Craters of the Moon

Dan has not been to work in like a month. And while we have been a bit stressed about it, we have taken the time to enjoy ourselves. We decided that we might as well make the most of this situation. After all, there will come a day when our lives will be SO busy that we will wish that we didn't have work. So, we are living it up! 

Today we decided to go to a place called Craters of the Moon. Craters of the Moon is a vast ocean of lava flows with scattered islands of cinder cones and sagebrush. There you to explore this "weird and scenic landscape" where yesterday's volcanic events are likely to continue tomorrow...It is like two hours or so from Rexburg, but so fun!

We took Tess, Dan's youngest sister, with us. 

It started off by running up this HUGE thing called Inferno Cone. At first, the run up there did not seem too bad, but we soon realized that it was much bigger than we had realized. It was super windy at the top, but the view was incredible. 

After Inferno, we visited the Splatter Cones. The hike up there was nothing compared to our first. It was there that Dan informed that I HAD to stay on the trail. Apparently, wandering off of the trail would damage the old rocks and stuff. What fun is that? But I listened because Dan loves nature, and I love Dan. Well, accept for that picture where I am standing behind the fence. Obviously, I should not be there, but hey...I cannot be perfect ALL the time. 

We just wandered around after that. We found many trails and caves. Yes, caves. The first cave that we found, we were so excited because we had hiked for MILES to find it (maybe we got lost along the way...)! When we finally arrived, we realized that the caves were very dark and we did not have a flashlight. Pulling out our phones for some source of light, we wandered through the first part of the cave. Quickly, we realized that we had to crawl through a little tunnel in order to move forward. We were ready to crawl...but it was then that we realized a backpack was left sitting at the entrance of the tunnel. We were not there alone.

After watching too many scary movies, my mind tends to resort to the worse case scenario. So, naturally I was convinced that there was a serial killer in the cave and he was going to kill us if we went down that tunnel. I ran out of the cave screaming, and Tess followed. All the while, Dan stayed in the cave and laughed. He thought it was a ridiculous thing to think, but I refused to go back in the cave. We made it out alive! 

Other caves that we went to, other fears popped into my mind. At one point, I thought that we were going to enter a cave full of wolves. I didn't want to be an animals lunch! But Dan is more tough than I am, and he made me explore with him. When we would go in caves, I would hold on to his arm REAL tight and he would drag me along. It was actually quite fun! 

At one point, we entered a cave where there was a huge bolder than had fallen from the ceiling. Naturally, I wanted to stand under in and take a picture. Naturally, Dan did not like the idea (his fear was that it was going to fall on me....) Being the stubborn woman that I am, I did it anyway. Let's just say Dan was not too happy, but here is the picture! 

It was quite an enjoyable day! I'm pretty grateful to have such a fun, adventurous husband. We have a blast together. I just would not trade these moments for anything in the whole wide world. 

Layover in Denver

Yesterday the day that Dan and I packed up and headed out to Missouri. Ten days with family! Our plane tickets were bought a while back, and we have been counting down the months, weeks, days, and hours. We have not seen the family since December, and that is far too long. Back in Missouri, so much has changed that I have missed. Mom and dad have moved into a new house, I have gained a new foster sister, my brother has a serious girlfriend, they got a dog. All this has happened and I have been away at school. With that, you can just imagine our excitement to load up and head out! 

Dan and I flew out of Salt Lake City, Utah. It was our first time to fly together, so we were thrilled. I mean, what is better than having a travel buddy! The flight went well and we made it there with much time to spare. And then came the interesting part. From Salt Lake, we arrived in Denver. By the time we landed in Denver, it was a about 10:30pm. Surprisingly, the airport was not too busy. So, we were able to quickly make it to our next place. We needed to take the flight from Denver to Kansas City. 

It was there that we had a layover....for TEN HOURS! At first, we thought that it was going to be a fun experience. It was pretty late at night and we pretty much were the only ones in the airport. Yay! So, we found a good spot to sit and we talked for a little while. We then read a little from the books we brought (The HALO series...that is another story). Then we watched a movie on my laptop. Talked some more. And, at that point, it was after midnight and we were exhausted. 

We decided that it was time to rest up! We looked around for a decent place to rest, but could not find any. All that the Denver airport offers are hard chairs will metal armrest. It was kind of awful. We tried sleeping on the floor, thinking that it would be more comfortable there. It was probably just as comfortable as the chairs, but I was nervous to lay down there! A couple of minutes before we decided to rest, Dan found a HUGE bug on the floor and we did not kill it. My luck, it was going to come and haunt me in my sleep. I was not willing to take that chance. 

