Last Saturday Larry and I had the most amazing adventure! It zapped me of so much energy, but it was worth it. Totally and completly. We flew out of Spanish Fork airport just before noon, and flew to this remote place in Nevada. Larry had investigated it a few weeks before, so he knew exactly where we were going. When we went into land, the cows decided they wanted to take over the road. So, we had to circle around and try again. It was hilarious.
We had a big walk/hike from where we parked the plane to where the cave trail began. It took us longer than we thought it would (about 90 minutes), mostly because of me and how out of shape I am. Larry was so patient with me. I told him a lot about the California wagon train in 2001 because it felt a lot like that experience. I also WAY overpacked my backpack - it was SO heavy.
Once we got to the trail it was a scrabble to get to the top. At first Larry had me go first, which was hard. It was much easier when he picked the trail and I followed. We stopped a few times on the way up to enjoy the beautiful scenery. It reminded me of the scriptures and how people would have to go out into the wilderness to survive. It was that remote.
Once we got to the cave it was all worth it. It was SO beautiful and amazing!
There were bats in the cave!
I had asked my neighbors son, Eric, about this particular cave before we went. I was able to do some research into some of the things that we saw. He explores caves ALL the time with a few buddies that survey and map caves. He told me to that Goshute has: Anthodites, Aragonite, Bacon, Bubbles, Cave Pearls, Chandeliers, Columns, Coralloids, Cupulas (hypogenic), Draperies, Flowstone, Folia, Frostwork, Helicities, mammilaries, Moonmilk, Popcorn, Rafts, and Raft Cones, Rimston, Rimstone Dams, Shelfstone, Shields, Sodastraws, Spar, Splattermies, Stalactices, and lots more.
He told me that many of these cave formations he had never seen in person, so it was an amazing cave to go into. The only other cave I've been into is the Timpanogos Cave in American Fork, and a rideable cave tour we took in Missouri. I hit the jackpot when I asked him about it. He had just visited one week before.
Before leaving I snapped this photo. I think it's incredibly beautiful, and I can't believe I did this super hard thing.
Larry and I were starving once we were finished. It was about 6pm by the time we got out of the cave. We walked down to the plane and then flew to Wendover. We've been there before and they have a great little Mexican restaurant there. I wanted to just fall asleep in the booth. I feel bad for anyone that had to see my dirty self. The flight home was incredible! It was completely dark. We flew over the Salt Flats and we could see bonfires and people having parties. We were both super wiped out when we flew into the airport just after 10:30pm. It had been a full and delightful day.
Every spring I have birds building nests all over the back porch. It drives me crazy because of all the poop that accumulates. This year they discovered my dryer vent, and one persistent bird started making a nest inside. I tried to discourage it by running the dryer whenever I could hear it scratching around in there. Out of desperation, I finally asked Larry if he would come over and help me fix it. He was so kind to help me out. He did all the hard work of pulling out the vent and then carefully chipping away at the stucco to get the entire frame of the vent out. He said the vent was put on the house before the stucco was installed. It was tedious, but he did a perfect job. It was fun being his assistant because I could take pictures like this:
He also brought me over some of my favorite candy. Before he left for the night, he and I shared the entire bag. I was so grateful that he was willing to help me, and that we had so much fun doing it. Hopefully I will have no more problems with birds.
I worked a little bit on some fair things this week. I went and got all the extra shirts they had from last year. I've been slowly handing out the extras to friends/family. I had to determine how many extra we had from last year, so they can order the ones for this year. I think it's going to be pretty fun. I'm a bit worried about how tired I might be. It seems like fair days are long. But, it will be a good experience for me to see such a large event happen.
This week has been a more relaxing week than the past three weeks. I'm always so thankful for a contract job, but it's nice not to feel the pressure to quickly finish it. This week I finally got around to cleaning out Rex's habitat. I keep thinking that I need to get a bigger house for him. He is still growing and getting so long. This week I made a visit to one of our vendors that provides milk at work. They had a dozen quail eggs and I knew Rex would love them. He first had to stare out it for 20 minutes and then he dived right in. His naturally stoic face makes me laugh so hard.
Luke has been begging for a hair trim for a few days, so we got down to business and made it happen. I am so glad that I can do it and not spend money on going to a stylist. The times are probably getting limited in him allowing me to do it. To be funny, we buzzed everything but one small section in the middle. Except I didn't quite do it straight, so we were laughing and laughing. It was so funny. Now if only Peter would let me buzz his hair. Then we would have a BIG party!
The boys and I got out of the house together this week. It was SO nice to spend time with them. I am thankful they were willing to spend time with this 'old momma'. I've been spending A LOT of time this week working on a 1099 contract that I got from Backstage, so it was especially nice to get away from my computer.
Sorting books at the library is SO entertaining. I giggle more on my shifts here then on most days. I think next week I'll take $5 in cash so I can buy a few books I've had my eye on (not the ones shown below).
The other day Peter wanted to see how flexible he is. He can still do it, and he was so proud of himself.
It's that time in Peter's orthodontic treatment that we evaluate his wisdom teeth. As suspected, they are causing issues, so out they come. We'll be heading over to get that taken care of in a few weeks. Peter has already watched several youtube videos about the process. He knows all about it, and I want to stay blissfully ignorant.
His orthodontist has been very impressed with the speed at which Peter's teeth have moved. He is very obedient and responsible about keeping his rubber bands in. I am thankful about that. I wonder if Peter will be able to be done with braces by this summer.
I worked at the library book sale this week. It's so much fun to see people buying the books that were donated to the library for this even. It's been a lot of fun to work closely with one of the main librarians at the library. She is fabulous. There are also some other "Friends of the Library" volunteers that I am getting to know. There are so many good people everywhere, and I'm glad I get to know some of them.
I finished off the week being able to donate blood. It's been several months since I've done so because I've been taking an iron supplement to elevate my iron levels. All the hard work paid off when the little machine said my iron level was 13. I was very happy about it.
For the past month I've been volunteering at the library. They needed someone to sort all the donated books into different book sections in preparation for the triannual book sale that they have. It's been so much fun to see all the different books that come in. Today these were gems that I found. There is always something new/interesting to see. Today there were also a lot of books that made me giggle.
I can sense that spring is coming soon. I spent last Saturday up in my tree pruning. It looks so much better. I really hope that I'll get a large crop of plums this year.
At work, we are learning how to make sourdough bread. This is my third, and most beautiful attempt. It is so fun to learn a new skill that is so, so tasty.
Luke and I have been working on one of his school assignments. It's forcing us to get out into nature and enjoy time together. We've had a lot of fun doing it. I am thankful for a job that lets me be with the kids when they get home from school. It makes being a momma so much easier when I can be there for my boys.
The boys always look forward to our special valentines day dinner. This year was so fun! The boys are getting so kind to their "old" momma. They actually didn't complain when I wanted a picture all together. I also took them to Macey's (the grocery store) afterward and had them pick out Vday gifts to give me. Luke got me swedish fish and Peter got me flowers. It was super nice night.
