Tour de Idaho

We headed out of town for the UEA weekend for a little adventure to the middle of nowhere.  Jer and I started looking for places to go for a little outdoors getaway and couldn't decide and then we remembered how much fun we had staying in a yurt at City of Rocks last year, so we started looking for yurts.  We found one out in the middle of nowhere in the mountains off of Hwy 21 between Idaho City and Lowman..like I said in the middle of nowhere.  The closest I've ever been to this neck of the woods was a river trip to the Payette a few years back.  We decided what the heck, reserved it, and made a weekend out of it.

The yurt is operated by Idaho Parks and Rec and was located in a really pretty location with a trail system for mountain biking and for skiing in the winter.  We stayed at the Banner Ridge yurt.  Our "circle house" as Ian called it was pretty nice with a two burner propane stove and a wood burning stove.  Our digs also included an outhouse with no door and then a firepit/picnic area.  The kids called all the open space in between the backyard.  It really was like having our own little compound out in the woods.   We had to haul in our own water for cooking, washing, etc.  It was like being a pioneer for a few days.  A yurt is an awesome way to "camp" with kids because you're actually in a real structure and have a place for all their junk.  It also had a deck with amazing views.  From the dirt road where you park you take a trail that switchbacks down about 300 yards to the yurt.  We (that would be Jer) used the bike trailer to make a bunch of loads back and forth getting all of our stuff down there.  The kids had lots of fun riding their bikes down the winding trail.  Luke could usually negotiate the hair pin turns...Seth not so much.

Breakfast in the yurt.  In the mornings it was only in the 30s, so we ate inside.  We also read in the log from the guests before us that there had been some bear activity in the area (for the first time in 15 years) including a bear on the deck, so we were really careful with our food...no need for extra guests.

A shot of the kids at the fire pit area from the deck.  We enjoyed s'mores in the cold the second night.

Up a short trail from the yurt there was a lookout and a bench to sit on.  The kids had a blast taking their bikes up there and then riding down the steep hill to the yurt.  Seth was a little sketched out about it, so I ran alongside him the first few times holding on to the back of his shirt.  He is a great bike rider but sometimes get sketched out on steep downhills and takes his feet off the pedals.  I have to continually remind him, "Brakes!"  I'm not sure who was more likely to pile it up in that setup.  I also did the same thing for Ian on his Strider.  He had a blast.  His bike has no brakes, but he had total trust in me to stop him, and he just picked up his feet and went!  We took some cute video of all the kids making their runs.

This helmet has never really fit any of our kids yet we continue to use it.  I guess if he fell to the right he'd be good.  In the afternoon we went on a bike ride with all the kids.  Jer pulled Ian in the trailer.  It was supposed to be a "beginner single track."  The terrain was actually not that bad but there were all sorts of downed trees and major obstacles in the way.  The kids were getting so frustrated trying to haul their bikes over and around major blocks.  It was quite an adventure though and whenever we could actually get going and pedal they had fun.  There were some big rollers that caused some funny egg beaters.  (At one point Luke was so mad at his bike trying to haul it through some thick brush that he said he was just going to write in his journal that he went on a bike ride--that's it, no details because it was so dumb!  He got over it.  He brought this notebook with him and wrote in his journal each night. He followed this format he's learned in school of four sentences beginning with first, then, next, and finally.  I mentioned to him that he could insert other details and deviate from the format--he looked at me like I didn't pass 2nd grade.)  Ian went in the craziest trailer ride ever, but he loved it most of all.  I haven't ridden on my mountain bike other than to pull Ian in the trailer around the neighborhood for over a decade, but I thought it was so fun.  Maybe I need to start getting out again.

The kids did lots of just running around, making secret hideouts, collecting all sorts of large sticks, and just being boys.  They got along so great, and I don't think we had any arguments the whole trip.  They were also troopers in the car.  We borrowed my parent's truck, so they sat right side by side for a very long ride.  Idaho City is past Boise--one of the ugliest drives ever.  Once we hit Idaho City though it was canyon driving with amazing fall leaves--very pretty!

We did a little hiking around too.  Jer and I were commenting about how we let Ian tip over in the backpack last time we used it and then we did it again!  Poor kid.  He whacked his head off the deck.  Oops.

The yurt from below.

When Jer got up to get the stove going again in the morning he quickly lost his spot.

On the last day the boys walked behind Jer carrying loads up to the truck while he made load after load of stuff back up the trail.  On the way back down they would all get in the trailer and go for a crazy ride. I knew they were coming each time with all the laughing and yelling.

