Surprise Getaway....

All week Matt told me he had this surprise up his sleeve that he had been planning for Friday. Of course I'm asking him for hints and finally on Friday the only thing he tells me is, "steel". Anyways, here are some better hints as to where Matt planned our "romantic" get a way.

Which city in Utah was first Fort Buenaventura?

Which city is the 6th largest in Utah? (Comes right after Orem)

This city was initially named Brownsville.

It also had a huge dinosaur park!

Okay, okay... enough suspense. Matt took me to Ogden.

Matt had a gift card to Best Western which he earned while working in Vernal for a couple of months earlier this year and the last part of last year. It was a cheap hotel and a cheap trip. It took us less than an hour to get up there and yet we felt so far away from home. The best part of traveling with Matt is no matter where you go, near or far, he'll come up with a list of the BEST things to do in that area. Matt found the best pizza place in town and also a list of 10 things you could do in Ogden. I know many of you are thinking, "there are 10 things to do in Ogden?" Well there is and Matt and I were busy doing those things.

We mostly enjoyed walking down "Historic Ogden". There are a lot of antique shops down there. Matt has his heart on a record player and we saw a bunch of those. Not too sure if all of them worked but it made Matt happy to see a few options.

I wish I collected antiques or at least knew what to do with them because we saw some pretty cool things.

We also went to Farr's Ice Cream, which I didn't know had it's roots in Ogden.

Besides stopping at iFLY and having this semi-real experience of sky diving (look below for an actual clip of my mad skills), we went to the Dinosaur Park in Ogden. It was a little grotesque because of it's Halloween decorations, but it was cool to look at some realistic thunder lizards.

Anyways, moral of the story: Matt's a stud. He's also set the standard for really cool dates. I want to know how I'm going to beat this one.... I also recommend running off to Ogden, even if it is only for a day.

There's no way I'd ever sky dive, so I felt this was the thrill that did it for me. :)

Labor Day Weekend

This is what we did for Labor Day. After it all happened I thought... "you know this is blog material." I admit it's a bit long, but believe me, this trip was a bit long.

Here's a teaser if you're not sure you want to read this whole thing:

This Labor Day weekend we went on what we thought was a “day” hike and ended up spending 2 nights in the desert.

–noun (in the U.S.) a legal holiday, commonly the first Monday in September, in honor of labor.That was for my brother who tells me he didn’t know what Labor Day was. I cut him a break because living in Saudi Arabia you don’t pick up on all American holidays.

What we had:

-First aid kit

-2.5 gallons of water between 4 people

-4 head lamps

-2 jackets

-a bunch of fruit snacks and granola bars

-a jar of peanut butter

-smuckers squezzable jelly

-4 pitas

-Protein Gels (you know the type you take to “boost” energy.

-Water Filter

-Clothes on our body.

This past weekend Matt and I (along with two of friends from Camp this summer--- Cash and Splash), went to Zion. We told many that we were going to do the Narrows. Something I was excited about doing. In fact at 4am Friday morning I woke up early to stand in line to make sure we could get a permit for Sunday and Monday. I wanted to do it!

Anyways, Matt wanted to go on a “fun” hike in the wilderness of Zion on top of going downt he Narrows so he did some research and decided it would be fun to do the Right Fork Canyon hike. Matt is VERY good at doing research. If he wants to find something out he’ll read up about and get all types of opinions. When we go traveling he’ll usually bring a list of unique things to do in an area as well as awesome restaurants to attend. It’s awesome. So when he told me he wanted to this hike and it was a bit technical I thought I was in good hands. With that said…. This is what happened.

We started hiking with

our friends Cash and Splash at 11am. A little later than we had expected. On the descriptions of the hike that we had it said it should be a 12 hour hike, hiking 12 miles. We wanted to start out early but time didn’t permit so we decided to take the risk of hiking out at 11pm that night. Not too much of a problem, right? We were off!

We started our trip hiking at the top of Wild Cat Canyon. Not too far away on the other side of the canyon there was a forest fire so we saw lots of smoke and at night we saw trees burning. It was pretty far away so it wasn’t too scary.

(The picture is early on in the trip studying the maps that we had.)

As we bush-wacked for several hours we finally got out of the canyon we had started in. We realized there was probably no way we were going to make it in time for the sun to set so we wanted to look for water. We took a wrong turn and got stuck in a slot canyon for a really long time, that killed our timing as well. We climbed out as the sun was setting and we were still determined to get some water. We hiked several hours more and found nothing. It was dark and we were stumbling around hoping we were going to find anything too dangerous waiting for us. After searching for a while we decided to say a prayer. We all decided we should just find a spot sleep and then get up and look for it the next day. We did just that.

