and some more Canada....

Mt. Rundle

Sorry for more travel pictures, but the scenery there! It was hard to pick just a few pictures to share (and by a few, a mean at least 8) out of the hundreds of pictures of many many spectacular lakes and mountains.
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If you go up to Banff, I would say this little day trip is a must! We started out at Lake Louise, which I hear on a Saturday, is worse then Disney World during spring break.

Lake LouiseIt's a major tourist attraction, so we went on a weekday before 8 am and only shared the view with 15 or so other people. But that was just the beginning, the very very beginning. We hiked around the lake and up some elevation to an area called the Plain of 6 Glaciers, it was perhaps 5 miles? Maybe a little less.

The Plain of Six Glaciers

But it wasn't just the glaciers that got us up there. Mostly it was the little teahut that you could relax at while taking in the view. The teahut was built around 1906 to provide hikers with refreshments. Today there is still no electricity and the staples are flown in once a year by helicopter and fresh items are hiked in weekly. The staff has to hike there just like us!

Plain of Six Glaciers Tea Hut We had cocoa truffle tea and scones and then begin the next 4 miles of our hike. This took us down and up again (because that's the only way to hike there, up and down!) to the top of an area called the Beehive, which gave us another view of Lake Louise, but this time from high above it. Then it was down again to Agnes Lake and Tea House number 2, same story and deal as the first tea house, located right on the edge of Lake Agnes and a waterfall.

Lake Agnes

Lake Agnes Tea HouseI enjoyed the food and more rustic ambiance at the first tea house way more, so if you only had time to hike to one, I would go there. Then we had about 4 miles to hike back to Floe Lake and give our aching feet a rest!

The rest of our time in Canada we stayed at the Samesun Hostel in Banff. It's right on Main Street and was a good deal for a private room. We had fun walking to the grocery store, movies, Thai food, and shops from our hostel and just enjoying the town of Banff. Well, we had fun limping those places, all of our hiking had taken a toll on everything from our knees to Achilles tendons! We also did a 9 mile hike or so one day to Stanley Glacier and drove to Moraine Lake, which was the most amazing shade of blue! And did a really short little hike to Marble Canyon, which was also gorgeous.

Moraine Lake

But all good things must come to and end and so we began our 15 hour road trip back to Utah, but knowing I had my Aubs to meet me back in Utah made me excited to get going! We owe Zach's parents BIG time for watching Aubs for a full week! Thank you thank you thank you! If you can't tell, I really enjoyed myself on this trip.More on Aubs later, as we may or may not have definitely missed her 2nd birthday while we were on our trip. But she's had a couple of parties to make up for it, and umm...yes I have pictures, lots of pictures to share from that!

Rocking Chair Days

rocking chair day - have you had a day or a moment that you know will still stand out in you memory even when you're old and gray and just sitting in a rocking chair all day? If so, congrats! You've just had a rocking chair day!

I have dreamed of going to the Canadian Rockies for years and specifically, of backpacking a trail called the Rockwall trail in Kootenay National Park. Two weeks ago, Zach and I were able to do just that!! We met a man on the trail who was as enamored with the trail as I was, and he promised the boy scouts he was leading that their days on the trail would be "rocking chair days". I loved his little theory and yes, these were rocking chair days for me! It was such a dream trip and was even more majestic then I could have imagined and something I will always remember doing!

The first night of the backpacking trip almost ruined everything. After a long day of hiking and gaining a LOT of elevation, we were cooking dinner by Floe Lake when it started pouring rain. No big deal, it's part of backpacking, you just cozy up in your tent. EXCEPT, my expensive, fairly new, MSR (a good brand) tent failed, as in rain POURED through the tent and made a little indoor swimming pool. I was devestated. I had planned and planned, but this was not something I could have anticipated. Tents as they get older will start leaking more and more on the seams, but leaking is livable, pouring rain all night long (we might as well have been outside) in 40 degree weather is not good or healthy.

But we had some of the best luck ever! There was a closed up ranger cabin nearby, and we planned to spend the night on the tiny porch to stay semi dry, and just hope no ranger showed up to kick us off. But then a ranger did show up, who was planning on spending the night in his cabin with his daughter. It took us hours to finally ask if we could sleep on the porch, but the ranger said no, but we could sleep in the cabin, on regular beds with mattresses, pillows, and a wood burning stove! It poured and poured most of the night, all the while we drank hot chocolate, warm and dry, and chatted with these nice people and then had a great night's sleep.

The next day we decided to chance camping another night and hope for good weather, and except for one short rainstorm and a stinging hail storm, we got it!

The trail is set up to climb up and down one pass each day and camp before attempting the next. The ranger we met told us he though we could handle more then that so we decided to attempt Numa Pass and Tumbling Pass both the next day. That way if the weather did get bad and we had to bail, we were covering as much ground as possible each day.

