The Coldest Night of My Life

Day 284

When I was in college I had a great set of friends, many of them which I have blogged about before. One of my fondest memories with these guys was when we went up to Tony Grove (a rugged place up the mountains) and did some winter camping. That had to be the coldest night of my life. I have never been that cold even when our furnace went out a few years ago. I mean it was just unbelievable cold during the night.

There was a ton of snow that we had to hike up on snowshoes. We had a large sled (one that dogs pull in the Iditarod) which had all of our gear and wood. We tied ourselves to the sled and hiked up. What a minute... that makes US dogs!

I am the second one from the right looking at the camera. I am not sure how far we hiked but I am sure it was at least a couple of miles.

My artist friend Joel chronicled all the fun moments in his cartoon strip. Most of these cartoon are actual moments from the trip.

This is Joel and Maren. The funny thing about this was that Joel and I were really ill-prepared for the trip. I don't think I packed any food at all. At least I cannot remember packing any.

True story. There was hardly any snow in the canyon until we finally got up to Tony Grove. And it was deep. I remember that after we got to camp we took off our snowshoes and sunk right into the snow past our knees.

Some people had difficulty in wearing and walking in snowshoes. Luckily my Canadian training came in handy. And I am being serious. Our Elementary School and a full classroom set in case it snows really bad. We took them out and practiced on them once or twice a winter.

We worked like dogs to get our camping gear up the mountain! Get it? Dogs? It was quite the haul. We found a place to camp and I remember just sucking it up and driving with everything I had to get up the mountain. The rope that was tied around my waist left welts. It was hard work!

 

Most of the cartoons were of Joel and I. We slept in the same tent and it was night out and setting up a tent in snowshoes is quite an adventure. That is me being the sarcastic one in the first panel. And that was all true, even the last part. But we flipped it back when we went to sleep.

Lared was the one that was uber-prepared. If is wasn't for Lared, Joel and I would have frozen or starved to death. Whichever horrible death that came first. Lared cooked a mean steak. This was a true conversation. Again, that is me with the sarcastic remark at the end of the strip.

 

The temperature plunged when the sun went down. I was amazed that my glove was frozen solid. Seriously, you couldn't bend the fingers on my glove. The same glove that I was wearing just an hour before. Then it hit Joel and I. What about our sleeping bags?

This was one of the strips that was made up. But those snowshoes were not easy to get on and off. It might have been easier to sleep with them on. And the sleeping bags were solid.

 

One of my biggest pet peeves is stepping in melted ice. So I demanded that Eric and Joel leave their boots outside. I didn't want to take the chance. I must have mentioned it a few times since Joel made a strip out of it. The funny thing is that it got real hot in that small tent. So we all took off our coats and just a few short hours later we were awake and freezing looking for our coats. When we woke up that morning both Eric and I were on top of Joel. And our breathing froze and formed ice/snow all over the inside of our tent like a horrible nightmare.

Even though we are freezing to death we didn't want to get out of sleeping bags and tents. We owe Jim our lives that he started a fire. Lared (as always) slept in for hours. So Joel and I ate the S'mores leftovers. That chocolate was soooo hard!

 

This is my favorite strip. Joel captured Lared perfectly. He woke up hours later. The one thing both Joel, Eric and I could have used was some sort of cushion. We slept right on the snow which turned to ice. When we packed up the tent you could see Joel's body outline in the snow. He melted it down about six inches and Eric and I used Joel as a mattress. Then Lared offered for us to use his EXTRA mattress. We could have used that bit of info YESTERDAY!

Joel's jeans were totally frozen stiff and it was funny to watch him try to warm them up by the fire. I honestly did have a good time even with all the snarky comments I made during this trip. Yeah, that is me again in the last panel.

