Hiawatha Trail

We had another great weekend adventure yesterday! We decided to finally go bike the Hiawatha Trail. I'm so glad that we did. Adam was getting a little worried about our stamina since we did a 30 mile bike ride the day before, but I wouldn't let him talk me out of it. Since I only have a couple weeks left where I can ride a bike, I was determined to go!

The trip was worth it...even before we got to the trail. On our way out there we saw this moose just chillin' in the water. It is also one of the first animals that has responded to Adam's banter. Adam would say "goodbye" and the moose would look up at us and watch us!

You have to drive through a few tunnels to get to the trail head. In one of the tunnels, 4 deer were taking advantage of the shade. I was a little slow with my camera, but got the last one running out.

This is towards the beginning of the trail and the first tunnel that we came through. There are a total of 10 tunnels and 7 trestles. You have to have a headlamp or flashlight of some sort to be able to go on the trail.

Adam taking a scenery break!

This is still towards the beginning of the trail. The trail is 15 miles. Most people take a shuttle from the bottom and only ride down. We, being the cheap people that we are, decided we were tough enough to ride up 15 miles up at a 1.7% grade and then bike down. Not sure that was the best idea for me considering my current condition. I wasn't sure I was going to make it!

It was too pretty to give up though! Here I am getting close to another tunnel.

I recommend that everyone do this ride. It was spectacular!

I liked watching people come out of the tunnels. You could only see their lights for a while and then eventually you could tell it was a person.

A lot of the tunnels were really long...and really dark. I had to walk my bike a time or two because I was too chicken to ride! It is so dark that my head lamp didn't do a thing...only made it so people coming the other way wouldn't run into me!

Here is the first and longest trestle we came to. We were really high up and the view was incredible.

Here is Adam on the trestle. I tried to get the beams underneath.

From the trestles you could see the trestles on the other side of the mountain. I have to admit, this is the point where I started questioning my decision to ride up (and it was only about 6 miles in).

Luckily I have a good (and strong) husband that would hold my hand and pull me! (This isn't a picture of that...just a side note! I just liked this shot!)

Here we are getting close to the top looking down at the trestles we rode on earlier. (If you click on this picture and make it big, you can follow the trail across most of the mountain).

There was a little stream about two miles from the end and I spotted a little cutthroat trout in there. It was a little guy...but we added it to our animal spottings!

This is the beginning of the mammoth tunnel. It is officially called the "Taft Tunnell" or "St. Paul Pass". If you read the sing on the edge you will see that this tunnel is 8,771 feet. That is almost two miles long. It was the craziest feeling riding through there. It was pitch black and freezing cold. There was water dripping on you and it almost felt like you were flying because you couldn't see the ground. Luckily, once your eyes adjusted, you could see the reflectors that they had put on the walls to keep you from crashing into them.

Here is Adam getting ready to enter the tunnel. I was glad he was in front. My light was bright enough for me to see the reflectors on his bike, so I just followed that and hoped he didn't wreck!

We made it! Here I am just after making it out of the tunnel.

Here is the entrance to the trail from the top. We are actually in Montana here. I was excited that I made it to Montana for the first time...on bike!

The best part of getting to the top was knowing that we got to turn around and do the whole thing again...except downhill!! We couldn't wait to go through that tunnel again!

We saw this deer on the trail. We were probably only 10 or so feet away from it.

Here is a view coming out of one of the tunnels. On the way back we were pretty much the only ones on the trail because it was getting late and it took us (well...me) so long to get to the top. It was nice to have it to ourselves though.

Just another tunnel! If anyone wants to come visit, we'll take you there! I'd love to do it again...at least the downhill part. I am glad that we rode both ways though. We saw the trail from both ways and could really take it in on the way up because it was slow going.

The Idaho trail head is really close to Adam's favorite fishing hole on the St. Joe's. We stopped there on the way home and he fished for a while. I was too pooped to do anything, but sit and watch.

He also decided that 8:30 pm was an acceptable time to go swimming in a cold cold river!

What a fun Saturday! I can't wait for our next adventure...maybe Glacier National Park!

...third comes a baby...

That's right, folks!!! We're having a baby! Yahoo! I am due on December 28th...which also happens to be my wonderful husbands birthday. (Although, my dad is hoping that it comes a week early...on his birthday!)

This ultrasound was taken at 9 weeks. I am now 16 weeks along. We will find out next month if we get a boy or girl. Adam has felt all along that is it going to be a girl (although he's hoping for a boy). My mom thinks its a boy. Since there were differing opinions, my dad thinks it will be a girly boy! Adam said he would be fine with a girl!

