that I am eternally grateful.

September Life

 So much rain this summer and fall! It's been glorious for the green grass. 

It's been less fun for biking :)

 Cougar football! Those games are always the best double dates!

 Exploring up in AF canyon on a Sunday night.

 Hiking with a toddler is slow, slow business but it's very entertaining and also very dirty!

 We were looking for signs of fall and caught just the beginnings of it.

 Cute biking crew headed out on a couple longer rides to help Cares reach her 5 mile bike ride goal.

 Overnight in PC with a bunch of amazing ladies from my ward. We stayed over in The Canyons and had fun hot-tubbing, eating out, and chatting until way late at night!

More rain which this darling boy loves to play in (and make cool poses in too!)

Farewell Young Women

After 5 year of serving in the YW organization in my ward I was released and it was such a bittersweet feeling. 5 years. That adds up to hundreds of Wednesday night activities and Sunday lessons along with tons of leadership trainings, 5 girl's camps, 3 years of presidency meetings, and 2 years of ward council and being the main lady in charge. And while I truly loved my YW callings, it had been a long time in such a demanding auxiliary, especially after another busy summer of camp and ward youth conference. I was certainly feeling pretty worn out and fresh out of new ideas. Joseph has also had a demanding stake calling the past 18 months and it was getting too taxing on the both of us in our church service. My bishopric knew things were getting crazy and they just told me to tell them when it was too much and they would replace me.

So I thought I was really, really ready to let go, but it was hard!! Not only hard to say "goodbye" to my beautiful teenagers but also hard to let it all go into someone else's hands — to give away that job of vigilantly loving and serving those amazing girls — that was really rough. I just felt like I had worked for so long and in so many ways to get to know every single girl, to find ways to connect with the less eager ones, to seek out the ones who were not really interested in church anymore but still YW I had camped and hung out with so much that it didn't really matter to me—I just wanted them to know they had a safe place and a loving friend in me. All of that was hard to pass on to other leaders who are all amazing and good women but also mostly really new in our ward and couldn't (yet) know the young women like I did. They will build their own relationships and find new ways to love and connect, I am confident in that, but my heart sure worried about it not being me who would take care of the young women in the ward. At the same time I knew it was time to let others have that awesome opportunity and to dive in and enjoy their YW callings like I did — I'm so glad I had that reoccurring thought in my head as I prayed about whether it was time to be released. It's such a pleasure to have all these energetic, hilarious, boy-crazy, smart, silly, beautiful girls to hang out with on a regular basis. I think they kept me young at heart! 

Of course I will always love the YW I got to serve and know I will feel forever connected to them, especially those who were in there with me for 5 years straight! And as I knew my release was coming up I took a few nights to write a letter to each of my YW and tell her how much I loved her, what special, incredible traits I saw in her, and which memories I will remember with her. I also tried to share parts of my testimony that I thought might help her in her life. That was incredible closure for me and helped me feel like I could share one, last part of my heart with them.

We were released over Labor weekend so about 1/3 of the YW were gone,
but still a fantastic group of girls!

And then my leaders—oh gosh that was hard too! We have had a lot of switching up in the past two years but I have really loved the ladies I've been privileged to work with and I'm so grateful for the friendships I've built and happy memories this calling has allowed me. I have spent more than half of my married life serving in YW callings and it will always be an organization I'd be thrilled to be a part of again (and again and again!)

 

Joseph's Marathon

 This summer Joseph was all about pushing himself physically. He thought about doing LOTOJA but wasn't sure he'd get selected in the lottery, and I wasn't sure I wanted to give him up for so many training hours with a toddler still at home. Somehow his plan turned into completing a marathon and he chose the Big Cottonwood race in September for his first one.

 The kids were so excited about making signs for their dad. I love this shot with all of them creating away (they are all little artists). And then Luke in the background playing play-doh —such a great shot of all my littles in their element.

 The race came all the way down BCC and then hooked right to head north along Wasatch Blvd. until right before 4500 south. The runners turned around there and headed back along Wasatch and then over to Fort Union and 1300 East for the finish line. We met up with my mom at the turn around spot on Wasatch to watch for Joseph (19 miles in).

 

 He stopped for a quick breather to say hi to us and rest for a few minutes. He looked great and I was so proud of him for finishing 19 already — sounds crazy hard to me. He did tell us he felt pretty done by then and was losing steam but he pulled it together to finish 7 more miles.

 Luke saw Joseph stretching across the way and decided he needed to do some too. 

Crocs on his feet and all — we loved it!

 

 For some random reason these Star Wars guys were there to cheer on racers so we got a shot with Darth Vader because hey, why not?

Here are a couple pictures from the race organizers showing Joseph running in that gorgeous canyon: 

 And this is just an awesome picture (obviously from early on when he was full of energy!)

 

And he finished!!

Our friend across the street was volunteering at the race and made sure she was there to give Joseph his medal and grab this picture for us. We cheered Joseph on at the finish line but it was a madhouse down there filled with hundreds of people. We saw him as he crossed but despite our yelling and cheering he didn't see us — and that race had a very long finish line zone only for runners and volunteers, sending them past lots of booths and aid and food stations before they could exit and find family. We roamed forever and finally found him sprawled on the cool grass in the shade.

 Love little Livs making sure the ice was in the right spot 

and Luke wanting to inspect Joseph's cool medal.

 

Cute Mary met us at the finish line with a cooler full of all that ice and my hubby was elated to have it for his joints! She had run a half marathon earlier that summer and said she had wished for ice at the end of it so she brought it for Joseph. Brilliant! My parents were also there to support and congratulate him and we were both so grateful for their efforts. 

It was a huge accomplishment for Joseph!

**In the end he rebounded really well too. He did finish the race with just one bloody nipple :( but then he napped for a few hours Saturday afternoon which helped a lot. He was sore for after and didn't enjoy going down stairs or sitting on the toilet for a few days :) He also had two toenail casualties in the following months but I don't think he's run his last marathon.

Labor Day Labor

Before picture of our sturdy but beat up table. Nevermind the spilled eggs and stains on the rug (life with 4 kids!) Our weekend was full of sanding, staining, rearranging and redoing. Luckily throwing that rug out and getting a new one were included with our plans (thank goodness for IKEA — huge selection and at the best prices).

 

 Sometimes the kids helped and sometimes they just wanted to watch all the action.

 Sanding and 3 coats of stain for day 1. Then we moved the table into the garage until Monday so we could add one more coat of stain and then a clear coat polyurethane finish. In the meantime we used the patio furniture for all our meals:

 While we were sanding and staining Joseph decided to refinish our front door at the same time. This is after we sanded it but hadn't put any clear coat finish on it yet. I don't have a great after picture but we didn't change any color just added richness and shine with the poly. After 10 years of weathering it really soaked up a new finish!

The completed table, back in the kitchen with a new rug. It now matches our chairs and looks so much better. The poor table had been pretty beat up from kids digging into it with utensils (anyone else have kids who dig at the table with a fork?! So lame!), drawing on it with sharpies, spilling very fine glitter and leaving steamy plates on it without a hot pad or place mat. I'm guessing it'll be due for another make-over in about 5 years again! I was super proud of my hubby for doing this on his own and saving us tons of money — very handy and a cool process to learn.