Mount Olympus

Aaron's brother Josh let us borrow his trad climbing gear and we decided to try it out on Mount Olympus in Salt Lake City.  Let me say up front, I had no idea what I was getting into...

This is Mt. Olympus - fortunately for Aaron he did not point this out until we were done or I probably would have backed out. We headed up the white face on the right side.

 

So we didn't get many shots of the approach but this one should give you an idea of how it went...

 

 Of course Aaron loved it!

After a little snacky-snack I was much happier. Aaron has learned to be liberal with the snacks - it's best for all involved.

 And ready to tackle the mountain.                                               Aaron, as always, is ready too.

We are off!

Ok, so we were not super great at getting shots along the way but it is at this point that you can possibly begin to feel my anxiety...

Ok, all joking aside, I did start to get super anxious about this time.  You start to look around and yes it is amazing (!) but I started to think about how the crap we were going to get down and how much rescue the helicopter was going to cost.  Aaron tried to take my mind off of these irrational thoughts by taking pictures of the number of pitches we had done up until that point.  I wish we had done this the whole way and hopefully will do so on our next big wall climb.

A

It took us a total of nine pitches from start to finish but since we only had two more (between my moments of panic and the top) it seems somewhat anticlimactic. But then you get a load of the view...

Absolutely amazing right?!  The sky was so clear and it felt like we could see forever. 

Going down was not nearly as bad as I thought it was going to be.  We just repelled down a side gully and "scooted" down a rock face.   I can't tell you how many times while climbing the face I asked myself  - how the crap did you marry someone who does this much less gets you to do it too! I am not what you might call the "overly adventurous type".  Sure I use to get on roller coasters with the best of them but as I've gotten older I came to realize that the thrill just wasn't worth the puke that came afterwards.  But here's the amazing thing  - after this climb, there was no puke, metaphorical or otherwise. I think that is one of the most amazing things about being married to Aaron.  He can push me to my adventurous limits while supporting me enough to see me succeed.  I don't know if everyone gets to find that in a spouse but I'm so very glad I did. 

And to celebrate my/our great accomplishment, I ate this day old donut - it was more satisfying then it should have been.

And last but not least, here's Stan.

Hiking the Wellsvilles

Last fall Aaron and I hiked the mighty Wellsvilles. Aaron is definitely a stronger hiker but even I couldn't resist the fall colors.

The views from the top are enough to make you forget how hard the hike is.  It is definitely on our To-Do list again this summer.

2012 Davis Brothers Trip - Yellowstone WY

 Aaron comes from a family of 6 boys - I realize there are only 5 here - miss you Ammon (and Andrea) - stop being so smart and come play with us soon! Anyway, Aaron's mom is definitely a saint because the shenanigans these boys get into when they are together were surely multiplied when they were younger - and didn't have children/wives back home to make them think twice.

This year the Davis brothers took Stan to Yellowstone and, per usual, found some excitement.  Amongst other things, activities included some white water rafting...

 And a little swimming in a waterfall.

You may think swimming in a waterfall is exciting enough, but it was followed up by a series of events that culminated in a park ranger searching the van for drugs.

 

 I don't know about you but if I ran into this group, I'd probably search their van for drugs too.

Paul and Mandy's Goats

 My brother, Paul, and his wife, Mandy, have their very own herd of goats.  Needless to say, we are jealous!

 

Garden City, UT - Minetonka Cave

 Aaron and I have lived in Logan for a combined 16 years and neither of us had ever been up to the Minetonka Cave near Bear Lake. 

We were pretty excited but most of our pictures turned out black...we were in a cave after all.  But these two turned out.

Basically that's what it all looked like.  I don't think I'll be paying $7.00 to go back any time soon but if you haven't seen it - it's worth a once over.

Vernal UT - Dinosaur National Monument

One of my favorite trips as a child was to Dinosaur National Monument in Vernal, UT.  I must admit that Aaron and I have visited several of our "favorite" places from our childhoods and have been slightly underwhelmed but this time I was taking reinforcements  - my two sisters and their families. 

This adorable kid is my nephew Ripkin.  He is obsessed with dinosaurs.  This is the face he made when Tracy told Rip that Aaron is a scientist.

While I must admit that the park itself was not quite what I remembered, it was saved by the fact that we had kids there.  It was so fun to watch them get so excited about the dinosaurs. 
 

 

This is the point where I begin to worry about our future parenting skills.  Aaron was like "Hey Hallie, you should go touch that dinosaur."  You didn't have to tell them twice - we did get a little more responsible when she shook it's "hand" and the whole thing started to sway back and forth.  Maybe the rope is there for a reason.

Now, I shouldn't make it sound like the kids were the only ones having a good time.  Aaron is a sucker for dinosaurs.  We frequent the museums in Northern Utah on a "pretty frequently considering we don't have children" basis.

We decided to hit up a national fishery so Aaron could hit up the guy about how to fulfill his dream of running one.  As you can see, it was exciting.



On the drive back into town we decided to stop and let kids throw some rocks into the Green River. It didn't take very long before we had all decided to jump on in.  Probably the highlight of the trip!

 





 I'm so glad I married someone who is so spontaneous.  

We decided to drive home by way of Flaming Gorge.  It was a beautiful drive and a wonderful way to end a beautiful trip.

 

Thanks Alli and Tracy for coming and making this such a wonderful trip!  I'm already planning one for this coming summer!