Then Sings My Soul...

I went hiking with some friends last Saturday. Like, legit hiking. (We went to Mesa Falls the previous Saturday, but that's more of a "nature walk" than an actual hike-hike...)

Hiking might just be my favorite pastime, and I didn't do nearly enough of it last year. I had a good time hiking in Moab last November. (Hello again, Delicate Arch! And boy, did we create some memories hiking the Fiery Furnace, hey, Jeanna? Heh heh...) But I didn't go hiking even one time last summer, and that's straight-up sad.

Anyway, a few of us loaded up Dora the Explorer on Saturday morning, then made the ugly drive through some of Idaho's remotest and bleakest stretch of landscape (sorry, friends who are from Arco, Howe, Moore, Mackay, etc.)...and headed for the hills.

We parked Dora and hiked a little more than two miles to the Iron Bog Lake trailhead, and I have to say, hiking is exactly what my soul craved and needed. I didn't realize exactly  how much I missed hiking last summer until the moment my feet hit the ground out there in the wilderness. My soul felt alive and well, and it was like a healing salve on a pathetic old wound I hadn't recognized was present until that very moment.

We started out at Brookie's house; when Cam walked in, Tracie realized that the two of them were twinners.
MFEO, am I right??

Brookie and I were also twinners.

On the road, back seat.

Once we reached the trail head, Cameron warned us that the hike was "kind of uphill." That was the gist of what he was saying.

I know, I know, most hikes are uphill; hiking takes place in mountains, after all. Cameron wanted us to know that it was more uphill than a lot of hikes, though.

I swear to you, it felt like it was straight uphill for the first mile. (To be noted: it's only 1.5 miles to the Lake.) Like, super steep uphill.

Our Token Male.
Also: The Liar

Regardless of the degree/incline of the hike, it was a LOT of fun. And completely gorgeous. And I was in fantastic company. And we laughed. A lot.

Before I post the rest of the pictures (there are a lot), I'll go ahead and tell you the highlights of the day...

MY FAVORITES:

-Cameron likes daisy dukes (enough that he loses speech. And brain function).

-Tracie isn't PG-13; Stacee is. #alterego

-*"If Brother Sleight is at the trail head, I'm running back to the car!"*

-Take everything Cameron says with a grain of salt:

"I think that what we just did was the worst part of the hike." #lies

-Cinnamon bears to the rescue!

-"Gina, we've decided that you've got speed, but not torque." #truth

-"SNAKE!" *Tracie freaks out and we all laugh...

-"I have pee anxiety!" Tracie (or was that Stacee?)

-Hearing the song, "gummi beeeaaars! bouncing here and there and everywhere...!"

every time I pulled out the cinnamon bears to share.

-Laughing hard and hiking uphill are counterproductive

-Little kids telling us, "If you get your shoes wet, you'll be really cold!"

-Brooke and I leaving our jackets in the Explorer, then freezing at the lake because

of our bad decision at the start of the hike.

-"Make him think it was his idea!"

-Brooke walking off to go potty, and Tracie and I following

without realizing where she was heading, or why she was walking away from us.

-The drive to (and through) Arco is yucko, but the mountains nearby are gorgeous!

-Lollipops

-Running down the mountain was glorious compared to the arduous hike up.

-"Come Sail Away" (by Styx) coming up on the MP3 player every time it counts!

 

There was more. I know there was more. I just can't think of it, and I'll probably never remember. But as you can tell, we had ourselves a great time.

And now...the pictures.

careful not to get our feet wet

along the way

WOW, huh??

Ah, I love the mountain air!

We found some snow, and Cameron was especially excited about it.

Iron Bog Lake, my friends...

Breathe it in, baby!

This was my lunch, and it was delicious. Especially that fresh red bell pepper.

All of us at the lake: Tracie, Cameron, me, Brooke, and Lisa.

I love how well Tracie captured this.

Excedrin to the rescue!

Pretty little flowers. Are the syringa? WE DON'T KNOW!

Obligatory hiking selfie...

Our crew really enjoys lollipops. Especially the Tootsie variety.

I think they're quickly becoming a hiking staple...

We loved this area of the hike. Rad, dead tree against a rad, overcast sky...

I don't remember if this was taken on the way up or on the way down;
I just know the picture doesn't capture just how steep the hike was in some areas.

This was definitely on the way back down...

This is very likely my favorite picture of the day...or maybe my entire life.

I found a heart-shaped rock. And I kept it.

