Donnar Lake @ Lake Tahoe

 We didn't even make it to Lake Tahoe this trip.  We loved Donnar Lake so much that we stayed there the whole time.  We did some paddleboarding next to our campground.  It was so nice to be able to bike right to the most beautiful swimming spot.  We also rode around the lake.  It was a lovely 7 miles.  

The Truckee Train Tunnels were cool.  The graphite art was neat to see. 

We ate some good food.  I love the simple life of camping.  Thankfully, no bear attacks this time.  We were on the hunt for the biggest pinecone.  Darren found it. 

On Saturday, Darren and Ella (and several Maybird riders) raced in the NorthStar Mnt bike Race.  50 K.  It was a hot day, and Ella was still sick.  

Darren's 48th Birthday

Darren, Ella, and a few other friends had planned a fun bike ride up at Snowbird on his birthday.  We went to bed on Friday night after realizing our main water line into the house had broken and was leaking water into the house. I stayed home and started digging the hole so he could enjoy his day.  We are so grateful for good friends who helped us get the problem fixed within 24 hrs.  

Abby was small enough that she could climb down into the hole and help do some digging.  We had already planned a BBQ with friends to celebrate.  Darren missed most of it since Kevin's workers had shown up and were fixing it.  So grateful for running water.  

Aunt Nellie and Family at Bear Lake

Ranell and Jordan drove here from Minnesota.  So, of course, we need to soak in all the time we can with them.   We enjoyed a hike up at Alta to a pretty waterfall.  Had some frozen yogurt afterwards.  

We had a great place to stay in Bear Lake for three days.  We enjoyed the beach, jet skiing, good food, raspberry shakes, and "Taylor Swift" concerts.  We also stopped and prerode the Beaver Mountain course and Stump Hollow. 

Grandaddy Basin in the Uintas

Grandaddy was perfect for our family.  It was my moms first backpacking trip which made it memorable but also all of my siblings were there and some with spouses.  We had 24 total in our group.  First Day hike into Betsy Lake . About 4 miles but over Hades Pass was hard.  Our base camp area was perfect by the lake.  Great for fishing. 

The second day, we hiked just over 5 miles to Fish Hatchery Lake, Lily Pad Lake, had a delicious lunch at Pine Island Lake, circling around to Palisade Lake, then passing by Brinton Meadows, which took us back to Betsy Lake.  The mosquitoes were terrible, and we had some rain.  The hike out went fast since the VIP slow kiddos left an hour earlier than the adults.  We made it to Oakley Diner, and everyone was happy.  

2025 Granddaddy Lake

2024 Naturalist Basin

2023 Kings Peak with Ella‘s friends

2020 Red Castle Lakes Allens

2020 Dead Horse Pass with adventure girls

2016? Kings Peak with Chad 

June 2025

 Ella and the Black Diamond Maybird girls headed to Richfield for an iCup Race.  They seem to always have fun.  Darren likes to go with them and be the cool dad!

A few fun things in June: Balls Bike Camp, Cowabunga Bay with Abby's school friends, Abby's piano recital which she played Popular from Wicked, Abby and Ella dyeing a small chunk of hair pink, Abby's YW group going to the temple, practice with the DPMS mnt bike team, talking to our favorite Tyler every week and hearing about his cooking adventures. 

Ella keeps biking.  Doing the limbo with her bike was fun to watch. Doing the "Super Crest" with Darren. Lots of elevation but also soaking in the river and icing the legs in the snow.   

Darren and I went to Kansas City for his annual Savage Leadership Conference.  It's nice to be together.  I loved the World War I museum and all our long walks around the downtown area. 

Abby, Hazel and Maybel had a great time dressing up. 

Balls Bike Camp was a sucess.  4 summers in a row now.  

Neighborhood parties to swim and play 9 square. 

The South Ridge of Superior was fantastic.  We thought about Tyler the whole time and promised we would be back next summer to do it with him.  The Larrabees joined us.  It was the makeup activity for City of Rocks this year.  We weren't able to go to Idaho to climb this summer, so this was a great runner-up.  

And... JORTS day at CCHS Mnt bike practice.  Oh my!