I did so many different random trails for the Lost Souls challenge it is hard to keep them straight. I met a trail friend up in Fall Creek really early one morning. We did one trail and decided to shuttle another section so we drove back down the rocky dirt road to drop her car and then back up it to park mine again. but the time I was almost to the top my tire light had come on. I parked and looked and saw a completely flattened tire. Crud! We had no service where we were so we just went ahead and ran down to her car because we did have service there. I contacted Allstate and started that process but was told it might take longer than normal or something like that. So Michelle googled some things about tires and took some screen shots because we knew there would be no service up there. Once we got there I pulled out the user manual and we went to work. It was an adventure. It's not nearly as straight forward as you might think. At one point Michelle said, "it's like an escape room" and she was so right!! One puzzle after another after another. First we had to figure out how to get the tire out (it lowers from the bottom of the car) then how to get the tire off the line (took awhile but I figured out how to rotate the thing that was holding it) then where to put the jack (the book said there were triangles but I could not find them. My car was incredibly dirty from going through a small puddle and then a bunch of loose dirt, so we looked on the other side and found what we needed to look for and then it was easier to find once we wiped the dirt off a bit). The spare tire was pretty low on air so luckily Michelle had a portable pump in her car, not sure if I would've made it very far without that. Anyway, when all was said and done, we did it all by ourselves and we were so proud! These men pulled up at one point with dirt bikes in their truck and I was really surprised they didn't immediately offer help. They ignored us for awhile and finally when Michelle was getting the pump from her car they asked if we were good. Yep, we are good. Anyway, I was so proud of myself. Keep in mind this was just days after hitting the dead deer. I made it home that day without having to be saved. And I was proud that I was able to get home after the flat without having to be saved.
I drove right to Les Schwabb. My car was filthy because not only did I drive through dust, it had sprinkled just enough to make it all stick. The guy at the counter was like, "you been out having some fun?" Seriously, it looked like a teenage boy truck. My adrenaline high came down quickly when they told me the tire was "unfixable" and I would have to buy four new tires since the tread was 55% gone on them. $800+ later and I was not in a good mood anymore. Ryan started giving me a hard time about how hard I am on our vehicles and my reply is always, "what am I supposed to do, not live?" This is what I love doing and I'm going to keep adventuring. I'm going to keep driving to Utah for soccer tournaments too. It is what it is and we are blessed enough to be able to afford these incidentals. I went through a car wash and pulled over to vacuum it and this older man says, "I think you need to go through again" because there was so much dirt on the back of it still, lol. I just used their towels and wiped it out. I had to clean out the car as good as possible because I was stuck with it for MONTHS. I had planned to have it detailed and my friends at Sunnyside Auto were going to give me a discount, but after this mishap I decided not to bother.
Anyway, more trails, more views, more adventures. This was the year of crazy wildlife. I still didn't see rattlesnakes or scorpions on Menan Butte, but I saw everything else. I went on Deer Park Canal trail and it has signs about it being a refuge, and there are sure a lot of birds! There were two big cranes that were very irritated I was there. I was busy watching them and forgot about the hawk that Michelle had told us about. It must have a nest because it is aggressive! It was big and gray and it was coming straight at me! It was looking in my eyes and looked like it wanted to claw them out. It literally came probably 3-4 ft from me, close enough that I threw my hands up and waved them trying to keep it away from my head. It didn't make contact obviously but it circled and started coming again. I took off sprinting and spent the next four miles stressing about having to pass by it on the way back! But it didn't show. Then when I was almost back to my car I saw two other big birds flying and an osprey nest on the pole right by my car. One of them had something in it's talons and for a minute I wondered if it had picked up its baby in an effort to protect it. But no, it was a fish! It was a crazy trail and I was alone that day so that was fun.
I think this was Big Elk with friends.
Blacktail reservoir has quite the hill leading to it, but the view is awesome.
This is the canal/river near Cress Creek. It was dusk and there were soooooo many bugs we were running into swarms. And then we saw a river otter! I thought it was a beaver but I think they are fatter. So much wildlife!
Apparently there used to be a cool swimming pool with a huge slide and a mini golf course and stuff. In the middle of nowhere! Crazy that it just ended up abandoned and overgrown.
