I haven't even looked at a blog in months.
For one thing, I never get on the desktop computer anymore now that I have an iphone. And even though it doesn't document our life as well, facebook and instagram have taken the place of all the documentation I used to do on the blog. Go find me- Kate H Jefferies and spideylark...if you haven't already. ANYWAY... I'd really like to get back into the blog again, just so I can finally get around to making a book out of our most important milestones.
Another reason is that we have been extremely busy moving...moving! Holy moly! What a summer!
Back around the time I last posted, in May...Brent learned that he FINALLY got accepted to the post-doctorate fellowship that he was hoping (read: fixated on) to do since he had graduated 6 years earlier. Well, this fellowship happened to be at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City. So we packed up 6 years of living in Oregon and moved back to Utah! It was bittersweet. One the one hand, so happy to be living close to our old family and friends again! So happy to experience all our old fun spots! So happy that Brent was finally getting a chance to do the research he had been hoping to do for years. But sad to leave the beautiful, green lands and the friends we have who are like family to us.
Well, we moved to Utah at the end of June ... and it was apparent almost right away that the research program he had been dreaming of was not the same one he had dabbled in during school. Maybe it changed in 6 years, or maybe Brent changed...but the biggest factor in him not liking it was that he realized that it would require much more of our family time than we were willing to sacrifice. So, Brent resigned just a few weeks into the program...with a heavy heart...but early enough in the fellowship so that they could still replace him. We really wanted to stay in Utah, but after looking high and low we found there were not many jobs open in his field (much to our surprise!). There were a LOT of jobs open back in Oregon, so we packed it up and moved on back! This time we are residing at the beautiful, wild coast!! We arrived in Lincoln City the very beginning of September.
Our summer in Utah was a great big, fun vacation!
All CrAzY, all bittersweet...LOTs of big changes for us and our kids in a short time. We are really hoping to settle in here and stay for several years though, and think we will be really happy here. It is the smallest town we have ever lived in. It is very touristy! The BEACH is only 1 block away from our house now.
Come visit!
7.21.12
At almost three weeks postpartum, I was feeling pretty good and was wanting to get out for some fresh air and even a little exercise! I asked Brent to find us a little hike...somewhere we've never been before (a challenge!).
Cape Horn:
The Washington side of the Colombia River Gorge...beautiful!
Breastfeeding + hiking = double calorie torcher
most of the trails we have been on in the Gorge are pretty easy, quick jaunts to a waterfall or an overlook. NOT so much with this hike. It is a pretty long, pretty steep, pretty rocky switchback hike...but with GREAT views. NOT what I was expecting for us to do at 3 weeks postpartum. I didn't bring water or diapers or anything!
It ended up being about a three mile hike, which normally would be a great family hike for us...
if we were prepared. But also there was no signage on diverting trails, and so it wouldn't be too difficult to get lost. From what Brent read online, it was supposed to be a loop to an overlook, a waterfall, and then back to our car. We kept hiking and never found the connecting trail back to our car. We could have kept hiking for while and ended up down the busy highway from our car, but we decided to forgo the loop, and just head back to our car the way we came...even though it ended up being longer. At least we knew where we were going and when we were going to get there! Ah! Only stressful for a moment there until we decided to go back the way we came. But overall, a beauty of a hike.
we found the waterfall...almost no water this time of year.
Toby in front of Cape Horn overlook (the actually geological feature)...
I took a few pictures of the kids with my dslr camera...more practice!
Cape Horn
Uh oh! What's going on here? Deep thought? Boredom? Impending adolescence??
I'm a little worried. :)
the toddler is a very determined hiker...but hiking up a talus field is just too much for him.
...so he will ride on Brent's shoulders instead!
another serious shot of our big laddie
and our medium laddie
I really wanted to get a picture of Ollie's big round eyes, long lashes, beautiful lips and baby curls (before they were cut off).
Like I said we had a very lovely time on the hike, despite the moment or two of worry and stress...but the funniest part of this story happened the very next day.
Brent subscribes to this Portland hikers online forum, and the next day there was a review of this hike on the forum...which was obviously done by someone who passed us on the hike because they wrote about US!! Haha! Here's what they had to say:
"But I mentioned this is a new trail, right? Ouch! The rocks are pretty loose. Poles tend to be useless, as they plunge into the cracks with each plant. And some genius even designed one segment with seven or eight switchbacks down one of these slopes. I saw a family coming off that, two kids walking, each parent carrying another, one parent seemingly ready to scream at the other for "getting them into this mess!" "
Here's the link if you want to read it yourself! Which, by the way, I wasn't made at Brent for "getting us into this mess", but I think that either Brent or I may have been worried at that moment that we were not going to find the right trail back to our car. It was shortly thereafter we decided to go back the way we came. Still funny though!
...or New Years Eve hike
...or frighteningly, death defyingly high cliffs
...or Eagle Creek Trail.
12.31.11
On New Years Eve day we met up with my sisters and their families and went for a hike. My older sister {who does not have kids, by the way} picked out this hike. It was an amazing hike. But kind of scary, even for just me. Maybe too scary to take kids on. Nail-biting, edge of your seat-scary to bring kids and their cousins, who-like-to-play-and-run-along-the-trail while their hiking.
