Trekkin'

Greg and Renita (Jeff's parents) are in charge of the Pioneer trek for the youth (14-18 yrs) in their stake (an overnight re-enactment of the LDS pioneer trek from Nauvoo, IL to Salt Lake City, UT). It is a huge responsibility and they, along with their committee have already been planning for months for the trek, which will take place in April. 

Greg and Renita have been doing a lot of hiking lately, trying out the trail that will be used for the trek and one Saturday, a couple of weeks ago, they invited Jeff, Luke and I to hike part of the trail with them. We had a great time, except for that one stretch in the middle where we left the flooded path and struggled through thorny brambles, thick bushes, sticky mud, and ironically, large puddles. We had no idea how much longer we had to go before we got back to the path and it seemed to drag on forever. In the middle of it, I even said, "When I blog about this, I'm just going to write, 'Here are a few pictures of the worst hike I've ever been on...' and leave it at that." But when we finally emerged from the forest and back onto the path, the hike totally redeemed itself. Check it out...

Luke was ready to get hiking as soon as we got out of the car.

Luke laughed so hard when Jeff started running, causing Luke to bounce up and down like crazy in the pack.

It wasn't long before we started to notice that the trail was covered in more than just a few little puddles from the rain the day before.

The trees were so tall and beautiful against the blue sky.

Yep, this is about when the trail became a shallow river and we decided to leave the path for a bit. BAD IDEA! Always stay on the path! It actually probably would have felt kind of nice to roll up our pant legs, take our shoes off and walk barefoot in the mud and water. Lesson learned!

A ways into our unmarked journey through the forest, we had to walk across a big log to avoid some serious flooding that was in our way. I had the bright idea, of jumping off of the log into some very shallow water to avoid walking on the brittle end of the log. Yet another bad idea. My right foot sunk completely into the thick mud and got stuck, causing me to lose my balance and fall right on my tooshie in the muddy water. Completely soaked and covered in mud, all I could do was laugh.

Mud butt.

Navigating the very prickly forest floor.

Deer bones?

Sleepy baby.

The sunlight made the water at the base of these trees look like fog. Pretty cool.

Halleluiah! We made it back to the path! It was such a relief to know that our poor cut up shins and ankles would no longer be attacked by those evil sharp thorny brambles!

Poor kid trying so hard to stay asleep with the sun in his face.

Lunch time. Mmmm...peanut butter sandwich. Luke prefers his pb&j without the j.

Gorgeous.

Horse tracks! I was so wishing I had a my own horse to ride on forest trails!

There was so much water everywhere! Jeff was excited because that meant the lakes, which were insanely low from the drought, went up and we have been seriously considering buying a boat lately.

Luke and I were so excited to run into horses on the trail - twice! And we got to stop and pet them both times!

"Luke run fast!" This boy can actually run pretty fast, but he adds fake heavy breathing to create the illusion that he is running even faster!

This hike was beautiful and it was so wonderful to be out hiking again, but it really made me appreciate how unbelievably gorgeous the hikes in Flagstaff were! Hikes in Houston, Texas don't generally include, mountains, breathtaking views, rivers, waterfalls, gorgeous green plants and colorful wildflowers. We were so lucky to have miles and miles of that stuff practically in our backyard while living in Flagstaff and we took advantage of it, hiking just about ever weekend that the crazy weather cooperated with us. I miss it, but I won't forget all of the things about living in Flagstaff that made me SO excited to escape and move to Houston, which is about as perfect for our family as it gets! And maybe the hikes here aren't quite as beautiful, but it's still nature and we still had a wonderful time enjoying it, so I'm not complaining! And maybe one of these days we'll visit Flagstaff for a gorgeous weekend of hiking.

Luke took this picture of Jeff and I in the car on the way home. Lately, every time he sees the camera. He insists on taking a picture ...or ten.

Give me that camera back!

We stopped for lunch at Whataburger on the way home. Luke had to push in all of the plastic bumps on his drink lid.

While we waited for our burgers and sandwiches, Luke decided to dive right into the ketchup.

After trying both the regular and the spicy ketchup, this crazy kid actually decided he liked the spicy stuff better!

Triple meat - that's how Jeff does things!

We hung out at Greg and Renita's for a little while afterwards so that Luke could take a nap before we drove all the way home.

Luke squeezed in a piano duet with Daddy before nap time.