iron like a lion in zion

as promised, here is the flickr set of aaron's recent trip to zion national park.

teaching an old dog new tricks

awes is getting a little better at composing a photograph. just a little. ;)

into the wild 2008

i'm currently in the process of uploading the pics from aaron's winter hike. he said the weather was pretty much perfect til the last two days when it begin to snow. here are a few choice pics. the rest can be viewed here: christmas hike 2008.




apparently there was some nakedness that wasn't captured by the cameras. lucky for us all! not sure if this would fall in the "hippie" category but i'll put it there anyways.

awes is awol

awes left this morning for his annual christmas hike in northern washington. he arrived safely despite some questionable weather in minnesota. i had originally been slated to go, not the hiking/camping part but visiting with jamie while the boys were out and about. unfortunately i had to sacrifice in order to get this IVF cycle in. hopefully next year i'll be able to go with a little one in tow!

the price is right

it's been awhile since we've gone hiking. life and moods seem to get in the way of exercise, at least for me. today we ventured up to price lake with the dogs and hiked the 2.3 mile loop around. although both of us agreed it was definitely longer than advertised. the leaves are on the cusp of change and there was a nip in the air. i love the transition and weather this time of year. inspired by jen's fall post, i took a few shroom shots on our journey.

i honestly didn't see the slug on the smallest shroom until after i downloaded the photo. i guess he needed to get a little camera time.

here's aaron's find on our hike. a mushroom waterfall. and just to let you know, we are now living with a JYD. details tomorrow.

a little cuteness on a monday afternoon

from time to time i'll try and post some of my favorite etsy sellers. today it's lou and lee. they make the cutest things for baby. mostly of the girl persuasion or for the little boy who wants some flair! diego?!? ;)

things are starting to get busy around here. we've decided to finish our basement. the walls need to be drylocked, which we've decided to do ourselves. once aaron started i think he quickly changed his mind. the stuff is super thick and we've already gone through a five gallons of it and only finished one coat on half the basement. he knocked out a quarter of it saturday and i chipped in last night and we got halfway done before running out. it definitely went faster with two of us working. i'll probably be spending most of wednesday finishing up so they can start construction. at least my blisters will get one day of rest before they multiple and enlarge!

tonight we're heading down to charlotte again. we've got reservations at the melting pot tonight. i think the last time we went was when i first got my braces on, about three years ago. so the westphals do do fondue. tomorrow we're hitting up carowinds. hopefully we'll have less of a crowd with kids back in school and the weather will be a little cooler. 88 degrees. which sounds tolerable. i can't wait.

i'll be posting pics from last week (went to a johnson city cardinals game and visited another waterfall in blowing rock.) and pics from tomorrow hopefully on wednesday. i've been bit of slacker when it comes to blogging. need to get back into the swing of things soon.

where the elk falls

monday chad, jennaya and the boys ventured up to the high country to do a little camping. unfortunately it started pouring a little after they set up camp. we offered up the house as a shelter until the rain passed, played a little mariokart and had a little dinner. a couple hours later we all headed back over to their campsite. everything was a little damp, but we managed to get a fire going with a little boy scout recall. tepees and chimneys. aaron and i spent a couple hours chatting and catching up before we braved the heavy fog back home.

yesterday we decided to check out elk falls. chad had been there when he went to app. state years ago and we all thought it'd be a fun trip with the kids and dogs. we were quite surprised when we pulled up and cars were spilling out of the parking lot. including a church camp bus. apparently this quiet place has become a local hot spot. we all had a good time despite the crowds. it was a perfect day, even a little on the warm side. it was so great seeing jennaya and the boys. we'll have to make a trip over to greensboro soon! elk falls flickr.

sweet mountain

brian and irina arrived friday evening and we had waited to eat dinner with them. they arrived around 7:45 and we were out the door by 8. we decided to treat everyone to makotos, a japanese steakhouse here in boone. it was the first time for most and everyone had a good time.

brian brought his wii wheel and we played a little mariokart after dinner. it was the first time we played with three players. really not a fan of the four-split screen. a little too chaotic for my taste. we did get to play angela and family for the first time. we kicked a little butt, i'm not bragging at all! ;)

saturday the weather finally cooperated and we were able to enjoy the mountains in full force. aaron had read in the paper that sugar mountain resort opened it's ski lifts for scenic summer rides. you can either hike or bike the trails. the lifts are rigged to carry bikes up. it was crazy seeing them float by. well, after a 20-25 minute ride up we decided to hike down. even mom managed to keep up, she even passed us at one point. here's the sugar flickr set. as you can see we all had a great time.

after hiking we headed over to sugar grove for their annual music festival. we caught the carolina chocolate drops and the kruger brothers. it was brian and irina's introduction to bluegrass. and i think they both enjoyed the music. when we arrived home, the weather was still great that we decided to get a little fire going. we sat outside, cracked open a bottle of wine and enjoyed the evening chatting.

