Bells Canyon

This last weekend our good friends Matt and Shannon took us on a hike with them in Bells Canyon. The week before they did this same hike with a goal to find the 2ND lake at the top of the canyon, but couldn't find it. For this attempt they did some online research and also found someone that has been there to try and see if they could describe the way. Why is it so difficult? The trail only goes so far and then you are pretty much bush-whacking it hoping you can make your way to the end. Our hike began fairly moderate through to the first lake and on past the waterfall. We followed the trail as far as it led us and then we had to rely on the cairns to lead us in the right direction.

Here if you look right in the middle you can see the first lake towards the beginning of the hike. From this ridge is probably close to the half way mark to our destination, the 2ND lake.

It isn't much farther past this point that the trail ends and the cairns eventually disappear. The last marker we saw was at the first boulder field and from that point is where it started to get messy. From what we were told by those that had supposedly made it to the lake, we were just supposed to stay to the right of the river and gain elevation.... whatever that's supposed to mean. A couple more hours past midway we found ourselves engulfed in waist high brush and often weaving our way over and under trees. We held a vote on whether or not to continue and after a tie, the girls just couldn't seem to convince the men to keep going. After 5 1/2 hours, scraped up arms and legs and signs of thunderstorms we began our trek back down. We decided we will try again and we WILL find this lake, but next time we will come more prepared. Next time we will need to have a machete to clear a path when the brush gets thick and maybe we will have found someone that has been there before to guide the way. It took us a good 8 hours to get as far as we did and back, but I think if we had a better navigation plan we probably could have made it the whole way in the same amount of time. Have you or anyone you know made it to that 2ND lake?

Lake Powell or BUST!

This is my lovely wife tearing it up...

here is me...

In case you were wondering... No, I did not fall off the tube... Despite everybodies best efforts in getting me off the tube, the best was when Kristin drove, she had to go like 40 MPH and finally I let go out of sheer terror!

This is the group that we invited, bottom row left to right: me, Craig, and Cory
Top row left to right: Taryn, Kristin, and Melissa

Sam and I were the only ones that actually jumped... (we are the two falling) we did some more cliff jumping on some smaller shorter cliffs so that everyone could jump!

Me at the drivers seat of the new boat!

This is the view from our camp spot! it was so pretty morning and evening... I like this photo because of the moon. We are pretty blessed to live in such a beautiful state!

We only had one casualty from the wind!!! A pop up shade canopy for eating under... we were able to lash it together to make it work for the rest of the trip!!!
I take no pride in lashings, this is Stuarts doing... (Kristin's dad). We love you Stuart!

We hope that everyone had a great holiday weekend! We were lucky enough to make it down south to one of our favorite vacation spots for the 4th of July weekend. Lake Powell!!! We had a good time despite the car problems on the way down and back. While on the lake we were able to unwind a bit, and just have some good old fun. We made it down on Wednesday the 1st. I was so excited to get on the lake I couldn't sleep, and we ended up leaving at 4:00 a.m. that morning. The drive seemed to take forever, lasting about 6 and 1/2 hours putting us on the lake by noon. We then packed up all our camping gear into the boat and headed out in search for nice sandy beaches, shade, and a place to pitch our tents. The weather was great too, we were able to enjoy some overcast days which made being on the water less intense from the heat! The water is amazing... 76 degrees, and for most of the trip it was really nice to be on...
Thanks for everyone that came, and made this trip so memorable! We should make this a yearly tradition!

Snowboarding in our swim suits!

JK! Well kind of....

This Last weekend Nate and I went snowboarding with our friends Shannon and Matt at Brighton and because it was the last Saturday of the year you could buy tickets half off if you wore your swimming suit. So we did board in our swim suits.... just underneath our snow clothes.

It was the perfect day to end the year. At the base of the mountain it got to the mid 50's and SUNNY SUNNY SUNNY!

I was surprised at how many people we saw in just their swimming suit... Ya it was a warm day, but talk about wind chill, brr!

I do love snowboarding, but that's about it in the winter. I am so glad it's over!

And of course you know Nate... He's already taking his lunch breaks at Marine Products. Now that I think about it I think he is there right now getting a new wakeboard rope. Out with the snowboarding, in with the wakeboarding!

Sunday park adventure

This Sunday we went to the park with the Browns. It was such a great day! We took Dax and Sadie "the brownie and the licky" It was fun to fly a kite and throw the ball with the dogs. We love Herriman, and are lucky to live so close to family and friends.

It was fun to see how tired Dax and Sadie were after throwing the ball with them.

We even got some sun on those white legs!!!

The Blasted Radiator

So, it began... last week I started pulling out the radiator in the jeep. It took about 4 hours to pull and about an hour to replace. The problem was after the new part was in it still leaked... bummer, maybe I should have just had it done at the dealership. This isn't the first time that I have made this kind of a mistake, it later costing time or money. As is life, there is always something to learn. I found some comfort this past weekend listening to general conference. My favorite talk if I had one would have been the talk by President Dieter F. Uchtdorf in the priesthood session. He shared a story about a bulb, that was burnt out. The story goes on, and the message that I got from his talk was what matters most. I thought about that jeep, and what really matters most to me. I would say that Kristin matters most to me. I should focus more on her and her happiness, and our relationship. I love her more then life itself, and I haven't always been the type to make sure that she knows that she matters most to me.

Car's (not the movie)

Cars, they can bring joy... sadness, and cost lots of money. Last weekend our jeeps' radiator pooped out on us. We were going to spend a few hundred dollars on the basement and on our way to do that we noticed a big green puddle of antifreeze. OH NO!!! Car problems... so, that basement will have to wait... I'll get to replace that radiator... if anyone has done this before I'm open to tips... I just wanted to rant and rave about costly repairs... Cars are definitely not a good investment. They cost money to fill up with gas, they cost loads to insure, and then you have your maintenance... No fun... On the brighter side the radiator should last a long time.

March!

I can't believe that its already March! Time seems to go by much faster the older that I get. We didn't really do anything crazy this weekend like paint or build something in the basement. Our weekend was pretty normal. We spend Friday at home and had some friends over to play games! It was pretty fun to see Kristin win both games that she played! Kudos to her, Settlers Champ! Saturday was filled with Saturday activities. We needed to get the jeep registered and take it in for safety and emotions, in order for it to pass safety inspections, we had to remove the tint on the front two windows and a few other little miscellaneous things. I was upset that it was still rejected after all the little things that we did to it. Its a new Utah law that the battery needs to be strapped down... so, after getting that all squared around, later that night Kristin and I just had a lazy evening at home in our home theater and watched a movie and ended up falling asleep. Sunday was great, we got ready as usual and went to church. We were asked to watch the nursery kids, which was fun... I sorta miss that calling. When we first moved in and were asked to come into see the bishop. I told Kristin that if we were to get a calling I would be happy with anything other then primary, then I thought and said no worse would be nursery. A little more then 9 months later I was happy to say that being in nursery was great! When I was hungry I got a snack, and I was able to play with the toys too! Kristin is going to be the best mommy... it was fun to see little Kendal fall asleep in her arms!
Later that night we went over to Kristin's parents house where conversation ended up talking about summer activities and vacations to plan for this summer. I love boating... and Lake Powell... It makes summer come even slower when I'm this excited for summer activities... I just have to tell myself to take one day at a time and enjoy what is happening around me at this moment.