dance dance dance...

we think they can.

hike of death

last saturday we decided to take a little hike. we started out in provo canyon and figured we would end coming down through rock canyon in about 4 hours.


we were enjoying the hike so much, we even stopped to take senior portraits.

and steve, once again, had to show off his talents working the camera...but i'm taking credit for the discovery of the "eye" in the tree...he may have pressed "click" but i found it.

half way up we found a bit of earth and stopped to eat lunch. yum.

then we continued on. winding up, up, up the mountain. i kept thinking "okay, around the next switchback, we'll be at the peak..wait, okay the next one..wait.."

lucky for us we picked the perfect day and time of year for a hike. it was so beautiful up there with the colors of the changing leaves and the blue, blue sky.

we finally made it to the top. the cascade saddle. we took some pics and then started down...


unfortunately there was not a defined trail {going straight down, like we wanted} so we literally forged our own path through the trees and bushes. this was the real turning point of the hike...

by the time we got down to the actual trail again our knees were shot, our tailbones bruised, and morale was low.

note to self: always stay on the trail. always. even if it looks like it's going way out of the way, stay on it.

once we were in rock canyon these lady hikers told us it was only "a little farther" to the camp ground. they were liars. took us almost 3 more hours to get to the bottom. luckily i found the fountain of youth to keep me going.

after 8 hours and 11.6 miles we made it to the car. barely alive.

it was one of those experiences where during it you are thinking "i kind of hate this, i will never do this again." but then after all is said and done and you are safely home, in your cozy bed you think "ah, that was totally fun. i climbed up one side of that mountain and down the other! i can't wait to do it again next year."

don't know if steve would do it again with me though. he kind of hated it more than i did. :)

bubble-shoot

steve took these of joseph {jo-jo} when we were in rhode island.
talk about profesh. he's so good.
i am beaming with pride.

rhode isle

continuing on...we took a train from penn station to providence, rhode island to visit my brother
and his little family...i guess 6 kids wouldn't really be considered little would it...? i've been so lucky to be able to visit them in every state that they have lived in. i think the total is 8 {outside of utah}. notice the license plates. oregon. rhode island. maine. haha.

while we were there, we got to celebrate jess's b.day

have a water balloon fight

and play guitar hero.

steve loved teasing jo-jo, who was glued to the tv. go diego go.

our second day there we ventured out to do some grave hunting. one of my ancestors {on my dad's side} Elizabeth Tilley Howland, who came over on the mayflower, is buried in a providence cemetary.

it took some looking but we found it! i called my dad immediately. i've never heard him so excited. seriously, he loves headstones. and he LOVES that i was there, standing in front of it.
family history, i am doing it, my family history.

from the moment we got there makayla {4} was smitten with steve. can't say that i blame her. but she wasn't the only one...she instantly had him wrapped around her little finger just as tight, reading her books, jumping on the trampoline, and letting her take pictures with his camera. her favorite book the cat in the hat comes back ... and steve re-read it to her over and over and over again. so sweet.


sometimes she'd let me squeeze some special time in too. :)


we spent alot of time on the trampoline. which i loved, since i practically grew up on one. after our water balloon fight we even put the sprinkler under the tramp and i got to re-live my childhood. briefly. i so miss those hot summer days of yesteryear, jumping for hours, making up games and new impressive tricks. {sigh}



our last day we went to this amazingly huge park, the Roger Williams Park. it had a zoo, a botanical garden, a museum and lots of other stuff. at the botanical garden steve {and makayla} took some artistic pics and we got to see carnivorous plants {like the kind from little shop of horrors}. crazy.


we finished off our visit at the lake, where we were attacked by geese. fur real. okay, no one got hurt but it was seriously scary. we were surrounded and they were hissing their little faces off.
freaky freakterton.

our short visit just tuckered jo-jo right out. we had so much fun. i love those people so much.
only wish we got to play more often. thank you for having us!

can't wait to visit beautiful rhode island again soon..