Canyoneering in Zion

 Nothing is better than a little getaway with my hubby. We spent 3 perfect days in Zion National Park celebrating our 15th wedding anniversary. It was a trip we had been looking forward to for months. Mike had found a WONDERFUL bed and breakfast online for us to stay in. It was right next to the entrance to the park, the room was beautiful, modern, and comfortable, and the breakfast each morning was to die for.

 Our first adventure was hiking up to the top of Angel's Landing. We had done this hike years ago, before we had kids, and have been wanting to go back for a long time. There is no way we would take our kids on this hike, since one of them would probably push their brother off, so it was fun to do it just us.

 After a very steep hike up, the view from the top is spectacular.

 Our next adventure was walking through the Narrows a little bit. I had brought water shoes and Mike had his Tevas, but we would have been able to go a lot farther if I would have had better shoes. You walk on bowling ball size boulders the whole time and after a while my feet were killing me. It was pretty though.

 But our grandest adventure was our day long Canyoneering experience! We used "Zion Adventure Company" and got a guide to take us to one of the coolest repelling canyons ever. We hiked up a canyon quite a way and then got to do 7 different repels to get back down. It was AMAZING! Who knew that backing of a cliff would be so fun!

 We did all sorts of repels off different size cliffs. The longest was 110 ft down. I was so proud of myself that not only did I not freak out, I actually really enjoyed it and had a blast!

 The longer I'm married, the more I realize that couples HAVE to get away sometimes to just enjoy being together. It gives us a chance to refocus on our relationship and fall in love all over again. We had a wonderful time spent in one of the most beautiful places on earth!

One Fine Day

I love living in Utah. One day I might have to work for the travel and tourism office because I love it so much and think everyone should come here to see what we have. I like being a tourist in my own state as well and try to get to all the touristy places in my own back yard. We spend one July day doing just that. We started at the Hill Airforce Base Museum where we met Laurie, my best friend from High School, and her kids.

 This place is really cool with a lot of history behind everything. They boys, especially Miles, loved the airplanes.

 The kids didn't really understand what all the planes were for. It is weird to me that they don't really have any background knowledge of WWI and WWII. So we had one of the volunteers explain to them what started the wars and who fought in them. We tried to read as many of the signs as we could, but mostly we just enjoyed these very large, amazing machines.

 After that adventure, we went to lunch with our friends and then were going to head home. But on the freeway, I saw the exit to Antelope Drive and thought, "What the heck. We don't need to be back for anything so lets go!" I hadn't been out there since Mitchel was really little and I knew we could earn a Jr. Ranger badge, so off we went.

 The visitors center is small, but has some interesting information in it about the lake and the brine shrimp. It also talks about how the bison and other animals got out there.

 The view from out there is amazing! The sky was so blue and the lake looked like it went on forever. It's no wonder the earlier explorers thought they might have found the Pacific Ocean.

 Unfortunately, the boys gave two thumbs down for the actual touching of the lake. They were all excited to put their feet in it until they ran down to the edge and billions of brine flies flew up all over their legs. They were totally grossed out after that and wouldn't get in the water. I don't blame them, the shore is pretty gross. There were some other tourists swimming in it though. (Crazy!)

We then drove around the island just a bit and saw some bison and birds. By the time we were done with our few hour visit, my boys had earned their Antelope Island State Park Jr. Ranger badge. This is the 17th badge they have earned.

It was a beautiful day and a great summer adventure for us. I love Utah and all that it has to offer. I think our slogan of "Life Elevated" is really true. I wouldn't want to live anywhere else!

Awesome month of June

I love summer!! I know I say that every year, but it is true. It is by far my favorite time of year. We have stayed super busy so far doing lots of fun activities and outings. Here is just a run down of what we have been doing so far in June in no particular order....

 We spent an afternoon at This Is The Place State Park on the free Jon Huntsman day. I was surprised that it wasn't more crowded. The weather was perfect and they had even more activities than ever to see and do. Our favorite was this group of Native American dancers. We watched them while eating our free ice cream.

We celebrated Mike's 37th birthday.

Played in our pool one afternoon.

Max spent two days up at Cub Country. He has been dying to go for years and now it was finally his turn. Mike went with him the first day and I went up the second. His favorite activity was shooting the BB guns.

Father's Day up in Park City

Tracy and Aaron's wedding. It was perfect. We are so glad to welcome him and his three children into our family.

A day at Murray Pool with the new cousins.

A little tour of Taffy Town.

All the spring sports ended. Mitchel had been playing basketball on the Rec league, Mason had been playing soccer and Max's two baseball teams winded up.

A free day miniature golfing at Boondocks. (free is the best!)

A mom and me play date at the local splash pad with other kids and moms from the ward.