 

We went sledding down the mountain side in the back country and it was a blast. We went down and we were going to fast and we hit this large snow-covered rock and went flying. When we finally hit the Earth, Joel was buried up to his chest (he was in front) and Lared and I were up to our waists in snow. It took a few minutes to dig ourselves out and then we did it again. That was me again with the sarcastic comment!

We totally watched Jim do this as he snowboarded down the mountain. He flipped over and dragged his head into this snowbank and miraculously flipped back in his feet and continued down the slope.

 

The trip home was quiet and sad. We were all extremely tired and sad that the trip was so short.

I am so glad that Joel made these cartoons and gave me a copy. Even though I froze, I had a great time and wouldn't trade it for anything. But I would bring a mattress of some kind next time.

Happy 4th!

Day 246

HAPPY 4TH JULY!

I hope everyone is having a nice and safe 4th of July. Thanks to all those that have fought and are currently fighting for our freedom. We appreciate your service so that my family and I can be free.

Here are some pictures that we got from Manuel from our adventures at Girl's Camp.

Logan acting.

The big pizzas we ate. This picture doesn't do them justice.

Told you those pizzas were big!

Logan posing with Bharti and Kristy.

Fam Cam!

Me taking a small nap in the sun at Bear Lake.

Surviving Girl's Camp

Day 232

Let's just say this. If I had to do it again, I would do it in a flash with only a few minor differences. I would stay the whole time and I would make sure that I drink lots of water.

Speaking of water, I learned from Taylor that you can tell how much water you drink by how much skin you can pull from your kneecap. She told me that I don't drink enough water. I guess I have a lot of skin around my kneecap. See? I did learn something at Girl's Camp! I should have seen the signs.

I had a great time at Girl's Camp and so did Logan. Logan really should have loved all the extra attention he got. His newly buzzcut was constantly stroked by one of the girls with them telling him that he was so handsome. I would say that he was a chip off the 'ol block but he is a cut above what I brought to the table. At least he got his eye color from me.

We arrived at the cabin and quickly set it up because it was about to storm and it really rained hard. Manuel and I quickly set up some tarps to offer some protection from the rain. Then the rain stopped and we ate lunch and went out for a long hike.

It was sunny for most of our hike.

Except in the beginning where we thought the lightning might kill us before the rain drowns us.

Logan and I were not the only guys at Girl's Camp. Manuel was there also to help set up camp but we also had Anthony.

Kara, Taylor and I teased Logan as he was about to use Anthony that he should remember to flush. After Logan came out, Taylor asked Logan if he flushed and Logan just ignored her and went up the hill. After a few steps Logan turned to me and called the girls crazyheads.

It rained hard again and then disappeared as quickly as it appeared. After the hike we got back to the cabin and before dinner the girls had an activity, they gave each other pedicures.

So I guess I was not that far off with the whole makeup and painting nails. Logan and I didn't get one. They didn't offer and we didn't ask!

We ate dinner in the rain and finally the rain stopped and all the girls came out to make smores and roast Starbursts. Yup, you heard me right, Starbursts. I have never tried this and being a major candy addict, I had to try it. And I have to admit they were awesome. Crunchy on the outside and creamy in the middle. We also sang a bunch of absolutely silly (but fun) songs my personal favorite being the Beaver Song.

You can't tell from this picture but it is pouring out!

I wonder who was the person who thought of roasting Starbursts and what were they thinking?

Silly dancing and singing? Check. Blackmail pictures? Check.

This was the first time I had heard any of these songs.

Logan and I doing "Beaver Time!"

That night Logan and I slept in the front room of the cabin. Manuel was out in his camper, the girls were all outside sleeping in tents and the Young Woman Leaders were in the back room. Everyone was cold but me. I think I got majorly dehydrated. Just as everyone was settling in a major thunderstorm swept through and knocked one of the girl's tents down. They came in to the cabin and Manuel said they could stay in his camper. So where did Manuel sleep? He drove home! I didn't know that was an option. I don't think I slept much that night. I got so hot that I would kick off my sleeping bag and then minutes later I would be freezing my rear off and I would snuggle in my sleeping bag. I did that all night.

