Hiking the Y

 

Tonight is the annual "Lighting the Y" hike for BYU Homecoming. It has become a tradition in our family and we are looking forward to it very much. If anyone is interested in joining us we will be leaving at 5 p.m. and will be hiking at a toddler pace this year to let the little ones do as much as possible on their own. The rest of the crowd begins at 6pm and the lighting happens around 7:15ish. If we are lucky to arrive early enough our family will be one of the lucky ones turning a lightbulb at the assigned moment, so when you look up at the glowing mountain tonight I hope you think of us and especially Audrey up there climbing her own metaphorical mountain one dusty step at a time, and smile! The view from the top is worth it.

Justin is being a trooper and humoring me, I don't think he's as excited as I am (we're both out of shape and he knows we're going to end up carrying one or both toddlers at multiple points) but the weather is perfect, and taking it at our pace I think we'll be just fine. Last year at this time I was in Boston preparing for the family to come join me for the holidays. The last time we did this hike, two years ago, Audrey had just gotten home from five months in the NICU and was on continuous g tube feeds-- which ended up soaking her because her tube came undone at the start of the hike and I didn't figure it out, the poor thing. This time, ironically, she will need her picc line hooked up before the descent, so it's not too different except we're more experienced now, and no problems are allowed! I have to hand it to Justin, he's been doing the picc stuff this week, and getting that puppy set up is COMPLEX, there are seriously about forty steps to setting it up. He will set it all up before we go as much as possible and it will be easy to do the final connecting up on the mountain. I'm really excited for this. It's going to be a good night.

 

We had so much fun hiking the vigorous Y Mountain trail to set off BYU Homecoming week and helping light the mountain with many other BYU students and alumni. It turned out Audrey wouldn't walk at all so I carried her up almost the entire way, while Gideon was a trooper and walked up with Eden most of the way and she carried him part way. After the lighting, (three of us even got to screw in one of the giant light bulbs) Justin set up Audrey's picc line with TPN and we carried the babies down in the dark, this time I carried Gideon while Justin carried Audrey, and Eden (who had twisted her ankle) got the grand privilege of riding down in one of the coveted BYU golf carts. I enjoyed walking down with the EMT team (who were hiking with radios) which gave me a lot of comfort because I was really worried about Justin or I slipping on the loose gravel on the steep trail with the babes in arms, especially with the picc line. Thanks to their genial conversation, instead of spending the downward trek as an anxious wreck I got to hear about the HAM radio club from an electrical engineering student named Alan. We even made it down in time to partake of the donuts and cider. Fun times!

Told you the view would be worth it!