"You don't gotta GEeeuuUN??!"

Adventures never end when you're a Matheson! Let me explain:

The seven week break is here, and now our summer begins! First matter on the agenda? Darby Canyon (near Driggs, Idaho in the Tetons). This is a special place to me, as it is one of my first hikes from my first year at BYU-I. I hadn't been back for so long and had always wanted to go there with Ben and our little family... Ben also needed to get a few wildlife shots for his photography portfolio (required for Photo Shop World in September). Our family, our dear friends Becky and Sarah (and their "nephew", the great dane named Atlas), and Ben's friend, James, and his wife and baby girl all came with us.

Malcom absolutely loved exploring along the trail.

Atlas the Great Dane: Afraid of horses and floppy hats. Also, master K-9 poser.

For those of you who have not been to Darby Canyon, it is a beautiful, well-traveled hike. The trail goes up the mountain for about 2 miles and leads to waterfalls, the Wind Caves (also the first cave system I've ever been in... and where I discovered that yes, I am quite claustrophobic!), ice caves, and all sorts of fun things. Anyway, in true Matheson form, we arrived at the trail head to begin our hike at around 4 in the afternoon. That's fairly late, if you plan on having enough time to get up the mountain with time to take pictures along the way. We discussed this, packed food and blankets just in case we needed to take our time coming down in the dark. 

James and his family were much slower than we were, and we lost track of them about a quarter of the way up. Ben went back to see if he could find them, but when he didn't, just assumed they got tired and headed back. Becky hiked with Calvin in the baby-pack (is that what you call those things?), Malcom switched between riding on Ben and Sarah's shoulders and walking, and we all carried multiple bags of supplies. 

We got up to the last meadow, just before the treeline and the waterfalls and caves, and everyone took a break (except Sarah, Atlas, and I, as we wanted to at least see the entrance to the caves). The camera camera came with us, of course! And since I didn't have a tripod with me, Sarah pretended to be one (dare I say, she was magnificent? Because she was!). We got a few good shots this way: 

I credit Sarah with this one: she spotted the little creature and then got on her hands and knees and pretended to be a tripod while I shot this. Sarah rocks!

Trees! And it's green! 

This is the mouth of the Wind Caves, as seen from below. The next photo is much closer to the falls:

The Falls: The Wind Cave entrance is just above the top of waterfall. You have to go up the trail a little more to get there.

Sarah got thirsty.. ( don't worry, it's spring water!). Also, this girl is my hero.

After we had our fill of exploring, we headed back to the others in the meadow. It was just about sunset in the mountains, and time to head back! Everyone got bundled up with babies and backpacks... It didn't take long before darkness engulfed the mountainside. I don't think any of us were worried: we've all had plenty of outdoor experiences, and three out of the four of us were well acquainted with the trail (seriously, you can't get lost, it's exceptionally well marked!). Both kids were happy as clams too! Such little adventurers! It should also be noted that Sarah and Becky have both worked in jobs were they have led night-hikes through mountains with delinquent youth for weeks on end. I slowed us down, as I have the night-vision of a blind cow... but everyone else was doing just fine, and Sarah held my arm as I felt my way around. (It didn't bother me, it wasn't my first time trying to find my way in the dark!).  We're singing nice and loud, keeping track of everyone and going at a slow pace for safety, when Atlas halts, ears forward, alarmed, then practically jumps behind the rest of us in fear. Coward. We hear the thundering sounds of horse hooves coming up the mountainside. We try to get out of the way, yelling at the horse riders to stop before they trample us, and they do (but barely!).

Two horses, two riders. One of them asks how many people we have with us, if there are babies, if we're okay. Of course we are! Then he goes into a narrative about how our friends (James and his wife and baby), had waited at the bottom of the mountain all evening and began to get anxious when it got dark and we were still missing. They were looking for the number for search and rescue and about two seconds away from dialing it, when the he and his friend walked past with their horses. They offered to go up the mountain looking for us in order to avoid a HUGE search and rescue fine... and so they did... but James and his wife got them so riled up they were worried we had all collectively fallen off of a cliff somewhere, or been eaten by bears. At this point, he mentions that there has been a problem with bears in the Tetons this year, and he looks straight at Ben.

