Zee Austrians

Our second family from Austria was in town this past week and we played like rock stars while they were here. Casey is still trying to catch up on his sleep. I tell you, Austrians know how to have fun!

If you would like to know how we were blessed to have this amazing family became part our our family click here. My sister told the story beautifully.

Let me introduce you to the Hoeferls:

Christian is way fun to joke around with and tease. He is just like a kid in a grown up body. He has an amazing gift for dealing with people and making everyone feel comfortable and welcome.

This is him when I tease him too much. (Sorry Christian but I had to post this picture)

And then there is Maude who goes on all the rides at Lagoon and goes on rocking boats even though she gets motion sickness. Who goes rock climbing (and ends up being super strong at it) even though she is afraid of heights. She will do anything for the sake of her family's happiness. She is super interesting to talk to too. Her outlook on life astounds me.

We were all so proud of Jeffery who overcame his fear of heights and climbed to the top of the cliff and allowed himself to be lowered back to the ground. He is a climbing machine! By the end of the trip he was getting more confident with his English too. Be confident Jeffrey, your English is really good!

Sweet princess Fiji (Sophia) I don't think I will ever meet such a sweet, cute, kind hearted, fun girl. Her smile lights up the room. She also has a catwalk that blows any super model out of the water.

And finally my nephew Kevin. Isn't he handsome? He is soft spoken, intelligent, reserved, responsible, and a lot of fun. He is naturally gifted at everything he does. I wish I had a little of that. I am so grateful that we have him in our lives. He is an amazing person.

We took them rock climbing and they were all naturals. But of course they were, they are from Austria where they constantly scale mountains in their lederhosen just like on the Sound of Music. And of course they are strong, just look at the Austrian native Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.

While they were here we spent quality time boating, rock climbing, miniature golfing, go-cart racing, playing laser tag, late night nacho, pizza, and dessert parties, watching The Dark Knight, going to Lagoon, and eating delicious European chocolate. I could barely keep up. Thanks Jen for letting me tag along, I had a great time!

Weekend in Logan

We had quite the weekend in Logan. Alisa had not been up in a while and she misses it so it was over due.  We went climbing, went to Bear Lake, went to a wedding, and hung out with family.  

Here's my mom kickn' it Rock and Roll Peggy style

What a babe

Here is my cousin Kamie's kid Macy she was super cute!

the G team

I'm telling ya, she's a babe!

It was fun to hang out with Aubry this weekend. She almost wasn't scared of me after a few days.

So the good news was Ryan and Amanda got married! It was a super nice wedding and we are very happy for them.

They were all laughs the whole time. It was cool to see them so happy.

Mount Rainier

*Prepare yourself, this is a long post.
Last weekend we hiked Mount Rainer in Washington State. It was my third time summiting and Casey's fifth. The route we did (Gibraltar Ledges) was my favorite so far, but Casey's favorite is still Liberty Ridge (I missed that trip). Gibraltar Ledges is a very direct, steep, fun route that makes you wonder why you ever went up Disappointment Cleaver. We didn't see any other groups on the route which always makes it a better experience. Everyone we went with did a fabulous job and it was definitely a successful trip.
So this is how it goes:
Day one - hike up to Camp Muir (base camp). The hike starts at 5400 feet and Camp Muir is at 10,188 feet so that is almost an elevation gain of 5000 feet. Having a heavy backpack on your back doesn't help.

Day two - rest day - practice self arresting and rescue procedures if one of us falls in a crevasse.
Day three - start for the summit at 1:00am. It's a good thing it was dark while we were hiking through the ledges, otherwise I might have felt much more exposed. If you fall it is like falling into the depths of Mordor. Scary . . .
We just kept getting higher and higher and we almost reached the top when the sun came up. There's nothing better than watching the sunrise at the top of Mount Rainer. Beautiful.
After we reach the top (elevation 14,411 feet) we hiked back to base camp, packed up all our gear and hiked all the way back down to our cars. It's over a 12 hour day of constant hiking and climbing which leaves you very stinky, tired, ready for a shower and a really yummy dinner.
Here are some pics of the trip.*Sorry these photos are kind of out of order

This is us on our way down. Sometimes you can slide on your butt and it makes it much faster and much more fun!

We could always see Mount Adams and Mount St. Helens in the background. It made the views spectacular!
Little Tahoma Peak ~ This is my favorite peak that you can see while you are hiking.

Ingraham Glacier and Ingraham Flats base camp ~ We camped out here on one or our trips. It has amazing views of Little Tahoma Peak, and lots of sweet crevasses to lower down into and climb out of.


Camp Muir ~ Our tent is the yellow one. Isn't that view of Mount Adams great! We were living the life at this base camp because they actually have porta potties. They were the most foul smelling things but we at least had them. See, if you don't have porta potties then you have to do your business in a bag and carry it down the mountain with you. Sorry, that was a little too much information.
This is our wonderful group of nine. A big group but we were well organized, climbing machines!

Lovely view of the sunrise
We're not tired, I promise. We have a long way to go.

Anyone up for next year's trip?!
By the way. . . Happy 4th of July!