We Survived Havasupai!

A week ago Trent and I left the kids with my parents and headed to Arizona to hike into Havasupai. Being with the kids 24-7 I was ready for a break. Imagine my surprise then, when I started missing them 5 miles down the road. Darn kids.
We drove straight through the 12 hour drive taking turns resting and listening to books on tape. We passed over the Hoover Dam--neither of us had ever been to see it-- and were amazed by the new bridge they have constructed there. It was so big it made us dizzy to look up at it.We got to the trail head at about 11 pm and slept in the car so that we could get an early start in the morning. We started our hike down around 8 am. The sun was just lighting the sky and it was cool. It was my first time backpacking so the first couple of miles I had to get used to the 30 lb pack on my back. My arm kept going numb. But eventually I stopped noticeing the dead arm as my feet and butt and legs started making protests. By the time we reached the village I was done. I think we both were. It was just past noon and the sun was hot. Too bad we still had 2 more miles to camp. They were the longest 2 miles EVER! But at the end was a most beautiful waterfall, and more importantly, camp. We set up the tent and I collapsed for a few hours while Trent went exploring. Needless to say, the place was worth the hike. The campground was surrounded by streams of clear, blue water on both sides and it was between the main falls and, further down, another waterfall. The canyon walls shaded the camp nicely and we were right by the natural spring that supplied drinking water. We had a nice dinner of freeze dried spaghetti and went to bed around 8 pm. The next day we played in the falls. Our favorite was Rock falls. Trent, against the advice of his loving wife, jumped off the top of the falls.

His most daring wife jumped through the falls from behind. It was paradise. Later in the day we hiked down to Moony Falls. We almost died. The hike down was almost straight down at points with nothing keeping you from falling to your death other than chains attached to the mountain. You also had to go through tunnels and down some sketchy ladders (missing rungs and not secured to anything). But we made it and it was sooo worth it! Moony falls is breath-taking! It is so tall and standing at the bottom, it just mists you. The water is a light blue, and against the white bottom (from lime deposits), it looks like blue kool-aid. The next morning we got up at 4 am, ate a quick breakfast, packed up camp, and got on our way. We hike for a few hours with head lamps and then the sun started coming up. Trent had gotten 7 big blisters on his feet on the way down so he was having a pickle of a time hiking back up. His feet were killing him. I was so determined to get out of that canyon before the sun hit us that I cruised as fast as I could. We only hit sun the last 2 miles but still wished that we had left earlier in the morning so we didn't have to hit any. 10 miles and 5 1/2 hours later, we made it out of the canyon and have never been so relieved to see our air conditioned car sitting there. We are now proud to say that we survived Havasupai. It will be a while before I strap a huge backpack to my back again. Thanks for the adventure, Trent!

He did it!!!!!!!!!!!

Ever since he graduated with his BS, Trent and I have been stressing about our next move: graduate school. This summer, Trent worked his butt off studying for tests and working on applications. And today, that paid off. We found out that he was accepted into Midwestern University's Nurse Anesthesia program (in Arizona)!!!! I'm so proud of him and excited to start this new journey in our life. He will still apply to a few more schools to see what options we have (We'd love to get into California or North Carolina, and if we could get into the school in Utah, we wouldn't have to worry about selling the house quite yet), but we are just so relieved to know that no matter what, he will be in a program next year! Woot woot!!!

Jane's 1st Day of Preschool

Today was Jane's first day of Preschool! I can't believe my baby is that old!!! She was so excited to go--when we went to the open house last week, she screamed and threw a holy fit when it was time to leave yelling, "TAKE ME BACK!!!!" She was happy that I took her today and dropped her off. Of course when I picked her up, I asked her all about it. She said, "I'll tell dad". "Can't you tell me?" I asked. ""No, I'll tell dad first and then you." Don't worry, I still got it out of her :) She had a great first day and can't wait to go back! We are so proud of our little student!

Beauty Parlor

What's missing (besides the other half of Grant's head)?Half of Jane's bangs is what's missing. Last night I was laying down because my head was killing me and I heard her come in the room and go to the bathroom. Then I heard scissor sounds. I asked her what she was doing. She said, "Shhhh, go back to sleep" so I went in there and all I could see was that she had cut up some ribbon. I took away the scissors and thought nothing more of it. Then this morning at breakfast I was looking at her and noticed that some of her bangs were significantly shorter than the others. Upon further inspection, there was also a clump missing from the back. It honestly could have been worse (I butchered my hair when I was little). We will go try to have a real beautician fix it tonight.

Extreme Yard Makeover

Our big project since the spring was to get our yard in shape. When we bought our house, there hadn't been anyone living in it for over a year so the yard was a bit atrocious. Starting in March we poured a new cement pad for the deck stairs, built new deck stairs, put a railing up on the deck, tour out all the vegetation (most of it weeds and crabgrass), tilled and tilled and tilled, put in a sprinkler system and drip lines in the back yard (thank you Bassett boys!!!), put in curbing, planted flowers(thanks mom!), planted a vegetable garden, planted a peach tree, and hydro-seeded. It has been a very busy season for us but we feel like all the work has paid off. here are some before and after pics:

Before:

After:

Side Yard Before:

Side Yard After:

Back yard Before/during:

Back yard After:Vegtable garden:

Deck before:

Deck after:

Camping with the Larsens

This weekend we went with my family up American Fork Canyon to camp for a few nights. When we got there Thursday evening, all the campgrounds were full for the weekend so we had to go up a part of the canyon that is "undeveloped" to find a spot to camp. Good thing was it was free--bad thing was there were lots of 4 wheelers going around and there was no water. But we got to camp right by a stream and it was a big spot so in a way, we feel we lucked out. We had a great time sitting around the campfire, hiking, dipping our toes in the stream, fishing (Trent caught a fish!!!! I didn't and I don't want to talk about it. . .), and just having a fun/relaxing time.

We went on a beautiful hike just about Silver Lake flats.

Bubba and Trent Grandpa and Jane crossing a little bridge Lunch break!

Grant loved dipping his toes in the stream by our campsite--even though it was FREEZING cold! He was just as happy as could be!

It was a bit too cold for Jane. She stayed on her rock.

Yep, we're related. My bro Jon

Bubba the Happy Camper. He loved playing in/eating the dirt. He's such a boy! (Katrina and Oscar in the back)

Trent's fish!!!

Bubba's Walking!

Grant is now walking. While he started walking weeks ago, this past week he has really taken off! He is so much more confident and this past weekend, he figured out how to turn around while walking! We are so proud of our little man! He's growing up WAY too fast!