Mt. Hood

This past weekend was great. My friends Adam Lenhard and Josiah Griffin came to Oregon to climb Mt. Hood with me.


Thursday afternoon They flew in to Portland and I left work early to pick them up. We drove straight to the mountain and packed our gear at the Timberline Lodge. This is a huge ski lodge on the south side of the mountain.


We climbed through the evening and reached the top of the Palmer Glacier, just above the ski lifts, just before dark. On the way up the wind was blowing pretty hard. We thought the temperature was probably below 0 degrees with the wind chill. Josiah's camel back tube was frozen as well as the insides of our water bottles. The climb took about three hours.

I had trouble with my crampons popping off of my boots at the beginning of the climb and took some time to get them adjusted. Just before we reached our camping spot they popped off again and I was having my doubts as to whether I was going to be able to climb higher on the mountain, as it gets much steeper up high.



We spent a comfortable night on the mountain. Dinner was two servings each of mountain house backpacking food, about 1600 calories, plus pepperoni, cheese, and lot of peanut m&ms for me.



My sleep was a little restless and we were up later than we should have been talking. We heated some water for breakfast and had some white chocolate hot chocolate to get up warmed up. After arranging our gear and making some last minute decisions as to what gear we needed to climb higher, we set out at about 6:00.

The climb started with disaster for me. One crampon immediately popped off and I was having some serious doubts about climbing the steeper slopes with this equipment. I tried one last time to adjust everything. Josiah ended up tying the front toe clip to my shoe lace and I pulled the crampons as hard as I could to make them as tight as possible. This ended up working well and I was able to continue with the rest of the climb without incident. I did get some blisters though, from the extra pressure of the crampons pushing through my boots at the heel and the toe.


The climbing was great. there was tons of ice and very little snow so everything felt very solid. We were worried about things warming up too much if we went too slow though and there were several 2 to 3 inch cracks in the ice as we made our way up.


The climbing really starts at a point know as "The Hog's Back". As we approached the hog's back several climbing teams were turning back. This shook our confidence as to whether we should continue. We knew making it to the summit should be no problem, it was coming back down that had Josiah and me a little worried. Adam was confident the whole time. The sun was already getting high in the sky and we could see it hitting the higher slopes across from where we were climbing.

We decided to go for it. We all felt fairly strong and now just needed to climb fast. At the top of the hog's back is the most dangerous section of the climb. We had to make a traverse with quite a lot of ice fall. About half way across lots of ice started breaking off right above me. I ended up crouching down into the mountain as ice fell all around me. I was hit in the fore arm by a piece about the size of a soft ball and had a pretty good bump. Luckily I was able to dodge the football sized pieces.

We made the rest of the climb to the summit with no problem and in very good time. It was about 8:30 and I remember thinking 2 hours and 37 minutes since we left our tent that morning. We were below the hog's back before the sun hit the slopes and we felt much better.

The decent was easy. I like to take it a little slower as climbing down hurts my joints and my blisters. Adam and Josiah were good to ease up the pace a little for me. We ate snacks on the way down and ran out of water a little bit too soon, but we all felt pretty good at the bottom.

Over all it was a great climb. 10 hours total. 3 hours to the tent site, 2 1/2 hours to the top and 4 1/2 hours down. I love climbing on Hood and this time I came back with much more respect for this mountain.

Silly

These two are incredibly silly with each other. I get the whole water thing but I have no idea what they are saying or why it's so funny. Oh well...I'm loving all the laughter and silliness going on.

Untitled from Rachel Witbeck on Vimeo.

A Texas Wedding

Erik and I had soooo much fun going to Houston for his brother's wedding. We left the kids with my folks in Albany, who were also hosting my sister and her family since they just sold their house and are moving to Texas right now so it was a lot of people. This is the first time since having our children that we've been apart from all of them for more than a couple hours. I was saddened but excited at the same time. I knew it would be good for Erik and I to have some time without the kids. Thank you mom and dad for taking on some extra mouths to feed! We really do appreciate it!

So here are a few pictures of our weekend in Houston/Galveston, TX.

