At the top of the world

Or... at least at the top of Mount Timpanogas.

David and I attempted our second hike up Mount Timpanogas last weekend. Our first hike up Timp was last year with David's family.

 This year, we attempted it by ourselves.

David loves hiking and is helping me to enjoy it as well. After our hike last year, we made it a goal to try to hike Timp again this summer. We knew it might not happen because we were planning on starting a family soon but we were hoping it might work at the end of the summer—after I'd recovered a bit.

So, three months and two days after Leah was born, we hiked Timp again.

We hiked 18 miles in 10 1/2 hours.


It was really tough.


We started hiking at 4 a.m. so we needed flashlights to see where we were going. The sky was so clear and the stars were so bright. It was really pretty. And, as the sun rose up in the sky, we saw the vibrant colors of autumn all around us. It was absolutely gorgeous!

But I was also really tired. Last year, I worked out in the gym 3-4 times a week and was in pretty good shape. This year, I'd recently had a baby so I haven't really been out much and my exercise has gone down to basically walking a few miles each week. So I was in a lot of pain by the end.

David was so great. He coaxed me along the whole way. He even had to bribe me with the promise of Coldstone ice cream in order to get me to the top. But we did it. We hiked all 18 miles and lived to see another day. :-)

 Here we are at the top of the mountain. We were both exhausted by at this time and we still had 9 more miles to go. Luckily, it was all downhill hiking and the view from the top was incredible. Otherwise, I might have refused to go on.

Here is a picture of Utah County. Can you see the red trees on the mountain? Beautiful, huh? We also saw a bunch of mountain goats as well.

My plan is to get in better shape for our hike next year—yes, we are already planning our next hike to Timp. We're going to do a lot more little hikes to work our way up to this one and I'm going to take Leah out on walks a lot more. We're not sure if we'll be brave enough to take Leah next year. She may be too small still and it was great motivation going down the mountain knowing that the faster we walked, the sooner we'd see our baby girl again. Either way, it's going to be another great adventure!

Thanks again to Grandma Landeen (Meemaw) for taking care of Leah while we conquered this mountain!

Leah meets world

With Leah's heart condition as serious as it is, we've been really careful about where we go and who can hold her. We've even steered clear of a few family reunions, social activities and church. So for the past few months, we basically only ventured outdoors for Leah's weekly doctor appointments and the occasional trip to visit family. We've felt silly a few times for being so overly cautious about Leah, but our doctors have told us that if she gets sick before her heart surgery, it could be really dangerous for her and she could end up back in the hospital. We definitely don't want to go through that again... or at least more than we already have to in the near future. :-)

It's been kinda hard to be inside all day, especially with the beautiful summer we've had but when I look at this adorable face, I know it's all worth it.

Isn't she so cute?!? She's getting so good at holding her head up!

 
We've already got a list of  things we want to do and places we want to take Leah next summer. And, with Leah's Down syndrome, we can get a Golden Pass that basically lets us get into any park for free or half off. Nice, huh? We definitely plan on making the most of that pass in the future.

But, we just couldn't let the summer go by without taking Leah on a few adventures. The past few weeks, we've taken Leah to my niece's baptism, jet skiing, fishing and hiking. It was fun to see most of my family at the baptism and it was fun to let Leah meet some of her cousins for the first time. And jet skiing was a blast. We put Leah in her playpen with a blanket over the top and she slept most of the time while David and I were able to go play on the jet skis. We really appreciate Deb and her family for letting us join their party. I don't have pictures of the baptism or jet skiing, but we did get some cute ones of Leah helping dad catch a fish and her first hike.

We went to Silver Lake with David's family on Labor day. Leah didn't like the sun in her eyes.

With her daddy's help, Leah caught her first fish while sleeping peacefully. Now that's talent!

Last weekend, we took Leah on her first hike to Stewart Falls in the Provo Canyon. It's a pretty easy hike of about 4 miles total with a really pretty waterfall. It was the same day as the BYU vs. Utah game so we wore our BYU shirts. Also, in this picture, some of my hair was getting in Leah's face so she's trying to grab it. She eventually got it and gave it a good yank. What a little stinker!

David sure loves his baby girl!

David's mom hiked with us. Leah loves spending time with her "MeeMaw"

We hiked to Stewart Falls the weekend before Leah was born. (I was trying to help induce labor and was curious to see if I could do the hike at 38 weeks.) It probably not my smartest move but it was fun. Also, my water broke a week early so it must have helped move things along quicker. I look like such a rolly-polly here.

So, of course, I had to pose on the same rock when we did the hike almost 3 months later. It was so much nicer to do this hike with Leah in a backpack than inside my stomach.

Next weekend, we're going to attempt hiking Timp again. I was in great shape when we hiked it last year, but this year I haven't exercised as well so I'm a little worried. But it should be way fun. But we plan on leaving Leah at home with her grandma while we attempt this hike. I don't think the altitude change will be good for her this year so she'll just have to wait till next year to hike to Timp with us. :-)