During the night it was FREEZING. I had capris and a long sleeve shirt. The other girl I was with also had a long sleeve shirt but she was wearing sleeves and the boys had shorts and a short sleeve shirt. We all cuddled on the ground, one right next to each other with a fire at our feet and head. We woke up the next morning stumbled up and decided to re-trace our steps looking for that water. The water was a mile behind us, so we lost some time retracing our steps.

(Splash if filling up with water at the Seeps.)

We went onward following the topographic map. When we finally got to where we were going it was GORGEOUS. Red Fork Canyon was BEAUTIFUL.I ended up swimming in freezing cold water for about 100 feet but that was the worst of it. Seriously though, it was pretty freaky. The water was so cold I began to fear if I would be able to swim out of it my arms were seizing up. I like to climb up things and run, but swimming is the least of my skills. I’m sure if you’re a swimmer you would have been able to do it, I’m a wuss in the water.

We saw the Great Alcove, which was MAGICAL. If you haven’t ever seen it you should look it up on Google. (You should Google: Great Alcove Red Fork Canyon ZION.) It was AWESOME. However byt the time we got to it I needed to rappel down quickly because the sun was setting and we needed to do one last rappel that we didn’t want to do in the dark! Freaky. The rappel was pretty fun too. On this tripped I pushed a lot of my boundaries. I know I could do like a 30 foot rappel but I didn’t know if I would be able to do a 100 foot rappel. I did. J

So the Great Alcove was short lived.

The rappel wasn’t as big and it was down the side of a waterfall. By the time that was done we were happy because we were on the last stretch of the trip. On the map and instructions it told us to walk with the river. On the map it looks like you might be able to walk along the river following it. Oh, no… we had to walk in the river. That was the worst part.

We ended up needing to walk in the river, up to our ankles, sometimes our knees, for 7 ½ hours. The water wasn’t too cold but we had to walk on slippery and uneven rocks. I hadn’t realized it was for 7 or so hours. I think it was a blessing from the Lord.

The instructions say to walk until you find a fork in the river and then we were suppose to get our and walk along the river for a quarter of a mile, find a trail and get back to our car in the next ½ mile. I was so excited, we rejoiced and cheered. However, we could never find the trail it suggested. We decided to assume that we knew where we were on the map and to just walk in that general direction of our car. We ended up walking straight up hill, bouldering over lava rocks and dealing with fatigue. By this time it’s about 4-430am in the morning. Our bodies are tired. I’m not going to lie, I started to see & hear things. I’ve never been felt so weird in my whole life. I started also to just fall asleep standing up if we stood still for too long. At one point Cash suggested we needed to climb up the top of the “mountain” to find the road. Essentially we were along the side of a mesa and needed to climb up to the flat part of a mesa, straight up. I was dead tired and someone asked Cash to climb up to see if he could see anything and let the rest of us know. Cash agreed (he’s pretty awesome guy to hike with, seriously.) and climbed up as a devoted mountain goat. With that I decided to lean up against a rock and prop my feet up on another rock in front of me. I closed my eyes and fell asleep immediately. Matt was sweet enough to sleep next to me. I remember thinking, “it’s okay you don’t have to stay with me, I’ll be okay by myself.” In retrospect, I’m really glad he was thinking, because he kept me warm and I would have been afraid to wake up in the morning all alone. It was about 5:15 about the time I fell asleep.

As the sun was peeking above the canyon, probably an hour or two later I woke up, determined to get out. I couldn’t seen Cash or Splash and I started yelling for them. They yelled back and actually weren’t too far a way. They also looked comfortable with garbage bags wrapped around their legs and bodies. They were also sleeping right next to an actual trail. Pink ribbon was tied to trees. I started to walk up and Matt followed close behind. I decided to wait for the others and Matt continued up ward. When he got to the top he yelled that he found the road. Oh happy day!

We got to the top and realized we were about .2 miles from a car, but it was fine. We were actually walking on an established trail and we were walking down hill. It was probably the most relaxing part of the whole trip, walking back to our car. Once in our car we stuffed our faces with bread, fruit snacks, & granola bars and decided to go to Oscar’s Café for breakfast.

On our way to breakfast we stopped to return our gear we had rented. I talked to the guy in the store about our adventures. He smirked and said, “Yeah it’s like a 2 day hike!”

The very first picture above is what we look like once we've found the road. The sun is barely rising and we are posing in front of a trail sign. This is a picture of triumph! After reading this go back and look at the picture. Have you ever seen such happy hikers?!

