Lost Creek Wilderness, Days 3 and 4

Monday night was cold . . . but not horrible. The kids all slept in one tent and Ben, myself, and our two dogs slept in the other tent. The dogs did great with us.

We got up that morning and got ready for the day. The previous night Ben and I were thinking of maybe heading back down the trail and ending our trip early (with the rest of the group) because I was a little leery of our original plan for Tuesday: hiking a ridge and camping there. I was worried for a couple of reasons. First, if we had another thunderstorm like we did on Monday, I did not want to be on a high, exposed ridge. Also, the hike down (we were going to make a horseshoe hike) was super steep on loose rocks (per report of other hikers).

But upon waking on Tuesday, I had another plan: let's just day-hike to our original Tuesday destination and then come back to our campsite. It would be around 7-8 miles of hiking, but with very minimal elevation gain (800 feet) and we weren't going to carry our packs. I asked the kids and they all agreed on this - yay!

So we said good-bye to our friends and starting hiking up to the saddle. It wasn't too bad because we didn't have those awful packs on us. :) We hiked close to Bison Peak, where I had originally planned for us to camp. A storm was coming, so we started hiking back down the trail to find a good sheltering spot to eat lunch and be safe. Ben found a good tree . . . the shelter-effect was great, but Emmy wasn't convinced we weren't going to be struck by lightning. Luckily the storm wasn't horrible. After eating and waiting a bit, we hiked back down to our campsite. Now a bit lonelier as our friends had all left. The hike felt soooo good - a nice, "easy" stroll through the woods and rocks. I am so glad we had a day free of our packs.

 Olivia doing some rock-jumping that morning.

 Bella found Olivia's spoon and it was pretty tasty, I guess. She ran around the camp not letting us catch her! Ha. At these times, her pug-ness really shines through! :)

 Our Monday night/Tuesday morning group: Maren, Emmy, Lucy. Olivia, Ben, Jonas, and Miles. Chloe, Benji, Christian, and Paul.

"The Brethren" as they call themselves sometimes. They had figured it had been 25 years since they had last gone backpacking all together.

 Benji, our creative and artsy guy, requested a picture with the rocks all in it. :)

 This is the sign Emmy and I made Monday night for . . .wait for it . . . the Formisano family. :) We hid a paper under the rock, giving them directions to our campsite.

 There we are - heading up the saddle, pack-less! (Ben carried a pack - but it was considerable less heavy than usual.)

 There must have been a fire there years ago . . . such an interesting landscape.

 It was different than your typical forest, yet still beautiful and intriguing.

 A fire-hole?

 Just another cool spot.

 This was a pretty meadow area . . . Jonas stormed off because he got mad about something . . . again. (Just keepin' it real.)

 This was our turn-around spot - Bison Peak is the hill right behind us. Per our original plans, we were going to set up camp somewhere here and then maybe "summit" the peak later in the day. But a storm was coming and we needed to head back on the trail, so we didn't. Oh, the mosquitoes were horrible here! Yuck!

 Here we were taking shelter - we four girls. :)

 Those rock-blobs were cool and a little Goblin-Valley-like!

 Jonas using his awesome binoculars.

 Nature sometimes provides some nice places to rest.

 Emmy had to try, too, of course.

 A little aspen forest - so cute!

Every once in a while, Bella would let us hold her - for about 30 seconds. :)

We got back to camp by mid-afternoon. Ben and I tried taking a nap, but were disturbed in our attempts by a screaming Lucy. She had fallen down some rocks and scraped up her leg. Nothing serious, like her screams made it out to be. :) That ruined me for napping, but Ben was able to get a good hour nap in.

We enjoyed a yummy dinner - Benji had left us with a couple of freeze-dried "meals" that he had left-over. The boys got to share some lasagna, and Ben and I got some yummy pasta. The girls ate their planned-on Ramen Noodles. (Side-note, I made a yummy dinner for Monday night: https://www.theyummylife.com/recipes/366. I did canned chicken instead of gross dehydrated chicken. I just want to remember so I can do it again sometime!)

