First time camping in the Uintas!

After a week of Scout Camp for Eric and 3 days of Girls Camp for me, the kids were dying for a turn.  So we packed up and headed up to a new place to camp: the Uinta Mountains in Eastern Utah.  And they were gorgeous!!

Despite the stressful setback of not finding our campsite for the first couple of hours we were there, (my fault because I didn't print the confirmation thing and we didn't have service), and one meltdown by me, we ended up finding our awesome campsite and had a good night.

These next two pictures are important even though you can't really see the kids' faces, because this is when we told them the news that we were having another baby!!  They were super surprised and their little faces were so cute and glowing in the firelight, it was cool.  They immediately started thinking of things like "good thing we have one more seat in our car" "good thing we have an 8-person tent" and "we are going to need a bigger kitchen table!" It was funny.  I think someone also said "I thought Dad didn't want to have any more kids!" hahaha.

This is why we had to go on this trip so suddenly, we had to go before I got sick!  And it was just in the nick of time.  I couldn't have handled camping even a week later. 

So it was a special night with the new realization that this wonderful thing, a new baby, would be happening to our family. :)

The next morning was fun.

just hanging out at our campsite by the river.

And THEN we tried to go on this hike that I've been DYING to do, it's called 17 Lakes because you pass 17 small lakes!  How cool!  I even had special fun treats planned to give the kids each mile so we could try to make the whole 6-mile round trip.

BUT of course we parked in the wrong spot and couldn't find the trailhead and so I was super mad and disappointed and Eric was annoyed to not know where we were going and the kids were being whiny so we gave up and hiked around past 2 little lakes instead.  Later we saw the sign for where we should have gone to the trailhead and I was mad all over again.  Maybe someday we can try again....sigh.  But in the meantime the kids barely made it almost 4 miles, so if we had tried to go all the way on the 17 lakes one it might have been awful!  Which I knew, but was trying to ignore.:)

Anyway it was SO BEAUTIFUL! So unique and cool.  The pines, the meadows, the wildflowers!  So unlike all the other parts of Utah that I have seen, all of which are beautiful in different ways.

picnic lunch time,

cool moss on a rock that owen hid under.

A lonely princess waiting for rescue lol.  Katelyn discovered that her hiking shoes, which she hadn't worn in like 4 months, were too small.  So she was grumpy and wouldn't go down to the lake-

to skip rocks with the rest of us.

Yay for family hiking haha.

Maris was as usual the least-complaining child!

Maybe because she got carried a lot. :)

Overall we give the Uintas a thumbs-up.  Can't believe I've lived in Utah for 16 years and this was my first time there!  We will definitely be going back.

And also, here are a couple more random pics that got left off the last post.

glue and watercolors on canvas, and peacocks from Mom Art Class.

And while I was at Girls Camp horses from the field behind us ate our last row of corn!  Apparently I planted it too close to the fence!

2nd half of summer random

one more rappelling picture that I missed, and I think I look cute so it needs to go in. :)

One of the Mom Classes this summer that both the girls picked was Indexing 101.  They both really enjoyed it and did several batches this summer!  And got little certificates from our ward indexing lady for being the youngest indexers in our ward. :)  This was Katelyn's favorite project, although one of the harder ones she did, rosters from the Revolutionary War!  I didn't get a picture of Whitney but she did a bunch of Canadian censuses.  They both did well with only partial help from me, and I think they liked the history part of it like I do.

Once a week in the summer we go either swimming or to a splash pad.  Here was one of the splash pad days; Uncle Jonathan joined us because it was in Provo.

The girls did a presentation about Japan for their MacKay cousins.

My hair was this long before I chopped it off, and I'm loving it!

One day Owen bonked his head pretty hard so he was laying on the couch with one of Grammy's cold rice bag owls, and Maris wanted to comfort him so she got one too and laid by him. :)

On my birthday I took the kids to see the new Saturday's Warrior at the dollar movies.

Kristi and Taylor and Company were in Utah and they came to the pond with us!

It is so fun to spend time with them.

And then we went to the Thevenins in beautiful Hobble Creek Canyon for a BBQ.

While Eric was at scout camp we tried to keep busy.  This was the dripping rock trail in SF.

and of course Maris fell in while I was trying to take this picture.

One evening I was doing something in the garden and the kids had left water in the pool (I know, dangerous) and suddenly I noticed Owen and Maris decided to get in with their clothes on!  It's all good.

Also while Eric was at scout camp we tried to go to the This is the Place Monument.  It was kind of fun, but turned out awful at the end.  Note to self: you probably never need to go back there.  Too hot and exhausting for so little enjoyment.

Part of the problem of that whole day was being squished in our little car because Eric took the van.  I felt bad making Kate sit in the back too much, but whenever Whitney sat back there it was an absolute nightmare.  TOO CLOSE TOGETHER!  This was literally the only peaceful 10 minutes we had, when they all fell asleep right before we got home.

random silly bath picture!