Below are other pictures:

(Cash and Matt)

(Splash, Cash, & Matt. This is the spot where we spent the night. The little fire was for our heads.)

(Splash & I-- Notice the peanut butter? We ended up living off of peanut butter and jelly for the majority of our trip.)

We're dirty looking...

(Cash found a lizard.)

(The fire we saw.)

(This is us walking to our car on the road.)

(This picture says: "we made it but we're tired." I don't realize my face is marked. Why? I dont know.)

(This is the trail sign we were looking for at 430am in the morning. Look we finally found it.)

(Us at breakfast. Mmmm... it was good! I recommend Oscar's Cafe at Zion's.)

Moral of the story: If you go on a hike take extra snacks, ALWAYS!

Hickey Family Reunion 2010

We had our first annual Hickenlooper reunion this past weekend. It was pretty remarkable. We went up to Brighton, played some cards, frisbee golf, went rappelling, did a zipline, and "The Perch". The Perch is like this 50 foot tall tree where you climb up to the platform, stand up and jump off. Yes, you are fully harnessed and you are attached to a rope so you don't drop to your death.

Kim successfully climbed to the VERY top and jumped off. Few believe she was actually able to do it. I am testifying to you that she did.

Also for the record, Matt's mom did do rappel and the zipline. It was awesome. Down below I put together a little slide show capturing the moments.

Brighton

We are loving our temporary home up Big Cottonwood Canyon. It's about 10 degrees cooler up the canyon than in the valley. Every time we go back down to the valley, the first thoughts that come to mind are associated with the sweat dripping off my body and the urgent need for air conditioning.

We've been having fun being the maintenance couple up here. Doing maintenance basically means we fix things up around camp when they're broken or find projects to do to make camp better. Matt is pretty clever about finding ways to improve the quality of camp for people. He and the other maintenance man (Cash- we all have nick names, Matt is actually called "Burley" up here.) came up with this new idea for benches at the already establish ampitheatre. Unfortunately I do not have pictures, but take my word for it, it's pretty awesome and so much more comfortable to sit at.

A bunch of us also pitched in to help sand down the benches to create a super smooth surface, stain the benches for the pretty-ness, and other odds and ends. It took about 3 weeks to finish. It's pretty sweet.

Matt also is running around cutting wood for fire pits and finding ways to make getting around easier for campers. He's pretty inventive. There is only one other guy up here, so the odds are pretty much 36 to 2. Lucky for them they're both married. :)

We have a lot of fun bonding with the staff and campers. It's like a little Zion up here. Everyone does their part and everything gets done. Everyone is also watching out for each other. The best place to have a bad day is up here because everyone gots your back and wants to help. Carrying anything around, you're bound to run into someone who wants to help. People are sincerly intersted in you and want to help. It's a nice feeling to feel that others are watching out for you.

A week ago they had this HUGE reunion of everyone who had worked here since whenever. The Girls Camp was established by the LDS church in 1921, it was the first girls camp ever. There was this huge log cabin here that burnt down in the early 60's. So many people talked about it's beauty. Funny enough, we were meeting people that actually remembered what it looked like. There were some old folks up here that worked in the late 50s.

It was fun for me to see people I had worked with in the past. It's fun to catch up! However, it was more fun to talk with people who had worked here in the lat 50s and early 60s. It was fun to see how much they loved this place and to hear about all their memories. I'll tell you, a lot of them are just crazy. :)

It honestly seemed so magical to hear their stories about what they remember about life in the old days. They were all campers here too so they were able to share about what they remember about being here as 12 year old girls. It made me feel like I too was living a legacy. Some of them told me they would paint fences or babysit so they could save 15 dollars to come up here.

This one lady called Glow worked here with her husband in 1953-54. The two of them were pretty cute. They always wore matching shirts. This women was about 78 and her husband was 80. She climbed up a 15 foot ladder and went down the zipline that's about 150 feet long or so. FEARLESS. We put her in the harness and she climbed right up. I was a bit nervous and I think I checked all the hook ups a 1000 times. I didn't want to be the cause of her 'early' death.

I didn't mean to say it like this but before she was about to go down I said, "Are you ready to take your last picture?" She said, "MY LAST PICTURE?!" What I meant was that I was going to take one last picture before she went down. I felt like this women was going to be my hero. She was so cute I felt her as an example of how life should be lived. Someone asked her what the secret was to a long marriage and her husband Joe said, "In the temple they told us to put each other first." Glow then chimed in and said, "yeah if anyone says anything bad to him, I flip them off!"