We are starting a tradition of having taffy as our treat on backpacking trips. We did this with our Grand Gulch trip. The taffy comes from our local hardware store and it is sooooo good. I told the kids  that night to try roasting their taffy - they did and loved it!

 Taffy-roasting: a new tradition, too, perhaps!

 Lucy wanted me to take a picture of her "perfectly roasted taffy." :)

 Emmy rock-jumping.

It was another chilly night, but we slept okayish. I mean, the kids totally slept fine - Ben and I are just old and don't sleep super great while camping. But whatever.

 The three kids enjoying breakfast on the rock.

Jonas ready to head back to the trailhead . . .

 And we made it! Even though it was 6 miles downhill for the most part (there are always some ups, though), it was tough! I think we were all pretty tired by this point. But we cruised down . . . and almost lost Bella again. That ridiculous pug!

 Ben made it, too, of course - with all the extra gear he had to carry. Ben's pack was about 40 pounds, mine 30, then the kids' were like maybe 20 (Miles), 17 (Jonas), 15 (Emmy) and 10 (Lucy). Next time I am having Miles help carry the tent. He's way stronger than me!

 The kids eating some taffy - I told them to bite it like a Gold-Medal winner since they were winners at the game of Backpacking. The kids all did great. Yes, we had many unpleasant moments on the trip, but those happen at home, too. :)

We decided to hit up "Coney Island" on the way from our trailhead to Littleton (we were going there for a couple of days - to enjoy the 4th with family). Coney Island is a funny-looking hot-dog restaurant that we always pass on our way to Littleton.

Boy was it gross! Lucy wouldn't even eat her hot-dog. It was so lame. I was mad to have wasted my hard-earned calories on such cruddy food. Well, we'll never go there again! But it was fun in it's own way . . . just disgusting, too.

Well, wow, what a trip!

YW Camp for Emmy and Myself!

So I left for camp on Tuesday morning, driving up 3 YCLs (Youth Camp Leaders) from another ward. Those girls hardly said a thing on our 2-hour drive! The first day and a half were just the Camp Director and her two assistants, Jana (2nd counselor in stake YW), myself, and 14 YCLs. We got to all stay in the "lodge" up at our campsite, Ragged Mountain. The lodge meant flushing toilets and staying up way late because 14 YCLs were right above us. :) It was fun to get up there early and I think the YCLs liked it as well. I helped Jana with the meals - dutch oven lasagna, dutch oven cobblers, breakfast burritos, and taquitos. Jana is pretty amazing with food!

Wednesday afternoon the rest of the campers all came up - including my little Emmy. :)

I'm not going to go in to much detail - but it was a good time and Emmy loved it! Yay!

Here are just a few pictures:

 Emmy chose to go on the "High Intensity" hike with me (which I was asked to help with). I was so glad to have her with me! Those are the Ragged Mountains behind her - hence the name of our church camp site.

 We had a few lovely stream crossings.

 A few of the girls taking a break - Holly (Emmy's good friend), Olivia, Katelin (a YCL from our ward), someone's legs, and Emmy.

 Tomahawk lake - so beautiful! It turned out to be a 7-mile hike. It was good to get some exercise!

 Right as I crossed this stream on the log, a snake slithered in front of me. Yikes!

 She dipped her hat in the water - good thinking!

 Strummin' on the drums with President Nelson (from our stake presidency). Just one of the afternoon activities.

