We're Kinda Boring

And I'm really okay with being boring. No drama to worry about...just easy going weekends at home with the family and a good book. That's all I really need. Erik....not so much. After a week of being constantly on the computer and working on some school related things, he informed me that we needed to do something. Anything. If you notice it's been almost a month since we really did anything and it was high time we got out of our house and explored the world.

Well, maybe not explore the world but we could go to the beach.

Only in the Pacific Northwest would you have to wear a sweatshirt to the beach at the end of June. It was a very sunny, windy day and the kids would not be deterred on their mission to make a sand castle.


Bryce liked looking at all the kites.


This was our kite situation. We had three kites but only one really worked that great and even with that one it was so windy it spent most of the time in the sand.


Bryce just liked to wreck all the sand castles we made. Good thing no one really cared.


Makayla got used to the feel of the sand in her toes and she wouldn't get up after that. She was a mess by the time we left but it was all good.


See what I mean about he kite? The wind made it very difficult to fly our little kite but Erik worked at it really hard until he could get it to fly fairly well.


Then we went to get some salt water taffy, ice cream, and the boys got to ride on a carousel. While Preston got the average horse on the carousel, Bryce got this mutant bunny-horse. It was kind of creepy. Fun was had by all and we are NOT boring anymore!

The Strawberry Festival

This past weekend my brother and sister-in-law were in town so we decided to spend the weekend in Albany with the family. It also happened to be the time of year for the Strawberry Festival. Now, the Strawberry Festival is interesting. It's held in town not far from Albany but it has it's share of crazies. Like real crazies. I was grateful for the clouds overhead since it would be too cold to wear tube tops and wife beaters and beer bellies. But I still kept my camera handy....just in case.

We decided to not to go to the actual festival but just to the parade and they have a 5k. My brother Jared and his wife Camille were running in it and Erik decided to go for it as well.

Here's Erik starting off.


And coming back.


He even gave us a thumbs up.


My brother Jared and sister-in-law Camille. She completed her goal of not stopping and not throwing up. Good Job!


And wouldn't you know it, Erik got third place in his age group! Great Job Erik!


My sister Heather and her daughter Deveny with Bryce. Waiting for CANDY!


The little miss needed a nap.


Now, I don't know why this guy was dressed like this or what was really going on but I thought I'd throw it in there for fun!

Erik Adam and Josiah at the beach

Here's some video footage of us at the beach after the climb. Thanks, Adam, for putting these together.

Video of Hood

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!:)