What a trio we were as we wearily pulled into the driveway yesterday afternoon. All of us tired, two of us sunburned, and one of us bloody. Yet I know Kris and I and I think Jennika, if she could talk, would say that the last ten days, give or take a few low moments, were wonderful memory-filled days that we wouldn’t trade.

Our adventures began  with a camping trip at Lake Powell. There we enjoyed the incredible views of the lake, paddled around in our little raft, and swam in the 80+ degree water.

Our campsite

From there we drove to my brother and sister-in-law’s house in Durango. We went rock climbing, toured the town, ate wonderful homemade pies and enjoyed some catch-up time with them. Then we packed into the car again and drove to rainy Denver, picked up my soaking wet little brother and sister (who were at an amusement park) and attended a two-day training. It was intense but such good information and my wonderful siblings volunteered to watch Jennika so I could attend.

Our next destination was Caper, Wyoming, where my parents live. We drove up Saturday night after the training ended at about 5:00. We got to their house at about 10:00. Sunday was Jennika’s first birthday. My mom had made a birthday cake and cupcakes for her since I had been on the road. We ate the Krischke traditional birthday meal, homemade chicken and noodles, and then feasted on cake. Jennika was hilarious to watch as she first cautiously and daintily ate her cupcake and then shoveled it in by the fistfuls! She had lots of presents to open and I think was more interested in the boxes and paper than the toys themselves.

We enjoyed a couple days of rest and relaxing before embarking on our final adventure:backpacking. Wednesday we drove five hours southeast to the Uinta mountains. We loaded up our packs, ranging in weight from 20-45 pounds, and we hiked about two miles into the most beautiful campsite I’ve seen. Nestled at over 11,000 feet were lakes round every corner, incredible mountains, a beautiful little valley for our tents and a little ways from that a perfect fire ring complete with logs for sitting on.  We camped there for three days, hiking during the day, exploring the area, rock climbing, fishing, some recovering from altitude sickness, and just having a great time outside. Jennika loved all the rock that she could climb and practice walking on. One morning Kris, my dad, mom, and Jennika saw a huge bull moose walk nearly through our campsite!

Cliff Lake

There is a moose in camp

Practicing walking

The climbers

Finally on the third day, tired and dirty, we reloaded our packs and began the four mile hike back to our cars(we made a big loop). About fifteen minutes into the hike Kris and Jennika took a nasty fall. Kris landed head first on a rock. I heard the fall and Jennika crying but didn’t actually see it. When I came around the corner what I did see was enough to make any wife and mother’s stomach drop. My daughter was covered in blood and screaming. Kris was standing, dazed looking, with blood covering his hands and running down his forehead into his eye. I didn’t know who to run to first, it was a terrible moment. We got them both cleaned up and inspected. Jennika, amazingly wasn’t hurt at all, just very scared. The blood all over her was Kris’s.  We’re still not sure how she escaped injury as she was attached to Kris’s front, God was protecting her. Kris got a nasty gash above his left eyebrow and was scraped up on his nose, lip, arms and legs. The rest of us were pretty shaken and so thankful that it wasn’t worse. We slowly finished the hike out, keeping a close eye on our injured leader, and I think we all breathed a sigh of relief when we got back to the cars.

A beat up Kris

Six stitches

 So that was our last two weeks! We’re happy to be back home, but oh so thankful for the fun trip, wonderful family, and God’s protection.

Last weekend my two sisters, Jillian and Olivia, decided on a bit of a whim, to come down for a brief visit. I think I’m still living in the glow of that wonderful visit.

Being the oldest girl in the family, I think I often felt I had to be more mom or bossy big sister than friend or playmate. Jillian is severalyears younger than me and, growing up, was more of a tag-along than a playmate. She drove me crazy copying everything I did, even the unique way I wrote my a’s (sorry Jillian, I really am over it but I couldn’t resist!) and wearing my clothes. At the time the one upside I found to my shadow was that she was incredibly gullable and would do whatever I told her, so I would let her follow me around…but only if she’d let me paint a “J” on her back in bright red nail polish. She also claims that I told her they wouldn’t let her into kindergarten if she didn’t know how to do a cartwheel and handstand. So I kindly offered to teach her. She recalls flipping and falling all evening out in our yard, desperate to get it right so that she would be allowed to go to school. I, however, don’t have any memory of this.

When I moved to Wyoming I had no friends, everybody my age seemed to have just two hobbies: working and getting drunk. Jillian quickly became my best friend. With Jillian I found that I can ALWAY just be myself and know that she will laugh with me, play along with me, love me, and treat me honestly. After I moved back to Oregon she came out twice to stay with me, once while I was dating Kris and then planning a wedding. Some of my best memories are of those visits.

Then, there’s Olivia. She was, and still is, the exception in our family. While all the rest of us fit in as redheads, her beautiful blonde hair stands out. She’s tall, slender, opinionated, hilarious once you get her laughing, and oh so talented in the arts. With Olivia anything is possible once she sets her mind to it and she is by far the most stubborn and determined of all the Krischkes (and that’s QUITE a statement).

I was a teenager when she was born and saw her as my adorable baby sister. I loved to hold her, dress her up in cute outfits, and play with her beautiful curls when she was a toddler. She was the topic of one of my speeches in high school (how much toddlers learn and assimilate every day) and even made a guest appearance in my speech class. I loved showing her off to my friends and flaunting my great responsibility as an older sister. 

As the years progressed Olivia and I grew apart rather than together. Not because we didn’t get along, just because we were in such different places in life. She was in Wyoming, I was in Oregon. She was going to middle school, I was getting married. We had little in common and little to talk about. One year, when she was in high school, she spent a part of her summer with me. I wanted to be the cool older sister but I realized that I knew little about my sister and the person she had become. I struggled to relate to her and I thing that she felt the same way.

Now we’re all “adults” and though we’re still in different phases of life, it doesn’t seem to be that big of an issue. Jillian’s married, Olivia is graduating soon and starting to think about post-high school. She has two jobs and is so much more responsible and mature than I was at her age. So this short little visit from my two sisters was just heavenly. There were no pretenses, no posing, no awkward moments, no manipulations, no wondering what does she actually mean by that, no feeling like somebody was left out, and no big sister/little sister roles, we were just us-together. We laughed, did each others hair and make-up, traded clothes, laughed a LOT more, went shopping, played Marco Polo in the pool, cooked, gave each other more nicknames, rollerbladed, hiked, mothered Jennika, and just enjoyed being together. It blessed me beyond words that they made the 6 hour drive down to see me, that they like coming to visit, and that we all get along so well. It blessed me to know I could just relax and be myself and know that we all were completely content.

I can honestly say that though I have many wonderful friends, there’s no friendship that even comes close to that of my sweet and wonderful sisters. I am so, so blessed to be related to such incredible women! I so look forward to many many more years of sweet unity with them.

So my sweet sisters, all I can say is thank you. Thank you not just for this visit but for letting me be myself and for letting me see the real you. Thank you for putting up with all my crazy ideas and bossiness throughout the years. Thank you for being my friends, my best friends. I love you!~Cupcake Burtle Nikki