How To Survive Riding in the Bed of a Tailgate-less 1990 Ford F250 Whilst Driving Up a Mountain

Last weekend (Memorial Day weekend), Me, Jayni, and Devon road tripped up to Grace, Idaho for a "weekend away" at Jayni's parents' ranch.

We arrived late Friday night, shot the breeze for a while, and then went to bed. On Saturday, we had a full, fun day planned, starting with a little cow branding (which I have vowed never to do again, because I just feel bad for the poor things).

Devon trying it out.

Then, we did a little horseback riding (it was Devon's first time on a horse).

 He liked it.

 After horseback riding, we decided to head over to the Caribou County High School Rodeo Finals (high schools treat rodeos like sports?) But we had some time to kill before that started, so we went to town to pick up some flowers for grave decorating that would be taking place on Monday. Jayni held the flowers on her lap in the car for point two seconds, and ended up looking like she peed all over herself.

She was sad, but I viewed this as a wonderful photo opportunity.

We also stopped by a "haunted" old hotel/museum and a little geyser. Then we went to the rodeo finals.

Doug and Peggy.

I look like I have no left arm. 

After the rodeo, we got some FOOD. Then we went back to the ranch, did some reading in the hammock, and prepped for our bonfire up the mountain that evening. 

 And here's where the real adventure begins. We packed up Doug's 1990 Ford F250 that he only uses for driving around the ranch. But there's only 2 seats in the front of the truck, and we had 5 people. So naturally, Me, Jayni, and Devon needed to sit in the back. We set up some camping chairs and got ready for what we thought would be a fun 3-4 minute drive that would not be life threatening in any way, shape, or form.

Oh, how naive.

We started like this:

Happy Happy Joy Joy

And that soon turned into this:

Holding on for dear life. 

The back of the truck had no tailgate, and it's not like our little camping chairs were nailed in or anything, so we were all holding on to each other's chairs to try to stay secured. It was bumpy back there. And, before we knew it, we were driving up unnaturally steep and completely unexpected inclines and through (and under) very lush shrubbery, which meant that we were constantly ducking (or getting smacked in the face by angry tree branches) and I was frantically trying to keep my head and neck covered because, I kid you not, spiders were falling on me off of the trees. SPIDERS!

We almost lost Jayni once and Devon twice. We did lose two chairs at one point too. I ended up sacrificing my body to save a lantern from flying out the back of the truck.

When we finally arrived at our final destination, safe and in tact (besides some high blood pressure), we (and by "we," I mean Doug and Devon) built a bonfire, set up dinner, roasted hot dogs, told stories, and then, of course, roasted smores. Which = happiness in my book, any day. It felt like camping. And I, actually, happen to love camping.

Then, it got really dark outside, but the moon (which was a full moon that night) hadn't come up over the trees yet. And I was starting to feel certain that a cougar was hiding in the trees waiting to make its attack. So Peggy says to Doug, "Doug, why don't we pack up and go?" And Doug says, "No, I want to wait until the moon is up so we can see...the truck doesn't have headlights." To which Peggy responded, "Excuse me? No headlights? You brought us up to the middle of the mountains in a truck with no headlights?! We're leaving right now." At that point, you couldn't really see the path through the trees at all. Doug kept trying to reassure us all it would all be fine when the moon came up. But Peggy wasn't having it. She said, "Go turn that truck around, we'll put out this fire, and then I'll walk ahead of the truck with the lantern if I have to. No headlights? That was really well thought out Doug." So Doug went and spent what seemed like 20 minutes turning the truck around without any headlights while we let the fire die more. Then we packed up the truck and Doug told us to start walking so he could drive over where the fire had been. As we were walking, he kept shouting, "faster, faster!"

And then he turned on his headlights. And Peggy said, "Doug!" And the rest of us laughed a little, said, "We knew it!" And then got in the back of the truck and prepared for the treacherous downhill drive home, which actually wasn't that bad. (Though I did have to have Devon keep checking my body for spiders all along the way - true story.) But we made it safely. And then we all took some MUCH needed showers.

Sunday was church and some more Hammock reading on the porch. Then some great grilled T-bones and games.

             
We left Monday after lunch. It was a great weekend and we were all exhausted.

Worth it.

Also, Devon and I concluded that we would need to probably always live in the city. Ranch life is great to visit, but not for us.