Erik's parent's rented a beach house in Galveston that was really nice. If you've heard about Galveston, you know that it's been wiped out by hurricanes in the past. Walking to the beach and around the area, it's really sad. People are still trying to rebuild from last year's hurricanes. While walking to the beach, there were several people working on different houses and big diggers and other machinery just on the beach.

We had a good southern fish fry for the rehearsal dinner at the beach house. Here's Terry working on the fried goodies. It really did turn out soooo good!


The groomsmen at the ring ceremony.


Laura and Dane. Isn't she gorgeous! Every picture of her turned out beautiful. It was such a great ring ceremony...and really HOT!

The Witbeck Family. I felt like Erik and I were posing for a prom picture.

I like this one....


The food at the reception was a hit!


Josiah and I waiting for some CAKE! It was gooood cake!


After a lifetime of living on the west coast and going to Oregon beaches, I have never set foot on a beach with warm water. I was shocked! I literally tensed my body waiting for the coldness to hit me when the water was coming up around my feet. It was warm! It was heaven! Some were saying that it was a little bit chilly still. They don't know chilly until they've set there foot in the water over here. That experience alone made the trip worth it!

It was great trip and we loved seeing all the family! Congratulations to the happy couple! Welcome to the family Laura!

Flight of the Pansy

I hate flying. This is not a secret. I HATE flying! It makes me nervous and extremely anxious. I keep thinking that the more I fly the more I'll come to enjoy it like when I was younger. Nope. It's getting worse. So you can imagine my serious concerns flying to Houston, TX for my brother-in-laws wedding. I really wanted to go but I seriously did not want to fly. That's a lot of time in an airplane. I decided to suck it up and go.

I felt the anxiety of it all about 24 hours before the flight. It kicked in big time when we got to the airport and parked the car. I was shaking by the time we got through security. Stomach in knots, fidgeting...and nothing is helping me.

Thank You:

The people of Southwest airlines for canceling our flight as we are leaving for the airport then putting me on hold for half an hour while we get a new flight. Then giving us 3 flights instead of our original 2. That made me feel soooo much better.

The TSA staff at Portland International for going on your lunch break so there is only one lane open at security. We stood in line for45 minutes. Not fun when you have all this time to just stand and think about how you really don't want to be there right now.

To Erik for holding my shaking hands and letting me literally cry on his shoulder as we take off.

To my friend, who I'll call Maria, seated next to me who told me she felt better about her freak outs after seeing me freak out. She told me that she's never seen anyone but herself have a hard time flying so she felt not only compassion for me but we were instant plane BFF's.

The turbulence for making the flight as bumpy as possible.

The pilot for making sure we all felt like we were on a roller coaster.

To Erik for, again, trying to calm me down and letting me hold on to your hand as tight as I wanted.

To the 60ish woman, who we'll call Rhoda, who was seated next to me in the second flight eating her sausage biscuit. The smell was wonderful and sure helped my stomach feel better after the roller coaster.

To Erik for letting me have my panic attack and not telling me I was an absolute nut job. Maybe thinking it but not saying it. One of the reasons I love you!

To "Rhoda" for trying to get to her purse in the overhead bin during take off to get me some Meclizene or her Xanex...both from Mexico.

To the flight attendant who told her not to give me anything from her purse and got me some Meclizene from the plane supply.

To the Meclizene. My true BFF. You knocked me out and calmed my nerves. It was seriously like I just blacked out and woke up an hour later. It was awesome! And you lasted through a landing, another take off, and another landing. You kept my anxiety down and my pride in tact. I will never fly without you again!

Remembering

Just a warning: This could get long and kinda mushy.

The first time I met Erik, three things went through my head. 1.) Whoa! 2.)Keep dreaming sista! and 3.) He's got to be like 25. What's he still doing at BYU-I? (He was actually 22). It was a Sunday in September 2001 and he had come over to my apartment in Rexburg, ID with his friend John to see my roommate Hayley. I remember having to leave the room because I was going to make a total fool of myself. I always make a fool of myself around good looking guys.

