ROCKY MOUNTAIN HIGH

Chuck and Becca have been on a mountain hiking kick lately.  Last Saturday the two of them hiked to the top of Tiger Mountain, and yesterday they took on Mt. Si.

 

For those of you not familiar with our local trails, Mt. Si is a 4 mile trail with about a 3500' altitude gain.  At the very top is a large rock formation affectionately known as the "Haystack" that is a pretty dicey climb, especially after you are tired from the previous 4 miles practically strait up.

Chuck was able to keep up with Becca until they reached the Haystack.  By this time his 58 year old knees were telling him to think twice before attempting to scale it.  After all his knees had already traversed their share of rocky terrain.

And it was hot, unseasonably so.  In this picture you can tell just how drenched Chuck's shirt is by the time he made it to the top.

Becca not only made it to the top, she climbed Haystack as well.

Along the way they found a stream to cool off their feet.

and a fellow traveler that brought his parrot along for the hike........

That's a pretty big bird to be schlepping to the top of a mountain!

I prefer my hiking companions to be the 4 legged kind.

WHISTLER GETAWAY

Whistler has always been one of our family's favorite places to vacation.  Especially in the summer.  There are lots of places to go and lots of things to do.  Even for little kids, which was why it was such a successful vacation spot for us.

However, over the last few years we have switched over to Schweitzer as our family vacation spot, because it was problematic for Sam to leave the country.  Now that Sam is on his mission, we are doing all the things that he doesn't like, or can't do- like eat shrimp (he is allergic), and go to Whistler.

We haven't been there since before they hosted the Olympics in 2010.  So lots of things around Whistler that we last saw under construction, is now finished and gorgeous. 

We chose this week to go because Jared was on semester break from college. Chuck and Jay wanted to do some downhill mountain biking.  It is pretty intense- you ride the gondola to the top of the mountain with your bike and then ride down on specific trails set aside for biking with jumps, bridges and other obstacles.  Unfortunately, it rained the whole time we were there.  Of, course it rained here at home the whole time too, so it was good that we went.  However, the constant rain made the downhill trails really wet, slick and muddy.  The boys decided not to spend the big bucks on the gondola ride when the conditions were that poor and just rode the trails around the valley, which ended up being a pretty good workout in itself.

 

 

I, on the other hand, spent a lot of time reading. One day Chuck and I did take a walk in the drizzle, and I certainly did my share of shopping in the rain.

 

 In the old days, when the kids were small and the US/Canadian dollar exchange rate was in our favor, I always did all of my Christmas shopping in Whistler every summer.  It worked out great- the kids would shop (Chuck, too) and pick out things they loved.  I would buy them at what amounted to a 30% discount in US dollars and I would put the stuff away.  When Christmas rolled around several months later, they had forgotten all about the clothes I had bought and it was a surprise, only a surprise that I knew fit and was exactly what they wanted.  With the current exchange rate I just window shop and keep my money in my pocket.

 

There were some fun surprises, like the Olympic Plaza that was new to us.

 

 

 

 

 

There were other sights that brought back fond memories of walks we had done with the kids when they were small.

 

 

This time of year, everyone in Whistler is all about biking. Everyone is riding them, racing them, renting them or buying them.  As a result there were lots of interesting bikes to look at.

 

This is one of my favorites, with truly FAT tires.

 

In spite of the rain, it was fun to see Whistler again, and spend some time with Chuck and Jared.  I would love to do it again when the sun is shining.

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY CHUCK!

This is my Superman!  Doesn't he look the part?

I have been so blessed to share my life with him, not just because of the amazingly patient husband he has been with me, but also because of the wonderful partner he has been in raising our 3 (plus 30) children.  From day one he has been a fully involved, hands on type of dad.  Whether it was changing diapers, giving piggy back rides, or bath time, he was in the midst of the activity.  His favorite part of the day was bedtime for the kiddos, when he could climb into bed with them and read them bedtime stories.  He loved to entertain the kids when they were little by making up songs about each child, or silly stories to tell ( a man sat at a round table with 4 corners, eating vinegar with a fork....).  Although when the kids were very little he was often gone during the week, the weekends were set aside to spend time with them.  There were always family walks around the neighborhood, bike rides, roller blade hockey in the driveway, ATV trips, and yearly vacations to build family memories. 

The most important thing he did as a father was to honor his priesthood by being a spiritual leader in our home.  He made sure that we had daily family prayer, scripture reading and weekly Family Home Evening.  He did father Interviews with each child every fast Sunday to see how they were progressing spiritually, academically, socially, and helped them set goals.  He often had to bribe them with candy to get them to willingly attend those interviews, but they were an integral part of the kids growing up process.  He was always available and worthy to give blessings for healing when the kids were sick, and blessings of encouragement in times of stress or before school started each year.  He set a wonderful example to our children of what a priesthood holder should be by faithfully fulfilling every calling he ever had, and being a faithful home teacher. 

He has taught the virtue of service to his children. He frequently organized service activities for neighbors or ward members and involved the children. He exemplified service in other ways, by fully supporting me through the years when one after another, I was Relief Society President, Primary President and Young Women's President and I was gone many evenings as a result of those callings.  He was always there to watch the kids, help with homework and get them into bed in my absence without complaint.

