Sunday, July 29, 2012

The Highest Peak in Utah: Kings Peak


 Kings Peak Hike

If you can't tell I like to hike. 
Something about hiking up a mountain is very rewarding to me. 
I however am not a big fan of camping. 
I love building a fire, eating the food, telling the stories, but something about not sleeping all night 
is not my fav. 

For Kings Peak we decided to backpack into dollar lake (something most people do)
Then hike the next day, but unlike everyone else we would hike the mountain and continue to the car.
Sounds easy enough right? How does 31 miles in two days sound? Ya, thats what I thought.

The expedition was led by Adam. Dad and I just tagged along. I have to admit I thought my dad would slow us down but he proved otherwise as he was the first one to the car when all was said and done. 

Here is our trip...

Starting out at the trail head... nice and clean!


About 5 miles onto the trail you have this nice foot bridge. (If we were to do it again this is where we would have stayed) The farther you go with the backpack the farther you have to take it back.


Almost to dollar lake (about 8 miles from the trail head). We are pointing to Kings Peak.


Our base camp. The fire ban for the area was lifted and we were all very grateful to have our fire.

Beautiful sunset. Great place to be for a birthday retreat.
So you take all your backpacking stuff in. After somewhat of a nights sleep we got up had breakfast 
and packed up our stuff and then brought out our day packs. Took our rain coats, water, and food and headed up the real part of the adventure.

I thought I'd spare you the grueling photos of the climb... lets just say it was very steep and very rocky. We actually took a short cut (not very well marked but well known) and supposedly it saved an 1hr. 
Here we are at the summit though a whooping 13,528. 
The last 1,000 feet though is super rough. I was really worried about altitude sickness but we all did very well.

Till it hailed, and hailed again, then rained all over us!



This is dad and Adam SOAKED! 
A picture can't capture the feeling but lets just say it wasn't a good time to find out your gear isn't water-proof its water resistant. 
We had 8 miles of walking with our heavy backpacks soaking wet and chilled.
On the way down we passed a girl in short shorts and I wanted to tell her I hope you brought pants because this is NOT a hike for shorts. From what I hear showers are very common up there.
If you decide to do this take the best gear and pack light. There are plenty of places to get water so don't pack 2 days worth of water.

We were crazy and did it in 2 days something else I don't recommend. I would recommend 3 if you want to backpack in. But to be honest backpacking isn't my favorite so if I could do it again I would camp at the trailhead then trail run the first 8 miles then hike the way to the top then back down and then trail run/crawl the last eight (doing it in one day)
I like trail running a lot better than backpacking. 
Its lighter, faster, and makes me happy.

And you can ask the boys how happy I was the last eight miles.



Wednesday, July 25, 2012

Adam turns 25!!!!

Today is Adam's Birthday!!!!

Everyday I am grateful this man walked into my life.
Not only did he walk into my life he helps me be a better person and loves me through 
everything.
He is a God fearing man that works hard to provide for our little family.
He does the best he can and knows how to just laugh things off.
He is smart, kind, and funny. And... dang good looking!
He is respectful and sensitive.
A cowboy and a city boy.
He likes the beach and the snow.
He is an excellent skier, a great listener, and very patient.
He isn't a casanova or rascal flatts kinda guy but
he calls me everyday on his way to work. 
Kisses me goodbye every morning.
Sends me love texts.
And helps out at home.
He would rather spend time with me than anyone else. 
Which is the best message of I love you and much more valuable than money.
He shows me everyday he loves me by the little things.
Happy Birthday!
I love you baby! 


This is at Texas Roadhouse last night. (Adam has to work all day and night today)
He is getting sang to on the saddle they had there. Ha ha 


We have a no-firework law right now because of all the fires going on. 
But Adam wanted to burn something really bad. So we let him burn this squishy toy.


This picture was taken this morning right before work! Adam is wearing the pin Garett 
sent him for his birthday (its a pin with old people) ha ha!

Thayne and I are going to make him a cake for when he gets home! 


Thayne's present to Daddy... 
A stainless steel trash can.
Adam really wanted one. We had a super gross cheap one from college and it 
bothered Adam pretty bad. 

Adam already got most his presents early (we just couldn't wait) 
Our big adventure will be this weekend when we go do Kings Peak (highest peak in Utah!)

Sunday, July 15, 2012

Girls Camp 2012 Piuta

Happy 100 years of girls camp!
This was my first year to go as a leader and not a young woman.
And I had a blast! (I kept getting counted as one of the girls and couldn't help but laugh).
These are an amazing group of girls and I can't help but brag about them.

I never heard one word of complaint, or mean comment, or anyone being excluded.
22 girls, 2 cabins, and no one felt left out. Thats pretty amazing.
I love each of these girls and hope they know that I would do anything for them.