 One of the roll-calls by my ward. I should have gotten it on video - it was pretty cute . . . "The ants go marching 12 by 12 . . . the littlest one 'Ah, a bug!' . . . " With Emmy being the littlest one and she faints and falls back and one by one they all fell on each other . . . :)

Emmy on the zip-line:

 Tami (our secretary in the stake) and I were in charge of the stake activity on Friday morning. We did some minute-to-win-it games associated with the YW values. It was a little chaotic, but hopefully fun enough for the girls. :)

I left Friday at about lunch time - to get ready for our backpacking adventure! Emmy come home late Saturday afternoon. It was great having Emmy there and I think Emmy was happy to have me there. :)

Friday Fun

Friday we were able to get out and do some fun things. I dropped the girls off at the rec. center so they could swim and play (and buy crappy food and drinks . . . ). The boys and I, plus a friend Aiden, went to the RATs near Ridgway - RAT = Ridgway Area Trails. We had a blast mountain biking - I really love it there!

Jonas, Miles, and Aiden almost to the top.

Jonas and a full Ridgway reservoir in the backdrop.

 Groupie.

 The flowers were really beautiful - even if my pictures don't show it. :)

This was at the bottom - sooooo beautiful!

A short video:

After our ride we stopped in Colona so the boys could get some doughnuts. Then we went to the rec. center. The girls had had a fun few hours on their own. The boys joined them in the pool and they all had fun splashing around for a bit.

These videos were taken in slow-motion on my phone - the girls loved watching them. But they only transfer to my computer in regular-motion. Whatever. It shows Lucy and then Emmy going off the slide and then off the high-dive.

That evening we went "shooting." We have an extra BB gun that we borrowed for Ben's trip last weekend and so the kids all took turns (and we adults did, too) shooting. It was pretty fun.

Lucy shot, too - I guess I just didn't get any photos of her.

We had a chilly rest of the weekend - highs barely reaching 60! Rain and hail, too. What a way to start summer! But the forecast for this week gets up in to the upper 80s so I think summer will be here soon.

FAMILY

When we repainted our walls 1 1/2 years ago, we had left this wall blank - it had been ridiculously covered with holes and pictures before us. We just sort of used the existing holes and hung up random pictures. It was kind of messy. I wanted to display our family photos from years past and so I finally got around to working on it - with Ben's help. This time we just used "sticky things" to adhere the frames to the wall - I hope they work; it's so much nicer than making holes in the wall.

I love how it turned out!

Lucy and Ben's Duet

Lucy had been practicing this piece for piano. Her teacher encouraged her to play the duet with her dad. So they did! It took a few times to get it just right - but Lucy finally did!

Father Ben

Ben likes to call the boys (when he asks them to say a prayer) Deacon Jonas or Teacher Miles ('though now they are both teachers, so they both get that title). So we'll call him Father Ben for this post.

Fathers' Day was a nice day - hopefully Ben thought so, too! I'm sure he thought that as soon as he finished speaking in church. :) He gave a great talk on fatherhood!

He got lots of "treats" from us - cheese, vegemite (so gross), fun sodas, european crackers (cookies in America), a couple books, and a t-shirt that has yet to come. :)

For dinner Ben made some delicious chicken, I made bread and potatoes and homemade ice-cream, and Jonas helped me with a strawberry-rhubarb pie. Everyone decided they like plain ol' rhubarb pie better!

Anyways, we sure love and appreciate Ben in our home!

If I had never met your father how would you describe him to me? 

Miles –Average height, a beard, balding.

Jonas – He’s got bald on top, he’s not that tall, uhh, and he likes outdoors.

Emmy – Short for a man. Baldish on the top. Good-looking. And nice.

Lucy – He is short, nice, almost bald, and is a nurse at the Black Canyon Surgical Center.

What do you think is your father’s favorite food to eat?

Miles – Swedish meatballs.

Jonas – No idea. Chicken, I don’t know.

Emmy – Chicken.

Lucy – This is hard. I think his favorite food is (can you give me a clue/me - “no”) . . . chicken.

What is something your father loves to do?

Miles – He likes to do things what Lewis and Clark did. Like things in that time era.

Jonas – Camp. Hike. That’s all.

Emmy – Definitely not give talks. Camp, hike, backpack, be with his family, go to Utah, maybe swim.

