OurLittleMcFamily.com

That’s right! I was standing in the kitchen the other day in black pants and cute black sweater with my hair cutely done. My husband walked through the room and out of the blue said “hey, you look hot!” and then gave me lots of kisses. This might not seem like a big deal to some, but to me it’s huge. Adam hasn’t said that in a really really long time. He’s said I look pretty or beautiful or nice, but not hot. I still have so far to go in terms of fitting into all my clothes and looking the way I want, but it’s a start. The best part about the compliment is that it was totally unsolicited and honest.

I go to the doctor on Wednesday for a follow-up so I can get my current weight. I went to the doctor right before I started my training program so I’ll be able to get an accurate number on how much I’ve lost. I’m hoping for 20, but I’ll be happy with 15. I’ve been working out this past week, but I haven’t counted my calories since we’ve been working at my mom’s all week. So now I’m not sure where I’m at.

One more thing….I was able to jog almost all of my five miles the other day. I can walk miles and miles and miles, but I still can’t jog super lots. I was so proud of myself this week. I think it helps that I’m at a lower elevation and not fighting the monster hills. Thanks for the challenge Jena, I jogged about 3/4 of the five miles. SLC is only three weeks away–I’m soooo excited!!!

The big 30…and we’re not even together. Everyone help me give a shout-out to my beloved hubby. He left for Utah this morning, and I stayed behind to help my mom and sister with my grandpa’s stuff. We did have a chocolate cake for him last night. Well, we burnt the first attempt so instead of triple chocolate cake, he got chocolate fudge–sorry honey!!! With all the renovating around here, I’m impressed that we got the cake made. Easter dinner didn’t even happen…we had brunch instead.

I was also able to take him to Olive Garden on Saturday for his bday present. We skipped the movie since dinner was so expensive. We ended up registering at Target for the adoption shower instead. I told Adam that he could hold the gun and do the swiping, since it was his birthday. Generous, I know! (I’ll post about that experience w/ pics on the adoption blog this week) Cold Stone happened to be open until 11…so he also got a treat from there. The kid working gave us a few extra punches on the punch card for his bday. Yes, the punch card has returned. Thanks, Cold Stone! While we were on our date the rest of the family colored Easter eggs, of course. My mom made one especially for Adam–sooo cute! She hid it outside and made him search for it during the hunt yesterday. Thanks mom.

Adi, I know this is a pretty lame birthday, sorry. You are my very best friend. You are loyal and kind. You are gentle and loving. You are honorable and hard-working. You are everything I was waiting for! I would have waited another 27 years if it meant I could be with you.

Check it! We were the only tent camping in any of the campgrounds or RV parks! I love it. One of the older RVer’s asked if we would like to borrow an extra blanket-cute, huh? We said, ‘no thanks, we actually went and bought one yesterday, and a pillow, and an extra cushion.’ (for real) But we were roasty toasty warm and much more comfy after that. And yes, we both have our laptops out inside of the tent. :)

We spent our three days here hiking in Arches, playing cards, watching movies, and eating. This is the best time to visit the park. Spring Breakers and Jeep Safariers were on their way in when we were on our way out. There were other visitors at Arches, but nothing like when we’ve been before. I think it helped that we didn’t stay over a weekend and we were a week ahead of the start of the ’season’. We were actually the only people at Landscape Arch for few moments. Usually, it is so crowded you couldn’t dream of such a thing.

The rest of our pics are here!

Well, that about wraps is up. We had the best time on our shoestring budget. I know we spent more time “lookin’ at dirt” than some of our friends (Robert Lea) can muster. It was hard, fun, and rewarding. Our relationship is rejuvenated, as well as our resolve to keep exercising. There’s No Way I could’ve put the miles in I did (w/backpack) if I hadn’t been walking and jogging our hills with my sister.

SLC ½ marathon-I’m ready for you!

Here’s another hidden Utah treasure. We stopped by after driving out to the Black Hole. We both wished we had more time to spend. There are three natural bridges that are much bigger than any bridges I have seen before. You can hike to all three of them.

