Month: July 2022

Timpanogos 1/2 Marathon

Today we ran the Timpanogos half marathon.

We started at Tibble Fork parking lot in American Fork Canyon. The bus dropped us off at 5:00am. We froze on top for 1 hour!

When we started all I could think about is why am I running 13 miles. Why? Then I had to stop thinking about the miles and listen to the quiet canyon. No cars. Beautiful canyon.

Took our picture at Timpanogos Cave. This wasn’t a resting picture 🙂 I ran this race at a comfortable pace and it was a very enjoyable race.

I didn’t look at my watch. The drink stations kept me in check of the mileage and I just kept my pace and kept going. Even up the hill!!

I finished feeling really good! I was in need of food and all they had was chocolate milk and tangerines. I grabbed all I could, sat down and enjoyed my tangerine, 3 cups of chocolate milk, and 2 cups of water.

Look at my time!!! I am very pleased! All my marathons I finished between 2:15-2:20. This time 2:07! Paul missed me coming across the finish line because he wasn’t expecting me to finish this early.

Little Pea ran his fun run. He said he wants to start training for 5k’s. I can start running 5k’s 🙂

Backpacking to Jewel Lake

I failed to get a picture of the trailhead, oh well. We started at Ruth Lake Trailhead.

We went with Monte, Brian, Jackie, and Ross.

It was a wet morning.

The rain brought out the flowers lining the trail.

We passed some goats. I’m bringing these next trip!

Made it to Ruth Lake.

Eli gave me many flowers. I love this little boy!

It’s always fun to see water lilies.

Top of Ruth lake looking down.

We passed Liberty lake.

Coming down the boulders into Jewel lake.

2 miles to our camp site.

Just waiting at the bottom.

After we set up camp, the sun came out.

Paul did a little fishing.

Eli did a little fishing.

Monte did a little fishing.

Back at camp I didn’t get Jackie in her hammock, but she looked really comfortable. We need to pick one up for our next trip!

Making dinner. This made us laugh. The men making dinner with a mini kettle and tiny measuring cup. After carefully measuring out water, how much do you put in? Just dump the rest in! Ha!

The next morning we took a different route over the boulders. This way was a little easier than the way we came in, but it was still a tough climb. Look at that blue lake!

Note for next time. When we go into Jewel lake, stay to the left, or the middle trail. The middle trail leads down an easier path through the boulders 🙂

A little pond on the way back.

Saw this guy on the side of the road on the way home.

A Laid Back July

It’s been a fairly laid back July.

My first 10 miles back to running. The COVID lung set me back. A lot!

I decided to sew Rin a bag for her baptism. I haven’t embroidered in years. I had to dust my machine off and figure out how to turn it on!

Turned out pretty cute.

The family, minus Seth.

Rin is so pretty in her dress!

Went to the library and look what parking space I was able to park in. Electric car parking. I love it!

We went out to dinner at Buffalo Wild Wings. The fried cauliflower was pretty good. The sauce was a bit spicy, but I would try them again. Eli sweet talked the waitress into free ice cream. That boy gets free items out of everyone. A few weeks ago at Great Harvest he talked the ladies into giving him 4 cinnamon rolls!

Paul and I finally made it to the temple.

Eli has been begging me to let him ride his bike to Mormor’s house. So today was the day. I grabbed my shoes and ran next to him. My little coxswain encouraged me to go faster 🙂 I can’t keep up with him, he’s too fast! He had a lot of fun. We will have to take another ride to their house before school starts.

Day Out With Eli and Rin

Ferelyn and Gauge had an appointment in Colorado so I took Rin for the day. We started out with lunch.

Then went to the arcade.

This was an old school game, but they loved it. Paul thought it looked fun. I guess we are old. 🙂

Lots of laughs with these two with this game.

We then went to the fun center and did a little roller skating. Rin had a lot of fun.

Eli did not. Ha! It took me a minute to remember how to skate, but it was a lot of fun!

The two ran around through the jungle.

The three of us played laser tag.

Shoot some balls.

By the time we got home, this was Rin. Eli wasn’t too far behind. When I got him home he didn’t argue with getting in his pajamas.

It was a fun day! I look forward to next time.

Splitting the Russian Hive

The Russians have swarmed three times. We failed to capture them, but each time they have come back to the hive. Time to split them.

Smoking the bees to calm them down before we take off the top of the hive.

That bee is poking his backside out! So cute!

This comb has some larva or baby bees. This hive is doing well.

We moved half of the full frames from the brown hive on the left to the white hive on the right. Then filled both hives with empty frames. I failed to get a final picture of the completed hives.

From left to right, we have Russians, Carniolans, Carniolans, and then Russians.

Miniature horses in the pasture today.

We did take a full frame of honey from from the Russians. 🙂

Removing the wax from the capped honey to expose the fresh honey.

This is a treat. Paul won’t let me take honey from the hives very often!

Backpack to Kamas Lake

Paul wanted to start out our first backpacking trip of the year with an easy, kid friendly hike. He chose Kamas lake.

We started at the Main Fork Weber River trailhead. Note the distance of 1.5 miles.

The trail started out with a lot of dragonflies.

He needed a selfie with one of the dragonflies, ha!

It was a nice hike up.

Which way? Stay to the right.

We saw a few flowers on the way up. Not sure if we were a few weeks too early or a few weeks too late.

We passed this stream and thought this was a good hike for Eli. We were a mile in and thought this was a perfect hike for him until we turned the corner.

That’s when the climb began. The trail went straight up for a mile! Little Pea was NOT happy. We were not happy. It was a hot, steep, long, hike to the lake. We were not expecting a mile straight up, or the extra mile.

Finally! We made it.

2.5 miles to the lake. Not 1.5 miles. This was not a kid friendly hike 🙂

We set up camp.

Paul did some fishing.

Eli did some echoing 🙂

Eli was pretty excited to do some fishing as well. He wanted to use his new fly case.

I stayed back and read in my net bug free.

Eli joined me. What a cute dimple. 🙂

We ate dinner. Pasta Primavera. Paul thought his picture of me eating was funny.

That night I wore my comfy, cozy socks preparing for a cool night. The socks didn’t help. I was SO cold. Miserably cold. Between Eli and his snoring, the cold, and my insomnia, I think I had about 3 hours of sleep.

When daylight finally came Paul got out of his bag saying how hot he was. Turned out I was in Paul’s bag and he was in mine! Apparently my bag is thicker than his. I won’t make this mistake next trip.

The next morning we hiked over the boulders to the other side of the lake and had a snowball fight.

Eli thought this was funny. See his face. Now that is a genuine smile. Do you see his snowball? Yes, it hit us 🙂

Eli found fossil tracks 🙂

Back at camp we ate lunch, cleaned up, and hiked out.

Kamas lake was a beautiful lake to visit and we had a fun two days. With the downhill hike of a mile at the beginning of the trail and the 1.5 mile up hill to the lake, it was a hard hike both ways. I don’t think we will be back any time soon. Too many other lakes to check out.