Climbing Timpanogos

 shortly after sunrise

Yesterday Tony and I hiked Mt. Timpanogos.  When we moved to Utah we talked about how much we wanted to do this one day.  Tony hiked it with his friends from the MBA program last year after graduation.  He loved it and convinced me that this was our year to do it. 

 1st saddle 

We got to the trailhead at 4:40AM and hiked to the first saddle in the dark.  The sun just started to rise once we were in this area and I'm so glad we hadn't left any earlier.  This area was beautiful!  I'm glad we were able to see it.  

 mountain goats

 Still a long way to go! We're going to the peak behind us.

 
7 miles up and 7 miles down.  The hardest part about the hike (for me) was the sliding rock areas.  Those were a pain to get through and made for really sore feet on the way down.  The way up wasn't as steep or as difficult as you would think.  Looking at the mountain now I can't believe we climbed to the very top peak!

 Almost to the summit

We did the hike mid-week and so we had the trail to ourselves a lot of the way.  We were worried we wouldn't have great views due to the recent fires and smoke but we had perfect weather and views.  

summit shack

We had lunch at the top, signed the summit guestbook and hung out overlooking the entire valley.  The view was incredible!  

 View from the summit

 The last hour was definitely the hardest part.  We felt great up until that last hour.  Even though the trail was the easiest at that point, my legs felt like jello, very sore jello. 

This ended up being the highlight of my summer.  I loved the hours to talk to with Tony in the quiet and in such beautiful surroundings.  I'm so grateful for him, our friendship and the way we complement each other.  I'm thinking we may make this an annual tradition! 

 A huge thanks to my parents who watched our boys so we could make this trip!  

Family Reunion

 Peter and sweet baby Graham

Last month my family had our first big family reunion!  It's crazy to think that we are now at the "family reunion phase" of our family's life.  We had a great time visiting with everyone!  Here are some of my favorite pictures from our time in Eden...

 Charlie & Nana making a birdhouse

 I love this picture of Jack and Dolly

 Making dinner for the family

 Brian was really excited for Dolly's Italian night :)

 Uncle Trent

 Henry and cousin Indie

 My parents helping the boys with their FHE treat

 The nerf guns were a daily hit!

We celebrated my mom's birthday at the house! 

Tony and I had the most fun making this sprinkle birthday cake!  I've always wanted to do one. 

 No one appreciates a beautiful homemade cake like my mom.  It was fun to make for her!

 Water day at Pineview Resevoir

 Papa & Peter

 Cousins :)

One of my favorite nights was our Youtube Oscar Night.  Brian organized it and everyone submitted youtube videos for various categories to him.  We voted on them and laughed so hard! 

Love these siblings and my parents!  Thanks mom and dad for a great trip!

America's Birthday

Growing up the July 3rd was better than the 4th of July.  My hometown has a concert in the park and a firework show that night.  Every year my family would go to the park with fried chicken, shrimp salad and a bunch of sodas to listen to the concert.

This year we spent the 3rd with my family and had a great time!  It was one of my favorites years to date mainly because it wasn't 100+ degrees outside.  We ate dinner at my parents home and visited with family.  This year was extra special because my brother Jack and his wife Dolly were here to celebrate with us.  Lucky us, his law internship has him in Utah for 6 weeks this summer.

We headed over to the park and thanks to Jack and Dolly we scored coveted seats next to the playground.  We listened to Ryan Shupe & the Rubberband play while the boys ran back and forth from our seats to the playground. 

Uncle Jack & Henry

Henry loves slides

Home Depot had a free booth for kids!  

The boys were thrilled to build and decorate their own toolboxes!

Charlie, Uncle Jack, Aunt Dolly & Henry

We spent the 4th of July at our home with my brother's family.  We had a BBQ and played with those little poppers in the driveway before heading to our neighborhood firework show.

cute cousins

Our neighborhood has put on a firework show for the past few years but we've never been around to go to it.  This year we went and wow- I wasn't expecting it to be as big as it was!  The fireworks were absolutely incredible!  We won't miss it again!  Not only did we watch our fireworks, but we could see fireworks going off throughout the entire Utah Valley.  The views from our neighborhood are just the best. 