"Do you gotta guuun?" (he had a slight southern drawl).
"No."
"Whaaat?! YOU don't gotta GEeeuuUN???!" (This has become a favorite quote in our family, because the guy was SO incredulous. It was HILARIOUS!). At this point I'm pretty sure that we were the worst parents in history. I'll admit,  I was a little embarrassed.

At this point he goes off about how he never leaves home with out it. He said he couldn't just leave us out there, especially now that he knew we didn't have a guuuun. We ended up putting myself and Becky on the two horses (I'm kinda slow since I'm night blind, and Becky just wanted to ride a horse). She had Calvin in his baby-carrier, and I had Malcom in a toddler pack on my back. The horses were wonderfully trained and I learned something new: horses have amazing night vision! It was a little scary at first, as I didn't know the temperament of the horse, I didn't know if it would try bucking me off or it would try anything sneaky while I was riding it. (I'll admit I don't know a lot about horses..).  Most of the ride was so dark (for me) that I could see absolutely nothing, not even the horse I was riding! He could have walked straight off of a cliff and I wouldn't have known the difference. Kind of a scary thought, but the horse was much more capable than I was.  It all turned out just fine (though I swear on my sister's deceased hamster that we were just fine before he came too!!).  

We were blinded as we arrived at the trail head; James' had his headlights pointing directly in our eyes. I chuckled because they were trying to help, but it would have been MUCH easier navigating with starlight only over the last few foot bridges. James and his wife were shaking and looked like they were beyond worried.... oh man, we felt bad... but it was funny at the same time.  

Anyway, we thanked the horsemen for their kindness (keeping to ourselves that we were truly, honest to goodness doing just fine before they got their.. but we didn't want to seem ungrateful), and thanked James for being so thoughtful. It's an odd experience to have to thank people for saving your life when they really didn't... haha! Sarah and Becky went back up the mountain that night and camped, while Ben and I headed home.

Things we learned from this experience:
1. Walkie talkies. 'Nuff said.
2. Horses are amazing navigators at night
3. The boys really like riding horses too!
4. Should have brought a tripod. Also, we need a wide-angle lens.
5. Never leave home with out a GUuuuUN!

Family Updates

Here's the four of us at an Opskamatrists show in Sammy's a week ago. Thanks, Sarah, for taking the pic! (PS. There are 4 more posts after this one to catch up through the month of July. Enjoy!)

It's nearly August?! What?! July has gone by so quickly that my mind is spinning. Where is time going?!? I promised better updates of the crib midgets a month ago, so I guess I'd better get to it.

Man Child #1:

Malcom is, described in one word, wonderful. I just love this kid!! He's hilarious! He's not using a lot of words yet, but some days are better than others. I asked his ped if I should be worried about him at our last appointment in June, and he said that boys tend to just be slower than girls. I also realized that he's always been a quiet kid, just like Ben and I were growing up. It shouldn't be a surprise. I won't worry too much about it now, we'll just keep working on communicating and be patient. He's a brilliant kid, he'll catch on eventually.

I've noticed that he pays much better attention to learning colors and numbers when it relates to cars; just yesterday I walked around our parking lot with him, he pointed at every car we passed and wanted to know their colors. I've found that for him, learning regular shapes and colors are boring compared to learning what the individual parts of tractors are called. Such a boy, right? I love that he has such interests even though he's so young.

Malcom's my favorite and best helper. He's great at sweeping, wiping things clean, watering the plants, putting his toys away, helping me with dishes... just about anything. He's getting much better with his younger brother too. Malcom gives Calvin hugs all of the time, and sometimes he'll just sit next to him and put his arm around him. How adorable is that?! I haven't gotten a photo of it since it usually happens when they're both sitting in my lap. Just this morning Malcom woke up before all of us (like usual), crawled into my side of the bed and cuddled up next to me and Calvin. He just looked so happy, so I looked over and told him I loved him. He looked at me in the eyes and got the biggest grin. I'm pretty sure I melted right through the floor... Such a little charmer.

On Friday I shot a wedding for an old roommate of mine. There were a few very littler girls, one was just under 2 years and the other must have been 3? The 3 year old looked at Malcom and said, "Oh, he's cute!" Then she followed him around for the better part of 20 minutes. Little heartbreaker, that one!




