Big Cottonwood Canyon Half Marathon

I've been training hard over the summer to run my first full marathon that is coming up the first weekend in October. For part of my training, I ran the Big Cottonwood Half Marathon a few weeks ago. To be honest, I really didn't put much thought into this race. I have been so focused on St. George and building up distance, I didn't work much on speed. I wanted to run this race to test out things like what and when to eat during the marathon, and see how my watches, headphones worked, etc. The week of Big Cottonwood was a kick back week for long runs so it worked out perfectly. I had a lot of running friends running it also, and we just treated it as our long run for the week!

At the beginning of the race I felt a little sluggish. I hate the beginning of races and trying to dodge everyone and get in a groove. At mile two I was already thinking it wasn't going to be a great race and figured I shouldn't push too hard. After a few miles though, I actually felt much better and was running a pretty decent pace (for me). As the miles went by, I was able to maintain it and kept doing the math in my head and realized I had a shot of getting close to or beating my best time. 

Got to love those race pics! ;)

After coming out of the canyon, my legs were pretty shot from the downhill. I was able to keep a decent pace for the last few miles to the finish and I was so excited when I crossed the finish line and saw I had just PR'ed. I beat my previous best by two minutes! It felt really good and was a surprise.

Bode had a lacrosse game that morning, but the rest of the family came to support me at the finish line. I love so much that they are there, even thought it isn't easy! My favorite part is always seeing their faces as I go through the chute.

Group shot at the finish! These girls (and Bill!) are so awesome and I am lucky to have a group to run with. 

Labor Day weekend

The week after we went canoe camping, we headed up to Island Park with the Heinholds and my parents for Labor Day weekend. One of the first things we did was go visit my friend Andrea and her family up at her parents' cabin on Henry's Lake. They were nice enough to invite us boating and we had a great time! The kids got out on the tube and had fun swimming in the lake, even though the water was freezing!

Charlie got the chance to hang out with his mom and sister while we were on the boat. It was fun to see them together again. His mom was really excited to see him. His sister was pretty funny-- she was territorial about their mom and kept tackling Charlie and showing him who was boss. :)

Charlie on the left and his sister on the right.

Tuckered out after a fun day.

One of several dips in the hot tub

We went into Yellowstone the next day and it was the busiest I think I have ever seen it. I don't know if there was some Indian holiday going on or what, but there were people from India everywhere! I love that you see people from all over the world in Yellowstone. 

We hiked up to the Grand Prismatic Spring overlook and it was awesome. We hiked there last fall for the first time, but there was so much steam you couldn't see the spring as well as this time around. It was also a much warmer day, which was nice since we about froze last year. Yellowstone is such a fascinating place!

We did a little exploring on our way back to the cabin and came across this really pretty creek. 

Sean and I drove up to the top of Sawtelle that evening to check out the stars-- they were amazing! I am trying to learn how to take pictures of the night sky and tried a few shots before my camera ran out of battery. I still have a lot to learn, but it was fun. 

Never enough time at the cabin!

Leigh Lake canoe camping trip

Last year, Sean and some of his friends took a canoe camping trip to Leigh Lake, after my dad told him about going when he was younger and calling it one of the "highlights of his life." Sean and the guys had such a great time last year, he told me he really wanted to take me back there. I have been to Leigh Lake several times and it is one of my very favorite places (hence Molly's middle name). I have never camped there before though, so I was really excited.  This camping spot is highly sought after and you have to reserve it several months in advance. Luckily, Sean was able to get it reserved one night for us in August. We decided to take Jackson and Bode with us also and left Davis and Molly with my parents.

To get to our campsite, you have to canoe down String Lake, then portage the canoes a short (felt long!) distance, and then you canoe again across Leigh Lake. The camping spot is only accessible by canoe, so you really do feel sort of remote.

I had to laugh when I saw this deck of cards in the visitor center before we set out. I knew there had been several bear sightings recently and it was berry season, so bears were definitely on my mind. We took two big cans of bear spray and were very careful about storing our food.

Unloading the canoes and already impressive scenery from the parking lot

With wildfires pretty much everywhere this summer, I was worried about it being smoky. It was smoky, but when we actually got closer to the lakes and mountain range, the visibility was good and it was still stunning scenery. I was so glad! It would have been such a bummer to put all that work into camping somewhere known for its beauty and not be able to really see any of it!

