July Happenings

July killed me.  Not sure why, but it did.  I'm so so glad it's over.  I'm even posting about it sooner than normal so I can just be done.  It's not like it was a horrible month.  We had fun.  We did stuff.  I guess all of the pandemic everything finally caught up to me and I've had enough!

We celebrated birthdays for the boys.  Zack turned 16 and managed to get his license a week after his birthday.  Not too bad in pandemic life.  I think he really loves driving by himself.  And I really love that he can drive himself.  Like it's pretty awesome.  Jake had a birthday.  They're both so low key about birthdays it makes it hard to make things exciting.  We had grandparents come up on Sunday, the day before Zack's birthday, so we could celebrate both birthdays.  Zack got a car for his birthday.  It's a white 2000 Jeep Cherokee.  He was excited as I think he was trying to figure out how to save money for a car.  Even though I'm pretty sure we told him he was getting one.  So that was his birthday present.  That he got before his actual birthday.  So on his actual birthday he went to work.  Which must mean he's getting old.  Zack has been working full-time this summer framing for Jake.  It's pretty grueling, hard work.  Especially in the heat.  He's exhausted when he gets home.  And then two days a week gets to turn right around to go to mountain bike practice.  He's a trooper and a tough kid.  I'm glad he's learning to work hard and earning lots of money.

I think the biggest news of the month is that we finally got a boat!!  I'd mostly given up hope.  Let's just say the stars aligned and the right boat came available here in Midway.  It's yellow and the people we bought it from used to own a honey business, so it's name is Bumblebee.  We've only taken it out a couple of times, but so far we're loving it.  We've had some funny stories of trying to figure things out.  Mostly involving me.  Like it took me 5 attempts to get the boat on the trailer the first time, so that was awesome.  And then one time I couldn't get it to start.  Tried over and over.  Jake was looking at everything, but we couldn't see anything wrong.  Jake was of course expounding on how horrible boats are and this is why you don't get a boat.  I was about to flag down another boat when Jake realized I'd left the boat in gear, not in neutral.  We flipped it to neutral and it started right up.  I will never live this down.  We're trying to figure out surfing.  We have no idea what we're doing other than that I watched a few Youtube videos.  So we're pretty much clueless.  But the kids are loving it and that was the plan.

We had a big family bbq at our house when the Balls were in town.  It was great fun to have everyone here.  There were a million kids, lots of adults, and lots of chaos.  Just how it's supposed to be.  And our family's dream came true when everyone stayed to light fireworks!  It was a Christmas miracle!

Zack's new car.  He won't let us name it.  He has great plans to fix it up.  Nothing has happened yet

The girls insisted on shoving this huge floaty in the car to go to Red Ledges.  Sage and her friend were stuffed in the back.

Waiting for Memorial Hill fireworks

Kate made her first cheesecake.  We need to work some kinks out, but I was pretty impressed!

We hiked to Stewart Falls

I got home from mountain biking and Sage ran out and said turn around!  A balloon just landed!  We need to go find it!

Zack took all of the grandparents for a ride.  Not sure how they all fit.  It was pretty awesome

My boys really like to pose for pictures

Kate and Sage spent a long time working on this.  Apparently it's hard

Bumblebee!!

Pandemic license

Early morning boating in the cold

Zack always wants to go faster on the tube.  I remembered this tube being bigger since our kids were so little.  We've since purchased one that more than one person can fit on.

Our theater was full!  This made me so happy!

We let off lots of fireworks.  Great fun!

Thinning the apple tree at the office

Early morning hike to Bloods Lake

June Happenings

June ended up being a pretty busy, fun month!  I wish I could say the same for July.  So far July is killing me.  For reals.  Anyway, the Balls came to town for a week.  This is a real treat because they haven't come for a while.  One of the few good things to come out of Corona is seeing the Balls more.  Things are still totally shut down in Washington, so they came here to actually be able to have a life.  And it looks like we'll even see them one more time.  A record!  My kids were so excited for them to come.  Ok, they were mostly excited to go to Lagoon, but having the Balls there was an extra bonus.  Lagoon was fine.  Going once every few years is more than enough for me.  Right now you have to make reservations and wear a mask to get in.  They also have nasty smelling hand sanitizer at the end of every ride.  The kids loved every second.  I loved spending time with my family.  The day  ended with a delicious BBQ at April and Toby's.  That was my favorite part of the day.

June brought more Jeep rides, covering the garden so it didn't freeze (this happened while it was pouring rain.  Super not fun), puzzles, and trying to survive the daily grind and kind of enjoy life even though all fun is cancelled.

This puzzle almost defeated me.  It was hard!

The garden covered.  We better get some good veggies because that was painful!

Sage decorated Grandpa's house for a grandkid party.  She was in heaven

So many kids!

We got stuck in line on Colossus forever.  At least we were in the shade

Sage and Georgia swimming in the pond.  Who needs a pool?!

Jeeping

Up above Strawberry Reservoir

Sage did a hip hop dance camp

Zack is working full time framing.  He has a major farmers tan

Jeeping with friends is fun!

