Toby

Toby.  You have been good to us.  More so to Derek.  He knew and loved you more.  You were the super star of many an adventure, move, good deed, and hauled a LOT of recycling in your day.  We are sad to part with you, but know that your life will continue to be awesome.

Derek bought you when he came home from his mission and has had you since 2007.  He bought you for $14,000 and put about $1500 into you.  We sold you in 2014 for $18,500...you were good to us in more ways than one. 

To the memories.

 

You will be missed.

Quick Get Away

Want to know one of our favorite things about living in the Salt Lake Valley?  The mountains are only 20 minutes away.  Close enough we can do things like this.

Thursday night we are driving to a wedding and planning out our summer.

Derek: "What should we do this weekend?  We need to furniture and car shop.  Cody is buying the truck at 12:00 and we have a temple assignment at 10:00 a.m."

Katie: "We could go on a hike.  Sleep at the trailhead?  Let's backpack to Lake Blanche.  It isn't long.  And we can totally be home by 9:00."

Derek: "Done."

And so we did it.  We prepped our stuff Thursday night.  Friday when I got home from work, we left.  Started hiking at about 6:15-6:30.  An hour and 45 minutes later, we were setting up camp.  It was awesome because we were totally alone.  Got up with the sun, broke camp, ate breakfast, and came home in plenty of time for our temple assignment and to sell the truck, and furniture shop all day.  It was the rejuvenation we both needed to cope with getting ready to move.

Lake Blanche just before sunset

SELFIE #1

We got a new tent with our REI dividend.  (FREE!)  And it is AWESOME. 

Watching the sun go down

Selfie #72 (we went a little overboard.  I chose my 2 favorites)

Convenient sitting spot

Lake Blanche at sunrise

 

Good trip.

Girls Getaway

A few weeks back I got to go on a girl's getaway with one of my best friends, Brenna, and her friend (and now my friend, Alyssa.  We went to Moab/Canyonlands and it was awesome.   I took a TON of pictures so I shall blog via pictures instead of words.  We all know we like those blog posts better anyway.

Brenna and I at Tower Arch.  One of my favorite places in Arches National Park

View from behind Tower Arch

Brenna got stuck because she is pregnant.  HA!

View of some desert fins after exploring and chimney-ing up and down cracks until we were all alone with the desert

We met up with Doug, Brenna's bro, and he showed us awesome things.  Like this pictograph panel just outside of Moab.

View of the Colorado from the Shafer Trail.

This river is so special and beautiful to me.  So many memories.

Cool spot just off the Shafer Trail Doug showed us.  Look carefully, I am in the picture

Dino bones just off the Shafer Trail.  Another win for Doug.

Love the desert.

Sunrise through Mesa Arch, Island in the Sky, Canyonlands

Brenna and Alyssa in the Fiery Furnace

Skull Arch, Fiery Furnace, Arches National Park

Surprise Arch, Fiery Furnace.  Can you guess how it got its name?

Panel #1 Horseshoe Canyon, The Maze, Canyonlands National Park

These are up really high on the canyon wall and super big.

 Panel #2

 

Close-ups of Panel #2 (I like the dude with the ray gun, or a snake gun, I haven't decided which it is)

Another close-up of Panel #2

 

 I would like to take a moment to say that although I took pictures, I am not posting Panel #3.  Teach your children and friends, and family not to desecrate ancient art by scratching their names ON TOP OF IT.  I was so sad to see such ignorance and disrespect all over Panel #3 because it is close to the ground.  No wonder they drew up high.

Part of Panel #4 aka The Grand Gallery.  This panel is over 200 ft. long with figures 10-15 ft. tall.  This piece is called the Holy Ghost and archaeologists think that the figures surrounding him are mummies.  Makes you wonder what this canyon was used for.

My favorite picture of the best part of the panel.  So many colors and intricacy still in tact and preserved.  Truly amazing.  We got up early to do the hike so we were the only ones here for 45 minutes until we left.  It was awesome.

Dino footprint in the middle of the trail.  I almost stepped on it.

The desert is in bloom right now and so beautiful.  Of all the flora pictures I took, this one is my favorite.  I don't often see pink cactus blooms.  Usually yellow, so I had to capture the moment.

 

Amazing trip.  Tons of fun.  Great memories.