Wednesday, April 22, 2009

I Conquered Molly's Mountain ... So Can You!

So last night the youth hiked Molly's Mountain for our combined activity. It was a total blast! It is a mountain to the right of Hurricane that kind of overlooks the valley, and getting there was quite an adventure in 4-wheel drive. I was pretty terrified of some of the cliffs we were teetering over (seemed like teetering to me). I was brave, though, for the little ones (also so that they would not learn of this weakness of mine and harass the heck out of me)! My big brother Jon works with the teachers, so he was there, too. I had a great time with him. Jon sort of has a reputation for being both very funny and slightly inappropriate -- the kids love him. The pictures below don't show the total affect -- we drove up the mountain (not a mountain in the Northern Utah sense of the word, but a mountain in the Southern Utah sense of the word) to this point and then hiked to the top. The scenery was amazing and beautiful! After the hike we had them write their testimonies and seal them in an envelope. We then put them in an airtight container and buried them in a little cave! We will go back next year to read them and see how they have grown and changed. Hopefully it will be a fun tradition.

This is our group. We hiked up to the very top from here, and then had a hot dog roast. It was fun, especially since I had a chair. I LOVE my calling. We were gone almost four hours and it just didn't seem long enough, I love to spend time with the youth. They are too amazing, and also so dang hilarious. My carload was talking a little too much about bodily functions, so I assigned one of them to be the moral compass and point north. He stuck his arm out the window to point north. By the end of the night we decided that's how people would know the valiant youth of the Hurricane 14th ward as moral and compass-like. We will always have a finger pointing north (literally). I quizzed them on the way home. They can point north very quickly! Too hilarious (for me, at least). At one point the young man I had appointed as head compass told me something that happened at school and then was like "Sister Burdette, it was very un-moral and full of immortality." How true. Very un-moral and full of immortality, indeed.


Jon and I at the top! I know what you're thinking: "My, he's a handsome devil," and also -- "Wow, look at Marie's awesome shirt!!" It says "Rock, Paper, Scissors Champion." It is a prized and coveted possession.

Wow, what a view! In the far distance is Zion. I love how you can see the rough but beautiful look of Southern Utah. I love it here -- it is home!


You could see both lakes, the sand dunes that go forever and St. George, Kolob, Zion, and the beautiful mesa's surrounding the area. This is a shot of the Hurricane Valley -- there's my house! -- green with so many trees. This is also as close as I dared get to the edge (hey, ten feet is ten feet). I was getting pretty darn nervous about the crazy kids who jump around so close to the drop off! Dang kids. I just kept a strong prayer in my heart and kept warning "Don't make me have to explain this to your mother!"


I like this picture of me and my big brother -- he's a total studmuffin. (Thanks, Jon, for not letting me fall down the mountain. You're the best.) That's Sand Hollow (his work place) and St. George behind us. It was a beautiful and peaceful sunset. Sigh. It really was such a blast.
And now, after thirteen years of looking at it, I can finally say that I have conquered Molly's Mountain. It was WAY out of the two foot comfort zone of Marie Allred Burdette. I'm not letting crazy fears stop me anymore! Go, team!



8 comments:

Tina Williams said...

Marie - you are adorable. Glad you made it to the top. I must say though that I think the original name for Molly's mountain might actually be more descriptive and appropriate for the hill . . . Come up, let's climb Nebo this summer!

Tara said...

Congrats on overcoming your fears. I myself have some issues with heights. I'm generally pretty good at hididng my fear but on my honeymoon Tim took me to the top of Wineapiccu (I don't know if I spelled that right) It's by machupiccu. I was at the top crying because I was so petrified. There were two different ways to go and I was having a hard time breathing so Tim went ahead since we were on a time restraint I didn't know if I could make it. Well we ended up going up different directions and I was trying to compose myself before going any further to find him but he found me first. I was a little embarrassed at my weakness but it's kind of hard to hide the fear of heights when you have just climbed up a very steep section and it drops straight off who knows how far down. I survived though! Tim decided not to take me to places like that anymore though!! :)

The Farnsworths said...

Yea for Marie, you conquered Mollys Nipple! That's so awesome. I've always wanted to hike to the top of Mollys Nipple but haven't found the time yet which is funny because I can see the darn nipple from my bedroom window so why don't I just go some saturday? I really should. I'm glad the youth had fun hiking Mollys nipple. It just makes me want to shout, Mollys Nipple, Mollys Nipple, Mollys Nipple, hooray!!

Ducksoup said...

way to go reeser. and finally a picture of you on your blog. i was thankful for the closeups of you and jon. i did spot you in the group photo but couldn't see you that well :). always good to see a good picture of my fc! you look fabulous by the way! sounds like you had fun with the youth. you must be the coolest yw pres ever. seriously, can i go back to yw's and move into your ward. i would love it. what a cool idea to bury their testimonies in the rock. what about the people that didn't make it though? maybe you can get them to write them on sunday and then just keep track of them for a year and take them with yah? or maybe you are just so cool they all came! so you rock reeser. i'm glad you liked your litte gift. we tried it in sacrament and it wasn't quite as successful as i thought. don't tell my mom - - i'm going to wait tell it works awesome and than share the news ;). maybe in a year or two or five... hmmm. love you FC!

Kyle & Alicia said...

YAY!! You hiked Molly's Mountain! Way to go girl! I have to thank you for re-naming it. I almost died when i first heard the name of the mountain (I personally think who ever came up with that name -probably a man- has no tact and i think it's a little creepy). anyway i cringe everytime. Thank you for not making me cringe the whole story!

Tink said...

Hale the conquering hero!! Way to go!

Tamari said...

What an accomplishment! Way to go! I love how you love the youth, they need that in their lives. You are awesome! :)

katie said...

Congradulations on making it to the top!! I love the new name by the way!