scofield 2012

it started two weeks after aaron and i started dating and ever since we've successfully gone on a fishing trip each summer with the myrup's. this year took us to scofield where aaron has been working as a park ranger aid over the summer. we enjoyed hanging out on the camper front step, gathering gravel from the parking lot, pilfering grapes from the cooler, hiking in the most pleasant weather, and catching up with our most special friends.

back in action

stinky beach 

limited singing at the walmart grand opening. bethany and isaac are far right in the chior. 

bethany and isaac singing at graduation. 

 

aunt nennie! the awesome baby sitter.

making sushi

early morning garden picking with grandpa. a daily ritual:)

her new bff.

after a long 6 month hiatus from any record keeping and not much picture taking(regretfully), i return to the regiment. 

jade and i spent the last 5 weeks back home in eureka, ca. it was a priceless life-break, spending the most memorable time with 'dampa and damma', 'aunt nennie' and 'idite'. the 5 weeks included the eureka walmart grand opening (no protestors! i was disappointed by the hippie's empty threats) bethany's high school graduation, a plethora of insightful conversations with dad, weeding and chatting with grandma jeannie, philosophizing with grandpa dee, stinky beach, rearranging mom's house with the teenagers, finding nemo and tangled multiple times a day for jade while i slept on the couch making up for staying up late with the family, learning to make sushi, and the times with mom need their own list; fruit orders, eureka natural foods, sitting at the kitchen table, making lists, putting her on bed rest, the survivor-challenge-planning-saga-of-a-life-time, and so many talks about so many things. despite the priceless time i spent growing closer to everyone and harassing isaac, it was undoubtedly jade who brought the tears on and broke hearts as our departure approached. 

after four weeks of blissful vacation, it was brightened by the fact that aaron was going to have the time off from work to drive out and spend the final week with us. four hours into the trip the car completely died, threatening a blown head gasket (not what you want to have happen to your car). 36 hours later, after many tears on my part, much frustration and not much sleep on his part, he finally arrived in eureka in a car lent to us by his grandpa; the hero had landed. we spent the week in bayside loving the time with cousins and second cousins and who knows how some of these people are related anymore. time has brought so many wonderful people into the medley family and it is never a dull moment spent with them.

i regret not having captured every moment with my camera, but i caught them all with my heart and am eternally grateful for everything that was this experience. 

especially thanks to mom and dad for putting us up with such grace and willingness, bethany for being so helpful with jade, and isaac for still loving me despite how easy it is to give you a hard time:) love you all.

rocky gap rage

dad and aaron went to rocky gap.

all of us who have been there know the beauty and lush, green terrain of the redwood river.

only those who have been there too early in the year have had the experience that dad and aaron got.

here's dad ditching the shirt and pack to make the swim to the shore.

here's the top where usually we are basking in the sun and jumping into the swimming holes...but again, when you go too early in the year...this is what you find.

exactly one year ago...

i returned from florida on thursday august 14th, 2008. i had met aaron on the 1st of august, prior to my trip to the gulf. i invited him, along with other friends, to go backpacking up in the uintas the next weekend; the weekend before school started. unexpectedly, we spent everyday together for the whole week and, as providence would have it, all my friends backed out on the backpacking trip...except aaron.

it was then that aaron professed his undying love for me and me my reciprocation thereof. we dubbed ourselves official.

this weekend will be one year exactly that we have now been official.

and yes, we've been married for 8 of those 12 months.

we wouldn't have it any other way.

a survival well earned

Date: 5 June 2009

Time: aprox 1700 hrs.

Place: Strawberry Reservoir, Utah

Weather: Overcast, strong winds...large waves.

Mode of Transportation: '72 Water Ski Boat

Speed at time of incident: aprox 20 mph

Driver: Aaron Hone

Activity: a "leisurely" boat ride across the lake to a small rivelet.

Parties Involved: Aaron and Miriam Hone, Brett and Suzanne Myrup

Event of significance:

Party members "Myrup" were placed at the head of the ski boat so as to better distribute the weight. Driver, Aaron, pulled back the throttle as we came within a few hundred yards of the destination. The reaction of the boat slowing was delayed and Aaron briefly took his eyes off the front of the boat. As soon as the boat slowed, the front dipped and water came flooding over the edge of the boat. The Myrups scrambled to the back of the boat as water came pouring in. Aaron accelerated in hopes to lift the front of the boat back out of the water. This action, in combination with all the weight shift to the back brought a raging river of water crashing through the whole boat and flooding everything in it's path, filling the back of the boat with 10 inch deep water.

Remedy to prediciment:

Aaron utilized his amazing skills and maneuvered the boat to the nearest shore. The boat was moved manually around the bend to where there was no wind. Driver, Aaron, proceeded to bail all the water out with an old coffee can. Meanwhile, parties Myrup and Miriam waited on the shore. Despite their soaking wet and freezing conditions, they maintained high spirits.

