Growing and Changing

Our tomatoes are turning red and our pepper nubs are bulging. We actually picked a tomato and another pepper today. So excited to try them!

Peppers Everywhere!

They're finally turning red!

Yummy!

Where's Waldo- B6 Style

A week or so ago I was approached by a leader in the Young Women's program at church and asked if Matthew and I would be willing to participate in a "Where's Waldo" activity at the mall. I jumped at the chance! I remember when I was a young woman that we did this activity and had a great time. So what happens is several people in the ward that many of the youth recognize dress up and "hide" in relatively plain site all throughout the mall. In order for the kids to be able to count us as "found" they have to come up and ask us a question. It is mostly just for fun, but can also teach courage and a willingness to do something you may be uncomfortable doing. Matthew and I didn't want to make it too easy for the youth to find us so we dressed up in clothes that let's just say we don't typically wear! The other members in the ward did a great job dressing up as well! I was proud to say that many of the groups passed me several times and didn't "find" me until the last 5 minutes of the time alotted. I think one thing that helped me was that for the first little bit I sat at a table with a complete stranger. I think this discouraged many of the youth to come and ask questions. It is definitely easier to go up to one possible stranger rather than two. Matthew was good at hiding as well, there were even a few groups that didn't find him.

All of the hiders

Jamison rocked my wig!

The Kidnapping

Last night on my way home from some activity I was talking with Steph Quincy and we decided it would be funny to "kidnap" Matthew and go out for ice cream! The plan was for me to call Matthew and tell him I wanted to go out with him so he should meet me down at the car. The Quincy's pulled up and parked so that Matthew couldn't see their car and then hid by a dumpster that was right by our car. I kept the car running, but hopped in the passenger seat. When Matthew came out and was getting into the car the Quincys ran up and hopped in the back seat.

Matthew was thrown off for a minute, but was excited that we were going to hang out with the Quincys. We headed to DQ for some late night ice cream. And of course entertained ourselves with Jamison.

Horses

So, Matthew and I can be a little random at times. And every once in awhile we capture these moments on video. And at times we show these videos to those who love us the most because we know that despite our ridiculousness they will still love us and won't judge us too harshly.

Well, one such video was recently made and when the Taylor's came to visit they had the pleasure of viewing the video. They only watched it a few times, but not too long after the Taylor's returned home I received an email from Liz with a video attached with a description stating that this was a remake of the kids' new favorite movie. I assumed that this new favorite movie was "Over the Hedge" since that was the only movie I recalled them watching, but when I opened the video I was shocked and honored to find a remake of mine and Matthew's ridiculous movie! What was most impressive to me was that they remembered the exact wording. I enjoyed it so much and was laughing so hard that I cried. Actually, this remake is better than the original, especially when it comes to the videography.

Then just today I received another email from the Taylor clan with another movie. It wasn't an exact remake per se but there was a similar underlying theme.

Battle Royale: M&M's vs Reese's Pieces

Which is better? That's the question. Matthew and I both love peanut butter snacks and these two are on the top of our list. So we decided to do a side by side comparison to determine which candy coated peanut butter snack is the best.

At first glance it seems that M&M's are superior to Reese's Pieces because they have more peanut butter inside them, but at a closer look we see that there is roughly the same amount of peanut butter in each type of candy. The M&M's just look bigger because of their chocolate coating.

Which brings to light another point. Some may argue that the M&M's are superior because they have the addition of the oh so beloved chocolate. But what if you are just craving that peanut butter taste? The Reese's Pieces provide a more pure and raw peanut butter experience.

The M&M's come in a greater variety of colors. But those colors don't add anything to the flavor, so null point.

In the end the judges were spilt. Matthew declared, "I have always and will continue to believe that M&M's are superior. They have more and I always want more."

I on the other hand have a tendency to lean towards the Reese's Pieces. Don't get me wrong, I love the M&M's too. It is possible that on a different day I would like the M&M's better, but today I don't want peanut butter and chocolate, I just want the peanut butter!

What do you think?

The Second Tallest

This last weekend Matthew and I climbed Mt. Adams with our friends Alex, Liz and Steve. Alex and Liz are this super outdoorsy couple and have been trying to convince Matthew and I (mostly me) to do more hiking with them for awhile. We did some training hikes with them and I swore to them that I wasn't going to hike the entire mountain, but when I start something, I have to finish it!

Mt. Adams is the second tallest mountain in the state of Washington. I think Matthew and I have a thing for the second tallest mountain everywhere we live, because we have also hiked Mt. Timpanogos which is the second tallest mountain in the Wasatch Range in Utah.

