Old Rag Mountain

Memorial Day Saturday we hiked Old Rag Mountain. Along with us came every youth from our church who wanted to come, and a few who were probably just pressured into it by their peers.



It was a hot, hazy day, typical of Virginia summers. The good side was no worries about needing to bring a jacket in case of rain or cold, the downside was the sweat. I brought a gallon of water in the form of two nalgene bottles and a 2 liter hydration system in my pack, which also included the first aid kit, (which we thankfully didn't need, except for a blister), lunch, and some snacks ( another nalgene of gorp, some jerky, red vines [red licorice], and a box of Good and Plenty). When we reached the summit, I had half a nalgene of water left. (I had given almost a liter out to others who didn't bring enough, like Tracy.)

The signature part of Old Rag is the fact that the summit is mainly bare rocks. The trail goes around, between, over, and underneath boulders and slabs. Most of the other mountains out here have limited views because they're just the top of a tree. Old Rag doesn't do that; it pumps out huge views the entire last mile before the summit. The payment for that, however, is the work getting over the rocks. The pictures won't show the hardest parts because, well, we needed both hands to get through them.

Crazy dog

So this is my crazy dog. I included the puppy picture so you can clearly see why I was so easily fooled when the adoption place assured me she was cat!! :) Don't worry, it only took us a month to figure out what she really was, a minature bear cub!! Man, were we fooled!!

P.S. I included a picture of Joe and I so you could see the family resemblance!!

Insomnia Thoughts

So, I totally can't fall asleep. My mind just keeps racing with all these crazy thoughts. Since I don't keep a journal, I figure I should write it down in the blog. (We had a lesson in YW about keeping a journal, and I plan on repenting and starting one on Sunday. Until then, the blog will have to do.)

So earlier today a thought crossed my mind. (Don't worry, I have more than one.) I was thinking why is it that I have total faith in the medical miracles of today, but it is so hard to have complete faith in God, or you forget to completely rely on God. I mean if a doctor says that I can have a test tube baby, I believe him and that it will happen just as he says. Do I really believe that God can give us a baby without modern technologies? The answer is heck, yes, but sometimes I wonder if my heart really believes that. (Usually, that's on my really down days.) Why can it be so much easier to trust science? I suppose some would say,"Well, science is backed up with facts." Yet, so is God. How can you not look at the world around you and not see God. When you read the scriptures or see a beautiful sunset, don't I feel God. And yet, it seems easier to forget these experiences. I think that maybe science doesn't care about what's right or wrong for you, but God does and that's the difference.In my head, I know that God can make anything happen, as long as its according to his will. That's the real kicker and the hard thing for me to remember-"according to his will." Yikes!! Through everything we've been going through, I have realized and remembered some important things. You really put your life in God's hands. Without Him, you are nothing and will get lost. While His vision can span the eternities, yours is limited to only the present. Who am I to question God, who is all knowing, all encompassing, and all loving. Everything happens for a reason and with every trial; there is a lesson to be learned to help enrich and perfect your life. I have also learned that men generally don't show emotion as much as girls, and just because they don't show it doesn't necessarily mean it isn't there!

So then I start thinking about what lesson I can learn from having such a hard time having a child? And the thoughts of learning patience and great gratitude that we can even have a child. I think that not a moment would pass by, whether they are acting up or simply driving me crazy that I could not thank God for the blessing of having a child in my life. Then I start to wonder if this means we are going to have really rotten kids because I truly believe you learn these life lessons for a reason! :0)

Another thought that crossed my mind is why is it that when we go through hard times, one of the first thoughts that come to mind is what am I doing wrong. Why is it so easy to forget that one of the main purposes in life is to be tried. Why are we above the Savior, who suffered everything for us so that we can return to our Heavenly Father and be happy. I want to try and get to the point where when a trial comes my way, I'm more of a bring it on attitude instead of a why me attitude.

I also realized that I need to learn to like vegetables. Its getting pretty bad. I've been told that it starts going downhill wants you hit 30 so I figure I have about 6 months to start liking veggies!

