Races!

One of the (many) bridges we will be running

We haven't updated in a while so I figured it was time to drop a quick line to let everyone know what we've been up to!

Jason recently finished the Las Vegas Ragnar Relay race with some friends which marks the second Ragnar Race he's ran this year.  For those of you unfamiliar with the race, twelve runners run three legs each for a total distance of just under 200 miles!  It's quite the race and takes place over a two day period.  He had so much fun he convinced me to run with him for the Florida Keys race.  Sunshine--here we come!

The race starts out in Miami and finishes in Key West and takes place in January.  We've convinced a bunch of our friends to fly down there with us and run the race.  It is going to be a blast!  It also gives me something to keep me focused on training for my half marathon I'm running in May.

Yep, you read that right.  Becky, aka the anti-runner, is running the Ogden Half Marathon.  I'm way excited!  I will actually be trained up enough to run a half marathon by January (thanks to Ragnar training), so Jason and I might run one before the Ogden race.  I'll keep you updated!  I've been really excited to get into running--it's helped out with my asthma immensely and also has helped me lose almost 30 lbs.  Awwwww yeah!

Anyway, that's about it for us.  We've been really busy with work and training which hasn't left much time for anything else, but it has been good!  I'm excited to be able to run a race with my husband and am really looking forward to it!

Lake Powell Goodness...

This past weekend the whole Lloyd family went down to Lake Powell again for some fun in the sun.  It was abnormally warm for an October trip--it was 95 degrees most days!  Perfect weather!  We were there from Thursday to Sunday, which was just enough time to relax from the stressful work weeks that Jason and I have been having.  Thank goodness for well-timed vacations!

Even better is that Jason's brother, Brandon, was able to come down to Utah and spend some time with us.  We really miss having him around.  He's currently in Baltimore in a ridiculously hard Oral Surgery program.  Jason and I are really hoping that when he finishes it he ends up close by.  What can we say?  We love having family close!

Beautiful Sunrises!

Relaxation at its Finest...

I think these old trees look awesome.

Reflections on the Glassy Water

I tried the stand-ups!

Sharon did too!

Early Risers...

Big Pimpin....

In other family news--we have a new niece!  Katelyn Patrice England was born the day we left for Powell.  She was three weeks early and is TINY!  She weighed 3 lbs 9 oz at birth.  So small and so cute!  Shantel had to have an emergency C-section, but it looks like both mom and baby are fine.  Congrats to Greg and Shantel!  She's going to be beautiful. 

So small!

The next big adventure (for me at least) is going up to Spud Harvest.  It's my dad's last year digging--I can't believe it!  I have to go up there and spend some quality time with him.  Also, my Grandpa on my mom's side is moving clear across the country to Texas so we are having a farewell dinner for him.  I can't believe how quickly it all happened once he decided he wanted to move.  It's been less than two weeks and his house and car are sold and he's out the door on Friday.  Wow!

Mount Timpanogos!

Jason and I finally had a free weekend and some beautiful weather so we were able to go down to American Fork and hike Mount Timpanogos.  For those of you unfamiliar with the hike, here are some stats:

Length: 15 miles round-trip
Elevation Gain: 5300 feet
Elevation at the Summit: 11,730 ft.

What a great hike!  We woke up bright and early (3:15 for me!) and drove down.  We got to the trailhead at about 5:30 and it was still pitch black.  It was really cool to see people's headlamps shining way up on the mountain.  It gave you a really good idea of where the trail was, how high you would be climbing, and why people have to start so early to see the sunrise!  Jason and I didn't wake up early with the intent to see the sunrise--we just wanted to avoid the heat!

So, without further ado, here are the pictures!

So many beautiful fall colors!  It was perfect timing--we still had the gorgeous greens that offset the bright reds, orange, and yellows.

The tiny shack at the top is our final destination!

These pictures won't import in the right order, but here is the final stretch of Mount Timpanogos.  There is a survey shack at the top that provides (minimal) shelter.  I was happy to have it though as it was windy and COLD up top!

This is about the halfway point (not-quite).  The trailhead is at the bottom of the valley.  At this point we had already climbed a couple thousand feet!

This was our first time seeing mountain goats.  Yay!

This is called the "saddle".  This is where I nearly lost all my courage because of the sheer drop offs on both sides of this mountain.  I was way nervous!

You can see the trail has quite a bit of loose rock that makes for some unstable footing.

But nonetheless, we made it!  This is us hanging out in the shack. 

Fearless Jason at the top of the world...

Not so fearless Becky freezing at the top of the world...

Incredible views.  You can kind of see where the trail drops off over the edge of the mountain where you go down a ton of switchbacks to the valley floor.

Jason and me at Emerald Lake.  This is the lake you see two photos above.

Scout Falls at the end of the trail.  It was so nice to cool off in the spray from the falls!  No wonder I was so happy!

Lake Blanche

This weekend Jason was out of town backpacking with the boys, so I decided to have a girls weekend. I called up one of my best friends from college, and she came down on Friday to hang out. We ate at Bombay House and then came home and chit chatted into the evening. We finally had to call it a night so that we would have some energy for our early morning hike the next day.

We woke up at 6:30 in the morning so we could beat the heat as the Lake Blanche trail is heavily exposed to the sun for most of the day. I'm so glad we woke up as early as we did! We were cool on the way up, which is a mighty steep trail. It was well worth the effort. Look how gorgeous this place is:

I can't wait to do this hike again someday!  It was beautiful and a killer workout.  One day it would be fun to backpack in and stay the night.

Backpacking in the Uintas

Jason has been wanting to take me on a backpacking trip since last year after he spent a few days in the Wind Rivers Range up in Wyoming. We finally had a weekend available where it would work out for us, so we packed up our bags and headed up towards Kamas. We decided that the Twin Lakes region up by Wall Lake would be our best bet for a beginner trail. However, upon reaching Twin Lakes and running into dozens of noisy boy scouts we reevaluated our plan and hiked a couple more miles up to Ibantik Lake. It was well worth the extra miles and elevation gain! We found a small lake with no one near by and settled in for the evening. The next morning we hiked around some more exploring the area before we headed back up the trail to home. I definitely can't wait to go again!

Every Little Bit Helps...

As Promised...