Mt St Helens, check!

Schuyler, Brian, and myself decided to hike Mount St Helens because we are crazy like that. The girls stayed with Jenny, Kyle, and Jax while we were away and to say they were excited is an understatement. I told them a few days beforehand that they would be staying the night with Jenny to prepare them, but then they asked every day when we were going there. Every time we put Reese to bed she would say, "No! I sleep at Jenny's house!"

Finally the day came when Jax and Jenny drove up to stay the night with us first and get Jax's haircut, then they would all head back down to Jenny's house. The girls sat outside for nearly an hour waiting for their arrival..

Waiting...

...still waiting

Finally they arrived and playing ensued immediately.

Wrestling!

The evening was filled with an immense amount of playing and wrestling, and laughing. Cousin time is just the best.
The next day we took Jax for his dreaded haircut and then they got on the road. The girls weren't even sad to leave, which is honestly such a relief. I was more worried for Jenny than anybody, 3 kids is crazy!!
I got the best picture updates from Jenny and the girls talked about what a blast they had. Bria's favorite part was going to lots of fun places :)
We are just so blessed to have family who are willing to watch them and take such good care of them. We owe Jenny and Kyle big time and are so grateful to them and their willingness to add crazy into their home for a few days.

Reese and Jax playing in the sand, little blond twins

All 6 grandkids playing together

Cousin bath

I know this is sideways but how precious is it?? Little Reese woke up from her nap (drenched in sweat per usual) and cuddled up on Aunt Jenny

 So, while the girls were at the Tegner's, we were hiking up a mountain. How can I describe the hike? HARDEST.HIKE.EVER.
It was intense. And we researched it so we knew it was going to be hard. We went in prepared with tons of water since there is no water up on the mountain. We brought enough to eat but not too much to where we were overloaded. We mentally told ourselves it was going to be incredibly difficult.
But still, it was harder than any of us imagined.
We camped at the bottom the night before so we could get an early start and try to avoid the burning heat as much as possible.

Our little campsite

Me and Schuyler

The steep incline, huge boulders, sand like ash, and intense heat near the top was exhausting. There were multiple points on our way up where we would silently stand there looking at the top and feeling utterly defeated. My feet were so hot and soar and felt like led. My thighs ached with every elevation gaining step and my back throbbed as I bent over in an attempt to avoid falling. Our trusty backpacks held our life saving water and snacks, while our hands gripped our poles which we depended on heavily to get through the terrain.

The last half mile was so brutal that even though you could so clearly see the top and nearly yell to the people up it, you couldn't go any faster, it was physically impossible. Slowly but surely, step by painful step, we made it. I would count each step as I ascended this monster and it helped so much to focus on those steps. At first I would make it to 100 before starting over or stopping for water. Then slowly it went down to 75 steps, 50 step, 25. Anything was progress.
Then all of a sudden, I was there. I took a look at the breathtaking side of the mountain that had blown off and was beside myself. I turned all the way around and got an amazing view of mountains and trees and lakes. I was still reeling of exhaustion from the climb, but I was amazed at what I got to see up there.

Bliss

We spent about an hour up there. Eating, taking pictures, and out of necessity I even peed. Yep, that's right. How many people can say they peed at the top of St. Helens? Not many. They probably don't advertise it either.

Mountain selfie!

Unbelievable 

The top was actually quite narrow. There wasn't a lot of place to walk around or sit. Apparently it continues to narrow so who knows how long you'll be able to climb it.

As we looked into the gigantic crater, we saw pockets of steam everywhere and sometimes you could hear the noise of large rocks falling all the way down into the center.

It was truly an amazing site and so neat to take it all in. We definitely had to take it all in because there is no way we are hiking that monster again!
After we felt rested we began our decent down. The decent proved to be just as difficult, if not more so, than the ascent. My knees throbbed and feet ached beyond belief. We used some of the snow drifts to ski down and avoid some boulders. It went fabulously and definitely sped things up, also I fell hard and got snow burned. It hurt but was also pretty hysterical.

The easy boulders before the tough ones started

There were hills and hills of boulders that went on forever, or so it seemed to us. When I started feeling like I could not take another step, I devoured a protein bar and pushed on.
As you may have guessed, we made it off the mountain safely and plopped ourselves in chairs to assess what we had just accomplished.
Such a cool thing, so glad we did it, and so glad to be done!