Camping in the Uintas

Adah and I decided we wanted to get out of town for the holiday weekend! Adah has not been camping before and since it is one of my favorite things to do, we decided to go to the Uinta Mountains and find us a perfect camping spot! :)

My friend Steph and her husband came with us and we found the most amazing camping spot ever! We literally had no idea where we would end up when we began our road trip up the canyon, and we scouted out a few places before stumbling upon the "ideal" spot!

We had to hike our things down a small hill so that we were right by the provo river. There was a nice fire pit already built and a flat area for a tent. It was a very private secluded area and we literally had about a mile stretch of river to ourselves! It really doesn't get better than that!

Adah was in the water immediately, and I of course took a million pictures for Rob to see how well she swims and to show him how much fun she was having! She swam for 24 hours straight! I had to put her on a leash eventually, just to get her to dry off enough so she could go to bed inside the tent. :)

For Dinner we had tin foil dinners and Adah licked the tin foil spotless once we were finished. With a full belly and beyond exhausted we hit the sack and prayed we wouldn't have any curious animals coming around throughout the night.

I posted some videos of Adah playing in the river the next day. She was retrieving logs that were longer than her! They weren't sticks, they were actual logs!!! I couldn't believe her strength and determination! She was not satisfied until the whole log was out of the water! :) It was incredibly fun to watch her play! We are defintitely looking forward to Rob coming home and being able to take more camping trips, and hopefully visit this place again! The pictures do not do it justice!

Update From Rob

Rob was able to call me for the first time in a month, and it was so good to hear his voice. He used a satellite phone and said it probably took him twenty minutes to figure out how to dial home. :) He sounded great; enthusiastic and upbeat. His missions have been running at a high tempo, he never stops. He has moved into his own room and he sleeps on a full size mattress instead of a small cot like the rest of the soldiers. His living arrangements are unique because of his job title, which doesn't allow him to have a roommate. This will be the first time in over 6 months that he will be able to enjoy his own space and privacy.

He has completed some amazing missions since arriving there 15 days ago. He is out networking with village elders and meeting with other various branches of military. Everyone he has come in contact with really loves his ideas and mission plans. There is something about Rob that just makes him an amazing leader! His abilility to take charge and get things done has been tested frequently since arriving in Afghanistan. They have been attacked multiple times at the base he is staying at. He said that at one point, a RPG was shot at them and landed on the helicopter pad and DIDNT GO OFF. They had to call in a special team to difuse and remove it. Other times they have come across IED's either buried, or hidden, and they've had to secure the area while teams either diffuse or blow up the IED's. He has been able to stay safe throughout all of this and is confident his team is physically and mentally prepared for the next 8 months there.

Rob said Afghanistan is like going back in time to the 1300's. Everything is pretty basic, only about 15% of the land is suitable for farming and the basic infrastructures we are used to here in America are simply non-existent. Electricity is sporadic and dependent on generators, water shortages are common and the water that is provided is usually contaminated.

The 4 boxes that I mailed him on July 3rd still have not arrived so it seems it's hit and miss with the mail. The first time I mailed a package to him I think it only took a week. I sent him 1000 baby wipes and plenty of hand sanitizer, along with a few other essential items so hopefully they arive soon! When sending packages, I use the flat rate box, which allows me to make the box as heavy as I want and I only pay a flat rate of around $11 for the largest box. It really helps when you are sending over 4 boxes equalling almost 100 lbs of goodies for him. :)

The unit that was residing in Afghanistan the previous 9 months has been released to go home and in the meantime all of Rob's guys have arrived in country and are settling into their rooms. The taliban was attacking the compound as units were leaving to go home, and the new soldiers were coming in-which made for a pretty hectic week for Robert. Now that his guys are all there and the other units have left it has quickly become much more organized and Rob thinks things are really going to pick up! He is confident that his guys will be successful with the missions they have planned out and looks forward to really making a difference over there! I believe he is making the best of things and staying enthused about his job duties and missions. He misses home, but is confident the next 8 months will go by fast, especially with how incredibly busy he is.

Where to begin?

He finally sent a picture! :) I am sure everyone is anxious to see what he has been up to and where he is staying. I have to be cautious when posting things on this blog so my apologies in advance for being vague on the details. Some updates that he has given me over the last couple weeks are:
The helmet cam that we bought sucks!
He has a hard time finding anything good to eat (vegetarian) so he's been basically living off the protein shakes I sent him! :)
He never sleeps! Has more than one mission a day sometimes. Usually ends up doing missions throughout the night as well.
It's hot!
There are Ants the size of Spiders! (Gross!)
Might get his own room "he calls it his cardboard box"! :)
Busy, Busy, Busy. The tempo is unlike anything he's ever experienced before.

So far we've been able to email back and forth at least every other day, which is better than we assumed. I was hoping we wouldn't have to resort back to world war II days, where letters arrived 3 weeks later.
My first shipment of boxes actually beat him to Afghanistan, I think it took about a week is all. I just sent off my second shipment (4 boxes) and am waiting to see how long it takes for those to arrive. I mailed him plenty of snacks and a few essentials he asked for. Hope it all gets to him before he resorts to eating (what he calls) the "rock hard salt ball yogart deal" . :)

2 weeks down and 8 1/2 months to go!

Hiking-Bonneville Shoreline Trail

Adah and I went hiking with some family members over the July 4th weekend. We followed the Bonneville Shoreline Trail South and ended up finding 2 amazing waterfalls! Adah was in heaven and loved pulling sticks out that were twice her body length! :) We are hoping to do the Lone Peak hike at the end of summer. . . Way too out of shape to attempt it right now!