Lucy – Camp, hike, spend time with his kids, jump on the tramp with Emmy and Lucy.

Which of the kids in our family is most like dad?

Miles – I don’t know. None of us.

Jonas – Jonas, well Miles’ feet are big and I’m skinny and Dad is skinny even though he calls himself fat.

Emmy – Emmy.

Lucy – Lucy.

What is something that dad does that makes you laugh?

Miles – He has bad jokes that are funny.

Jonas -  Toots a lot.

Emmy –His like dad-jokes are kind of funny but kind of stupid so it makes me laugh.

Lucy - Tells funny jokes and does funny things.

What do you think you do that you learned by watching your father?

Miles – I really don’t know. I know I’ve learned things, but . . . 

Jonas – I guess pitch a tent.

Emmy – I don’t know, umm, do I have to give an answer?

Lucy – I learned how to hike, camp, and make stuff like chicken.

What qualities do you think you inherited from your father?

Miles – Well we agree on a lot of stuff.

Jonas – I don’t know. Being alive maybe.

Emmy – Maybe liking to play “The curling game” and reading.

Lucy – That I like camping, hiking, laughing, jumping on the tramp, that’s it.

What are some of your first memories of dad?

Miles – My baptism.

Jonas – I can barely remember the old house, so it wouldn’t be there. I remember him driving his blue bug.

Emmy – When we went fishing and he would gut all the fish and I would think he’s so brave and mean at the same time.

Lucy – Oh him carrying me in the backpack when we’d always walk and me sucking on my boo.

What do you think dad wants you to become?

Miles – To be a good person, to obey the commandments, to be honest, I guess that’s it.

Jonas – A good husband and a good working man.

Emmy – A good mother, and what I want to become he wants me to become.

Lucy – A mother, a nice girl, a nurse, a surgeon I mean. And live in a good house. And be nice.

What do you think dad loves about being a dad?

Miles – Having kids.

Jonas – I don’t know. Umm. I don’t know. (Jonas these are lame, think of something . . . ) I don’t know.

Emmy – Having children. Being married to mom. And getting to go on really fun adventures with his family.

Lucy -  That he could have children, raise them, and have fun with them, and do funny jokes with them.

What do you think dad dislikes about being a dad?

Miles – Also having kids.

Jonas – When the kids argue.

Emmy – having kids and they fight all the time. And he has to work all the time and get money for his family

Lucy – When the kids fight. And some of the work that he does (because sometimes he complains about it).

What makes dad happy?

Miles – History.

Jonas – When the kids don’t argue.

Emmy – When we don’t fight. And, umm, when, ummm, we. No. Going hiking and spending time with family and riding bikes with mom in the morning when he gets work off.

Lucy – When we all get along. Getting outdoors and camping.

What makes dad sad?

Miles – Death of a loved one.

Jonas – When Wilson died.

Emmy – Getting news about Uncle Joe. When we don’t follow God’s commandments. Having to work more.

Lucy – When he comes home to the house a mess and he’s so mad about it he can’t get over it and when his kids fight.

What makes you proud of your dad?

Miles – The things he does. Like everything he does – organizing campouts. He was the bishop, that’s cool.

Jonas – That he’s a hard-working dad.

Emmy – That he’s my dad. He knows how to do a lot of things. He was the bishop. And he’s a good man.

Lucy – That he’s short, that I got to have him as my dad, that he’s a surgeon, that I get to be a Maxwell.

How do you know that dad loves you?

Miles -  (Why did Dad make all these hard questions? That’s not the answer.) By everything he does.

Jonas – Well cuz if he didn’t that wouldn’t be good and I don’t know. Good parents are supposed to love their children. 

Emmy – Cuz sometimes he jumps on the tramp with us when he doesn’t want to at all. He goes to work every day so he makes money for us. He tells us he loves us.

Lucy – Because he hugs me, he tells me he loves me (no der), and that he gets to take us on fun trips.