Man Child #2: The Calvinator

When I think of Calvin, I think "charmer". The kid hates sitting by himself and insists on being apart of whatever's going on. Where Malcom was content to just watch, Calvin is much more interactive. I love that he'll just coo and carry on conversations with the most random of objects and people. Give him a little eye contact and he's usually all grins, giggles, and coos. He's very laid back and sweet, I just can't wait to see his little personality develop. He's going to be a fun kid, I can tell. 

Calvin has been rolling over for a few weeks now, back to tummy. Really, he's been gradually scooching his way onto his tummy since the beginning. Totally a tummy sleeper, just like his dad. He's great at holding his head up and loves to just stand. I brought out the door-way jumper for him last week and he's about as content as ever in it. Calvin's also great at being put down for bedtime and naptime. I feel lucky, I didn't really have to do any training. I love that it was so natural. Not only that, but his bedtime is about the same as Malcom's so that makes for some great mommy time!

What else? He bats and grasps at objects. It's a special time, I remember how exciting it was to watch Malcom at this stage, finally interacting with the world around him. I can't believe he's going to be 4 months old this week!! Why do babies have to be in such a hurry to grow up??



After a busy day a few weeks ago, I sat down to work on a few projects and looked over to find both kids passed out on the couch. It was so cute, I had to take a picture of it. Unfortunately my flash woke them up (even turned all the way down). It's still a funny photo though! Haha, love these boys!

First Camping Trip of the Year

We went camping for the first time since last year on Wednesday night. It was such a great time! I really miss the peace and quiet that being far away in nature provides. Ben and I are both country people (not to be confused with the music...). We can both honestly say that we've gone for months with out sleeping with a roof over our heads (and that was before we met each other). Neither of us even owns a tent. Yep, we're like that. 

Calvin probably slept the best out of all of us. I don't know if it's because I've had two babies or what, but I don't remember my hip bone jabbing into the ground the way it was that night. Ugh, so uncomfortable. Maybe I'm just getting old and soft. Here's man child #2 bright and early Thursday morning:

(I just love waking up to his little face in the morning! MMMMmmmm, baby face!)

Malcom was a little confused after waking up and clung to his dad. I love that these two are so close. We have the best. family. ever. 

Ben watched the kids while I skipped off into the woods to have a little photo shoot with mother nature. Isn't he the best?? When I came back I found that Calvin was awake, smiling and cooing like he usual, chilling in his car seat next to his breakfast-making daddy. 

Malcom was much more relaxed now that he was fully awake and had found his Thomas. He helped supervise Ben's cooking. :) 

Malcom had SUCH a good time playing in the dirt. By the time we left he was completely covered in it, and oh so happy. Sticks, dirt, bacon and Thomas the Train, what more could a little boy ask for? Maybe some boogers (Malcom's soooo going to hate me someday for posting the nose-pickin' pic, but I just can't help it...)

That's that. Our first camping trip of the summer. Let's hope there will be many more before it ends!

Hurdle For Hope

July 16th was the Hurdle for Hope Extreme Race at the nature park here in town. All of the proceeds of the race went to helping orphans in Ecuador. I'm not going to lie, the race was BRUTAL, especially since I'm so out of shape. There were hurdles everywhere, mud puddles, creeks to wade through, tires to run through (I can't even describe how much I LOATH the tire run!!). It was basically like an obstacle course of death. Miserable. But I had my family at the finish and I was proud that I lasted through the race. I can't remember my time (trust me, it was nothing spectacular), but I finished 45th out 120ish. Not bad for having my trash kicked so badly. ;)

(Me, Kaitlyn (holding Calvin), Sarah, Brett, Val, and Benjy before the race)

 Ben was kind enough to take pictures at the start/finish. Don't be fooled, there was much more to the race!!

This is after playing in the mud. Not too bad, eh? Life is good.

Annual Melaleuca Picnic 2011

After my mud run we hurried home, showered (emphasized for the amount of effort it took to get clean), packed up the car and headed to Idaho Falls for the Melaleuca picnic. It was hot and crowded, but so much fun. 

