Our One-Year Anniversary

We made it one year already!

On June 20th, we said "Happy Anniversary" to each other for the first time. :) We had to wait until June 21, however, before we were able to celebrate...

We had planned to go on a camping trip to celebrate our anniversary and planned to leave on June 21 after Brian got back from work that morning (Brian is currently on the midnight shift and usually comes home around 6:30am). When Brian got home from work on the 21st, he came into the bedroom and kissed me awake and then told me that I had to wait before I came out of the bedroom. When he told me it was okay to come out, I found a small box sitting on the floor wrapped in pretty paper. I truly had no idea what could be in the box!

When I opened the box, I saw that it was ammunition for a shotgun.... could it possibly be? I had been drooling over a particular shotgun in the store. Brian had taken me there a few times to go look at it because he knew I liked it so much.

After opening the box of ammo, Brian said I should go look in the garage. When I saw a long skinny box sitting there (he wrapped it up, too!), I knew exactly what it was and I tore into it. There it was! It was the Mossberg!

We played around with it for a little bit and then finished getting all packed up and we headed for the mountains.

There is a certain campsite at Buffalo Creek that we really like, and fortunately it was available on this trip! We made camp; Brian set up a hammock, we pitched the tent, brought down firewood, unrolled our sleeping bags and just enjoyed the scenery for awhile.

That night we ate a delicious campfire dinner under the stars and wished each other "happy anniversary" again!

The next day, after Brian made breakfast, we hiked up to the top of a nearby mountain with a really cool outcropping of rocks on top. We hiked all the way up to the very top! What a view. It was a hot day that day, though, so we thought we should go to the nearby lake and cool off...

We drove up to the nearby lake and rented a canoe. We paddled on the lake for about 2 hours and challenged each other to take a dip in the freezing cold mountain lake. So I stripped down to my bikini and Brian was down to his swim shorts and we took turns dunking our whole bodies into the water. I went first because I am so brave (haha, whatever)... although it did take me awhile before I got the courage to dunk my head under. Brian went next and he "just did it" to get it over with. The cool water did feel good since it was actually really hot up there (even in June!).

After goofing around in the water, I felt something weird in my eye. It started getting pretty red and feeling like there was dirt in it or something... since I get pink eye very easily, I knew exactly what it was. We went to the little shop near the lake and bought some eye drops and I flushed out my eye using half the bottle! With prayers, our hoping, and a little faith, my eye eventually cleared up, but it did take about another day before it was better! Whew! That was close. :)

After we messed around at the lake and ate lunch there on the shore, we headed back to camp. We took this opportunity to bust out the shotgun (and Dad's tiny Ruger that he let us borrow to try out) and also Brian's Glock. We went for a hike to find a good spot for target practice.

We found one - we tied a line between two trees and hung targets from the line since I am a stickler about not shooting up live trees and plants. :) We practiced target shooting for awhile and we had a blast! (Literally, haha.)

I really like my new shotgun. :) Surprisingly, Dad's little tiny gun also did really well. I didn't think I would like it, but truly, I actually did.

That night, like every night, we enjoyed eating a delicious dinner from the dutch oven and we enjoyed some star gazing after dinner. We were surprisingly tired (especially the first night!) so it was all we could do to stay up until a few stars were out...

The next day, we got geared up and went mountain bike riding. We rode a ways on the dirt road that led to our camp (which was an uphill butt-kicker!) and then got to ride a ways on the Colorado Trail. What a beautiful trail! There were Columbines galore and lots of pretty flowers. It was so green! It was also very hot. :) Fortunately, there was more shade on this trail than other trails we have been on in the same area. We passed through lots of aspen meadows and I couldn't resist stopping for some pictures. There was one very technical downhill part that Brian FLEW down (I was amazed at his mad skills) - I enjoyed the downhill riding as well (but I pick my line a little more carefully than Brian does... so it takes me a little longer!).

We enjoyed just hanging out the next day... it began to rain on the final stretch of our ride back to camp, so we pedaled as fast as we could on our return trip "home." Brian used a tarp and strung it between a few trees to make a protective cover that we could cook our lunch under - and we made "beans and weenies" and tuna fish sandwiches for lunch while it rained all around us. We were snug under the tarp while we cooked and ate! For dessert, we had some tasty cherries. Then we snuggled in the tent and played some games and took a nap.

The next day (Wednesday) we had to get ready to come back home. Although we kicked around the idea of never returning back to civilization, we reluctantly packed things back into the truck. Brian said he didn't think I'd like living on squirrel meat, and I told him I would be fine with it. :) I just need lots of vegetables and there wasn't a whole lot to choose from out there in the woods... especially in the winter time. :)

We got most of our stuff packed back up and left out the guns and the shotgun so we could go do some final target practice. Brian also wanted to adjust the sites on my shotgun (yeah, I KNOW it's a shotgun with sites. Don't laugh!). After we blew up some more stuff and our shoulders were thoroughly sore from shooting slugs and birdshot, we finished putting everything back into the truck and headed home.

It was a fun, adventurous trip! We had a fabulous anniversary and we hope to enjoy many more!

Stay tuned for our backpacking trip this July....