September and Sunday Hikes

We started a new tradition this fall--the reviews from the kids on it are mixed--of going for a family hike every Sunday. It all started when Lee did a short hike to Ensign Peak and stroll around the Capitol building one Sunday. 

So we decided we would give it a try with the family. I took a couple weeks to get a Sunday without thunder or wind storms, but we finally got around to it.

Despite the complaints, Lee and I enjoyed it enough that we thought we should make it a weekly thing!

During the week we still had other activities. Laszlo got quite a few invites to birthday parties, two in a row at Boondocks:

We made a visit to the zoo when we finally started getting some cooler weather.

And Laszlo lost his first baby tooth! He's got a few other loose teeth, but they're stubbornly holding out.

Our next Sunday hike was Adam's Canyon Lower Falls in Layton. The start of the hike was riddled with whining (It starts out with a lot of switch backs), but once we got to the water fall, all complaints ended.

We dipped our toes in the frigid water, explored around the creek, and ate fruit snacks of course.

Almost as soon as we got back to our car it started getting quite windy and a bit rainy. Our timing was excellent!

The next week's hike was the Wild Rose Trail in North Salt Lake. This one was short, but we still got attitude, probably just because of the heat. It's was still too warm for autumn, but a few leaves were turning!

The view at the top is quite excellent! We could look down at the golf course where we go sledding in the winter. We could see our house from up there (though I couldn't pick it out with out binoculars).

The trailhead is at a little park with a playground, so we did stop and play for a few minutes, but we didn't stay too long. It was too close to dinner time and the fruit snacks didn't fill everyone up.

Our biggest and most exciting event in September wasn't hiking, but Grandma Karen's big 60th birthday Luau. Family from all over the country got together to eat and visit and get into the Aloha spirit.

The kids played with their cousins and everyone got to catch up.

It's been a while since we got to see all of Lee's family in one place.

We got together to go swimming at Jordan and Brittany's place and brought the kids to Lee's work party (an outdoor movie night) afterwards.

We got some extra guests to join us for the Sunday hike the following day. Brewster was heading to the airport that evening, so we invited him to come with us and visit at our house for a bit before heading home. Grandpa Dave decided to join us as well before heading back home, so we had a good group!

We did Holbrook Canyon, but didn't do the whole loop. We didn't want to make Brewster miss his flight.

I don't think I heard a single complaint during the entire hike from any of the kids! The secret sauce isn't to choose an easy hike, it's to invite along an Uncle who they will never stop talking to. On our way back across this bridge, Paul and Laszlo acted out the entire story of The Three Billy Goats Gruff and would not let anyone pass until they'd finished.

Paul might complain, we might have to carry Arthur up every hill, Laszlo might try to request piggy back rides, but it's nice to take the time to find the beautiful places that are close to home.

Summer 2024

 We had a busy summer, so much so that I am huddling in my house with a gnarly cough a couple weeks into school starting and I have no idea where the time went. We kicked the summer off with a lot of family and a wedding!

Congratulations to Cooper and Morgan (the happy couple) we had a fun day celebrating with you!

Laszlo won a contest to have a picture he drew as the cover for the yearbook this year. It turned out so cute and he's very proud of his art.

We got to do some fun activities with cousins including Thanksgiving Point.

And we got to walk through the Layton Temple open house. Paul and Laszlo went with the youth activities groups from church, so Lee, Arthur and I went on our own.

The kids got to have sleep overs with Grandma Karen and Aubrie when she came for a visit.

And since I had evening rehearsals, there were a lot of "boys nights" this summer...

For the fourth of July we got to do some camping with the Phillips family. Lee's brothers joined and we had a great time fishing and kayaking.

I didn't catch any fish--just a nasty sunburn--but Laszlo did! He proved to be quite the fisherman with grandpa Dave's help, and Grandma Karen cooked them up. They were delicious!

This summer was pretty hot, which didn't encourage much bike riding, but we still went for rides a few times.

We tried to hit a few of the local favorite spots and events: the sidewalk chalk art festival was awesome, the kids loved Cherry Hill even though I somehow managed to not bring their swimsuits, and as always we love going to the pioneer day carnival every year.

I took Laszlo and Paul to see the musical School of Rock, which they were super into...

And Grandpa Dave invited us to his bring the family to work day event and it was really cool! The factory tour was fun and there was a ton of treats and fun things for kids.

To celebrate the last few days of summer vacation, we visited the Hogle Zoo. The train is running again and a new area has opened so we had to check it out. The kid's favorite animal at the zoo is now the badger.

And through all of this activity, there was swimming lessons, summer camps, and rehearsals for Mary Poppins filling every spare minute.

It was so fun to get to play one of the best roles of all time, but I definitely needed quite a bit of R & R after closing night. I got sick during the last week and managed to hold my voice together long enough to finish the show, but the recovery has been slow.

Lee and I did a mini triathlon together and I think we might try to do another slightly longer one when we've got a bit of time to actually train for it. As it was the very short one was fun and not too difficult.

Paul started 5th grade, Laszlo started 2nd grade, and Arthur had his first day of pre-school. He is loving it so far and having a lot of fun. Paul says he really likes learning about history in school and Laszlo has been going to one birthday party after another.