But the amazing thing about this hike was all the WATER. After a rainy week, it was a WET place. Cliffs everywhere = waterfalls everywhere. Despite our close attention to our kids, we managed to get a few photos. And we all came back alive, thankfully...cause I just can't take any more of that death stuff.
raging eagle creek
water falling everywhere
many time along the trail we got a little shower
the shower woke Ollie up from his nap
Toby and his playful cousin
one of the many examples of why this hike was so scary! This is Right off the trail...
funny self-portrait
creek-crossing
dusk brings on blurry pictures at the end of a hike
Believe me when I tell you that we had a vice grip on our kids the entire way!
Oh yeah...HAPPY NEW YEAR!
EPIC!
11/05/2011
| Author:
kate
There are lots of things I could call this post:
Epic hike, epic anniversary date, epic day of physical exertion, but most of all epic FAIL!
As I mentioned in my
last post, we skipped going on a fancy schmancy 12th aniversary vacation for a few reasons. Mostly because we didn't want to spend big money, but also because Brent's brother was returning from his LDS mission to Singapore and having his homecoming celebration the day after our anniversary. We decided to go to Utah instead of a vacation...and while we were there wanted to plan something EPIC to do.
8/23:
LONE PEAK! I've wanted to hike that with Brent since I first met him, but the circumstances have never been quite right up until now. Still, we were pushing it to think we could hike Lone Peak in one day in the blistering heat of August.
Here is a visual overview of our hike:
On the right (where we started) is Draper. We walked up that big mountain all day and for several reasons we did not end up having enough daylight to make it all the way to the top. By the time we stopped I could go no further. I felt like such a quitter, but really there was nothing we could do about it...except plan our next trip better.
We started out on the wrong foot by getting going later than we planned. Everyone we have talked to says you have to start at 4 am to climb the mountain in one day. I think we started at 8:30. Also, Brent decided to take an experimental trail, one he's never taken before. We took the brand new Orson Smith trail on the front of the mountain, starting in Draper (as opposed to the shorter, much preferred Jacob's Ladder trail, which you can access from Draper or Alpine). All in all, we ended up hiking across the mountain and back twice in the time we could've been up to the top and on our way back down. Disappointing! The Jacob's Ladder trail is 11 miles, and we ended up hiking 13...all WITHOUT making it to the top. Oh well!
And I'd like to make myself feel better about it all by saying we had a great time anyway, but we really didn't have a great time. It was over 100 degrees, the sun was mercilessly beating down on us the whole time, and it was a very strenuous hike. Not to mention that we had to hike 3/4 of the way down in the dark...with no flashlights. BUT...even though I was questioning my sanity in voluntarily choosing to do this hike, I am glad we went. I was SO GLAD to finally see this mountain of which I've heard Brent gush about all our married life. And next time, yes there will be a next time...we will easily hike this in two days, starting from the Jacob's Ladder trail.
climbing altitude! Excited!
Draper LDS Temple
a view of Salt Lake City, SLC how I love thee!
somehow we cross the whole width of the mountain and ended up climbing the "bald spot". It went on FOREVER in the hot, blazing sun. I do not recommend doing that.
Brent at the top of the Bald Spot. He kept getting ahead of Emily and I, and I thought we were never going to catch up with him. Jonny, Brent's brother was
teaching paragliding lessons that morning. His plan was to run up the mountain (!) and meet us when he was done. Brent and his brother are pretty crazy, as you can tell.
from the top of the bald spot
after reaching the bald spot, we traversed the mountain once again to find the spring. We filled all of our water bottles and camelbacks. This hike would be impossible without this spring. We could not have carried more water than we did, and it was no where near enough. It is a very good thing that Brent and his family knows this mountain!
Jonny and Emily: Jonny finally caught up with us! He hiked with us for a few miles and then had to leave again to teach evening paragliding lessons! He ran back to the bald spot with his paraglider and flew off the mountain!
this is where we stalled out for the day. It was so sad, but we just did not have enough daylight to safely come down from the peak if we went any further. Not to mention, I really couldn't hike any further up.
here is the view of the cirque and the peak from where we stopped...SO close! Yet so far away...
beautiful flower and beautiful Emily
On our way back down we crossed over the mountain, yet again...this time to the north side, so we could stay out of the blazing heat.
the shady side is longer, but much more pleasant
and we found the old hikers cabin, which is supposed to be pretty hard to find!
Emily and Kate
Brent and Kate: Happy 12th Anniversary + 3 days!
beautiful flowers, glowing in the sunlight
ant
Emily missed a spot with the sunscreen! Ouch!
forget-me-nots {heart} favorite!
Giant nose picking
I LOVE aspen trees...and miss them in Oregon
red elderberry (poisonous) and rose hips (edible)
The sun is starting to set and I keep stopping to take all these breathtaking pictures because the lighting is perfect. Little did I realize that we still had a LONG way to hike. It looked like we were close, but we were only 1/4 of the way down.
It was a LONG, long, long way down in the dark, but we made it eventually. And when we got to the car that felt pretty miraculous!
Even though it was VERY hard, it was awesome to spend the day doing something we could NOT do with our kids for our anniversary. We love our kids and we take them everywhere with us...so that limits what we can do.
Happy Anniversary to my best friend and love!
