Mount Olympus

Two weeks ago Barrett and I hiked Mount Olympus with Barrett's dad and brother. Barrett hiked it with his dad when he was 11 and I had never hiked it before. We talked about doing it all summer, but ran out of time. So when his dad invited us the night before, we took the chance. To tell you the truth, I was nervous. Barrett said it was a difficult hike, but little did I know how difficult it would be. I am happy I did, but wow it took a lot of mental stamina.

The first three pictures are before the hike.

This is what I looked like from Barrett's point of view. I would not have made it up the mountain without my wonderful husband! He was amazing and kept pushing me. I really think he would have run up the mountain if I hadn't slowed him down. But I'm grateful for him!

Just before the last stretch of the hike there is a beautiful spot called the saddle. We had a short break and took a lot of great pictures.

I thought the lighting in these two pictures Barrett took were beautiful.
WE MADE IT!!

... and it was worth it. The view is breathtaking!

I was excited for the trek down, which Barrett was not excited for, and I quickly found out why. It's just as hard! But close to the end we took pictures by this perfect seat from a fallen tree.

The end! I think we should have taken a picture showing how tired we were. Poor Jeff had blisters on his feet and our bodies were dead. We all had sore legs for a few days... well all except Porter.

China Cabinet

Barrett and I bought this china cabinet at a yard sale for $50 before we got married. We planned to paint it black and started sanding in the summer, but it took a long process before we completed it. We forgot to take a picture of how it looked originally, but this is it sanded down.
Then we distressed the cabinet. It was fun to hit it and carve holes! This is Barrett working.
We then searched all over for the right paint and it took two coats to get it this black.
Barrett surprised me while I was gone one Saturday! When I got home he had sanded parts of the cabinet to give it an antique look. He also bought some nice hardware to replace the old rusted gold ones.
You can see the sanding and hardware better in this picture. It looks great in our small apartment! Now the next project is for me to fill it with our dishes...

St. George

Barrett and I went to St. George with my parents. My brother Jeff was also there, and my sister and brother-in-law came up from Las Vegas with their kids. We were only able to be there for the weekend, which was not long enough, but had a good time anyway.

This is Brittney's girl Maliya. Last time we saw her she was attached to her mom, but this trip she played with everyone and was adorable! Brittney, your baby is adorable! But just like all the rest of my nieces and nephews she loved being around Barrett the most. But that's ok, I still think she is cute.
We always laugh because Maliya hardly smiles when you take pictures, as you can see from the picture above. You should see the pictures they took at Target. No matter how many times the photographer squeezed the duck or how high her voice got to try and make her smile, she would not crack. So I was pretty proud when I took this picture fast enough! Of course, she is playing with Barrett, who wouldn't smile?
More time spent with Barrett and another serious face.
Caden on the way to Zion's posing with his cool uncle.
I got my camelback from Barrett's grandpa just in time for hiking at Zions!
Weeping Rock. It's beautiful!

My cute parents!

They don't look too happy here, but they had fun hiking. They were inseparable the whole trip.



We saw this tarantula on the trail as we hiked to the middle Emerald Pool. This picture doesn't do it justice, but it was huge!
Who would have ever thought Utah could look like a jungle?
We stayed in a brand new, super nice condo... we wish we could live in a place like this.