So, Dan and I tried and tried to sleep but we just could not get comfortable. On top of that, we found that the airport does its' cleaning late at night. Oh, joy! With that, there were workers driving around in there machines that would beep! It was ridiculous. With all of this being said, let me tell you, Dan and I are presently running on like ZERO sleep. Right now it is about 7:30 am. Our flight for Missouri does not even board for another hour. I do not even know how I am awake right now. I do not know how I am functioning. I feel a little delusional. I feel like I am going to fall on my face. Fun times. 

But we are excited to be in Missouri! We are excited to see family! They make this sleep deprivation all worth it! :)

Huckle What?

A huckleberry-I had never heard of the thing until I moved up here to Idaho. Before then, I knew about all other berries-strawberry, blue berry, black berry, you name it-but a huckleberry? I thought that was a book...Huckleberry Finn? Well, the word from Dan, they were good. And I was about to find out.

Here in Idaho, things are a bit different. There are mountains in just about every direction that you look. People can hunt, fish, camp, and sleep just about anywhere they would like. To add to this list, I found that you can also go and pick berries. Actually, this is something that is done but many. It is like a tradition. Dan's family has done it for years, and I am now part of the family...so huckleberry pickin' I went!

It was just Dan and I that went on this trip to the mountains. We loaded into our little black VW and took off. Along with us, we brought a big plastic tub to carry the berries. You could say that we were feeling a little hopeful. From our apartment, it was about an hour away. The mountain was not too far, but it took awhile to go down the dirt road. It was honestly in the middle of no-where.You can imagine in a VW, it was quite the ride. I think next time we might need a truck. That poor little car was hitting all of the bumps and it was pretty rough. However, we made it!

When we parked the car, I expected to get out and immediately start picking berries. I soon learned that this was not the case. Dan kinda chuckled to himself and informed me that we needed to hike and find the berries; apparently, we were going to have to work a little for them. We hiked just a little and could not find any, so we hiked some more. Soon, we found a whole bush! Man, were we excited!

They were just little purple berries hiding in some shrubs. If you looked closely, you could tell that there were TONS of berries! Dan quickly squatted down and began eating some of the berries. I followed. I picked one off, plopped it in my mouth, and swallowed. I think that Dan forgot to tell me that they were more tart than sweet. Immediately, I decided that these huckleberries were not too delightful. However, I kept eating them. Maybe it was an acquired taste.

We kept picking (and eating). And while we picked, we laughed and enjoyed our time together. Dan told me that it was good to keep talking because it would scare off any bears in the area. You can imagine that brought me a sense of comfort (please, sense the sarcasm in my writing). But, at one point, Dan hushed me and told me to be real still. Somewhat frightened of a bear (or something), I listened. He told me that he was going to move forward because he heard something move in the woods just in front  of us. As he crept forward, I heard him burst out laughing! "It is a COW!" He hollered at me. I looked to see, and there it was-a big cow staring Dan in the face. We both thought that was pretty amusing.

As we walked past the cow, Dan began to make mooing sounds like a cow. After doing that a few times, we heard the cow begin running at us! We had to hide from that big thing! Eventually, it found us and it was not happy. I think the cow thought that Dan was a cow, too! I think it wanted to mate...So, needless to say, that cow was mooing furiously when it found out that we were just humans. We got a good laugh out of that.

We only stayed a bit longer. At the end of the day, we left with a bucket full of berries, purple stained hands, and happy tummies.

P.S. I started to like the berries after awhile. In fact, I have found that I kinda LOVE them. Yes, they are delicious. Maybe it was an acquired taste after all.

Fun Times in the Mountains

Today was the first Saturday in FOREVER that Dan had off from work! This seriously is a big deal. Unfortunately, Dan works every Saturday, so we really do not have any time to go off and enjoy some time together. So, do you know what we did today? WE WENT AND HAD FUN! 

Dan's boss, Bruce, is an incredible man. He let us borrow his new truck and a four-wheeler. We went up to a 8 Mile (I think that is what it is called) and explored for hours. I have been around the mountains for awhile now, but it was so different to actually be in the mountains. There are so many things to appreciate up there. Standing in such a big place, I realized how great Heavenly Father's creations are. It is beautiful, and it was a wonderful experience. 

Dan drove the four-wheeler up to the top of the mountain. We then sat and had a nice little picnic (pizza and a sub sandwich...that is what I am talking about!).  After that, I thought it was time to go home. After all, we had made it to the top! Dan just kinda laughed and told me that we had just started. He then told me that it was MY turn to drive. Scary...I cannot believe that he trusted me with that thing.

Let's just say that I am a "natural". I was speeding around parts of the mountains and jumping the four-wheeler off little hills. I had such a great time. There were several times that Dan had to take hold of the handle bars and make sure that I was not going to kill us! I cannot wait to do it again!

On a side note, I peed in the woods today. And while that might be a little too much information, this is crazy. I have not really ever done it before, but it was great! I kinda felt awesome. Just saying! 

Well, I cannot wait until Dan and I go riding again.