10 Year Goal Achieved on the 39th Trip Around the Sun

If you know me, you will know that my favorite hike of all time is where I spread my mom's ashes.  I do it once a year (skipping some here and there) and go and say hi to her.  Sometimes we just go to where her ashes were, sometimes we hike to the top.  Since both of the kids were born my goal was to hike to the top of the mountain with them and take a picture.  Since Xander is 10 and Sienna is 7 I thought this would be our year.  The only thing I wanted was to reach the top and have a family picture.

My family was kind enough to get up at 5:30am and entertain this goal of mine.  To all of their credit, they got up without a fight and we hit the road at 6:30am.  I'm not sure that we really had to get up that early, but being blessed with the Labor Day birthday, getting to the mountains can be a nightmare, so the early bird gets the worm I suppose?

Here's our little adventure if you care to read on.

As the sun came up, I knew it was red as a direct nod to my inner Star Wars geek.

When we started up and it was cold. You could tell because Sienna said (whined) "It's cold. I'm cold. This is dumb. It's cold. I'm cold."

This was the coolest unexpected birthday gift. 2 years ago Jace gathered a bunch of rocks into a heart to mark where we spread her ashes. I doubted that it was there, I figured it would have been washed away, but low and behold....thanks universe for this gift.

It's a cool place to hang for eternity.

Everyone is so pumped to be here and there is determination. Mad props to Jace who is my ultimate teammate getting everyone up the mountains.

Finally, the sun came out and Sienna couldn't have been happier because in case you hadn't heard her for the last 40 minutes, it's cold.

Mom, look, I can almost touch the sunlight!!

A little sun, and life is good.

Full warmth.

Last bit of wildflowers hanging on.

As we climbed higher, Xander was pretty excited about the epic view. From here the next picture will be of the summit. Full disclosure, I did not take pictures of the tears and meltdowns from Sienna. Jace and I had to take turns piggy backing her. At this point, we were close enough to the top but it was going to be an act of love to get us all there. I am a really lucky girl to have a husband that is willing to go to such extremes to get a family picture on the summit.

And the holy grail. The family picture with views at 12,500 feet. We did it, as a team we made it to the top and I am so proud of everyone.

Really happy she is here. So happy. Such a genuine little smile. The joy is just pouring out of her.

This turkey not only made it, but was kind enough to try and encourage his little sister up the mountain. On top of it, he let me take his picture. He's pretty awesome, I'm not going to lie.

The thing about birthdays, is people chip and do the thing they might not like to do for the birthday girl, like when I say, "Hey, get together for a picture." They actually do.

A very nice lady noticed my camera and offered to take another family photo. It was a really good birthday. I'm feeling real lucky.

Xander and Sienna each took a rock from the top of the mountain and carried it all the way down to add to the heart. Although they never met their grandma, they always say, "Hi Grandma! We love you." I bawl each and every time.

My peeps.

Ya, the top of the ridge. We just did that.