A month of Adventures

Be prepared for lots of pictures!

Date Day:

One absolutely huge blessing to us here is Tom and Mary. After the kids and I got back from IL, Mary and I decided we both needed some time with our husbands so we decided to swap kids so that we could get a full day with our hubbies. Andrew and I decided to go on a hike for ours. Mary came to our house at 7 to wait for the kiddos to wake up and Andrew and I headed for the trailhead. We thought, why not attempt Horn Peak? So that's what we did. We have an app called alltrails and according to that, it's 6.9 miles out and back, well....what we didn't realize is that is only one part of the trail and then at the treeline the trail ends and you basically have to bear crawl up the side of the mountain and by that point the air is so thin that you can literally only take 5-10 steps before taking a break. So anyways, we had realized that about half way up and figured we are already in so just keep going. Remember, we are still flat landers.....mountains, trails, hiking....it's still so foreign to us.We decided our goal would be the treeline and if we felt okay, we'd keep going. We made it to the treeline in about 2 hours and we felt really good and the peak looked so close, so we said, "let's do it". We pushed on and officially started the battle with the mountain, without a trail, this part that was really a short distance took about an hour and 15 minutes. Then on one of the thousands of break "scaling" the mountain, Andrew mentioned false peak. I had no idea what he was talking about so he went on to tell me that he thought the peak we were tackling was false peak, because the actual HORN peak was behind the one we could see. UGH....WHAT? Are you kidding me? That doesn't make any sense. The peak I was staring at HAD to be Horn Peak. It was triangular, looked just like it. Well....I'm sure you know where this is going. It wasn't Horn Peak at all! I was defeated in that moment and was not prepared to keep going. Okay.....it wasn't that bad, I mean, it's was a peak. just not the one we wanted it to be. It should have a name. False peak makes it sounds like we failed and it maybe felt like it for a moment, but we didn't! Talking to our friends since our attempt, we've realized that we completed the hardest part so hopefully we will get a chance again before the snow falls to attempt it one more time! And because I can't help myself, check out these amazing pictures of our day!

Hearing the streams is my favorite part of a hike

This man though!! <3

View at the treeline

Us at the treeline, with the "false" peak in the back

On the false summitt

And that's HORN Peak

I could not ask for a better man to do this life with!

............................................................................................And coming down was seriously terrifying. 

Adventures with the Besgroves:

Last week our favorites from IL came to visit! I cannot even tell you what this meant! They've had a full summer and they still squeezed in a trip to see us and where we live! It was such a blessing to have them here and do life with them again, BUT it also made the missing them so extremely fresh and hard! Besgroves have not only been mentors to us as parents and as husband and wife, but they have become like second parents to our kids. Boston spent SO MUCH time with them while Brynlee was in treatment. Annie become the sister I never had. If Brynlee had to go to the hospital, they were the first ones we'd call so that Boston would have a place to go. I couldn't ask for a better person to be "mom" while I was with Brynlee! Our time with them was so so special! I wish it didn't have to end! They are one of the few people that will come out and we can say, let's go on a 5 mile hike and them actually be excited about it! HAHA! 

The first night they were here we showed them around and gave them information overload and then invited the seminary students that were here to come join us for a bon fire. 

The next day we went on that 5 mile hike to Venable Falls.

 There that pesky "false peak" and Horn peak from our trail

The guys are so masculine, they wouldn't "pose" for a picture so this is the best I could do! ;)

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Gerber Academy of Littles Field Trip Day:

Homeschooling is a blessing for so many reasons, being able to adjust our academic schedule to line up with Andrew's is one of them! Since Andrew has been off this week, we wanted to do something fun with the kids so we took a field trip to Bishops Castle and the kids conquered their first mountain peak! 

Bishops Castle was incredible! SO beautiful. To think a man has been building it all by hand for 49 years is insane...35 years were spent on the castle, and now he's been working on the wall around the castle for 14 years including the bridge, moat and cave. 

Then we headed for North Peak, which is amazing because you drive basically to the tree line and it's less than a mile to the peak! Really neat for the kids!!

lunch :)

The kids working on their selfie game.....still needs work! ;)

 The snack cup was saved!

Living here has REALLY opened up my eyes to God's creation.

 I just can't get over how magnificent it is!

 THEY DID IT! First Peak! 

      

 Breky wasn't as enthused about her first peak! 

Don't mind the outftits, thankfully we had a few coats left in the car

 because it was FREEZING up there!

This place is so beautiful and to think that all of these adventures were free. Moving is hard, but these memories will last a lifetime. I couldn't feel more thankful or blessed, that God would call us here. Allowing us to see his creation and soak it up as a family! 

Thank you for the many prayers and words of encouragement thus far! It means so much to us! We look forward to seeing everyone in December!

HUGS,

  Carlee