Having fun with Cub Scouts

Last weekend, I was in theoretically in charge of the COPE section playing games with Cub Scouts at the Cub Jamboree at Camp Snyder. for those of you who don't know what COPE is, look here, here, and here. The whole day was pretty fun; Tracy's observations on the group sanity of 7-10 year olds are pretty accurate.
One of my personal highlights of the day was about 3:00(maybe?) when I was looking at a rope we were using and I thought "Hey, we could tie this around those two trees and make a slackline out of it!" Well, we kind of did. I got one of the other instructors to help me, and we moved it to the trees and started tying one end. We did a bowline on one end and a trucker's hitch on the other, with a tautline hitch to secure it. Anyone who actually knows what slacklining is may tell me that it wasn't a slackline , it was a tightrope. Well, it's only a foot off the ground anyway, and besides, it gets worse:

The rope wasn't exactly a normal rope. It was a mooring hawser. A 5 inch mooring hawser. For the uninitiated, that means we used a very big, very heavy rope, used to tie ships to piers, instead of a normal climbing rope that's about 10 mm - under 1/2 inch, or climbing webbing that's flat and 1 inch wide. Yep. It was a huge hit; we had kids want to 'walk on the rope' for the next hour, and we had fun too.

10 year old boys

So Joe and I did COPE yesterday for Cub Scouts, which means we played games all day. It was a lot of fun. I can't get over how tiny these kids were. They seriously looked like baby midgets. It was really cute! I think it was also a good form of birth control. I am definitely only having girls! :)

Or if we have a boy, there should only be one and he can't have any friends that are boys!! For instance, we were finishing up a game and they just started rolling around on the ground and screaming. Maybe they thought they were rolly pollies or something. Just kidding. They were a lot of fun for the most part.

Merry Christmas!!

Goals

Recently I noticed that I have a problem with my hobbies. I have several hobbies with a lot of I'll do this next, but no medium-to-long term goals in any of them to provide direction. Let's take a look at a few of my hobbies and the goals for each:

• Firearms: Maybe get a Virginia Concealed Carry Permit, and buy either an M1 Carbine, SVT40, or a Hakim.
• Whitewater: Learn to roll my kayak; buy a tandem inflatable kayak for us to use together.
• Climbing: Be able to climb 5.9 routes.

Looking at this list I see three fairly expensive hobbies and goals that I'm not going anywhere with. All three of these have possible longer-term goals, though. I just haven't done anything with them:

• Firearms: Become competitive in a target league, either rifle or pistol.
• Whitewater: Improve to the point where I can safely handle a class IV river (like the New, or the Potomac below Great Falls.)
• Climbing: Learn Sport and/or Trad climbing, and eventually, climb a multi-pitch route.
  

I also thought up another goal when I was thinking along this line, but it's not exactly legal, and is still a short-term goal: Get a copy of the Harry Potter book 7, pre-release. Of course, I couldn't tell anyone I had done it, because I don't even want to think about the legal problems I'd get into, and it would have to be done before the release date in July, anyway.

So, Harry Potter is axed as a goal. I still think it'd be fun.

Let's check my other hobbies: Shooting, hmm, All the target leagues around here shoot at ranges where I'd have to either join the club that they're at, and they meet at awkward times for me. Nah. Whitewater, well, I'm going to keep working on it, but it takes a lot of time on the water, and time is my shortest commodity right now, so that'll go on hold. Climbing, I have a lot of the gear I need, I know people who will teach me for, like, free, and there's actually a good chunk of decent climbing nearby. cool. I think I've found a goal!

so, by the end of this year, I want to lead climb. By the end of next year, I want to do a true multi-pitch route. Well, we'll see how it goes.

Aloha

My nephew, Simon's birthday was yesterday. He just turned three. He spent most of the day in the hospital where the surgeons had to operate on his eye. Apparently, my little niece was swinging a dog leash around, and the metal part struck his eye. The surgeon had to get out the pieces of metal in his eye, and stitch up the tear from his cornea to his iris. He has to have another surgery in a couple of weeks to make repairs to his retina. The doctors are unsure at this time what is going to happen to his vision,but time will tell. Please keep him in your prayers.

Life is pretty much going as usual. We had stake conference today and Elder Scott was there. He told us that the secret to waking up with a smile is to put a coat hanger in your mouth before going to bed. I decided to try and get Joe to try it. We'll keep you posted on the success!!! :0)