Some good hikes

We've been trying to make the most of our nice weather lately and get into the great outdoors. Mount Olympus has always been a hike we've wanted to do as it is so accessible to Salt Lake, and would no doubt have a great view. We were blessed to have Dannielle in town for her daughter Ellie's soccer camp, so she watched our kids overnight. We decided to celebrate our anniversary a little early. We went downtown, did some window shopping for the remodel of Mat's office (to be documented on here soon) and went to dinner. The next morning, we got up around 5:30 and headed up to Wasatch Boulevard to the trail head at Pete's Rock.

We headed up a steep, well worn trail. The view was awesome the entire way up, but once we were able to see over the other side of the Wasatch we were truly in awe.

The view from the top was amazing, once we found the right route up the last few hundred feet.

We met a guy named Jan on the summit from the Czech Republic. He has lived in Utah for 20 years and had an interesting life story. We walked all the way down with him and heard all about his many hiking adventures. He had already hiked Mount Olympus twice this week and was planning Lone Peak the next day.

The next day we ran a million errands in the morning, then headed up Little Cottonwood Canyon on a more kid friendly hike to Cecret Lake. Casey and Tiffany joined us. The parking lot was jammed due to popularity, but we finally found a spot and set off with our walking sticks in hand (all found in the dirt around the parking lot).

The wildflowers are usually amazing this time of year, but due to the snow they are quite late in blooming. There were still a few early specimens to gaze at.

The kids enjoyed the walk as they got to cross several small streams and even a little snow.

The beautiful views were endless. We hope to hit many more scenic spots while the weather holds out.

Two Words: Book Thief

This makes my top list for reading books this year.

I think I'm gonna like it here...

So many things to do and many more things to come. Here are a few--

Hogle Zoo with my friend Abby from WV. Aspen and Micah were giddy that they were seeing each other in SLC.





The Design of the New SLC Library was exquisite. There was also a cute little lady, Kira, making balloons for the kids on her own free time. She was telling me that she was blind due to brain tumors when she was young. Her dog Holly was right beside her. What a happy person she was!



The Farm







Micah getting the turkey to gobble



The spooky treehouse



Red Butte Garden

Double Donut

It was donut themed today. You know how I can't resist themes!

Up the canyon there is a quick hike called Donut Falls. The water goes through a hole in the rock and out the other side. Hard to see, but it's there with your spectacles.

( I am tempting all of my outsider friends to come visit me in Utah with my lush hiking photos. None have been tampered with, it's the real deal! Just like I am the real deal with my warm embrace when you visit)

Along the way, we found some flower samples to camouflage Gretchen's dress.

Of course when we finished, we stopped for some donuts. Mostly because that was the "carrot" to get my kids to stop complaining about how tired they were and how their legs huwrt, and how they could barely breathe! No one is complaining now.... Well except for Gretchen, Micah took a bite of HER donut and that would promote a sour face for the next twenty minutes.

Stay tuned for more of my themed hikes. They've got me staying awake at night planning them.

Model

an A+ remodeled kitchen and an A+ model pregnant diva!

I just wanted to show off Mat's sister and her husband's style through their kitchen remodel. Very budget friendly, very posh, very ship shape. My favorite,?The baby blue cabinets that she puzzled into a few choice spots. Brilliant!

Chicken Crossing

Why did the chickens cross the road? Because their local grocer was giving away free chicken hats, that's why! The grocer also has a summer reading program and a coloring contest. Cluck, cluck!

Temple Grandin Should Study My Kids

We recently watched the HBO movie Temple Grandi,n as per my brosef in-law's suggestion, and loved it. It's a true story about an autistic girl with a brilliant mind for animal behavior. It also has creative filming to help you think like she does. I made my kids watch it too (they went in and out of watching it), but I still tried to teach them about the differences in people and our God given talents. It sorta sunk in, well, Gretchen now thinks she has Temple's God given talents.

