Utah Adventuring

It's been my goal this summer to explore Utah and all it's wonders.
I've lived here for close to 20 years (next summer) and have not seen all that it has to offer. So every week we have been to someplace new and unfamiliar.

This has lead to so many new and exciting experiences that we, as a family, are so thankful for. Some placed I've posted already but here's a few I haven't yet.

Willard Bay in Willard, Utah.
We've been here before, years ago, but with Ducati not remember most of these places she's been to it's like starting over with a clean slate.

We packed up lunch, towels, our sun shade, and went to enjoy ourselves.

Our kids had so much fun! Our swimmers swam with Mike around the Bay. Our semi/none swimmers floated around the Bay with  Mike. We built sand castles. Skipped rocks. Ate lunch. Dropped lunch pieces for the seagulls. And left a few hours later with a tan and exhausted.

I love this photo below of Hailey. She reminds me of that saying, "Mermaid Hair. Don't Care!"

Another week we went with my sister-in-law to Kaysville Castle Park. We packed up lunch, water, and let our kids loose!

Behind the park is a little trail. It's so beautiful! The trees curve down making it looks like they are using their branches to block out the sun just for us. The walk was peaceful.
There is usually a little stream that flows along the trail but when we went it was dried up.
We still walked the trail and enjoyed the wild flowers. 

Mason wanted to show us all the water tunnel him and Mike found. So we followed him and I got so excited when I seen the graffiti. It's the Chicago side of me that loves it!

 Of course we walked the water tunnel. It was more spooky for the older kids than the younger kids. At the end we found out why the water had dried up. There was a beaver dam that was blocking all the water. So we left it alone and walked back to the trail.

My nephew found this stick and was playing with it. When his mom told him to look at him; he started to charge her as if he was going to poke her. It was so funny!

So 6 kids, 2 adults, lunch, and another 30 minutes of playing at the park and I needed a nap.

It's been so much fun seeing and exploring Utah.

Midway, Utah

Mike's friend was super kind and invited us all to his families cabin for the weekend.
So right after work we headed up to Midway.
We've never been here and to see if up close it's absolutely beautiful!

With there being some traffic we got to Midway before his friends so we stopped and got some food at Dairy Keen.

I read tons of reviews on how amazing this place is. So of course we had to experience the train restaurant. The price was expensive. For us for we spent $32! But it guess this place can charge whatever they want; it wouldn't matter to the customers. This place was packed!

The cabin was amazing! It was huge!! After unpacking we all decided to go for a hike.  

While on the hike Mike's friend, Dave, showed us all the different flowers and trees. Since he grew up at this cabin he knew his way around this mountain. 

When we got to a meadow we played around with some BB guns.  

Our girls learned proper gun safety and after being carefully guided learned how to shoot. 

While we all took turns shooting business cards we also played frisbee.

Miss Cati hanging out with the guys. But it was getting dark so we paused the fun until morning and hiked the mile back to the cabin. The view of the small town was so pretty. I wish my camera phone would have transformed into a Cannon so I could take a better photo of the view.

Mike and Dave had a late night chatting until 3am. Guys!! But that didn't stop our girls waking up at 7am. So we made breakfast for everyone. For only being 6 of us we had enough food for twice that many people. While we waited for our friends to get ready we played outside.

Then once again we headed back to the meadow, this time driving, to practice our shooting.
Dave gave the suggestion to shoot Pringles since the shattering effect is just awesome to see. Ha!
We were all amazed when Mike made this shot and the chip didn't shatter.

My girls and I hiding in the shade tent. They are so dirty! I'm thankful they love being in the outdoors but I love more the silly faces they make when it's picture time.

From the night before of only learning how to shoot to now taking their shots themselves. Lily and Ducati improved so much. Plus instead of shooting business cards we collected all our soda cans and shot those instead. So they made a few clean shoots through the cans.

It was a great afternoon. But of course we needed lunch, a bathroom break (cuz us girls didn't want to pee on rocks in tick grass), and Dave needed to get his sister so Lily and I stood behind while Mike drove the rest of our party back to the cabin. This allowed us to have some funny time.

