Cramer Lake Campin'

I've been meaning to blog about this for a month now, but I just haven't had all the pictures and haven't got around to it, so here it is now :)

Our last weekend in Washington this summer we went hiking and camping with TJ's siblings and spouses. We met up at Dog Lake campground - not too far from White Pass. We hiked to Cramer Lake, the same place we went for our anniversary, and we had a blast! It was so fun to be with family and be out in nature and just enjoy ourselves.

Remember how I didn't have a hiking backpack?! Well, after our last backpack/hiking trip we decided it would definitely be a worthy investment to buy me one, so we did! And can I just say that whoever invented hiking backpacks is a genius?! Because it's true. I carried about 30 lbs in my pack this time (compared to the 15 I had last time) and it felt like a dream. I would take the 30 lbs with a hiking backpack over 15 lbs in a regular backpack any day. Not to mention that this is pretty much the coolest pack ever. I'm such a geek. There are so many cool little features and I get all excited about 'em. They're just too cool! Plus I think it's pretty cool lookin' :)

This is us on the trail heading up to Cramer Lake. It was beautiful weather. Last time we were there it was hot and the mosquitos were awful. This time it was a little cooler, which was great for hiking, and the mosquitos were SO much better. There were no personal swarms of mosquitos following us wherever we went, I only got a couple bites, and we were there for a whole day longer this time. Gotta love it.

Hiking on the trail! Becki, TJ, me, Whit, and Ryan (Nic is taking the picture - don't want to leave him out :))

We picked a lot of wild blueberries that weekend! Soooo yummy! We picked 3 containers full (2 cups each), so each couple got to take one home. We made blueberry muffins and blueberry pancakes with ours. Mmmmmm....

This is our campsite! We made the seating around the fire ourselves :)

Our tents

I found this awesome Tinkerbell watch! It was lying on the side of the trail in the middle of nowhere when we were hiking the second day up to Mt. Tumac. You wish you had one, I know.

After we finished hiking in and setting up camp the first day we pretty much had the whole afternoon to do whatever. So Nic, Becki, TJ and I went fishing. We hiked through the back country to some lakes we'd never been before and the last one was Shellrock Lake - pictured below.

Which is where TJ caught 2 fish! They had no luck at the other lakes we went to, and first cast into Shellrock TJ hooked a fish! Second cast - nothing. Third cast - another bigger fish! TJ was pretty excited :) The fish are in the pic below, along with our awesome Canada Day tent.

Growing up my grandpa always called me his "little fishmonger" because I love to gut fish! I honestly think it's really fun. I love to catch fish and gut fish - that's it. I won't kill them or eat them (with few exceptions to eating). Call me crazy, but it's true. This is me gutting poor Mr. Fish.

On a yummier note, this is what we had for breakfast the 2 mornings we were there. Oatmeal with brown sugar and fresh picked wild blueberries. Seriously delicious.

The second day we all hiked up to Mt. Tumac. It's about 5 miles from Cramer Lake, and it's a decently difficult hike - especially the last part of it. There's even a book at the top you can sign saying you made it up there. But it's worth it! From the top of Mt. Tumac you get a 360 degree view of all the lakes, trees, roads, etc. in the William Douglas forest. You can also see the 3 major peaks in Washington - Mt. Rainier, Mt. St. Helens, and Mt. Adams. Pretty amazing.

This is us at the top of Mt. Tumac

Mt. Rainier - from the top of Mt. Tumac

This is looking down the trail from the top. You can kind of get a sense of how steep it was at the top. And see all the shale rock. One miss-step and you're a goner.

TJ has discovered the color swap feature on our camera and likes to play with it. I really like this picture that he took.

All of us on top of Mt. Tumac!

And that's a wrap! We hiked about 25 miles in the 2.5 days we were there. It was a blast.

We had so much fun camping and hanging out with siblings/spouses! It was so fun to be so close this summer!

Labor Day Weekend

We survived our first week back in Provo! Our apartment is almost fully back in shape. Finishing touches to happen this evening.