I woke up early (I don't think I actually fell asleep) and got my gear all ready to go. I wanted to be awake and ready before any of the girls came into the cabin. I walked some of our gear to our car and by the time I got back most of the girls were up. We ate some fantastic crepes and then packed up and headed to Bear Lake. It was sooooo cold, at least it was for the first little bit and eventually it warmed up. We went to a private beach that only allowed one or two vehicles so we met at a Bear Lake Pizza joint and we all climbed in Manuel's camper and drove in.

I was the last one to get in, I wanted to make sure all the girls got in and had someplace to sit/stand. I shut the door and when I slammed the door it broke into two doors. It didn't actually break but I had no idea how to get the door shut. Manuel started to go and the girls screamed that the door was not shut so I sat by the door to hold it in place. As I looked back at the girls I felt like we were fugitives or smugglers.

Riding in the camper. Hoping to make it across the border into the private beach.

Logan looks like he has had enough of all the girls especially all cramped in the camper.

That's me in the hat holding the door tightly closed so we wouldn't lose any girls.

We played at the beach and I took a nice nap on the grass in the sun. We then ate pizza (the biggest pizzas I have ever seen, they were 28 inches!) and we headed back to camp. At this point I was feeling really sick. I stupidly forgot my asthma medication at home and I was already having difficulty breathing. I got to remember that I am also very sensitive to the heat and I easily get Heat Exhaustion. I thought I was going to barf all the way back to camp. I had planned on staying till that evening but instead Logan and I left when we got back to camp. Kristy drove us home and got a ride back up with another lady going to camp. A couple of Crystal Lights and Mountain Dews along with my asthma inhaler and I was feeling a bit better. But I was sad that I had to leave the girls.

I was really impressed with these girls. They were so kind, funny, helpful and a joy to be around. But I was amazed at how these girls carried themselves. It is hard to put into words and describe what I think and feel about these wonderful girls. But I want to share an experience that I had at Girl's Camp, one that made the whole experience worth it.

The older girls prepared a theme for camp and it was about Helaman and the Stripling Warriors. For those that are not familiar with this story let me give you the Cliff Notes version. There were these people called the Anti-Nephi-Lehies. They made a promise to God that "they never would use weapons again for the shedding of man’s blood". A few years later they were attacked by the Lamanites. The Anti-Nephi-Lehies were considering breaking their oath to defend themselves when two thousand of their sons (who had been too young at the time to have made the promise) volunteered to fight. Though every soldier was wounded at one time or another, there were no fatalities among the warriors. Helaman, their commander and the young men themselves, attributed this to the upbringing provided by their mothers and the great faith they exhibited.

So now you have some background on who these Stripling Warriors are. The older girls at the camp said that it was not only their mothers that taught the Stripling Warriors but also the other women in their lives. It was their girlfriends, their best friends and their little sisters that helped them and inspired them.

Yes, costumes were all part of this presentation.

Kristy and some of the other leaders singing that awesome song they wrote.

The youngest girls are called Beehives. They were so excited to be the little sisters of the Stripling Warriors.

They introduced these concepts to the other younger girls and they also took one of my favorite church songs (We’ll Bring the World His Truth) and re-wrote the lyrics. And I have to admit that I was touched. It reminded me of what I should be doing and who I am doing it for.

I would be happy and proud to have any of these awesome young women to be my little sister.

Thanks to all the girls and the inspired leaders for making Logan and I feel welcome. We had a good time.

This Is It

Day 228

This may be the last blog. I am off to Girl's Camp in a few hours and I may not make it back.

For those that don't know, our church every year has all the young girls (12-18) go on a camp with some leaders (like Kristy) for a couple of days. They need a couple of fellas up there in case something goes wrong and since Kristy was going I thought I would volunteer Logan and I. There at Girl's Camp the girls... they... uh... I think they...

