Lake Mary...

 #1 on my list was to hike to Lake Mary. This lake/hike means a lot to me. I have so many good memories there. 10 years ago I worked as a counselor at Brighton LDS Girls Camp. Every week we were to take our campers on a hike. Every week that summer I chose Lake Mary (there are several hikes in the Brighton area but this was my favorite one). The last week I had campers that summer I wanted a change of scenery, I wanted to go on a different hike. But when the morning came to assign hikes, I was forced to hike to Lake Mary. My directors assigned my hike LAST, and Lake Mary was the only open hike left. I was so upset I cried a bit. Totally frustrated. What I didn't know (that they all did) was that my sweet boyfriend was waiting by the dam of Lake Mary to ask me to marry him.

It makes me happy that I was able to spend that special day with so many friends that I had made at camp. The memory of this hike is so fresh in my mind. Standing in front of the dam and seeing Trent with a bouquet of flowers... It was pretty great.

So here we are, 10 years later, standing in front of the Lake Mary dam, where this whole thing started.

To be totally honest, the day we did this hike last week was a rough day. We'd been arguing all day about something. The day was really tense. We weren't super happy with each other. I hate days like this. We've been married nearly 10 years and still argue, still don't agree on everything, still have some rough days every once in a while. In an effort to save the day I suggested that we go on this hike at 4 PM, so we did. We hiked in silence most of the time. Letting the trees and birds and mountain breeze slowly work over us. I thought over our years of marriage, especially the past few that have been so hard, and was reminded of the little 18 year old girl who fell in love with this 22 year old boy. Sometimes I need to focus on just us, and not all the rubbish that creeps into our lives and gets in our way of really enjoying each other.

And how we have this sweet little guy to hike along this life with us. We are so blessed.

We saw two big bull moose by the lake, eating dinner. Such beautiful creatures!

I love this beautiful mountain lake. I wish I could live up here. We had the lake to ourselves in the early evening sunlight. It was such a healing hike for me in so many ways. this is the first real hike that I've done since finishing chemo. I keep getting better and better and that is so nice! I think it was healing for our relationship to go on this hike together, even on a bad day, reminding us of our beginning and our commitment to our relationship and life together. I think all couples need that reminder every once in a while. I can't wait to get back up there someday!