One Last Hurrah! August 19th

It's the Friday before school starts and I'm done playing basketball... now what???

Let's go on an adventure!

Bridal Veil Falls up Provo Canyon is a really easy walk to a very cool waterfall, so I knew the kids would be on board.

We got out of the van, got some sun screen on, and hit the trail.

This is the Provo river right now. It creates a most glorious background noise.

Once we reached the base of the falls, we decided we wanted to eat our lunch at the top.

Max thought he didn't want to get his shoes wet, so we had to wait for him to pick his way across the dry rocks.

 After climbing through the waterfall run off, we finally reached our destination.

The mist off of the falls was so refreshing! 

Lunch was pulling apart a loaf of sourdough bread and adding some meat and havarti cheese.

 Always a favorite!  

After lunch, we picked our way back down the falls, and then followed the side stream back to the car. The kids didn't even get out of the water to avoid heavy brush. They acted like they were on a special opps mission.

I love when they forget that they are too cool!

 Soooo glad that we had one more day to go and LIVE outside!

Nielson's grove

When your friends ask you if you wanna go hang out at the park...

... you say of course!

Night games

The last week of summer vacation calls for night games all hours of the night.

I wasn't out every night, but when I was, you might find me laying on the grass staring up at the big bright moon.

This picture shows a little more cloudy of a night, but it really was brilliant other wise.

Mt. Timpanogos Summit August 15th

What a beautiful sun rise!

But once the sun was up, we actually saw what we were getting ourselves into

Don't worry, we were still all smiles...

... at this point.

The trail up to Timp Summit offers some of the most beautiful views I have ever seen, and at this point in the season there were still plenty of wild flowers.

 

 But a lot of the trail was just rocks.

My stomach wasn't cooperating this day, which was a real bummer, but after my first potty break I went to look for my hiking buddies, and they had found some new friends...

 ...mountain goats!

They were so cute, and they didn't seem to mind that we were on their mountain.

 Just after I had stopped to use a tree we ran into this sign:

Too bad I couldn't wait a few more minutes

Or maybe not too bad...

 Some outdoor mountain "toilets," offer amazing views with a little bit of privacy. This toilet was full to the brim, out in the middle of the great wide open, and the view wasn't anything to write home about.

I'd take a bush over this pit stop any day!

Just another few miles, and we stumbled across this wild flower bed

 And for DaNae, 

it was literally a bed for a few moments... and... she actually, literally stumbled upon it.

Following the wild flowers, we began our ascent to the saddle.

 As we climbed, DaNae's altitude sickness became a bit of a worry. Her nausea worsened, and she became dizzy and off balance. She pushed through and finally made it up to the saddle. Just as we arrived, we spied another group of mountain goats, and then rested for a spell before the last mile or so to the summit.

More mountain goats on the way to the summit...

 It really was amazing how they didn't mind at all that we were right there side by side with them. They were so cool to watch!

This is at the very tipity top...

 VERY COOL!!!

(and yes I braved the climb on to the top of the cable car.)

 Back down to the saddle, and ate some lunch before making our descent...

 ...still all smiles!

A big thank you to my friends for the company, and encouragement. This trail really takes a lot of positive energy, and endurance.

We had a great time, and accomplished an amazing feat!

Lazy Sunday August 14th

Like I said before...

 ...stir crazy kids on Sunday, produce some amazing photo-ops.

Also, we finally had all the elements to get a fire going in our new outdoor fire pit.

Our first experiment yielded amazing, and slightly crispy, hot dogs.

 It was fun!

After dinner we messed around in the backyard considering the weather was perfect!

 Reece decided to try out the always comfortable, but sometimes creak, hammock.

Looks like the fence isn't going to fall over after all. 

I love this family of mine!

Max's Order of the Arrow August 9-13

About 2 weeks ago at our ward's scout camp, Max was elected to go to another scout camp to try and earn a special Order of the Arrow award.

Max was hesitant to go because he didn't know anyone else who would be going. After a little nudge from Reece and I, he agreed to go and try.

As I signed him up online, there were no real instructions. All we knew was for a whole night and day Max would not be able to talk to anyone, and that he would have to sleep by himself without a tent, so I became a little concerned. Reece reassured me that he would be fine, so I put all my trust in the Lord to watch over my sweet, getting too big too fast, young man as he set off to camp.

As the week went on all of us were praying for Max that he would be safe and watched over. There wasn't a day that went by that I didn't wonder how he was, and if he was happy. I missed him more than I ever have.  After the 5 days Reece went to pick him up and we were all anxious to see him.

I was at an activity when he got home, so when I finally got to come home to see him I was greeted with a sunburnt, peeling, dirty, smile from ear to ear boy, who was just as excited to see me as I was to see him.  I sat next to him for about an hour as he excitedly told me all about his week, and how he overcame his fears and ended up enjoying every second of his adventure.

I'm so proud of this young man and the determination he has to accomplish great things in life.

Maximus David Charles Blackwell!

Donut Falls... Nope August 10th

What an interesting day.

Max was at scout camp so me and the other two lovelies went out for an explore.

I had my heart set on getting to Donut Falls up Big Cottenwood canyon, so we hopped in the car and set off to find the trail. Upon arrival, I'm guessing I wasn't paying very close attention because about half way up the trail we reached a sign that said: Dog Lake- .6 miles, and Desolation Lake- 1.9 miles.

Ummmmm... where is Donut Falls, I thought. 

Oh well, let's go for Dog Lake considering we've already been hiking for about 2 miles.

Although not what we had planned, the hike was still gorgeous. It was a mostly shaded trail, and there were wildflowers and Christmas trees along the way, so I was happy.

And guess what... There were dogs at the lake ;)

 

 In the end, we had a fun explore.

Maybe next week we will go back and find Donut Falls.

Never a Dull Moment Sunday August 7th

Sometimes these kids get a little stir crazy on Sundays.

Today was no exception.

Joseph and Isabel put on some of Reece's clothes and went a little gangster.

 Then they realized that they could both fit into one outfit...

That was funny! 

Never a dull moment!

Anniversary August 5, 2016

Maurice took me out on for a late lunch on our anniversary. We celebrated 16 years!

We tried a new Mexican restaurant out in Springville. Not bad. The chips and salsa were my favorite part!

When we got home there were some cards, and a big happy anniversary sign on the mantle. We have some cute kids that were probably more excited then we were for this day.

What a fun family I have.

That night I had planned some fun things, but Reece neglected to tell me that it was the night of his Revere Health party. So instead, we took the kids, and enjoyed a dinner and some games on the company.

As you can see, we had a lot of fun!