The Randalls

I was looking through my summer photo folders and noticed I’ve missed a bunch of stuff we did.  So, here and there I’ll try to catch everyone up.  Well, at least the three people who actually read this blog.

Back in July the kids and I took off to Mesquite for a week during Mark’s two-week stint in China.  No way was I sticking around town for two weeks without him.  I count myself lucky that my parents chose to move closer to me in retirement. 

Since Mesquite is super hot we spent most of our time in water.  Here’s what I get when Piper poses.

And here’s what I get when the girls think I’m not wet enough.  They try to get me in the water.

We finally got all of the girls to sit still and take a picture together.

The girls had a blast playing with my dad at the splash pad.  You couldn’t be at the pad without getting wet.  Just plain too hot.

And what’s better than sushi after a long day at the splash pad?  Nothing!  And yes, this is just my portion of the sushi.  I counted it up and I ate 33 pieces of sushi.  I was hungry and I can pack it down.  Don’t judge.

The next day I took each kid out in the Green Machine.  This was my car in High School.  At least for my Senior year…when it was working.  It tended to break down a lot on me.  But only at night when using the headlights. 

Piper loved it the most.  Calista had a blast.  Téa was scared.  She said not to go fast.  She kept asking if the car was going to break down since it was just as old as Dad.  At least I don’t have to worry about her wanting to drive a convertible when she’s 16. 

The funny thing while taking Piper out was that she had to have her phone with her.  My dad passed us on the road while Pip was in the car with me and he laughed because she had her elbow on the door just relaxing and her cell phone up to her ear.  It was hilarious. 

We had a great time the week we were there.  It was awesome for me having help with the kiddos and having something to take our minds off Mark being gone.  Our next visit to Mesquite will be soon so we can enjoy the new pool my parents just put in.  Sweet!

Can’t believe school has started already.  The girls were super excited to head off this morning.  They humored me for two minutes for pictures before they headed to the bus stop.  And for the record I tried to convince them not to wear pants/leggings.  It’s 97 degrees out today and they both insisted on wearing these outfits.  Plus, I’m not to keen on the whole dressing the same thing.  Oh well.  I guess they are old enough to dress themselves.  I’m off to the bus stop to meet them in 10 minutes.  I’m guessing my little Calista is going to be exhausted. 

Here’s Téa ready for 3rd grade.  Yikes.

And here’s my big 1st grader, Calista.

This is what I got when I said “pretend you love each other”. 

I guess they really do love each other!  Here’s to another school year!  I do have to admit that Piper and I have been a little bored.  Don’t worry.  I’m not complaining.  I’m actually enjoying being bored.  It just means I get to find fun things to do with just Piper.

I’m still feeling the rush of completing something hard.  Mark and I, along with Leslie and Jared, hiked Mount Timpanogos on Saturday.  I only found out two days before that I’d be joining the group.  I was originally going to stay home with the kids so Mark could go.  But, Leslie offered her girls for the day so since babysitters were available I couldn’t resist. 

We headed out at 3:30 am.  Yup.  You read that right.  We got to the turn off for the Timpooneke Trailhead and it was blocked off.  The guys there told us the parking lot was full and that we’d have to park along the road.  I guess with the full moon going on lots of people decided to night hike the mountain. 

Here we are at the beginning of the trail.  Jared, Leslie, Mark and me.  There were five teenagers with us as well that Jared and Leslie brought.

Actual starting time was just a few minutes before 5 am.  Hiking in the dark for the first hour or so was interesting.  I used my flashlight but still wasn’t able to see much around me.  Plus, Leslie set a quick pace since she was trying to beat last year’s time.  It being my first time, I was just trying to keep up.  Mark mentioned a few times that it was weird for him being at the back of the group.  For the three or four years he was Scout Master he was always the leader on their hikes.  I was the slowest going up but I didn’t feel the need to push myself.  I’d never hiked Timp so I wasn’t sure how my pace should be. 

This was our first patch of snow/ice we came across.  There was a lot more snow this year than last year, according to Leslie.  We had to cross over snow four or five times. 

The sun finally came out.  It took a while longer for us to finally be in the sun.

That’s me, climbing straight up instead of the switch backs.  It was much faster.  But, shhh.  Don’t tell the people in charge of the trail because now there is a fine for blazing your own trail.

We finally made it to the top of the ridge, past the saddle and had a great view.  I like how I look taller than Mark here. 

And here’s Jared, my brother-in-law. I lost count of how many times I heard people compliment his hat.

Then it was another 45 minutes to the top.  The rest of the trail made me a little nervous but I did better than expected.  Nothing too scary but I was so glad to have Mark behind me the whole way up just in case.  Funny side note: we saw a lot of couples coming down the trail the whole morning and they were all holding hands.  Mark said to me “I’m glad you don’t expect me to hold your hand the whole hike”. 

Here’s proof that we made it to the top.  Out of the five teens that came with us, only one went to the top with us. 

We sat at the top and had lunch, relaxed and enjoyed the nice day.  There wasn’t any wind up there by the hut and it was nice and warm.  Here’s Leslie enjoying the break.

The hike was a lot of fun going with Leslie and Jared.  It was so much fun doing this with Mark.  We get the occasional date, a few hours here and there without kids, but to have an entire day doing something fun in the great outdoors was amazing.  I know Mark misses doing that kind of thing.  Maybe someday he’ll be back as a Scout Master so he can do all that stuff more often. 

On the way down we were able to enjoy the scenery more.  Got to see the wild flowers.

On the way down we decided sliding down the snow was a lot quicker and more fun.

This was the last slide down.  

So cold! And wet. I couldn’t feel my hands for a while.  And my butt was wet for about an hour.

There was a lot of stream crossing near the bottom.

And finally…the bottom. 

If it weren’t for all the people who got there before us, this would have been the end of the hike.  But, no.  We had to hoof it another 3/4 of a mile to our cars.  We had a great time and we were sore (still am, two days later) but it was so worth it.  What made it even more special was that Mark said he was really proud of me that I made it to the top.  Thanks hun.  I was proud of you too.  You stuck it out at the back of the group to keep me company and you didn’t mind holding my hand a few times at the top. 

Hike time start to finish: 5.5 hours up + 3.5 hours down = 9 hours.  Not too shabby for an out of shape mother of 3.