long time no post!!!

Our summer was grand and I have an almost empty bottle of after sun lotion to prove it!I haven't taken the time to blog like I should but I want to get back into it- mainly to preserve the memories- my kids are growing up and I am starting to forget some of the little details- the little stories and cute things they said pop up here and there but they aren't part of my every day memory. I decided to give up all the time sucking addictive games etc that I play and I want to focus on what matters most. I am going to start a notebook where I write down the memories that come to mind. When a story pops into my head I want to write it down so it isn't lost forever.

I have a little catching up to do with all that happened this summer but to start here are some amazing pictures of Allias cresting Mt. Adams.

Allias didn't want to go- he has been fairly depressed since we moved to Washington. He was determined to have a miserable summer and didn't want to go to Youth Conference, Trek or the High Adventure hiking trip. I told him he had to do two of the three and so he reluctantly chose Youth Conference and the hiking trip.  Well when the time came to go hiking he said he wasn't going. We decided to give him an ultimatum and told him that if he didn't go on the hiking trip he wasn't going on his beloved yearly trip to Lake Tahoe and he said fine. We were totally shocked and really quite sad but we felt like we had to follow through on what we had said and hold him accountable for the commitments he had made.  He literally fought us on it until two nights before he was supposed to go! It took a call from my uncle with the cabin in Tahoe to finally change his mind.

Needless to say we had to rush around and get him everything he needed for the trip.

He promised us he was going to have a terrible time no matter what. He told us if he had fun he would give up basketball for a year lol- we didn't hold him to that.

He ended up being the first one to reach the top and one of the last ones down on the ending day because he was helping one of the boys who was struggling to glacade.
All of the leaders said how happy they were to have him on the trip and how impressed they were by him. They also assured us that he had a "terrible" time.
There are a ton of pictures and I couldn't decide which ones to cut out so you get to see them all! They aren't in order but hopefully you get the picture!

getting ready to go!

on the way up

view from the top!

taking a break

another view! So amazing!

glecading down

wow!

this picture really shows how tiny the boys were on that huge mountain

happy to be at the top!

I think this was taken either on the way to or the way back from the mountain.
 I can't believe Allas was on the top of that thing!

base camp!

clean up

They camped out up on the mountain one night- there were 35 mile per hour winds so the boys didn't get much sleep. They had to be up bright and early the next morning for the final climb to the top!

king of the world!

this one is my favorite!!!!!

at the top!!!!