She also said she calls Elder Uchtdorf Elder HUNKdorf because he was so good looking. *eye roll*


The picture I posted is of her and I on top of the zip line platform. I wanted to capture this moment. She is FEARLESS and what if we all lived life this way? Will I be able to do the zip line when I'm even 50? Well let's be honest, there is a weight limit, let's hope I still meet that. :)

There are so many stories and so many more things to say about Brighton Girls Camp. It's awesome. The campe does so many things to help 12 year old girls have the strength and courage to be the people they should be. They do challenging rope courses to have the girls reflect on themselves, they go hikking, and go on cook outs. The activities up here are centered on empowering them. I went on this crazy all day 7 peak hike on Thursday. When were at the base of peak 1 there was 1 girl that was crying because it was too hard. I really felt bad for her because it was only peak 1 and there was no turning back. I gave my renforcement, told her I knew she could do it, etc. Essentially I pushed her up the entire mountain, but we made it safely. Later on, on about peak 3 she came up to me and hugged me and said, thank you. I was like, "yeah! We can do hard things." She smiled and said, "I know." I just thought about what an awesome experience this girl had pushing herself up the mountain and realizing, "Hey, I can do hard things." What a feeling of power.

Matt once said to me before we started, "Why would you not want your daughter to come up here?"

Unexpected visitors...!!!

Matt came to see me in Phoenix!!
I was so overjoyed! I don't think I have ever been happier to see my husband. I had no idea and it took me completely by surprise. He called me and asked me what room I was staying in, at the hotel. I knew he was up to something so I didn't want to tell him and I kept probing and asking why he wanted to know. Was he going to call me as a surprise? Send flowers to my room? Send me a milk shake? I told him I was on the 3rd floor some where but I couldn't remember the room number. As I open the door to step out to check, who is there smiling at me with his sun glasses? MATT! I screamed I was so shocked. My heart was full. I had so many emotions flowing into me all at once the only thing that really makes sense is, I was happy.

Matt came and told me he brought his trunks so we went swimming for a little while, laid in the sun, and then he told me he had looked up some Thai and Indian restaurants, as well as the best place to get a chocolate milk shake. :)

The night before I told Matt that I wanted some Indian food and a chocolate milk shake (as a reward for surviving my first week of training in Phoenix). I decided not to get Indian food, after all, and when I went down to the hotel restaurant to ask for a chocolate shake, the very thing I had been dreaming about all day, I was denied because they didn't have milkshakes! I had to settle for a chocolate molten, lava cake with vanilla ice cream... okay maybe using the word "settle" is a little inappropriate when describing this particular lava chocolate cake. So, to be honest, it was delicious. :)

I was touched that Matt had taken the time to look up chocolate shakes in Phoenix because he knew I was a little disappointed from the night before. I felt so loved by my husband, it's the little things that count. Anyways we actually went to a Thai food place and went to this artisan ice cream joint where they make their own ice cream. They had bizarre flavors like bacon, the mint chocolate chip tasted like real mint(It was ever so tasty!), and they had this basil flavored ice cream that tasted like basil. Somehow Matt and I felt like it was wrong to turn basil into ice cream, it just didn't feel right. Matt said, "this tastes like my dinner". I put pictures up of our little adventures. I was on cloud 9. I wanted to document everything so I could remember it forever. If only you could capture happiness in photos. I know it sounds all cheesy, but it was pretty much the greatest weekend I've had in a long time. (The weekend we got married I think was pretty good too.)

My getting lost buddy....

Im in Phoenix for a training, about words and I am learning so much and I love it, and Matt's at home with our ever so comfortable king size bed.

Can I just say that it's a lot better to be lost with someone than lost by yourself? When you're with someone else it's funny. When you're alone, it's stupid & more notable, embarrassing. I miss Matt. He's my "let's get lost and laugh" buddy. :(

Summary of the Months

So Aline borrowed my camera and then she broke it. So once she bought us a new one I haven't had any desire to post because I wanted a proof of our adventures. Anyways, I realized I haven't posted since Easter and we've done a lot! Some highlights are:

-Going to Arizona: Grand Canyon and camping!

-Going to Moab-We went down for Memorial Day

-Dying Easter Eggs with our cuter than a polar bear niece Ainsley

-Starting our garden and testing the soil (we discovered why Sandy is called "Sandy".)

-Celebrating my birthday- (Cirque du Solei & the Melting Pot)

-All of the interesting foods we've made. I tried to make a "Mormon" Tiramisu. Believe me, it looked a lot tastier than it was. It wasn't gross, it's just you expected more when you saw it. Matt also made this awesome stuff bread thing with peppers, egg plant, tomatoes.... so good! It looked so good!