Anyway, I would like to invite you to my house Temple. I would like you to study the behavior patterns of my children. For example, why is it that when I make a sandwich for them at lunch they request to have the crust cut off, like so:

But, when I serve them banana bread they only eat the crust?

Law Breaking Hike / Grambo

We went on a lovely hike on the outskirts of Kanarraville. We've been on this hike before and loved it because you have water to wade your feet in along the way. A must for a southern Utah hike in July. However, we noticed this time when we arrived they posted signs wanting $10 to park in the dirt area. We drove down the street and found street signs saying "no parking" too, so we parked just behind the last posted sign to be in the clear. I did not want to pay to hike. It's recreation rape. When we came back to our cars at the end of the hike we weren't so lucky, we had violation stickers stuck on all of our cars. They are the gummy stickers that don't come off real easy too. Turns out we missed the sign that said, no parking anywhere on Kanarraville streets. Period. Argh! Kanarraville has a whopping four streets total! Come on!

We still had fun. We got to hang out with Holly, Joc, and Dan, all of my favorites.

We also got to see this guy. His name is Buddy and he is so striking don't you think! He held his hands at ten and two the whole time while riding in the backpack. He'll be a very cautious driver some day.

We stopped to see Grambo later (Mat's Grandma. The Grambo is a nickname for how tough she is) She is 92 and she has her wits about her. She showed us her beautiful remodeled yard and she took us out to eat at the Cafe. A lovely person indeed.

Whew! 2nd Move Done

We were able to move into our apartment Tuesday, hence the waiting period we had in St. George and SLC. Our FLAT (which is how I will always refer to it because it sounds fancier then saying apartment) wasn't ready on the 1st like we'd hoped, so we had to shuffle our stuff twice. First, to a garage and then to our uh-hem flat.

You know what is great about these moves, family comes to lift us and old friends arise from planted seeds. Poetic, I know. Not only were they there on the first day we moved into the garage, but the second when we moved into our flat. Their response "it's good exercise!" and that it was. Thank you Augensteins, Matt, and Jess for lifting and hauling. Thanks Lindsay and Bob for taking the kids. Thanks Andrea for providing nourishment and a house to store our stuff that doesn't fit into our 1350 sq ft apartment. Thanks Shauntel and Janet for dinner.

Janet and Dave even fetched our coupon mailer from our car to tell us about the best japanese restaurant in town.

Wow. Oh, and thanks Tiff and Case for helping with the set up. The living space was tra-icky.

Before

After

Complete with swanky red chair from dumpster

the couch cushion houses have resumed and so have the crazies too

Now, I am just resting. I'm taking a moment for my joints to fall back into place and I'm waiting for my neck cords to loosen. I swear you could play the guitar on them! Ahhh! The joys of moving. Can't wait to do it again in a little while when we find a house.

To do tomorrow:
Library card
Swing by the elementary school
Plan menu and execute ingredients for that menu

Return to St. George

We made a trek down to St. George to see Grandma Rexine and witness the baptism of one Grace Larkin. Micah had her third 4th birthday party complete with a DIY butterfly cake.

St. George city installed a carousel next to the Tabernacle and water play area, which is free for kids and 50¢ for adults. Ellie and Grace joined us.

Mat joined us late Friday night and the next morning we took advantage of some built in babysitting and hit a classic St. George climbing spot, Black Rocks. The fact that we hadn't climbed for a few weeks was painfully obvious once we started as our grip strength was sorely lacking, but we had fun nonetheless.

We had a nice afternoon swimming and hanging with the family after the baptism. That night we hit the Painted Pony, a fancy St. George restaurant. Mat raved about the bacon wrapped duck, I in turn spit out a piece he gave me into my napkin. He wasn't happy that I wasted a bite.

Sunday we visited Grandpa Horlacher, who has been battling Alzheimer's for a few years now. He is otherwise fit as a fiddle.

We also hit Worthen park to get the kids out of the house. The weather was beautiful and a good time was had by all.