Berry Picking

 I came home from Colorado and it was time to have some family fun with Daddy! While I had the best time at the beach and on the river in Colorado, I love KC too! It does get much better than blueberries fresh off of the bush! 

Duke was pretty excited to see him name on the row marker. 

 

Duke didn't end up with one single berry in his bucket and neither did Sprout. It's a good thing that Gramma and E are good pickers. 

It was a hot and yummy morning. 

Birds

Sometimes I feel like Snow White. We have a bunny burrow under our shed, a family of chipmunks in our front yard, a opossum that lives in the neighbors yard next door and my favorite, birds in our bird house out of my kitchen window. 

I have so enjoyed watching Mama and Daddy bird (Bonnie and Clyde and no, I didn't know those were murders/ thieves when I named them )build their nest and listen to the chicks chirp waiting for Mama. 

I haven't named the babies yet and from what I hear, I think there are three in there but I only ever see two sticking their heads out. The bird on the right it the loud one. She is always talking, all. day. long!

And here is baby Chip. He is less than 1 1/2" tall, and a bit slower than the rest of the chipmunks but he is totally my favorite and completely unafraid of me. I love seeing him putter about. While we were in Vegas having our HVAC system replaced (story on the coming) chip snuck into the house. He was upstairs for a day. Jakob could hear him rummaging around and went upstairs to investigate. After not seeing anything he went back to bed. He came home the next day and chip was under the kitchen table, Jakob eventually got him out. When I came home from Vegas there was little Chip poop ALL over the house. It was in the living room, and in the kids rooms, on the floor and on both of their beds. I was amazed at how much a chipmunk could poop. Despite all that I still love little Chip.

Colorado High Adventure

 We were up at 5:30 am and off on our YW High Adventure. We went to Muller State Park in Colorado and it was STUNNING! This was the view from the front of our tent.

 Once we set p camp we went on a very quick walk up to the highest elevation point in the park. The air was feeling rather thin. 

 Fajitas for dinner! So scrumptious!

 The next morning we went horse back riding. I Love horses and riding, granted this was more of a saunter than a walk, there were more bumps on an airplane then there were riding this sweet horse. His name was Peppy and all he wanted to do was run. He would get mad if I pulled in his reins he flick his head back and knock my shoe out of the holster. He wanted to be the leader. I could relate. 

 Walking through the garden of the gods, was incredible!

 The sleeping Indian.

 After our ride we went to the cave of the winds, and explored some caves.

 High Adventure, not even close. But it was cool to look at. 

 A super tiny tunnel.

 Heather and I. This girl is a feminist through and through and she is fierce. Mama of 4, ER Doctor and one of the coolest women I know. So fun to go on this trip with her. 

 That night the girls cooked dinner. It was the only time on the trip they cooked.

 How perfect is that sunset though?

 The next morning we went on a full day white water raft our which was a lot of fun. Not as rapid-y as I was anticipating but certianly enough for our first adventure!

 Paddle high five. So we went though this rapid and our guide Derek calls out paddle high five. I was in the front of our raft and so I just lift my paddle in the air and smile not realizing what he was talking about, then the compnay took some pictures and everyone is touching paddles and I'm just in the front grinning like an idiot with my paddle in the air. It was funny and I was teased about it. I was also the only one with my phone on this trip, so there are no pictures of our rat as it was tied to my life jacket. 

 We are floating down the river and Bishop looks behind us and says, well than would be a beautiful picture, and then he pauses and looks at me. In my defense, it takes quite a bitof time to wedge out your camera front between your body and life jacket, open the camera when it's super bright outside and take a picture. So Derek turns the boat around for me to get the picture and I missed it. So Bishop looks at Derek and says, Ya gotta flip us around again, she missed it. So we did another loop. Stil, it is a BEAUTIFUL view.

 There was laughing, splashing, cliff jumping and water fights. 

 Then we notice some rams on a ledge. I whip out the camera to get a picture of them and completely miss all of the rams on the ground. Everyone laughs and says, STEPH look down. I seriously felt like one of the biggest idiots. 

 Then we went for a quick drive to a beautiful outlook. 

 Love these girls. Maddy, Lexi, Maddy and Sofie.

 While we were there there was a fire ban which was a MAJOR bummer. So we had to get creative with our smores.

 And just like that, we were on our way back home. It is an 8 hour drive and for most of that I dictated what was happening in the movie the Hunger Games to Heather as the girls watched it in the back.

Now while it was a really fun trip I do feel like I should write my feeling about it so I can remember, being that this is my personal blog and journal. In my mind a high adventure is supposed to push you physically and spiritually. You are to learn a few major things on high adventure. 1. Survival skills. The whole trip we didn't talk once about survival. Heather set up the girls tent, as leaders, we made all of the meals (but one) and we didn't discuss anything about first aid or what if situations. 2. You are supposed to feel like you can do hard things. The horse ride, while beautiful was a joke. There was nothing scary and they did not learn anything and the cave tour was just that, a tour. It was pretty and it was neat to see but it did not push the girls at all. Our rafting experience was, at times, tricky. Things could potentially get dangerous and fast but I feel that out of a three day trip we did not do a single hike, or push the girls to show them they could do hard things in they way that we could have. 3. come to know your Savior. I really feel that we missed the boat on this and it was really hard for me since I planned a spiritual evening and it got axed. We went on this trip with the bishop, one of his councilors and the YW president and I didn't feel that it was my place to take charge of things like this, but we did not have a single devotional. Bishop brought up how nature parallels gospel principles, but then we didn't follow through and help the girls grow by finding their own parallels. We did not set aside time for personal scripture study and we did not share testimonies. What a missed opportunity!!! And while it was a FUN trip I feel like the whole point was lost. Hopefully next time one is planned, it can be improved.

Now that I just vented, I need to end on a positive note. I am thankful for the time I got to take to go on this trip. For Mom and Jakob who watched the kids. It truly was a sacrifice for me to go and I am so thankful that I got to go. I am thankful for these girls, for the strength that they hold, and for the bond we share. If this camp did one thing, it brought us closer together and I am so thankful for that. I am thankful for my calling and for the opportunity I get to teach these YW and for the way it blesses my life. I am thankful for the outdoors. The whole time I was at camp, my soul was completely at peace. I belong in nature. Camping is my happy place and while I don't love bugs, or mosquitoes a piece of my heart was left in Colorado, in those mountains and on that river. I was so happy to be out in nature, it had been too long and I pray that it won't be that long before I go back again!