Alta Adventure

A few weeks ago I took the boys up to Alta for some clean mountain air. We did a little bike riding, hiking, snack eating, and general enjoyment of the vistas and wild flowers.  It is gorgeous up there.

Neighborhood Party

Each summer our neighborhood puts on a party of all parties.  It is always a highlight for our summer.  Mark takes care of the sound, music, setting up, and assigning the Young Men different jobs.  Our boys LOVE this evening.

 Ready for the bike parade!

 

Rainstorm

Earlier in July, we had a huge storm, and the kids ended up playing in the gutters.  They couldn't have been happier.

Evans Cousins

While my sister Emily was here in Utah, I got to meet up with her and the other sisters for a few fun outings.  We met at Kangaroo Zoo for Vivien's birthday party and then later at Heritage Park.  I love spending time with Emily while she is here and watching the kids with their cousins.

Pioneer Day

To celebrate Pioneer Day, I talked with the boys about the pioneers and we looked at pictures depicting the trek West.  The boys had swimming lessons this morning and we did not have any big plans as a family for the day, so I decided to take Brian and Timmy to the old Temple Quarry at the base of Little Cottonwood Canyon.  It was perfect.  They learned all about how the first settlers here chiseled the stones for the Salt Lake Temple there and hauled them by wagon 20 miles to the temple site.

We made a game of finding all the half circle drill holes made by the quarry-men as they split the big boulders into smaller pieces.  Those marks were everywhere.  See how many you can spot.

The favorite part for Brian especially was climbing and playing on all those rocks.  He was endless energy and such a skilled rock scrambler.

 Timmy enjoyed climbing around as well, but he said his favorite part was all the lizards we saw darting in and out from under the rocks.

Timmy was particularly hilarious for me to watch.  He was tired from keeping himself up too late the night before and he just kept lying down all over the place.  The first time he did this I asked him what he was doing and he said, "I'm just resting."  Then he would get up and climb around for awhile and I would turn around and look at him again and find him somewhere else just resting.

The time he decided to park himself in the middle of the dirt was the best.

We enjoyed a mid morning snack and talked more about the pioneers and the quarry.

I find this last picture interesting.  These brothers are in the exact same position doing the exact same thing. I have no idea how that happened.

Later in the day while the kids were napping, I watched a few videos that brought the pioneer spirit into my heart.  In the evening we went to Outback Steakhouse for a fantastic dinner.  I am so grateful to celebrate my heritage and I am so grateful for the examples of those pioneers.  I hope to be more like the pioneers in my faith and perseverance.

July 4th

I'm going to let most of the pictures above speak for themselves.  Our Independence Day was wonderful. I love celebrating in Oakley.  However, the nights around July 4th were somewhat difficult.  We not only had late night fireworks, which were expected, but three nights of huge house shaking thunderstorms.  Timmy slept through everything.  Brian on the other hand, missed out on lots and lots of sleep due to night after night filled with all manner of booms and bangs.  The thunder and fireworks caused some serious anxiety for him.  I feel bad for Brian and I really hope he can just grow out of the fear, because I really don't know how to help him more than comfort him, explain that he's not in any danger, and provide some pretty sweet ear muffs.