cascade springs

We were in Midway for July 4th, so we went to Cascade Springs just over the mountain.
It was beautiful and green!

Lincoln

Elliott

with our friends, Abby & Rich

 Linc decided to take a little break on his own... in the middle of the path.

giant weed

Abby

CASCADE SPRINGS & ALPINE LOOP

From Salt Lake or Provo, get on the Alpine Loop Road via the American Fork or Provo canyons and just drive up the mountain to the summit. The Alpine Loop Road is clearly signed, as is the Cascade turnoff.

From Midway, just head down the Soldier Hollow Road and take the dirt road on your right... it takes you up over the hill and right to Cascade Springs. About 6 miles from Midway.

lisa falls

Lisa Falls is the perfect little hike for kids! It's only .2 miles round trip (that's right POINT 2), but the trail is sort of steep to give the kids a sense of adventure, with a shallow stream on the side. It's pretty shady too, with a few perfect picnic spots to pull off on. It's tucked away just enough that you can't see it from the road- a little hidden treasure.

(I picked up by bro, Eric and sis Tagen along the way... how lucky are they to live so close to the canyon? Too bad Adam went on a motorcycle ride yesterday and missed out.)

The trail...

tibble fork perfection

Outside is where I want to be.

So we spent Wednesday at Tibble Fork Reservoir.

It was perfect weather and partly cloudy.

Sometimes super sunny, sometimes cloudy and sometimes even sprinkling.

The kids always have so much fun exploring there.

The water was super high this time. Can you see that tree in the water? 

The river going up the canyon was crazy full too. 

Kind of scary, but we didn't have to deal with the river here.

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red rock canyon- las vegas

I love visiting Las Vegas- we've found some fun things to do there! This time we found Red Rock Canyon with lots of hikes to choose from.  I can't wait to get back there again. 

It's a little different hiking in the desert. Amazing and beautiful though. You can just drive the 13 mile loop ($7 per car) or get out on one of the many hikes. We passed the actual red rocks and went to "Lost Creek" which is less than a mile round trip- perfect for kids. The weather was in the 70's at 9:00 AM when we started- perfect.

The boys are always excited to explore new places. 

The hikers- Cody, Ames w/ Baby Will, Tanner, Elliott, Oliver, Kenzie, Megs and Adam. 

Adam even wore shorts for the occasion.

cousins

Click below for more pics from Red Rock!

sunday drive

things I love about a sunday afternoon:

playing games with my boys

taking a nap

reading a good book

sitting outside and the whole neighborhood is out (usually reserved for summer)

eating delicious dinners cooked by someone other than me

hanging out with our big families

taking a walk

watching movies

&

going on a Sunday drive

Last Sunday we decided to drive out to see if the lake had melted. (It had.) Elliott was a little bummed because he wanted to walk on the ice, but was instantly happy when he started throwing rocks in. One thing's for sure- boys never get sick of throwing rocks in water.

I feel a little spoiled that we live so close to this beauty, but the weird thing is that in the off season nobody else is ever there! What?! People are missing out.

Click below for more pics from Utah Lake!

sunday picnic

 Daylight savings always does something to me- it stays lighter longer and puts me in a better mood. I guess I'm a light lover. So I sat in church the day we turned our clocks forward and thought about picnicking in the park. After church we headed to our favorite Draper park with loads of trails and playgrounds to eat our sandwiches and cheetos.

 Adam with the giant frisbee, Linc on his bike, Elliott and Ollie on their scooters. We searched for a place to lay our blanket, but the grass was wet. And the wind started to blow. And it was freezing. I guess we missed the warm hours getting out of church at 4:00.

 But we huddled on our tiny blanket (note to self we're a family of 5 now...) and ate our thrown together dinner on a semi-dry piece of grass. Homemade sandwiches always taste better out of the house I've decided. Then the boys played like crazy until I made us go.

I sure love a Sunday picnic with my family. I'm looking forward to many more... when it warms up just a bit.

night walkers

I don't know about you, but our house right before bedtime can sometimes get a little wild- wrestling, fighting and sometimes boredom... And since it was a little too early for bed and I wasn't ready to  hear one more tattle, we decided to go on a night walk... in our pajamas! (Not me- I was fully clothed thank you.)

We grabbed our flashlights and headlamps, stuffed pajama footies into shoes and went out into the night. It's all about the simple pleasures of life right?

I didn't capture the boys' happy faces, but they were, I promise. 

It was fun to actually use the flashlights other than our once a year camping trip... 

Linc checking out the raindrops with his light.

We even ran into a few neighbors taking their garbages out. I wonder what they thought about our light brigade?

A little fresh air before bedtime was just what we needed. When is fresh air ever a bad thing?