Adams Canyon

Today we went on our first hike of the year to Adams Canyon. I was a little nervous to go on this hike with Benton's knee, but he did a great job. We went around 3:30pm so it was really hot, but I was just so happy Benton agreed to go that I didn't care how hot it was. Here we are at the top, by the waterfall.


If you haven't been up to Adams Canyon, I'd defiantly suggest you try it. The hike up is pretty hard, but the way down is easy, and it's really pretty.

Softball League

Benton joined a softball team and had his 1st game on Thursday night. I decided to go to see how he did, I had never seen him play softball, ever. He started off as the catcher, but his knee started bothering him. He started limping, so I knew he was hurting from crouching down. They ended up having him pitch for the benefit of his knee, but it ended up benefiting his team. At the end of the night they won their 1st game by 1 point! I was really impressed, especially since last year the team they played never lost, so they started the season off on the right foot! Great job team DLA!
Here he is pitching...

Hitting...


Who knew Benton was good at softball? I should have known!

Trip to Dixie

This past weekend I had the opportunity for work to go down and train in St. George. I volunteered so that I could visit with my family. On Sunday my sister Chelsie was heading back up to their house, so I got to visit with them for a couple hours before they left. Spencer and I snuck off into the backyard, my parents have a pool~I didn't want to tell Spencer that he couldn't get in the pool, so we did. Yes, in his clothes, that's what aunt's are for. Here is a picture of us...

Chelsie found out, and joined the fun. She wasn't upset because she knew he'd fall sleep in the car, so I was actually helping, I was able to get all of his energy out before his long car ride home. He loves to go under water, which really surprised me, here's Chelsie dunking him in the water...

My mom and I were able to go on a hike in Zions, it's so pretty. I love to spend time in nature, next time I'd like to go all day, but I'll take what I can get.




On the last day I met my mom and brother at Great Harvest for lunch. Here is a cheesy picture of Thomas and I...

I love spending time with them, just wished they lived closer!

1 Year, No Sweets!

I did it! Yay, I can't believe it's been a year since I've had a piece of cake, a cookie or my favorite, a bowl of ice cream (Cold Stones-cake batter with brownie mixed in is the best!). It's a lot easier for me now than 6 months ago. I don't really struggle like I did before. I don't crave those foods since I haven't had them in so long, not saying I don't miss them. Over the past year my no sweets went a little bit too crazy. At first I said, no sweets as in obvious sweets like candy, cake, ice cream, the usual. Well after time went by I was like well I can't eat a cinnamon roll because of the frosting, or fiber one bars/granola bars with chocolate in it, hot chocolate (even the 0 calorie kind, because it still has chocolate in the title) and even frosted mini wheats cereal-since it has frosting. Oh gees, that's a little crazy, who thinks of frosted mini wheats as a sweet, no one...except those who are around me, "Are you going to really eat that?" as in a frosted mini wheat that I bought last week since they were on sale, I asked, "Why not?" their reply, "It has dried frosting." So here's the deal, I am still not eating "normal" sweets, but I will indulge myself with a frosted mini wheat-so for those of you who see me all the time, don't be surprised ;)

Yay!!! I rode 104 miles on my road bike!

Yesterday started at 5AM. I picked up my good friend Mandee and headed off to Wellsville, Utah for our annual Little Red Riding Hood Bike Ride. The ride consists of 2600 girls. You can choose from 6 different routes (15, 35, 45, 62, 80 & 104) we of course chose the 104 mile ride. Last year we did 80 so it was our goal to do the longest ride they had this year. Here is a picture of Mandee and I before the ride started (we didn't know what we were getting ourselves into)...

The weather was terrible again, it was really windy, rainy, and it was freezing cold. We had a lot of fun, there were some points in the ride I almost gave up from the pain in my lower back, you may have seen my post about how my vertebrae has slipped. The pain was excruciating. At times I was on the verge of having a break down. I kept telling myself that I could do it and would finish the ride. We rode all the way to Preston, Idaho which was our half way point. To get into Preston we had to go up this huge hill, I wasn't quite sure when I saw it if I could even make it up, but here we are in Preston, we made it up the hill...

I took a picture of the sky at lunch, you can see how cold it is just by how the clouds looked...

During the last 20 miles we finally saw the sun and I was able to take my sleeves off. It was still windy, but the warmth of the sun felt great...it was such a beautiful ride. That is the one thing I love about biking, how much I enjoy the earth, I appreciate it more every time I ride. We live by such beauty.


We finally finished the ride, it took us about 6 hours and 45 minutes of just biking...that doesn't include time that it took for us to stop to rest or eat lunch. It really was a long day, but well worth the pain. Along the road near the end there were families cheering all of us on, yelling words of encouragement...I had tears in my eyes because I was so greatful that even with a bad back I was able to accomplish something so great, I never would have dreamed a couple years ago that I would be able to do something like this. Thank you all for your words of encouragement before my ride, you had faith that I could do it, and I know that helped motivate me throughout the ride. I was thrilled to finally cross the finish line, they gave us lays and had a celebration of completion with music and food. Thanks Mandee for such a great ride!