Topping out on Numa Pass

We took a long break at the campground where we had initially planned on spending the night and then started off up Tumbling pass. It was a butt kicker to say the least!
Only halfway up Tumbling pass, and then we needed to go down the other side too!
But it was SO SO worth it! Look at this view, I mean honestly! I couldn't think of a better way to spend a day.
Just some random pics. My bear whistle to scare them off if we came across one. Zach carried pepper spray. The only time I wasn't in complete nirvana on this trip was when we came across bear poop on the trail. Oh and when a bear wandered into our campsite. The Floe Lake Patrol cabin was where we got to spend that cozy first night. And our piece of crap tent and just some scenic pics. Look at that blue river! The color was amazing.

The campsites were really fun. We hiked each day without seeing anyone which was nice to enjoy the views in solitude. But then at night everyone camps in the same designated camp ground, so it was fun to meet people from all over and chat with them. After hiking together all day, Zach and I had usually covered any and all possible topics, so some diversity in conversation was nice! Everyone we met was lovely, and we ran into the nice ranger and his daughter here and there, so I think they are officially added to my handful of Canadian friends!

We had planned to do all of the trail but one 8 mile section. We had a limited number of days in Canada, so we wanted to leave ourselves a couple of days to see all the other sights also in Kootenay national park, as well as Banff, Jasper, and Yoho National parks, which are all in the same vicinity. But when it came time to turn one way to begin the hike out or turn the other way to do that last section, I was so bummed we weren't doing the complete trail! I really wanted to do another night, but....Zach hates backpacking and was being a trooper coming on the trip at all, so I didn't push it but promised myself that I would be back to do the whole thing! Zach has since sworn off backpacking ever again, so luckily I have Zach's sisters who want to do the trail one day (when that one day might be, who knows, but we'll do it!) So if you're interested, come join us, we'll have a fun all girls backpacking trip!

Nothing much

It's been awhile since I last posted and it'll probably be a while until I post again! I am just now starting to get my act together since we moved. There are parts of this house I cleaned for the first time today since we moved in! And there is still a room and garage full of boxes to be sorted through....

We haven't been up to anything too exciting. It's been nice to see Lindsey every couple days. She's doing really well, but going stir crazy! Poor girl. She and my mom are both troopers. If you read Lindsey's blog you already know what an amazing attitude she has, but I have to give accolades to my mom as well. She has put her life on hold to be with Lindsey 24/7 these past 4 months or so. We are very lucky kids to have her!

I've wanted to get a picture of Aubs doing her "cheesy smile" for some time now and I finally charged my camera battery enough to do so. Don't you love it! It has 4 distinct and necessary parts for it to be a true cheesy smile. Her lips curled under, teeth bared, nose scrunched, and eyes squinted. I love my girl. She's hard on me at times, but when her excessive energy is channeled in a happy way, she makes me laugh more then anything else in the world.

Some things I love.....

~how her laugh sounds like a little cackling gremlin, it's not girly at all!

~her love of our friend's dog Charlie, we watched him a couple weeks ago and she still wakes up every morning going, "oh chalie, where he go?"
~yesterday when she found a frog and followed it around hopping every time it did and cackling like a gremlin
~after every bath, she lets us wrap her in a towel and she cuddles and gives us loud smacky kisses on our cheeks. This is honestly the only time she sits still or lets us hold her and it makes my day.
~that she can do perfect somersaults, one after another (but only when she's in the mood!)
~the sneaky little smile she gives me when she knows I've caught her doing something she's not allowed to do

~how she says "num num num" and smiles the entire time she eats a hot dog (and she wants hot dogs for breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks....)

I could go on and on of course! Aubs is nearing her 2nd birthday and I'm obviously getting a little sentimental about it!

Lastly, the picture below was meant to go with my last post, it was waiting in my "pictures to blog" folder with cute rounded edges ready to go and all. But somehow it didn't make it in. We all brought cameras this night to document a last girls night before the casualties (friends moving) started and to prove that we were capable of organizing a themed girls night. This one was obviously "Crepe Night" - see the one lone crepe there amongst the diet cokes and frescas? But mostly, I wanted to include it because it was the last picture taken before our good friend Jana moved. I'm glad a little birdie reminded me to post this picture :)

And here's one more picture I had wanted to post last time but didn't because I promised I wouldn't. So I'm sorry, but for memories sake, I had to have a picture of my dear friend Michele on here. I will take many memories with me of countless hours of just hanging out at her house and leeching her craft expertise and merchandise off her (such as the snow blocks below that I finally finished!).

Anyways, kind of a random post, but hey, so is life! Sorry for my lack of supportive commenting on your blogs, I will get back with the program soon!