More Mom Art Class: 

Sand paintings

yarn painting,

fingerprint poppies and pineapples,

and more pineapples: Kate, Whitney, and Owen's.

Katelyn with all her summer art projects.

Owen with his.

Maris with the 4 little kid ones we did! :)

Whitney with hers.

And here are mine haha.

For Eric's birthday I got him a hammock stand because he has been loving taking his hammocks everywhere we go and looking for a place to put them up.  He has only used it a handful of times, but I'm still happy I got him a present I knew he would like.

owen was super into tying knots for a while this summer.  I even tried to teach him the ones we were doing for girls camp.  

Also this summer I made my first real pieced quilt! For Melissa and Karl's baby that they NAMED AFTER ME! Wow I was so surprised and honored when they asked me if it would be okay if they named her Mallorie Rebecca.  She is a sweetie and I was totally excited to make her a special quilt.

Me and Mallorie Rebecca. :)

We sold the Accord!!! After 13 years it was having a lot of minor and annoying problems, and we decided to trade it in before anything bigger needed fixing.  Eric had been dreaming of a new car for years, and although he was able to satisfy his cool car needs with a motorcycle for a while, he was ready to be driving a car that he picked, not a family car.  We are so grateful, like we could never express how grateful we are to have had this free, new, wonderful car from Eric's parents!  It was the best wedding present ever!!! And we had many good times in it.  Farewell Green Accord, thanks for the memories. :)

And lastly, at the end of August I celebrated my 20th anniversary of my first day of Cross Country practice. :)  I had been planning to do something awesome for a few years now-- run somewhere new and cool, do a 20 mile run, run a cool race, try to gather a bunch of old running friends for a big group run.... but when the day happened to fall when I was 8 weeks pregnant and SUPER sick, I had to settle for driving up to one of my favorite local places to run, Provo Canyon.  I ran 3 miles pushing the kids and it wiped me out.  I have been running all along but I hadn't been pushing the kids, and I was just so sick.  Ugh, let's not talk about it anymore haha.  It was still kind of cool.  Maybe I'll do something spectacular for the 25th anniversary. :)  

Here's my facebook post about it, I also had a picture of my as a high school freshman:

Today is a big day for me!! It's the 20-year anniversary of the day I started running; my Runniversary haha. This is me at age 14 at one of my first meets, and today running in Provo Canyon. 20 years ago I was about to start my freshman year of high school, (yes I feel old saying that!) and my friends Marcee and Gina convinced me to come try Cross Country. After the first day I didn't really want to go back, but my wise mom told me I should try it for a week before giving up. And by the end of the week I was hooked!! Little did I know what an amazing journey I was beginning! Running helped me fit in in high school, blessed me with SO many incredible friendships that I cherish still. It gave me a way to challenge myself and experience the ups and downs of competition and gave me so much confidence! I had great coaches who inspired me, and great experiences traveling to Hawaii and cross country camp and a million meets. Running made high school amazing. And then when I was in college/teaching high school I got to COACH; once again running gave me a chance to make so many friends, go cool places, and be inspired by other coaches and our athletes to improve myself. Coaching was so much fun!! At this time in my life running also took on new roles for me: a way to stay fit and healthy as I had babies and for the rest of my life, therapy as I dealt with anxiety in college, a way to make new friends and connect with people and explore every place I visit. Every since I settled into Mom life I have found even more great friends through running. I have enjoyed being out in nature with my kids. I have run 3 marathons, about 7? half marathons, 2 Ragnar relays, 2 triathlons, a handful of 10ks and so many 5ks I've lost track. I have stacks of medals and t-shirts and go through a pair of shoes about every 9 months. I have seen hundreds of the most amazing sunrises while running. I have said innumerable prayers. Running for me is about friendship and joy and loving my body and this beautiful world, and laughter, so much laughter! And I LOVE to race, to run FAST and push my limits. I'm so grateful for these 20 healthy years. Here's to the next 50 haha!

4th of July

The hot air balloons this year did not disappoint!  As long as you get there while they are blowing them up, it is worth it.  Walking around surrounded by giant clouds of color is kind of magical!

Poor Owen though, I was trying to take a selfie of us when suddenly a huge flame shot out just a few feet away from us and I accidentally caught his look of horror! The bottom one is like 5 seconds later though, he was fine, it was just funny!

After the parade we went back to the colonial Fest to see the play Cries of Freedom.  It was excellent for the first hour, the kids were totally into it, but then it went about a half hour too long and they were dying by the end.

Props to this girl for holding up that torch for literally 10 minutes for the final medley of songs!  It was a fun and patriotic show.

We went up to Fruit Heights for the actual 4th, and the kids had fun with little fireworks and sparklers.

Maris and Cleo

Owen sat back inthe garage and covered his ears for the fireworks, but at least he stayed outside this year!  Progress!

Dinner, activities, and fireworks at Oakridge were a success once again! Thanks to the Murrays for a good time.

letting Maris drive a golf cart lol.

I'll have to add pictures of the kids' facepaint when I get them from Eric's phone. :)