Thursday, September 13, 2012

Red Pines-One Yr Later

Russ proposed to me on July 24th last year.
For our one yr anniversary of our proposal, I was actually out of town in Texas for work, so when I got home, we went back up and hiked to the same place and looked for our tree. Im am not the greatest of hikers. Especially when its so darn hot and there are pesky flies driving you crazy, but thank goodness Russ is so persistent and packs my back pack with drinks and snacks to get me to the top. He is good and pushing me. It was a long hard hike and I know if I had been alone I would have turned back long before. Last year was different because half of the hike was covered in snow, even toward the end of July. This year was full of wild flowers and pretty streams. You cant tell by these pictures, but it was a pretty steep hike!
We stopped for snacks and water. I didnt dare to drink the water, but Russ was all for it! He is always so sweet to pack my back pack. He is crazy wild for the outdoors but he is always super prepared as if we might be up there for days.
This is about the point where I wanted to turn back and call it a day. Everyone we would ask on the way down would give us a different answer. Im pretty sure I asked every person on the way up, "How much longer to the top?" I would get a different answer every time. But then, the annoying dry trail turned to this!
After a little searching off the beaten path, we found the spot where we became engaged! It brought lots of fun memories. Russ was so thoughtful in proposing and it was fun to see the same spot, get a picture where it actually happened and see our tree he carved our initials in.
That was such a great day! I remember it taking forever to get up there the day we were engaged and I remember running down the mountain in 2 seconds because I was so excited to tell everyone. We continued on for another hour or so and reached the long awaited view...the lake!
Isnt it beautiful? Totally worth the sweat and pain...but dont tell Russ, because he will just make me go further next time. Enjoying my corn nuts next to the lake.
Once we got up top it was really windy! We crossed the dam to see if we could get out of the wind to enjoy a late lunch..also packed by Russ.
and it worked! Wind free beauty.
We had peanut butter and jelly here.. look how pretty it is!
I love traditions. My family has lot of traditions we grew up doing. I hope Russ and I will follow this and make traditions for our family and I hope this turns out to be one of them. We even carved a little notch in the tree next to our initials for 1 yr. Its been a crazy good year too! Weird to think a year ago at this time I was planning a wedding!

4 comments:

  1. I loved the way Russ proposed to you!! So thoughtful and sweet. That's a great tradition to hike there every year! It looks absolutely gorgeous, but sounds like a lot of work. You two are so cute together! I love that picture of your family in the previous post. You guys are all wonderful people!

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  2. I love this post! I LOVE traditions as well, so so much. Also, I'm so jealous that you're hiking and I'm not. Also, I am so happy that you're so happy! You and Russ are perfect for each other. Isn't is so crazy that we have to go through so much shiz in our lives to get to the good stuff and then you get there and think, wow, that was all totally worth it because it got me here, with this person. Anyway, I'm rambling but yea, love it.

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  3. Such a sweet post! I am so happy for you guys. I have loved reading about all your travels with your sweet hubby and Britt is right, you guys seem so perfect for each other. SO happy you are happy and loving life!
    What a gorgeous hike!!

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  4. Can't believe it's been a year!! Sometimes I hate how fast time is passing... regardless - you two are adorable. I am so glad life brought you two together. And reading this I thought, "Stu and I don't have any traditions together... I am going to start making some!" And, I am still dead set on getting together for the season premiere of Biggest Loser (which I fear may be January - I keep looking for a release date, and that's the best I've found). I hope you're still game, because I'll probably just end up at your doorstep the night it airs! Anyway, I don't know how I got off on this ramble - what a beautiful hike!

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