I went to the back where me and my roommates were getting ready for a Relief Society broadcast. I was getting all my stuff together when I realized I had left my scriptures on the kitchen table and there was something in the case I needed. Not sure what that was. Anyway, I'm totally nervous to go out there but I'm thinking "I'll just go out real quick and walk back. No one will talk to me. I will be invisible." I walk out, make it to the table, go to turn around when I hear

"Let's ask your roommate!"

Grrrreat.

I slowly turn my head and say, "Ask your roommate what?"

John goes on to ask me about how I felt about all the silly ways people ask others to the dances around BYU-I. Okay. The homecoming dance is in a week or so and there having some type of discussion about it. I answer honestly.

"I don't get why people can't just call and do it. It seems like it's a contest or something. Just ask."

John lights up and says, "Erik there's your date! Ask her!"

Holy crap! What just happened? Why did I need to get these scriptures now? Why am I not invisible? Is he really going to ask me to this dance because I'm easy to ask? A pity date? He's asking me out on a pity date?

Please earth, open up and swallow me down now. This would be the perfect time.

No? Nothing? Thanks a lot.

Erik says, "Yeah, you want to go to the dance with me?"

I say, trying to sound like I'm actually not falling apart right now, "You don't even know me."

To which he replies, "So?"

He really is asking me out and I'm 99.9% positive it's out of pity or it's a joke. I respond by rolling my eyes and trying to just walk out of the room without running. But as I'm walking out of the room I hear John say "Oooh dang! She just said no!"

I walked as fast as I could to my room where I proceeded to hyperventilate. That really hot guy just asked you to the dance and you rolled your eyes at him. You idiot! But he's was totally joking around, right? Right?

Fast forward to the next afternoon when Hayley and I are doing homework together and she tells me she's going to the dance with John. Then we start talking about when Erik asked me. Very nonchalantly, Haley gets up and picks up the phone.

"Who are you calling?" I ask.

She shrugs.

"Do not call him, Hayley. Seriously. DON'T CALL HIM!"

"I'm not!" She tells me.

She's not calling Erik. She's calling John.

I was wrong earth. NOW would be the perfect time for that hole to swallow me up.

I don't really hear much of the conversation since all I can hear is my heart pounding so fast and loud in my ears. The next thing I know is that Hayley is holding out the phone and says "It's for you."

"Who is it?" Like I don't already know.

"Just take it! It's for you!"

I am now remembering what middle school was like. Instantly I am 13 again and my friend has called up the boy I like to get us to talk. This keeps getting better and better.

I take the phone. I honestly can't remember what the conversation was like. Probably him being super nice and me being a complete moron. But by the end we were going to the dance together. I'm not sure how I feel about it at the time. He is obviously waaaay out of my league, waaaay taller than me, and did I mention how incredibly good looking he is?

So we get to the night of the homecoming dance. He looks great and I am feeling mediocre. Now I haven't dated a lot of people so I don't have much to compare our first date to but I have to say that our first date ranks in the top 3 worst dates in my life. Not that he was bad company or that he treated me bad but we didn't talk to each other. AT ALL! I know that I'm a pretty quiet person but we were both clamming up. It was awkward. I remember at the end of the night thinking that at least I had a date with this really nice, hot guy but apparently this is a non-starter. No chemistry. Maybe we'll be friends? Who knows.

2 days later, I end up getting a mild concussion during FHE. A result of playing football at sunset and running into someone's shoulder. I'm kinda out of it and coughing up a little blood but I'm fine. Hayley is on the phone with Erik who took a first aid class. He's telling her to put me on the phone. No way. I'm a bumbling idiot with him when I'm lucid not now when I'm all messed up.

I didn't go to class at all the next day. I slept. All day. I wore hat because the light was too bright. Hayley gets home and we're talking when there's a knock on the door. We answer. I see John and, yup there he is. My palms are sweaty and my heart has decided that I'm running a marathon. And he looks right at me and says "We're taking you to the hospital."

I totally act like I don't care that he's there and tell them both that I'm just fine. They don't believe me but oh well. We end up spending the evening with them and some of our other roommates. We talk. We actually talk. It was awesome!