Me and Brookie up at the lake (where we froze).

no caption needed

/You belong among the wildflowers/

Tracie took this picture as she was lying down by the lake during lunch.

The hike was dusty and made our feet look disgusting.
We ended up cleaning our feet in the icy stream on our way out.

PRETTY!

I think this is gorgeous. Five more minutes down the road, and it got desolate again...

Stopped at Pickle's Place for dinner on the way home.
They have a huge rocking chair out front, so obviously we had to get a picture taken.

The Twins

I really need to hike more this summer. A lot more. #swoon

*Regarding the Brother Sleight situation up in the "favorites" part...Tracie and I thought that maybe Cameron was taking us to the middle of nowhere to abandon us or something. To teach us a lesson for skipping out on institute the last couple of months. When we told him that we'd figured him out, he said that he and Brother Sleight (our institute teacher) had it all planned out, that Brother Sleight was meet us along the way. Or something like that...

saturday is a special day

This past Saturday was a busy one. Much busier than my typical Saturdays, at the very least.

-I was supposed to have been at the Willie Free 5k by 7:45am

(I was exactly 17 minutes late). I helped register and time the run.

-I went to the Farmers Market with Brooke, Brooker and Lisa for a look-see

(also, where a kind stranger paid for mine and Brooker's jeweled

garden turtles and then vamoosed before we knew any better.

THANK YOU, KIND SIR!)

-Brooke, Lisa and I donated blood (which took a long time,

but it was worth it, because we're everyday heroes.)

-Brooke and I met up with a bunch of lady friends for a

bridal shower for our dear friend K-Sand (soon-to-be K-New!)

-Brooker and I drove to Teton, then rode our bikes into Newdale

to a place called Monkey Rock, cooled our feet in the water,

rode back to Teton, drove back to IF, etc...

-I took a very quick shower so I could be to the stake center

in time for the Saturday evening session of stake conference at 7:00

-Stake Conference from 7:00 until 9:00

 I have to say, I was pretty dang nervous about riding my bike shortly after giving blood (because I'm a wimp, I suppose), but it all turned out really great! We biked, we figured, at least ten miles, and I only nearly passed out once on our way to Monkey Rock. I stopped and drank some water, and Brooker gave me a raspberry cream saver to suck on while I rode some more, and I was back on track.

This is kind of a gross picture, isn't it?

I took this selfie and didn't even fall off my bike!

Monkey Rock

Helmet head!

This...is Newdale. Isn't it gorgeous?

Saturday's weather was perfect!

This is super grainy, I know, but if you squint, you can see the Tetons right in the middle of this pic.

And here are a few other pictures I've taken on my phone: 

I was running errands on Friday. I saw flowers and wanted them,
so I bought them for me. #thankyouself

Jeanna and I have been walking at the park instead of the mall when the weather is lovely.

I posted these three pictures on Instagram
(Left: Jules watching "Nightmare Before Christmas"
Middle: an old picture of me and Julia, laughing like maniacs
Right: Jane caught a fish and named her Sparkles--and then ate her)
When I looked at my profile, this lineup cracked me right up.

 That's all for now, folks. I'll write again after my birthday celebrations (I'm turning 32 this week! HOW DID THIS HAPPEN|?!) .

Catch ya later!

several reasons the fourth twilight book (whatever it's called) is awful:

In the past month or so, I've had a few conversations with a few different people regarding the Twilight series. Specifically, book four. (I can't tell you the name of it without looking it up; they're all "Twilight" to me.)

I've read all the books, so I feel like I can dole out any review I see fit. And the way I see it is: the entire series is ri-dang-diculous.

I've only read them once (because reading them more than once seems like a horrible punishment). Also, I haven't read them since about a week after the last book was published. (How many years ago was that?)

I thought book one was a fun little escape from reality. Ridiculous, but entertaining.

Was it book two where Edward left and Bella became a teenage toddler? Whining and tantrumming and showing her truly obnoxious colors? (What did Edward and Jacob see in Bella, anyway? Not that either fellow was all that enticing, either.) I didn't care for book two...

Book three...I can't recall what the what happened in book three. Edward was back, right? Something about the Volturi? Or maybe something to do with a specific vampire wanting to suck Bella's blood because she smells so good? The only thing I remember about book three is that I didn't like it at all.

But did that stop me from buying book four? No, it did not. In fact, I remember rolling my eyes at myself when I stood in line to make my purchase, recalling with clarity how annoyed I was by the majority of the characters. I wasn't Team Edward or Team Jacob; I was Team Get-The-Heck-Away-From-Forks-Washington-And-Find-A-Mortal-And-Live-A-Normal-Happy-Life. 

