Annual Summer Cabin Trip

Hi everybody!

Time for my once-in-a-blue-moon blog post. 

I thought I would share a few pictures from our recent family trip to the cabin (my mom's side of the family). It is absolutely beautiful up the Weber Canyon. It feels like stepping out of reality and into a dream.

Clint and I took a walk one evening to the "Big Spring" where you can drink fresh mountain water almost exactly where the water comes out of the mountain. BEST. WATER. IN. THE. WORLD. We took a picture on the bridge over the Weber River on our way to the spring:

We went on a hike up the ridge behind the cabin one day. Clint's a hiking fool and he sort of initiated the whole thing. Once you get up high enough, above the firebreaker roads, you run into this massive grove of aspen trees. It was amazing.

Clint with our "minions" (a bunch of my cute cousins who took to following us on the trail. My youngest sister included.)

This one is on the road next to the cabin. This was just another beautiful evening up in the canyon and Clint and I took a little walk down the road to scope out some of the other cabin dwellings.

It sounds like we did a lot of walking, which I guess we did, but the main event up at the cabin is...BADMINTON!!! I played all night, every night with my cousins, sisters, uncles, parents, and the entire clan. Badminton is like the most underrated sport ever. So fun.

our Christmas

was awesome! We had a fun party-filled week leading up to it, a magical Christmas day, and even a lovely day-after party.

Clint and I are sort of clinging onto our newly-wed tradition of moving out mattress into the family room and sleeping by our tree. We love it so we figured we will keep it up as long as possible! :)

We woke up early Christmas morning to go to church early (about 8:15) where I sang in three choir numbers and Clint sat by himself in the congregation. It was a great meeting and we sang some of my favorite songs including "O Come O Come Emmanual" and "The First Noel." I felt like ending with "Joy to the World" but I was fine with the classic closing song choice "Silent Night."

Then we came home and promptly changed into pajamas again for our gift ravaging session. Clint and I have come up with a way to make the gifting session last as long as possible while enjoying every minute. We take turns picking out a gift for the other one to open, and watch each other open it.

Among other things, I received some nice cold weather gear, jewelry, a laminator, a nice weight set, and these ultra cozy slippers which I am wearing right now.

Clint thought this was a funny picture of me trying to remember what things were in each of Clint's gifts as I tried to decide what he should open next.

Clint received some nice, dressy casual shoes, running shoes, a new gym bag and lock, ties, jeans, and lots of chocolate. :)

Santa also brought us a few new movies and.... (drum roll) dum dum de dum! A new laptop! I was super surprised and excited to open up that little nugget. Of course we will both have convenient uses for a laptop, but I especially am salivating at the prospect of taking my work en plein air. That is, having freedom to work from wherever and also testing out my creative writing powers under various natural settings.

And so in conclusion I must say: Clint is a fabulous gift giver. As are my parents, his parents, and our siblings. We have been inundated with blessings.

We also refuse to follow in the steps of the local radio stations and pretend that Christmas is just a day that comes and then goes. So we still happily play Christmas music at our house in the evenings while sitting next to our tree and admiring our stacks of opened presents.

Hope your holiday season continues to be magical as well. :)

Happy New Year!

Our Top 5 Summer Adventures

Clint and I decided that we've done some very adventurous things this summer (and spring.)  We decided to list the top 5, and here they are:

5.  Cruise along Mexican Riviera

This one takes 5th place because, well, we both just felt like some of the other things were more cool.  But it still made the list!  It was a first for both of us. Cruising, that is.  One of our excursion stops was a revisit to honeymoon site: Nuevo Vallarta.

And I even got Clint to dance with me to some live music.  So you know, not an everyday miracle.

4. Sun Tunnels

On the eve of Summer Solstice, we watched the sun set through the west-facing tunnel, slept under brilliant constellations, then watched the sun rise through the east-facing tunnel.  As a spiritual bonus we also: pondered our existence in this mysterious and incomprehensible universe.

And as an unexpected bonus: we were quoted in the SL Trib regarding our trip.

Who wouldn't want to experience that?

3. Ragnar Relay - Wasatch Back Race

Pretty dang fun and adventurous and a lot a bit crazy.   Picked up some new buddies, too.

#3 alternate: Sam's SLC Half Marathon.

2.  Zions Narrows

This one is 2nd, beating out Ragnar, because of the extra physical endurance as well as the extraordinary scenery. 

Can also use the same 2 adjectives, adventurous and crazy, with some near brushes with death.  Ok, so, not really.  But Clint did get dehydrated and I did river walk at least 8 miles with excruciating blisters. 

We decided it was worth it.

1. U2 Concert

You may know that I am a U2 fanatic, but did you know that Clint also voted this event for the position of #1?  That's right, even with high expectations for the concert, Clint was blown away.  As was I. 

U2 dazzles.

People aren't kidding when they call U2's music a spiritual experience. 

What a spectacle!!!

There you have it!  We do enjoy our summers, don't we Clint?

a "narrow" escape... Zions Narrows, that is

Well, I know this post has been long delayed.  Clint and I had an adventurous time hiking Zions Narrows several weeks ago; we even thought we might have been rather lost or disoriented at one point even though that would have been pretty hard to do... I mean, all you do is follow the river, right? 

we're going back...

Only this time, Puerto Vallarta will be just one stop along the way...