I honestly don't remember a second date. Our paths just kept crossing and we had mutual friends so when everyone would go home, I would stay behind and he would take me home in his super cool Bronco. He was it for me. We were married 8 months later.

Why did I write this? Yesterday was our 7th anniversary. I was thinking about when we were dating and the details were starting to fade. I never want to forget it. Even though it's kind of embarrassing for me, I was 19 when we met so that's my excuse for all the embarrassing things I did, I want that with me always. I want our kids to know how I was a complete moron around him. After 7 years, he still it for me.

I love you Erik! Happy Anniversary!

ps thanks for making that call Hayley!

The Birthday Boy

Erik has finally crossed over into the exciting world of the 30 and over club. Remember when 30 seemed soooo old? Not so much anymore.

I think the kids were the most excited about Erik's big day. We had to get presents and a chocolate cake. Chocolate is a must. Don't be trying to bring rainbow chip in here. Chocolate.

Here is the chocolate cake the took me FOREVER to make.....and if you believe that than you and I need to become better friends because obviously you don't know me that well. This cake was made by the wonderful bakers at Costco. And it was/is really good! And no wise cracks about the 30 I taped on the candles. That actually did take forever for me to do!


The boys picked this card out just for Dad.


The ball that Makayla picked out for him. That's her hand reaching out for it.


The Reses Pieces that Bryce picked out especially for Dad. He knows Dad likes those "peanut butter candies".


Diet Mt. Dew from Preston. Apparently the boys wanted to get food for Erik's lunch and no lunch is good without candy and pop.


Told you that cake was good!

I was thinking about this epic 30th birthday and I was drawn back into my memories of his first birthday when we were engaged. He turned 23 and we were just a couple weeks shy of getting hitched. I remember getting him a Nikon camera (I think it was Nikon) that costs me $200 which took all my money and then some. But he had been looking at it for soooo long and I knew he would love it. And I made him a rainbow chip birthday cake that we would have to eat until we left school because I bought him the camera and we were out of money. Oh I love memory lane! You know what I got him for his birthday this year?.....

A cookbook. And trust me, it wasn't $200. In 7 years, this is where it's come to. A cookbook. The thing about it, he was just as excited about the cookbook as he was about the camera. Well, maybe he wasn't as excited but he'd been trying to find this particular cookbook for a reasonable price for a loooooong time. Better watch it, at the rate we're going in 5 years I'll be getting you toilet paper for your birthday! At least the cake was better...

Happy Birthday Erik! You are loved by a lot of people but four people in particular are loving you with everything they have. And you don't look a day over 35!:)

Easter Fun

We started out our Easter festivities with an easter egg hunt in our neighborhood. It was the most organized easter egg hunt that Erik and I have ever seen. Each family was to bring 20 eggs to hide then all the kids and families were counted. We were told each child could walk away with 10 eggs. What ever happened to survival of the fittest? I guess it worked out pretty good for the little kids but the boys were pretty bummed when I told them that they had 11 or 12 eggs and had to put some back.

Getting ready for the hunt.

Cutie!


And they're off!


She wasn't as excited but still had fun with Dad!

Now for Easter day. Leave to us to not do any easter shopping until the week of Easter. It was craziness everywhere we went and everything was GONE! Fortunately the Easter Bunny stopped by a garage sale on the way home from work and found these leapster systems for a steal.

The boys played with these ALL DAY!

Preston's books are a bit more challenging for him so he needs a little help with them.

Now I wanted to get pictures of the kids with all their Easter clothes on but by the time everyone was ready for church, we were late. So I thought after church we'd get the pictures. Makayla was so tired she went right to sleep in her dress and the boys stripped out of their church clothes as soon as we got home. So we got a couple pictures of the little miss when she got up.

That hat didn't stay on her head long.

I bought this dress back in October for $7! I love finding a good deal. But of course I had to make it modest by putting a shirt underneath it. It's my new favorite dress for her.

Now we're all struggling with stomachaches from the candy and tons of leftover ham....but it was all worth it!

