i have fifty friends

once upon a time labor day four years ago, my mom, mallory, and i started a tradition of hiking the Y. 

you're supposed to do some grueling form of labor on labor day... right? hiking the y was perfect!

each year for three years we returned up to the celebratory letter on the side of the mountain, and each year the hike seemed harder than the year before... 

enjoy these awkward shots..

 please enjoy how the group has grown each year!

though my mother was not around this past labor day, we kept the tradition going. 

(mostly thanks to mallory who convinced andrew to go for his training for next year's family triathlon)

this hike up to the Y marked year number 4 for me mal. 

 it is, as always, a time of great contemplation.

 glad to have this guy by my side!

 due to her inability to participate on labor day, my mom insisted we hike it while the fam was in town for the #tallberrywedding. jenn insisted we do it at night instead of at 6am the morning of the wedding. i insisted my mom get some glow sticks, just because glow sticks are cool. 

 while i was inviting some of jenn's friends to come, they insisted they didn't want to crash a "family thing". i then insisted that i had invited tons of friends and it was going to be a party. my mom insisted that i told her she needed to get extra glow sticks because i invited "like fifty of my friends".

let's just say not all "fifty" of my friends showed up... 

though my fifty buds didn't make it, it still made for a really good joke for the rest of the night, and we all got at least four glow sticks.

 win-win right?

 the glow sticks were a hit.

the friends who did make it were so fun!

 we all felt exhausted after hiking the Y twice in one month... 

 this guy came. we matched yet again.

 much wildlife was worn. and many howls were howled.

 anj made his glow sticks into horns..

 and in the end all fifty of my friends showed up... they were just late. woops!

okay, just kidding, those were all just random kids. 

despite the lack of "my friends", we all still had a blast.

thanks to all those friends who did make it, hiking the y will always be one of my favorite memories.