TJ juggled his schedule around a little bit - not as bad as last fall....yikes. Let's not even go there.

I went back to work! I love it. I feel like I have a purpose in life again. I feel so much better when I can get up and go do something. I love to feel accomplished and like I've helped other people. Actually having something to do helps out with that :)

Tuesday night we threw ourselves a welcome back bbq with a bunch of our friends. We went over to Kiwanis Park and bbq'd, chatted, and ate delicious food. It was an absolute blast! I love having friends around us. So wonderful. What's not wonderful is that we didn't take a single picture the whole night! Ugh.

Friday night we went with our friends Chris and Emily Little to the BYU women's soccer game! After BYU scored they would throw out t-shirts. TJ's big-time goal of attending BYU sports has been to catch one of the t-shirts that they throw out...and he finally caught one! It honestly came straight to him. BYU career can now be complete :) Love this look on his face.

Saturday we went to a wedding! One of TJ's mission companions (Carlos Oliva - we know him as Oliva) got married in the Oquirrh Mountain temple. He is from Guatemala, and he's just awesome. This is the beautiful temple.

It was suuuuuuper windy that day. Which was kind of nice since it was 93 degrees! I totally got burnt in the hour or so we were taking pictures.

This picture shows how windy it was! Poor Amber had to have people holding down her veil in about every picture. Too funny.

TJ and me outside the temple.

TJ was one of the groomsmen for the wedding.

Pretty good looking groomsmen. I think the one second from the right is the best looking ;) They all knew each other on the mission, and each of them were companions with Oliva. It was fun seeing them all together again.

On Labor Day we cleaned up our apartment some more. We didn't get out and hike around or do outdoorsy things like we would have liked to do, but it definitely looks and feels a LOT better around this place :)

We did go up to Draper to my aunt and uncle's house for a bbq. We brought this yummy dessert...

Like the fork with it? I keep it in there for easy snacking..:)

This is such a yummy dessert, and it's really fast and easy, too. I always love it when other people share easy, yummy things with me, so I figured I'd share the recipe.

This particular one is just:

1 can of pie filling

1 box white cake mix

1 stick butter (1/2 cup)

Place the pie filling in the bottom of a baking pan (we used 9x9, but you could use any size depending on how thick or thin you want it...). Empty the cake mix into a bowl. Melt the stick of butter. Pour melted butter into cake mix and knead until it looks crumbly. Sprinkle over the top of the pie filling. Bake at 350 for about 20 minutes or until the top is golden brown.

You can really use any fruit you want. We did it with fresh peaches and it was delicious. Any pie filling, any fresh fruit. Yum.

Looks like you spent some time on it. But you really didn't :)

Enjoy!

The Emrich's are back in town!

We made it back to Provo!

It's been quite a whirlwind since we got back...I'm still spinning in it...

so's our living room.....due to lack of unpacking...(I have done some)

We drove back on Saturday, had church Sunday and then jumped right back in to school and work Monday morning! Phew!

But we are so excited to be back! Maybe I am more than TJ since I don't have to go to school (hehe). We both love being back where we are surrounded by friends. It is so much fun. We met great people in Washington, and would love to end up there some day (not to mention we will be glad to leave Provo after this year), but we are treasuring Provo right now :)

Our lovely friends/neighbors took care of our apartment, got our mail, and watered our plant while we were gone. We have a Plumeria plant. A real one, from Hawaii. The first year it just grows leaves and grows taller. The leaves are beautiful, but I was anxious for it to bloom which it doesn't do until the second year.

When we came home, the plant was blooming.....

and it had doubled in height!

And it smells so yummy.

Every time I come home, I go smell the sweet plumeria flowers.

Mmmm.

They're the prettiest little flowers. I love 'em.

Love the soft pink around the edges when they first open up.

Oh I just can't get enough of these sweet little things! You might think it's lame that I'm posting about our plant...but it puts a smile on my face every time I see it. So hopefully it brings you a smile or two as well :)

Still to come.....more summer adventures from the Emrich's :)

(once we get the living room back in order....*cough cough*...)