Mountain of Defeat...NO LONGER! :') (Pictures, pictures, & more pictures)

I forgot to mention past few days about what I did on Saturday 10-15-11. I went to Mt. Charleston, to hike a little with my husband and my 2 boys. Whats the big deal? Well since way before I had my oldest  almost 4 years ago. I would say maybe 6ish years ago...shortly after I married my husband, I went to this same exact area to hike the same EXACT thing and almost died JUST climbing the STAIRS to get UP TO where you START to hike. Once I made it up the stairs (with my heart in my head cause it was working so hard) I made it maybe 15-20 feet tops up, and could not do it. Not that I gave up but I gave in to the truth. I seriously could NOT do it. If I tried I would end up in hospital..no joke. So we drove all that way (about 60 miles) just to get back in the car with defeat. It was a sad day. I was sad, at the idea that I could not even do that.

Well I have wanted to go back to that mountain, that place ever since. I have thought about it FREQUENTLY since starting my weight loss journey on 9-10-07. Always wanting to go back and conquer this beast. Back of my mind though I was afraid..of once again being defeated. Did not stop me though from wanting to go and TRY. Heck succeed. At least in my mind I thought I could.

This is me driving there...

This is the lovely mountains around me...

Now this is the "dreaded" stairs. Back in 2005 ..the ones that nearly gave me a heart attack but today 2011 I was able to RUN up them. Just to run down them and up them AGAIN because we forgot my boys jackets in the car and I wanted to hurry back and start conquering it. :')

This is as far as I got in 2005...

The stairs are just BEFORE where this picture starts..I made it to MAYBE the last tree you can see by the wood rail thing...these pictures do the mountain no justice. They do not show the steepness AT ALL.

Here is a picture of myself and my blessings..

and my other blessing with our boys...

Now my husband and I (which let me include he was never able to conquer this mountain either in 2005)....

I kept climbing WWAAYY past where I was never able to and noticed (even stated out loud to Shawn) I am not even affected by this! My heart was not racing, it was a breeze!!! No idea how that made me feel...NO IDEA!

Here I am again...ON THE MOUNTAIN OF DEFEAT ;)

My boys, as well as my boys and I taking a sit so they can relax for a second...

This next picture is of me climbing with my oldest towards a little water fall. Excuse the face...this area had alot of climbing over limbs and loose rocks, as well as water, AND I am TERRIFIED of heights!!! (LOVE roller coasters but terrified of heights) and I happened to look DOWN what we had climbed. Ugh...

The little water fall...

Yes it looks "crappy" but it was beautiful and peaceful. Like you would not believe. I SWEAR I am a country girl at heart. This is where I belong...in natural beautiful areas with just birds and the hearing of wind in the middle of nowhere in a VERY small town. ::sigh::

Going down?....This is what we had to climb UP to get to water fall and climb DOWN to give me a heart attack lol I mean to get back down ;)

A few last pictures of myself, and myself and my boys walking down the mountain. I had a huge grip on them :)...

Not once did I think about me....all I kept worrying about were getting my boys down safely. I had 50 heart attacks while hiking. I kept freaking because they would walk one step to the right and this stuff was steep and no rails and a huge deathly fall. It was a mother's worse nightmare. Sure did give my heart a workout. JUST the worrying I mean. haha They made me nervous. :) Joys of being a mother! Love it! Izick mentioned ONE time he was scared and even though I was too I told him there was nothing to be scared of and mommy has him. I find it amazing that I can be scared so badly yet to not have my son be scared I will not show it. I will just make sure I protect THEM.


I conquered that ugly mountain from 2005 that became such a beautiful mountain in 2011. No words what so ever can describe how it feels. To be defeated one moment...just to go and conquer it so many years later. I was determined...one day I would conquer it!


That day was 10-15-11. A day I will always remember. I took a small part of my life back that day, that the mountain had from me. It was just holding it for me that's all. Waiting for me to come reclaim it.


We plan on going again to conquer other parts of it. There is soooo many more ways to hike up there. I will take my boys again but plan on going with just my hubby and I at least ONCE to really hike freely. I like the family time though so who knows. Just with them being so little it's hard.


One last picture..Gavin (my youngest) FELL down the stairs as we were leaving. The last 10 steps....

He was alright though. He was a trooper.

We ALL were troopers!