Dishes were not that fun.  I would not like this about being a pioneer.  It was a three wash system with some bleach at the end.  We used mostly paper but had to wash our cooking stuff.

I spent a bit of time just sitting on the deck reading a book.  In the yurt we played games and Luke became obsessed with this brain teaser game in there where you jump pegs over one another in this triangle wood block.  I need to get him one for Christmas.

On Saturday it was time to say goodbye to the yurt.  We weren't able to rent it another night.  The kids were sad to see it go.  We took the scenic route home on through Lowman, Stanley, Ketchum for dinner, and then on to Twin Falls.  We stayed with the Wards in Twin on Saturday night, and it was great to see them.  We showed up totally stinky and gross, and they provided us with showers and cookies!  They have a cute family and are such gracious hosts.  We went to church with them on Sunday and then hit the road with homemade rolls for the drive home.  Thanks Nicole!  All in all it was a great weekend of food, fun, and good laughs with my favorite people.  It is nice to be with your family away from it all where you don't have anything else to do but hang out with each other!  Luke said it was his favorite trip ever (he always says that), and he will remember it forever.  I hope so.

Fall Fun

A Frigid Weekend in Park City

Way back on Oct. 8th I ran a half marathon with Cid and Amy.  It was the Pink Series women's only one in Park City.  The weather was awesome until a few days before and then it became freezing and rainy/snowy.  Cid has been training and planning for this for a long time as something to check off her bucket list and part of her weight loss journey.  I was super nervous by the time the weekend actually came because in the 5 weeks between this one and the Top of Utah I did very little running.  I did some short runs and some running with Ian in the jogger but virtually no long runs after the beginning of September.  That is a really bad training plan.

We took all the kids and hubbies and headed to Park City for the weekend.  On race morning it was only in the 30s with rain/sleet verging on snow going on.  Cid, Amy, and I got on the shuttle bus to head to the start line and that actually turned out to be one of the most exciting parts of the race.  It was 6:45ish and dark outside and our bus driver got lost!  It was standing room only, and we were standing at the front of the bus.  He had this crazy set of handwritten directions and no phone number to call and missed a turn really early on.   The poor guy was seriously not the sharpest knife in the drawer, and he had no clue what to do.  He was asking us how to get there and wandering aimlessly making like 5 point turns in a bus on various highways.  It was a total zoo.  He also had the heater cranked so high that in our bundled state we were all sweating and dying.  At one point he headed down a dead end and only realized it at the last minute at which point he slammed on the brakes, locked them up, and came within inches of a rock retaining wall.  We finally convinced him to find his way back to where we last made human contact and get new directions.  We did end up getting to the starting line eventually where we quickly went from sweating to freezing.  It was so stinking cold with this awful freezing headwind.  I started the race in this big, bulky rain jacket and gloves which I just couldn't bring myself to shed yet.  By mile three my legs and feet were still freezing, but I was getting hot elsewhere so I left it.  My hands were shaking, and I had to have a lady at the ad station help me get it off.  At that point I was seriously questioning my sanity.  I started to feel better after that and kind of got into a rhythm.  It was a beautiful course, and I would love to do it again (with nicer weather please).  It was mostly flat with some hills...nothing I'd really call downhill.  I was almost 10 minutes slower than my last half, but I finished in a respectable time.  At the finish line the guys and kids were waiting like little frozen popsicles.  It only got in the 40s with cold wind and rain.  The kids were troopers and cheered everyone on to the finish.  It was exciting to see Cid finish and meet her goal of being under 3 hours.  She did great!  The kids enjoyed the rest of the weekend swimming and playing around the condo, and we had a very yummy breakfast at Kneaders before heading home, so it was a good time.

The pink blob in the distance is me and that's my back too.  I was so ready to be done.

Jer's cousins wife Lisa ran also and then there is Cid, Amy, and I.  It is now just a freezing memory and is seeming more fun in retrospect, and it was for a good cause!

Fall Soccer

Luke and Seth both played soccer this fall which made it busy but fun.  This is Seth's first year, and they just practiced right before the games so that helped.  Luke had a fun team and a great coach this year.  I was terrible about pictures and didn't even get team pictures of either of them.  Oops.

Seth's team was coed, and he had lots of friends from the ward on it.  He was pretty cute out there.  He just trotted around and occasionally made contact with the ball!