This was up in Kelly's, something Glen's Grunt and Hidden Vista. Short but really pretty!
Kaden did Junior Golf this summer. He seems to be enjoying it and we are hopeful that he will stick with it. He and Ryan took first place in the Junior/Adult tournament! I guess they wouldn't stand a chance with the format they use for older kids because Ryan's handicap is too low but this one worked (I don't remember the details, lol)
Kylee and Averi showed up to practice accidentally twinning. Happens often apparently. Seriously, same shorts and shoes too!
The day I took Sadie to the lake, Dylan was at high adventure and Kaden was off with whatever friend, Kylee was just too tired from early morning dance for hours and hours so she stayed behind and had the house to herself, one of her favorite things. She decided to make a cake. Nobody complained.
I walked into my living room late at night when everyone was in bed and it was BRIGHT and I was like, who is shining that spotlight right into our house? How rude. Then I looked and realized it was a crazy bright moon.
Kylee and I took a road trip to Utah so she could take the ACT. The original plan was to take it at USU but that one was full so I had to sign her up for Brigham City... We were supposed to stay in Newton with my brother but my mom was staying there and she told us that the AC was not working and it was quite hot in the house. And I told Kylee we would have to leave about 45 minutes early to get there and she started grumbling. She had already been grumbling about taking this test in the first place. Seriously, for a child who is so obedient and agreeable, not to mention very smart! She sure put up a big fight about taking the ACT. She said nobody she knows was taking it! I told her it is part of life, she HAS to take the test and she was going to take it multiple times so this one was just to see what it was like and what areas she needed to work on. I found a free study app for her and asked her to study, which she rarely did. Frustrating child! I was like, why are you so bothered by this test? You are so smart it will be easy. And she said, because you are telling me I have to study and I never have to study for anything... okay, whatever. So she was already a little stressed, a lot annoyed, and she started freaking out about sleeping in a house that is 80 degrees and having to leave early, etc, etc. So Ryan got us a hotel room in Brigham City because he is sweet. We listened to true crime podcasts the whole way there and then stopped for ice cream. As we sat in the dark in our car finishing our ice cream, parked off to the side of the hotel, we started seeing strange behavior from everyone around us. Everyone was suddenly suspicious, haha. We hurried in the side door with our suitcases and started up the stairs. Then Kylee saw the sketchy old man coming in behind us. Obviously we were mostly joking but figured it would still be smart not to let him know which room we are in. We rushed up the stairs, and just our luck, our room was way down the hall. I was frantically trying to get the door open and we headed in just as he came through the door from the stairwell. We both rushed in and tried to push the door closed, which is hilarious because it was the SLOWEST closing door you've ever seen. We were both dying laughing at how ridiculous we were being, but also slightly concerned that if we had really been in danger, that door would not have done us any favors. Anyway, that hotel is in the middle of nowhere so of course it's going to be a bit spooky!
Kylee found this note in her bag, which was really cute because Sadie knew she was nervous. It was also hilarious and gave us a good laugh. The fine print says, "I'm clearly not because I can't spell genius".
What was I going to do for four hours while she took her test? Go to the Sports Academy of course. Got my workout in, then cleaned up and met my mom for lunch. It's fun having her in town, even though she had just been at my house a few days before. I love Cafe Zupas! Maybe Idaho Falls will get one sometime. We usually have the same things as Logan.
Kylee got her results about two weeks later, while we were in Coeur d'Alene. She scored 30. I knew she was out of my league, but I was still shocked at that score. I was hoping for 28 or so. She's amazing. When I picked her up from the test she said it wasn't very hard at all. "There were a few math things I didn't know, but other than that it was fine." I was very curious to know what that meant. If she was that confident, but didn't score very well, I would be worried. I had no reason to worry! With that score and her 4.0 she can earn the Dean's scholarship at USU, which pays for two years. If she can bump it up to a 33, she can get the presidential scholarship that covers tuition for four years. She's not completely sold on USU yet, but they are the only ones that have such a straight forward scholarship chart.
Ward party was a hit!
Kylee was invited to go boating with our neighbors and she got to surf.
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