Once Upon a Time...

I made this shirt for Shawn the Christmas we were dating. He's never worn it...and I just found it. I made him put it on because it was so cute! Come on--who doesn't love that?? I made him two other shirts that year. One that said "I'm with the gimp -->" and "Sucker for Sweatpants" which he lost up at Crystal Hot Springs. Man I tried hard to be cute when we were dating...Not anymore! Oh well-He still loves me...in case you can't read the shirt...

Red Castle

This past weekend Shawn took me to Red Castle. I almost died, but I pushed and made it through. We went with our friends Cori & Zack. Cori survived too. We decided that next year, if our husbands want to take us on another crazy backpacking trip...well they can go together and we'll stay home and go shopping! (and I don't really even like shopping)

Not that I want it to sound like it was a completely horrible venture. It was just Hard. I mean REALLY hard. Like probably one of the hardest things I've ever done. But, with that comes a wonderful feeling of accomplishment. I mean--I did it. I wanted to give up before we'd even started and multiple times in between, but I didn't! I kept going. And that is a life lesson that means a lot to me.

Anyway...on to some pictures!
This is us at the start...or close to the start when we had to stop and put on our rain gear.
Because don't worry--it SNOWED for 3 HOURS!
After it stopped snowing we stopped for a little break, and I had to get a picture of the snow before it all melted away.
We stopped to take a picture when we got our first real view of Red Castle-our destination-and the mountain in the background.
I love this picture of Cori--because her face reflects exactly how I was feeling!
But don't worry--We made it. After...10 hours of backpacking in?? I was delirious near the end...hungry, stumbling over rocks, cold, tired, wanting to stop anywhere...just as long as we could stop. We finally did stop at this nice little camp spot someone else had made, it was just perfect.
On Sunday, despite my protests, we hiked up to a big lake to catch some fish. Zack was the first one to catch a good size fish and it was Super exciting!
I love this picture of Shawn with the fish he caught. It really shows how beautiful it was. The water was so clear we were able to watch the fish bite the line and get caught on the hook! I caught two little fish that we just put back...and Cori has a picture of that, but we still need to do a picture swap...Here is a picture of all four of us right before we started hiking back down to our camp.
Then on Monday it was time to hike back out. And I kept thinking we were close to the end...and we weren't. It was so hard...I hurt my knee and we were climbing over rocks and through mud. The downhill was just murder. But Cori was ready to go home, and set a speedy pace--it only took us 6 hours to get out!
WE FINISHED!!! Hooray!!! This is us at the end. We made it.
All we had left was the drive home...until Zack's 4Runner started acting funny. We pulled over and a few belts had broken. So we called AAA and got towed home. What a crazy adventurous weekend!

Shawn and I were almost just hit by lightning walking into our apartment. I've never been that scared. Holy Crap!! Whew- we're officially off for a week of vacation! Have a good weekend!! (and pray we don't die)

Yes, I have a husband who goes on business trips...

Shawn has been in New York since Tuesday. It's now Saturday. I miss him like CRAZY! Thankfully he'll be home tomorrow. He sent me this today after he went to the Manhattan Temple with his friend Mark. He's so cute! I can't wait to see him in person...