Fish Lake

We celebrated making it through June by going camping.  We had a little Alan/Tracy Jorgenson Reunion up at Fish Lake with Mike and Laura and their 9 kids (God bless them) and Greg and Tracy.  If how dirty you are equals how much fun you had then I think it's safe to say a great time was had by all!  The location was beautiful, but the wind.  It just didn't stop blowing, thus there was dirt everywhere.   This was our first time to Fish Lake, so we had a great time exploring and just soaking in the beauty.

It took us a second to make it out the door because Jake and Zack were wiring the truck so that we could take the portable fridge with us.  I don't understand how people survive without a husband who knows how to do things like wire the truck for a fridge, build a camp trailer, put in a pond, build a house....the list could go on and on.  I guess they pay for people to do all of that?  Most of the time I'm very glad for Jake and his skills - just every once in a while it would kind of be nice to pay people;)  Anyway, they got the truck wired and we took off to camp in a tent, but without a cooler and ice to deal with.  So that was awesome. 

While at Fish Lake we ate lots of good food.  This is a must when camping.  Jake and Kate worked hard to make bacon potato deliciousness.  I felt my arteries clogging, which means it was good.  I'm learning that when Jake goes camping he likes to eat well.  My idea of camping food is hot dogs and s'mores.  That doesn't cut it for Jake.  I told him that's fine, but he has to cook it and clean it up.  We went on razor rides.  Super fun, but I think I prefer the Jeep because I don't get covered in dust.  We did some fishing in a beautiful creek.  We did some fishing in the big huge lake.  We played on paddle boards for a bit and then went on a little fishing boat that Greg and Tracy rented.  That was fun and hilarious because it was so small.  On the way home we went the scenic route and explored more of Fish Lake.  Then drove home through Manti and Moroni.  Jake's family is from those little towns, so we read some family history stories to go along with the drive.  All in all, a successful trip and fun reunion.  Can't wait to do it again!

Evening walk

Sage loves to make us pose

Hanging out while the boys fish

This creek was so muddy!  Sage couldn't figure out how to clean her feet off and get out of the creek without getting covered in mud again.  It was amusing.

Paddle boarding.  The weather was crazy.  It would rain for a second, then be super hot.  

The huge fishing boat

Skipping rocks on the way home

Moab....Again

We decided that Moab is probably the place we've been the most as a family.  I have no idea how many times we've gone, but it's a lot.  And yet we all still love it and find plenty to do while we're there.

This was a pretty great Moab trip.  Greg and Tracy were nice to pay for a hotel room for every family.  Good thing, or I'm sure we would have found things to keep us busy at home.  This was our first Moab trip with the jeep all set up to wheel.  Very exciting.  I had no idea what jeeping (yes it's a verb) really entails.  Lots of work in the garage, lots of upgrades, lots of tools.  I mean, Jake has it all set up to wheel now, but if you ask him he'll say he's definitely not done with it.  Good thing we all had a lot of fun jeeping, or we might have a problem.

The first thing we did was hit the mountain bike trails.  Jake, Zack, and I went on a 26 mile mountain bike ride called Mag 7.  This is the first time I actually went on a big ride like this.  Usually I send Jake and Zack off on their own.  Jake and Zack thought the trail was fun, but no big deal for how hard it was.  I, however, am grateful I didn't die and really proud of myself for doing it.  There were lots of big rocks to ride up, and lots of big drops to come down.  We happened to be down there during a big heat wave, so it was also 100 degrees.  The last hour of the ride about did me in with the heat.  But I survived, and even managed to have fun!

We jumped in the pool when we got back and then took off in the Jeep.  We did the trail Finns and Things.  Hard core jeepers say it's a good starter trail.  I thought it was plenty difficult.  I got to try spotting, which I'm super good at (don't ask Jake), and I admit to being a little nervous a few times, even though Jake's a really good driver.  Zack drove for about 5 minutes, but none of us trust his 4-wheeling skills so that didn't last long.  All in all a fun drive.

The next morning we went mountain biking as a family to the Bar M trails.  We all had a great time.  Sage and I started on the loop a second time knowing that Jake and Zack were trying to lap us.  Sage did NOT want that to happen.  She looked behind her, saw them coming, and took off.  I had no idea she could go that fast!  It made me smile.

From there we hiked to Millcreek Falls.  A super short hike that ends in water, which was excellent since it was still 100 degrees.  We played in the water and then everyone took a turn jumping off the water falls.  I was impressed that everyone jumped.  It was good fun.  After that we went on a more scenic jeep ride up Onion Creek.  That was pretty and I even did some driving.

That night we went on a night hike to Corona Arch.  I love doing night hikes!  This one was especially pretty because the moon was full.  The scenery in the moonlight was pretty amazing.  A good time was had by all.

And then it was time to go home.  I think we fit in about as much as you can in two days.  Moab never disappoints!

Ready to play!  This is the first time we trailered the jeep and it was kind of awesome.

Riding Mag 7

Sage was living the life by the pool

Our jeep in it's natural habitat

Cooling off at Millcreek

Onion Creek

Playing hard gives you big appetites!

Corona Arch