After Aaron and I got home from our honeymoon in 2002, we enjoyed spending so much time together. In that first month after we got married, we went on our honeymoon, then we had these adventures...
Aaron took me on my first mountain bike experience ever. He took me to Moab to ride on the practice loop of Slick Rock Trail. It was so much fun.
Anyone who knows Aaron will have a good laugh about this photo. Here we are in our 1993 Lexus ES300 on our way up Lions Back down in Moab. Truck or car, Aaron was going to test the power of any vehicle and have his adventure. We didn't make it any further, but Aaron HAD to take a photo. Aaron was always searching for a hill or a mound of dirt or something to drive over to test the power of his vehicles... even in the middle of town. :)
The top two photos are where we camped. It was so great.
At the end of our bike ride, we took a dip in a little river. Of course, Aaron found some critters to pick up and play with. Here he is with a little crawdad, or crayfish... whatever they are called.
Aaron lost his watch at the bottom of that waterfall when he went in there. He dove down in and found it. Miracle.
A few days later, Aaron's sister was in the hospital getting ready to have her first baby. This was going to be the first grandchild on their side of the family. So, we went up to the hospital to wait for the baby to be born. Aaron was SO excited. Here are Aaron and me with Sadie and Nick's baby, Grace.
One great story about this night:
I had always wanted to have kids right away when I got married. But Aaron had wanted to wait for a little bit just to get the hang of life after getting married and stuff. Well, Grace was born nearly 4 weeks after we got married. That night when we got home from the hospital, Aaron told me that he was ready to start trying. I was so excited. I was always grateful that we were there when Grace was born to get Aaron excited to start trying to have a baby. That started our few years of trying. That is another story...
Here are two more of Aaron's Ford trucks. He sold the one on the right when we first got married (it was his pride and joy). He sold the one on the left just a few months before he passed away. Part of me wishes he still had one of those. He had talked about restoring an old Ford truck with Aaron Jr. when he got older.
The other photos here are of Aaron and his friend Dan. They went for an afternoon ride one day after school. I think it was up Provo Canyon. Of course Aaron found some water to jump into... no matter how cold it might have been.
That next weekend, we went camping with a couple of Aaron's friends up at Mirror Lake. It was GORGEOUS. There was still snow on the ground, but it was amazing and fun.
Aaron and Leslie
Aaron and Leslie
Kaily, Rob, Austin, Leslie, Aaron
Aaron and Leslie
Did I mention that Aaron always loves to jump into ANY body of water that was around, no matter how cold it was? Yep, they jumped in... but not for long.
After everyone else left, Aaron and I went mountain biking around the lake. It was so beautiful and we had such a great time.
Leslie and Aaron
Aaron is packing all of our camping gear out on his bike to take to the car. What a man. :)
I love you, Aaron...
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14 comments:
leslie, i cracked up when i got to the photo of the lexus going up the hill... i have a recurring dream (actually kind of a nightmare, ha) that i am driving up a barren hill like that and my seat slides back where i can hardly see anything but sky and can barely reach the gas pedal... (i know waaaaaaaaay off subject and too much information about nothing;).
i know you do miss your adventures with aaron... gosh, i miss them for you!!!
love,
dani
Being with Aaron was always an adventure... he knew how to make things thrilling, that's for sure. Missing him with you. Lots of love.
ok that picture of you in front of the lake is so beautiful! you, not the lake! those are some great memories~ hope to see you sometime soon! Erin
You have an incredible array of photos. I am just amazed at how many and the wonderful adventures you and Aaron had.
Prayers your way!
Rita
Looking at the last picture of him made me laugh. I think that it is the duffle bags all over :) I am glad that you have all of these pictures of you two and have as many memories as you do. I hope that you are feeling better every day. I can not even imagine!!!
Have a good day.
Jenny
What an adventurous couple you were! I love the pics.
As I was reading this post, I kept thinking how wonderful it was that you have such neat memories together! A lot of couples wouldn't have such adventures together to look back on. I'm glad you did such neat things! Love you!
I am laughing at many of these pictures, but the last one caught me totally off guard! What great times you had with Aaron!
Its so great you have so many pictures of you together. How wonderful to have them for memories. You are continually in my prayers. Also, Austin I think may be in our ward...looks familiar. Small world!
How fun to see those pictures. I love that we married in to a family that just loves the outdoors and adventures so much. The picture of the lexus going up Lions Back is hilarious yet so typical. Steve often tells the story of when he drove his parents old cadillac up it long ago. Funny.
Those carefree days eh. Looks like a lot of fun. YOu guys did fun things a lot. I have seen a lot of those pictures before but didn't know what they are from. Now I know. We miss you guys.
Sister Higginson!
I came by your blog via the mission website. I didn't know about your husband, and after reading some of your blog, my heart aches. YOu have such a beautiful way of telling of your experiences, that it makes me put my life in perspective and think of my loved ones and want to hold them just a little tighter.
I was thinking about our mission recently (because it was 11 years ago that I went out) and I think it really was the time in my life where I got to learn about the gospel and how it made sense of life and how I was to apply it in my own little life. I hope you've been able to draw some kind of small comfort from the things we learned during that short 18 months.
You and your handsome son will be in my thoughts and prayers.
Claire (Sister Gardiner)
Hi Leslie,
I was on Sasha's blog again and wanted to see how you are doing. I love how you are creating such a collection, the first thing I thought of when I saw your latest post was how much you have to give to your son. He will know his father so well through you and others who knew him. My dad likes to say, "Bless your heart." I like it too, so may your heart be blessed, Leslie.
Emily (Jex) Boyle
Yes it is hard to go to sleep without them.
Our losses are different but I feel connected with you even though I hardly know you. For you, your husband and for me, my child. Last month, we went to a high school production of "Fantastiks", one of the longest running hits on Broadway. One of the lines in its last song stuck with me, "Without a hurt, the heart is hollow." I feel that ever since our life was turned "upside down", I see my life clearer now than before. I celebrate anything that lives and enriches the world around it. I grew a garden this summer (though it wasn't a great sunny summer here in AK unfortunately) and my heart was happy to see LIFE. I look forward to life everlasting. I am also thankful for the knowledge that while it is a "loss" in our terms, their lives go on and they are doing great things right now, today.
Take care,
Em
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