Parting Thoughts:

Scott has had WAY to much fun writing “Scott Whittle Hathaway’s Last Will and Testament.” We’re doing some pretty fun things on our trip and thought it was a good excuse to get it done!

We’ve been eating pretty random meals trying to use up all the fresh food we have in the fridge. Eggs, green onion, red pepper… I think we’ll have omelets for dinner tonight :)

Turns out converting movies to play on the iphone takes a pretty long time. Good thing we started early. I'm excited to finally watch Never Say Never on the loooong plane ride!

Scott's birthday is 2 days after we get home, so I've been trying to do some shopping, wrapping and decorating so I don't get too overwhelmed when we get home. Plus, my parents are coming that week, so I'd love to leave the house spic n' span so they think I'm a really good homemaker...

Have you ever heard of geographic tongue? Well, I have it. They say it's genetic, but none of my family has it. Anyway, it's flaring up right now and I don't know why. Mint flavored things seem to calm it down a bit, but I hope it goes away soon!

Paris is notorious for losing baggage. So I am packing a few outfits in my carry on, just in case. The change of clothes in my carry on sure came in handy on my flight to New Zealand where the man sitting next to me spilt his entire cup of alcohol down my back and down my pants... at the beginning of the flight. Wow, not my best flight ever.

HAKA face

We had a pretty good time at a Luau last weekend. Scott participated in the Haka with some other 1 on 1 guys, and boy did he look scary! All the guys in their black shirts and attitude! Scott would have been better at the dance if he could have stopped laughing! It really was funny though.

Tanner family: Does Scott win the Maori warrior face contest?

I let Scott whisper my face paint idea to the clown lady, and this is what I ended up looking like. Good one Scott :)

The kalua chicken was WAY better than the kalua pork- since when is that the case?!?

Just about a week!!!!!

Well, I haven’t blogged in a while.

I’ve been pretty busy.

Planning and all.

We have just over a week until we board the big plane :)

We are first headed to Milan, Italy to spend some time at
Lake Como

We also have a reservation to see
The Last Supper
painting by Leonardo Da Vinci

Then we fly to Dubrovinik, Croatia!
We’ll go out to some islands for the first 2 days,
Then rent a car and head to
Montenegro
and
Bosnia :)

We are SUPER excited.
And a little worried about the language barrier.

We’ll just drive our way up the coast
Staying in places we love,
Moving on to new towns when we see fit.

And the last few days
We’ll spend in Budapest
Soaking in the baths
And livin’ it up Hungarian style!

Scott is the best travel partner a girl could ask for.
All my wildest dreams are coming true :)

Stay tuned for our best aides in travel planning. It was meant to go in this post, but it’s getting kind of long….

Happy Monday!

Ryder Lake

Well,

I lived :)

And I actually liked it!

most of the time

We sort of left the house a disaster in our flurry to pack.

You see, we were out to see The Help the night before we left for the Uintas.

Totally worth the rushed packing- The Help was awesome!!!

Anyway... We hit the trail and hiked about 3 miles Friday after work.

We discovered on the way out the door that the backpack I intended to use was missing a hip clip, so I switched to my lovely, yet large pack which worked out quite nicely!

These first few photos were taken on a real camera. BUT, that first night our battery died!!! I had charged it all day, but this was an off-brand battery I had gotten online. I guess I learned my lesson and will always pack a few extra from now on. Luckily Scott's phone saved the day and captured some memories from the rest of the trip!

We heated up our fruit pies on a rock so the sugar on the outside was kind of caramelized... delish!

And our first night's camp- we had it goooood. There was dry firewood galore!

The "trail" was really treacherous at times. We found our inner gymnast and managed to cross rivers without falling in!

After about 9 miles with a 2,000 ft elevation gain, we found ourselves in this beautiful meadow:

the trick to backpacking is just to keep on walking!!!

And then we came upon Ryder Lake! We agreed that our camp spot here is the most beautiful place either of us had ever camped. With our tent fly off, we had a 300 degree view of lake and mountains. With only about 2 other people at the entire lake. It was really, really incredible.

We reached the lake about 3-4 pm and had the afternoon to swim, lay in the sun, play some cards, and you know... camp :)

We took a little stroll around the lake without our packs- delightful! Those packs get REALLY heavy when you carry them so far.

Just as we got hunkered into our sleeping bags for the night, we heard the rain start coming. Scott was a hero and went out to tighten our fly and get our packs in super safe/dry spots. He built up a rock wall to protect us too!

Well, we stayed dry through the night, but it did rain almost all night long. That means the trail was exceptionally muddy and wet on our hike back to the car.

Gorgeous, right?

So with mud squishing between our toes, we trekked it back. I tried not to complain, but backpacking is kind of hard on your back, and your feet it turns out.

We came upon these crossings about every 5 minutes for hours on end. Those logs were slippery!!!

