Westward Bound!

Probably back in February or March,  Victoria decided that she wanted to end her mission early and go back to BYUI in the fall. She felt good about her decision and I fully supported her. Missionary work is hard, no matter what you're doing or where you're serving. I think being a service missionary has some aspects that are harder than a proselyting mission and vice versa.  Though she ended her mission on fire (so many connections with the proselyting missionaries and the friends they were teaching together), there were many ups and downs that we got to witness first hand. I was privileged to be a part of them, but also relieved to be off the emotional roller-coaster of so many highs and lows of a missionary. I believe that she experienced the full gamut of a full 18-month mission in her year service as a missionary. She touched so many lives and had so many incredible experiences.  

Plans were set and she registered for school, applied for her apartment complex, and even made some preliminary job searches.  Her friend, and x-boyfriend, had been messaging her more frequently, since you're allowed to on a service mission, and invited her to vacation with his family on the Oregon coast in August. Kade and I were already planning on going out to hike Mt. Timp this summer,  so we set the date for that. My mom found an opening in my brother's Airbnb at Bear Lake for when we were to be there.  I invited Victoria's friend Cole to come with us before she joined his family.  Kade's friend CJ was able to join us as well. 

Austin and Erik had to stay behind for official xc practices,  so Jason stayed with them. Victoria, Kade,  and I left on a Friday and drove 2-12 hour days. We decided it's our new favorite way to travel to Utah, No more 2 1/2 day trips, unless we have to work around something. 

We visited with my mom and Jim on Sunday, as well as visited Blake's gravesite, went for a practice hike, visited the MTC grounds, went to church, and had dinner at Derek and Missy's. We left at 2:30 am for our hike up Mt. Timp so we could beat the heat.

There's usually Blake's favorite drink at his site. 

Bridal Veil Falls

Most of Derek's kids.

 We had to park at the Aspen Grove trailhead as oppsed to Timpooneke, where I have most recently hiked from and Victoria has only hiked from there. The Aspen Grove trail is said to be a little more scenic, a little tougher at the beginning, but like a mile or two shorter, so we were happy with that. Victoria did a fantastic job leading us in the the dark, though we had borrowed flashilights from Derek, we still had to pay attention because everything in the surrounding area was completely dark. We ran into a little hiccup after it had started to get light, but there was a fork in the trail. I was at the back and wasn't asked my opinion, but Kade and Victoria conuslted the trails ap and seemed to feel confident that we were continuing in the right direction. I think about 2 times I asked them if they were sure, because it didn't seem right to me. We finally saw some other hikers and asked them. It turned out we chose the wrong way and were going back down the Timpooneke trail! I think we went about 2-3 miles extra! It wasn't very helpful because Kade was feeling nauseous pretty much the whole time and couldn't eat anything nor drink much, so we were slow going. We thought maybe it was the altitude. We stoped at the little lake for a while for Kade to soak his feet in the freezing water. Then we hiked the hardest, rocky part. I wasn't sure if we would have time to make it up before some of us ran out of water. I also wasn't sure Kade would make it because of how bad he felt. Victoria zipped ahead. When Kade and I made it to the saddle, Victoria was lying down, chilling. We looked at the view for a while, which is the very same view as the summit, so we decided to forego the last 30 minutes of the balancing act at the tiptop as start back down.

 

The lake!

Unbeknownst to me, Victoria had been wheezing when she arrived at the top, so she took 2 puffs of her inhaler, which made her nauseous. So, while we were going down and Kade was gradually feeling better and better, Victoria was vomiting the whole way down. She couldn't keep anything down, the sun was out (luckily not as scorching as I thought it would be), and we were creeping back down. I'm acutally amazed she even made it down. Her body was shaking due to the strain of climbing over rocks, using her muscles to slow her down, and the constant walking down a moutain while totally dehydrated. We didn't take a wrong turn going down, luckily, and ended up making it down by three. We had started at 3am. So it was a 12-hour hike!! Tradition in the past has been to stop at In-and-Out after hiking Timp, but neither one of them wanted to eat, so I stopped by the grocery store and picked up some gingerale and sprite. We showered, rested , and watched a movie afterwards. By the next morning, Victoria was fine and Kade was much better, but still a little nauseous, something which contiuned our entire 10 days away. He made an appoinment to see the doctor the day after we returend because we low-key thought he had cyclosporiasis, but the first day he woke up in Michigan he felt totally fine and has been fine ever since. Go figure!

Mt. goat family

Kade found a snake!

We did some things around Orem, including finishing up details on the car Grandma Pat gave to Victoria for school (thanks Gma!) and to get ready to go to Bear Lake the next morning.

A visit with Emily at Gma's.

We walked around the mall and found this cool store that was up Kade's ally.

Victoria's car on the left and Gma's on the right. Notice the M!!

Wednesday we left for Bear Lake, in 3 different vehicles. My mom and Jim, me with Kade and CJ, and Victoria who made a stop in Logan to pick up Cole from his sister's apartment. 

This time at Bear Lake we mostly played games, soaked in the hot tub, played in the lake on the paddleboards/kayaks, the swimming pool by the beach, and then boating on the final day. The people who joined us this year were my group, plus my cousin Preston and his wife and kids, including his oldest's boyfriend, my Uncle Craig and Aunt Jill, my mom's best friend from her 20s and her husband, and then Derek came up for the last evening/day with his youngest, Izaak, and Karina's youngest, Nik. A couple of my mom's cousins came for a short visit, which was nice. The weather was pretty chilly and rainy on the first day, so it was nice to be inside part of the time. 

Here's a photo dump with some explanations on some of them. FYI, Victoria and Cole are no longer exes....

Kade and CJ's reunion!

Victoria and Cole's reunion! 

Raspberry shakes!

Cousins!

Kade and CJ and Victoria and Cole on the paddleboards/ kayaks.

More shakes!

Card games!

Lorraine and Whitney

Nik and Izaak!

Victoria wakeboarding

Kade wake surfing

Somebody tubing!

Final night!

We left early Sunday morning to take CJ back to her place. Victoria and Cole had left the night before to go to Logan to his sister's before they headed out on Sunday to his familiy's in Northern CA. Kade and I visited with Karina and some of her family, which was nice. Dan wants to get different graffiti tags on the fence in their yard. When he discovered that Kade has his own tag, he gave Kade the spray paint and Kade was all over it! We went to lunch afterwards, though Kade stayed at their house to rest before our long drive back. Remember, he was nauseous every day until we returned to MI. 

Like a pro!

Kade and I had to make it a 2 1/2/ day trip back because of leaving Sunday afternoon, but it was worth it!