Malcom had his very first popsicle! I popped over to the frozen goodies stand and got two popsicles, one for me and one for Malcom. He took one lick of his and then dropped in on the ground, reaching for mine. To be fair, his was just a vanilla-boring-something-or-other. How can you resist chocolate and nuts? I should have known better. Here's his victory face after I relinquished my tasty treat:

It was so nice just to hang out together as a family. The semester has just ended, so it feels even better to be able to spend time with Ben around. I love our family... I can't wait for school to be over! Have I mentioned we only have one more semester left? Yep. Sooooon.

Independence Day 2011

 We had a wonderful 4th of July. To start off the weekend, I ran in my first 5k race! 3.1 miles is a lot longer than I remember it being last summer, but then again I also just popped a baby out 3 months ago. Ha. Ben brought the kids and cheered me on. I think my favorite part of the race was just seeing them at the finish line, big grins on their faces. I love my family!!! (Here's me just before the race, and then crossing the finish line)

On Monday (the 4th), we headed to the Rexburg parade at 10am, followed by a stroll at Porter Park and a stop at Broulims for some last minute picnic fixin's. The kids napped, then we headed out to Egin Lake (it's about a 25 minute drive NW of here). Sadly, the state is making visitors pay $5 to get in. Lame sauce. It's beautiful though, and the water is only waist high at it's deepest. We met up with Ben's brother, Luke, some other kids from "back home" (Ben and Luke home, not mine, haha), their roommates and some of their FHE sisters. We didn't care. We love feeding people so it was great, even if we didn't know half of the people there. :)

Calvin enjoyed himself, parked under a tree/bush thing while we set up food and played. He's such a talkative little guy! Here he is just chatting it up and batting at the leaves swaying right above him. 

 Ben's brother took Malcom out for a kayak ride, which he loved.

After that, Ben started brewing up the rootbeer and BBQing some pork chops (with Malcom's help).

Here's a random pic of some of the friends and friends-of-friends that came (Calvin's in there charming the ladies, of course)

And then our friends Matt and Brittanie played a game known as "Toss the Malcom".

After the we were done eating and playing, we packed up our stuff and headed back to Rexburg for a change of clothes and fireworks. We went to our usual spot near the skate park and waited, waited, waited.... the fireworks didn't even start until 11:30pm! I guess the rodeo went on longer than planned.. it wouldn't have been so annoying if we didn't have two little kids up way past their bedtime. True, I could have taken them home and skipped it, but I'm too much of a traditionalist for that! What's an Independence Day with out fireworks??? 

4th of July, what a great holiday. Love my family, love our friends, love our country. Happy birthday America!

An Actual Update of the Parentals

Just a quick while the children nap!

I noticed I put a lot of pictures but no real updates on the last post. If you're here for pictures, skip to the next post! ;)  (don't worry, I won't be offended, I do it too)

* I registered for my first 5k last week! I know, right? I'm sure the distance won't be a problem since it's all pretty level, but I fully expect myself to be sloth-speed. Haha, Calvin's just 2.5 months old, so I'll give myself a break here. Really I'm just doing it so I have incentive to get back to running again... I loved it so much last summer because it was the only time I didn't have to worry about anyone but myself. Ahhhh, pure silence! It's been a big challenge getting back into the habit- Calvin's pretty needy at this age still, but Ben's been a wonderful support and pushes me when I get discouraged. Anyway, Liberty 5k, July 2nd, 8:00am, nature park. If anyone feels compelled to create big signs about my awesomeness, and make fun cheers about me and wait at the finish line, go riiiiight ahead. ;) (totally just kidding, btw!)

*I'm a hop, skip and a jump away from finishing my NYIP photography correspondence courses. It's been challenging and fun, I've learned a lot, but it adds up to more of a certificate than a degree... I'll have that finished with in the next month, which brings me to...

*I'm going back to school! It's official. BYU-I has an online program designed for former students to finish their degrees. How awesome is that? And guess what? I'm about 15 credits away. 15. No joke. Why has it taken me this long to go back? I have no idea. But I'm excited!! I'm all registered and everything. And do you know who else is registered for school...?

* BEN! It's is LAST semester in the fall. LAST. LLLLAAAASSSSTTTT!! Can you tell this has been a long time coming?? 'Cause it has. We both began our journey in BYU-I in the summer of 2004. Yep, he should be a doctor by now. lol... but he changed majors and the school changed catalog years/requirements on him, plus he took a year off when we were first married so we could both work and pay rent... haha. Anyway, it's just been a long road. I can't believe it's getting so close! He only has 1.5 required classes left (FA100 anyone?). He has a bunch of CIT classes he still wants t o take and can't seem to decide between. I love that he's such a nerd! I hope that our children will love learning as much as their dad does.

