6.25.12: dog lake hike

brandon and i have been talking about going hiking for a while now and we finally did. =) his brother dallon and dallon's friend, ben went as well. we got to the trailhead at about 1230.

i was already huffin' and puffin' at like 5 minutes in. lol. dallon and ben decided to run up a lil bit. they didn't get very far. hahaha. brandon was truckin' most of the time and generally ahead of us. we took a bunch of breathers and water breaks going up. it was really hot out. we'd get some tree shade every now and then. dallon and ben were ready to quit several times along the way. haha. right before the 2 mile mark, we saw this lil kid about 3 or 4 years old running down the trail followed by his grandpa. then dad. then not too long later, a pregnant lady comes walking down, assuming mom. brandon and i were like, if a kid, a grandpa and a pregnant lady can do it, you guys can too. lol. they wanted brandon and i to just go ahead and they would sit and wait for us on a log. they really wanted to go swimming at the rec, it was so hot out. dallon kept talking about ice cream and having a drink of something refreshing; the water in the bladder packs tasted like plastic and rubber. hehe. their plan was to go swimming at noon but i hit up brandon just in time to go hiking. hahaha. ruined their plans. oops...

we reached the 2 mile mark and we only had .6 miles to go. easy, right? nope! it was the most treacherous part of the hike. 45 degree incline most of the way. this is where we took most of our breathers and water breaks. lol. along the way, brandon was like, what if the lake ends up to be just a pond?

ha, it kinda was. didn't look much like a lake at all. it took about an hour and a half to get there. dallon and ben were like, this is it??? hahaha. it was nice and peaceful up there though. but there were a lot of bugs hovering the water, eww. ben said he killed like 5 or so bugs just sitting there. we chilled for maybe 5-10 minutes, enjoyed some water and oreo cookies, yum. but they were so determined to go swimming so we left. oh, teenagers!

they mobbed down ahead of us. it took us about an hour to get down. we saw a couple mountain bikers going down. crazy. a lotta mountain bikers ride these hiking trails. i wouldn't. hahaha. well maybe. going up would be a work out and rough. it'd be hella fun to ride down though. =)

brandon just bought a new jeep wrangler so he took the top off for our drive down the mountain. pretty sweet riding in a drop top! makes me want one!!! =)

gorgeous day for a beautiful hike!

6.19.12: fun in the sun

although it took a while to get out to the pool, we made it. :-) just me and the kiddies, Elias (3) and Gavyn (6). hehe...

messing with my waterproof video recorder.

Elias in the floaty. this guy is so brave! he was trying to follow Gavyn along the edge of the pool without his floaty and decided to let go at about 4 feet deep. luckily I was right there to swoop him up cuz he went under. no drowning in my watch, kiddies! haha.

Gavyn's under water pic.

coming up for air. he'd cough everytime. I tried to teach him to hold his breath and not breath til he came up. hehe.

doing a backflip under water. he asked me if I could and I said I hadn't done it in years. I did yesterday! :-) miss being a kid...

cannon ball!!!

Elias' underwater pic holding his breath or maybe breathing in water. :-\

more summertime fun to come! :-)

6.14.12: qt with maddi and the Brady bunch...

I had the day off so I offered to take Cherie's girls out. mia was hangin' with her friend so I just took maddi to trafalga fun center in lehi, about half hour or so south of slc. for the seattleites, it's like a super mini family fun center. hella kiddies. oh em gee. expected, yeah? haha.

maddi made it about half way cuz she said it was tiring. A for effort! :-)

she's a G. she lapped everyone. haha.

she wanted me to go with her but I was NOT 'bouta get super soaked.

we rode this thing called the pirate ship, I think. it's like a hella mini galleon. I'm short but geez, I had to sit sideways. lol.

the earth on water. it's cool cuz you could spin it. maddi got back at me for not going on the bumper boats by splashing me with the water. lol.

musta been like 85 degrees playing golf. I think I got a shade darker. haha. omg, there was what looked like the 20 or so and counting family. these 2 boys were bouta go missing, yo.kept getting up in our mix as well this family ahead of us. me and the lady had to say something to both of them. multiple times. no respect or manners. and their parents or whoever they were with weren't doing to much about it. no bueno!

after golfing, maddi and I were done and hungry. we played video and ticket games earlier and had a few more credits to finish off. we were addicted to this bulldozer coin like game cuz we got hella tickets from it so we did that a few more times. she finished it off on the light game where you try to push the button when the light reaches the jackpot bulb. no luck with the jackpot so she got smart and started going for the 10 ticket bulbs. :-) we racked up 784 tickets with $20. she got some candy, a giraffe stuffed animal and plastic monkey...

we ended up at buffalo wild wings cuz the seattleites kept raving about it so I had to see what the hype was all about since it was in the vicinity.

silly girl.

thought about getting a beer but Cherie prob wouldn't have been too happy about that one. lol. jk.

salt and vinegar dry rub, as recommended by mims, and Thai curry wings. sweet honey boneless wings for maddi. and French fries with salt and vinegar seasoning to share. delish! just don't inhale as you're taking a bite of the salt and vinegar wings. causes coughing. no bueno. lol.

after stuffing our faces and getting a food coma, we headed back to Chris' to hang out at the pool. didn't know hiking meant pool time, Cherie! lol. it's all gravy. I had a blast!

Chris has 2 boys, Caden and Parker, and 1 girl, Maclaren. Cherie has 2 girls, mia and maddi. mia has a friend named Hailey. hence, the Brady bunch. lol.

Hailey and mia were trying to put Maclaren's hair up with no luck so they decided to wet it. good idea. can you guess what they said she look like? ;-)

sunbathing my already darkness. :-P

Maclaren climbing out just to jump right back in. she loves doing this!

Caden and Parker doing cherry bombs. I couldn't get an action shot.

post Chris grabbing Cherie and jumping in the pool. pre me attempting to run and jump into the pool so I wouldn't get pushed in by mia, only to slip and fall into the pool not so gracefully. haha. Caden did a reenactment of this later in the evening. it was hilarious! boy got jokes!

we chilled out in the pool for a while, played games, goofed around and laughed hella! awesome times. at the end, I was left with maddi and Caden. they were doing awesome, random jumps into the pool. I got video of some if it and will try to upload it into this blog... then it was time for dinner. hot dogs, brauts, grilled chicken, brown rice and Tater tots. thanks, Chris! Chris had the kids watching little shop of horrors. classic! he and Mattie baked chocolate cupcakes with cream cheese frosting. Maclaren and I sketched/drew on an app on my phone. Cherie took forever doing what she do. lol. after dinner, Cherie did the girls' make up. girls time in Chris' room and confirming Chris' manhood. lol. Chris' kiddies went to bed cuz the boys had school the next day. oh, and crazy teenagers, mia and Hailey, hopped the fence to the pool and went for a dip. Chris is such a great influence! ha!

before bedtime, apparently Parker got a hold of my phone and took a few pix. he even figured out how to set the one of his behind as my wallpaper. lol. kids these days, so smart!

hella fun times! :-)