Swingin' Beauty

 My swingin' beauty. I couldn't help but post these pictures from a few weeks ago. We like to have lots of fun together, every day. We always try to do something new. @ Juniper Hills Park

 Can't get enough of them pictures!
Almost 11 months here on October 20th before it got really cold...

 In a couple weeks from here she is walking. I love this girl so much!

She's got a special spirit. A lovable one. She's a magnet. You can't not love her and want to squeeze her.

1st Time Meeting Santa

The one photo I got! There will be more when the photographer puts them up on his site.
She was more curious and interested than scared. She didn't seemed bothered at all. She especially loved the candy cane they gave her. :D

Walking!

Isabel has been taking more than 3 or 4 steps in a row these past couple days (last 2 days). Today she really walked a lot and from much longer distances. It took me by complete surprise.

Natural Bridge & Red River Gorge Campout

Tuesday of this week I decided to take Josh on a little adventure for his "birthday week". It was very last minute, but it was all worth it.

The weather couldn't have been more perfect. Although the leaves have been falling, and a lot of the thick brush is dead already it was actually in the mid 70's and slightly humid. Not bad for a November day. 

We've been wanting to go camping for a while. We are working on our self-reliance and learning how to live "off the grid". On top of that I have always loved hiking, and have always wanted to go backpacking. It is good for my soul for me to get away (far far away) from society, electricity and just leave it all behind. It re-energizes my batteries.

So I decided on Red River Gorge. I wasn't sure where we would go hiking. And I thought I knew where we'd go camping. So when we got there we spent a lot of time just looking for a good campground... and the one I thought was good from my quick research turned out to be a dud, a camp ground on someone's private property out in Stanton. Red River Gorge Campsite or something like that. (Note to self). The owner wasn't even home. So we left.

We went toward Natural Bridge because it was a place I knew well, and figured we could find some campsite near there. We stopped at the rest area and Josh picked up a few brochures that gave us some ideas where else to look for a campground. I saw a "Koomer Ridge Campsite" that looked promising. First we went to Natural Bridge though to get all our wiggles out. 

Cool bridge you walk over to get to the head of the trail.

I was so tired of sitting in a car. I just had to get out and do something. I guess that is what I get for planning last minute.

The hike up to the bridge is only 3/4 of a mile. But it is all up hill so it was a workout.

Tall trees that were full of color. Made me feel pretty small, too.

Almost there.

Barely fit into Fat Man's Squeeze!

Somewhere at the top of the bridge.

We

At the top, striking a pose. :D And below the "Good thing my Mom's not here" pose.

We went around to another ledge - towards Lovers Leap. That overlook was actually much more breathtaking than even the bridge was.

We didn't ride up this. But  the scenery was breath taking. Camera never does a view justice.

Josh told me he would lift me up so we could take a picture like this. I could barely hold on for one picture!

Trying to pose in front of another breathtaking view.

Best view of the bridge.

We are ferocious!

Dorky :D

5th amazing view.

Lover's Leap. Someone carved a face into the mountain.

THIS was neat. Josh kept saying we should climb it and see how long it takes for someone to notice.

Being this high up reminded me of Idaho a little.

So jumping to something new - we drove to Koomer Ridge after stopping at a shell station to get directions. (Our cell phone didn't work out there). It cost us $10, and it was paved but nestled into the woods. There were a few people around us but we were more secluded. It was like 6 PM when we got there. With daylight savings time it was already dark. Didn't give us much prep time to prepare for the night, and we didn't have much light so we left the car on while we gathered tree branches and used our hand chain-saw to saw a few branches. Josh taught me how to start a fire 3 different ways. Very boy-scoutish. The tree was still green so it was pretty hard to cut all the branches from it.

Anyways, the fun part of the evening - our fire cooked homemade meal. Potatoes, onions, chili, and liquid smoke, chili powder, salt, pepper, and parmesean cheese (leftover from Little Ceasors) Haha. I didn't think it would taste very good. But it turned out amazing! Everything tasted perfect.

Josh was exhausted because he had to wake up at 4:30AM that morning to set up booths for polling (election day for KY Governor was today - Rep. Matt Bevin won). So he was out of it. I was just getting a little afraid of having to turn out the lights and to call it "a night". Because I knew that would mean him falling asleep and me stuck awake having to listen to every little crack and crunch. It was too early for me to fall asleep. So we were about ready to go home (Josh was saying he didn't really want to stay if I was going to wake him up with everything I heard.)

I think I just needed to calm down and needed his support in helping me to overcome my fears.
There could be animals out there. Black Bears. Cyotes. That really isn't what scared me. I guess it is just the unknown that does it for me. To hear something walking around out side puts me in panic mode. Is it a animal, human, ghost, bigfoot? Haha.

Josh told me a story before bed. He tells the best stories fyi. Helped me get my mind off of irrational fears. Then as he slept I read my scriptures. I heard a few things. The leaves were falling like rain. I think it did actually rain later and the wind started blowing. It was then I thought for sure I heard something walking through the forest, but it was nothing. That happened maybe 2 times. Josh said he was actually surprised I didn't freak out more. So that is a start.

I had an image in my mind at one point when I was afraid of a man and an older lady - who I am guessing were angels or ancestors. This is weird for me to say, because I don't get these experiences often, but I felt like they really were there to protect and calm my fears. I really did feel calm after seeing these images in my mind. I was able to finally fall asleep.
I wonder if it was all my imagination. But lately I have been trying to have more of an open mind in order to receive more spiritual experiences like this. Usually I just write them off as "my imagination" and so maybe that is why I never have any. So that was special.

Next morning. We woke up and got ready, put everything away after eating a breakfast of oatmeal. Found a map of the entire Red River Gorge area in the campsite and it has every single trail on the map. We got excited finding out that we are aloud to camp on the trail (for future reference) and that we can take a couple day hike out here in Daniel Boone National forest. We decided to stick to the trails that were near our camp. Well actually right where we camped.

This one was Silver mine Ridge

This is the "silvermine bridge" It is actually like a semi-cave. You could feel cool air coming out of it. It was really unexpected. It was really neat though!!

Tree that was literally on top of us. Looked neat.

It was a short hike. But we wanted to get home to see our baby girl. 

Aunt Hannah was watching her this day. She deserves to win some kind of award. She is the best auntie ever. 

We had so much fun though. We learned a lot on our campout too. Things we need. Like a oven mitt when camping so we don't burn our hands. Haha! Good thing we brought a first aid kit along. I endured through my fears. Went camping for the first time in like 3 years (sad!) And ignited our passion for the outdoors, and helped us understand our need for learning basic survival skills.