80's and sunshine for us starting April 24 through May 1st!!!

round, round, get around

Yes.  It is time.  Time... for an update.

This is the next round of Sam and Clint's Summer; part 2 if you will. I have prepared the 2nd round of our summer flash cards for you.  (The term "flash cards" being used here to illustrate my dilemma over selecting a few of the best pictures out of literally hundreds.)


Our first stop features a hike that Clint has been trying to orchestrate for a couple of years now.  Beginning at the Crystal Lake trailhead and ending at the Smith & Moorehouse trailhead, this hike was about 11 miles one way.  We got dropped off on one end and had a car waiting for us at the other end.  Beautiful scenery.  And conveniently, we did this hike the same weekend we were up at my family's cabin which is a mere 15-minute drive from Smith & Moorehouse, where we ended up.

There are many more pictures from the cabin.

But here is a personal favorite that demonstrates my hardcoreness: me and my mountain biking battle wound...

Sitting around the fire pit.

A back-packing trip to Duck Lake.

Lake Blanche hike

Hike up Mt. Raymond (a beast of a hike.  I am not posting pictures of me on this hike because I was cranky.  The last mile of this hike was bushwhacking up an incline of about a 40% grade.  I kid not.)

And here are the Karren outdoor enthusiasts triumphantly atop Mt. Timpanogos.  About 7 miles to the wind-swept summit and taking a little over 5 hours total.  My calves were very sore the day after.

And I should mention this honorary banquet hosted by my employer where I was honored as one of the Specialists of the Year in my department.  Pretty cool.  But the best part was a paid overnight stay at the Canyons resort which Clint joined me for.

Me and some co-workers.  Ya can't miss me.  Only of us is wearing a color other than black and white.

Part of my anniversary gift from Clint: 4 hours of shopping at the Outlets.  And he didn't even complain!  In fact, he bought me a new dress.  Awwww!

Part of Clint's gift: a new addition to the wardrobe.

A joint anniversary celebration:  Italian cuisine at Johnny Carrino's. Mmm.

Yep, that's 3 years for us!  And loving every second.

we get around

Wow!!! Summer flies.

Our time is filled with trips, barbecues, office parties, 4th of July parties, and visits from relatives who live out of town… and they are some of the best memories of our lives!

Sometimes I feel like summer -- and similarly, our lives -- whizzes by in a blur of activities and picture-taking. Every now and then, it’s good to set the camera down for a minute and bask in the party mood. I'm a basker. I love to bask. Instead of taking pictures like mad to remember the moment for later, I want to enjoy the moment now, while I'm in it. (Of course, this could also be viewed as my excuse for being a lackadaisical picture-taker and blogger.)

However, I do value my memories. I love having something to go back to, to look at and read and document. Plus, I also love getting comments and keeping tabs on who out there still reads about us!!! :)

Clint and I love to play. We've kept up with our summer goal of hiking once a week, we've played some tennis (though not nearly as much as we'd like), and we've had some awesome road trips. Here's our Part I of our summer...

Frary Peak on Memorial Day

Grandeur

 Peekaboo-Queens Garden Loop

(Bryce Canyon full trip here)

Grand Canyon Hikes

North Kaibab Trail...

Cape Final Trail...

...and Cliff Springs

Mt Olympus

Red Pine on July 5th

(pic MIA but here is a substitute)

Road Trip to Midway

...We Get Around Part 2

coming to Blogger Summer 2010...

Bryce Canyon Adventure

Enjoy.

I don't care who you are, where you're from, what you did...

If the above title is what you're thinking to yourself right now, then please.  Don't feel obligated to continue.

It does seem like a lot of pictures, and no one knows that better than me because I took all the time uploading them to Blogger, but, you know... compared to how many pictures we actually took on this trip, this is just a few M & M's out of the bag. 

Anyway, this was my 2nd trip to Arches, but 1st official time to hike around and actually acquaint myself with the red stone formations. 

First stop upon arrival in Moab on Friday the 12th:

Delicate Arch

This about sums up how I felt after a long week...

And Saturday's adventures....

including:

Pine Tree Arch

(we're actually standing under it - sorry you can't see the whole 'arch' thing going on.)

Landscape Arch

Double 'O' Arch

The remains of Wall Arch

and Clint pretending to be the Vitruvian Man (okay, so I told him to pose like this)

A mid-day picnic in a heated car.  (In case you didn't pick out the

white stuff

in any of the above pictures - yeah, it was cold).

Sand Dune Arch

At the Windows.  North or South, can't remember.

I think these are cool pics because they capture the drama of the sky against

the red rock as the predicted storm rolled in.

We were privy to witnessing Arches in all the conditions of:

Sunshine, Snow, and Rain.

Go figure.

Turret Arch

Double Arch

Guess whoooo???

Balanced Rock.

Park Avenue.

...and the obligatory visit to the Arches Souvenir Collectors' shop

specializing in Indecision.

We ended up with a few goodies.

This about sums up how Clint felt after 2 days

of traveling a total of at least 18 miles on foot:

While somebody else who felt the same way

found an alternate way to occupy the time...

...with the help of a little BSB. 

(If you were a teenager in the 90s,

you can probably figure out who fits this acronym.  But...

since you've made it this far

in the recounting of the Vacay,

then you deserve a hint at this point by

going back to the title of this post.)

Yeah. 

Anyway, the point is, I stayed awake.