What Have I Been Up To???

Yes, I have seriously neglected this blog. Life has been insane. I'm learning that pretty much life is always insane, so I need to just embrace it. Here's a brief (probably not so brief) list of what we've been doing in the last several months.


June 4 ~ Did 50 miles of the Little Red Riding Hood Century Ride. I had to stop at the midpoint in order to head to Dallas, TX with Tim for his mom's bypass surgery. Tim and I spent our 1 year anniversary there, mostly hanging out in the hospital. The good news is that his mom came through a quadruple bypass with flying colors. The bad news is that we had to cancel our week long trip to Moab, Arches, and Canyonlands National Parks.

June 14-16 - Ward Youth Conference. Our youth went down to Camp Utaba in Ogden Canyon and had a Back to Basics Boot Camp. This included playing in Pineview Reservoir...which I skipped due to my aversion to freezing cold water, a ropes course, along with several team building activities, a fireside by a magician, and a trip to the Salt Lake Temple to do baptisms for the dead. President Thomas S. Monson stopped in to speak with the Young Men. It was truly awesome!

June 17-18 - WasatchBack Ragnar Relay. Yep, I did it again. I was runner #7 and we had a blast. I'm not sure if I'll be able to do it again next year, but my friend Chelsey and I are considering Ragnar Colorado???

June 24-25 ~ Tim and I, along with our friends, Tyler and KeniaAnn, headed down to the Miller Motorsports for Cruiserfest! Friday was a really fun trail ride. Tim has the pictures on the other computer, so I'll have to post them later. We stayed in Park City Friday night and had a great breakfast at the Eating Establishment. We also took the long way home...like from Toole, all around the west side of the Great Salt Lake, ended up in Snowville, UT, but did make it back to Logan. It was a blast and we can't wait to go next year!
July was pretty busy with garden stuff. I was picking peas like a crazy person, as well as weeding, watering, and staying busy with Young Women stuff.
July 15 ~ My new nephew Jay Edward Hansen was born. Yep, Karen and Eric had boy #2. He's adorable and of course, I'm his favorite auntie!
July 19-22 ~ Young Women Girls Camp ~ We headed up Ogden Canyon to Camp Liberty and spent the week camping with the girls. There were showers, which totally made my week and I took advantage of them daily! I also had an opportunity to bear my testimony about the importance of preparing to attend the temple. It was a really great experience. Oh...and I turned 33 while I was there.

July 23 ~ Tim and I, along with our friends Tyler, KeniaAnn, Brad, and Dustin, hiked the Wellsvilles. The Wellsvilles are the steepest mountains in the world and they happen to be right across the valley from us, so up we went. I think it might have been the hardest hike I've ever done. Tim said he would rather do the Narrows, although I'm not so sure about that. It took us about 8 hours and was fun, but I'm not sure I'll need to do it again in my life. I ended up with stinging nettle on my legs, as well as a nice sprained ankle. There were also many falls on the way down...that's how steep it was!


July 30 ~ Tim and I took the cruiser up Franklin Basin Road in Logan Canyon. The drive was gorgeous. The wildflowers were amazing. We even came across a plane crash site from the Korean War.

August 6 ~ Tim and I took the kids on a hike up Green Canyon. It's a 4 mile hike round trip, but is pretty steep on the way up. It was a challenge, but it was really cool to hear the kids talk about how cool it was to be able to do that and how overcoming challenges helps us in our life. Definitely a fun day!

August 13 ~ Tim and I, along with our friends Andrea and Tom, and my Dad, rode our bikes up Blacksmith Fork Canyon. It was super windy when we got to the mouth of the canyon, but all the hard work was well worth it when we came flying down the canyon! We made plans to ride again last weekend, but the cold, wet weather changed our minds.

August 17-21 ~ Tim and I took the kids to spend the weekend with my family in Park City. We swam alot, went to the Farmers Market, hung out with cousins, went to church, Tim and my Dad went mountain biking, played ping pong, and had alot of fun. That will be a new family tradition I'm sure. Although, I'm planning to take my road bike since there's so many great places to ride.

August 19 ~ While we were in Park City, Tim and I took the kids down to Timpanogos Cave in American Fork Canyon. Once again the trail was steep, but we had lunch at the top and the tour was awesome. I will admit to feeling claustrophobic and a little freaked out, but I did it...with a smile on my face. The drive through the Alpine Loop was gorgeous as well.

August 27 ~ I ran the last 7 miles of the Top of Utah 1/2 marathon with my Mom and her friend Tami. They actually got medals this year, which made me want to do it next year.

September 3 ~ Man vs. Mud... Tim and I, our friends Tyler and KeniaAnn, and Tom and Andrea, along with lots of others did the mud run at the American West Heritage Center. I don't have any pictures, because I didn't run with my camera. That turned out to be a good thing, since we had to go down super steep fast waterslides (I almost got taken out by a super big guy, after I slid off the slide and almost into a fence), we had to swim/crawl/muck through a good 1/4 mile of 5 foot deep trench, we had to swim across a super freezing cold pond. Yep, it was a blast. Definitely it will become a Labor Day weekend tradition.
September also involved canning 50+ quarts of green beans, 150+ quart bags of frozen corn, 50+ containers of freezer jam and at least 100 pints and 75 quarts of salsa. I also froze zucchini, both shredded and sliced for my winter cooking. My first attempt at zucchini bread last week was a hit, so I'll have to remember to freeze more shredded zucchini for next year. Apparently, I have become quite domestic.
Also, in September, we've been spending lots of time driving around to Rylan's soccer games. He's playing on a competitive team, so that means lots of practices and games. He loves it and we're enjoying it as well.

September 16-17 ~ I got to go to Time Out for Women, with my friends Chelsey and Amy. The theme this year was Choose to Become. The speakers and music were AWESOME! It was super inspirational and I've been working on what I've chosen to become. I can't wait to go again next year!

September 25 ~ Tim took me on a drive up to Bloomington Lake in Idaho. I've ridden my bike around Lake Bloomington in IL several times, but who knew there was another Bloomington Lake. It was gorgeous and definitely the perfect way to spend a Sunday afternoon.

Yep, I've been busy. I'm pretty sure I haven't listed everything, but like I said, I've been super busy. :) Hopefully, I can do a little better job of keeping up on the blog now that I'm caught up.