But I bought book four the week it came out because I was morbidly curious  as to how on earth Stephenie Meyer was going to end this dang saga. 

I had no idea she would provide me with so many reasons to hate book four, but, boy, did she!

Remember, it's been a few years (four?) since I read it, so my memory is kinda spotty on some of the details. But here goes:

-Bella being a pout-face about Edward wanting to be old fashioned and wait until marriage before they consummate their relationship. 

-The fact that Edward is capable of reproducing. Seems like someone without a pulse ought not be able to reproduce, am I right?

-The way it was written, I always figured that the baby was demon spawn.

-Rosalie suddenly warming up to Bella because of said demon spawn.

-The pregnancy going so incredibly quickly; isn't it weird that the vampire sperm was the deciding factor in how quickly it went, and not Bella's mortal body? (I know this entire argument is dumb-dumb, but it annoyed me, so it's on the list.)

-Bella-the-human sucking down blood during her pregnancy. It grossed me out. Hard. Especially since, when the baby is born, they figure out baby can have regular people food or blood; seems like blood-during-pregnancy was completely unnecessary.

-Bella named her daughter Renesmee. I realize it's a combination of her mother and Edward's adopted vamp-mom, but come on. I figure if it had been a boy they should have named him Charlisle. (I know Bella had a name picked out for a boy, but I don't remember what it was. Plus, I'm funny.)

-Baby Renesmee grows, like, super fast. And I give Stephenie props for sticking to her super-fast-growing-spawn, but...I don't know. Maybe the part that annoyed me most was that Alice and Rosalie bought the kid tons of outfits for pictures to document it so that she seemed like a regular kid. Even though she's half-immortal and is anything but regular. I figure I'd document the fact that she's growing ridiculously fast, right? Because...I don't know; I've already talked about this point for way too long.

-Once Bella becomes a vampire, it's discovered that she's got ultra amazing self-control when it comes to smelling people blood and not going crazy.

-Re: the self-control: the Cullens wonder if it's Bella's new found super power.

-Why do all of the Cullens get super powers, anyway? It's supposed to be rare.

-Later we find out that it's not, in fact, her super power; she has another one! So the self-control came from her preparation? In knowing what she'd become before she turned? I don't buy it.

-Bella's real super power is a force field to protect all her loved ones. Pretty neat, huh? FORCE FIELD! My family and friends are safe from any hurtful thing that can happen to them! Yessss!

-Vampire sex is supposed to be, like, elevated from mere mortal sex. Humans just don't know.

-The entire book is anti-climactic. The Volturi come, ready to destroy the Cullens, the demon baby, and everyone who stands in their way; yet when they show up, NOTHING HAPPENS. They see that the demon baby is in fact half-immortal (not possible), which they think is pretty neat, and then they go on their merry way home. They might as well have held hands and skipped off into the twilight as they left, or flown home on unicorns. Great literature is supposed to have a climax and some sort of resolution, whether happy or sad. Heck, even crappy literature has a climax! I feel like Stephenie Meyer could’ve made this a less terrible book if she’d have even faked a climax, like they did in the movie version (Twilight four-point-two, as I like to call it. Yes, I’ve seen the movies, but that’s another story for another time).

Aaaaanyway. I'm quite certain that there are more reasons I hated the book, but, as I already told you, it's been years. And I refuse to read it again.

moab is magical, as it turns out

I went to Moab this past weekend. Left Thursday afternoon, and got back today right around noon. I titled this trip on my iPhone calendar as "Moab: The Last Chance," because of the history I have with that silly place. I went on this trip a bit nervous and full of trepidation, but also hopeful.

Looks like third time's a charm, because this trip to Moab was exactly what I needed it to be; I got out of dodge with friends, and had lots of good times and laughs throughout the entire weekend.

Moab isn't so bad after all...

Highlights:

-Pronouncing it "Mobe"

-Sharing a bathroom at the condo with the crew, but Jeanna

timing her potty breaks just wrong every single time

-Staying up late talking and giggling girlishly

-The woman at the grocery store shaming and embarrassing us. #NotThatOld

-The ranger comparing us to elephants

-Cameron singing "Brown Eyed Girls" to me, Jeanna and Tracie

-The "500 Miles" singalong and totally owning it

-Being hoisted up a canyon crevice wall by Jeff and Cameron

-Cameron and Jeanna being navel-to-navel

-Tracie and Cameron getting Facebook engaged

-Singing "Come Sail Away" and "Living on a Prayer"

at the top of our lungs, for all of Arches National Park to enjoy

-Meeting a professional photographer at the Delicate Arch at night
who was gracious enough to take our pictures

(Thanks a million, Peter Shinyeda!)

