In The Jungle

I grew up in Cache Valley, where a good hike was always only a ten minute drive away. Where we live now, after a ten minute drive, you're still in the suburbs. It's very spoiled of me, I know, but since the mountains aren't nearly as convenient to get to here as they are in Cache Valley, I have not, in the two years that we have lived in Denver, been hiking here. Jake and I decided that it was time to venture out.

Actually, what really happened was I'm sick of still carrying pregnancy weight, and I'm tired of looking at my husband's pregnancy weight. I just decided that we really needed exercise and a good family outing.



So, on Saturday, we drove to Devil's Head, which is a hiking trail that ends at a fire lookout station. Jake carried Ellie in the child carrier pack and I carried Judd in the Baby Bjorn. I was feeling pretty tough about carrying my 13-plus lb. baby all the way up the mountain until I encountered a very, very pregnant woman on the way down.

At the top, you can actually climb to the lookout station and see this incredible view.




Judd kind of missed it, but he has his whole life ahead of him to see it. As we started back down the mountain, Jake began a conversation like this, "I'm going to tell you something that's probably going to make you mad." My immediate thought was that there was either something stuck to my butt or my clothes made me look fat. Oh, no. It was, "A certain significant event with a certain significant person took place up here." I almost threw a rock at him. (Before Jake and I started dating, Jake was engaged to another young lady, and he had proposed to her at the top of this trail.) I didn't know that this was where the significant event had taken place, and all I could think about at this point was that Jake had proposed to me in my mother's living room in the presence of my super pregnant sister. Hmmmm...which is more romantic? Well, I could go on and on, but I'm putting this behind me and continuing with the hike.

On the way down, it started to rain.



However, that didn't inhibit the kids' naptime.




Despite the weather and my husband's poor judgment in conversation subject matter, we had a fun time in the mountains. When we told Ellie we were hiking in the mountains, she asked if we were going to the jungle. Jake explained that we were going into a forest. Ellie responded with, "like Robin Hood?"

We need to do this more often.