 Chuck has also been an amazing example to his children of compassion and generosity as he has opened his home to the 30+ children and young adult foster children we have had live with us over the last 29 years. Some of those children stayed for a weekend and some have stayed for years.  He has opened his heart to them and considered each his own child.  All this without financial reimbursement of any kind.

His truly amazing fathering skills are all self taught. He had no role model in the home to emulate.  His own abusive father left when he was 5 years old. He was determined to give his children a better foundation for life than he had. I know that he has been successful, because I happen to know the children he has raised and they are all adults that any parent would be truly proud of.

I repeat- he is my Superman!

HIATUS

Within a 2 week period mid-May I lost 5 of the 6 dogs that I regularly walked.  By lost, I mean that they moved away (2 to Canada, 1 to Montana), or bit someone (so I had to drop them as a client), or moved in with me (no longer being a paying customer). What to do, what to do......

I know, I'll take the summer off and go to Hawaii for 10 days with Chuck and the girls.  I'll go to Idaho and Utah for 2 weeks and help Rachel and Nate move.  I'll go to Whistler, Canada for 3 days so Chuck and Jared can do some serious downhill mountain biking during Jared's quarter break from college.

I'll spend some quality time with my new dog, Dunn

I will spend some time trying to catch up in my garden, which has gone wild in my absence.

Come fall, I will work on building my dog walking business back up, but in the mean time, I am on hiatus.

Any one want to go anywhere?  I am up for adventure, give me a call.

p.s. can I bring my dog?

HAWAIIAN ADVENTURE PART 3

3 Days in Paradise with chuck and the girls.  After a week on the Kona Coast of the big island in a somewhat rural environment, the girls and I flew to Honolulu to meet up with Chuck for 3 days over Memorial Day weekend.  From back country Hawaii to Waikiki tourist madness.  It was quite a change.

Our hotel (Marriott)  was right on Waikiki with a great view of Diamond Head from our balcony on the 23rd floor.  We could also see the beach from our room.

 

 

 

 

As was appropriate for Memorial Day we visited Pearl Harbor, which was very emotional for me.

 

This is the Arizona memorial.  The round metal structure just behind us was one of the Arizona's gun turrets.  The actual guns were removed and installed on another battleship during WWII.  As many parts as possible were scavenged from all the destroyed ships in Pearl Harbor and put on other ships to speed up construction of ships during the war.

We saw the beginning of WWII with the Arizona memorial, and the end of the war by touring the battleship Missouri where Douglas McArthur accepted the unconditional surrender of the Emperor of Japan.

 

 

The next Day we went to the North shore to see the Laie Temple

 

The BYU Hawaii campus

 

 

And the Polynesian Cultural Center

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We absolutely loved having this time to spend with our girls in paradise.

 

HAWAIIAN ADVENTURE PART 2

The girls and I did do some sightseeing on our own.
Here we are enjoying breakfast at a roadside produce stand.


 We visited the "Painted Church".  A Roman Catholic church still in use.
 
The interior is covered with murals depicting different bible stories

We noticed some of the local flora and fauna:

 These are papaya trees

 

This is an avocado tree

 

 

 

 

 

This is a coffee tree

 

 

This is me exerting the 300 lbs per square inch it takes to crack a macadamia nut

 

 

Macadamia nuts are not picked.  When they ripen, they fall off the trees to the ground. Then the farmers have to race all the wild pigs on the island to see who can get to them first.

HAWAIIAN ADVENTURE PART 1

Rachel, Becca and I just had a fabulous mother/daughter adventure-  We went to HAWAII!!

Here is a picture of the three of us and my cousin Karen Anderson standing in front of the royal palace in Kailua-Kona on the big island.  Hawaii had been a monarchy before the queen was overthrown and imprisoned by American businessmen who had commercial interests there and wanted the islands to be an American territory.

eating lunch on Karen's lanai after snorkeling

The girls and I spent 7 days on the Kona coast snorkeling at a different beach practically every day.  We also did some body surfing and boogie boarding.

This beach is  about 3 houses away from Karen's house

This was the first time Rachel ever used a boogie board



Becca and Rachel wanted to buy the little beach house behind us- it was deserted (no furniture)

We spent a lot of time looking for sea turtles- which we could see just a few feet away from us

While we were on Kona we stayed in my cousin Kris Anderson's rental studio, which was very generous of her to let us use.

This black sand beach was at the end of Kris' street


Kris belongs to an outrigger canoe club.  She took us to her club and showed us her own private single canoe.

She also showed us the 6 man outriggers they use for competition

Kris also took us to the City of Refuge State Park, where many sacred sites remain of the ancient Hawaiian culture.

Karen and Kris' son Christopher were our guides to the Volcanoes National Park

We saw steam vents where ground water is heated by the lava so close to the surface and escapes through cracks in the ground.

We did lots of hiking..........


first  we hiked a mile and a half (3 miles round trip) to the surface of a lake of lava that had erupted in the 1950's

Then a shorter hike thru a lava tube

The best part of all was seeing  the active crater glowing in the dark