so that's how our sweet weekend wrapped up. we didn't plan everything around sugar, it just happened. and before i forget, my mom picked about 10 gallons of blackberries. literally. our counter tops were barely visible, she had bowls and jars everywhere. luckily she took it all with her. poor brian had to haul it all back to maryland. another sweet item.

holden beach, nc

and we're back. had a little fun, got some sun and definitely wished we had a few more days to enjoy the surf. surprisingly, it's still about a 7 hour drive to get to the southern coast of north carolina. i really can't complain. to drive half a day and be able to bask in the ocean breeze is worth every minute of driving.

i am glad to be home. i missed aaron and the pups. we've already hit the hiking trails today. so i went from one extreme to the other in a matter of hours. insane how that works.

billy goats

yesterday we trekked up grandfather mountain with the pooches in tow. aaron's been wanting to hit the hill all month, but due to rainy weekends we haven't been able to go til now. (plus, during the month of april it only costs local residents $1 as opposed to $14, so you know we had to go.) here's aaron and the dogs at one of the scenic overlooks. you can see the rope we used to climb up the rock, it was that steep. surprisingly, the dogs were able to climb the rock without any difficulty. they must have a little billy goat in them. unfortunately, spring hasn't quite hit the high country yet. the weather was agreeable but it wasn't as scenic as it is when everything is in bloom. probably why it only costs $1 this month.

video documentation

my manly man

i suggested to "sometimes aaron" he should post a blog about his christmas hike last month. "a what?" "a why?" "a who?" <--this may be slightly exaggerated. in other words, "i won't be posting anything anytime soon." just like his refusal to get a myspace page, "the day adam earl get's a myspace, then maybe, i'll consider getting one." so no myspace. he hates technology, always and forever. which means i'll be posting on his behalf.

the back story: aaron's friend, tom, goes on a hike every christmas holiday with a bunch of buddies to the outskirts of washington state. they've been doing this every year for the past 15 years. from what i've been told they get rowdy, drink, smoke, wrestle, not shower, etc. basically they're men behaving badly in the wilderness. i'm not sure if females can go, i'm not sure they'd want to.

anyways, if you've ever been to the langei's abode you've seen group photos from every year hanging on their wall. well this year, tom invited aaron along. of course, aaron jumped at the opportunity. yesterday we got a disc from tom with all the photos from the trip. i may have to twist aaron's arm and have him write a more detailed description of the trip. i'll post some photos in the mean time. and after seeing them, i really want to go. not necessarily on this particular trip. but something similar.

very beautiful and untouched nature. i'm sure the photos don't do it much justice.

westphal does walt

disney in a day...impossible. especially when toting around four little ones. we did manage to hit up epcot and the magic kingdom. weather: couldn't ask for any better. i don't know how people do it in the dead of summer. lines were fairly fast. we got a fastpass for soarin seven hours later we were riding high. best attraction at epcot and super popular. we did a several more rides with all the kids. little shayna met all the height requirements so she was riding on every ride with the big kids! what a trooper. all in all i had a great time. can't really complain when it's all free. perks of having a disney employee in the family.

i had a great time seeing dana and her family. dana and i chatted into the wee hours every night. we had 12 years of catching up to do. she is a super momma. i must admit i was a bit overwhelmed. going from zero to four is quite an adjustment. even for someone like me. i love kids but i don't think i can manage four. how she does it on her own is beyond me. you go girl! we even got to squeeze in a short visit with oma alyce! exactly how i remembered her. must be the water over there. she looked and acted exactly the same.

i am glad to be home. as nice as the weather was down there, it didn't feel like christmas. i love to bundle up and snuggle under a warm blankets. love to see my breath in the crisp air. snow. and, of course, to see my babies again. although aaron is somewhere in the washington wilderness right now. this is the longest we've been apart since we've been together, 10 days in 10 years, crazy. i talked to him yesterday and he was four hours into his six hour drive from bellingham. then he had a six mile hike ahead of him. he was loving the scenery. hopefully he'll take plenty of photos and i'll make "sometimes aaron" post a blog about his trip upon his return.

this time last year...

pretty much the phrase of the weekend. the whole phrase: "can you believe this time last year we were in jamaica getting married?" jamaica...oh how we miss thee! seriously, we do.

we've officially got a whole year of marriage under our belts.

we thought we'd try and take one of those "spur of the moments" vacations/weekends, but that didn't pan out too well. (i don't think those work unless you live in a city with a major airport.) we even considered reliving the moment in jamaica. poor planning on our part. two nights cost just as much as five days. so that was a bust. instead we decided to have a date weekend. friday night we went out to dinner at one of our favorite "fancy" restaurants, the artisanal. food was fabulous.

saturday we went to the movies and watched dan in real life. a cute, romantic comedy. yes, cute. we don't like spending $16.50 on a movie we know is going to be so-so. we bit the bullet and splurged.

