Cattle Drive 2018

Here we go for another cattle drive.  I always ask the kids if they want to go or not, secretly hoping that they won't want to, but they always do.  So off we went.  Abby was excited about seeing all the cows and hanging out with everyone.

We had fun watching all the kids and Grandpa riding in on the loading chute.

I do like that my kids have a chance to ride horses.  And I love that they are getting more comfortable on them.

It was cold and a little rainy but that didn't dampen their spirits.

Sara was especially excited about the horses.  She tells us all the time that she wants to move to the country and own a horse.  We always counter with when she grows up, she can do whatever she wants!

This will always be one of my favorite views!

It was cold but we survived the day with smiles intact!

The Grandkids always love checking out the animal bones laying around.  It kind of grosses me out but they think the bones are cool.

We had to get creative to get everyone in the picture.  Someone should have taken a picture of how we rigged the phone up on a rock and soda can.  That was pretty ingenious.  The cows aren't my favorite, but it's always fun to spend the day with family.

Looking into the future

My girls wanted to try on my wedding dress.  That was hilarious and kind of creepy!  It was a fun little afternoon of pretending!

Exploring in Arches before D-town

We headed down to Durango for the cattle drive again.  But like always, we stopped in Arches to explore some more areas.  It's so fun to check out new places and Arches is one of my favorites.

First we hiked to Sand Dune Arch.  This is a super short and easy hike, but really cool.  We loved all the sand around the arch.  It was so fine and smooth.  Crazy for in a desert!

Next we hiked to Broken Arch.  This crack went all the way through the arch.  That was pretty cool.

We also found this random plastic tiger on the side of the trail.  It made us laugh so it became our joke for the trip!

Lastly we went to Skyline Arch.  By then the kids were mad at me because it was pretty hot.  Ha ha.  We had fun checking everything out!

Matt's 15th birthday

Matt was super excited to turn 15.  He has so much great stuff to look forward to.  First on the list is getting his permit so he can start figuring out this driving stuff!  We went the day after his birthday since his birthday was on a Sunday.  Help us all as we teach him to drive!

I let him drive once we got to a street right outside our neighborhood.  It was...interesting.  He has to learn some road spatial awareness.  And he also needs to know this levers are the blinkers and which are the windshield wipers...it could be a long process!

Climbing peaks with Jer

So I had this peak climbing race coming up.  Jerry wanted to take me up one of the peaks in the race to see how it was.  It's at the ski resort that we ski at all winter, but we wanted to check it out in the summertime!  It was good for me to go with him because it definitely had some exposure that freaked me out and it gave me a lot of confidence going up slowly with him first.  I'm not a fan of heights and at one point I did look down and I immediately got so dizzy and had to just hug on to a rock for a minute until I decided I had to get my booty up to the top!

The views on the way up were amazing.  I loved the snow that was there still, but seeing all the blooming happening was so great.

The views from the top were amazing and seeing some of the other peaks we were going to be climbing was good.  This race actually climbs 4 peaks so that's fun!

Back at the bottom I wanted to show off what we climbed up.  It's not a super long run to the summit, but it's straight up with a lot of rock scrambles.  I was much more confident heading into the race knowing that I'd already done it!

Midweek bike races

The kids were all really excited about the bike races this summer.  Matt did one last summer and it was not so successful so we really wanted him to do some races this summer to get more practice racing.  Kate also wanted to do some races which was good experience for her as well.  And Sara didn't want to be left out.  She did the kids races for all of the ones she went to except for one.  She did the beginner course at that one and it was insane, but she had fun.  Her first race was one of the most fun.  She wanted to keep on racing so that was a good sign!

South Jordan Summerfest

We love when South Jordan has their summerfest.  It is so much fun with all of the activities they have going on.  I loved that the kids wanted to run the 5k and the mile fun run.  Well, everyone except for Matt, but that's ok.  Kate decided to run the 5k with her friend.  I loved that she had a friend that wanted to do it too.  Kate didn't really train except for the mountain biking that she's been doing, but she was excited.  She did so awesome!  She actually ran a 6 minute pr because she was trying to keep up with her friend!  I loved it!

Kate was sore for a couple of days afterwards, but she loved that she did it!

Abby and Sara both ran the 1 mile fun run.  It was Abby's first little race!  I wouldn't say that she loved it, but she was very proud of the medal.  And she did a great job, she ran it in 10:48!  I was very proud of her.  Sara just did it all on her own and ran a 7:16.  She doesn't even know how good that is.  She would really do awesome at running events, but if I tell her that there is zero chance that she'll do it.  It has to be her own idea, so hopefully she'll have a chance to discover it on her own!

Abby was a little tired after the run and then the parade!  Lol!

Later in the day Sara and Abby set up this little deal.  Abby was the queen sitting on her throne and Sara was the servant guarding her to make sure she stayed safe!! Oh boy!

4th grade talent show

Sara's class had a talent show so Sara and her friend sang a song while Sara accompanied on the ukulele.  She did a great job.  Her ukulele teacher came to watch her too so that was really cool.  She actually had a lot of fun doing it and I was very proud of her!

Jeepin through the summer

Abby had so much fun driving the jeep she got for Christmas in the house and when it warmed up we were super excited to take it outside.  She loved it and has had so much fun with it!  Every girl needs a jeep!

Field trip to the Capitol

Going to the State Capitol is one of my favorite field trips so I was totally excited to go along with Sara.  It's really an amazing building and the kids all like it after learning about Utah all year.  It was a fun day!

Grandeur Peak

I signed up for this crazy hard peak climbing race so I need to get some climbing runs in.  I wanted to climb Grandeur Peak and Jerry wanted to come along.  It was a beautiful morning.  I loved the blooming of spring and how green everything was.  It was an awesome time.  I also loved that I could take Tulo.  There are so many places around here that you can't take dogs so this was cool.

The clouds were pretty in their own way, but I'd like to climb it again when it is blue skies so I can get the full effect of the view!