Scott's new water filtration system worked like a gem. So few pumps= such clean, fresh, cold water!

That's A-1 peak in the Duschene side of the High Uintas.

These last 3 pics are from what Scott refers to as

"The Valley of the Great Bog."

It was impossible to cross without getting your feet sucked into the mud. You should have seen us running and screaming our way through this section... wow, that was some good laughs!

Ooh, yeah, he was not happy at that point!

Overall, we had a great trip and we're glad we went! Totally beats laundry and dishes... :)

Working hard feels good.

It is so easy to feel Heavenly Father's love for us when we are out in His beautiful creations.

Oh Geez.

Heaven Help Me.

We are going on a 3 day/2 night backpacking trip this weekend.

Starting tonight.

I think it's around 20-25 miles.

I'm not a boy scout.

If you've ever been backpacking/hiking with Scott then you know for real,

and if you even know Scott I'm sure you can imagine...

He kind of goes crazy when he gets backpacking.

He hikes SUPER fast.

And only ever takes water/snack breaks when I need them.

He LOVES being in nature

And usually we end up having some kind of deep/meaningful conversation, or mid-twenties crisis :)

He does not like carrying ANY extra weight.

So our food rations are extremely small.

Don't worry, I already packed extra just in case...

He recently got a new water filter that is "AMAZING" from REI

and, turns out he got a fishing pole on a "great sale" yesterday.

Wow.

Please pray for me.

I'll report back Monday.

Happy Birthday Dad!

Remember Cactus Jack? Well we found our way back to his stomping grounds for Ed's 50th birthday party at the barn!There was a cotton candy machine, ice cream machine and cheeseburgers for everyone!

We mostly chatted with family, but it was definitely fun to have my dad take us around to meet people from his childhood. So in honor of his birthday TODAY, let me introduce you to some people from his childhood:

This woman on the left is my dad's second grade teacher, Coleen Shelby. She looks like a teacher, right? She taught my dad and all the brothers how to write. Handwriting, that is. And because of this, their letters are all the very same. It's kind of trippy. She says my dad was a great 2nd grader :)

Next up, Martin Calderwood! This is the boy my dad sat next to in the clarinet section of the band. He claims that dad was the track star, and he was better at the clarinet. I don't believe him... I think my dad was the star of both!

And now, Cindy Wettstein, the lady who reconnected my mom and dad after several years apart. She lived down the street from dad growing up, and was then mom's mission companion in Spain. A few phone number exchanges and my parents were dating again!

And, last but definitely not least, Bill Wagner! He went on a backpacking trip with just my dad, and together they earned the nature merit badge. He's the kind of guy who's not just "someone who helped with scouting," but truly a legacy for so many, and a life long friend for my dad. You could tell that he is a hard worker, and always has been.

My dad is really the best!

He listens to me when I'm happy or sad.

He celebrates my victories.

He works very hard to give me opportunities and advantages.

He gives me perspective when I feel like the world is ending.

He slides down waterfalls in Samoa with me.

He does what he asks others to do.

He encourages me to be intentional about my life.

He taught me the difference between needs and wants.

My dad always keeps his word.

Always.
Happy Birthday Dad!

I Still Love Lucy!

You guys,

I'm so sad I haven't gotten to posting this until so late in the day.

Because TODAY is Lucille Ball's 100th Birthday!

And who doesn't love Lucy?!?!?!

I Love Lucy debuted on October 15, 1951. To me, this show defines success.

There are really no words that can be used to describe the talent of Lucille Ball. I'm pretty sure she has changed the world.

There literally is no one person on the planet that can say they have never seen nor heard of "I Love Lucy."

You can head over to the Google homepage to see a funny clip today :)

When I watch an episode of I Love Lucy, I can almost always conjure up a memory of where I was and what I was doing when I watched it for the first time. For most shows, that was in bed with my mom laughing and laughing the night away.

If I was ever feeling overwhelmed or sad or just any kind of bad, a half an hour with Lucy always turned my frown upside down.

I mean, I really love Lucy!

And I always will :)

Snowbird Love

What perfect timing to have my cousin get sealed to our family the week of Snowbird! It was such a special time for our family at the temple with this new baby! We were just sad Grandpa couldn't be there with us :(

I didn't have my camera with me at the temple! So sad!

But then, so happy, we went to our favorite place: Snowbird!

Joe Man taught us how to plank. Is this the new thing? Is it a fad? I don't really get it, but we got good at it :)

I guess our walk to the overlook just wasn't crazy enough, so we took a shortcut on the way back.

So SO great to have dad in town. I am sad to report the results of our Pedro game. Scott and I were ahead 47 to 15, then dad started bidding and Bry was the perfect support. We fell fast. I hate setting.

We got to go up later in the week for some more good food, cousin love, and hot tubbing in the mountains. Oh, and I had a toenail painting intervention from my artistic cousin Katie. Thank heavens, those toes were getting pretty desperate!