Slip and Slide with the neighbor kids.

Max getting his participation award from Taylorsville baseball. He loved every minute of playing.

A few days and nights spent at the condo in Park City.

Miles turned 3. We had a bounce house party with the family that evening to celebrate.

Mitchel participated in a Science Camp with his friend Hayden at the Salt Lake Community College for a week. They made rockets, robots, music, solar cars, kites, and all sorts of other science things. He loved it (even though  it was a lot like school).

A day at the Riverton/Herriman beach with the cousins.

So June was fabulous. Love this time I get to spend with my boys.

Capital Reef/Memorial Weekend

More Spring Stuff

This was probably my best Mother's Day yet. Mike and the boys really stepped up to the plate to make me feel extra special and appreciated. So it was a great day!

 It started with breakfast in bed made entirely by Mitchel (at 6:00 a.m.!) He used an idea he found in the Friend magazine. He started with two Eggo waffles, a patty of sausage, scrambled eggs, and a piece of cheese. He put it all together into a sandwich and included syrup to dip it in. It was delicious!! The other boys all made me cute things at school and gave lots of hugs and kisses.
Mike REALLY came through. Last summer the diamond had fallen out of my wedding ring and was gone forever. Mike replaced my stone with an even bigger one and so I have finally been able to wear my wedding ring again. I thought that would be the end of it, but instead he also surprised me with tickets to WICKED this July! I am so excited!

 The best part of Mother's Day is being the mom of these four amazing boys. They are each so unique and bring something wonderful and joyous to my life. I love each one of them and feel so blessed to be their mom!

 Mitchel came home from school a few weeks ago with an awesome award. All the fifth graders participate in a Math Olympiad competition throughout the year. These are brain buster math questions that take a lot of reasoning and figuring out to get the answer. Mitchel got the highest score of all the fifth graders! He received a patch (which he proudly displays on his backpack), a certificate (which he had me frame) and a trophy (which is displayed front and center on his dresser)! I was so proud of him! He would bring home some of the questions during the year and I would try to figure them out. They were HARD! When I couldn't get it he would explain to me how he figured it out. Pretty amazing how is brain works!

 Mason performed in the Kindergarten end of year program and sang his heart out. He has loved his Kindergarten year, his teacher Mrs. Andrews, and all the new friends he made. He can now read like a champ and is trying to memorize his addition and subtraction facts.

 We've been REALLY busy this spring with spring sports. Each boy picked a different sport to play. Mason chose to do soccer. He has become really good at running FAST and getting in there to get the ball so he is pretty aggressive and can aim the ball where it needs to go. The rest of his team has been pretty good too, so they score a lot. They don't keep score in his league, but if they did, I think his team would have won most of their games.

 Max has been playing on not one, but two baseball teams this Spring. He plays in the Taylorsville Babe Ruth/Cal Ripkin league during the week for the Giants. He has two games a week with them and practice one night. The team isn't very good, but Max sure has turned into a star. He is one of the best hitters and he usually plays first or third base, although he has even pitched three times and done pretty well at that too.

 Then on Saturdays, Max was invited to play on the 8 year old Taylorsville "Super League Team." They play back to back games every Saturday at fields all over the valley. So this has been a 5 hour commitment for all of us and we don't get much else accomplished on a Saturday. He has absolutely flourished though and has become a leading hitter on this team as well. He mostly plays outfield for this team because he does such a good job backing up the infielders.

 Taking a snack break in between the two games.

 Could this face be any cuter?? So now Max thinks he wants to be a professional baseball player when he grows up. It's a lofty goal, but as long as he loves the game, I hope he keeps playing because I love watching!

Mitchel has also been playing Spring basketball but I have missed most of the games. Mike is the coach and so he takes Mitchel while I usually go to Mason's soccer games. I haven't even taken a picture of Mitchel in his basketball uniform, but he has one more game left and I'll get one then. His team has been pretty horrible but he has enjoyed playing and having Mike as his coach.

 The fifth graders participated in a State Fair. Mitchel and his best friend Hayden did theirs on Arizona. That was a good choice since we had just visited the Grand Canyon and Mitchel had some items to show off. Hadyen has been Mitchel's best buddy all year. They are like two peas in a pod, very smart, kind-of nerdy, and not the most social. So they get along really well!

 And I ended my Lincoln Elementary teaching career....at least for now. I've been back and forth between Lincoln and other schools for 14 years, so who knows, I might be back. I had an excellent year teaching math to my 4th and 5th graders. It was very stressful and I don't feel like I always measured up, but I loved going to school everyday and I enjoyed the challenge.

So now here it is, another summer! I am so glad it's here and I get more time to spend with these four cute faces. We have lots of fun activities planned and I'm going to enjoy every minute of it!