An Abundance of Fun-Having

Remember that time that I got lazy about my blog? Oh wait, that was the last three months. And now I have so many things to blog about that this post just might end up setting some sort of world record. But, for your sakes (and mine), I'll try to keep it as brief as I can.

As you may remember, my personal goal for this year is "No Fear" - or basically not to let fear keep me from doing things. So, I've made it another sort of, unspoken, goal to just have as much fun as I can. And really, that's what I've been doing. I've been having so much fun!

After my Disneyland trip with Jayni in April, my Mom came up to visit me for Women's Conference, our tradition for the last 6 years.

Then in May, Jayni and I took another trip up to Idaho (AKA The Ranch)for Memorial Day weekend, where I rode a horse for the second time in my life. (First time was in February, also at The Ranch.)

On Memorial Day, we drove home from Idaho and met up with a bunch of friends to see Pentatonix in concert. Also included in this show were BYU's Vocal Point and Delilah. All three are a capella groups (you may remember them from the TV show, The Sing Off - or you may not, whatever). And let me tell you, that show was SO much fun. Pentatonix are extremely talented.

The next weekend I had the pleasure to attend my first sealing ceremony for my dear friend Brittany's wedding. My friend Kathryn came to visit from AZ and we had a BLAST at her wedding. Yes, I know the last part of the previous sentence is counterintuitive, but really, her wedding was so much fun and I was just so happy to see her happy. She deserves it!

Two weeks later I hopped on a plane with my brother and his girlfriend and headed out to Southern CA for my step brother, Ryan's, wedding. It was lovely to spend time with so much of my family - especially my "Step" family - including nieces and nephews.

Look at this little munchkin. Is she not ADORABLE?

When I got back from the CA trip, I got the surprise of my life when I was called into my boss's office one day and asked how I was feeling about my current role on the team. The next thing I know, he's asking me how I would like to be promoted to a manager position with an extra 15K a year for my salary. Definitely wasn't expecting that. But, I graciously accepted (even after he told me to "go buy a damn Elantra." Apparently nobody takes me seriously in my little rolli polli car...weird.) I was pretty much on cloud nine for the next few days.

The promotion was announced the next week at our quarterly team offsite, where we went to the Park City Olympic Park and did team activities that included a Nordic Sprint and a Street Luge/Biathlon. Not going to lie, I almost crashed right into the side of a mountain my first time doing the luge (which was, I suppose, a better option than the alternative, which was to fly off the side of a cliff), but I learned from my mistake and figured out how to steer when it really counted.

Which brings us to the Fourth of July, which I spent lounging by the pool in the daytime and rocking out to The Beach Boys live during the night. Yes, I said The Beach Boys. So what if only one of them is an original. These guys are ancient and they still rock! Besides, their music makes me feel like I'm at the beach in CA, so it's pretty much the sound of home. Can't beat that.

Stadium of Fire was amazing, truly. I can't believe I've lived in Utah for 7 years and this was my first year going. The production was spot on, the fireworks were incredible, and I must be growing up because I think this year was the first time I really thought about what it means to celebrate our freedom. Everyone knows that I'm an England lover - heck, I even spent one of my July 4th's traveling around Southern England. But my experience with living out of the country for just two short months made me appreciate America 100x's more. Ever since then (4 years ago - can you believe that?), The Star-Spangled Banner gets me emotional. And so does watching fireworks explode in sync with a choir singing America the Beautiful, apparently. I love this country.

Mixed into all of those events were a number of pool parties, BBQ's, pedicures, book-reading, and other fun activities. Now, there's just one more (the grand finale) thing to do on my list of things to look forward to this summer: go to Hawaii. Which is happening in a week and a half. And I seriously can't wait!

A Weekend in the Life of a Rancher

For President's Day weekend I jumped at the chance to "get away" (even if it was only to Idaho) for a few days. My friend Jayni invited me to spend the weekend with her and a couple of our friends at her Step-Dad's ranch in Grace, Idaho.

I'll only say a few things about this, and then I've created a video the document the experience.

1. It was FREEZING.
2. It was still a lot of fun.
3. I got to ride a horse for the first time ever!
4. I ate lots of good food.
5. I was really glad that I can't smell.
6. I think cattle branding, et al. is borderline animal cruelty.
7. I saw twin baby calves be born and one died. I cried a little.
8. I broke my pinky toe.
9. Did I mention it was FREEZING?
10. The ranch life is not the life for me. But it's fun to visit!