Play Time!

Since we have moved we are a lot closer to many things that we love. With the baby coming we tried to do a lot of things just the 2 of us. We went to Wheeler Farm and saw all the animals. GK is really good at knowing which animal is which. His favorite thing there was a tractor/back hoe (Snort) which was the only tractor you couldn't play on. Poor kid was really sad.

We also went on little hike. I was thinking of going on the quarry trail, but with the water so high I didn't want to get any where near it. Of course we made it a few more times to 7 peaks. But I don't like taking my camera there too much. We've had a lot of fun though.

Last Squeeze!

We have been trying to squeeze out every last drop of summer. I am so glad we have too because it is getting real cold real fast! On Monday we went to Farm Country with Adrian and her little beauties. It was a lot of fun, we've never been before but I'm sure we will go again. They really had a lot of animals and it was so cute!

Then for F.H.E. we went with Jenn & Brandon to Donut Falls. It was getting dark when we started but it was still really fun! The leaves were so pretty, I wish you could see them in the pictures.

On Tuesday we had some errands to run but we drove up South Mountain to enjoy the scenery. I couldn't help take a few pics of GK while we were up there. I just love this green fence!

Wasatch & Topaz

On Friday night when Patrick got home from work we went up American Fork Canyon to Aunt Knolls where my Dad helps with the Wasatch 100. It is a foot race where people run 100 miles all up in the mountains. It goes from Farmington area to Midway. I love coming here. It is the roughest road I think I've ever driven on. But it is beautiful! The runners are so nice and inspiring. I wish we could have stayed up and helped but I need a lot of sleep and it's too tempting to stay up all night as the runners come in.

On Saturday we loaded up the car and drove down to Topaz Mountain! We have been there before and loved it. It is just outside of Delta, you can only use your hands and hand tools. I wish we could have used explosives because I think we needed them. Last time we went you could see the topaz all over, the ground shined in the sun with topaz. This time we got totally skunked. Not one full piece of topaz. Vickie is an expert and even she didn't find any. It was still a blast though! G.K. had a riot digging through the dirt and rocks. He was a big helper. We had packed hobo dinners and they were delicious. It was so quiet and pretty, we had so much fun.

 

 

Cecret Lake

On Labor Day I really wanted to go hiking and Patrick kinda did. We decided to hike to Cecret lake up little cottonwood canyon because it is so short. Well we got almost there and the parking lot was full so we decided to just walk around. We found ourselves on a trail and this sweet older couple started walking with us and before we knew it we were at the trail-head for Cecret Lake! So we decided since we were there, might as well see it!

 There were so many people there! We have both shocked. It was a lot of fun though. G.K. loved walking around on the rocks, he's a little mountain goat! We ate our snacks and headed down. Garrison fell asleep on the way down, he was such a trooper! He got a little sunburned but it went away thank heavens! So our little 1 mile hike each way turned out to be about a 6 mile hike roundtrip! I have to thank that older couple for distracting Patrick!

 

Going Hiking?

On Tuesday I really wanted to go hiking! I was getting a little stir crazy thinking about how fast summer was going by so we loaded up and went up to Little Cottonwood Canyon. GK had fallen asleep so I figured I'd take Wasatch Blvd. because it's so pretty and he'd get a little longer nap in. I saw a sign for Rocky Mouth (I think) trail head and decided to give it a try. I took a few pics of GK and we headed up.

It was a super short hike to this beautiful waterfall. The trail was a little hard to find because you walk up a residential road for a minute. We only stayed for a minute because some people were repelling into the waterfall (please Patrick can we??). And I decided that I wanted to go to Gardner Village and get some more pictures of GK because he was being so good!

 

I just think he is growing up so fast! He looks like such a little boy! 

Timp Cave

 

 

On Monday night Braydon and Quenton came to hang out with us. It was so fun to have them over, we don't see them near enough! We walked down to Won Won Wok and Braydon really liked the fried dumplings. Then we walked to Arctic Circle for a treat for the way home and we were swarmed by mosquitos. It was really bad, they were always flying over my head. I think I'm the only one the got bit so I'll probably get West Nile! Oh Well! On Tuesday after MUCH convincing we got Braydon to go up to Timpanogos Cave. Michelle and her kids were able to come with. I am so glad they did! It was a lot of fun. Carson, Quenton, and Garret were ahead of us. They are quite the hikers. I had to hold G.K. through the whole tour and I tried really hard not to touch any of the cave but I think G.K. and I both did! Oops. After the Cave we went and sat in the hot tub. We were supposed to cook hot dogs and marshmallows but I didn't have much for fire wood only charcoals and I don't really know how to light them. But they were having too much fun playing anyway. Thanks Michelle I couldn't have done it without you! And Thanks Jennifer and Jason for letting us steal your boys!

Great Outdoors!