I have NO idea what to expect being at Girl's Camp.

Now I have been at Scout Camp and I sure this will be a completely different experience. I am used to fist fights, lots of belching and farting and general laziness with a ton of eating. And burning stuff and trying to burn others.

Is this going to happen to Logan and I? Are we going to be forced to wear a dress and wear makeup?

Am I to expect finger nail polishes, pillow fights, gossiping and talking about boys? Seriously, I have no idea what goes on up there. At least I will have Logan to back me up and we have already made a pact. I will watch his back as long as he watches mine.

We are not going very far at all, just up the canyon. I hear that the girls have some talks planned and I know we are going on a hike later that day and then play around and hopefully eat smores. The next day we are going to Bear Lake and play on the beach. But aside from that I have no clue what else is going to happen. But I did hear a rumor that pedicures are going to take place some time.

So if you don't hear from me tomorrow, I am somewhere up in Logan Canyon apparently biting off more than I can chew. Any assistance will be appreciated.

The Lake Alice Adventure

Day 194

By now you should know that I am not much of a camper but I will venture into the wilderness every once in awhile. This time it was back when I was in 9th-10th grade and we went out as a Scout Troop to Lake Alice in Wyoming.

Now I was not much of a Scout either. I would rarely attend meetings but I thought this week sounded pretty fun so I decided to go. Most of the guys in my church ward were going and it did sound like a lot of fun.

The trip to Lake Alice seemed to take forever and we were all rowdy. I felt bad for Tavis's dad who volunteered to drive and come with. We must have drove him nuts. He was especially cranky when it came to all the road work. We would be driving maybe 2 miles an hour as they paved a new road. The heat was already unbearable but add fresh asphalt to the mix and we were getting all cranky.

But we finally got to Lake Alice and it was nice and cool. It was a real beautiful area. It was about a 2 mile hike to get to the lake so we had to carry our canoes the whole way. We left the canoes up there so we didn't have to drag them up to the lake everyday. Lake Alice was created by a massive landslide resulting in a lake that is three miles long and over 200 feet deep. Rumor has it that Lake Alice got its name from a little girl named Alice that drowned in the lake.

The first night didn't help my attitude about camping. It rained that night and day and unfortunately Damond and I put up our tent right in the middle of a depression so our tent and stuff was fully flooded. It took almost the whole night to get my pillow dry as I sat by the campfire. But as time went on I began to enjoy my time at Lake Alice.

One of the things we did was we made a homemade zip line. It worked really well and went down a rocky embankment down about thirty feet. We used a branch/log to hold on to while we zipped down until Dusty broke it. It wasn't his fault really, the rope burned through the wood and made it weak and he crashed down onto the rocks making a horrible wet thumping noise. His back was really scraped up.

But the thing I remember the most about this trip was the bear. Or the moose. Maybe it was just a deer. Or maybe it was Sasquatch or the Wendigo. We don't know what the heck that thing was.

We were up at the lake doing some fishing and it became quite dark. The leaders were back at camp and all of us scouts were up at the lake. It got so dark that we could barely see the shoreline as we canoed in. Suddenly up by the shore we saw this large black shadow moving toward the lake. And it stopped right where we come up onto shore! We couldn't tell what it was, the only thing we knew was that it was HUGE. We paddled closer and we shined our flashlights at it and then we caught its eyes. These yellow eyes that stared back at us. And each yellow eye was far apart from the other so this creature must have been huge. Tavis began to paddle closer saying "It's just a deer, it's just a deer!" and then he would suddenly change his mind and paddle right back out yelling, "That's a bear! That's gotta be a bear!" He repeated this a couple of more times. "Okay, I think it is a baby moose." And he would paddle in closer. And sure enough we would get closer and he would paddle back quickly, "That's a freaking bear!" Damond started to throw his fish guts at it which didn't make sense to me. He wanted to scare the creature away and if it was a bear, why would you throw fish at it, essentially feeding it?

