You Know You're Old When . . . . .

Ross and I had a realization this weekend that we are getting old. Not only did I find a gray hair on Ross but on Friday night we watched a movie at my brother and sister-in-laws and after the movie we over we spent the next 30 min or so discussing money, finances, budgets, savings accounts and Dave Ramsey. I never would have thought I would be sitting around on a Friday night discussing budgets. Then on Saturday night we both went to bed at 9:00. Pretty sad really. It wasn't the most exciting weekend. Not only are we old but we rented snow shoes on Sat and had packed a lunch and planned to stay out all day hiking and playing but the rain spoiled that one. Even though it was raining in the valley we figured in the mountains it would be snowing and it would be much more difficult to cut the trail we could still do it. We first went up American Fork Canyon and even at the highest point it was still raining, very wet and miserable, so we decided to go up Provo Canyon and thought by the time we reached the turn off for Sundance it would be snowing, but no, still rain. We kept going up past Heber and up Daniels Canyon and ended up clear up at Strawberry Resevior and it was still raining. At that point we decided it wasn't going to happen and ate our lunch on the long drive home. We did end up going swimming with my sister, brother, sister-in-law and 2 nephews, it was actually a bit of fun.

Ice Fishing

My brother Brandon has been trying to get Jeff and I to go ice fishing since before the lakes were frozen. Yesterday we finally went. We went up to Current Creek Resevoir, up past Strawberry Resevoir. The fishing was pretty much what Jeff and I expected, we caught nothing, not even a single bite or nible. The weather, however, was quite nice. Brandon brought his shelter for Jeff and I, Brandon can't sit still long enough to use the 2 man shelter. We didn't spend much time sitting in the shelter, after a while it warmed up quite a bit that we shed our coats and was just in our snow pants and sweatshirts. The freakiest thing was most of the time we were out there the ice was cracking and popping and a few times we could feel it drop a little under us. At times it was so loud and all around us, if the ice wasn't 1 1/2 to 2 feet thick I would have been out of there pretty quickly. Very unnerving.

I always forget too how hard and tiring it is to use the auger for the hole in the ice. Jeff is working on one of the holes I started while they put up the shelter.

Horrible start. Good ending?

The awfullness that was today started pretty early today. It all started (I am still laughing about this) about 2:34 this morning. I woke up and looked at the clock and realized Ross wasn't in bed. There weren't any lights on in the living room so I thought maybe he fell asleep in his chair again. I thought I would be the good wife and go wake him up and bring him to bed so he didn't wake up with a crick in his neck. I got into the living room and he wasn't there, I checked the bathroom (I can stand in one place and check my whole apartment) he wasn't there at all. Then he walks through the door, like nothing was out of the ordinary. I was so confused. Come to find out he had gotten up and headed off to work thinking it was 5:30 and got a couple blocks away before he realized it was 2:30 and decided he would go back to bed for another 3 hours. I did laugh a little about it when we were both back in bed and I have been laughing about it during the day and it just gets more and more funny to me. I know what its like, I used to do this quite a bit in highschool. Wake up and look at the clock and it looks like you are late so you jump out of bed and start getting dressed and then realize its the middle of the night, I was in the shower one time thinking it was 6am and my mom pounded on the door telling me it was midnight and to go back to bed. Ross' first start to the day was not the greatest.

My morning started not so good either. I got up and was getting ready for work, I was actually a little ahead of schedule. I get in my car and back out of my parking spot and get stuck. With all the ice melting there are ruts all over behind our apartment and they froze up in the night and I happened to get my front tires smack dab in a rut. I used all the tricks they tell you to do when stuck in ice and I was so frustrated. I don't know our neighbors to be knocking on the their doors at 6:10am and Ross had already gone to work and it would have taken so long for him to get there. My car was in the middle of the parking lot, blocking traffic, so there is no way I could just leave my car and get a ride with someone or walk. I was so frustrated, I sat there for over 25 min trying to get it to move, I tried to push it, tried to dump ice melter around the tires and the whole time people would come out to start their car and then run back inside. I figured I would sit and make a lot of noise and wake up the whole complex. Finally a very kind soul came out and helped me get my car out and I was able to get to work. I need to check the lease and see what they claim to do for the snow in the winter, this isn't the first time this has happened trying to get to work.

I just hope the rest of the day gets better and doesn't end in the same way it began.

New Winter Sports

Yesterday we decided to try a new winter sport. I have seen people snowshoe and I have heard a co-worker talking about it and the things they have seen and the more I looked online the more I wanted to try it. I was a little concerned that it would be really difficult when I read that you will burn 1,000 calories an hour showshoeing, but thought I would try it anyways. Ross was up to trying it and Jeff and Bre came with us. For our first time we thought we would stay close to see if we did like it and just went up American Fork canyon. We ended up doing a 4 mile hike, 2 up and 2 down. It wasn't as strenuous as I thought, or maybe I am in better shape than I thought I was.

When we first started the trail went above the road so we could see and hear the snowmobils and the higher we went we heard less and saw less people and it was actually really pretty peaceful and serene. We were all tired afterwards but are now thinking of investing in our own snowshoes and doing it more often and eventually combining it with backpacking and do some winter camping. I am excited to get into the Uintas to see what kind of wild life we can see in the winter when there aren't any other people around. Here are some more pictures of the day.

Undecided

So, its been snowing since yesterday afternoon. I don't think it has stopped at all, it has gotten lighter but kept on falling from the sky. After work yesterday I had to dig myself out of the 4-5 inches we got while I was there and then this morning I had to dig myself out again, I think in all we have gotten about a foot of snow. Thats very unusual for Utah these days, especially considering the snow we got the week of Christmas. I remember when I was growing up this was usual, we would get snow before Thanksgiving and it would keep piling up and would start melting in March. The snows came later this year but def with a vengence. I know the snow pack in parts of the mountains are above normal and the ski resorts are loving it, hopefully this spring it fills the lakes and ends the drought. At this point of the year I can't decide if I am excited for the snow or not. I still get giddy like a school girl when it snows and I really don't mind driving in it, it can actually be fun, but its the after affect, the cold mornings and ice I have to chip off my windshield (the other day the ice was so thick that Ross broke chunks off my scraper trying to get the ice off so I could see). That and sitting at work back in my little hole I don't have access to a window and so I have to constantly get up and go to a window to see if its still snowing. I think I am ready for winter to be over and for it to warm up. I am really itching to go back packing and I can't do that till the snow is gone, or mostly gone. Other than the avalanche danger these days it does provide the opportunity to try snow shoeing, if I can get others interested in going.