At our girls camp we did two hikes... Ruth Lake (pictured below)

and the fairy forest...

Yes, thats a tree playing a sax-a-phone
There were all kinds of crazy things.\
While on this hike we talked to the girls about carrying rocks in your backpacks.
I specically talked about emotional rocks we put into our backpacks (please listen to John Bytheways talk!)


During the week the stake set up some great activities. One of which was the obstacle course.

Lauren got the fastest time. (this is her and Crystal being silly)

Another day we had a rock climbing wall and rope course.
A lot of girls were a little nervous to do this but almost all did it. It was so fun to watch them conquer their
fears.





Now I know not every girls camp gets to do all these things but each girls camp can have the same spirit
and love there. Just as our camp did. Thursday night we got to share with each other our love of the
Gospel and love for our Savior and each other.
It was by far the best girls camp I had ever been to.
I hope to go to many more.

Sunday, July 8, 2012

Deseret Peak Hike

Summit




Deseret Peak Hike

Adam didn't tell me how long this hike was till we got there... 8 miles round trip
straight up the whole time.
Totally beautiful the whole time as well thank goodness!
This hike is by Toole Utah.
Completely free to hike unless you camp out at one of their camp grounds.
Highly recommend pants even when its hot the vegetation comes over onto the trail and was poking us even through our
pants I couldn't imagine how scratched up our legs would be without the pants.
Started out at 7,300 ft. Ended up at about 11,000ft. It was super tough but so rewarding when all was
said and done.

There was a scout group that was at the summit when we arrived they all kept telling
Adam that he was such a good day for carrying little Thayne up the
whole way. I got a bit teary when they said this I had a pretty light pack
compared to Adam. Those 14 year old boys just thought that
was the neatest thing that Adam would do that.
And I thought it was so cool that they would even notice or care. Those boys gave us courage and hope and
helped me appreciate the scout program that much more. Of all the things those boys could have been doing on
a Saturday they helped each other climb a mountain and were encouraging to others.
Thank you scouts every where doing the right thing!


Thursday, July 5, 2012

My Pregnancy and Delivery

My Pregnancy

This post is pretty personal. Lately (probably because its summer) I've had more than 
normal amounts of people ask how I lost all my baby weight. I've also had people ask me
how I was able to run and bike days after having Thayne.
I gained 32lbs while pregnant with Thayne or at least at my last appointment thats what I was
at. It could be more.
I have lost all that extra weight PLUS some. I lost an additional 10lbs from what I was at pre-pregnancy. 

My secret? Exercise. The WHOLE TIME! 

Now I do realize that there are circumstances when you can't exercise while pregnant.
I highly recommend that you see your doctor to give you the go ahead. 

With that being said this is what I did... first trimester I lived life totally normal. 
Went on runs, racquetball, snowboarding, and anything else I felt like doing. 
The baby is so protected there really is nothing to worry about. Even weights.

2nd Trimester
I slowed the running down in fact I just walked around (when I mean walk around I'm talking at least 4 miles a day including very steep hills). 
I actually started biking as well. I didn't feel comfortable running with my now bump and after a miscarriage before I just didn't feel comfortable.
Plenty of people continue to run throughout all trimesters; you know your body
better than anyone else. Do whatever feels right to you. 
I still did snowboarding (against my doctors wishes) 
I quit racquetball though, something about a 90mph ball going toward my belly didn't seem right.
I also did hiking.
Still did weights but much lighter. (Babies can get heavy)

3rd Trimester
Weather warmed up and I was getting super excited to be outdoors even more. 
I took up a water aerobics class (best decision ever) 
On the days I didn't have the class I biked/ walked
Occasionally I played tennis
I even played golf once 
Still light weights
I exercised until the day my water broke and then I had a new work out... a delivery.

Why am I telling you all this? 

In my motor development book by Payne (7th edition)
I found out that "Women who exercised before pregnancy and continued to do so during pregnancy tended to weigh less, gain less weight, and deliver smaller babies than controls."
They also found that, "physically active women appear to tolerate labor pain better"
webmd.com confirms benefits, "staying physically active while pregnant helps prevent too much weight gain and lowers the risk of gestational diabetes and preeclampsia (high blood pressure that can happen during pregnancy). And here's some really welcome news: The benefits might extend to the delivery room, according to Artal. "We know that women who are physically fit can push the baby out much easier."

This was my motivation to continue to exercise while pregnant. 

Although there was no guarantee that my labor would be easier I thought anything that would help I'm willing to do.

My Delivery 

If this part is going to freak you out go ahead and skip to post baby otherwise read on!

