Author: kosmond1

Weekend at Soapstone

This was an eventful weekend. We started out double rigging or hauling a double. Whatever it’s called, I dislike it and today wasn’t an exception. We started out fine until we were on the freeway and the four wheeler trailer detached from the fifth wheel trailer.

I failed to take pictures, because I was pushing the tongue of the trailer and Paul was pulling it while cars were speeding past us at 70 mph! We got it hooked on after Paul repositioned by pulling forward and then backed up on the freeway! I wasn’t thrilled.

We hooked the trailer up and were able to safely bring it back home and dropped it off.

With the trailer issue, we arrived at Soapstone pretty late. We are not familiar with the area and with the sun already set we were worried about traveling too far up the mountain. What if we couldn’t find a spot, could we turn around?

This was taken the following day so we could reference where we were and how to get to the same camping spot next time. 🙂

We made a right and took the next spot to the right. There was another trailer in this spot without a truck so we pulled in and parked on the other side and hoped who ever owned the trailer wasn’t coming up this weekend. I didn’t take pictures of that either 🙂 And VERY late the guy did come back! He turned out to be a really nice guy and was up here hunting for the month.

We leveled and jumped in bed, but first noticing we didn’t have power from the batteries. 🙂 They were dry and we didn’t have any distilled water to put in them.

The next morning we woke up to this! Not bad. And then I heard this…

Is this was the zombie apocalypses will sound like?

Turned out to be a great spot and when we come back we would like to return to it.

We had to drive down to Kamas to get distilled water and on the way back, we may have stopped off for donuts 🙂

Later that day we saw the sheep herder.

Paul made breakfast every day this trip.

Making breakfast a little sweeter 🙂

And that was it. Short and sweet.

Waffle

This morning Eli showed us that he is growing up to become a fine young man.

It started our as a normal morning. I was getting ready in the bedroom and Paul came in and started brushing his teeth.

A minute later a knock on the door, Eli asked if he could come in. He was holding a plate of waffles. He calmly told Paul that he wasn’t arguing and he was just letting him know he didn’t like burnt waffles. Eli said he likes his waffles crispy on the outside and soft in the middle, and he was worried if he didn’t let Paul know about this, he would always get burnt waffles. He also said it was very hard to get the wet waffles out of the dish washer and into the trash, but he managed to do it. 🙂 Eli then held out the plate of waffles for Paul that HE made. He said he was sorry and he didn’t mean to make Paul feel bad.

Turned out Paul had a very short night due to work, and this morning he didn’t have any patience with Eli and his complaining over his breakfast. Eli complained that his waffles were burnt so Paul picked up the plate with the burnt waffles, put everything in the dish washer, and left the kitchen.

I am so please how Eli handled this situation. He was so calm and just explained how he was feeling and the reason why he said what he said to Paul.

Eli is a generous, caring, thoughtful young boy. I sure hope he continues growing up this way.

Lime Scooters

Went on my usual run this morning.

As I was running I thought it would be fun if I ran into Paul and Eli. But what a crazy thought, they never come out and meet me while I’m running. I turned the corner and there they were! Well, wouldn’t that be fun if won a million dollars? Ha!

When I left to go running, Paul and Eli went around the valley and picked up 7 electric lime scooters.

Eli and I jumped on one and the three of us went around the lake.

We called some friends and invited them to come ride with us.

It’s always fun to be with Lauren.

We stopped under a bridge to throw rocks into the lake. I was really hot out! We needed some shade.

That evening I called my brother and we went out again.

I even got my dad on a scooter!

Sorry, Paul. This is the only picture of you 🙂 I had to document that you were with us 🙂

August Ends

I have been to a lot of donut and dessert places around the valley and this is the BEST glaze donut I have had.

The donut is quite large as well. When I’m down south I will stop by again!

Oh, Hobby Lobby I can’t bring home all the scarecrows.

I decorated a bulletin board for Eli’s school. I wanted something different and came up with the 3-D butterflies. I think they fun!

Since school has started our schedule has been busy and I have been having a hard time keeping track of Eli’s singing and swimming lessons. The next morning I looked at my planner and found a note from him 🙂

Want a delicious cinnamon roll? Here it is!

While we were waiting for our order they gave out free cinnamon rolls. They were delicious. Thinking about them as I type I need to go back and get one. Hmm…are they open at this time of night? 🙂

Mt. Nebo 1/2 Marathon

This has to be the 2nd worst marathon I have run. The first was the Las Vegas half. I don’t think any marathon will beat that one.