Finally it left and we paddled to the shore and quickly got our stuff together. Tyler took the fish and said he would carry them for us and lead us down the trial. He would throw the fish at the bear (if we came across one) and we would then run. The rest of us scouts armed ourselves with paddles. And we ran almost the whole way home. I don't think I have ever gone 2 miles more quickly than I did that night. And we sang songs, anything to to be loud and get our minds off of being eaten by some horrible creature of the night. We got back to camp safely and the first thing our leaders asked us was why we carried the paddles back to camp.

By the time we came home I think everyone was tired of everyone else. Spending a week together was more than some could handle and our leaders were really happy to come home. I think they got tired of our endless chatter and pranks and doing stupid stuff. One of our leaders was getting frustrated with our trailer of canoes, he kept trying to line them up and was about to lose it. He couldn't tell from his rear view mirror if he was backing up correctly so he decided to roll down his window and look out himself. Tyler knew he was going to do this so he rolled down his window (he was sitting right behind him) and stuck his head out just as our leader looked back. Tyler scared the crap out of him and our leader was so mad. I don't think we dared talk or laugh for at least an hour after.

Why I Dislike Camping

Day 145

I am not much of a camper. Like I have mentioned before, I don't mind going for small chunks at a time. But I am not a fan of camping for longer than a week. I do like nature but I don't like to smell and be dirty for long period of times.

I used to camp out with my family when I was younger many times and I didn't mind it then since I was young and getting dirty was something then you enjoyed. I do have fond memories of camping in the rain in our tent trailer and playing poker and betting with beans.

But there was one time that camping in the tent trailer was not as fun. And of course it has to be the most memorable and the most embarrassing.

We were at a Father and Son's camp out and I was with my dad. We paired with another guy named Dave McMillian and we took a kid named Randy with us. It was a fun outing and the weather was awesome.

This picture makes me laugh because it looks like my Dad is wondering what the heck he is eating. Dave was taking the pictures, sadly I don't have one of him.


I don't mind sleeping in the tent trailer and I remember it was all cozy. Dad had awakened me for breakfast and all I wanted to do was sleep in. So I rolled over away from the beckoning Dad.

And I rolled right out the tent trailer. I fell through the tiny hole where the canvas meets the trailer. I didn't fall and hit the ground right away, I slowly slid down the hole and while I was slowly sliding down, my pyjama bottoms were slowly coming off along with my underwear slowly sliding off.

It wouldn't have been to bad if it wasn't for Dave. Dave jumps out of the tent trailer like I am in mortal danger.

I WILL SAVE YOU MATTHEW! DON'T WORRY!
I wasn't worried. I was humiliated. He yells this as he comes to "save" me. Unfortunately that also alerted everyone else at the campground. Dave didn't initially scoop me up, instead he had to yell out and ask me if I was alright. Only my pride was hurt. Then I heard this kid shout Hey! I can see that kid's underwear and bum!

Thanks Dave McMillian for pointing me out to the WORLD!

It should be noted that I was wearing some stupid Gilligan-style hat. So I guess my near nudity was not embarrassing enough.

I Don't Want to Alarm You But...

Day 102

Camping is just something that I am not a huge fan of. I can do it for a little while but then I feel like my body just starts to scream "GO HOME!" after a few days. I like nature, don't get me wrong, but I don't like feeling dirty. My family and I used to camp but it was out of a tent trailer and it was only a few days. Kristy's family on the other hand loves to camp and will camp for at least a week.

So every once in awhile I will go camping with the whole Breinholt clan (or as much of them as can come). I remember one camping trip in particular and I remember it only because I have a couple of pictures of it.

So on to the highlights.


-This was one of the first major family events with future sister-in-law Andrea. In fact this blog entry is named after her. For some strange reason insects were her best friends throughout this camping trip. She would be attacked by huge moths and accosted by these large bugs. Every time we saw Andrea we would say, "Now I don't want to alarm you but there is a rather large bug on your leg." She stayed pretty calm during the whole ordeal.