We sure love these guys!

Tony and Charlie had run to the store earlier in the day and came home with almost 100 sparklers and lots of little fireworks to do with the kids.  The boys loved having their own little firework tanks to put in the road and watch go off! I had recently taken a trip to Idaho and had so many cherries from an afternoon of cherry picking so Tony and I made cherry pie filling out of them all.

Fireworks, vanilla ice cream and homemade cherry cobbler

This year felt extra special with so much family and gratitude to live where we do! 
God bless the USA!

Almost 3 Years Later

I can't believe we've already been in this house for 5 years

I keep having the nagging thought that I should start journaling again.  I even had some pink notebooks in my grocery cart but I ended up putting them back.  I like to take notes in church but I quickly give up on writing personal journals because it takes me so long to write my thoughts down with a pen.  That and I love pictures so much because they take me back to the moment so much better when I look at a picture and read my own caption for it.  I'm honestly quite tired of social media and when I was talking to Tony about it one night he said, "why don't you start blogging again?" Do people even blog anymore?  I used to love blogging.  I think just writing down thoughts and uploading pictures made me remember those memories I wrote about even better.  So I'll give blogging another try, as a means to take a step back from distractions on my phone and write the things down that I actually want to remember and without feeling the need to see if people like or comment on what I post.

I'll get too overwhelmed if I try to summarize the last 3 years (plus I've kept pictures and notes on instagram anyways) so I'm just going to start with what's happening right at this moment. 

Last week we bought 3 youth sized kayaks for the boys.  My dream of owning kayaks finally came true!  I used to tell Tony that my dream was to move back to Bentonville, get everyone their own kayak and we would paddle around Beaver Lake and all the beautiful green areas in the Ozarks.  I ordered the kayaks before figuring out if we had room for them or could attach them to our van.  Thankfully Tony was able to figure it out and we were on our way to Deer Creek up Provo Canyon.  The water wasn't too cold and we all had a great time!

Currently Henry is eating an applesauce and hanging onto my leg because he wants a drink of my water.  I got out his own sippy cup but of course he wants my cup and not his.  He turned 2 last month and is slowly beginning to communicate more.  His favorite words are "big, me, bo (more), mom, dad." He is quite naughty but gives the best and most frequent hugs and kisses everyday.

Peter is 4 and still just so happy to be surrounded by his brothers. He adores them all.  I think he has had a great summer with everyone home together.  I'm worried he'll be lonely when Joey starts all day school, but I'm looking forward to taking he and Henry on outings just for them. 

Joey is full of energy and can negotiate like nobody's business.  He keeps me on my toes but is so much fun.  He works faster than anyone in the house and is often done with his daily jobs before Charlie has even had breakfast.  He is often playing legos in the mornings waiting for everyone to catch up.  Also, his lego creations are impressive.  He can find all the tiny parts that make movement possible and especially likes to make his own robots and jets. 

Charlie is currently taking piano and is in the middle of a tennis camp through the city.  He says he's already a "pro" at tennis.  I'm glad he has found a sport he enjoys.  He also loves to ride his new bike.  He works hard completely his jobs and mom's school work each day and earns points that equate to money each Saturday.  Tony is great to sit down with him and record everything into his ledger: 10% tithing, 20% savings and the rest for himself- fun money, clothing, etc. 

finished up the night with custard

Tony finished his MBA last summer and it looks like we are here to stay.  I'm glad he is loving his job and current company.  It makes such a difference when you're doing something you enjoy and makes you feel valuable.  He's a smartie pants and I think I'll keep him.

I've been happy with our summer so far.  This is the first week cabin fever has kicked in, but we also have been dealing with the stomach flu so that is to be expected. 

the great stomach flu of 2018

It got us all except Joey who has never fallen ill to the stomach flu.  Maybe all the allergies and asthma has resulted in an iron stomach?

The boys have been keeping up with their reading, writing prompts and math (somewhat) on Khan Academy.  I wasn't sure if I would run out of steam but we're still going strong so I'm feeling pretty good about that. 

 

 We attached a rope to one of the kayaks so Tony could switch off pulling Henry and Peter around

It already feels good to put thoughts down and look at pictures. Happy to be back!