On Wednesday Dave and I decided to run up the Quarry trail up Little Cottonwood Canyon. I think that this is my fav. of all the canyons! I really like this trail but we couldn't go all the way because the water was so high it covered the trail and we had lunch plans. (we went to Gossip and it was really yummy, I highly recommend it!) 

On Thursday Dave Really Really wanted to hike Mt. Olympus. He needed someone to hike with him and take his picture on top of the mountain so I agreed to go and again I have to thank my Mom for watching G.K. so I could go. It was the perfect day. We started at about 7:00 in the morning and got to the top about 9:30. I think I really learned a lot about myself during this hike. For example I forget about things that are in the past (probably too easily). Like how steep it is. If you ask me about this hike I will tell you how beautiful it is and that you really should hike it. I forget how steep it is. On the way down my knees were tired really fast and I didn't remember ever going up so much. About half way down we realized we lost the camera and had to hike back up for about an hour.  We did find it and we were SO happy, and I got a refresher on how steep it was. I don't think I have ever been so tired after a hike (but I probably wouldn't remember:) We are so lucky to live in such a great area with so many amazing places around each corner. Patrick has been helping his boss with some landscaping for the past 2 weeks. He works and sacrifices so much for G.K. and I. He has been out until 9:30 or 10:00 every night working. I feel guilty for all the playing I've got to do.. But I am so grateful. I think if Dave wasn't here I would have gone CrAzY missing Patrick so much! Thanks for the distractions Dave!

 

Getting started

 

On our way up. (If you have ever hiked with anyone in my family it seems like we take pictures as our "breaks" instead of saying we are tired we say, "Oh look how pretty this is, let me take your picture!")

 

These were at the Top! It really was gorgeous! 

Donut Falls

Today we went for a hike up to Donut Falls. 

Of course we went with Jenn and Brandon.

I love going up there but I've never been in November so we weren't sure how it would go.

When we got there the gate was closed so the 3/4 mile hike turned into probably 1 mile.

It was pretty cold and windy but the sun was shining. Patrick carried G.K. the whole way and it's a good thing he did because the trial was pretty slippery and I biffed it once.

But we made it! There is a road that is a lot faster that we took on the way down that wasn't covered in as much ice and snow so it was a lot faster. We had a great time!

Tom in town

Tom has been in town for the past week.He ran the St. George marathon (I'm so jealous) so he came a few days early and stayed a few days after. He did a really good job on the race. I hope he can come run it again next year. 

We went up to Snowbird and got the moose cake at the Steak Pit. It was really good but I remembered it being better.

It was really good to see ya Tom! We really missed Yadi but I think we all understand that she couldn't make it. Hopefully next time!

Achin'

There have been a lot of things that I have wanted to do this summer,

and needless to say I haven't done many of them.

(And not because the baby!)

But I have really really wanted to go hiking.

I made Patrick promise me we could go on Saturday,

he dragged Jenn and Brandon into coming along.

Because misery loves company.

We went up Little Cottonwood Canyon and another thing I really wanted to do

was go to Octoberfest, so we went there first.

There were a lot of people there so we had to park really far away.

Patrick said that that was his hiking no more.

That isn't really hiking so little does he know he still owes me a good hike.

Sorry Jenn and Brandon he'll probably rope you guys into going to that too!

I guess I shouldn't complain we did walk 100 feet on the look out trail.

The weather did turn bad and it was Freezing, Jenn just had sandals on.

I'm sure she has frostbite! Sorry Jenn.

The rain really started coming down when we got to the parking lot,

 so I'm glad we didn't go on a super long hike.

We got to try the 4-wheel drive on the stroller though!

It was so nice to get up in the mountains, I swear it's my therapy.

MOAB

This past weekend we went with Jenn and Brandon to Moab. We had such a good time.  We got to see a lot of the Arches and we even took the Hummer four-wheeling. It was pretty hot. The campground had a really nice pool, the water had a lot of natural elements in it. I think they were herbal remedies. I think we broke Brandon's tent, the wind blew and it just took off, I couldn't stop laughing Jenn had enough sense to go catch it.  We had a really good time, I wish it could have lasted longer!

Twin Lakes

Over the weekend Jenn, Brandon, Patrick and I went on a backpacking trip to Twin Lakes, in the Uinta's. Friday night we stayed at Paradise Pond, there were a lot of cows and we saw a few deer also. It was freezing cold that night, when Patrick and I woke up there was ice in our tent!

Saturday morning we started our hike up to twin lakes, we made a few wrong turns but we made it there okay! We thought it was only one to two miles but it turned out to be more like 5 each way.

Once we got there we set up our camp and then went fishing. Jenn caught her first 20 fish, mu arm was too tired so we went back to camp and let Brandon and Patrick keep on fishing. They would never get tired of fishing. When they came back they were happy to see that we built a huge fire all by ourselves. They were impressed, as were we!

Thanks Brandon and Jenn for putting up with us! We had a ton of fun!