No dying here! (But almost...)

On Saturday, some longtime friends and I went up to hike to the Timpanogos Caves. We went a few years ago and decided that it would be fun to go again this year.

I was worried about the hike. Don't get me wrong...I've actually lost a lot of weight and gotten into better shape since the last time I did this hike (and I mean, it's only a mile and a half on a paved trail--how hard can that be, right? Well...). But I have to take into account that I have asthma. As much as my legs are all gung ho for heading up that hill, sometimes my lungs don't agree and I've got a revolt on my hands.







Actually, Saturday's hike was better than I've done it in the past (surprising to the people who went, I know). The rest of our group went ahead while I suffered through some gasping with Ben sticking by me. Poor Ben. He's been hiking with me before, so this asthma thing of mine isn't new to him, but I felt bad that I was holding him back (no, this isn't a deep metaphor for life here...). He also carried my backpack clear up to the top, even after we'd had the conversation of how he didn't really like carrying things while he hiked.

We did make it to the top in plenty of time. That's what Ben kept telling me: we've got PLENTY of time. And we had time to eat goldfish crackers and peanut butter M&Ms while we waited for our cave tour to start. I was a little bit sad that Erika, even pregnant and all, made it to the top in better shape than I did. But you go, Erika!

The cave tour was fun. Some of the things I remember from past tours I've taken, they didn't highlight. Like the 'heart' of the cave. Or the 'salt and pepper shakers.' Or the 'cave bacon.' But that's ok, because we learned a lot of other cool things. I did knock my head on one of the low-hanging ceilings, though. No stitches, though (and that's saying a lot for someone as clumsy as myself). :)

After the hike back down, we went back to my house and did pizza scones. Lisa and Danny joined us for dinner and games, too. About once a year, my friends make the trek down to visit me in Provo, so to make it worth their while, I make pizza scones. They probably clog your arteries faster than most foods, but they are divine (if I do say so myself!). The secret? They're actually really easy to make. Don't tell. I also made lemonade ice cream cake, which is always one of my favorites. Wow, just blogging about it now is making me kind of hungry...

With dinner over, we broke out the games and did some Apples to Apples and Mad Gab. Everyone kept making me laugh during Mad Gab, but I have to brag: I rock at that game. I think I've blogged about this before, so I won't go into further details. Once we got sick of the group games, we sat around and talked for awhile...and for some reason, we got into some of our earliest memories of our group. Well, let's just say I'm glad those years are far behind me, but I'd love it even more if we didn't remember some of those things. It was fun to laugh and talk, though.