Playing Dress up

We went to Wyoming and dressed up like pioneers and pulled hand carts. Just something you do everyday, right? Well, I thought it would be fun to show you how I would've looked as a pioneer (in a blouse from Target).

This is my rustic man Doug looking studly in those suspenders--I actually loved the suspenders. It made the outfit!

We did some good old fashioned square dancing with a missionary calling the moves. It was so fun! I loved it and thought it was so great to do it in my skirt and bonnet!

Our campfire to get warm--it was almost 90 degrees during the day and close to freezing at night. Talk about some crazy temperature shifts. This was only June--can't imagine what it was like coming through this area without shoes in October like some handcart pioneers did. It was amazing to think of it in my sleeping bag with socks and pants on and unable to sleep because I was too cold.


We took a hike to Martin's Cove when we had a break (just Doug and I) and saw this antelope just chillin' and not caring that we were there.


Here I am posing with me my bug spray--we carried it with us everywhere. The mosquitos were so bad. We had a great time seeing the areas where the handcart companies came through and where so many were buried. It was sad and get peaceful...they gave their all for what they knew was true. They knew they gave their lives because of their faith.

Roughin' It

After Trek, we were ready for a chill Girl's Camp. We had an intense 24 hour girl's camp at a cabin in Fairview, Utah. Everyone was up all night...except the leaders who had to be alert enough for the 1.5 hour drive home the next morning. I went to bed at 3am and woke up at 4am to "lay down the law" on the herd of buffalo I thought were running through the cabin. Those of you that know me well, know that I have never dyed my hair or done anything outrageous to it. I have always had a soft head and would cry when my mom tugged too hard to do those french braids I loved. Well, this me getting my hair ratted (is that how it is spelled) for the first time in my life and everyone called me a "cute little puppy dog". I think they thought that was a compliment.

The Young Women thought it would be so deck us out on Friday night. We were feeling ready to go out on the town and that our husbands would want to take us out! Yikes!

Is this not the craziest come-over on Dena? Those are some serious bangs she has going on!

Backpacking Adventure

Doug took me on my second ever backpacking adventure last weekend over the Fourth of July weekend to Capitol Reef National Park. He had checked the weather and made all the arrangements--mostly because I refused. I had been on Trek, and to Girl's Camp two weeks in a row. The idea of a sleeping in a sleeping bag again didn't get me excited. So, we packed up and headed south.

I have an odd-shaped head and have never found a baseball hat that fit. Well, I THOUGHT that this one fit me perfectly until I downloaded these photos to look at them. HELLO! Look at that crooked hat! Doug said he never noticed. So, every photo of me with this hat on is completely crooked...embarassing.

We set up camp only 1/2 mile in Friday night because there were some clouds threatening rain and we were about go to through a slot canyon. We made dinner and woke up the next morning to more rain clouds. We tried to wait it out with a game of uno, but by 10:30 am, we said, "forget it" to the slot canyon and hiked out to our car to try a different hike.

So, we took this hike. This was on the way to Navajo Nobbs. This was an arch in the background. The sun peaked through the clouds on this hike for about 2 hours. We loved that part!

At the top of Navajo Nobbs, we took a few photos and headed down as fast as we could--running most of the way. There were more rain clouds again and we were in some lightening and flood danger. It was a little intense, but my Doug is a mountain man. I never was really nervous because he knew what to do...my boy scout.


Us on the top of Navajo Nobbs with those clouds looming in the background.



We decided to give it another go (after spending our second night of the "backpacking" trip in a hotel outside the Park). We backpacked in 1.5 miles and set up camp. This is Doug making our dinner looking like he is doing yoga. I had been so excited to try this meal--a powdered mix with really healthy ingredients for veggie burgers. Well, I didn't get to eat them at this time. See the clouds in the distance behind Doug? About 3 minutes after I took this photo--we almost blew away with our tent and everything inside it. There were some intense gusts of wind. Mostly, we laughed our way through it. Every once in a while Doug would say, "the forecast said clear skies the whole weekend!" He was pretty bummed.

This is me trying to cheer him up as we packed up our tent and our dinner had sand all in it, so we through it in a garbage bag and headed to the campground.

We cleaned up camp the next morning and headed home...after our 2 miles of backpacking and 9 miles of hiking to Navajo Nobbs (instead of the 20 or so miles we had planned on).

Doug did like going to church, however, in this really cool OLD chapel. It was the last Sunday the people were meeting in it because they were tearing it down to build a new one. I think it was built in the 1920's.

I included this photo because I learned on this trip that Doug doesn't like it when I take photos in the car of him driving. Like his half smile? That's why.