**There is a little poll on the righthand side of the blog if you wish to express your opinion on the gender of the baby!

I am starting to feel much better. Last weekend I felt almost normal again, thank goodness! I hope it lasts...and so does Adam. Apparently I get a little grumpy sometimes! I had a doctors appointment today and he said that everything looks good and is progressing as normal. We feel so blessed!

Ward Camp Out

Our ward had a camp out this last weekend. We had a really good time. It was at U of I's Experimental Forest. I'm not really sure what that means, but if I start growing hair on my chest or anything, I'll know what to blame it on!

Here is Adam...sleeping in!

We found a nice little spot in this meadow. It was probably the most comfortable camping I've ever done. The grass was so tall that it gave a lot of cushion.

Here is one of my favorite little boys in the ward. His name is Ira...and I love him!

This is his big sister, Gwen. She was Frankenstein and loved it!

Here is April playing with Zoey. The night before we all stayed up late telling embarrassing stories. I love those kind of nights...until it's my turn!

(I would have taken more pictures, but my camera battery died...ahhh)

The 4th of July

For the 4th of July Adam and I and our friend, Alex, went to my parents house. They were mostly all moved in and the house looked great! We played a lot of cards and went into Seattle and lots of other fun things. (My sister has a more extensive post. Feel free to check it out.)

We couldn't wait for dark, so we headed out early to try out some of the stuff we got. Our favorites were the Mad Bombers. The fireworks the rocket into the air are legal there on the 4th of July. It was great!

Here is Alex shooting off his first Roman Candle!

That evening Adam, Alex, and myself went to a park by the lake to watch fireworks. The rest of the family stayed and watched some neighborhood ones.

It was pretty chilly that night!

Here is a view of the "stage" for the fireworks. It was pretty great. The best part about it was that all of the people that lived around the lake were setting off their own before the real show started.

I love this shot of the fireworks silhouetting the people watching from the dock.

When we all got back together we headed out to the street to shoot off more of our own. Here Alona and Dad are shooting the Roman Candles. The shutter on my camera stays open for a long time at night. My dad kept moving, but I love how the picture turned out.

Here is another use of the shutter speed. We used sparklers to spell words. This was my favorite!

I feel very grateful and blessed to live in this great country. Thanks to all of those who have fought to protect it!

Palouse Falls

We have not been blessed with good weather this spring...so when the good weather does come, we feel like we have to take advantage of it! Last weekend was really nice, so we headed over to Palouse Falls in Washington.

These falls and the surrounding area were carved out by glaciers.

Here are the upper falls. Not nearly as big, but pretty none the less!

On our hike down to the falls we passed this cute little train track!

We were able to hike right up to the top of the falls. It was really impressive.

Here is some of the spray coming up from the falls. The walls were so green. It was really pretty because the rest of the terrain was pretty deserty.

Here is Adam looking over the edge. I'll admit, it made me very nervous!

These rocks were right on top of the fall. They looked so cool.

There is a little picnic area back by the beginning. We hiked back and ate our lunch. There were also a bunch of Marmots that wanted our lunch. Adam kindly shared the crust of his sandwich with the greedy little guys!

Here is another view of the falls. This is from the park where we ate our lunch. It was a great day for a hike!

On the way home we saw these Longhorns. They really gave new meaning to the name "longhorn". This picture doesn't do it justice! I've decided that everything is NOT bigger in Texas. Washington has them beat...at least in the cow department!

Busy Saturday

We had a very busy, but fun, day a couple of Saturdays ago!

Our friend, Thuy, got baptized! Her and her husband, Aaron, got married a week after us. She was able to get baptized on their first anniversary. Aaron's youngest brother, Isaac, was also baptized on the same day by another brother. Thuy asked me to give the talk on baptism. What a good experience!

Since we were in our Sunday clothes, Adam and I decided to head to Spokane to the temple. While we were driving there, we saw this Moose run across the road. It looked scared to death and was running around crazy on the side of the road.

We made it safe and sound to the temple and had a great session. After that we met a guy near Cheney, WA where we bought a whole bunch of fly fishing stuff from this guy on craigslist. I think we got a steal of a deal and Adam was very happy with his "anniversary" present!

After the temple we met some friends at Kamiak Butte. It was "butte"iful, as Adam put it!.

The Ritchie's, The Boizelle's, and Adam!

From the top you could see all over the Palouse. We could see Moscow and Pullman. It was pretty impressive.

Here is one last view!

After Kamiak Butte, our stake was having an ice cream social in Pullman. We stopped in on our way home and got some ice cream. I was pooped out by the time we got home. Adam spent the evening perusing his fishing stuff and I went to bed early!