Luke improved so much this season and really played great.  The very first game his team played a team that turned out to be a comp team from Logan that had been playing together for a year.  That was bad.  It was such a blowout, and I thought we were really in for a long season.  The season got much better though, and it was fun to see them actually passing and learning some skills.  For the first half of the season Luke's team was always shorthanded.  They either had exactly enough or were a man down for several games.  That is a huge field to run around on for an hour without ever subbing!  We finally got a player from another team so we usually had a sub.

Plotting their next move.

Seth in action in the background.

Ian got rather tired of going to soccer games, but he was a pretty good sport about it.

Seth looks annoyed and for good reason.  Luke would not release the head lock for this picture.  I keep telling him he better watch out for paybacks...his little brother is no little brother!

Overnighter at White Pine

Last year Jer took Luke on his first overnight backpacking trip to White Pine Lake.  He decided to make it a yearly tradition.  Seth was a little disappointed he didn't get to go, but the hike is four miles each way carrying their stuff, so we told him he needed to be 6 like Luke was to start.  They may try some other places too.

Jer and Luke headed out a few weeks ago on a very cold, rainy weekend.  It poured nonstop Friday night and most of Saturday here, so I was kind of worried about them.  They did get tons of rain during the night...in fact Jer woke up and their whole tent site had flooded.  He said the tent bottom felt like they were on a water bed.  Luckily, we have a good tent and they didn't actually get wet inside.  Jer retrieved his shoes from where they were floating in the tent vestibule and got out and moved everything to higher ground.  He had Luke standing outside the tent in his rain coat at like 1 am while he got everything resituated.  He said Luke didn't grumble much though.  It was an adventure.

They had fun just hanging out and hiking around and then they went and found a bunch of geocaches.  Luke brought home some sweet treasures for me and his brothers.  As for me, when Jer was a lot later than we had established I started envisioning lightning strikes or something (there was tons of thunder and lightning here) and started to get really worried.  They got home just in time before I started scrambling the search party!  They had a blast though and it's nice when the boys have a chance to spend some one on one time with their dad.  (Seth had his own adventure a few weeks before on Labor Day afternoon when he and Jer headed out on the four wheeler to scout for elk.  It was also raining that day and the four wheeler started having all sorts of weird electrical problems.  I knew they would be back late that time so I wasn't even worried.  I guess it was overheating and died, and he had to pull start it...and the brakes weren't working quite right.  Sometimes it's better not to know!  We've since had that fixed and Seth's ready to go out again.  There is nothing he likes more than a motorcycle or four wheeler ride with dad.)

Here are a few pics of the adventure that Jer took with his GPS.

Jer took a picture of Luke on this same rock both years.  He sure has grown up a lot.  I put last year's picture on here for comparison.

Luke 2010 White Pine Trip.

Warning:  Bragging Follows
I don't want to devote a whole post to bragging, but since I'm already posting about Luke I'll brag him up a little here.  We had Parent Teacher Conferences on Tuesday and Luke got such an awesome report from his teacher.  It's no different from first grade, but it's still just nice to here that your child is doing well.  I know he's an amazing reader and does great with his school work, but it's nice to have his teacher tell you as well.  She also said he is a "joy" and is so "excited to learn each day" and is a "friend to everyone and everyone loves him."  I was so glad to hear those last parts.  I really want my kids to be good, nice kids and sometimes it's hard to tell from how they act around the house!  When we were leaving it was obvious that he was so proud of himself, and he told me that he is always going to get a report like that.  He really wants to do his best.  Luke is a great kid, but he can tease his brother and be a turkey so it's nice to know he is not like that at school.  He really is such a bright, funny, great kid and I'm so lucky to be his mom.  (I warned that this was serious bragging, right?)

On a funny note, two different moms from Luke's soccer team that I didn't know have come up to me and mentioned how darling they think Luke is and how they just want to squeeze him.  His teacher was also telling me that and she mentioned that she had a similar discussion with his kindergarten teacher.  He definitely does have the cute kid thing going for him.  He was blushing all over the place when his teacher was saying he was "just so cute and could be in a magazine."  I seriously think part of it's the glasses.  Well, I try not to have one of those blogs where all I do is say how awesome my kids are, but I don't even think anyone reads this anymore and I do think he's awesome...so there it is!  (Here's a little reality check though--the rest of the day we were home and there were arguments, etc. I just had to keep reminding myself of all the praise he got for his good behavior at school.  He's no angel, but he's a pretty great kid.)  In general, my kids get along great, but they also fight like brothers.  They spend hours playing together, but they also tease and torment.  If there is anyone out there who has same sex children, close in age, who has a super peaceful home all the time...more power to you!