Canoeing down String Lake

The spot where we took the canoes out and portaged to Leigh Lake

We were very thankful for the kind strangers who offered to help us carry the canoes at least part of the way both on the way there and back. We knew this part would be challenging and we were thankful for the help! We actually met several people on this trip who showed kindness to our family in a variety of ways-- it was happening so often we started keeping track. It was a good faith builder in human good. :)

Setting out again on Leigh Lake

Our campsite was literally on the shore in the middle of this picture below. It is at the base of Mount Moran. Talk about amazing scenery! We just kept saying, "Wow!" over and over. It was a pretty decent distance to canoe in total, and I was glad I was in somewhat decent shape from all of my marathon training.

Shortly after the pictures above were taken, it got windy out of nowhere. We were in the middle of the lake, nowhere near the shore on either side and the water started getting really choppy and it made it extremely difficult to keep the canoes straight and to make headway to our camp. It was exhausting! I had Jackson in the canoe with me, and Sean and Bode were in another canoe behind us at this point. We were doing ok, but when there were whitecaps on the water, both Sean and I were a bit panicked. The canoes were rocking with the waves and we even took on a little water. We got separated because the canoes were so hard to control and we even lost sight of Sean and Bode for awhile. I kept worrying that they had capsized. Jackson was pretty nervous and was trying to keep it together, and I was definitely tense and trying not to panic in front of him. He told me he had said a prayer, and after what seemed like the longest 30 minutes of rowing in my life, we managed to make it to the shore on one side where we could hold on to tree roots to keep us steady. Thankfully I had one bar of cell service and was able to call Sean and learn they had not capsized and were making their way toward us. Eventually we ended back up together and by then the wind had died back down and we canoed into our camp site without any further problems. 

Our camp site was SO pretty. No matter which way you turned, there was beautiful scenery all around. There were two streams running on either side of our spot and the lake in front of us. 

Our campsite was just off the shore in the woods. We had a very brave deer come visit us and hang out for like a half hour that night!

Enjoying our MRE dinners! They surprisingly tasted so good. I think we were probably all starving from all of the effort it took to get there!

One of my favorite parts of the entire trip was taking the canoes out again that evening when the water was super calm and looking at a beaver den near our camp. We saw the beaver out swimming around and he kept slapping his tail on the water before diving back down in the water. 

The water was so calm and smooth, and we had a nearly full moon that night. The reflection of the moon on the water was beautiful.

Out of the literally hundreds of pictures I took on this trip, these ones of Sean and Bode fly fishing at dusk are probably my favorite.

Before heading to bed that night we played a game of Monopoly Deal. Bode is known in our family to sort of be the king of this game. We didn't quite finish with a clear winner because we were all falling asleep!

We survived the night without a bear eating us, and were greeted by a beautiful sunrise and one of the smoothest lakes I have ever seen.

Views around camp in the morning

Evidence of our beaver friend.

The hollowed out tree stump where the boys put their rocks they wanted to keep.

A few family pictures before leaving camp

Canoeing out (Sean and Bode in first pic, Jackson and I in second)

Instead of heading straight back the way we came, I wanted to paddle over to the opposite side of the lake and show my kids the sandy beach area my family liked to hike when I was growing up. It is gorgeous and truly one of my favorite places on earth. It is a perfect spot for swimming because it is sandy on the bottom and stays shallow for a really long time. We have actually brought Bode and Jackson here before, but it has been several years. Even with the smoke in the air, it was beautiful and I am so glad we stopped. I was impressed with the boys for getting in the water even though it was pretty cold!

After making it to the portaging spot once more, and recieving more help from a nice English family, we made the final canoeing stretch back down String Lake. After loading up the canoes and all of our gear, Sean and I looked at each other with mixed parts elation, relief, and exhaustion! This was by no means an easy trip. It was a lot of work and was physically demanding, but it was 100% worth it. It is one of those experiences I will remember forever. The time with the older two boys, the scenery, the peace I felt being "away from it all," the feeling of accomplishment of having pulled it off, etc. It was awesome.

View of the Tetons on our way out of the park.

We promised the boys a stop at their favorite candy store on our way through Jackson Hole. Well deserved! I am so glad for this experience together!