Mt Indefatigable

When Karyn first told us of the Mt Indefatigable hike we thought - yeh! cool! a mountain hike that (according to the dictionary) doesn't tire you out. Well someone had a good time naming this mountain because untiring is is NOT. But spectacular it is. The photos are evidence of that. In the background are Upper and Lower Lake Kananaskis and an awe inspiring view of the Rocky Mountains. We took the very steep, but not too long journey with Karyn, Jim, Elena and Peter on Saturday the 21st - a great way to celebrate summer solstice, especially when at the top we happened upon a great place to have a snow ball fight! We wish Karyn and Elena had made it into the photos - next time for sure!

Mount Rundle

So quite a bit has happened since the last blog. I will start with this climb that we did up Mount Rundle right near the town of Banff because it was the most recent. The climb was really awesome but it was kind of irritating because we had so many set backs that we really didn't hit the trial until 1:00. We left early but then we encountered a triathlon on the highway, really long lines getting into the park, sickness, hunger, fatigue, road blocks, high gas prices ... the list goes on and on

The really funny thing was that the trailhead was literally about 2 minutes from Banff and so you actually get to drive through Banff. Because it was so late by the time we got into Banff we decided just to eat lunch in the town. It was definitely the only hike I have ever done where we started in an air-conditioned, recently renovated, food court in a mall. We walked in with our hiking boots and back packs upto the Subway counter and ordered our food. It was really quite comical. Anyways, right before the hike a member of our party was waiting on a bowel movement to relieve some of his pain, 2 minutes into the hike he threw up but because he's such a trooper he kept going.

The hike was pretty crazy, it took us about 5 and a half hours to reach the top, the last bit was up some tough snow and loose rocks after getting out of the tree line. The elevation gain was about 5,000 feet so it might for quite the adventure.

After getting towards the top I was trying to decide what it was about mountains that I love so much. I definitely enjoy the physical test of strength, the beautful views and the fact that you get to go to a somewhat dangerous wilderness where you don't really belong. I've recently thought about how God probably enjoyed making mountains more than he did other places because of it's diversity and the holy sanctuaries that they have been and can be. Anyways, there's some more stuff that I thought about that I won't post on the blog but if anybody has any thoughts about why mountains are so awesome feel free to share them.

The mango of victory that I ate at the top is probably going to become a tradition.

Karis and Gymboree

Karis is one of the cute two year old kids I teach at Gymboree. She came to my Thursday class for the first time, and fell in love. Literally. It was during parachute time.

We were lifting the parachute up and down when Jonah came under the parachute too. He's my old boss' son, the one I worked with at the PR firm. Everyone was singing, and a little distracted by the hub bub of lifting the parachute. Well... he took advantage of the opportunity and just as the parachute was lifting up from above their heads, he puckered up nice and big, leaned over, and gave Karis a huge kiss on the lips. She's already excited naturally, but this made her more excited! It was the funniest thing. Everyone laughed, and couldn't believe that we'd just witnessed Karis' first kiss! She laughed and smiled. She always runs in now and gives me an energetic greeting. She says 'hi!' and gives me a big hug around my legs. She's so cute. Her parents are also so hilarious and cheery. What a big perk for working at Gymboree!

Birthday Fun & Last Hurrah

This past week I went out to dinner with my ward fam girls! It was so much fun! All eight of us piled into Katie's car and headed down to the Venice pier. As we stepped into the restaurant we could see the beach and ocean floating a block or two away from us. Everybody looked amazing, and, crazily enough, we all wound up wearing black and white. Wait, all of us except Katie- she was wearing a gorgeous coral colour. I feel like I stick out so much already with my massive tummy that I was glad for at least a little something to help me blend in better. The evening was over all too quickly, I was laughing so much at all the crazy stories we were dishing around I almost forgot to get a picture to document the event. Besides a birthday celeb, the night was also a bit of a last hurrah for me. My doctor's been warning me for awhile that she would be putting me on 'modified bedrest' sometime soon, and earlier in the day when I went in for my weekly she did just that. We had so much fun I knew it wouldn't be too hard to stretch it out for the next few weeks as I bunker down on the couch.