We left Thursday night and headed towards Vancouver, WA to stay the night at Liz's mom's house. She was so generous and welcoming. On the way down we stopped for a bite to eat at a place called Burgerville, which serves fresh, local and sustainable food. It was really good. The Clarks amaze me with their awareness and dedication to supporting local business and living according to their food beliefs. It makes me realize how much I don't pay attention and don't have an opinion. I think I am too lazy and too afraid about what others think, but they help me to understand. I don't know if I am at a point where I can completely change my habits, but I like to learn more.

We decided to hike it in two days so that we could enjoy and not feel rushed. This I think was mostly for my sake because although I am in much better shape now then I was a year ago, I continue to be a slow hiker. I'm not sure that will ever change, but lucky for me I have some friends that for the most part don't mind and will take breaks to let me catch up!

After the hike we all decided that there are two types of fun, fun type 1 and fun type 2.  Fun type 1 is where you are having fun while participating, you enjoy every moment. Fun type 2 is where while you are doing something you don't like it, it's painful, scary and uncomfortable, but after it's all over you still somehow enjoyed yourself and like it. I would describe day one as fun type 1. It was beautiful and unique; we got to hike on the snow with our cool new micro-spikes, enjoy the sunset and see the milky way.

Pre-hike Breakfast:

Liz's mom was so excited to have us she bought 4 or 5 dozen eggs. Alex cooked some up and decided to create a leaning tower of eggshells(21 in total).

First view of Mt. Adams. We hiked up the snow on the right side

As we were driving we saw Bambi and his friend

From front to back: Alex, Liz, Steve, Matthew

Lots of pretty flowers

View of Mt. Hood upper left and Mount St. Helens upper right

There were quite a few of these markers along this valley. Liz and Alex said that the last time they hiked here it was covered in snow.

Bring on the snow!

Micro Spikes!

I thought it was cool to see the snow melting away from the rocks like this

Liz and Alex were always having to wait for us, but they were so patient

More Fun in the Snow:

Alex's attempt at a snow angel

The Lunch Counter:

Alex raises his hands to signal that we made it

Elton John and the Maroon Sunglasses:

Alex wearing Liz's sunglasses

The two pictures above are the exact same picture with one exception. The one on the left is through normal eyes and the one on the right is through Liz's sunglasses. "Everything is prettier through Liz's sunglasses."

The moon over Mt. Hood

 Day two was definitely fun type 2. Don't get me wrong, it was still beautiful and full of hiking on snow, but it was also steep...very steep. It wasn't so much that the steepness was physically hard that bothered me as it was psychologically hard. I enjoyed the majority of it, but there were moments where I literally cried because I was so afraid I would slip and fall to my doom. (I know dramatic, but I'm a wuss)

Journey to the False Summit:

Beautiful sunrise and one of many pics attempting to show the incline

The two pictures above represent the before and after the hardest part of this hike for me. I know that the picture on the left makes it look like I am really tense, but I wasn't. That's just my cheesy smile. What the picture on the left does show is where I had a breakdown. There is a person climbing on the ice/rocks above me and Alex. That is approximately where I had a great big lump in my throat and tears streaming down my face. It came over me suddenly and uncontrollably. I was very embarrassed about it, especially when other hikers were passing me. However, despite my meltdown, I pushed through and made it past the icy, slippery rocks!

The False Summit:

Above Left: The start of one of the chutes going down from the false summit. At some points it was 5 to 6 feet deep and you couldn't see anything around you while you were sitting. Very steep and very scary! Right: One depiction of a great view from the false summit.

The view of and our journey to the summit:

Glaciers:

The view from the top:

Mt. Hood                                           Mt. Rainier

We did it! We're hardcore!

Headed down:

Upper Left: Me in the big chute. Despite the smile I am terrified and telling Alex (pictured in green) to be quite! Upper Right: A more accurate depiction of what I looked like going down the chute; I would self arrest every two feet because I was so scared of loosing control. By the end it wasn't so steep and I didn't stop nearly as often.

We didn't take nearly as many photos going back down because we were sliding down and the view is just the same, but I do regret not getting some glissading shots of everyone. The pictures we do have are thanks to Matthew. We did however get a couple of videos.

Matthew glissading. He goes on forever. I stopped the video because I thought he was at the bottom, but the I realized he was still going! The snow is a little deceiving.

So this was my one moment of bravery, well at least at first. Alex and Matthew had already made it down this last glissade and Liz was supposed to go next, but got scared. So I decided that if she saw me (the wuss) go first, she would be able to do it. Well, the snow chute had another idea! When it flipped me over my ice axe just flung right out of my hand. I remember seeing it tumbling next to me in the snow and thinking, "Please don't hit me! Please don't hit me!" Well, it hit me. Luckily I was wearing several layers and only the broad end hit me, so I got  away with a small scratch, a nice bruise and more hardcore points!

Despite my fears and giving Alex a hard time, I really had a good time. I told him that I would go on a portion of the hike again, but never to the top. With a few days of healing time, I have thought I might give the top at least one more shot!