As we drove past the national park paying place Elle noted that they had actual t-shirts for sale that said “I conquered Flat Iron,” which she claimed meant we were in for some trouble. Ha!
The light was so gorgeous that morning.
You can’t totally tell from these pics from my iPhone but we were pretty much scaling big boulders a bunch of the time.
See Claire below?
Almost there:
It was SO windy and chilly up there but we found a little spot protected from the wind behind a boulder to have our lunch we packed up the mountain.
(Licorice birthday treat)
And then, when we couldn’t handle the wind and cold any more we headed down…perhaps a little more precarious than the uphill battle.
I love hiking because everyone you pass is so darn friendly.
We ran across one family hiking that thing with SIX kids, youngest was four. Yowzas. I have since met her at my gym and I’m so glad…small world.
See that thing behind those cute girls below? Yeah, we were on top of that sucker.
We live in a gorgeous world.
If I had time I would use photoshop to draw a little tiny arrow to show you where we were on that pic above. See that part jutting out right smack-dab in the middle? We were there.
All the while we were soaking in that gorgeousness, Lucy was having the time of her life with Nana.
Oh man, love that woman (and that girl too).
When we got home our neighbors had been busy with our door:
We had our own little birthday cake (max joined us via facetime).
And Dave took me out to dinner with some friends we love and took goofy pictures with me after.
We didn’t get the kid pic. til the next day.
My friends and sisters-in-law took me out for a couple birthday lunches too. I’m one lucky girl.
Birthdays aren’t so bad when you’re surrounded by people you love and nature that reminds you of God’s love for you.
So grateful.
Happy belated birthday! It's great to use the birthday excuse to do things we like! 😉
What a lovely birthday!
What beautiful pictures of that hike you went on! Glad it was a great birthday for you. Also, I just want to say thank you for being such a positive role model.
Glad you had a happy birthday!
I thought you might like to hear of people who struggled with night blindness for years and took lots of Vitamin A and D supplements with no luck, but then started taking fermented cod liver oil and eating butter and they have been free of night blindness for thirteen years.
http://www.thehealthyhomeeconomist.com/resolving-night-blindness-naturally/#more-20598
Oops. Forgot to mention (above) that the brand of cod liver oil and butter oil the people that conquered night blindness use is Green Pastures.
What an awesome hike and an incredible birthday present. Happy belated birthday!
happy late birthday!
We live in Phoenix and also love that hike! It's a hefty one but so worth it! Happy Birthday!!! 😀
Happy Birthday! What a Super Celebration! Thank you for all sharing all your cool adventures! Really is a blast to read!
Happy Birthday Shawni! Hope you had a wonderful day! (I am going to have to look up that Flatiron Rock and where it is. I used to live in Phoenix and I have never heard of it. In the Superstition mountains maybe?)
Wait…you heal lepers? What????
Happy Birthday!!!!
Your second to last sentence – that's what I told my husband today…
The nature looks fantastic – such a beautiful hike!
That hike looks amazing. Sounds like a fantastic birthday!
Happy Birthday!!!! What an amazing hike!
Happy Birthday Shawni!! P.S. Elle should seriously model! That girl is gorgeous!!
You hardly even mentioned this when we were together although Claire showed me the tippy toppy peak where you were in one of phone pictures. This is pretty darn amazing! Congrats to every one!
Thanks