We considered, earlier in our trip, hiking the nine-mile loop down in the canyon, which passes under each of them…but we were way too tired. This could be a super cool trip for the future, though. Instead, we hiked to each of the viewpoints and hiked down to the oldest bridge. Very Cool! We’re glad we stopped by. The rest of our pics are here!

What’s Hovenweep, you ask? How about only one of Utah’s coolest hidden treasures. The Indian ruins at Hovenweep National Monument are extensive and terrific. We would like to take our children back and camp so that we may explore all of the sites with them. We only had time for one 2-mile hike of the closest of sites. But it was totally worth it.

The rest of our pics are here!

Need I say more! This is one of the canyons that is done at “freeze fest” over New Years. Some of the boys have wanted to try it, but it gladly hasn’t worked out yet. Adam says the debris has since been washed through and canyoneers descend it every year. Mmm hmm, heard that one before!

Seriously though, the White Canyon system is A-Mazing, simply spectacular to view. All the boys would love driving through here and spending some time. I think I had to close Adam’s mouth a few times for fear he would drool all over the seat.

Click on the photo for a bigger view of what the sign says!!!

Here is our most touristy stop of the trip. We can at least check it off our list. Plus, Adam has always wanted a picture like I got of him. That makes the $3/person entry fee worth it I suppose. He also ate some fry bread with honey. My stomach was unfortunately uncooperative…no yummy fry bread for me, and boy do I love fry bread.

While heading out for a day trip to Four Corners we realized just how close we were to Monument Valley so we decided to extend our trip by a few hours and make a loop. We reached Valley of the Gods first, which is coined as a mini Monument Valley. There is a 17-mile loop you can drive. It was pretty cool.

Driving through Monument Valley, I totally felt like I was in the middle of an Old Western. You can even see John Wayne’s cabin, which we didn’t. The scenery seems other-worldly…a little surreal. The funniest part of this side-trip was the amount of EMPTY road-side stands that said “Open”…also check out the visa/mastercard graphic on the “Sacred Monument” tour stand. Nice juxtaposition, right?

The rest of our pics are here!

Ruins, ruins, ruins—this canyon is completely brilliant. It’s beautiful, fairly easy, and full of adventure. There is a plethora of cliff dwellings to explore. Adam has turned into a bona fide Indian ruin seeker! I would put this trip on the cool scale somewhere around the Mayan ruins of Tikal in Guatemala. However, this adventure is practically in our backyard—even better! We would love to do this trip again with friends and/or children in a few years. We actually would like to do the entire Gulch (Kane to Collins)—probably five nights or so…totally worth it, and not scary at all, girls.

We had the canyon completely to ourselved the first night. By the third day out, however, there seemed to be quite a few spring breakers heading down as we were heading out. Man, I sure love to hike. We just found out that Adam has another break coming up. This whole grad school things keeps getting better. The downside–I have to leave my sister when we adventure. We don’t have much time left here and I sure love hanging out with the Hirschis.

Here are some of our favorite pictures:

The rest of our pics are here!

Update: As of 03/17/2008 at 2:00 PM MST, the user databases for both this and the adoption blog have been restored. Your old password should work fine. Email me if you have any problems.

This post is mostly just to test if the photo gallery is up and running. I figure I may as well show you a beautiful canyon — White Canyon in southern Utah. This canyon complex drains a large area and enters the Colorado (Lake Powell) near Hite Marina. Sure looks like a great place for canyoneering!

Well, all of your user profiles haven’t been added yet (actually they were and then I had to delete them again!), but I hope to complete that tomorrow. As it is after 2:00 AM and I have been working on this for a wee bit too long, I think I’ll pass on it tonight.

I know you are waiting with eager anticipation to hear the remaining tales of our glorious Spring Break. It was grand. Now I’m getting a bit loopy, so I’ll just hit the “Publish” button and be done with it. Good Night!