Method of Return:

Driver, Aaron, took the boat back to the dock and parties Brett, Suzanne, and Miriam began the 4 mile trek on the shoreline back to the campsite. Aaron continued to bail water as he returned to the dock. After the abandoned parties had walked a good 3/4 of a mile, the wind died down enough that Aaron could return to them and bring them safely back to the dock as well (since all other attempts at asking other boats to help was futile). The return was executed safely and successfully.

Injuries Sustained:

Parties Myrup: Brett-Bruised and scratched shins, numb toes and fingers. Suzanne-soaked shoes and clothing.

Parties Hone: Aaron-a paranoia that his Grandpa would find out about the flooded fishing boat. Miriam-a significant lack of desire to ever get back on that boat again.

our second death march of the year

you know, i really think aaron and a are destined for these kinds of "eventful"trips. there is nothing particularly wrong with this, really. it's just amazing how we always have a good story to tell. (sounds like i'm talking about trips we took with dad growing up....hmm, interesting. guess i haven't learned to avoid the overzealous).

we took a trip to capitol reef national park the weekend after school ended. it was my turn to pick the destination so I whipped open the trail book and fulfilled my assignment. the drive took us through THE most amazing view on highway 24 and just pass the visitor's center we turned south and began the 30 mile drive to the trail head.

we didn't make it to the trail head before nightfall and so we parked off the road (you can see it in the background) and spent the beautiful starry night in our new $25 dollar REI brand tent (good find love!).

searching for trail markers and signs, our guide across the confusing desert ended up being a set of single human tracks. after an arduous and hot hike, which lasted much longer than the anticipated 5 miles, the tracks led us into a canyon that seemed much like the canyon described in the book.

the canyon walls deepened and my doubt that we had found the right canyon deepened as well.

the book described the canyon as one used by pioneers and their wagons...

the foot tracks disappeared and the canyon got skinnier and higher. we were both soon convinced this was not the right place. the sun began dipping behind the horizon, the air was cooling and the sky was dimming. i began losing control of my maintained emotions and admitted i was afraid we were lost and the farther we went....well, the farther we would be from where anyone could find us.

at the top of the canyon, aaron made a great find.

it was an un-boarded mine shaft. thanks to my husband's intelligence, his curiosity only led him to take the picture and not descend into the abyss. and again, thanks to my husband's adventurousness he continued to lead us in the direction that the he deemed best to find us an alternate route out of the canyon and back to the wash.

the picture below was taken the next morning, so it is nice and bright and we were rested and hopeful about finding a way out. however, the few hours before we found our campsite did not exhibit such cheerful memories. we descended into this narrow wash from the hill behind the tent in the small dip in the horizon toward the right side. to give the reader an idea of the distance, it was roughly at that dip that aaron stepped off a boulder and twisted his ankle. being already emotional, i probably went into a greater shock than he did. it took us a few hours to get down to the tent from the top of the hill and it wasn't just half an hour before the sun was gone.

the following morning we scoured the trail for signs of life and after a sufficient amount of coyote tracks and dung, we found the first human tracks. we knew we had found the way out. as you can see in the picture below, our smiles were finally heart felt.

and so we hiked the roughly 8 miles back out to the car, mind you, aaron did this on his sprained ankle. the details of how we got lost and the links of canyons that we ended up hiking would make this story confusingly longer than it already is. suffice it to say, we made an innocent and very simple mistake. so, aaron helped our future traversees and put up some good cairns.

this was the ankle when we arrived at the car.

this was the motivation to help aaron keep going on that busted ankle.

and this is the storm that hit within hours after we had gotten to our car. it was snowing and windy and freezing cold.

when we arrived back at the visitor's center, we came to find out that one of the ranger's knew exactly where we had gone. he and his wife had taken it upon themselves to investigate every canyon along that great wash. he had seen the mine and knew the nameless canyon. however, he and his wife did not make the few miles of cross country to drop back down into the neighboring canyon such as we had done. needless to say, knowing that there had been recent hikers there before decreased my post-traumatic syndrome and allows me to tell this tale today.

and there is our story.

our own death march

we left in the early afternoon last monday to take a bonding hike up to mount baldy, under the majestic snow-covered timpanogos.

the view from the saddle was amazing. it was like looking into mordor. the sun was setting and gave us a great light show behind the west mountains.

"just for fun" we decided to go down the other side of baldy and make it a round trip. we didn't even hit the valley bottom before nightfall. we spent an unknown number of hours (neither of us brought our phones) searching for the snow-covered trail in the dark. we found mountain lion tracks, elk tracks and even a creepy 'house-cat' stalking us in the dark. it never came close enough to really identify it...thank heavens.

after we reached the trailhead, we still had to trudge through the streets of north orem back to where we had parked our car intially. i hadn't been that tired since dad made us hike half dome in one day...death. aaron played the hero and jogged the last thirty minutes and when he came back to pick me up the clock in the car read 12:15 am. the mcdonald's hot n spicy's were well earned that night and the goal of a "bonding hike" was taken a little to the extreme. but well worth it all.