Mt. Whitney

14,508 feet in elevation, the highest peak in the Lower 48.

22 miles.

6,134 ft in elevation gain. 

Early morning, lots of stars.

Beautiful sunrise, beautiful scenery, beautiful day.

And hard. Very challenging.

Lots of switchbacks.

Elevation sickness.

Amazed at the beauty.

I did it! 

Signed the book at top, feeling accomplished.

Good company.

Blisters.

Sweat.

Downhill.

Ran the last half mile. 

Feeling even more accomplished. 

Downed a whole bottle of chocolate milk.

Oh yeah, then the next day we went to the lowest point in the Americas, Death Valley. It was hot.

A big huge thanks to Josh for making this possible. I appreciate how supportive he is of me going on these kinds of adventures. There was no hesitation in being willing to make it work, and that means the world to me. And thanks to Tasha for babysitting Sam during the day while Josh was at work. I have such good friends. I sure missed Josh and my dear Sam, and was happy to return home to them, a champion of Mt. Whitney. :)

   

Family

    I sure love my family!

4th of July Videos

Here are some videos from the weekend of the 4th.

   

4th of July

    Because my family didn't travel out west this year, Josh and I decided that we'd go to Idaho this go around. He hasn't been to the big firework show there in years and we decided this year would be great opportunity to go. We had a blast of a weekend. Josh went fishing with Becky and Rulan and so Kathy, me, and Sam went on a hike to Cress Creek. We all went to the 4th of July parade in Menan, which was pretty cool. They had some airplanes fly over the parade...Sam has this fascination with planes so she was a happy camper. We met up with Brittany and Glenn Mackay, too! We watched the ducks float down the canal as part of the library fundraiser. We walked around Menan and all the cute farmer market stands they had.
One day we spent in Rexburg and we walked by the splash pad, and didn't make it past it. We had her swim suit in the car but she was not about to wait for that, so she had fun soaking her clothes; and, truthfully, I had a blast watching her have so much fun. And the fun didn't stop there, we set up Grandma's pool at home and Sam went to town in that glorious water too. Josh got his hair cut by the barber in Rigby, who is quite possibly the next Ken Jennings...he was quizzing me on facts about Georgia and I was sadly embarrassed.
It wouldn't be the 4th of July without fireworks and poppers. Josh taught Sam to throw the poppers at people's feet, so that day when Kathy got home she gets out of the car and is greeted by a cute-popper-throwing-grand-daughter. Rulan opted to stay home the night of the fireworks, so while Sam snoozed away and Rulan enjoyed a nice quiet evening alone, we all went to the outskirts of town and sat in the back of the truck to watch the grand Melaleuca show of magnificent fireworks over the river. I definitely felt a patriotic pride for America when they played the classic American songs of "America the Beautiful" and "God Bless America."
Happy 4th of July, America!

Chicken Coop

    What was supposed to be a short weekend project is now 2 months underway and still not finished. BUT, it has been a good thing for our family. We have had a lot of fun and I've enjoyed working along side Josh (and Sam). The chickens are now in the new area though it's not all finished, and they love it! I was looking through all the photos and decided to go ahead and post the ones I have and I'll post the rest later after it's all finished, otherwise it'll be a REALLY long post with lots of pictures. So instead, here's a really long post with not AS many pictures.