FYI: By the end of May our cell phone contracts are up and we are getting rid of our cell phones. We now have a home phone and the number is 503-575-1920.

Our Grass

We are still renting. We would love to buy a house someday but it's just not in the budget as of yet. So we rent. This is the first place that we've had a yard. Albeit a small yard but non the less, a yard...with a deck that takes us half the yard.

I don't care. I love it, Erik loves it, the kids love it....it's PERFECT!

Well....except for the grass. Not so perfect. The previous tenants did nothing with the yard. And it showed. Part of the lease gives the responsibility of yard care to the tenant.

Us.

This will be our first lesson in yard care/management for our future purchase of a house. We will try new things and if we fail, oh well. We're just renting.

So first we start off with the problem. Our grass is actually moss. It's prevalent in the Pacific Northwest and really frustrating. Here is what our yard looked like after the moss killer was applied.

As you can see, not much grass is left.


Here's Erik stomping the seeds into the ground. He shoveled all the existing grass out, broke through some branches coming out of the ground, tilled the dirt with a rake (the one broken on the deck), put the seeds on the dirt, and proceeded to stomp on the seeds. I think next time we'll try and get the right equipment for the job.

So now we wait. Somethings gotta grow, right? Well, if it weren't for all the dang birds eating our seeds we'd have a lot more grass but I think it's turning out really well.

We even have some daffodils (I think?) growing.

I love our tree. And if your'e wondering what the kids are doing, we have a pond in our backyard. I am not a fan of the pond. It gives me one more thing to worry about while the kids are outside and I won't let Makayla out without me there with her. It was drained but Erik and the boys were intent on putting water and fish in it. So now it has water in it. No fish yet but it is a good spot now for suicidal mice since we've found some dead mice in it. But don't worry, what diseases could there possibly be in there with dead mice?

I finally think our yard is coming together all thanks to Erik's good work and my picture taking skills! Now we can finally have a yard for the kids to play in.

Early Morning Visitors

We have had WONDERFUL weather the past few days. I mean absolutely gorgeous. Kids-playing-outside-all-day-they-go-to-sleep-early weather. This morning was just as beautiful and as I was enjoying the beauty that is sunshine with no clouds, I noticed a cat climbing up our fence.

This is not unusual. There are several neighbors with cats and they all kind of roam around and go under our deck, which is not great but not a huge deal. But I sat there thinking "That is one huge, fat cat!".

Then his "friend" walked by.

Nope. Not a cat.

Raccoon.

Now I don't know why this shocked me. I've seen several raccoons in my life but I guess I just didn't expect to see them in my backyard early in the morning. And now I'm freaking out thinking that raccoons are hiding under our deck! I guess we need to spray for bugs and raccoons. :)

Not Feeling Blogger(y)

I don't think bloggery is a word but it should be a word because that's how I feel. Honestly, nothing is going on with us. The rainy season of the Pacific Northwest has begun so we are getting lots of rain which means we've been confined for a while. Not to mention that I am car-less since Erik has been taking my car to work while he puts a new exhaust system in his car. Another reason we're confined.

But I'm okay with this. I've been reading lots of books, playing lots of games, and the kids are being incredibly good. Although you'd think with all this time to spend the house would be cleaner but not so much. I think it's worse if that's possible!

We do have some upcoming events that will most likely be blogged about so look out for:

1.) Erik will be saying goodbye to his crazy time in his 20's and saying hello to stability and settling down in his 30's. (if you don't understand that, cause I hardly understand it, he turns 30 soon)

2.) We will be leaving our children for 4 days for the first time EVER and heading to Houston, TX for Dane and Laura's wedding. (Erik's brother for those who don't know) I'm really excited about this and sooo looking forward to finally setting foot on a warm beach. It better be warm dangit!

3.) 7 year anniversary coming up. We can still consider ourselves newlyweds, right?

4.) Mother's day but that's usually forgotten about so I'll just try and block it now. I don't want to go through the whole "but your not my mom" thing with Erik this year. I've learned to pick my battles and some things you just have to let go. (Love you Erik!)

Just know we're here and kickin'... just not blogging.