-Steven slept outside in this large burrito made of a ton of sleeping bags, blankets and was stationed on these lawn chairs. It didn't work out for him and eventually he had to sleep on the floor of the tent trailer. Kristy was pregnant at the time and she stepped on him a few times during the night.

-Kristy and I slept in the tent trailer along with the Bellowing Chainsaw Snoring tag team of Mom and Dad and Andrea slept on the small bed/table. Before we all hit the hay, Steven and I were Moth Slayers. It was up to us to remove all these huge hairy moths out of the tent trailer so Andrea could sleep peacefully. That didn't last either. Suddenly one night we heard her yell out and thrash around violently. Yup, you guessed it. Sure enough those moths found a way to get in and get her.

-We were pretty far up in the mountains and we expected to see a lot of deer and elk. We didn't see any but Aaron and Heather claimed they saw a ton of them. My brother-in-law Gregg informed us that "seeing 45 head of elk" was just slang for making out in the forest. Besides, you would think we would see them too. I am sure they went out a couple of more times to find more "elk".


-Speaking of elk, my nephew Josh is terrified of them. It didn't help that his dad and everyone else teased him about "man-eating" elk that roamed the mountains. Now with Aaron's news, there were at least 45 of them out there! So being the good uncle I was, I would tease Josh that elk were everywhere! So I found some branches that looked like antlers and I stalked him. I wanted to pose a picture of me chasing him but he was too embarrassed. So his little brother Ryan posed in it. But I managed to snag another picture of me sneaking up on him.

Split Rock Cave Horror

Day 94

I was not much of a Boy Scout when I was younger but occasionally I would go with the guys in our neighborhood on some camping/scouting trips. I like the outdoors but I am more of a city guy. I can spend time outdoors but not for long times. A week is about where I hit my limit.

One of these week-long summer trips was down in Southern Utah. We were going to hike some of the canyons in the Canyonlands. For those unfamiliar with the terrain, it is extremely dry, hot and rocky. We drove down the hundreds of miles in the summer time and it was miserable. We spent about eight-nine hours cramped in this family van and the air conditioner was going out. But we finally made it.

(This is not the actual cave but it shows how big the mouth of the cave was.)

We were going to stay the night at Split-Rock Cave, which is exactly what it says. It is a huge rock with a split right down the middle and has a cave that goes all the way to the end. We were all tired of being cramped in the van and so a bunch of us went into the cave for shade and to stretch out. This cave was big. You could have driven the whole van into it easily.

We all walked into the cave and journeyed all the way to the end. The crevasse was a few feet wide at the beginning but by the time we got to the end, it was only a inch or so. It was nice, cool and dark at the back of the cave. A few of my friend sat down but I remained standing. We talked and one of my friends, Danny said how creepy being at the back of the cave was. As a joke I thought it would be funny to nonchalantly pick up a small stone and chuck it behind him to freak him out. I picked up a rock without anyone knowing and threw it behind him. It hit the wall and rolled to his back.

And that is when we ALL freaked out. As soon as the rock hit the wall, the wall started to spread out and move away from where the stone made its impact. Danny and my other friends that were sitting jumped up away from the wall. Everywhere we looked the walls were moving.

And in a scene ripped right out of the movie Aliens I looked up at the crack in the ceiling which was only a foot or so above my head. The sun light was creeping in so we could still see a little. In the crack was thousands of spiders all crawling over each other.


(I was going to post of pic of a bunch of spiders but that wigged me out too much!)

And we ran more like Girl Scouts than we did Boy Scouts. And we refused to stay the night in the cave even though that nest of spiders was deep in the cave. Our Scoutmasters were furious that we had to find another place to stay the night. But there was absolutely no way I was going to stay in that cave and get my face eaten off!