on our official anniversary we went hiking. a big difference from last year. since this was going to be the last nice weekend of the year, we decided to take advantage. we climbed 1000 ft. in a little over a mile. elevation on elk knob: 5520 ft. i thought i was going to die. it was pretty much uphill the whole time. but when we made it to the top it was totally worth the climb! aaron slathered on the zinc sunscreen so his lips are stark white in the pic. but we wanted to commemorate the occasion with a photo. slightly resembles the photo we took last year this time!

it was pretty much a low key anniversary. we shared a few gifts, relaxed, and were probably a little more lovey-dovey than usual. i think we both agreed we'd plan a little better next year. this time next year, i can't believe we'll be in jamaica! ;)

geocaching

aaron's birthday is saturday and i was having a difficult time deciding what to get him. my standby has always been cardinal tickets, you can't go wrong with them as far as he's concerned. but with us moving so far away from any national league team, tickets aren't really an option. this year i decided to go another route.

the week before christmas aaron's gonna fly out to seattle and meet up with tom and a crew of his friends for five day hike/camping expedition. he's so excited to go, he's been preparing for months. tom told aaron not to worry about camping gear, he would provide most, if not all. only thing aaron needs is warm, waterproof clothing. tom sent aaron an actual checklist, one he must use everytime he goes camping. tom's very type-a in matters of organization so i wasn't surprised. the list has been sitting on our kitchen counter for weeks now and last week i decided something off of it would make a great birthday gift. he has a majority of the items, thermals, windbreaker, boots. i did notice a lot of items with gortex. (it's one of the best items to use to keep you warm and dry.) i looked everything up and apparently gortex also means you're gonna spend a pretty penny to stay warm and dry. anything with gortex is about 3x more than what you'd normally pay. i settled on a pair of socks. yes, i paid $50 for a pair of socks. he plans on going every year...so i justify the purchase as a long-term investment. plus i don't want him coming back with foot rot.

i did also purchase a hand-held gps device for him. since we've been hiking a lot, i thought it'd be something we both can use. plus, i wanted to try geocaching. what is geocaching? defined:

geocaching is an entertaining adventure game for gps users. participating in a cache hunt is a good way to take advantage of the wonderful features and capability of a gps unit. the basic idea is to have individuals and organizations set up caches all over the world and share the locations of these caches on the internet. gps users can then use the location coordinates to find the caches. once found, a cache may provide the visitor with a wide variety of rewards. all the visitor is asked to do is if they get something they should try to leave something for the cache.

it's like a modern day scavenger hunt. one of my blog buddies has one and used it while hiking in colorado. it just adds a twist to exploration. i'm so excited to try it out.

side note: mark, aaron's dad, is coming out here saturday to help celebrate both his and aaron's birthday. we've got a fun-filled week planned. we'll be doing a lot of boating, hiking and biking. hopefully i'll have pictures to post next week of all the fun.

attack of the...

we're still in the process of exploring the area. every chance we get, we like to hike with the dogs. yesterday was no different. aaron wanted to show me some of the trails he found while riding his bike. so we packed up the dogs, put on our hiking shoes (yes, i went out and bought hiking shoes...chucks just weren't cutting it anymore) and drove over to the greenway. i hooked bosco up to his new "no pull" harness and commenced to start his "i'm the master, your the dog" training. (i've discovered the dog whisperer) of course, he's not having any of it.

well, while we're trekking uphill i really can't correct him and i give him more lead then i should. so he's off smelling and marking everything. when i finally catch up, he starts scooting around on his butt and acting really strange. he must have gone through some brambles and it's put him in panic mode. then i see the hornet on his little stump of a tail. i swat at it but it's almost like it's embedded in there. then i feel something on my finger and start flailing my hands. it's another hornet. *sting, sting, sting* on my back. i take off with bosco in tow. "bees, bees, bees!" i scream at aaron as i run past him. when i get a good distance away, i reach back and notice the sweater i've got wrapped around my waist is still covered with them. i fling it off in the middle of the road and start running again. seriously, this had to be a sight. finally, after we get a good distance away, i'm able to calm down and regroup. aaron heads back, with a big stick and picks up my sweater. it still has a few hornets hanging out on it so he flings it around and shoos them away. i make him carry it the rest of the hike. seems to be a hornet magnet of some sort.

we ended up in a neighborhood neither one of us was familiar with.

"i'm not going back," i tell him.

so we head down the paved road in the opposite direction.

"you know we're headed in the wrong direction?" he says.

i look down and see big lots and i know exactly where we were. damn it. if we continue, it's going to take us twice as long to get back to the car. i turn back around.

"when we get back there, i'm running past that hornet hole! you take bosco and you go first."

we run past. the only hornet that bothered us on the way down was stuck to bosco's tail again.

"there's one on the sweater! no, wait, that's a leaf."

"you're paranoid."

"i just got stung 5 times, i have a right to be paranoid!"

i guess i'm not allergic to bee/hornet stings. and neither are the dogs. marley's already been stung twice since we've been here. and yesterday was bosco's first experience. we're headed to the dog park shortly with jill and jigsaw. a little playdate of sorts. should be fun.