10,420 and Clayton Peak

We were having some wildfires around which cast a haze over all the valley but that didn't stop us from another trail run.  This time it was two peaks: 10,420 and Clayton.  These are right above Brighton so it was fun to see all the places we ski and get some ideas for where to go if we ever want to go in the backcountry.

Full Moon Fun

Sara has been taking ukulele lessons from a girl in our ward for the past few months.  She has really loved it.  She had a little recital for that with the other girls taking lessons.  It was really amazing how quickly she learned to play.  Because of her learning, Matt learned some chords and decided to take guitar lessons and is really loving that.  Sara had her ukulele for a few years but until someone who knew how to play could show her, she didn't really learn.

After the concert we decided to go on a full moon hike up to Cecret Lake.  We love this lake and it was really an adventure to hike it at night.  It's so fun doing fun new things with the kids and the sunset and moonrise was amazing!

Christmas in July

Even though we were missing Sara we still had a little fun.  Abby and I drew this Christmas tree and Matt and Kate helped us put the star on!

The day that I hate year round school

Ugh.  Curse year round school.  I am never ready to get back into the school routine in July.  Sara was a very good sport about being the only one who had to be in school.  Luckily, it comes easy to her so it's not a huge stress.

This year we had some curveballs thrown at us.  We've always been on A track, but this year we were placed on C track.  For Sara that wasn't a huge deal.  She was excited about meeting some new people and having a different schedule.  Plus she got a teacher that we had only heard great things about so things were looking good for her.  The bad part was that that put Abby on C track as well.  And C track kindergarten is only in the afternoon.  That wouldn't be so bad except that I would be picking Matt up from school 1 hour before Abby and Sara ended.  And then I'd be picking up Kate.  So I would have less than 2 hours with all my kids in school which I was so bummed about.  I'd already spent that time in my mind so when it was taken from me I was really disappointed.  So I made the choice to put Abby on B track so she was in the morning.  So that means that I have all 4 kids on completely different school schedules.  Ugh.  I go through phases of wanting to complain, but in a couple of years, this won't even matter so I just try to keep perspective.  I just get mad at the school district.  Year round school overall has so many wasted days.  It's kind of ridiculous.  They went through this huge boundary change this year and the plan was to have all the elementary schools on a traditional schedule but too many people complained about being cut out of the good schools so now South Jordan elementary is one of 3 schools in the entire district still on year round.  Ugh. I hate it.  Especially in July. :(

White Pine Lake

Continuing with our summer trail runs, Jerry and I headed up to White Pine Lake.  I hadn't ever been to this one, but I heard it was very pretty so up we went.  The wildflowers were blooming and the mountains were just gorgeous.

This was the last part of the trail.  It was a hard trail, for sure.  It's really close to Red Pine and I think the hike to Red Pine is a little more pretty because the trees are a little more dense and White Pine is longer which adds to the difficulty.

But White Pine Lake is stunning.  I love the way it is nestled in the mountains.  It was so clear and dark blue.  It was really the perfect little mountain lake.  I loved it!

The sunset coming down was amazing.  I just love Little Cottonwood Canyon!

Paddle boarding all the days

I love the days that we can go paddle boarding.  I take anyone who is not in school or not at a camp as often as I can in the summer.  Deer Creek Reservoir has a great little bay that we like to play at so if it's just me taking the kids, I'll go there.  I love the view of the backside of Timp.  It's such a cool mountain.

We had an ultimate fail the first time we went up for the season...I forgot to pack the paddles along with the boards.  Duh.  There is a rental shop there but they were kind of jerks and would only let me rent one and they joked about charging $100.  That was kind of annoying.  But we made a great memory that trip paddling with one paddle and two boards.  Lol.  The rest of the summer we managed to remember our paddles!

Big foot lives!

If we have a whole day and Jerry can come along, we love to go to Causey Reservoir.  It's really pretty and it's fun to cliff jump and swim around.  This year did not disappoint!

Abby decided she wanted to jump off the paddle board.  She really wanted to do it, but she was really scared to.  She hates getting her face wet.  I have no idea where she gets that from!  It took her about 10 minutes, but she finally did it!

Discrete Peak Series #2

I had so much fun doing the first Peak race that I decided to sign up for the second one too.  It helped that the kid's bike team service project for the day got cancelled so our Saturday opened up.  It was so fun and so hard.  I loved it!

The peak in the background is the one that we ran up to.

The view going up...I tried to enjoy the beauty of it all even though it was so steep.

And the view from the top.  It was slightly stormy and it just made this gorgeous light on the canyon and the mountains all around.  I loved it!

The next day they posted the professional pictures.  They aren't flattering, but pretty accurate!

Going up was hard, but the first part of the downhill was insane.  It was crazy steep.  There was one part where my foot totally slipped and I was sliding down straight to a rock, I couldn't stop myself but the trail turned 180 degrees so it was right below the rock so I just slid over the rock turned on my side and landed on my feet on the trail below me.  It was so funny.  I wish the cameramen had been there!  Good times!

Entertainment in the summer

Abby is such a happy little girl and loves playing outside.  Good thing she has some willing players.  And sometimes I have to be the bad guy and make her do some chores, so she finds a way to make them fun too!

Girl's Camp 2018

We had a great Girl's camp this year, like always.  Usually I love to video and take pictures of the girls doing silly things, but on the zipline one of the girls got a hold of my phone.  So, ya, it was fun.  It's especially fun to be there with Kate, but she didn't want me hanging out with her so I didn't get any pictures of her!

Donut Falls

I love getting my kids out too.  Donut Falls is one of our favorite hikes but we hadn't done it for a couple of summers.  The older kids were excited to do it and Abby isn't one to be left behind!

Red Pine Lake

I wanted to keep up with all the trail running and Jerry was so good to come with me.  I would run and he would hike along but it was nice knowing he was there.  There was always tons of other people around, but you just never know what can be there or can happen.  I love adventures, but I try to be smart about things.

First on the list was Red Pine Lake.  It's a gorgeous trail and I loved all the green.  There was still a traffic jam on this trail, but I guess when it's caused by a moose, there's not a whole lot you can do!  This moose kept stopping and looking back at us making sure we weren't getting too close.  It did finally take a different trail so that was a fun little adventure!

The wildflowers were blooming and everything was so green.  I loved it.

Red Pine Lake!  Looking glorious and pretty full all things considered!

I just love Little Cottonwood Canyon.  This is one of my most favorite places!

San Diego? Yes, please.

My sister, Molly, came to town and offered to watch the kids for us for a few days.  We didn't have to be asked twice!  It was so nice to get away and go to the beach and only have to entertain ourselves.  It was seriously so relaxing!

All we really planned on doing was being at the beach.  We did schedule some surfing lessons but that was all that we scheduled.  Everything else was just whatever we wanted to do in the moment which was usually sit at the beach!

One day we did rent a tandem bike and go for a ride.  It was the most ghetto bike I've ever ridden on!  But we did enjoy the ride and we stopped at one point and were just sitting on a bench and this guy riding an elliptigo stopped next to us and talked to us for a while.  Let me just say that I really want one of those.  It would be awesome cross training!

Each night we made sure we could watch the sunset.  Is there anything better than an ocean sunset?

We were near the Oceanside pier.  On my runs in the morning I liked running that way.  I think piers are so cool!

So, like I said, one day we took surfing lessons but the other days we just laid at the beach, went boogie boarding, played a ton of smash ball and read and enjoyed the sun.  I also enjoyed not having to build a sand castle or entertain anyone like that!

We came home on the morning of the 4th and on my run I ran past this sand art.  It was really cool.  It was such a great break but it was fun to come back home to the kids!