Lake Powell

We had a magical few days with some great friends at Lake Powell.  That is a magical place with WARM water!  The sand stone wall were breathtaking.  No cell phone service to bother with.


We had a fun house boat that we got to call home for 4 days.  4 families… 3 of them sleeping on the roof.  We had meals out side so it wasn’t squishy.  Our chefs were amazing… Amber and Brittney make an amazing team.  I was floored by all the good food we ate every single meal!

We had kayaks and rafts.  waterskiing. tubing. cliff jumping. Just jumping into the water at any moment was wonderful.  warm water is magical.  

After a few days we did wash our hair .  So fun to scrub and then jump in to wash off.

We found an awesome crack to go explore.  I am a tiny dot in the center of the picture.  We explored up a small slot canyon.  Had a fun fox visitor.  Slept under the stairs.  Every night I told the kids a bedtime story.  And 15 kids went to bed after a long busy exciting day.  The drive home was easy.  Every one just slept…. 

Summer Hikes

My cousin Julie and I have been doing hikes every summer for almost 10 years.  It seems to be getting a little harder every summer but we always get a few hikes in.  Kids schedules get busy and then planning around vacations….. but its always a delight when we make it happen. 

We made it to Suicide Rock this summer.  We climbed to the top of the rock… covered in layers of graffiti but so neat to go to the top.  Then we continued on down the path to where the river is.  The kids had a great time playing in the cool water before we had to hike UP and out of the trail.  

We also finally made it to Lundstrom Cave in Big Cottonwood.  It isn’t a big cave but just the right size for kids who are just venturing into cold dark (wet) places.  The older boys had to act brave since there were littles in the group who were looking up to them.

Mid Week Mnt Bike Races

These races have  been a big part of our lives for a lot of years.  They are getting so big now it isn’t quite as much fun.  But our kids still love them, and Darren enjoys the competition and workout.  This is pictures of the last race of this season.  Up at Solitude.  They do a great dinner after and have awards and raffles.  Darren won his division one year - but had to move up since he won… he competes agains some tough competition.  He may never win but thats ok.  They give every kid who races a prize and a certificate.  (and a chance to stand on the first place podium)

Bear Lake with the Hyldahl

We enjoyed the weekend with Rob and his kids at his place in Bear Lake.  From Lagoon straight to Bear Lake… these kids have it made!  The Hyldahl have so many fun things to play with in the water.  The kids loved tubing.  Paddle boarding was a hit!  The view from the trailer we stayed in was pretty amazing.  4 wheelers were fun.  Hot tubbing.  Trampoline jumping.  The adults even snuck out one night to get a shake from La Beaus!

Lagoon and Logan

Every August Darren's work takes us to Lagoon.  While the big kids went on a fast and crazy ride Abby and I did a nice slow train ride and took some fun pictures.  She wanted to pose for lots of photos.  Then we drove up to Logan after.  The kids are growing so we tried a different way to let them sleep in the bed.  

July 2016

July was a great month.  So busy and so great!  Darren got in some nice bike rides with his buddies, Mike and Corey.  They climb high so they can go down a lot.  

Aunt Jenny took us all jet skiing.  The Harston cousins were there along with Renee’s family. I have always loved jet skiing.  The speed and turning.  And now my kids get to try it often.  They love it too!  Rockport!  

Parents were still out on the mission so we got together once in a while and did some yard work.  Managing lots of fun cousins… trying to get them to work and not just talk and play the whole time = workout for moms

We got Great Grandpa Balls’ riding lawn mower.  Tyler is pretty fast at it.  Its amazing how much less times it takes!  I still haven’t learned to drive it… maybe for a good reason…. I dont need to learn with a husband and three kids!  Darren also had a birthday.  His parents came down from Logan to celebrate.  Ice-cream cake was delicious.  We had to choose a paint color for the basement.  Who knew there were so many shades of gray and how different they would all look. 

On the 24th of July we enjoyed a fun neighborhood breakfast.  They had a super fun bike parade with a horse leading the way!  Then we headed up into the mountains.  Tyler went to his buddy Parkers bday party so the four of us walked around Silver Lake at Brighton.  Darren and Ella hiked really fast up the steep steep trail to Twin Lakes.  She’s a good little athlete!

Our dear friends/relatives the Minnicks came back to Utah for a visit.  We stole them away for a day and had a fun sleep over.  The Snowder got to come too!  Two families I love very much!

One of my favorite people, Neti Call, stopped in for an hour.  Great surprise!  She was here in Utah for just a few days and I got to spend an hour with her!

Tyler is playing a beautiful song called Einaudi- I giorni at Ranell’s wedding.  It is a beautiful song.   Ella started achievement days because she is 8.  So neat to have the time to form good relationships with the girls in the neighborhood.  We did say goodbye to fun cousins who had to head back to Kentucky.  We love every summer with them!

Our good friends the Shields who we carpool with every day to school have been our climbing buddies.  We went to Dogwood this day.  Abby climbed up high! I was so proud of her.  Ella and Mia are close in age and get along great.  Zoe is older then Abby but they still do great together!

We love to have the Allen cousin close by!  Popping over to say hello is great!  I love my garden.  I am grateful Darren took good care of it all summer while I was gone a lot.  We had a fun sparkler night.  Tyler and I were in Mexico for the 4th of July so we had some celebrations when we got home.