Mad cows

Cory took me on my first backpacking trip this weekend. We went with our friends Brei and Kelly to White Pine Lake, which is in the mountains above Logan, Utah. Cory really loves backpacking, and he really wanted me to love it, too, which meant that he carried just about everything - the tent, our dishes and utensils, the hatchet, the shovel, and just about everything else we would need. I carried my sleeping bag, pad, clothes, and a few granola bars, which means that Cory's pack weighed fifty pounds (does that sound right for an overnight trip to you?) and mine weighed about twenty. He's so good to me. The White Pine trail starts at Tony Grove Lake, and is only 3.8 miles each way. There is a gradual uphill for the first three-quarters of the trail, then a very steep downhill with switchbacks before you get to the lake. And herein lies my problem: I don't have good endurance. I never have. When I was in track in my youth, I did sprints because I couldn't even make it around a 400 meter track without passing out. In gymnastics, I could handle the vault because it was a sprint, but the floor exercise, which only lasts 90 seconds at the most, used to leave me gasping. I'm like a dwarf from Lord of  Rings: very dangerous over short distances. I hate being out of breath - which means that those uphills really were hard for me, especially with the added weight of the pack. The gradual uphill at the beginning was hard but not torture. On our way back, however, that steep switchbacking section nearly had me in tears. I really wanted to just collapse, but being a gazillion miles away from home and at least three and a half from our car, I had no choice but to keep moving. Cory said later that he would've made two trips to take up our packs so I wouldn't have to carry mine if it got really bad. Isn't he wonderful? He was so incredibly patient with me. He really is my very own hero. I'm a very lucky girl.

The lake itself was beautiful. It is so clear that we could see the bottom of it from our campsite, which was about a 75 yards above it uphill. There are granite cliffs backing it, which makes the campground a big bowl around the lake. We didn't see any animals, other than squirrels, chipmunks, jumping fish, and cows. Yes, cows. Apparently ranchers are allowed to free-range cows in the area. They were so loud! We thought we wouldn't get any sleep with those bovines mooing all night long, their calls echoing noisily through the bowl. We had a relatively warm night - the day before was spectacularly beautiful for hiking. Cory said that he's never been so comfortable at night (temperature-wise) while backpacking before. The biggest problem we had was the rampaging cow that went tearing through our camp in the middle of the night. We could hear it's hoofbeats pounding by our tent, and it's outraged mooing seemed like it was right outside our door. Cory got up and started flashing the light, hoping to scare it away, but I was afraid that he would just pinpoint our location so it could more easily trample our tent. After a few seconds, however, the hoofbeats faded away, and the cow was gone. I'm not sure what had the thing so upset, but the hoof prints that Brei and Kelly found the next morning by our tents proved that the four of us weren't dreaming. Who would've thought that our greatest danger would come from a genetically-altered meat factory? 

We had a great time with our friends, however, and we are happy that they invited us along. I was a little embarrassed being the slowest, most out of shape person in the group, but luckily good friends won't rub that in one's face. Yes, Cory, I'll go backpacking again with you - as long as it's mostly flat or downhill terrain (so I can make gravity work for me), or next time you really will have to carry my stuff, too. 

Lear quote: "But mommy, we can't move to Iceland, because I don't speak Spanish."

(Said while watching a travel show about Iceland, after I said that Daddy is thinking about moving there if our economy crashes.)

Ella quote: "Cosy ate mommy's pants!" I never figured out why she said this, particularly because although our cat Cosy is extremely annoying, she's never offered to eat our clothes before.

Ska-doosh!

Friday night was an unusual night for our family: we went to see a movie! We don't take the kids very often because Lear is afraid of anything remotely scary, and Ella is just too little still. The last movie we went to see together was the Veggie Tales movie about a year ago, and Lear was terrified of the scene in the cave - I could say that he was traumatized without exaggerating much at all. We've been trying to get him to agree to see Wall-e, but the previews alone scare him, and Cory at one point even offered to bribe him with a toy lightsaber if he went to see it. (Lear is afraid of the Star Wars movies, but he likes the toys - just like Transformers. We went to see a home on the Parade of Homes in Salt Lake, and it had Transformers on in the home theater. Lear started whimpering immediately and ran out of the room with his hands over his ears, but he loves Transformers toys. His favorite toy right now is a Transformer that came in a Happy Meal - he gets upset when he loses it, and he's very excited when he finds it again.) Lear is just a very sensitive boy, I guess. Aladdin terrifies him. The Incredibles is reason for abject fear. Sleeping Beauty gives him nightmares. He will run upstairs screaming if Beauty and the Beast is on.