 The view is so pretty! But while I was taking pictures I noticed a little arm reaching for Dave's candy bag. Sneaky, sneaky!

Mike and his friends. Dave, middle, and Connor showing his gangster peace sign.

 When everyone came back we continued to shoot alittle more. But now we were getting bored! So we went back to the cabin, packed things up, cooked lunch, cleaned the cabin, chatted with our new friends, and went for a hike to find red rocks.

The trail we wanted was in Francis, Utah. Someplace I never heard of. The town was so small we had no idea where we were. Those are the best types of towns.

 While on our hike we found a herd of cows. Yes! COWS! They were so close that I was a bit freaked out. So I instructed our girls to walk between the grown ups just in case they charged. I know I was afraid of a cow. But safety first. So Connor and Dave took the front while Mike and I covered the back. This gave us the advantage of grabbing the girls and running if something happened with the cows.

We didn't find any red rocks. That's not the scientific term that Dave used but that's all I remember. But we did find this little waterfall. Along with lots of wild flowers, dead animal skeletons, "seashells"  (aka snail shells), cow poop, and lots of flies. 

 My handsome man! ♥

 

We left this hike sweaty and dirty! Which I am so thankful that my kids aren't afraid to get dirty.
When we got back to our cars we grabbed some towels and headed to the stream across the street and washed off. It felt so nice to stick our aching feet into the cold water.
Then we were treated to pizza from The Pie and drove home. After 2 showers each, brushing out hair tangles, and starting a load of laundry we were all exhausted. The next day at church we were all falling asleep. So after sacrament we went back home and took a much needed nap. A weekend of adventuring with family and friends makes such great memories. I'm thankful that I got to record it all .

Mt.Timpanogos

We love being outside! And with the weather warming up this is the perfect time to venture out and experience all what God gave us. 

I reserved our tickets to do the cave exploration so everyone was so freaking excited! 

We had 2 hours to get to the top so of course we took our time.  

When we picked up our tickets we also picked up Junior Rangers packets. This was our first time and we absolutely loved it!

Lily really took the heart her commitment to protecting the national parks. 

As we walked she would pick up trash and put it in her bag. Or she would a fallen rock back onto the mountain dirt. It was adorable!!!

This rock cracked us up!

It looks like this skinny stick is holding it up. We were too nervous to see if it was or not with Jr. Ranger Lily beside us. 

I took this picture to remind myself of God's awe. He's so mighty and powerful that he made these huge mountains with strong rocks that can last millions and millions of years. Then he can also make man, so tiny and fragile. It amazes me to see God's strength only a few feet away from me. 

Pics from the hike. 

No the cave is not going green. This is my husband pointing at stuff with his laser pointer. So now I have tons of photos with green dots everywhere.

That's ok. I love my guy!

The hike up was hard. Hailey, Mason, and I were sweating buckets on our way up. Lily, Ducati, and Mike had small leg cramps but were fine the entire time. Hint that we need to get in better shape. 

Walking down was much easier. After our 55 minute cave tour and learning all about cave bacon, lakes, mining, etc it was time to head down. Walking down was harder. With the steep incline you naturally want to pick up speed but there's signs everywhere to walk and not run. So this took some effort to remain walking and not run down the mountain side. 

I was taking a break on a bench and seen everyone looking out onto this amazing view. When I got up everyone was like, "Mom, you ready to walk!" I was so bummed I missed my chance to take the photo that Mike told everyone,"Who left the car door open?" So of course everyone looked out to the parking lot to see if the car door was open.... and I got my picture! See- I love my guy!

After hiking for 4 hours, filling our their Jr. Ranger booklets, and answering all their questions Hailey, Lily, and Ducati were sworn in as Jr. Rangers at Mt. Timpanogos. 

They were so excited! Hailey picked a patch that she plans to sew onto a backpack. Lily and Ducati picked out a plastic Ranger Badge that they have since pinned to their hiking bags. New goal this summer is to collect tons of those Jr. Ranger badges. 

I'm fine with this goal. We get into parks for free since we have a pass. And the Jr. program is free too. So of course we're game!