* Ben is going "hot shot" at Melalueca. That means he only has to work the last three dys of the month, 6 to close. He can also pick up whatever shifts he wants and will only get paid $1.50 less than he does now. It's a perfect schedule for him, right now. He's also looking into a possible internship with the city during this last semester. Hopefully it works out, we'll see. :)

*We're going to VEGAS the first week of September for the PSW conference!!!!!! The school is paying for Ben, and because I'm a student it only costs $150 instead of $600. How awesome is that?? We're both completely stoked. We're bringing along a babysitter too, since the classes and workshops go all day, every day, all week. It'll be hard for me to be away from my babies all day, but I know it will be worth it!

* We got new lenses for the "third child" (the camera). Haha. We bought a 50mm f/1.8 and a 55 - 300 f/3.8 (? I think, can't remember off the top of my head right now) Nikkor lenses. Holy cow, I LOVE my 50mm! The 55-300 is tons of fun, though I think Ben will get more use out of it than I will. I love how a new lens can make such a difference. Examples of the 55-300mm from the trip we took to the zoo last Saturday:

Was this a Macaw? I have no idea. I just think these birds are so pretty! I've always loved blue and green together. Pretty, pretty bird.

Silly baby zebra with his mama. 

This bird was in the back corner of his pen, his back to the front part where people walk by. I love how the overhang gave him that soft shadow. Aren't these birds gorgeous!?

Random bird feeder. It's shiny. I like shiny things.

I'm not going to post any from the 50mm since there's already a bunch of those from the last post, and it's the new main lens. How fun is that 300 mm zoom, though? Sorry, I promise we're not bragging, we just have to share our excitement. :)

*K, we've covered the 5k, school, work, PSW, lenses... is that it? I'll have to do another update to cover the  munchkins. They're just  too cute to bury at the end of a post like this! That's all for today folks! Maybe at some point we'll get our lives all updated. :) Loves!

Picture Overload

Baby blessing, grandparents visiting, birthdays... it's been a very busy month thus far!

Lately we have:

Watched and played with Thomas the Train, probably far too much, as evident by Malcom's sudden urge to make everything into trains...

(The following train is made up of two skateboards, a long board, evenly spaced diapers, and a toy puppy as the engine. And yes, it spans from our bedroom, through the hallway, and into the middle of the boys' room!)

Sadly, I forgot to get pictures of Mr. Calvin in his baby blessing outfit. I guess we had a lot going on... but it was a beautiful blessing, and a beautiful day to match. Thanks to all of the friends and family that made the trip to be there! Ben's sister, Betsy, mom and her husband made the looong trip up from Salt Lake that morning, stayed for dinner, then headed back to Utah/Nevada. (This is Doreen and Denny holding Malcom and Calvin on his blessing day)

 Those kids are way more hardcore then I'll ever be! :) My mom was also able to visit for a WHOLE WEEK! How fun is that? It probably would have been more fun for her if there wasn't as much napping/feeding going on in our apartment, but I think we still managed to give her a good time. Thanks for visiting mom! We love you!

Went for a walk to the park with my mom and the kids, but got stuck under the eves of a building as it started to rain. We were lucky enough to make it home during a pause, before it started really pouring! Malcom watched the the rest of the storm pass from the stairwell in front of our apartment.

Monday the 13th was my birthday! Woohoo! Quarter of a century. :) I was spoiled! Thanks for the birthday cakes, gifts, and well-wishes everyone, it was a fabulous day! Here's picture of my first cake that Kevin, Becca, and Caleb brought over:

Going to the splash park with cousin Caleb:

Carousel-ing with Grandma:

Cuddling with Grandma and and playing with family at the park:

Bahaha, Calvin's expression cracks me up!

(I told you he is a little obsessed with Thomas!)

This is my brother Kevin holding our baby Calvin. They were having the CUTEST little conversation! I love this picture. Such a great moment!

Gosh, I have so many pictures. I've been working on this ALL day because little boys need a lot of attention... maybe we'll just call this good for now. Whew! Love to all!!