On Friday Josh turned 27.  To celebrate, me and my honey dropped the kid off and went to hike to the summit of Old Boney Mountain.  Since we were going to be hiking to the top of a mountain in the middle of summer we wanted to pack only the essentials, which of course included a machete...

doesn't he look tough?

Our conversation regarding the machete went like this -

What do you need a machete for?
 Rattlesnakes.
So, if we run into a rattlesnake you're going to chop off it's head?
No, I'm going to push it out of the way.
Couldn't you just use a stick?
What if there isn't a stick lying around?  This way, I have one with me.

Josh is an Eagle Scout, so how can I really argue with that?

So, we decided to follow Old Boney Trail, figuring it would take us to the top of Old Boney.  But apparently this is faulty logic because this is as close as we got -

 
We hiked for a while, having faith that the trail would get us there, but we eventually got to the point of no return and just ended up in Sycamore Canyon.

We saw some interesting stuff along the way -

fossilized shells

giant, creepy spider

but really, these weren't much of a consolation prize for missing the summit.  But, hey, there's nothing like hiking 10.5 miles for your birthday, right?

Josh and I have been hiking a lot this last year so we thought this would be a nice way to end the summer, but there was another reason I wanted to tackle this hike.  About 6 or 7 years ago my dad took Ashley and I to hike to the summit, telling us it would be an easy half day kind of a hike.  So we brought one water bottle a piece and a ziploc bag of trail mix between the three of us.  About 3 miles up Ashley and I were nearly out of water and wanted to go back but Dad kept saying, "We're almost there."  Even after the fifth time repeating that, we still believed him.  At the top of the mountain we drank the last of our water.  Then, he said there was a different way down, but there really wasn't, so add about 3/4 of a mile backtracking.  Half way down Ashley sat down under a bush and I had doubts that she was ever going to get back up.  About a mile and a half from the car a group of (prepared) hikers took pity on us and gave us an apple.  Probably our saving grace.  So seven hours and nine miles later we got back to our car and managed to survive long enough to hit a gas station for some gatorade.  I didn't hike with my dad for the next five years.

But for all the grief we've dished out to my dad over this, I do have to give him credit - at least he got us to the top.

Birthday Boy

My baby is already one year old.  It's a bit difficult to take in.  The last year has really flown by and I can't fully express how blessed I feel to have such an amazing little boy.

It's my blog so I get to be braggy, right?
     -he's walking about 80% of the time now
     -he can finally say "ma-ma," though it seems he has no idea what it means
     -he loves animals and calls everything "dog" - squirrels, birds - you name it
     -he gives high fives - Yeah!
     -I can't say he's happy all the time, but it's rare to have an unhappy Corban
     -Potty trained!!  (just kidding)

One thing this kid loves to do is climb..

I've found myself confronted with this situation multiple times and in multiple settings.  I turn my back for about 10 seconds and somehow Corban manages to elevate himself to a dangerous height.  So instead of rescuing my child, I do the next logical thing - grab a camera.  Just like when I caught him repeatedly licking the screen door.  Do I stop him from doing something really quite disgusting?  No.  I video tape him.  Honestly, I need something to prove to his future girlfriends that they have found quite the catch.

But all jokes aside, Corban is so incredible and he has made me a better person.  I wouldn't want to be doing anything else.

It's about time

Okay. 

I've finally entered the blog-o-sphere.  I've put aside all my uppity theories on hyper-connectivity and the impersonalization of cyberspace and created my very own blog (despite the web address saying it is "Josh and Marci Lassen" - I'm sure it will be only me).

And why am I giving in?  Well, since I've found myself having many hours with a sleeping baby at home and needing to leave the apartment, but not being able to do so (there are child abandonment laws out there) I've been surfing the web quite a bit.  So, I'll swallow my pride and say..

I like reading blogs.

So I figured I'd start one myself.  Will it ever get updated?  Hopefully.  I'm very slow with all this technology stuff.  I've always preferred a book (a book I can actually hold, mind you), so we'll see how I do with this.

Anywho - keep coming by and let me know what you think.