The day started out pretty rough. I was up at 1:15 am and couldn’t get back to sleep. When my alarm went off at 2:40 am I was starving! While Paul was making my smoothie I grabbed a granola bar. Paul handed me a banana and said the granola bar was a bad idea. I told him I was so hungry I think I will be fine.

3:10 am I left and went to mom and dad’s house to meet up with Ferelyn and Court.

4:10am we arrived at the buses. I was so tired. I was fighting sleep on the bus.

5:30am we arrived at the top of Payson canyon. Having an hour to shiver I sipped my smoothie while standing in line for the porta potties. 20 minutes before the race started I left the line and dropped my bag on the bus and got back in line. A minute after I got in line I realized I dropped my awake drug. I left it in my bag! I ran back to the bus. They let me on the bus and told me good luck finding my bag among the other 500 blue bags.

Tears, a short prayer, and 10 minutes later I found my bag! I ran back to the porta potties. While I was in the potty the horn sounded. The race began! Oh, well. Good thing for the chip and my time doesn’t start until I cross the start line.

6:40am. I let the hills take me down. So far so good until mile 4. My stomach was so heavy. I kept running. Mile 5 my stomach was hurting! I will NEVER eat a granola bar again before a marathon.

Mile 8 I was looking for a place to throw up my breakfast. I pulled off the road and into the bushes. I was able to throw up a little, but as it was coming out the top, it wanted to come out the end 🙂 So, for the last 4 miles it was a little spicy down there, ha!

Mile 9 I stopped to throw up again, but there were too many people around so I kept going.

Mile 12 I ran past several residential garbage cans and I was so nauseous I was going to use one of them. I decided to just walk the last mile.

2 hours and 9 minutes. I am so disappointed. I told Paul I wanted him to drive me back up the mountain next Saturday and I was going to run it again. I didn’t get a chance to enjoy the mountain scenery, the cool morning, or the sunrise. I was only thinking of my heavy, nauseous stomach. So disappointed. I was looking forward with a time under 2 hours!

Demolition Derby

Another fun day at the demolition derby.

Ferelyn refused to smile for my pictures. I’m posting them anyway! 🙂

Eli had a lot of fun dancing in the stands.

I’m not sure why it’s fun to watch several cars deliberately crash into each other, but it is!

An arena full of damaged and disabled cars with only one still running.

A lot of cars were destroyed tonight. Looking forward to next year!

My Last Monday Luncheon

Today’s Monday lunch we went to Nacho Daddy.

A couple of years ago we went to Nacho Daddy in Las Vegas and we couldn’t remember what we ordered, but this was not it. Eli’s face sums up what it tasted like as well. We didn’t enjoy it at all. It was very dry and VERY spicy. The waitress confirmed it wasn’t spicy when we ordered, but she was wrong.

For dessert we ordered apple nachos. We have had this before and it didn’t disappoint. When we need something sweet, we will be back for this!

This wasn’t a very enjoyable Monday lunch and not just because of the food. This will be my last Monday luncheon and not just because school has started. The Monday luncheons have been fun and I enjoyed EVERY Monday.

Eli said he is going to miss these lunches and so will I, so Eli and I will have to come up with some sort of lunch together and start our own tradition.

Four Wheeler Ride to Alexander Lake

We started out our ride by stopping at the gas station that makes their own donuts. Paul chose one that was longer than his arm…

Eli chose ice cream 🙂

And I chose the best one 🙂 Blueberry with cream cheese icing.

We took a left to see Lambert Meadow. We drove for several miles and came to a dry river bed. The terrain wasn’t terrible rocky, but a little more than I like. I drove across it and a mile later we decided to turn around.

On the way back Eli wanted to drive and asked to switch. I told him after we cross the riverbed he could drive. He asked again. He said, “Mom, I want to be a good driver, please let me drive.” What? My little boy is right. How is he going to learn unless he drives? So we switched.

On the way back we took the other road to Alexander Lake. Eli drove quite a bit and he did a great job driving. He is becoming a great driver!

Alexander Lake.

We walked to the lake and we found several dragonflies. These dragonflies were HUGE and they were flying around and being very curious about us.

Our crazy boy! 🙂

Beautiful dragonflies with vibrant colors.

This was the only flower we saw on our ride.

Lunch! We freeze dried chicken a few days ago. When we came to the lake, Paul heated water and rehydrated the chicken. Add avocado and Paul had a warm chicken sandwich. He said it was very tasty.

Ready to head back down, but first we explored the area and found a camping site a little further in we are going to use next year.

This was a really fun ride. The roads were nice and easy to ride on.

On the way back down we had to race the weather. We almost made it down and it poured rain. We were soaked. We made it to the truck right in time and it started to hail! This was a fun drive and I’m glad we took time to come up here.

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.