-Guessing every musical artist on the MP3 player as the Beastie Boys

-Tracie realizing that her Facebook engagement to Cameron

might be in jeopardy

-Pajama party in the queen bed with Cam

-Massage train

-Captain and Mrs. Pot Stirrer

-"Solid human waste"

-The song murderer(s)

Favorite one-liners:

"For Peta's sake!"

"That was before Tracie declared Cameron's undying love for her."

"So much for not swearing on this trip."

"Jeff is a ninjaneer!"

"My armpits are on fire!"

"We should've set a jello salad this morning!"

"This whole trip is PG-13!"

"I did not bring enough underwear for that."

"Is there a pickle over there?"

"What the aych?!"

"I really did a number on him."

"Party in the bed!" *weird noises* *laughter*

"Have we got any Michael McLean?"

"You've gotta be careful with the tongue."

"I'm glad we're not in a horse and buggy this morning."

We'd planned to hike to the Delicate Arch Thursday evening, but we got into Moab a bit later than initially anticipated; instead, we went to our rental (condo) to drop our stuff off, then went to the grocery store. While we were there, Tracie talked to a lady (because she loves talking to strangers), and the gal asked us if we were in town for the race. We asked her what she was talking about, and she looked at us like we were from outer space or something and said, "You're kidding, right??" We assured her that we did not, in fact, have any idea what she was talking about. She told us that it was the high school state mountain biking race, dummies. Then she said, "Well, you look like you could be the parents of high schoolers." Thanks for that slap in the face, lady. Thanks a lot. 

But I digress...

After leaving the grocery store feeling rather older than when we entered, we headed back to the condo and visited for a bit, then hit the hay.

On Friday, we hiked Fiery Furnace in Arches National Park. Jeff had explored Fiery Furnace a couple of times before and was offended at the very thought of us paying extra for a ranger-guided tour, so we watched a video and got our permits and followed Jeff into the rocky wilderness. 

Just inside the trail head to the Fiery Furnace

You don't get to see a view like this every day...

hiking in...

Isn't Kelsey darling?

Let me start off by saying that Jeff is a great fellow; he's smart, athletic, an excellent cook, and fun to be around. Also, he is adventurous. Very, very adventurous. And very agile and capable. And adventurous. His idea of fun doesn't always line up with everybody else's ideas of fun. Or safe. He wanted to show us a particular arch in the park, and he showed us the way. Straight up between slots in giant rock canyons, and a few of us might have been...ah...nervous to take part in this climbing adventure.

This is where we coined the term "ninjaneer."

Honestly, watching Jeff climb up there was kind of horrifying and I think we were all praying he'd make it to the top safely. Once he made it to the top, we got a bit worried about how, exactly, we were supposed to follow Jeff up, because there was no safe way for him to get down, and he was our guide. 

Like I said, though, Jeff is smart (he's an engineer by day), and he rigged a couple of ropes to some rocks and he helped the rest of us get there. Cameron climbed up with a single rope, then he and Jeff dropped a couple of ropes down and hoisted us up. 

I volunteered to be the last one up, because I very seriously thought I might vomit on my way up. (I get a nervous tummy sometimes.)

Tracie made it look easy...

My turn. Of course they had to record it on video...

As scared as I was about the whole ordeal beforehand, it ended up being a lot of fun. 

After a bit more hiking, Jeff and Kelsey went off on their own in search of Jeff's beloved arch, and the rest of us looked for a way down. (Cameron had a GPS.)

Jeanna and I were elated to still be alive after that ridiculous ascent.
And here's a shout-out to Cameron's giant muscles for making that possible.

Cameron, Brooke and me

Tracie coined this "The Tree of Life."

Isn't it lovely?

The slotted parts of Fiery Furnace were pretty darn cool.

After making it back to the Amigo, we went to see Mirror Arches, then back to town for burgers (grilled to perfection by Jeff), then we did a night hike to the Delicate Arch.

Brooke, Jeanna, Cameron, me and Tracie.
Picture taken by a nice Finnish gal Tracie befriended

Best. Picture. Ever. Thanks again, Peter!
You are too kind and generous!

I'll post more pictures and stories from Moab soon, because there's a whole other day as yet unaccounted for. In the meantime, thanks to the crew for inviting me along on such a fantastic trip!