My due date was July 23rd (graduation day! HA!)
Something in me told me that our little man was going to come early.
No one believed me till June 29th at 11:00 at night while doing homework I couldn't stop peeing. 
I called my mom to see if I should go to the hospital. 
The phone call went something like this, "Hi Mom... don't freak out or anything but I have a question,
I can't stop peeing what do you think is wrong?" Mom, "Thats NOT pee!!!! Your water broke go to the hospital!" 
So we did. 
Come to find out my water did break and they wouldn't let me leave the hospital because now I was prone to infection. 
Did I mention I went to a midwife not actually a doctor, doctor? 
The nurse gave me an IV (I swear they do that to trap you) and wanted to start an inducing drug.
I wasn't very excited about that. I had heard about inducing drugs and how it makes 
the contractions so much worse.
I told her I didn't want it.
One of the midwives came in and told me because of the situation I needed one. She said they'd put me on a super low dose. So all night long I got it pumped into my body...
Finally in the afternoon the next day contractions started 
(unfortunately I was still on my inducing drug)
I did do an epidural which helped with the unnatural contractions. 
I wont get into all the nitty gritty but lets just say I didn't tear 
I totally believe that because of a wonderful midwife and exercise 
I had a great delivery.

My midwife was so patient with me and was cheering for me the whole time.

Post Baby


Thanks to my great delivery I was able to continue my normal routine and even start running shortly after. I have been able to live my life my normally and enjoy my little man who just turned one.
Thayne is quite the outdoors man and loves the water. 


Wednesday, July 4, 2012

The Oregon Trail Part 2: Thayne's Birthday!

2nd Part of the Oregon Trail

The beach...
For Thayne's birthday we took him to an aquarium! We all had a lot of fun.
I think Thayne's favorite part was splashing in the water at the touch tank...

And squishing the poor creatures. That was the last poke before I pulled him out!

Papa found him this wonderful cupcake creation with sea creatures. For his first birthday
cake


It didn't take long after that first photo for Thayne to dive in...(if you can't tell by the tiny hand about to grab the cake)

The cake never stood a chance against Thayne.


After demolishing his cake we decided to take Thayne to the beach. He loved the sand between his toes!


and water...


And in his mouth...

After packing everything from the beach we headed to Aunt Cindy's and Uncle Dave's house.
We stayed the night and had a fabulous breakfast and visit. Then it was off back to Utah.
It was so good to see everyone!




I'm so glad we were brave enough to travel with a crazy, cute, cuddly, toddler. Thayne hasn't ended our lives
he has started them!
Happy Birthday little man!


Monday, July 2, 2012

The Oregon Trail Part 1: Brock and Emily get married!

I love Oregon

I couldn't ever live there (something about the sun shining just makes me happy!)
It was so nice to visit though!


Here is Thayne right before we left on his new toy.

We decided to leave on this Oregon Trail adventure because well
Adam and Brock go way back... I mean way back. Pretty sure they have
been friends since they were 3.
This was our first road trip together as a fam! Along the way we found this...

A dinosaur! Thayne just couldn't help but want to touch it and poke its eyes.
Yes, this was actually at a gas station.

First night of the Oregon trail we thought to save money so we decided to camp. Which was super nice.

Thayne had to explore he loved everything about camping.
The most important things I'd like to mention about camping with a baby are

1. BUG SPRAY! (thanks Mom!) Bugs want to eat your baby up as much as you do.
2. Be careful with fire. We could not get him away from it and had to put him in the tent
3. Huge tent=able to take playpen, playpen=safe spot for baby and good nights sleep for them
it was so nice to be able to have the playpen while camping he is such a wiggle worm I couldn't imagine having him sleep in our bed.


Oregon Trail day 2:
After camping we had to travel another 6 hours to make it to the family dinner which was totally fabulous
and made it worth the drive just right there. Unfortunately Thayne was pretty crazy and it was hard to take any pictures.
P.S. I didn't take any cloth diapers for this trip I really did think about it then I thought we are going to be in so many different places and be so busy I better not. BUT I did make some food and took plenty for the days we were there and we only went out to eat once just because we wanted too. That right there saved a ton of money.
I took some pasta salad that I found from Road Trip Recipes 
Everyone loved it and didn't mind eating it for 3 days straight.
I also took a loaf of bread and peanut butter and jelly
Another must was bumblebees tuna salad with crackers (super easy for on the go!)
and my favorite lots of pudding!

Oregon Trail Day 3: The wedding




Emily and Brock! They are geuninely in love and we couldn't be any happier for them. So glad they found each other
Congrats you two!

Adam and I...

The Hassell Fam!

It was a beautiful day for a wedding in Oregon! I'm so glad we made it!
It was super busy the whole time but we didn't mind. Brock and Emily Nelson were sealed for time and all eternity
in the Portland, Oregon LDS Temple. There is nothing like being able to be with your family together forever.

Be sure to check out Oregon Trail Part 2:Thayne's Birthday!