Rounding Out Summer 2010

The rest of our summer consisted of relaxing until the start of school.  We did our typical day trips once a week, but did I capture any of those moments with photos?  Of course not!  What I did capture was Emma doing her hair by herself.  Evidently the concept of "less is more" has not clicked yet.

I also captured the boys getting promoted up a level in Judo.  Every individual photo of them was blurry, but this one of the group turned out well.

After the vacation, I remember I did not want to cook (if I am completely honest, I only want to cook on rare occasions).  One day we headed to Applebees for their kids-eat-free day.  In the waiting area was a clown who painted each of the kids faces.  They were so excited and I thought, "Great!  Now we have to go home and take showers/baths before we go to bed."

It was a FUN summer!  A summer we still talk about two years later.  By the end, like always, I was ready for the kids to go back to school.  Ready for a little less noise, teaching preschool, teaching piano lessons, and a set schedule.  Reading that back, I can't understand why I would want school to start up again, but every year I do.

Summer Vacation 2010

After Mt. Timpanogos, we did a lot of other fun things. Besides hanging out at Rick and Sarah's while the boys played Heroscape, we headed to Thanksgiving Point. Everytime we have been out, this has been one of our destination spots. The kids love to see the dinosaurs and play in the sand/water portion.

After checking out all the fossils, we headed over to their gardens. It was so beautiful, and I must say that Utah summers are mild in comparison to our Texas ones. I think our favorite spot was the waterfall.

One of our days we hiked the Y. Evidently, Mt. Timpanogos was a good experience because none of us moaned when we headed out and everyone made it to the top.

After spending a little time at the top, we quickly realized that we needed to head down as it was getting late. By the time we made it down, it was getting dark. Sarah (who may be the smartest mom I know) had glow sticks for the kids and they all wanted a picture taken.

The rest of our BYU tour consisted of buying our entire family shirts at the Bookstore (and who can resist chocolate covered cinnamon bears). Then we headed down to the bowling alley for some fun.

Troy had been talking to the kids about King Kong cones all year, so there had to be a stop at Macy's. This was such a big hit that the kids have been talking about it again this year. I guess we have established a new tradition.

After a Winward week, we spent the next week with my parents, grandma, Janae and Chris' family. They were all great and came down to Utah so we didn't have to travel more. They rented a home and we had FUN! Unfortunately, we were having so much fun that pictures didn't get taken. We played lots of Wi, headed to Lagoon for the day, explored an abandoned gold mine searching for gold (we only found a tiny piece) and the adults played lots of pool.

Time went way too fast and it quickly was time for us to leave. We snapped this picture on the way home. We were tired, tired, tired. Tired of traveling, tired from playing and tired of being sad to leave, but we all agreed that we couldn't wait to do it again.

Hiking Mount Timpanogos

My parents were in town for a while and blogging took a back seat to having FUN. One day I'll get around to blogging about that, but for now I will continue to keep the chronological posts coming.

Two days after This is the Place, we headed to Mount Timpanogos. I'm not sure what we were thinking. Who thinks taking 14 kids all under the age of 14 on a good hike is a great idea? Actually the kids did really well. Sarah brought salt water taffy and that was a good enough bribe to get everyone there without too much complaining.

The rock arches along the way were the perfect opportunity for photo shoots. Some of us were much faster at making our way. These three photos pretty much show the groups that ended up sticking together. Good thing there were so many switchbacks, because this is where we always met up.

It was cool enough inside that everyone needed a jacket. We Texans didn't have any with us (after all it is a 100 degrees everyday of the summer here), but Sarah saved the day and kept us all comfortable.

Once we got to the cave, everyone enjoyed the sights inside. I think the best part was turning out the lights and seeing just how DARK it is there. And the hike back down was easy, but spending time with family was priceless.