Hike

Snow and Utah ... This was from a hike in early November where it went from clear and sunny to a path with loads of snow. 

Little Cottonwood hikes

Taking in some great hikes here.

Back side of Snowbird. Used to seeing this full of snow and can't wait to ski this.

This is on the way to Cecrete Lake. We sped through it with a rain storm coming on but it was still pretty cool. And Jeff missed it last year when we did it right before the road closed for the season. 

Summer fun

Some pictures from Jeff's phone of good summer fun. 

Birthday party at Wheeler Farm for a friend. Love that Kyle and Aaron chose to dress alike. Can't imagine they (Kyle) will willingly do that much longer. 

Emily & Jeff on a hike. I believe this is Willow Meadows or something like that. It believe it's Big Cottonwood and they saw a moose during this hike as well. 

Millcreek Hike

Continuing our start of summer weekend (while Jeff was away), we went into Millcreek Canyon for a new hike. Pretty great view of the valley. 

Cecret Lake Hike

Jeff was away this weekend and we went out to explore a new hike. This one was to Cecret Lake up by Alta. Apparently this was the last weekend the road would be open ahead of ski season. This hike did not disappoint. It was stunningly gorgeous. There were great paths to walk, things to climb on, a half frozen lake to throw rocks on and into, and great pictures to be had. We will have to take Jeff here when it reopens after ski season. 

Olympic Training Center Park City

The kids and I went up to Park City to see the Olympic Training Center. It was amazing! The kids had a blast there checking out the museum. We then watched the ski jumpers practice into water. That is quite the site. We then got some ice cream before hiking up to the top to check out their ropes / challenge course which was like a little Ninja Warrior course. 

Warped wall

Pirate Bear

The warped wall is much harder than it looks. Eventually Kyle, Emily, and I made it. Emily made it through the entire course. She got creative going on top of some of the really difficult ones, but she did it. Go Emily!

Kyle & Emily's 11th birthday Bell's Canyon hike

For Kyle and Emily's birthday, we had a brilliant idea of going for a hike. We heard Bell's Canyon was a good, reasonably easy hike... while it was nice to get out with the family for a hike, we were very ill-prepared for this one. We thought an easy hike we would accomplish in an hour or so. So in the morning, we had a light breakfast, set out with our water packs and a bar with the intention of going to brunch / lunch afterward. Not quite how it turned out. It was 11am when we started, it was a million degrees out, we only had 1 bar and those 4 miles seemed like 14. About 4.5 hours later we were back at the car. The steep terrain, winding paths, extreme heat, lack of food and not eating enough for breakfast and making sure to conserve water, it was a challenge to say the least. It taught us a very valuable lesson though to make sure we bring more food than we think we will need and always enough water. And to avoid the heat and have proper covering from the sun in the heat. 

Nonetheless, we powered through and saw the first waterfall at Bell's Canyon. About 1/2 mile from the falls, we divided and conquered because Aaron was just done. So Emily and I went first, came back to our meeting point, and then Jeff & Kyle went to the top. The hike got much harder at that point too so it was a good choice even if it took more time when we were all hungry and exhausted. 

Snowbird

Snowbird has summer concerts on the weekend. We went to a few this summer. After the concert, we went for a short walk. It did not disappoint. Emily picked a nice bouquet of wildflowers and we saw a family of deer. Pretty awesome if you ask me. 

Ensign Peak

Exploring Salt Lake City and did a short hike to the top of Ensign Peak. It's a short, easy hike with a great view of the city. Apparently this is where Brigham Young went, saw the great view of the valley, and declared "this is the place" (which you see all over SLC), and established Salt Lake City as a new place for the LDS to settle. 

Day 1 in SLC

We dove straight into SLC on our first day. The kids were up early despite being up late the evening before with our flight and everything so I got them moving. Jeff went to work and we hit the hills. I think this route is called The Living Room. It's up by the Natural History Museum. We went on this trail when we visited back in December, but it was super muddy then. Now it was parched and dry and we were able to have a nice walk. 

At the top. 

Arizona

This weekend, we went out to Arizona to visit with Jeff's family and to get some warmth in this cold winter. The weather didn't cooperate too much at first with some cold and rainy days, but we made the best of it with the family and had a great time. 

Like we did in past visits to Arizona, we set out to climb Camelback Mountain. Last time we were there, Aaron was a baby. And the kids hadn't been to the top (to the best of my memory). This time, that would change. Jeff, Kyle, and Emily made it to the top on this climb. Aaron and I stopped just short of the top because Aaron was getting tired and we still had to be able to climb down. Nonetheless, he made it 95% of the way up. Not bad for a 4 year old!! Kyle and Em were thrilled to have made it all the way to the top. 

The next day, the cousins arrived and so we had a lot of family time. Kids played, swam, played poker, hung out. Emily came down with some sort of flu or cold or fever or something that basically knocked her out for the rest of the trip and then some. So she was pretty much couch surfing for the rest of the trip. When the rain cleared, a handful of us went to a new train which we called Coyote Trail because of the real life coyote packs that we could hear howling and crossing the paths!! We were a bit frightened about that but found comfort in the fact that there were many other people out on the trails. They basically advised us to stay together in a pack and to certainly keep smaller kids with us. We didn't quite make it to the top due to daylight fading and not wanting to be out there in the dark with the coyotes so we turned around just shy of the top. For me, it was my 2nd attempted and failed (though that's too strong of a word because they were wise decisions in both cases) at a summit. So I was going to make it to the top of Camelback the following day when we went again. 

With Emily still sick, Jeff, Kyle, Aaron and I set out to attempt Camelback again. About a quarter mile in, Aaron tripped on a stone and skinned his knee. He wasn't going any further at that point, well, unless he was being carried so Jeff turned around with him. Kyle and I scurried our way up to the top at a good clip. And we made it!! Wahoo!! Was a great cap to a fun trip to Arizona.