Vacation-Time

The annual Cooper family vacation has come and gone. I can't believe it is already over! I looked forward to it all summer! We had so much fun while up in Jackson Hole! We went hiking and swimming and just had a blast. Everyone got along really well, which was a relief. There weren't any major accidents or problems and everyone I believe had fun. Here I am blogging at 2:30 a.m. because I can't sleep, I just wish I could sleep right now over anything else. Anyways, it was so relaxing up there, my favorite part had to be sleeping in the tent at night and hearing the wind blowing through the trees and the sound of the Gros Ventre river rushing nearby. Maybe I can't sleep because all I am hearing now is the sound of the fan blowing instead of those other sounds. I really enjoyed visiting with all of my family and hearing good stories from my Grandpa Clark. I get to see my brothers and sisters quite often, but I really felt like I got back in touch with them more being around them for 4 days. There was time to sit down with each of them and ask them how they are doing and what is new in their life. Sometimes it isn't really easy to learn those things just visiting on Sunday evenings with all of the neices and nephews running about.


I think I got heat stroke on the hike to Moose Ponds by Jenny Lake. That was the only downer of the vacation for me. The hike was supossed to be about 2.6 miles, but I think it ended up being more than that. It was a really sunny hot day and we stared hiking around 11 am. For Chase and myself we had filled a 32 ounce bottle with water and another 16 ounce bottle with water. I drink a lot of water while I hike or do any other physical activity and so needless to say by the time we had reached the moose ponds or a little after that, our water was down to about 4 ounces. Chase probably only drank about 8 ounces himself and I had guzzled the rest. On the way back, we took a different trail thinking it would get us closer to the car quicker ( I am not so sure about that now) and easier. For most of the hike it was surrounded by trees so there was much shade and was cooler. This other trail coming back was not in the trees at all and basically it was a field full of sagebrush and no cover. About half-way through this hellish field of brush I began to feel dizzy and faint. I stopped sweating and felt really cold. I told Chase that I was dizzy and he either didn't hear me, or thought I was just a wimp and complaining. So I just keep trudging on and things got even worse. By the time we were almost there I told Chase again and my sweet sister Denise noticed I was lagging behind and came to see what was the matter. She took one look at me and said that I should probably stop and they could come and pick me up in the car. I never had felt the way I did then. I wanted to die---I was so exhausted and thirsty and cold eventhough it was 80 degrees out. Chase and I sat and waited for my family to pick me up. Everyone was really concerned about me. While we waited, my brother-in-law happened to have some Snapple Juice and he gave it to me and told me to drink it all. I think this really saved me because I was not only dehydrated, but my blood sugar level was really low. I get really sick if I don't eat for a long period of time and I think it is because my blood sugar level gets too low for me. Anyways, my brother-in-law Brigham is in school now to become a doctor and he certainly displayed his knowledge and concern for me by giving me the drink and telling me to sit in the shade. He was the hero for the day. Thank goodness he was around when this was happening.

As for other news in the family, on Friday while everyone was up in Jackson minus my brother Darren, and his wife Ericka who was pregnant, had their baby at 5:25 a.m. From what I hear everyone is alright and though I am yet to see this little bundle of joy, I hear he is quite cute. They are naming him Casen Stewart Cooper. He weighed 8 lbs. 12 oz. and was 21 inches long. He has black hair and blue eyes. We can't wait to see him. They brought him home from the hospital on Sunday and although we are dying to see him, wanted to give Ericka and Darren some time to settle down at their home before going to see the little baby. But I think we will go and see him after work tonight.

It is now 3 a.m. so I am going to try and get some sleep again. We'll see if I can actually sleep or not. Hopefully I can get some pictures posted of the vacation soon.