Couples Retreat

This past weekend Aaron and I had a couples night with our good friends, Jimmy and Jana Miller. You can go ahead and erase images of the 5 star hotel and spa, too. Don't you know I'm married to Aaron Hermanson?! No, it was off to the mountains, the woods, no bathroom ya'll.



We rode the Palm Springs Tram on San Jacinto Mountain for the first 8500 feet then hiked about 3ish miles to our campsite. Aaron and Jimmy had already camped at this site a few weeks prior and liked it so much they wanted to share the experience with Jana and me. It took us about 2 hours to get there and by the way, it's not a paved with handrails hike either. And those backpacks aren't filled with cottonballs. They are filled with lots of heavy stuff like water. So we set up camp and promptly took a very long nap. After waking up and feeling very well rested, Aaron and I went exploring. We found some big rocks to climb and logs to jump over. Well, Aaron climbed the rocks. And jumped over the logs.


Later, we joined up with the Millers to climb more perilous, rocky mountains to take some more pictures. Of ourselves.


And did I mentioned how awful the view was?



We couldn't have asked for a more perfect night. Full moon, about 55 degrees and not a breeze in the air. The only downside of a full moon is that it is extremely bright. Like the sun. Both of us had to sleep entirely inside our sleeping bags. And it was so quiet that when I got up to pee in the middle of the night I thought for sure that noise would wake up everybody. Just to let you know (since I've already shared that information) it is quite intimidating to pee in the spotlight of the moon. AND, you would also think that I wouldn't have peed on my pajama leg with it being so bright outside. Wrong. I guess that's what you call "roughing it", right?

Aaron couldn't wait to drag me out of my sleeping bag just so he could get a picture of us by our tent. He is so darn chipper in the morning. All I'm thinking is "Where's the nearest IHOP?" Just kidding, it just takes awhile for my face muscles to start working.

Finally, it was time to head back down the mountain. Time for a group picture!

We really had a great time. Aaron's already planning for another backpacking adventure. It was nice to take off our "parent hats" and just be a couple, if only for 24 hours.

Stop! In the name of the Law!

Desert Sunsets

Sisters are Joined Heart to Heart

Dear God,

Please, I want to live near Eden. I want to live next door so I can see her all the time. Can You find a house for us in Utah that has stairs? Amen.



Mama, did Jesus hear my prayer?



Ugh! I never thought I would have to try to answer these questions for Chloe. I always believed that because Eden moved away before Chloe was 2 years old that maybe Chloe would just accept this as part of her life. But yesterday really drove it home for me that Chloe is not okay with just a summertime sister. She wants an all-the-time sister. Chloe has never liked saying good-bye to anybody. When my parents come to visit she would resist giving them a hug and a kiss good-bye thinking that maybe if she doesn't do that they might not leave. She never wants to leave friends or our family's home either. So yesterday after saying good-bye to Eden she was so sad and trying to comfort her by saying that Eden will be back in 9 weeks is no use. "That's a long time, Mom!" No arguing there, it is a long time. Even though there were plenty of times when Chloe was driving Eden crazy I think overall they had a good time.

In Chloe's eyes, Eden is the coolest person in the world (she is pretty cool). Chloe insisted on moving her booster seat to the back seat so she could sit next to Eden. She wants an iPod just like Eden. And you should have seen her face when Eden let Chloe listen to Hannah Montana on her iPod. It was like she was holding a precious gem. Eden even crimped her hair one day. She was so excited about her curly hair. "Look Mom, I look just like Eden now!" Eden would occasionally babysit for us and Chloe would say, "Mom, Dad, you need to go on a date for a very long time." They would make crafts together, play Barbie's ( and cars with Ryder), and watch fun movies.

At the Summer Night Concerts, Eden would chase, wrestle, swing, and dance with both Ryder and Chloe until she was begging us for relief all the while the kids were jumping up and down screaming, "Again, Eden, again!"

Eden helped Chloe make chocolate cookies many times this summer and introduced her to how delicious it is to eat the raw cookie dough.

Eden also made sure Chloe had an excellent experience on her first amusement park ride. Although Aaron and I did see that look that only a big sister can give when she really wants to torture her little sister by going super fast on the teacups. She held back though.
"Mama, why does Eden have to go back to Utah?"

"Well, she has to go to school and she misses her family there."

"Do you think she'll miss us when she's in Utah?"

"Yeah, I think so."

"I miss Eden."