So, we kind of had to trick him into going to Kung Fu Panda. We didn't really tell him where we were going when we left, and when he figured it out, we promised to leave if he got too scared. I had to take him to the potty in the middle when he got a little nervous, but he actually did very well - I even heard him laughing a couple times. Ella is the one who got scared toward the end. She wanted to leave during the last fight scene, but once I turned her around to hug me, she was ok - she even eventually got interested in the movie again and turned around. All in all it was a success. We asked Lear if he liked it, and he said yes. We asked if we should buy it, and he said no. When we asked him if we should see it again, we got an emphatic no. So he liked it, but he doesn't ever want to see it again. How can anyone understand the logic of a four-year old? 

Lear quote: "Mommy, I love to watch you do your cross-ting." (Cross-ting is cross stitching. I don't know why he calls it that.)

Ella quote: "I 'cawe! I wa' my daddy! I wa' go home now!" (Translation: I'm scared, I want my daddy, and I want to go home now. Said while at the movie.)

Our trip to Oregon

We went on  a week-long trip to visit my parents in Oregon. We spent one night on our way in Twin Falls, where we spend the night at Cory's cousin Marcella's house, which was fun. They used to live in Monument Valley, which is about the most remote place in the country, but have recently moved to Twin. We really enjoy spending time with their family, and we had a lot of fun - although Lear and Ella broke a picture frame and Ella plastered herself with diaper cream while they were there. It's a good thing they have kids, too, so they understand how they can be sometimes.

We took our time driving the rest of the way to Salem. We even stopped to take a short hike to Bridal Veil Falls in the Columbia Gorge - and silly me, I forgot the camera. Figures. Anyway, we stopped at the car dealership in Portland that my brother Barton works at, where the kids got gigantic balloons - the kind that the dealership uses for promoting the cars. They loved them. Ella invented a game in which she let the balloon fly to the ceiling, and Cory lifted her up to retrieve it. She had a lot of fun with it, until Cory got tired to lifting her up. 

We also went to the Oregon Coast - and it was actually sunny!! We've gone there several times since Cory and I got married, and it's always been stormy, so were were surprised. My parents, our family, and our nephew Zacharia were there. We stopped for our traditional lunch at Mo's, a fun seafood restaurant, and then went to Fogarty Creek, a beach that my family used to go to a lot when I was little. It has a creek that goes down the beach to the ocean, and some huge rocks at the shoreline. You can see a little of them in one of the pictures. The top of the rocks are probably three stories high, and I used to climb up there quite fearlessly when I was younger, but not so much now. It was much steeper, and scarier, than I remember. I think that I've climbed it for the last time, even though the view is spectacular from the top. The children had a blast playing in the creek, which is perfect for little ones to swim in - it's shallow, slow-moving, as well as wave and under-tow free. 

Ella quote: Mommy: "Ella, do you have an stinky bum?"

Ella: "No, I 'ave a cute bum."

Cory quote: "I have to race like a pee horse!" 

Fluting is looking less frustrating from here...

We've been busy. Well, I have at least, and it's all been flutey stuff, which is grand. Thanks to a flutist friend of mine, a local conductor called me to invite me to audition for his orchestra. After a week of frenzied practicing, I played a relatively good audition for him - although I have to say that I am frustrated that after 21 years of playing the flute, I still make rookie mistakes like playing too fast when under pressure. As I've said before, I have great hopes that someday I will grow up. Anyway, he told me that this was a "just in case" audition - the current principal flutist of the orchestra is trying to sell her house, and they don't actually need someone until it sells and she's moving for sure. What could I do, but smile and wait, and hope that her house sells fast? Meanwhile, I was preparing for my first private lesson in seven years, with a guest artist that was coming to town, Zart Domburian-Eby. She's the piccolo player with the Seattle Symphony, and she is a spectacular musician. Her recital was wonderful - I'm not sure whether I'm inspired or depressed. I vacillate between the two: sometimes I think that if I take some lessons, there may be some hope for me left, and sometimes I think I'm too old for a flute resurrection. However, my lesson was great. I don't think I made a fool of myself, which was my greatest fear. I've been playing so much lately, which feels very good, and all that practicing has paid off, because the conductor guy called me, and I'm starting rehearsals with the Orchestra of Sandy City this week. It was formerly called the American West Symphony, and it's supposed to be one of the better community groups here in the Salt Lake area. So, I'm excited. Fluting has been extremely frustrating for me for several years now, and I am starting to feel like things may be looking up.